9 Nintendo Franchises we want to play on mobile

Animal Crossing

After a few hundred hours of playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf, I completed pretty much everything the game had to offer.  Attained the best possible house. Check. Fill the museum with displays. Check. Collect all of the rare items in the game. Check.  After a few months, I would spend around ten minutes a day doing basic town maintenance (acquiring bells, picking weeds and etc). The experience began feeling more and more fitting for a mobile device. While associating a full 3DS game to a mobile app is a telling sign that it’s about time to put the game away and go on to the next, this could also give Nintendo an opportune reason and incentive to port this beloved life-sim to the mobile platform.

Animal Crossing has so many features that can be easily adapted to mobile devices even if Nintendo doesn’t find the idea of developing an entire AC experience to the platform appealing or worth the time and effort. Town management, home decoration and even elements of the market district can make an easy transition from handheld to mobile devices.

Imagine being the mayor of a small village. Assigning houses, making sure the villagers are happy by funding new construction projects, stores, and festivals. Open up the app, walk through the town and plant some trees, flowers, grass wherever need be. Take care of the needs of the museum and micromanage finances over at Tom Nook’s store. These quick little minigames could add up to one whole and satisfying mobile experience in the end.

And what are mobile games without a few microtransactions, right? Nintendo could offer incentives for those willing to dish out a few extra bucks in exchange for more bells or to speed up the time it takes to build a store or construction project. Of course, it won’t be hindering major elements of the game but rather allow those impatient players the option to make their town a little bit more festive more quickly.

Animal Crossing is one of the few Nintendo franchises that would feel right at home on a mobile platform without anything being lost in the shuffle during the transition. Bored on the bus? Open up Animal Crossing Mobile and see what your villagers are up to at any time of the day. (Ryan Espinoza)

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9