Super Monkey Ball Rolls onto DS

We've seen the future of Super Monkey Ball, and it's on the Nintendo DS. The latest issue of Famitsu Weekly in Japan has the first information and screenshots of Super Monkey Ball DS.

The game displays a fully polygonal engine on the top screen, with a 2D representation of your character on the touch screen. As with Namco's Pac 'N Roll, this game is controlled by sliding the stylus across the touch screen to simulate rolling the ball in any direction. One key difference with Pac 'N Roll is that Super Monkey Ball DS shows the action from behind your monkey, just like in the console games.

Famitsu's screenshots also show off some of the mini-games, including a version of the race mode and a new air hockey game that looks similar to Nintendo's air hockey demo from E3 2004. The mini-games will support wireless multiplayer, of course, but we're still checking on whether the article confirms online WiFi support as well.

Super Monkey Ball DS is scheduled for a December release in Japan.