A short time ago, we reported on the news that Nintendo had secured trademarks for The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Mario Vs. Donkey Kong which covered applications such as a ‘program for home video game machine’, ‘downloadable video game program’ and ‘program for smartphone’.
Well, Nintendo is at it again, this time with trademarks for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Wii Sports Resort. The applications cover the same three areas as before.
As we said previously, this could simply be Nintendo renewing its trademarks to keep them valid, but the inclusion of a smartphone entry gives us enough reason to speculate that the company could be preparing these esteemed classics for the mobile treatment.
Let us know what you think by posting a comment.
[source japanesenintendo.com, via japanesenintendo.com]
Comments (62)
Sorry but if Twilight Princess turned up on a smart phone I would not be angry at Nintendo, just VERY disapointed.
I whould also be dissapointed, its not a game for a smartphone
I would be a mix of disappointment and excitement to see what are they capable of on mobile with Zelda.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Not Zelda on mobile! Shigeru, I trusted you!
That's it, I'm a Nintendo hater now. Well, not really but I'd be more than disappointed if they decide to release a Zelda on smartphones.
The only acceptable thing would be a 4-sword like game to get people addicted to the franchise, get them to buy BotW and a switch and reach 7.5 billion Switch sold worldwide by the end of 2020.
This way Nintendo would get bigger than all the GAFA combined, recruit like crazy, release a switch with a 4k screen, more processing power than the XBOX One X and 12h battery life, they would release a better Zelda every 6 month better than all the previous ones combined and I'd lose my job because I would forget to sleep and go to work... I think I got slightly carried away.
@NewAdvent Good thinking. I didn't think about that.
Hopefully it's not on mobiles! I'd love to play another Zelda on the Switch!
Wii Sports Resort 2 ???
How in the hell would you play Wii Sports on a smartphone?
Surely this is just covering their bases, extending the old copyrights to include smartphones so no-one else tries to clone their games?
I’ll admit it’s a bit odd to specifically list this small handful of games rather than the Legend of Zelda series as a whole, but maybe there’s a copyright loophole I’m not privy to?
Inb4 Link's Crossbow Training.
The new President has said they want to increase their presence on mobile.
"From what I can see, smartphone games are the ones I want to expand the most"
I guess putting their classics on mobile for a few quid a piece is part of that plan. Anyone thinking nah, Nintendo wouldn't do that,well they're releasing a new Mario Kart for mobile. With this new President I reckon nothing is too sacred and Zelda on mobile is inevitable.
@impurekind with a good insurance policy 😉
You guys are acting as an if Nintendo will actually try to distract gamers from their own handheld and console systems. It's most likely some non premium games Ala Mario Runner (maybe Link's Crossbow training). No way Nintendo is gonna give mobile gamers a full on Legend of Zelda and ignore the Switch or 3ds.
@impurekind
By swinging your phone around.
@NintendOrc Yes. ALL publishers will start to make smartphone games.
That's an absolute fact.
The Smartphone market is HUGE.
I can't see a game like mainline Zelda working in mobile. I'd guess it is more likely to be some kind of spinoff minigame, like the mentioned above Crossbow Training, or maybe the TP picross from MyNintento
If it’s fun. I’ll be playing it
I don't think these games are coming to mobile, I think they're coming to Switch, and will have functionality with the Switch app that everyone complains about (like Splatoon 2).
Ugh. Not mobile please!
Do whatever you want with mobile but at the same time bring ww and TP hd ports to switch (because I love ports!!)
Dear Nintendo, just to let you guys know I'm still waiting for that Eternal Darkness remake, sequel, reboot, remaster, or whatever you plan to call it. Would be disappointing if you guys went through another gen without touching this valid IP.
I suspect this is just the new default for renewing all Nintendo trademarks. Just to cover future possibilities, and to help fight cases of unauthorised versions or rip-offs hitting the mobile marketplace.
But people freaking just because a console game could be ported to mobile are complete donuts. "No Nintendo, please don't give us more ways to play, we can't take it!"
@Rhaoulos Grow Up.
@gcunit Completely agree. It’s not like having a way to play that we will or won’t use is hurting us.
Aren't these kind of trademarks also so that they can have a bit more weight behind them when random people put out stuff on iOS/Android?
With all of the knockoff games coming out of China and other countries that tend to ignore foreign copyright. I imagine this is so they can at least enforce taking down stuff in Japan, and the western markets. I doubt these games will be coming to mobile.
Not that these ips can't come to mobile. Just that, if they do, it'll be in the form of a mobile specific game.
Nintendo has already gone on the record that it is looking at putting a Zelda game on mobile. This won't be a port of an existing title, but a new made-for-mobile game using Zelda IP, rather like Fire Emblem Heroes. I suspect there will be gacha...
Didn't Nintendo say they weren't going to bring console games to mobile? That they would design mobile games for mobile?
As much as I really do not like Smartphone gaming... I can't deny the numbers, nor can I deny what I see my students doing and hear them talking about. Though the Switch and PS4 remain popular in Japan, basically everyone has a cellphone. It's the most accessible market to release games now. Release a game on Switch or PS4 or both and that's still only a small fraction of the potential customers you have on mobile devices.
Sometimes we like the believe game companies are different, that they consider more than just pure profit. But in the end, we live in a capitalist society and profit is the artificial god of this world. If companies can make money doing it, and it's legal (or even if they can just get away with it) they will do it. No matter what it is.
Do you guys not have phones?
i wouldn't mind if it has controller support but it probably won't and the touch screen controls will be dreadful with a game like this
Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass would be perfect for Mobile devices. Twilight Princess less so.
I’d just be happy if they rereleased Wii Sports Resort on the Switch, although I could see how touchscreen swipes might be used instead of motion controls.
I don't see it running on phones unless I'm wildly underestimating tech
Zelda game on a phone? Thats not fanmade?
Eh, why not. Sounds fun!
@RadioHedgeFund Much agreed!
I was pretty luke warm on Phantom Hourglass, and only really played Spirit Tracks so that I could cross it off my list of Zelda games. But I ended up enjoying ST more than I expected, and even took the time to beat it 100%. The control style is perfect for a smartphone game, and would love for it to keep the cell-shaded WW style.
Now, that being said, the 2 most popular ways to make money off of a free smartphone game are either to include a gachapon style luck based feature, or limit your playtime with stamina caps that require money to continue. Both options sound TERRIBLE for any kind of Zelda game. The only option that would make sense would have to be Mario Run style where you pay up front.
Honestly, I'd be more likely to download a Zelda Picross game than an adventure style game.
If u think twilight princess is coming to mobile u are dumb sorry but not.
I won't pretend to know what it all means but I know that I probably won't be playing these on mobile if that indeed came to fruition, so I can't get that worked up at this time. It can mean something on the horizon or at all can mean nothing. Let's put away the pitchforks and torches until we know more.
@retro_player_22 Who even owns some of the rights to ED now? Silicon developed but filed for bankruptcy, and I never heard anything about the IP. Loved that game, creeped me out more than RE
@panthro Thank you for your suggestion. I never thought about it before.
It seems pretty clear to me that Nintendo are in the mobile market to stay and they will use their big names. Whether people like the idea or not, it will bring income into Nintendo which will help them to keep producing consoles. I expect the Switch to be around for many years and to develop as the most powerful handheld you can buy. If developers put games onto mobile, you can see that these will link to Switch games and therefore Nintendo expand their user base.
It makes sound business sense and Nintendo will make these games work on what ever platform they are on. They will see that if new gamers play Zelda On a Mobile, that may lead to them then getting a Switch to play the bigger and better games.
I can only see this being a good thing overall for Nintendo.
@Damo "Nintendo Secures More Smartphone Trademarks". I see what you did there!
F2P games cost less to make and make more money quickly.
I worry about the future of video games.
Mobile is mentioned, gamers turn into babies.
Seriously, even if Nintendo put Twilight Princess on mobile (they won't) do you think Nintendo will never make another Zelda game on the Switch or future consoles ever again? Mario went on mobile, and Super Mario Odyssey was terrible, right? Oh, no, it was runner up for Game of the Year. You think that Nintendo spent go knows how much on R&D for Switch that they will put all future games on mobile? Come on people, talk some sense.
Mobile has a different audience, who like different kinds of games.
Companies are stupid to neglect that audience. When Pokemon Go makes $73M in just one month, do you really think a company will ignore that untapped (pun intended) revenue?
@Luffymcduck And how would you see the game on the tiny mobile screen as you're swinging the phone around like a bat or club or whatever?
Why arent many of these amazing classics being remastered for the switch?
@DarkSithDoom Because they are working on new games?
@impurekind Perhaps they could change it into a VR game for smart phones, and you'd be swinging around while imagining you're actually inside the Wii Sports world...
@NEStalgia Take a good look at the actual text on that plaque in your funny picture, and you might wanna consider either correcting or removing it...
I don't play any games on my smartphone, simply because I don't think it's the right medium (screen too small, no buttons) and because I don't enjoy playing on the go for 1 ½ minutes.
But if Nintendo do it right - with the IP and great backlog they have - they could deliver truly unique and awesome mobile games (not something shallow like Mario Run) that would become bestsellers.
I certainly wouldn't play them, but I can see that happen.
It would hurt the Switch though, so I really wish they hadn't abandoned stationary consoles.
@impurekind The same way you did in the original, with motion controls. Or have you forgotten that smartphones have a built-in motion sensor (guess where the inspiration for that came from)? Your smartphone is basically a Wiimote with a different form factor.
@impurekind phones have a compass, an accelerometer and a few other things things that could make it work.
I get the M vs. DK and Spirit Tracks ports...
But how would you port game swith motion controls?!
@Gold_Ranger and how is that so? wave the phone like a idiot in public? yeah that's going to work alright...
but on a serious note, nintendo are really clinging onto mobile and it's staring to look unhealthy for their other fanbases (switch 3ds and so on)
if, somehow, Nintendo did this with NO Switch release, I would be so amazingly fracking pissed off that I wouldn't know how to deal with anything
Nintendo and blizzard two of the great mobile game developers history will record
@Gold_Ranger But how can you see the game if you're swinging the phone?
The only things I could think of them porting in relation to TP are the Picross game that was available from My Nintendo (which would make sense) or some sort of Link's Crossbow Training lite version. It could also be something completely new, or else just the usual "covering all the bases" reason.
@DenDen
Maybe they are make the game with be more powerful tablets in mind.
They just need a controller and the high end tablets are good to go.
But I would be extremely surprised if this was the case.
It would compete with the Switch and that would make no sense.
It would most like be something akin to Super Mario Run.
And that would be a waste of time for Nintendo, ban mobile games hurt their brand
Tbh I'd love to see the game made into a sprite-based variation of itself with the old school mechanics which would probably work with most phones, but odds are this is either going to be a spin off thing like that picross one, a guide book thing or has something to do with a switch remake(like smash world for ssb u and the whole meltan thing for pkmn go and let's go)
Sounds like admin to me. They needed to renew the Trademarks so may as well do it for everything at the same time. Not reading too much into this.
@impurekind same way other stupid games do... You don't. Lol.
Putting Wii Sports on smart phones could potentially be brilliant.
Wii the Miiple demand Wii/Mii Sports on Switch!
Make twilight princess for the switch and skyward Sword I would buy that straight away
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