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There’s good news & bad news for Nintendo fans: iOS rollout will be slow, but expect great games

We learned back in March that Nintendo would finally be creating games for the iPhone and iPad, featuring Mario and other popular characters – though not in their original games, as we’d predicted. Today brings a mix of bad and good news …

The bad news is that Nintendo announced in its financial results presentation that it is planning to release just five games by March 2017.

Regarding the number of the titles, you may want to know that we will release approximately five titles by the end of the next fiscal year, which is the end of March 2017.

The company says that while it recognizes this will be seen as a small number, there are good reasons behind the decision … 

Nintendo argues that simply porting existing games to smartphones and tablets “wouldn’t match the play styles of smart devices” and that it aims “to make every title a hit.”

Nintendo fans can, however, take heart from the fact that the project is being headed up by Hideki Konno, who produced the hugely popular Mario Kart 8. So while we may not get the classic games, we just might not be disappointed by the new ones.

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Comments

  1. OneOkami (@OneOkami) - 9 years ago

    I think that can be a good thing. If they were planning on release a boatload of new games for iOS in less than two years I’d question the quality and depth of those games.

    • iSRS - 9 years ago

      Agreed. Quality not quantity. And they will be able to set a higher price. Perhaps $9.99 a game. And it will be a game you play more than two days

    • thejuanald - 9 years ago

      The only quality games I’ve ever found on iOS or Android are ports of games like Chrono Trigger, FFIV, FFVI, Secret of Mana, etc. Can you recommend any?

      • OneOkami (@OneOkami) - 9 years ago

        Republique by Camouflaj

      • Joe - 9 years ago

        Ridiculous Fishing, Card Crawl, Awesome Fist, Oceanhorn, Bean Dreams, Alto’s Revenge, Mage Gauntlet, Wayward Souls, Goblin Sword, Triple Town, Threes, Desert Golfing, Tiny Thief, Punch Quest, Kero Blaster, Hero Emblems, Jump n Shoot, Battleheart Legacy, Fieldrunners, Space Marshall, Space Age, Mayday, 868-HACK, any game made by Kairosoft.

        Just to name a few. I don’t have a console so I play games on my iPhone and there are TONS of great games. Visit Toucharcade.com to see new releases.

      • thejuanald - 9 years ago

        Thanks for the info guys I will check them out

      • borntofeel - 9 years ago

        Osmos! Great game.

    • Andrew Messenger - 9 years ago

      especially since nintendo can’t even get titles out for their own platforms in a timely manner.

    • Robert Boorman - 9 years ago

      Knowing Nintendo they are more than likely producing these games for integrating into physical game space (or at least hope they do). Especially now opening up to Universal Theme Parks, having engagement from those that carry a mobile device all of the time would increase audience participation and some utility functions when at these parks. (dreaming). I just hope they figure out a great Mario Bros. Title… I don’t believe in app purchases would be smart for them, I could see them bringing back premium priced games to mobile in upwards of $15-20. (I’m crazy though)

      • Jon Stahler - 9 years ago

        I would EASILY drop $30-40 for Animal Crossing on my iPhone.

  2. robertsm76 - 9 years ago

    Too little too late. Would best for Nintendo to create an official emulator and port all thier games over tomorrow instead of waiting a year for five games. It would be quantity over quality but there’s no guarantee that whatever Nintendo has planned for smart phones will do any better sales wise

    • acslater017 - 9 years ago

      I agree that they’re late to the game, but disagree that they’re doing too little. IMO they’re doing it just right – quality games, tailored to the platform. A simple port from a console or even a portable platform would not match the interface or play style of mobile phones.

      A high-quality, mobile-specific Nintendo game every 4 months sounds awesome to me. People will pay for quality.

    • Robert Nixon - 9 years ago

      More like better late than never. Nintendo is never going to favor a quantity over quality strategy, especially on their first effort as a third-party developer for other platforms. Playing emulated games on an iOS device equates to a really crappy user experience, which reflects badly on Nintendo’s entire brand. Making Nintendo-quality games specifically for touchscreen devices is a much better long-term strategy than dumping a bunch of old games made for a entirely different control scheme.

  3. friarnurgle - 9 years ago

    They are going to make a ton of money… too bad it’ll be off whoring their IP off as in app purchase heavy games.

  4. blockbusterbuzz - 9 years ago

    Pokemon Red & Blue is all I need

  5. Benjamin (@NSbenjamins) - 9 years ago

    And it won’t be cheap.

  6. borntofeel - 9 years ago

    How is that bad news? Nintendo is one of the few companies that is as coherent as Apple. Their approach to console design and game design is meticulous. They are the innovators. If they are going to make great games for iOS that’s good.

  7. Roosevelt West Jr - 8 years ago

    Just give me online Mario kart,Mario brothers,& Super Mario and I’m happy!

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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