Nintendo Announces First Mobile Game 'Miitomo,' Arrives March 2016

[Col4bin]

Nintendo should create a iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad compatible blue tooth controller for sale and add their entire library of games to the App Store. Would obviously canabalize Nintendo's own portable handheld device sales but would still $$ generate millions in revenue $$.

 

[hybroid]

People really thought Nintendo was going to put a big franchise on mobile?

I'm stunned people could be that naive. Nintendo isn't going to crap out some endless Mario runner filled with microtransactions.

Wall Street is always looking for the quick buck over the long term good of a company.

You can't port Nintendo games to mobile because you need friggin buttons.

A) Not all games need physical buttons. Plenty have been designed for onscreen control pretty well.
B) Its not like Nintendo doesn't have a long history of pumping out plastic accessories and peripherals. They can easily make controller addon for iPhones and select popular other phones.

Yes, we are expecting a GBA/NDS catalog onto our smartphones. It'll happen.

 

[MacHead84]

What a crap!
We want Super Mario and his buddies.

 

[goomba478]

I'd love to see something more like "Mario Maker" for the Wii U. That game is FANTASTIC and fits perfectly with the touch screen that the Wii U has (and obviously would work awesomely on an iOS device as well. Of course there's a big difference between a $50-$60 console and a "Free to Play" game, but there's definitely potential. Maybe in a few years . I'll still support anything Nintendo comes out with for the iPhone though because I don't want them to give up on this market.

 

[Jon-Erich]

All those saying they want to see 'classic' Nintendo game properties (e.g. Mario) simply ported to iOS…

Doing that - I'm sure something would be lost in the process, much like if you ran iOS on Android hardware.

There's something special about Nintendo-designed games played on Nintendo-designed hardware. It's a combination greater than the sum of parts.

This is what nobody here seems to get. If a game isn't made for touch screens, it'll be absolute ****. I tried playing Sonic 2 on my iPod a few years ago and it sucked. It's a great game, but not on an iOS device. Many people have no idea how disastrous it would be if Nintendo were to release all of their classics to a new, younger audience on mobile devices. The first impression of these games would be terrible and kids would reject them as being garbage.

The strategy Nintendo is trying to pull off is probably what's best for them. Introduce kids to the Nintendo brand through mobile devices and lure them to their consoles and handhelds where the superior games are.

 

[shandyman]

Not surprising in the least, considering Nintendo themselves blatantly told us there wouldn't be Mario-like games on mobile.

To everyone here complaining about this kind of game: Nintendo wants you to buy consoles.

Nintendo may want us to do that, but we don't want to. We want Mario-like games on our mobile devices. The customer is always right

There's many people that refuse to buy a Nintendo console.

You're not paying $2.99 for Super Mario Bros. because Nintendo has been selling it on the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U for $5.00 and they don't want to devalue their NES library. As for Contra and Castlevania, go complain to Konami. As for Double Dragon, go complain to whoever the hell owns the franchise these days.

So, they're more willing to cut their nose off to spite their face? They'd make a ton of money by giving people what want.

There's a reason they're constantly having to report disappointing financial results.

 

[Pakaku]

Nintendo may want us to do that, but we don't want to. We want Mario-like games on our mobile devices. The customer is always right

There's many people that refuse to buy a Nintendo console.

Apple may want you to buy iMacs with stock 5400RPM drives, and iPad Pros. But maybe you want a headless Mac with flash storage, or a large-screen tablet that isn't hindered by such a basic OS.

The customer is always right... right?

 

[attila]

You can't port Nintendo games to mobile because you need friggin buttons.

Imagine an official Nintendo controller add-on to iPhones, with higher quality and less-shittiniess than current MFI controllers.

 

[shandyman]

Apple may want you to buy iMacs with stock 5400RPM drives, and iPad Pros. But maybe you want a headless Mac with flash storage, or a large-screen tablet that isn't hindered by such a basic OS.

The customer is always right... right?

Yet Apple reported a record profit and Nintendo are flirting with bankruptcy. Maybe Nintendo should listen to what the people want.

 

[postpc]

After the weakest holiday lineup in recent times, Nintendo decides their first mobile game should be Mii-related. On top of that, it is delayed (not surprise there, Nintendo is known for delaying everything).

Well so it is late. A welcome change in a world where POS managers rush out half finished crap all the time.

 

[CFreymarc]

Remember guys, the main reason Nintendo is even doing this is because of the immense pressure from the... I can't think of the word, I want to say investors... But they didn't want to produce games for mobile phones. If anything it's in their best interest to create poor selling games to sabotage the whole plan - they can go back and say "see, we told you mobile games would fail."

You pretty much nailed it. Nintendo is a very Not Invented Here of a company and even worse than the Watson era IBM. When you control your own hardware, you have more control of your company's direction.

Nintendo has very little interest in third party platforms and has fought tooth and nail to keep their titles on their own hardware. They know that Apple TV 4 can compromise their console market as much as the iPhone / iPod Touch did to the Game Boy.

My personal theory is this "delay" is about not supporting the Apple TV launch. While I would love to see Mario Kart on Apple TV 4, it is not happening for a long time.

 

[darkknight14]

I can never see them bringing classic Mario to mobile and this confirms it. Nintendo have made a bad mistake!

 

[diamond.g]

You pretty much nailed it. Nintendo is a very Not Invented Here of a company and even worse than the Watson era IBM. When you control your own hardware, you have more control of your company's direction.

Nintendo has very little interest in third party platforms and has fought tooth and nail to keep their titles on their own hardware. They know that Apple TV 4 can compromise their console market as much as the iPhone / iPod Touch did to the Game Boy.

My personal theory is this "delay" is about not supporting the Apple TV launch.

To be honest they see how Sega ended up. No one has gotten out of the game console business and sold games and have made up for it. Plus you have the added blow of no longer being able to get 100% of the profit from the game (having to give someone else 30%) and no control over the platform. And folks tend to get all uppity when iOS game devs don't perpetually update their games for free so they work on the newest releases (looking at SquEnix, and Sega), when those updates don't make them any additional money (from the folks that have already purchased).

Though it would be cool if Nintendo were to make a version of Mario Maker where you could make levels to be played on the Wii U. Maybe if Apple were to relax their stance on Emulators, you would see more classic games on iOS.

 

[Swampthing]

Seems like most of the people in this thread are asleep at the wheel. Nintendo made it perfectly clear that none of their current IP's would make it onto a mobile platform anytime soon. They are developing brand-new IP's specifically for mobile gaming. So people stop whining about not getting Mario. You never were getting Mario.

 

[apolloa]

All I can say is typical Nintendo and ??????????????????????????????????????????

I think this game has one particular target market and country in mind........ Nintendo are going to make baby steps.

 

[jpgr15]

Scumbag Nintendo

 

[levitynyc]

Imagine an official Nintendo controller add-on to iPhones, with higher quality and less-shittiniess than current MFI controllers.

Now you have Nintendo making add ons to completely cripple their own handheld device business?

Gotcha.

Serious folks, you can't play Contra or any decent platform game or Mario Kart without tactile buttons.

Sure it may be fine for level 1-1 of Mario, but any level that's remotely difficult will be completely impossible with a virtual dpad.

This release makes total sense and Nintendo isn't going to waiver to put ports with a touch screen control system on iOS. Deal with it.

 

[b0nd18t]

Looks awful. And freemium makes it DOA.

 

[jakeOSX]

seriously, why doesn't apple just release OSX for sale to work on any hardware! they would make MILLIONS.

/s

I am always confused when I see this kind of stuff on an Apple site. Apple and Nintendo work very much alike in how they operate, bringing not software, or hardware, but the whole experience to the user.

this game was always going to be something new. Mr. Iwata said that when he announced them. They will never 'just port the old games to iOS' because the old games were designed to be played with buttons.

I suspect all of these will be add-on type games to current things, like this, which works with Mii's. for the classic games, I cannot recommend a 3DS enough, they are great hardware, going for a good price these days, and they have a game library that is substantial.

And Nintendo is no where near bankruptcy.

 

[peterdevries]

People really thought Nintendo was going to put a big franchise on mobile?

I'm stunned people could be that naive. Nintendo isn't going to crap out some endless Mario runner filled with microtransactions.

Wall Street is always looking for the quick buck over the long term good of a company.

You can't port Nintendo games to mobile because you need friggin buttons.

There is a scenario where Nintendo could sell bundles of a controller + app (with a code for the app store) in the Apple Store. It would generate them some hardware sales, to which they seem to attach so much importance, and also the games. In that respect they do not need to make the games touch-enabled.

What irks me in this setup, is that Nintendo chooses to go the cheap way: produce ****** small games with in-app purchases, in stead of producing new or porting existing franchises to the platform.

 

[peterdevries]

What Nintendo seems to not see is the value of their archive. Classic Super Mario and the original Metroid now do not generate any revenue because the NES system is not sold anymore. They could revive that whole revenue stream by porting it to the iPhone and iPad and making it available for 10 dollars each (or whatever price). They would be surprised to see the amount of sales from that. It would be similar to The Beatles coming to iTunes for games.

 

[AbSoluTc]

WTF Nintendo? Nobody wants this, nobody. Why would you even waste your time making this crap? GIVE US MARIO! Better yet, give us ZELDA! Give us something we ACTUALLY want. Not this crappy, boring, snooze fest you call a game. It might be popular in Asian countries honestly. In the US - nope.

Imagine an official Nintendo controller add-on to iPhones, with higher quality and less-shittiniess than current MFI controllers.

See this is what I'm talking about. Why are these companies so short sighted? Create a controller that works and is Nintendo branded and can work on the phone and ATV and release that bitch with awesome games/ports. MILLIONS!!!!!

It's time to look to the FUTURE NINTENDO! Mobile gaming is the ****. Nobody wants to carry around a GB anymore. Ain't nobody got time for that.

 

[peterdevries]

The strategy Nintendo is trying to pull off is probably what's best for them. Introduce kids to the Nintendo brand through mobile devices and lure them to their consoles and handhelds where the superior games are.

The current strategy of companion games with in-app purchases do nothing to lure people to the consoles and handhelds, since you need to have any of those in the first place in order to make any sense of the companion games.

And the money is made on the games, not on the console (linke printers, razor blades etc). If I would be Nintendo, then I would look for a strategy that ensures a good playing experience on a variety of platforms. Making sure that my games are distributed as far as possible. That could mean finding a way for devices such as iPhone, iPad and Apple TV to use custom or existing controllers.

It is not a case where Nintendo games do not work on iOS PERIOD. You need to look further and investigate possibilities how the game playing experience can be transferred. There are ways to do that (e.g. by offering controller - game bundles).

 

[joueboy]

This is look like Nintendo is preparing for its deathbed. They have a very good reputation in gaming industry and yet they come up with this. How would you encourage people to jump back to Nintendo when a mobile platform is not a good experience at all. They should have learned a long time ago. The reason Macs is strong is because it all started with iTunes then iPods then iPhone and iPads. Thus the experience is there and people who loves it ended getting mac computers.

 

[nia820]

Anyone who thought Nintendo was going to pull out the goodies for mobile platform is nuts. Putting Mario or Zelda on a mobile device would be a disaster.