Nintendo teases Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem coming to mobile

Animal Crossing

Nintendo last year announced the company's plans to release 5 mobile titles before the end of 2017. The first title Miitomo was released in March to mixed reviews. Some found the social networking game to be addicting, while others were disappointed it wasn't a more classic Nintendo title starring a well known character, such as Mario. On Wednesday, the video game company gave the fans their wish by tweeting, "more #Nintendo apps are coming to smart devices, including Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing!"

While Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing aren't huge Nintendo properties, the tweet has made some fans hopeful they will get an actual game, and not another communication app.

Nintendo Tweet

Animal Crossing is a lot like the other mobile building titles that already populate the App Store. In the game players manage a village populated with anthropomorphic animals, and must perform tasks like fishing and planting plants. The game features open-ended gameplay, meaning there is no final goal, and it is played in real time.

Some players are worried that Nintendo will take a page from EA and fill the game with unnecessary timers and over-the-top IAPs, which will ruin the franchise. Nintendo hasn't revealed many details about the mobile version, including how they plan to monetize the game. The video game company has hinted that their mobile titles are being released to help bridge the gap from mobile to console, and help push their handheld Nintendo 3DS. Perhaps they will only charge a premium fee and rely on the mobile version to help sell more Nintendo products.

Nintendo could also use their mobile titles to help push their popular amiibo toys. The company has an entire line of Animal Crossing amiibos available. These could be used like the Angry Bird telepods to allow players to physically interact with the game and transfer game data from the mobile version to 3DS version.

Fire Emblem is tactical RPG and another popular 3DS game. It looks like Nintendo is selecting titles from its catalog that will easily translate to mobile gaming, instead of releasing the Mario side-scroller everyone is clamoring for.

It will be interesting to see how Nintendo ports both Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem to mobile devices. Both games are geared towards very different audiences, and both could benefit or burn based on how Nintendo plans to monetize them.