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Pilotwings and Wii Sports Resort collide for this 3DS launch title.

Back at E3 2010, Nintendo fans were dazzled by the resurrection of several Nintendo franchises on the Wii, like Donkey Kong Country and Kirby. The 3DS featured a new title in an old series as well, a title known as Pilotwings Resort. Die-hard fans of the series have been waiting nearly fifteen years since the release of Pilotwings 64 to see a new entry in the mere two title series. Though fans have waited many years for the series' reprise, the unique technology of the 3DS should help in making the wait worthwhile.

While Pilotwings 64 offered up a zany cast of characters and a unique take on American cities, Pilotwings Resort brings players back to a familiar place made popular on the Wii. Wuhu Island is the setting for Pilotwings Resort, home of Nintendo’s popular one-to-one motion control game, Wii Sports Resort. Along with the setting, Pilotwings Resort adopts the Mii characters in place of Goose, Hawk, Ibis, Lark, Kiwi, and Robin from Pilotwings 64.

Being that the 3DS supports the Mii platform in its entirety, players can create characters with the 3DS Mii Maker and use them within Pilotwings Resort. Have a Ganondorf Mii or some other Mii you particularly love on your Wii? Never fear, you can port Wii Miis to your 3DS and subsequently use them within Pilotwings Resort as well.

Currently, Nintendo has confirmed just three different methods of flight: Plane, Hang Glider, and Rocket Belt. Using these three devices, players will have access to a total of 40 missions to complete in Mission Mode, which range across five difficulty levels, from Tutorial to Platinum. Similar to past titles, players will be graded on their performance, which should provide significant replay value as players try to master each and every challenge in the game.

As we all know, the 3DS offers auto-stereoscopic 3D, but what this specifically means for Pilotwings is better depth perception in the game; something that has produced much of the challenge in the series' older titles. With the assistance of 3D, scoring higher on challenges should be a bit easier than it was in the past, though preview time at E3 indicated that significant challenge can still exist despite the graphical advantage provided by the 3DS.

High scores in missions, of course, led to unlocking of special hidden challenges in the past, which in the case of Pilotwings 64 also brought new flight methods like the Birdman and Human Cannonball. It’s currently unknown if Pilotwings Resort will support this design. At this time, Nintendo has not confirmed if hidden missions or alternate flight devices are included in the game.

One confirmed inclusion is the ability to unlock 3D interactive dioramas that showcase both aircraft and special Wuhu Island monuments. These are unlocked via the game’s Free Flight Mode, wherein players must search for hidden collectibles to unlock the dioramas. Exploring in this mode will reveal new facets of Wuhu Island not previously seen in Wii Sports Resort.

While players explore the island, they can also take in-game photos which are stored in the 3DS photo album for later viewing. Nintendo has not revealed if the photos taken are in 3D or are simply 2D screenshots.

At this time, no other information has been revealed about the Nintendo EAD developed, Pilotwings Resort aside from its launch date, which will coincide with the launch of the Nintendo 3DS hardware in all regions. As such, North America can expect the game on March 27, Europe on March 25, and Japan in less than two weeks on February 26.