December 20^th, 2002 (12:00am) - Japanese videogame giant Nintendo Co Ltd and Japan’s third-biggest toymaker, Tomy Co Ltd, said on Thursday they planned to tie up in game software sales.

The alliance, aimed at jointly promoting Tomy’s games for Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance and GameCube videogame systems, follows similar link-ups by Nintendo with other game developers such as Namco and Bandai Co.

Nintendo, lagging behind Sony Corp in the home videogame console battle, has been stepping up its effort to support third-party game developers to help widen the game offerings for its consoles.

Under the latest agreement, Tomy will entrust Nintendo to sell its games designed for Game Boy and GameCube, including its "Naruto" fighting game which is set to debut in March.

"We can take advantage of Nintendo’s powerful marketing network for videogames. The deal will also help Nintendo expand the product lineup for its consoles," a Tomy spokeswoman said.

Tomy also makes games for Sony Corp’s PlayStation 2, but about 70 percent of its software is for Nintendo’s game systems as its strength lies in child-targeted character games.

The first game to be published under Nintendo will Tomy’s Naruto. Naruto is a Cel Shaded 3D fighter based on the hit anime series of the same name and is slated for a Spring 2003 in Japan.