Populous was originally developed by one of the biggest British outfits of the 80s, the now defunct Bullfrog, back in 1989, being classed as the seminal Real-Time Strategy / God game by fans around the world, with many hailing the developing talent of Peter Molyneux for the creation. In fact, Molyneux, after leaving EA’s overbearing wing to form Lionhead Studios, set to make his spiritual Populous successor, which turned out to be none other than the highly regarded Black & White. Now, though, Electronic Arts is rolling back the years by bringing Populous to DS, complete with some special Wii features!

However, it might not be quite what you imagine, as the Wii featured in the game is actually a building block for a special new DS-exclusive mode. As discovered by Siliconera, the game, which is set to launch in Japan via publishing arm EA Japan on 21st February this year, will include something called the Bitplane. This is a feature that pays homage to lots of different Nintendo formats by making them into a land units that eventually develop over time to become a single land unit that is represented by a Wii console, complete with four Wii controllers as surrounding pillars. This is a great example of fan-service in Populous DS and gamers will be able to spot the Game & Watch, which then changes into a Famicom (NES) and so on, until the Wii is born. As noted, the third evolutionary step is the Famicom Disk System that was never released outside of Japan, so could it merely be changed to something like the Super Nintendo when coming to the West, or maybe even something else like the Virtual Boy (although that never hit Europe…). Check out an image of the Bitplane evolutionary process above.

Whatever the case, Populous DS is shaping up to be a fine resurrection of the series and has so many interesting features that it is hoped EA hurries up with the translation.

There will be a total of ten types of map to choose from, each with new elements, but also including the original SNES version of Populous’s style. Some examples include ‘Grass’ (the greenery world, where your God Power can see an increase in the number of believers and followers, as well as all of the standard elements you would expect); ‘Lava’ (where permafrost is harsh in this cold world, which makes it increasingly difficult for your followers); Oedo (based around Japanese culture); and ‘Persian’ (magical culture world, with people using flying carpets to travel over sea or swamp without falling). In addition, there are ‘Horror’ (Zombies roam the world, but they become believers to walk around without dying); ‘Mars’ (the dry world); ‘Garden’ (gardens float in the air); and the already discussed ‘Bitplane’ (the computer world where past Nintendo game machines play a large part).