E3: Mario Kart, Luigi's Mansion More Franchises Coming To 3DS This Year

At its pre-E3 press conference today, Nintendo showed off new 3DS versions of the Mario Kart and Luigi's Mansion franchises for the first time, also highlighting other major franchises coming to the portable. Luigi's Mansion 2 "is not a simple revision," of the Gamecube launch title, said Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. "It's an entirely new game making extraordinairy use of 3D and featuring not just one but several new mansions." A gameplay video showed the popular Mario brother using a vacuum to suck up ghosts in environments including an Egyptian tomb. Mario Kart 3DS will also be coming to the system by the end of the year. A gameplay video showed new racing submarines and flying gliders, as well as standard karts and familiar characters from the long-running series. The company also revealed new details about previously revealed franchises for the system. Star Fox 3DS will come to North American stores this September, and include both traditional button controls and tilt-based controls that mimic a flight yoke. The game will allow for voice communication and use the camera for player photos during online multiplayer. Super Mario 3D was shown on video for the first time after being announced with screenshots at this year's GDC. The title, which Fils-Aime said would be available "before the year is over," features Mario wearing the Tanooki suit first seen in Super Mario Bros. 3, and knocking over cardboard goombas in environments reminiscent of an isometric game. Kid Icarus Uprising, first shown at last year' E3, was shown with new support for augmented reality cards for battle. The game will be coming "later this year." Nintendo also confirmed reports that the 3DS eShop would soon include demo downloads, and that eShop users that update their firmware would get a free copy of Excitebike 3DS and a 3D Pokedex.