Nintendo is preparing one of its biggest marketing campaigns of 2009 for Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box, which it is confident will also increase sales of the original title in the series.

A heavyweight TV campaign that will air in two bursts is the main focus.

Firstly, ads will run in the weeks surrounding the game’s release on September 25th.

Nintendo will then run a secondary campaign further into Q4 to maintain sales momentum at retail as Christmas approaches.

“This will be one of our largest campaigns this year,” senior product manager James Honeywell told MCV. “We are feeling really positive about the upcoming launch of this sequel after the fantastic reactions we have seen since the announcement at E3.

“Already pre-orders for the title are proving to be strong showing that there is a great deal of appetite for this title and the buzz being generated by the legions of fans online is spectacular.

“When you take into consideration that the sales of the first instalment in the series are now over 600,000 in the UK according to ChartTrack GfK data and still growing, we really hope that everyone will want to explore the next exciting instalment.”

As Pandora’s Box represents the second part of a continuing story, Nintendo expects to see an increase in sales of the original Professor Layton, with the advertising campaign converting any consumers who have refrained from picking up The Curious Village so far.

“This was seen to dramatic effect in Japan where, as each sequel has been launched, it has increased sales of the previous titles significantly,” Honeywell told MCV.

The company marketed the original Layton game as     an ideal gift solution for both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, even creating a special retail bundle for the latter.

Retail ran out of stock of the game due to unprecedented demand.