Japanese gaming giant Nintendo is expected to show off its very first mobile games for smartphones tomorrow, The Wall Street Journal reports. The news comes after first announcing plans to bring new games with classic Nintendo characters like Mario to iPhones earlier this year. Nintendo famously resisted making games for mobile platforms like iOS and Android for years, focusing solely on its own Nintendo hardware gaming consoles to push its titles.
Now as Apple is set to make its first serious move into gaming in the living room with the new Apple TV launching Friday, Nintendo appears ready to give fans what they’ve been waiting for.
Promising to free characters from the portable DS and TV-console Wii U, Nintendo said in May to expect a total of roughly five titles in total by March 2017. Nintendo explained at the time that these titles, while including current intellectual property from existing games, would be newly created to best make use of the mobile platforms rather than ports of existing console titles.
The good news is Nintendo has previously stated that it plans to develop these games in-house rather than through a partner, which should translate to quality gaming experiences not unlike what fans enjoy on Nintendo’s own consoles … although smartphone games may never be true console quality given the hardware constraints.
And while Nintendo appears to only be catching up with the trend of mobile gaming’s popularity on smartphones, Apple is launching a new platform, tvOS, and its first App Store for the living room on the fourth-gen Apple TV launching on Friday. The new Apple TV has already demonstrated potential for fun, lightweight gaming.
We’ll stay tuned for Nintendo’s official announcement with more details on its first smartphone game expected tomorrow.
