
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Nintendo is currently developing a smartphone title based on the Legend of Zelda series.
The game is likely to follow Animal Crossing, another evergreen Nintendo franchise which has already been confirmed for smartphones. Nintendo has already published Miitomo, Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes on iOS and Android.
At a recent investor's Q&A Nintendo boss Tatsumi Kimishima reconfirmed the company's commitment to creating mobile titles, and said that it intends to release two to three new smartphone games before the end of the financial year - March 2018, basically.
What do you think a smartphone Zelda could be like? Do you think that Nintendo will make it a one-time purchase like Super Mario Run, or introduce microtransactions, like Fire Emblem Heroes? As ever, we'd like to know what you think so post a comment.
[source theverge.com, via wsj.com]
Comments 97
If its true I hope they learn from their mistakes over the Pricing on Super Mario Run
I like Battleheart and Battleheart Legacy, but those sorts of smartphone RPGs rely on a group whereas Link is usually a party of one. Still, I'd go for a Zelda in that style. Or, if they're feeling ultra brave, something like Oceanhorn. You can rip off Oceanhorn. Because it ripped off Zelda .
Wow i don't think Zelda franchise can serve well for this, happy to be proven wrong eventually
I can see it being free to play with micro transactions. They won't touch the Run model again.
As long as it's not 2D Zelda-like with awful touch screen controls I could get behind it.
Oceanhorn proves that this can be done, so I'm Nintendo can knock it out of the park
Urrrrgh... Guys, please don't use WSJ as a source for your news! Whether this is fake or not, they're known for providing fake news and twisting the truth. Gonna hope it's not true as well, Zelda phonegames... Please no.
Hmmmmmm maybe
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of Mobile.
Calling it: breakable weapons with the option to buy more using micro transactions. Tree branches cost £0.99, the Master Sword costs £99 (and still keeps the "cool down period" mechanic). Nintendo will use the proceeds to buy an island in the Pacific (the island of Japan).
@Blizzia Through lies and manipulation, WSJ singlehandedly destroyed my dreams right as I was about to make minimum wage on YT. Also they're notorious nintendo haters.
@Blizzia Not trying to pick a fight, I'm genuinely curious with what you mean here. I don't agree with the Wall Street Journal's editorial stance on many things but fake news? It's one of the most (probably the most) venerable American newspapers imo.
I agree with your opinion though, don't want Zelda on a mobile device. Knowing Nintendo they'll make it compelling and a good game, but just not really interested.
It'll probably be an auto run game where you have to tap the screen to swipe your sword at the enemies, or something similar toLink's Crossbow Training.
As long as the game is about cutting grass and chopping trees i don't have a problem with Zelda being on smartphones 😁 On a serious note I'm curious to see what they do with Zelda on smartphone platforms if this is real that is. Having said that i don't think this is gonna be a core experience, and people shouldn't expect an Oceanhorn here because that is a very good game and i would consider that as a core experience and for that to happen Nintendo needs to put a lot of effort and resource on the game, I think it's going to be more of a Bejeweled or Candy Crush.
I think a puzzle game would be the best way to go. Micro transactions to get tips or items to get through a particular puzzle. Progress through fire/water/forest/shadow/desert dungeons by increasingly more difficult challenges.
@Marios-love-child since the audience apparently learned nothing from their habits over the buying, chances are it'll be a freemium like Fire Emblem Heroes again. Ten bucks is the money people can part with in a single weekend supermarket visit (especially in our country), but when it comes to video games, it must be so much better to look at microtransaction paywalls priced like almost half a console for biggest currency packs at times.
I do hope for the best with FEH (when Google Play finally decides to make it "available" in Belarus, that is), since DeNA made Final Fantasy Record Keeper, the most unobtrusive freemium I've ever played - but in general, it seems like the market voted with their wallets... in favour of limited gameplay vs emptier wallets. Go figure.
@Blizzia Takashi Mochizuki is the Journalist involved - he is reputable and has close links with the Japanese/Nintendo scene.
But this is hardly news - it's not difficult to predict that Nintendo will be leveraging it's major IP through Mobile - Splatoon will be next!
Something along the lines of Lara Croft Go or Monument Valley that distills the Zelda formula (puzzles, items, exploration) into its core constituents.
@Marios-love-child I don't see how they made any mistakes with their pricing on Mario Run, people like you are making a mistake by complaining about it, as the only other logical payment option is Microtransactions.
I know that if this Zelda game is decent, I'd much prefer to spend £10 rather than multiple small payments, which won't take long to exceed £10.
If you are too miserable to pay £10 for a game, you really shouldn't bother with being a Nintendo gamer.
@admwllms https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney-severs-ties-with-youtube-star-pewdiepie-after-anti-semitic-posts-1487034533
Is obviously the main golden one. They litterally put together a complilation of out of context Pewdiepie nazi references and claimed Pewdiepie was a nazi xD
@EverythingAmiibo So there wasn't a banner in his video about Jews, they just lied about it?
Speaking of the Animal Crossing app, where the heck is it? Did they decide to hold onto it until Animal Crossing Switch gets announced? Will the app be shown off at E3?
They could probably do a bunch of stuff using Zelda with how varied the games are. The first thing that popped into my head was a Zelda version of The Room in which you progress throughout dungeons, but obviously have it more developed and detailed. With some extra mechanics and such.
I'm not sure why this would be a surprise to anyone? It makes sense that Nintendo would do a mobile game based on the Legend of Zelda, after all it is one of their biggest franchises and they just had a massive selling and critically acclaimed game release this year.
Real life Tingle Tuner?
Four Swords Mobile would be awesome. Local multiplayer sessions would be a hoot.
Zelda Picross?
@EverythingAmiibo Where exactly is this fake news you're talking about? Nowhere do they explicitly state that and all the things in the compilation actually happened, so it isn't fake news. And they are notorious Nintendo haters? Never heard of that. They've only reported positive Nintendo news the last few months.
@johndevine
"If you are too miserable to pay £10 for a game, you really shouldn't bother with being a Nintendo gamer"
On an actual console absolutely not, £10 is a bargain, but for a mobile phone game it is expensive and clearly I'm not alone in thinking that way.
If they'd have set the price at £5 then I'm sure twice as many people would have bought it (if not more)
I'm hoping it would be a strategy game simular to Clash of Clans or Game of War but Fire Emblem was already a strategy to idk.
@Marios-love-child
And not having it on Android from the start.
A touch-based Zelda game ala PH/ST in mibile could be interesting.
Never. Trust. Wall. Street. Journal.
@admwllms Of course it's fake news, they even called PewDiePie a fascist. Never, I repeat, never trust WSJ!
@gcunit No. They just lied about everything else.
I get why they'd do it but I just don't find smart phone games very interesting. I didn't like Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem: Heroes couldn't hold my interest for more than a few days. They're so limited in their gameplay by comparison.
@Marios-love-child I agree, I hope it will be a proper game, not with any in app purchase type stuff, but if they have it should be for dlc type stuff
Seems strange that the WSJ would get confirmation of something like this before anywhere else.
It's a safe bet that Zelda would be up next to get a smartphone app, as it is their next biggest franchise after, so someone could have just stated that likelihood during a conversation, with that being distorted by an error in communication.
Apparently the WSJ has also added that a Pokemon card game app is also on the way... this raises a couple of flags... firstly, there already is a TCG app, so it seems strange for them to introduce a second card game based app... secondly, Nintendo would likely have next to no involvement with it, so it's highly unlikely for either one source to know about both apps, or for the WSJ to have two sources with exclusive news like this.
They should make it P2W like MapleStory.
I have used sooo much money on that game.
Successor to Phantom Hourglass & Spirit Tracks? Yes please.
I like how these "rumours" keep popping up that are basically always true with just a matter of time. Rumour-Gamefreak's making a Pokemon game. Rumour-Nintendo to keep releasing titles from their main franchises. Rumour-Some random company's releasing a fightstick to coincide with release of a new Street Fighter. See how easy that is?😎
Makes sense.
A mobile remake of the original could work...
If this is true and we do get a Zelda mobile game I hope it is similar to Ittle Dew. Idk how many of you played this title, but this website reviewed it for the eshop release and gave it an 8/10.
I played it on mobile and fell in love with the title and would give it a 9/10. The touchscreen controls took me some getting used to but once I figured out you could enlarge the touchscreen d-pad I had little difficulty with the controls and it did not detract from the amazing experience. The puzzles are clever and it was a nice title to scratch that Zelda itch when I didn't have a portable console with me.
If Nintendo can give me a one time purchase 2d Zelda gameplay experience similar to Ittle Dew then I am super hyped! For anyone reading this who hasn't played Ittle Dew, give the game a shot and don't be intimidated by touchscreen controls. I'm sure the controls feel better on a console, but i never had more fun playing a game on my mobile phone and being able to have that experience without having to bust out a console was amazing imo.
Imagine what the reaction to this rumour would have been like 3+ years ago.
If true I imagine it'll be more like Tri-force Heroes than Breath of the Wild.I've never played the former but it looks like the kind of game that can played with a touchscreen.Plus finding other players online to play with will be easy.
I wonder if it will be a proper adventure or some sort of spin-off.
Something like Phantom Hourglass might be cool (actually, Phantom Hourglass itself would be nice).
Wether it's a one time purchase or micro-purchases included, I will definitely be looking into buying it if the game is good.
I can believe it. Considering they are already brainstorming on the sequel to BOTW I can imagine why they want to ride BOTW's momentum. The Zelda series is huge with plenty of mini games or possible ideas for a mobile game so I'm interested to see what they come up with. Just no Metroid mobile game plz...
This sounds like a great idea. How this game would work... I'm not sure. I was scared about the FE app, but that turned out well. So I have high hopes.
(I need to stop doubting Nintendo as much. . .)
@gcunit last time I checked, joke about jews != nazi... Else we'd have a LOT of nazi comedians
I'm good. I played so much Zelda this past year that I would rather not play Breath of the Wild again until all the DLC is released.
Maybe they'll just port the sliding puzzles from WW?
Would be great news. I could totally see a run and slash as mentioned above (@dizzy_boy), but who knows. I'm not a fan of micro transactions (and think SMR is an absolute gem/bargain), but clearly Pokemon Go is the model to follow from a business perspective.
It's going to make money, and that's ultimately what matters. More profits mean a bigger chance at seeing Nintendo invest in appealing to the "gamer" market with the Switch by spending that money to reinvigorate old and desired IPs.
@rjejr I spent an age on those damn things.
Am I the only one that feels this could potentially take more of a Hearthstone type of approach? I think a Zelda mobile card game of sorts could be great, it'd be different but if done right could be a blast.
If this is true it better be priced like Super Mario Run. It may not have made them tons of money, but it retained some integrity for the franchise. Pay to win garbage is a dime a dozen on the store, I really don't want a Zelda like that.
That's cool by me. More Nintendo franchises I actually care about getting games, mobile or not, is decent news.
I'm going to go ahead and guess it'll be the 2d Breath of the NES prototype Nintendo was showing off a couple months back.
@OorWullie I think I did 2, the first was required, and then I did one more just for fun. Then realized it wasn't. Fun that is.
I'm also of the mind that Ntinedo should have a lot of mobile apps, but not spend a lot of time or money on them, they're just advertising for the Switch. Stuff like Picross and Ntinedo Badge Arcade. They shouldn't be putting 2D or 3D Zelda's on mobile, just offshoots. Which they already have plenty of experience with, but some people don't want to admit it. Mini Mario's, Happy Home Designer, Pushmo, AC:aF, Pokemon Trozei, pretty much all 6 single player games in Nintendo Land. I just can't imagine a full adventure game on mobile. Though I'll admit Fire Emblem was more of a game than I expected, but I'm nto expecting a full Zelda adventure. Not even Link's Crossbow Training which was very good for what it was.
If it was one of the 2d Zeldas it might work, but a 3d one, nope. Also I think it will be something different than the average Zelda
CDi games remastered please! I love being able to talk!
Could work we'll just have to wait and see.
I really hope it uses a "pay for additional content" model instead of a "pay to have any chance of succeeding" model. Like others have noted, "pay one price" likely died with Mario Run
This is probably going to go badly, aside from puzzle/strategy games, mobile gaming with touch controls are horrible.
@Muddy_4_Ever Kimishima said pretty much in the same breath as when he said SMR didn't make as much money as expected that they still prefer that payment model, so I don't think we can expect them to give up the flat fee model (or some variation of it) quite yet. Sure freemium makes more raw profit, but they've said over and over again that the main purpose of their mobile efforts is to sell more consoles. They'll likely stick with whatever model has the best shot of convincing people to buy consoles versus whatever model is the most profitable on its own (after all making increasing profit on mobile apps instead of convincing those people to go buy a Switch/N3DSXL would be considered failure.) It has to be profitable, but it's mostly there to convert mobile gamers into console install base.
@nhSnork I totally agree. People complained about the cost of Mario Run but easily will spend many times more than ten bucks on games like FE: Heroes and Pokémon GO. At least Mario Run's pricing model was more honest and was a one-time deal. In theory, consumers can spend thousands of dollars on other freemium games and never finish them. It's devious and unfair.
A four swords type of game on mobile?
Hope this isn't true as there is no need to release a game on a rival platform with the switch selling well this reminds me of when Sega released games on the Nes sad times 😢
Ugh...
If anything, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks kind of proved a touch-only Zelda can work.
Even if this isn't true, I imagine we'll eventually get a Zelda game for mobile (either by the end of the fiscal year or much later down the road...unless the mobile market completely implodes for some unknown reason).
If a game using Zelda characters hits the mobile space, I'd rather it not use Link or Zelda. Maybe a mobile game could utilize some other colorful characters like Tingle or Groose as the main draw?
Is this what Aonuma meant by a new open-world Zelda?
If Fire Emblem worked and made a profit I guess Zelda will.
@johndevine Well said. If this turns out to be true, I seriously hope it's a premium game.
@MetaRyan Exactly! I am SO ready for Animal Crossing mobile and I would love to see one of these mobile games work in conjunction with its Switch counterpart...there are so many possibilities there!
@Tyranexx I agree...the first thing that popped into my head was a Tingle puzzle game...I could see boards being themed after various locations and in turn, utilize their corresponding music.
I'm personally not interested in a mobile game.
A top down retro style Zelda would be perfect on smartphones and tablets as long as it allows you to use a Bluetooth controller. My steelseries nimbus works great on the iPad Air 2. I played all 3 GTAs all the way through as well as Bully with that controller.
I see this as being a dungeon crawler type game where unlike most mobile games being beat em ups and such this one with be more puzzle like with perhaps enemy-filled rooms and such. Similar to the style of the 4sword games. I see them trying to implement multiplayer into the game, although I don't see it playing a huge role like past multiplayer zelda games. All in all, I am excited for this.
OMG, this would be terrible, please don't let it be true.
I don't want such a special premium franchise become diluted by some awful smartphone game. The CDi games were bad enough.
I would prefer one time purchase over microtransaction junk. Regardless, nobody will consider this part of the canon franchise. It will be a spinoff.
I think we're all ready for the flood of Tingle-themed smartphone games
So it's the WSJ that reported this?
FAAAAAAKE NEWS.
lol.
Meh, after the disaster that was Mario Run, I'm not sure I care about any upcoming Nintendo mobile games...I LOVE my Switch, and Breath of the Wild, but if their apps are going to be full of bloat and refuse to work on a rooted device I'm not interested in paying them for that junk
Hopefully not, but its inevitable. Its gonna happen, someday.
As you guys might know I am totally against Nintendo developing for smartphones, but its happening already so it can't be helped.
This might be the first Zelda I won't play, since I don't have a smartphone and Nintendo really doesn't seem to have plans to bring this stuff also to Switch (strangely). But I guess I won't miss much. Probably free to play, re-used assets and re-used music. So far Nintendo hasn't developed a single smartphone-game that's truly unmissable. It only exists for brand-recognition, getting people to the 3DS and Switch, and of course nicking their money with microtransactions. So far they only plan 3 mobile games in a year, thank goodness!
All the people saying this wouldn't work must be unaware Oceanhorn, they should look it up.
Granted am I expecting something on that level? Nah, probably will be Zelda Run, a literal clone of Mario Run with the sprites swapped.
I saw Mindhorn at the cinema. It was bloody hilario...ohhhh Oceanhorn. Sorry as you were.
My guess is it'll play similarly to the DS Toon Link games.
Microtransactions are for suckers.
@StuTwo haha, maybe that's a little extreme?
Are you guys freaking seriuos? You worry about ios games (which generally suck) when you have breath of the wild? ANd another zelda game coming for the switch? Nintendo life (excluding Alex/his youtube vidoes rock!!) im ashamed
Might as well sell my switch if Nintendo are becoming 3rd party first they abandon the home console market and just focus on portable gaming then they start releasing games on the platform their competing against.
If there's only one payment like in Super Mario Run, I hope Nintendo requires it to be made before the game is downloaded. I think the free demo version hurt sales of SMR.
@OorWullie I know... 3+ years ago, many on this very site claimed that "Nintendo wouldn't stoop so low" to utilize mobile as had become popular, yet lo and behold, here we are today. Funny how so many can change their tune over time. Granted, it was only a matter of time until mobile infected... I mean affected Nintendo products. Yet the change in the fanbase consensus from being indignant against mobile to saying other people are unreasonable (or even going as far as to say one isn't a Nintendo fan) if they aren't willing to pay $10 for a short, crappy mobile game is just crazy.
Nintendo is becoming one with the Dark side! Phone gaming sucks
@admwllms Yo, sorry for the LOOOONG overdue reply. Been busy. WSJ has been losing a lot of revenue over the past years because times are getting more and more modern, and people are looking at other ways to get their news. They've had to restructure and change a lot of things, and the news they bring have gotten more and more trivial.
Some time ago they decided to go full on personal and attack a Youtuber named PewDiePie and accuse him of being an anti-semite. poop blew up big time, PewDiePie got burnt, they got burnt, but ultimately he came up like 5 million subs stronger and they lost all their reputation. By providing fake news and attempting to slander someone by way of a video that was clearly edited COMPLETELY out of context, they pretty much put themselves in the coffin. They'll die sooner or later, because they lost all credibility in this news stunt.
I followed this particular thing because it was pretty interesting, and despite PewDiePie's content not being my cup of tea (it's a bit boring and bland to me), the guy is just a harmless gamer-turned-comedian who likes to use a lot of Hitler references and jokes. That doesn't make him an anti-semite
Either way, WSJ is dead in the water as a reputable news source.
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