As we move into 2013, Nintendo 3DS is likely to face challenging times. Having been around for about 2 years now, competitors of this console are multiplying in the form of ever-so popular smartphones, which support increasingly powerful processors and can now run all sorts of games. Nintendo’s answer will come the usual way: new games, and loads of them, too. Here’s some of our favourite titles to be released in the first few months of 2013.

With release date set for February 8th, Wreck It Ralph is the console’s big name for the second month of the year. Already a film based on videogame characters, Ralph’s cinematic success is likely to boost the sales of its Nintendo counterpart. This is a good old-fashioned platform game, the kind that Nintendo has been doing best since Mario’s heydays – a safe bet for all young players looking for some adventure.  

Talking of safe February bets, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed will bring the fastest blue hedgehog under the spotlight again, and will give you a chance to compete in some of the wackiest races of recent video gaming history.

On with more dangerous titles, we’d like to signal Castlevania: Mirror of Fate (March 8th). The game will see prodigal son Trevor Belmont come back to avenge his mother, who had been slayed by his father. But is his dad is not just anyone: he is in fact a vampire called Dracula…

Less scary, but just as adventurous are the realms of Naruto. In Naruto: Powerful Shippuden, which will also be released on March 8th, players will take part in ninja fighting with an anime twist, continuing the tradition of one of the most successful animation titles of recent years.

But the real star of the month of March is likely to be Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. Keeping Mario’s brother busy with ghosts and ghouls, this title picks up from the GameCube days and is set to be an eerie and thrilling experience with three haunted mansions to explore.

As the year goes on, there are more 3DS you’d better keep an eye on, from Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Quarter 2), to King of Pirates (release date TBC) and Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright (also TBC).