Now, with a game called Kirby: Squeak Squad, you know you can never go wrong. First, there's its oh so macho title that reeks alpha male goodness. Then there's Kirby itself, a little pink blob of sunshine that SUCKS things 'till kingdom come. I mean, come on, you can't get any manlier than that, right?

Well apparently, there's still room for improvement. Nick pointed out to our source that the North American release show a leaner, meaner Kirby. Compare and contrast it with the Japan release,and you can see that the US box art features one tough Kirby on the cover. One quick look at the little pink ball and you can tell that yep, Kirby does means business. Why, anyone would shiver in terror just staring at it all being kickass-like.

HAL Laboratory's DS game has been released in Japan last November 2, while North American fans can look forward to this game on the 4th of December. It features a multiplayer option (up to four players to be exact), power mixing (basically, you can mix and match abilities here), and a fun environment where you can burn trees and freeze water.

Yep, here's another video helping of our lovable pink regurgitator Kirby, as seen starring in his own game, Kirby Squeak Squad for the Nintendo DS. Here, we can see how gameplay will occur and how the player will be able to control Kirby as he plays a small game of bump cars in this particular scene.

Kirby is a popular Nintendo character whose ability is basically to swallow things, copy the ability of whatever he ate, and then use it against his enemies. This time around, Kirby is up against the rats known as the Squeak Squad with its leader Dorocche, his henchmen Spin, Strong, and Doc and their lovable minions the Chuurin.

Kirby Squeak Squad is slated for release by November 2 in Japan, and will be available in the U.S.A. by December 4.

Pre-Order: [Kirby Squeak Squad]

Kirby Squeak Squad is bouncing and flapping its way out of HAL Laboratory. And we've got the screenshots to prove it. For those not familiar with the game or the bouncy pink creature, there's the gameplay video in a previous post. Here's more about the game (many of you might already know this):

• multiplayer: up to 4 players in a sub-game mode (Multi-Card or DS Download Play over DS Local Area Network)
• power mixing: players can mix and match abilities by dragging them together using Kirby's copy center (you can see it in the touch screen images)
  
• Kirby wants cake: if someone steals strawberry shortcake, Kirby goes after them and learns new skills
  
• fun with the environment: burn trees and plants with Fire and freeze water with Ice
  
• release: for the Nintendo DS on December 4; the game is ESRB rated "P" for "Pink" (just kidding; the game's not rated yet but we seriously doubt the rating people will find anything too nasty)

And now, here are the newest screenshots:

We got you guys some new Pokemon Ranger material today - Box art and screenshots! And for those of you who are eager and are planning to get Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, note that Pokemon Ranger can be linked up with both of those games. While the latter two are scheduled to come out spring of next year, Pokemon Ranger will be released next month to help us tide over the long wait for Diamond and Silver.

Now for those of you guys who haven't heard of this game yet, a pokemon ranger is different from your regular pokemon trainer (like Ash Ketchum from the animated series). A pokemon ranger roams around the land, not battling with other trainers to earn badges, but uses his or her own pokemon to deal with baddies that try to harm nature. Just like a ranger in a park!

So, without further ado, here are the screenshots:

   
 

The adorable pink character named Kirby is finally caught in action! Ithis video footage, he is shown swallowing enemies whole and inhaling his enemies' abilities on his way to collect precious treasures hidden all over Dream Land - and all this before the mysterious group of thieving rat creatures known as the Squeak Squad (Dorocche, Spin, Strong, Doc, and their uber-cute minions, the Chuurin in Japanese) gets to them first!

Kirby basically has the ability to copy the abilities of the enemies that he beats in order to use them to get through various obstacles. For instance, he can copy someone's ability in order to chop down tall tufts of grass, or get across a wide area. He can also store the items he has collected throughout his journey in his tummy. Developed by HAL Laboratory, Kirby: Squeak Squad for the Nintendo DS is slated for release by November 2 in Japan, and December 4 for the U.S.A.

In the meantime, on top of the video that we have for you, here's a Kirby scan as well, as taken from the popular Japanese gaming magazine, Famitsu. Besides cute pictures of Kirby and the Dorocche, the scan also shows some of Kirby's copied power ups, which from left to right read Beam, Animal, Fighter, Angel, Magic, Cutter and Parasol.

Kirby Squeak Squad from Hal Laboratory is going to be Kirby's next adventure. After the highly successful Kirby: Canvas Run (which I still haven't 100%'d due to that impossible paint roller minigame), our pink friend is going back to his traditional platforming roots. This more conventional game is going to be released on November 2 in Japan. Those of us in North America will be receiving it soon after on December 4.

The European release date hasn't been announced yet, but it will be soon after December 4 (we hope). Christmas is shortly after and they probably don't want to miss it.

By the way, some of us are hoping that we'll be seeing Kirby on the GameCube as well. We haven't seen anything big at all for that console for quite some time!