Zelda On Your Smartphone: Exploring the Possibilities

Nintendo has become increasingly serious about its smartphone offering ever since its debut app Miitomo launched in 2016. Though Miitomo proved to be a flash in the pan (fading quickly from app store charts shortly after a strong release), subsequent apps based on Nintendo’s Mario and Fire Emblem franchises have shown that Nintendo apps, while still not the biggest smash hits in the app store, have legitimate legs. Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes, along with Miitomo, combined to net Nintendo $176.4 million in income for fiscal 2017. While this is far from Nintendo’s predominant money maker, it’s nothing to sneeze at, and it’s growing.

The time seems right, then, to take things up a notch, and what better means of doing so than preparing a mobile Legend of Zelda? For years I feared how the franchise might flounder on smartphones and hoped it wouldn’t happen, but in the wake of Breath of the Wild’s immense success and a console landscape that now lacks dedicated portable and home console devices (thanks to Switch’s hybrid nature), suddenly the idea of mobile Zelda makes a lot more sense. It’s also been reported to be officially happening, which means you’re probably getting Zelda on your phone whether you like it or not.

There are a number of approaches Nintendo can take with this, both from a revenue perspective and a conceptual Zelda perspective (design, game mechanics, etc). I’ve outline some options below, but there are surely dozens more.

Charge a Flat Rate for Classic, Top-Down Zelda Read more on GameRevolution.com