Kirby fans will get a double dose of pink puffball cuteness as Kirby Mass Attack and the new Kirby game for the Wii are both scheduled to come out later this year. However, Kirby Mass Attack takes the series in a new direction, allowing you to control up to 10 Kirbies at a time with your stylus. Instead of stomping through the world and inhaling anything that gets in your way, you tap and swipe to swarm foes or knock them over. It may be different from what you're used to, but the effusive charm and fun unlockables might win you over.

In our previous demo, we mainly stayed within the confines of world one. It gave us a chance to mess around and get used to the touch-only controls because we needed those skills once we made it to the later stages in worlds two and three. You'll start with a single Kirby in each world, but your army (and not your waistline) expands as you digest an assortment of tropical fruit and earn points. Having a full crew of 10 definitely makes things easier, but there are parts of the level where you need a minimum number of Kirbies to proceed or access secret stuff. Medals are hidden throughout the levels and are key to unlocking optional content. Extras can range from a sound mixer to a photo album, but we were shown a game called Strato Patrol, which was a shoot-'em-up that had Kirby as the firing ship. As you dodge enemies and fire madly to collect tomatoes and save other Kirbies, you'll expand your team until you have all 10 firing simultaneously.

As for the main game, you spend most of your time tapping and dragging your team of pink marshmallows to safety. These guys are ferocious, though, when faced with an obstacle. Tapping on an unsuspecting foe will get them to flock to your target and punch furiously until the enemy goes away. Some creatures can't be taken down by the sheer force of cuteness though; you'll have to look for weak spots and exploit them. The levels themselves weren't too hard to navigate, but things did get trickier underwater. Controlling a massive herd with a ticking air meter while dodging underwater hazards can get a little hairy, which is why you'll likely make use of the double-tap to dash and hold the stylus down to highlight all the Kirbies and draw a safe path for them.

Things really start to get crazy during boss battles. Granted, they all have a pattern that you'll get used to, but it's much harder to get out of the way when you're moving a group. There are some interesting uses for your mob in situations like using its weight to rotate blocks or flinging the little guys up at balloons with timed bombs inside and making sure they detonate away from your team. At one point in the game, we even had to use our entire crew to man an extra-large fishing pole and then tap at the right moment to see what we caught.

It's like hot potato!

It's tough not to be drawn to these adorable fluffballs, especially when you have 10 of them. But, having more than one hero doesn't mean that it gets easier. Managing a group always comes with its own set of challenges, and the later levels require much more precision than random taps. Luckily, you do have a second chance; if you're hit, your Kirbies will turn blue first, and if they are hit again, they'll turn into angels, but you have a chance to grab them back before they float off into oblivion. Giant rings are available throughout the level for you to fling your Kirbies through, which will bring the healthy color of pink back to your troops.

Kirby Mass Attack is already released in Japan for the Nintendo DS, but North American players can expect the game to ship on September 19.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 returns to the world populated by the iconic slimes, but this time around, you put the monsters that you've gathered to work rather than take on the role of the sword-wielding hero. As a young boy who wants to be a monster scout (tamer/recruiter), you stow away on an airship that is en route to a monster scouting world championship. However, the ship goes down and the crew mysteriously disappears, and now you're stuck in a strange place with an entire airship to yourself. You do what any lost boy would do and use what resources you have to go out, scout some monsters, and find out what happened to those people.

The first game originally came out in 2007, and if you're familiar with that game (or any Dragon Quest title for that matter), Joker 2 plays the same way. Battles are turn based where you can choose to fight, give orders, or change up your tactics, and enemies are seen onscreen. You'll control a party of three monsters, with three in reserve that you can swap out at any time. Creatures come in small, medium, and large, but the larger they are, the more space they take up, so you'll have to shuffle around the monster tiles on the lower DS screen to find a party that suits your needs. To build your monster collection, you can choose to scout during battle, and once you're successful, the monsters join your monster pen where you can hold up to 100 exotic creatures.

There are more than 300 monsters in Joker 2, with about 50 that can only be obtained through synthesis. So not only are you collecting monsters on the field for your battles, but you also combine two together to create a more powerful one and choose the skills that it'll receive. Your tamed beasts need to be at least level 10 before they can be merged, and you'll have to pair up a plus or minus creature (male and female?) for synthesis to work. The day/night cycle affects what kind of monsters will appear in the field, and there's also the weather to consider. You'll be able to see what the conditions are like in certain areas and decide whether you want to wait out the rain or dive into the wild to see what you find.

The controls have some touch-screen capability, but you'll primarily use the D pad to move around and choose your selections. You can use the bottom screen to scroll around the map or move monsters around in your menu, but it's optional. What's convenient is that you do get to save at any point in the game by bringing up the menu. The airship is also a handy hub where you can "zoom" to any location you've visited and access your pen.

Before the Nintendo 3DS came along with StreetPass, Tag mode was available in recent Dragon Quest games and will be a feature in Joker 2. You can exchange monster party data with people who own the game, as well as receive a rare monster from someone who owns Dragon Quest VI or Dragon Quest IX. To limit you from obtaining a huge pool of monsters, you have to tag 10 unique players after getting a monster from a DQVI or DQIX player. When you swap data with other Joker 2 players, you can participate in a virtual battle where you'll duke it out with your friend's (or stranger's) party to see who comes out on top. If your party isn't ready for the battle yet, you can save up to eight fights on your system and take on other players when you've upgraded your team.

So many monsters to tame. They come in all shapes and sizes!

You're not just limited to virtual battles either. You can fight a friend locally (and trade monsters) or play with up to eight people in a tournament where everyone is paired off and the winner moves on to the next round. If this style of play is for you, Nintendo plans to hold a worldwide tournament during the first week that the game is out. Because the game is already out in Japan, those players will have an advantage, so you'll have to get up to speed quickly.

There's a lot to see and do in Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2, and like the other games--whether it's a spin-off or not--there are dozens of hours of play time just waiting for you. If you're a fan of the universe that loves customizing and collecting things, you might want to take out your DS and get ready for some scouting on September 19.

With Dragon Quest IX and one of its spin-offs, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2, already out to the public, it's natural to see another spin-off, the Slime Mori Mori series (recent one being Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime for the DS), make its debut on a new console. After six years, Square Enix recently opened up a website dedicated to the third installment of the humorous offshoot for the 3DS called Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest 3: The Great Pirate Ship and Tails Troupe.

What we have gathered so far from screenshots and descriptions is that battles will now take place in the sea. The slime race itself is about taking control of a classical battle ship to bring hell down on enemy pirates led by a platypus captain with a red coat, pirate hat, and seven tails. When a fight starts, players will have to control the main blue slime called Shujinko on the bottom screen to carry projectiles and load them up on the ship's cannons to fire. The actual ship battle will take place on the top screen, with the hit points of both ships on display.

Sink battleships with the power of slime momentum.

Once the enemy ship's hit points are reduced to zero, you will have to control Shujinko to board the opposition using a rope. You will have to make your way to the ship's engine and sabotage it with whatever Shujinko has on his offensive arsenal. Enemies on the opposition ship will do their best in obstructing the slime. Conversely, you'll have to do the same because the enemies will also climb aboard your ship.

Of course, the blue fellow won't be alone; he will have a ship crew consisting of his slime race buddies helping him out, either to defend or tag along with him for offense. Under certain conditions, enemy sailors can also defect to your side during these battles, though at this point in time, it's not made clear how it works. Speaking of ships, players can customize their ship will all sorts of different parts from fights, which will increase stats like the ship's hit points, as well as its attack and defense rating.

3DS users will probably want to practice their pirate lingo when boarding fools.

This is essentially a seafarer's take on the tank battles from the last game. Players can expect the impending English localization to be filled with amusing writing and inventive names for the characters, if the past DS title is of any indication. That sort of charm, coupled with its simple-yet-custom-heavy combat and exploration segments is what made the spin-off a darling among gamers, and we predict no less from this upcoming sequel.

The Japanese version is slated to be out in 2011, though an English version announcement has yet to be made.