Pikmin and Mario Tennis GC-remakes dated for UK

Nintendo have announced that the Nintendo Wii remake (calling it a Wiimake was a little too obvious) of the Gamecube classic Pikmin is scheduled to be released on the 6th February under the ‘New Play Control!’ branding.

As well as including the Wii pointer control which should make it much easier to order hordes of helpless Pikmin into the face of certain death, this version of the game also features an updated save system so that players can restart from any day in the game’s cycle.

Mario Power Tennis will be the next ‘New Play Control!’ title, which is being released a month later on the 6th March. The Wii Sports-style waggle control is an essential addition, but you’ll also get extra replay camera options, plus a two-player splitscreen mode.

We rather liked both of these games back on the Gamecube, as you can read in our reviews, here and here.

Nintendo say that the RRP of both games is £29.99, which seems a little steep when you could easily get Pikmin on Gamecube for less than a tenner. But for those new gamers who don’t happen to have a Gamecube controller and Memory Card, this could be a great insight into how Nintendo used to make good games before the Wii came along.

Pikmin 2 and Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat will be following later this year, and Nintendo has stated that they intend to ‘upgrade’ more classic Gamecube titles if these are successful. Why bother making new games when you can just remake old ones?