Nintendo may finally bring ‘The Legend of Zelda’ and ‘Donkey Kong’ to mobile

By Aaron Mamiit Published November 5, 2018

In a move that might finally bring two of the company’s most popular franchises to smartphones, the next Nintendo mobile games may be The Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong.

The arrival of the two franchises to mobile gaming was hinted at by trademarks that the company filed this month, Destructoid reported, citing Japanese Nintendo. The two trademarks are for The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Mario vs. Donkey Kong, filed as “program for home video game machine, downloadable video game program, and program for smartphone.”

Recommended Videos

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks was first released for the Nintendo DS in 2009, and rereleased for the Wii U Virtual Console in 2016. Mario Vs. Donkey Kong, meanwhile, first appeared on the Game Boy Advance in 2004, with subsequent versions gracing the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U.

Rumors of a The Legend of Zelda smartphone game have been making the rounds since last year, after the success of Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes. The report mentioned The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which is primarily controlled through the Nintendo DS stylus, as a possible inspiration for the mobile game.

New Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said earlier this year that he is planning to turn the company’s mobile gaming division into a nearly $1 billion business, after Fire Emblem Heroes made almost $300 million in its first year from microtransactions. The arrival of The Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong to smartphone games will definitely give the division a boost towards achieving that goal.

The trademark filings do not entirely confirm that The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Mario vs. Donkey Kong are indeed on the way to be released as mobile games. There is the possibility that The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will be repackaged for the Nintendo 3DS, while a new Mario Vs. Donkey Kong may be on its way to the Nintendo Switch.

However, with the trademark filings mentioning “program for smartphone,” fans of the two franchises are hoping that they will be the next Nintendo mobile games. The two titles may translate well to smartphones and tablets, and are good candidates to mark the arrival of The Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong to mobile.

Topics

Contributor

Aaron received an NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was four years old, and he has been fascinated…

Gaming

Nintendo’s next game is all about mastering NES classics

The physical version of Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition.

Nintendo has announced Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, a new game coming out this July that tests players' speedrunning skills in NES classics like Super Mario Bros. and Metroid.

A successor of sorts to the NES Remix games on Wii U and 3DS, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition draws its name from a gaming competition Nintendo held in 1990 and then briefly again in the 2010s. Its reveal trailer features previous Nintendo World Championship contestants musing about the event, only to learn that it's returning in video game form.

Gaming

The best horses in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

There are plenty of ways to roam the land of Hyrule in Breath of the Wild, but few are as well-developed as horse riding. Not only does the game let you tame a variety of horses found in the wild, but you can customize your horse by changing its saddle, bridle, and even its physical attributes. Toss in the ability to discover Malanya, the horse god, and there's a lot to unpack with this down-to-earth travel method.

However, not all horses are worth taming and adding to your stable. And since horse taming is a time-consuming task, it's important to know the best horses in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild so you don't waste your day chasing a steed that's not much faster than Link.

Gaming

The best Donkey Kong games of all time

best-single-player-nintendo-switch-games

While Mario has become the face of Nintendo, and perhaps video games as a whole, it's important to remember that it was in a Donkey Kong game that he really became an icon. Since then, our beloved ape has bounced between being friend and foe of the plumber, as well as broken free to star in his own series of games with an expanded cast of friends and enemies. It's been a long time since we've been graced with one of his banana-fueled adventures, so we decided this was as good a time as any to look back at Dinkey Kong's legacy and decide which of his many solo efforts stand as the best.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze