The Legend of Zelda is reportedly going beyond Nintendo consoles — and PC, sort of — and heading to the mobile platform.
Just when things seem like they couldn't get any better, a new Pokémon card game is also said to land on smartphones here and there.
Legend Of Zelda Smartphone Game
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Nintendo and DeNA are expected to launch a Legend of Zelda smartphone game after the mobile version of Animal Crossing rolls out sometime in the second half of 2017.
It should be mentioned that Nintendo has said before that Animal Crossing was delayed and won't arrive to the mobile scene until April 2017 at the earliest, which didn't happen, and March 2018 at the latest.
At any rate, the main takeaway here is that no release date has been set in stone just yet for the two games' debut in the mobile space.
So far, it's unclear how the Legend of Zelda smartphone game will turn out, whether it'll stay true to the franchise's RPG style or feature an auto-battle gameplay where players only need to tap away — or anything else along those lines, for that matter.
Regarding price, there's no word about it either. For what it's worth, Super Mario Run launched as a free-to-play title with a one-time $10 payment option to unlock all the stages. Also, Fire Emblem Heroes came out free of charge but with microtransactions.
Nintendo could continue that free-to-download scheme, but no one can really say for sure at this point.
New Pokémon Card Game
The source that The Wall Street Journal got in touch with also said that The Pokémon Company will release a new Pokémon card game.
Not much to hash out on this front since details are currently scarce, just like the case with the Legend of Zelda smartphone game.
For the record, The Pokémon Company has already launched games for the mobile platform, such as Pokémon Duel and Pokémon TCG Online, not to mention there's also the widely popular Pokémon GO developed by Niantic Labs, which still has approximately 65 million active monthly players.
Nintendo Mobile Games
Nintendo began developing mobile games when it inked a deal with DeNA back in October 2015 after years of turning a blind eye to the platform.
It started with the social app Miitomo, which features the company's Mii characters. Afterward, it brought big franchise names to the mix, and today, the lineup includes Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, and various Pokémon games.
More than that, it plans to launch two to three mobile games a year, and Animal Crossing and Legend of Zelda are two of the titles expected to expand the roster.
Nintendo, DeNA, and The Pokémon Company all declined to comment when The Wall Street Journal asked for more information.
With everything cleared up, what do you think of a Legend of Zelda smartphone game? Feel free to drop by our comments section below and let us know.
