First screenshots!

Today's been a good day for 3DS news. Along with Nintendo's live feed of Satoru Iwata's keynote presentation at GDC 2011, the company has also made several new announcements regarding the upcoming 3DS.

Following Iwata's rather short but sweet hint at a new Mario game for the 3DS, it's been announced that the handheld console will be getting a new instalment in the Super Mario series, featuring traditional Mario gameplay that we've all come to know and love. Developed by Nintendo EAD, the team behind Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel Super Mario Galaxy 2, the 3DS's stereoscopic effects will allow Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto to incorporate depth and distance into a game like never before.

The game's logo that was displayed on stage shows what looks like a tail coming out at the side. Could this suggest gameplay similar to what we saw in Super Mario Bros. 3? At the very least, we might even see the return of the Tanooki Suit!

Tanooki Tail!

That's pretty much all that's known about the game at the moment. What kind of game mechanics are you hoping for? A return to the franchise's 8-bit roots, a physics-based adventure like what we've seen in the Super Mario Galaxy series, a mixture of both, or something entirely new and different?