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A new Nintendo game is out… on smartphones. Pictonico! is a WarioWare-style microgame compilation that pulls from your photo library to add your friends’ and family’s faces to the games. The pitch is that simple, and that irresistible. I just gave it a quick try and could picture the delight and hilarity of my 7-year-old daughter when I show it to her later. I also snapped instantly into the game’s one-two-three-go WarioWare groove, perfectly translated by developer Intelligent Systems, which has worked on WarioWare almost from the start.
It all makes perfect sense. But it’s also pretty unexpected, because Nintendo had seemed to completely renounce mobile games after a flirtation with the form in the mid-to-late 2010s.
Nintendo had turned to mobile as Wii U floundered, seemingly without enthusiasm; then-president Satoru Iwata was forced to climb down after initially swearing off the smartphone market. A partnership with DeNA saw some modest successes, like Super Mario Run and Mario Kart Tour, but even Nintendo could not resist the race to the bottom with exploitative gacha games like Fire Emblem Heroes and Dragalia Lost.
It was just a bet-hedging exercise, and when the Switch took off like a rocket, proving the hedge unnecessary, Nintendo quietly and gratefully dropped it. It shuttered some games and released nothing new on mobiles for more than five years, save Pikmin Bloom, an understandable addendum to the one colossal mobile success that Nintendo had a hand in: Pokémon Go. The company shifted its mobile focus to value-add apps like Nintendo Music and Nintendo Today.
I assumed it was all over, but no. In fact, it was only when looking into Pictonico!‘s sudden appearance that I discovered Nintendo published two mobile games last year: Hello, Mario!, an educational game that’s part of the My Mario initiative for preschool kids, and Fire Emblem Shadows, an apparently terrible social deduction game. Who knew!
Is mobile back on the menu for Nintendo? It seems like it; three games in nine months is no accident, and president Shuntaro Furukawa reaffirmed the company’s interest in smart devices in a call with investors last year. Now, it seems less like a panicked retreat than a cautious strategic move, informed perhaps by the same brand-expansion ambitions behind Nintendo’s recent moves into movies and theme parks.
If it results in more titles like Pictonico!, I’m all for it. It’s a classic Nintendo game, in the sense that it’s powered by an idea for fun interactions that could only work on this specific hardware. It feels like Nintendo made this mobile game simply because it had a great idea for a mobile game.
Hello, Mario! also makes sense in terms of finding young players where they are (on iPads). Fire Emblem Shadows, though… I dunno. I can’t understand what it has to do with Fire Emblem in the first place, or why it exists. I guess Fire Emblem Heroes still makes a lot of money?
I don’t think Nintendo will hang its hopes on mobile gaming in the same way it did in the 2010s. But if it’s going to get involved again, I hope it does so with more judiciousness and care. Nobody wants to go back to 2016.
eShop game of the week: Coffee Talk Tokyo
A familiar but comfortingly well-realized entry in the cozy visual novel barista series. “If learning about people and expanding your horizons is the jewel at the heart of the unrefined chunk of rock that is working in customer-facing food and beverage service, then Coffee Talk Tokyo is the idealised version — an experience that sands down the rough edges, leaving only that glittering core behind,” said Nintendo Life in an 8/10 review.
Nintendo Classics game of the week: WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!
If you’ve played any WarioWare game, Pictonico! will instantly remind you of it. If you haven’t, rectify that immediately and play the Game Boy Advance original from 2003, which I maintain is a deconstructivist masterpiece and one of the most important video games ever made. Really!
Nintendo Music track of the week: “Aquatic Ambiance” from Donkey Kong Country
“DK Rap” — back in the news, with Donkey Kong 64‘s upcoming addition to Nintendo Classics — is probably the Donkey Kong series’ most famous contribution to game music culture, for better or worse. But let’s take the opportunity to remember a true DK music masterpiece — this ethereal synth track by David Wise. Wise told the New York Times it was inspired by a breakup, and took five weeks to compose. It was worth it.
This week’s most interesting releases
Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen
- Out now
- Switch, Switch 2
- This-one’s-good-actually licensed game for universally adored kids’ cartoon
Schrödinger’s Call
- Out now
- Switch
- Visual novel about listening to souls’ final words at the end of the world. Heavy!
Mina the Hollower
- May 29
- Switch, Switch 2
- Zelda-inspired retro masterpiece from creators of Shovel Knight
eFootball Kick-Off!
- June 3
- Switch 2
- Another attempt to restart Konami’s eternally flailing soccer sim
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
- June 3
- Switch 2
- Slick port of sprawling second part of immense RPG remake project