Mario is coming to mobile as Nintendo partners with DeNA on smartphone games

DeNA, the powerful mobile game developer behind titles like Final Fantasy, Blood Brothers, Transformers and so on, will be partnering with Nintendo to bring its classics to mobile platforms.

Previously, the CEO and president of Nintendo Satoru Iwata, confirmed that the company is considering the release of an official mobile application for the company's services.

It was not intended to be mobile versions of Nintendo's popular games, but rather something similar to Sony's PlayStation or Valve's Steam apps, that serve as a gateway to their respective gaming universes from your mobile device.

Mr Iwata's reasoning for that was that "When you adapt too much, you lose what's unique about you," he mentioned, though saying that Nintendo doesn't specifically restrict its developers from creating mobile games with its popular characters.

"leveraging the strength of Nintendo's intellectual property (IP) and game development skills in combination with DeNA's world-class expertise in mobile games, both companies will develop and operate new game apps based on Nintendo's IP, including its iconic game characters, for smart devices."

The new games won't be direct Mario ports, though, but rather titles built from the ground up with mobile in mind, based on popular Nintendo characters and a membership service that has its roots in Nintendo's ecosystem will be created by this fall. As for what game titles and when will they appear for mobile, the partnership said to expect more news soon.

Press Release

source - DeNA