6 More Nintendo Series We Want to See Get Their Own Mobile Games

Mario Party

Mario Party is one of the go-to games you think of when trying to come up with party games, and for good reason. Each Mario Party game is jam-packed with fun little minigames, so much so that Nintendo is even releasing a 3DS game with the 100 best from the series. It’s for this reason that the series would be such a perfect fit for mobile, similar to other party games like the Jackbox Party Pack or Heads Up.

A mobile Mario Party could create entirely new minigames themed around mobile experiences, integrating features like the touch screen and gyroscope. It’d be an easy thing to set up too, just allowing four or maybe eight players to crowd around a table with their phones and play a match or two of Mario Party. Of course, you could also include an online mode to let people experience the game without having to meet up, but the real focus of Mario Party would be for, well, parties. Considering a big part of mobile gaming is follow-up support, something Nintendo’s done a good job of with Fire Emblem Heroes, there’s no reason you couldn’t periodically introduce new minigames or game modes after release. There’s been some fun mobile party games out there, but like Nintendo has done before, they could have a chance to do something entirely new on phones with Mario Party.

Pikmin

Pikmin is an absolute no-brainer for mobile phones, as the gameplay of the series is a direct fit for mobile – just look at how many RTS games there are on iOS and Android. Really, you could even put the next entry in the series, Pikmin 4, on mobile. Tell an original story of Olimar traveling to another planet, or make it about a new astronaut. The core mechanics of the Pikmin series would stay the same with different colored Pikmin, but it’d be incredibly simple to move the little guys around with the touch screen, using icons to select the different color groups. It’d work best if the game was played from a sort of top-down perspective.

As it would be a mobile game you could introduce base building elements, constructing different features and buildings as you go out on missions. This would be something similar to Mario Run, where you have a home area to build, with a mission structure, only Pikmin would be a little more story focused at the same time. 

Splatoon

Splatoon is one of Nintendo’s hottest properties right now especially in Japan, which plays a big part in the success of handheld gaming. It seems likely that at some point we’ll see Splatoon make its way to mobile, and when it does it should keep the ideas of its console counterpart alive. Honestly, a Splatoon mobile game might work best in a MOBA style. That’s not to say that Splatoon should go straight up MOBA, but do something similar.

The main focus of the game would still be on inking turf, but change the perspective from full 3D to a top-down style or side view. Giving you different abilities that you can put on cooldowns to help ink turf would work well, and you could have different zones protected by turrets that teams have to take down. Of course, part of the key of Splatoon is quick matches, and that would stay the same with the mobile game. It needs to be focused on moving quickly and doing as much as you can during a match. Adapting Splatoon’s gameplay to a MOBA style would work incredibly well, and although it’d be different, it’s certainly a way to bring Splatoon to mobile and keep the heart of the series.

Kid Icarus

Kid Icarus is one Nintendo series that hasn’t been the most active over the years. After the second game, Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters in 1991, we didn’t see a new entry until Kid Icarus Uprising in 2012. Uprising was wildly different, a combination of rail shooter and third-person action. Now it’s been five years since we last saw the series, and a smaller mobile game might be the perfect way to bring it back.

The rail shooter style would still work well on mobile, using the touch interface to fire on enemies that attack you. There could be an interface for moving Pit around as well, or simply move him along a track with the player touching on the screen to fire. Of course, this style would also work well for a mobile Star Fox, but at this point Kid Icarus might have more appeal for a mobile crowd. The best idea would be to make the game single-player focused with a one time purchase, like Mario Run. However, if you wanted to do some kind of stamina system with a mission structure you could go with that as well. There are some good examples of mobile shooters that give you full control of movement, but for Nintendo’s quality standards it’d definitely be easier to opt for the rail shooter style, filled with all the witty and hilarious writing that Kid Icarus Uprising featured.

WarioWare

WarioWare is probably the number one series that seems almost a little too perfect for mobile. This series is all about playing rapid fire minigames, most of which are incredibly strange and wacky. Each game has found a way to embrace its hardware, with the Wii title focused on motion controls, and the DS one making smart use of the touch screen. Obviously, mobile would be the perfect place for this, both as a single-player and party game.

The structure of the game could even be the same as past ones, with a few different story routes introducing different minigames themed around characters. Give users an option to free play mingames as they unlock them in the story, and an option to compete head-to-head with your friends locally. The touch interface of mobile phones and the gyroscope mean you could create the same type of minigames that we saw in the DS version, WarioWare: Touched. Just like with Mario Party you could do follow-up content in the way of new minigames, and small story routes with new characters. You could also integrate the game into Miitomo, gaining rewards for your Mii to war by completing objectives, and bringing your Mii into WarioWare as an avatar as well.

Punch-Out!!

Punch-Out!! is another series we haven’t seen in quite a while, although ARMS certainly has a few things in common with it. Still, Punch-Out could be a pretty unique experience on mobile, that emulates the older games while doing new things. The best way to translate Punch-Out onto phones would be to use touch controls focused on different sections of the screens. While playing a match you could hold the phone vertically and have three different sections of the screen. Touch the top for an upper punch, the middle for a middle punch, and the bottom for a lower punch. Of course, you could also do the same thing holding the phone horizontally, for a left, right, and middle punch. Then maybe use swipes to dodge or guard against punches.

Outside of the core gameplay, what would be really interesting is to give players a kind of customizable fighter option. Unlock different outfits, items, skins, and more by getting points or objectives. You could use a system similar to Orbs in Fire Emblem Heroes to unlock all of these different options, allowing players to earn them in-game or purchase with real money. While we’re bound to see Nintendo’s biggest and best series on mobile, with Zelda and Animal Crossing on the way, it’d be great to see a few older series return with a brand new style.