Super Mario Run Release Prompts Delay to Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem Mobile Games

Great, delay something we really want for Mario Run game.....yeah I understand it will probably get dl'ed 50 million times or more.

Not cool, Nintendo! Especially for us Android users.

I was really looking forward to animal crossing coming this fall .

So it is one of the five games... so, will the 5th still make it by March 2017?

Darn. I was looking forward to the FE game.

What's next? NX not revealed until 2017?

@shazzy It sucks. Was really looking forward to the Fire Emblem game. They had better release it at the same time for Android and Iphone.

Man I really wanted a chill game like animal crossing on my phone. Yes Fire Emblem sounds exciting too but on the contrary waiting somewhere and playing animal crossing seems more appealing to me to pass the time like at a barbor shop or doctors office.

@Grumblevolcano What's next? Why just settle for a reveal delay?

"Due to the launch of AC and FE mobile games in Q1 2017 we are delaying the launch of NX until summer 2017."

@ThomasBW84 Why didn't you use this pic from your article this morning?

Thanks for this article though, better than just adding an edit to the earlier one.

@Captain_Gonru I think they'd planned to release it next year but realised, financially, a Mario game for Christmas would make them more money than a Fire Emblem or Animal Crossing one.

@Dizcogamer15 , I hope they do too, I thought with the AC direct only a few weeks away they were going to show off the app but I doubt it now .

Makes sense really. Nintendo took note of how well Pokemon Go did and an icon as big as Super Mario will likely do a similar job. Fire Emblem & Animal Crossing are, compared to Mario & Pokemon more niche. It is however very, very unlikely that all Nintendo's intended apps will be out before March 2017 - that will not happen!

@rjejr Go further, a release in November

Seriously, these delays seem like they were planned months in advance but couldn't really be announced until today because a Miitomo like delay with no replacement would cause investor concern.

I'm honestly not hurting for mobile games anyway. I'm one of those who very, very, very, VERY HIGHLY prefers games on actual consoles/handhelds over mobiles, so for all I care all these mobile games won't even ever come in the first place. Although I have to admit even I got sucked into the Pokémon Go hype, but I don't really see that happening for me with these other mobile games.

Anyway, these mobile games will come when they will come, just like any other game. Just be patient.

@Spoony_Tech the way they explained this delay to put Mario first sounds like a compromise for investors honestly.

@Grumblevolcano I can't go to November b/c a home/handheld.hybrid console launch in November makes sense, and Nintnedo already made sense once today w/ SMR. (I hated Apple getting the reveal, but the game makes obvious sense for both financial and marketing reasons. Coming on the heals of Mario at the Olympic closing ceremonies can't be a coincidence, Apple is too smart.)

I can't expect them to make sense twice. NX in November makes sense. A delay to summer is all I give them. And if you like deja vu - unveil in Feb, games galore at E3, launch in August. They just need to tell us soon it's been delayed and the unveil will be in 2017 before I lose my freakin mind.

Short term this is good for Nintendo as along as they price the Mario game at $5-10 I think it will do well for them and get a decent amount of sales.
Gives me more time to get a discounted device to use to play FE and this new Mario game when they come out.

The interesting ones taking the backseat to a lame, run-of-the-mill runner game...bummer. And I'm an Android user so I guess it doesn't matter anyway.

I'm wondering if they wanted to see how a one-time purchase app (thank you for it not being a "free" game!) fares, to better plan how to price/monetize the FE/AC games. If they make more than Pokemon Go is pulling in relative to the resources invested, then they might continue with small one time purchase apps.

I wanted the Fire Emblem game...oh well.

@faint Can't disagree there. I understand why as it makes sense. Just rather odd this comes out of nowhere just to push 2 other games back. Not to mention iOS exclusive. Wonder what Apple did to pull that off?!

Animal Crossing mobile will be in December 2016 ?
Correct me if i wrong.

@Anti-Matter Delayed to Q1 2017

Probably they are trying to push more well known IPs to attract new customers, and who can deny Mario has a ton of brand power?
As much as I was interested in FE, it may have gained more recognition thanks to Awakening and Fates, but I doubt it can actually draw in casual gamers who barely have an idea of Nintendo.

Totally expected this. Would've been more surprised if they weren't delayed, actually. Either way, I do hope they are quality titles.

This makes so much more sense. Miitomo was a nice testing of the waters but after Pokemon GO made a huge splash, Nintendo had to bring out the big Mario cannonball splash. Love that they are going to pay upfront on it and that they perfectly utilized the Apple stage to do it. Much bigger win for Nintendo than for Apple but it was mutually beneficial.

Best part was that it looks better than an average runner for sure. Reminded me of the excellent Rayman runners on smart phones but still had a different flavor. Holding the jumps and points where it changes your direction or makes you pause for timing hints at many more advanced options during play. Plus, the competition and the "decorating Mushroom Kingdom" are just what it needs to keep interest over time. Now let my Miitomo Mii interact somehow please.

As far as the Android thing, I'm guessing it won't be a long delay.

As for the delays for Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem... this is actually better for both of them in my estimation. Mario will bring in many more people and then those people can be led directly to the other games and all of them can lead to NX. So one hopes, anyway.

@rjejr As for NX delay. Man, I hope not. After the PS4 reveal being so meh, I'm ready for an announcement from Nintendo. Nothing to worry about. But Nintendo please lower the retail price of Wii U. Just to reduce the laughing stock status a bit when the refreshed slimmer PS4 sits beside it on the shelf next week. And Xbox announcing a really more powerful console coming next year basically disqualified it for sales this year. It's a mad, mad world for consoles right not and the perfect time for Nintendo to jump in.

@rjejr Also, I'm sort of staggering at the genius of Nintendo getting in on the Apple Event and actually getting a bigger audience for a Mario mobile game than Sony probably got for it's big console reveal on the same day. Way more important for Nintendo than for Apple. More marketing like this, Nintendo. I guess there was no way to get Apple to host an NX announcement. lol

@Captain_Gonru Well, I think you're right about pressing hold on the news about AC and FE delays once the deal went through, but all these games have been in development concurrently. Apple probably wasn't interested in Nintendo timed-exclusive reveal of ... Animal Crossing or Fire Emblem. Mario, on the other hand.

So, yeah, Nintendo could not mention Mario coming before the Apple event. That was a surprise for the event and Apple has the worst time nowadays with surprises (given the gigantic numbers of phones necessary for launches and the money on the line for leaks).

So, it might have been an all-hands move to Mario situation. The building of a customized Mushroom Kingdom was not shown and I'm assuming people are moved over to the Mario game from Animal Crossing and/or Fire Emblem to get that done in time for this year.

So, a little bit of a change up for an opportunity to good to pass up, that felt sudden because it had to be kept secret.

I'm still greatly looking forward to AC and FE but I'll take Mario while I wait and like it just fine.

Aw, was looking forward to that Animal Crossing game as it would've been a good fit for mobile.
Don't care for that FE game, as I'm pretty sure I know what to expect.

@Captain_Gonru I think we may have crossed threads, streams and time lines. But I feel pretty confident you aren't that upset at me, so I'm good.

A lot to take in today, much of which is shrouded and distorted in my head by the spectre of NX. I can't see anything goes clearly b/c all I keep thinking is, they can tell us about SMR, AC and FE game delays, a ND on November 2nd for an update of a 3 year old game, but they can't tell us the NX reveal date. Not the reveal, just the date. Miyamoto and Trinen were on a stage today in NYC doing a press event, for an Apple app. Mario announced the 2020 Olympics. That's 4 years away. We can't get an NX reveal date?

It's distorting everything. Like a PS4 Pro w/o an ultra blu-ray drive, in their highly touted 4k machine. Busy day, weird day.

@aaronsullivan I think I'm 4 comments behind.

Pokémon TCG was on iOS for about 2 full years before Android. I'm thinking minimum 6 months, but I'd bet 1 year. Will AC and FE be timed Apple exclusives now too? Nintendo opened the door to that question.

And fall was a great time for AC to coincide with the ACNL update. Mario may be better, but fall was perfect for AC based on circumstances. FE, whatever, whenever.

No Wii U stock, no more production, no point in a price cut now. I'm not even sure it's a laughing stock anymore, it just doesn't exist.

I'm glad Nintendo is hitting mobile hard, but it's just a bad time for us Wii U owners in general, and being kept in the dark on NX isn't helping.

I watched the PS event. zzzzzzzz I actually commented during it that I hoped NX reveal isn't live, it was SO BAD. Nothing worse than a quiet audience. It was embarrassing. Like no ultra drive is embarrassing. So yeah, maybe a ND is the way to go. In Feb. Games at E3. Launch in August. It just feels that way. Why should we think Nintendo can launch a console on time, they can't even get mobile games out on time. They couldn't even get My Nintendo out on time.

Sorry, long day.

@Captain_Gonru here ya go

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2016/09/ps4_pro_doesnt_appear_to_have_a_4k_blu-ray_player

@Captain_Gonru I would say that summary means you maybe didn't follow me. Mario was in concurrent development originally planned to be early next year after AC and FE. Things changed resources shifted. We couldn't be told. Doesn't matter how many assets it can use it had a planned schedule that changed.

What franchise do non Nintendo gamers know about, Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem or Super Mario? Everyone knows Super Mario. It makes sense to kick things off with a Mario game. Also, people worried about iOS only. It was announced at an Apple event. Do you really think they would say it also going to be on android, the competitor of Apple, at an Apple event? Of course not.

@Captain_Gonru "That's crazy."

There's been so much going on today took me a minute to figure out what "crazy" you were talking about. "Cost cutting move" finally sunk in. And yes, it is crazy, they must be embarrassed about it at corporate HQ, but what's done is done.

Of course compared to the cartridge based no HDD NX PS4 Pro looks like the ISS.

@Captain_Gonru OK, really, besides the very good ISS joke the rest of your comment makes no sense. I think it's both late and we should both go curl up in bed. That sentence originally went longer but I didn't want to cross any lines.

Today was the first day back to school, I got up at 6, I got up at 8 all summer. g'night

@rjejr
"Mario announced the 2020 Olympics. That's 4 years away. We can't get an NX reveal date?"
Haha. Pretty sure that was announced further back and the date, the date was known for a long time.

On the iPhone exclusivity I don't think AC and FE have any reason to be iPhone first. One reason besides the obvious Apple publicity moment is that iPhone users are far more likely to pay for apps up front. Miyamoto did announce that you will pay upfront with Mario so you can play all you want and not worry about transactions later. AC and FE are going to be free to start, right?

You are right about AC coinciding with the 3DS refresh of that game. Then again, if that game can remain relevant for 3 years it can probably hold on a few more months after it is refreshed.

On the Wii U: it is still there with Nintendo branding and colorful games plastered on it. If we are right about the stock thing, they could very well wait. Maybe they'll wait until the NX announcement so they can claim fair warning to anyone who buys it. How "Nintendo" would it be to announce a price cut on the Wii U right when they reveal the NX. lol.

I didn't even watch the Sony event. I was planning on it, but time and Apple. Still, I expected to be interested and I wasn't sure if NEO/Pro was going to be released this year. When I saw all the features and plans put together I just... well, I don't have a 4K television and if I did I guess I'd be mad at no Ultra player. So, who is it for? I think it's for VR despite their protests to the contrary. Not in for that kind of investment at this point.

I'll have to give it a closer look soon, though. Will be interesting to see how my game industry students sum it up for me tomorrow. They are a nice litmus test because they are dedicated gamers with limited funds.

I'm still holding out hope for NX on time. I feel like the Sony announcement being done now opens the door for the spotlight. And Nintendo's surgical strike against the Sony announcement gave me hope that Nintendo has a plan to reveal things soon. I mean it made splashy news and got a huge audience to pay attention in a space it has never owned before on the day Sony chose to keep excitement for its platform alive.

If Nintendo changed all its mobile strategy around to seize that moment today and keep Sony from stealing its marketing momentum from the 3DS Nintendo Direct by securing a moment with Apple today, it seems like there should be a third part, right? I don't think it's going to be a Wii U Direct, but I guess there could be a last hurrah for it if we are way off base.

Either way, it would make sense for marketing to clear the way for the NX. You don't want to announce NX and then start distracting people from it with how good 3DS is and how mobile is coming. You want to show the promise of what is here now and then show what is coming in the future. Right?

Well, I'm hopeful. Maybe it's just the "high" of discussing Nintendo without bringing up rumors.

@Captain_Gonru "Ah okay. So you're saying Mario wasn't going to be out until next year, but Apple wanted it now. "
Close, but that suggests Apple making some sort of unreasonable demand. I'm saying that for Nintendo to get a coveted spot on stage at the tightly controlled iPhone event from Apple, it couldn't do it with AC and FE, but with Mario, it could. When the opportunity arose, Nintendo decided to shuffle up the development to make it happen. Well worth it for Nintendo in my opinion as it got a much bigger and more relevant audience (mobile phone fanatics) than it could have on its own and also managed to get into the only large streamed event that could upstage Sony's on the same day. I think I called the move genius in another comment.

There were exactly 3 games shown at the Apple event. Usually there is one shown to show off the new GPU in the phones. One game got that honor and Nintendo got the other two: Super Mario Run and (indirectly) Pokemon GO on the Apple Watch.

Personally, I see the delays doing more good than harm to the AC & FE mobile's. It gives Nintendo more time to work on those games and catch any bugs and glitches that they might of missed had the game launched on schedule and had to issue a lengthy patch some weeks later that will require another patch as the last patch made it unplayable.

@rjejr
So, I see now that it will be free to download, but one payment to play whole game. So sorry about all my insisting on pay upfront when I wasn't seeing what you were saying about demo.

The delays aren't a big deal. I never expected their release this year and it's still early 2017. Pleasantly nice to have another mobile game from nintendo even though I'm not too big on 2d sidescrollers myself.

@Captain_Gonru
Actually when you think about it, the announced AC NL Direct kind of hinted at a possible delay. Because the update and the mobile version may be linked in some way.

And calling the decision incompetent is a stretch.

Such a shocker. Not.
I'm willing to bet serious money NX won't be released by March 2017, but will be delayed as well.

Also, Zelda is definitely not due March 2017, as Nintendo have never said it is, simply stating '2017' for the title, over and over again (whereas for NX they've said 'March 2017' continually).

Given that I have little to no interest in these games I just hope that the Mario one gets a gazillion downloads and creates a load of hype that Nintendo can use to give their NX reveal/release momentum. Let's be honest, a Fire Emblem mobile game is unlikely to do that.

WTF Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem were delay? Dammit Nintendo, I am mad.... oh wait it's for mobile. Never mind.

@aaronsullivan @Captain_Gonru I had a dream last night that NX was a chicken egg incubator like kids would use in elementary school.

It kind of looked like this, but it was red and blue Mario colors.

I think I need to stop reading Gonru's comments right before I go to bed.

Funny thing is, I have no idea why I dreamnt that, it was so weird.

@Captain_Gonru @aaronsullivan That last pic didn't do it justice, it looked more like this, the chicks were able to get up and walk around after they hatched. I woke up after that so I have no idea what we were supposed to do w/ the full grown chickens.

I'm breaking out in a cold sweat while I type this, remembering the horrible calamari I had for lunch at the all you can eat chinese buffet on Tuesday, so it might be food poisoning. That would explain it I guess.

@aaronsullivan I'm not awake enough to reply to all of that well thought out piece. But I wonder if the Ntineod stock price rise accompanying SMR means they delay the NX reveal on purpose? Stock price will fall on NX news, no matter what it is, I just can't imagine shareholders liking it. Buy the rumour sell the news usually holds, so there will be a bit of a runup after the ND is announced, but sell-off after.

I am thinking ND at this point, that Sony thing was just so awful.

Oh yeah, Sony ins't done yet, they have another event next Tuesday ahead of TGS, which Nintnedo isn't going to b/c they never do.

If you are right and Nitneod has smartened up - I think they were lead around like a trained chimp on a chain yesterday, Apple was the brains behind that unveil - then they'll reveal before TGS so 3rd party NX games can be shown and announced there even w/o Nintnedo's presence. But I don't think they are that smart, just Apple and its new pet monkey.

No, FE and AC won't be Apple exclusive, not b/c of free to play, but b/c when you own the top priced escort Mario, you don't bother w/ the street corner girls.

My resentment is starting to fade, just not quite there yet. Us home console gamers are being steamrolled between 3DS and Apple. Had they announced NX back in May before E3 we'd have games to talk about. Or before 3DS ND. Or before SMR. Feels like we've been forsaken. We who spent $349 on a forgotten console. Just glad I didn't buy it for Zelda after E3 2014.

Edit: some typos

@Captain_Gonru And I'll give birth before the NX launches too.

Luigi backstage at the Apple conference yesterday.

@aaronsullivan Not sure what you were saying sorry for w/ the SMR payment stuff, I think we were all wrong on that one, every one of us. TW told me the press event explained it very clearly but Apple's own news release got it wrong.

I am really curious about the price. What do iOS games go for these days? $9.99? $14.99? I'm waiting for the collective "What!?!?" heard round the world when it's announced at $39.99 or something ridiculous like that. Probably $29.99, which is why it's on iOS first, Android users are notorious cheapskates.

http://www.techinsider.io/ios-users-spend-more-than-android-users-2015-12

Thanks Apple!

I want to know how much Apple paid Nintendo?

@Captain_Gonru You know, it really should be. I need to think about it a bit first, it is a tad inflammatory, even for me.

@Captain_Gonru You don't need to make yourself clear to me, we're on the same page, maybe even the same paragraph. Not the same sentence, you're more upset about AC and FE apps, I couldn't care less about them - though AC should have shipped w/ the AC update, though on 2nd thought, this makes more sense, sell more $19.99 games now, app later - I'm more upset b/c I'm a home console gamer and that 3DS ND was one thing, it's still their hardware, but now this? Where are the Wii U games? If they are on the NX then tell us. But if they are on iOS? Screw you. iOS should not be getting the same amount of games for the holidays as Wii U.

I'm not making that my avatar though. I really gave it a lot of thought but it's so negative. Despite what many people on here may think of me, I'm not a troll, and that would be a very troll avatar to have. I come here for information. And it's very much like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zalndXdxriI