by Matt Rodriguez After Miitomo, What Other Mobile Surprises Could Nintendo Have In Store?

Nintendo recently announced a plethora of big news, including details regarding the new My Nintendo account system, as well as their first mobile app Miitomo. Along with all the breaking news, the company also announced that they will be launching five smart device application by the end of March 2017 (including Miitomo). This is an absolutely huge move by Nintendo, and it’s always fun to speculate what may be coming next! So let’s go down the rabbit hole and take a brief look at their history with smart devices, and I’ll try at some guesses as to what we may see next!

I first heard of Nintendo creating an app for smart devices during a Nintendo Direct presentation detailing Wii U functionality in 2012. During a segment, Iwata goes into details for “Miiverse”, and a part of those details stated, “The social elements of Miiverse are also designed for Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and future Nintendo devices.” There was lots of speculation that this was going to be a smartphone app, and after some time, it was launched. However, contrary to what many had thought, Nintendo had chosen to make it exclusively a web app instead.

Nintendo continued the web-based application route, with recently releasing another app for Super Mario Maker. Titled “Super Mario Maker Bookmark“, this app allows you to queue a list of courses you would like to play when you’re on the go, so when you return to your Wii U at home, all of the search-work has already been completed. It also allows you to add identifier tags to describe your levels, such as “Gimmick,” “Puzzle,” etc.

When talking about brand new Nintendo gimmicks, there’s no name more popular than “Pokemon!” There are many times where Pokemon seems to be used as an experimental Intellectual Property for new ideas. An older example would be the N64 game “Hey You! Pikachu!” where the player can use a microphone to be able to command a virtual Pikachu on screen, and a newer example would be Nintendo’s first Amiibo, which were Pokemon NFC figurines for the Wii U eShop title, “Pokemon Rumble U!” I feel like Pokémon is always chosen because The Pokemon Company has a lot of wiggle room to work with the IP independently of Nintendo, but that’s still only conjecture on my part.

Many have heard of the Pokemon GO application being released this year, but it may be interesting to note that this isn’t the first Pokemon-based application to hit mobile devices. True to their pattern, Pokemon was again used in an experimental way. The very first Pokemon app (that I recall) making it to mobile devices was a virtual encyclopedia (otherwise known as a Pokedex) titled “Pokedex”. Originally, it only existed as an app on the Nintendo 3DS, but then became available through your smartphone or tablet! When this first came out, I was totally flabbergasted–I never imagined that The Pokemon Company was allowed to release any software that wasn’t on a Nintendo handheld! Several other apps were launched as well–an app for viewing “Pokemon TV”, a “Camp Pokemon” game, and a mobile port of the 3DS title “Pokemon Shuffle.”

This details Nintendo’s short history of utilizing smart devices, however, there is one more question we must ask ourselves before we start speculating: “Why mobile?” If Nintendo has been adamant about anything, it’s had always been about creating software that can take full advantage of the hardware that it’s utilizing. A similar question to ask would be “Why is Miiverse and Super Mario Maker Bookmark simply web apps, while Pokemon Shuffle and others are installable apps?” First let’s have a look at the cool features that most smartphones have in common, and try to answer these questions:

-Front and rear facing cameras–useful taking photos and AR (Augmented Reality) purposes

-Gyroscope–useful for detecting snappy tilt movements

-Local Hard Drive–useful for holding large amounts of information

-Microphone–useful for voice commands

It wouldn’t have made sense to have had Miiverse or Super Mario Maker Bookmark as local apps simply because large amounts of storage would be required to view all of the data stored on their website, especially since they’re being updated in real time. Pokedex is a limited encyclopedia so even though it is very large, it still has a maximum limit–totally suitable for a mobile app. Pokemon Shuffle is a game in and of itself, so it wouldn’t make sense as a web app because you wouldn’t be able to play it while offline. However, web apps do have an advantage–web apps can usually be accessed not only by smartphones, but by PCs and others as well. Therefore, Miiverse and Super Mario Maker Bookmark were available to many devices, and not strictly limited to smartphones.

Using all of the above as a backbone, here is a (somewhat) organized list on my thoughts of we will see with upcoming Nintendo apps!

-Miitomo is included in the count, so that technically makes FOUR more apps that Nintendo will build. Miitomo is also stated as their “first app for mobile devices,” so they’re NOT including Pokemon apps in the count.

-True to the point above, Pokemon GO will not be one of the apps being counted. It will probably be launched under The Pokemon Company’s name and not Nintendo’s.

-While a Miiverse app seems unlikely, as it really wouldn’t make sense, a “Nintendo Hub” app of sorts that can keep a local copy of all of your friends’ posts, and perhaps even a local database of your friends’ Super Mario Maker levels could be useful. It would also be cool to be able to draw Miiverse posts with your phone’s screen, something that is not currently possible with the web app. This “Hub” app will keep together all of the major Nintendo services, extensions, and game offerings, perhaps similar to the Final Fantasy Portal app by Square Enix.

-Miitomo isn’t a game so much as it is a “social interacting tool” with game elements. I do not expect Nintendo to release full dedicated games–at most, possibly ports of games, such as Pokemon Shuffle. Out of the four games, I’m guessing at least one will be a port.

-A dedicated companion to Super Mario Maker. A long time ago, Nintendo created a game called “Warioware D.I.Y.” which allowed players to create Warioware microgames and share with others. However, this game had a unique feature–players could download an app specific to the Wii just to play the created games, although owners of the app couldn’t create games themselves. What if you could simply play Super Mario Maker levels on your smartphone–download a bunch and play them on the go, even if you couldn’t make any? It would be an interesting way for them to advertise Super Mario Maker.

-If Nintendo can master how to work emulation for smartphones, then it’s may be possible to link Virtual Console purchase to a smart device–the emulator could be an app all by itself, or it could be embedded in a different app (like a Nintendo Hub!).

-An Augmented Reality app or game that allows the use of Nintendo Characters in real life scenarios–Nintendo has already tested the AR waters with apps on the 3DS such as AR Games and Photos with Mario!

-Amiibo Catalog–I think it would just be common sense for Nintendo to create an app for users to keep track of their amiibo collection. Although their website has an extensive database, it would be effective to link Amiibo purchases to your account, and be able to link it to all devices. This catalog can also be used to gauge interest in previously released figures, so Nintendo can do some guesswork as to how many people are interested in a figure that’s no longer available, perhaps even to manage their restocks. Even beyond smart devices, this could also simply software with “read-only” amiibo functionality–to a point. I just couldn’t help but feel exhausted after re-scanning all of my amiibo in Mario Maker to get all of the costumes.

Whichever apps come out, I have no doubt that at least one or two of them will be nothing less than revolutionary! Do you have your own theories as well? Please let us know in the comments!