Usagi playing the Sailor V arcade game

As part of the current Sailor Moon revival going on in Italy there will be a new Sailor Moon game for the Nintendo DS this Spring! Fans have speculated about this game for some time but some substantial information, including box art, is now available.

Sailor Moon - La Luna Splende Italian Nintendo DS box art

Namco Bandai games Europe has announced (English translation) this new game which will be called “Sailor Moon: La Luna Splende” or “Sailor Moon: The Shining Moon”.

Players will be able to play as either of the five girls, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter or Sailor Venus, with the help of Tuxedo Mask. Naru (known as Molly in the dub) has fallen into a deep sleep caused by magic and the girls must enter her dreams to rescue her. Players will go through three worlds, “Jewel Palace”, “Mystery Castle” and “Flower Garden”, each of which will have 20 to 30 stages. Naru is certainly no stranger to sleep. She spends a good part of the first season being put to sleep by one enemy or another.

Naru falling asleep in classNaru sleeping at school

Nintendo DS games are not region coded so fans around the world should be able to play this game without any technical problems, though they may have a bit of trouble with the Italian.

Nephlite putting Naru to sleepNaru sleeping on Sailor Mercury's back

This listing shows a release date of April first, though I’ve seen March 31st at another source. The official announcement does mention Spring so these dates seem reasonable.

Naru sleeping near Princess DiamondNaru sleeping in her bed

Keep checking out Powet.tv for details on this game and all other Sailor Moon news.

Usagi playing the Sailor V game on the Super FamicomThe Sailor V video game

Update 2011-01-09: Check out these screenshots from the game.