August 10^th, 2005 (11:16am) - Nintendo has announced that three new games based on the Pokemon franchise are in development for the Nintendo DS, according to reports in Japanese magazine, Comic Korokoro.

The three games announced are Pokemon Torouze, Pokemon: Fushigi no Dungeon Blue and Pokemon Rangers, all which are to be of slightly different genres and to released separately within the next 18 months.

Pokemon Torouze will be a puzzle-based game, and the closest to being complete out of the three. With a Japanese release date of October 20th, the main story mode will have players taking the role of Lucy Lightfoot, who has to save the Pokemon from an evil organization by entering puzzle battles.

The dungeon role-playing game, Pokemon: Fushigi no Dungeon Blue (Pokemon: Mystery of Dungeon Blue), will be the next game to be released in Japan this winter. It is expected to be an RPG with randomly generated dungeon maps like Chunsoft’s popular Fushigi no Dungeon RPG series. A Game Boy Advance version, Pokemon: Fushigi no Dungeon Red, is also expected to be released around the same time.

The final game to be released is Pokemon Rangers, an action RPG which has players assume control of a Ranger, fighting to protect nature and wildlife by using Pokemon. The title is planned to interact with other forthcoming DS games, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, both of which will release just after Rangers, at an unspecified date next year. The action RPG is also said to have a connection to 2006’s Pokemon movie and anime series in Japan.

Pokemon Torouze, Pokemon: Fushigi no Dungeon Blue, and Pokemon Rangers currently have no European or US release dates.