作者：Joe Jasko

在最近的经济困境间，任天堂正处于一种重要的过度状态，或者就像别人所说的那样，处于一种混乱的状态。所以为了帮助自己逃离这种状况，任天堂开始逐渐研究产业中的其它领域，包括平板电脑和智能手机游戏开发的潜能：这是如今大多数手机游戏玩家最渴望看到的。

也许是因为它们明亮且多彩的世界，或者其古怪的角色和让人愉快的故事，人们普遍认为任天堂游戏能够与手机游戏有效共存。但是我却不大确定。

上次我们在“Will they, won’t they?”活动中听到，任天堂再一次重申他们下一步并不会制作自己的手机游戏（但仍会面向一些特定的游戏演示使用这一平台）。然而，他们最近也宣称想要开始授权任天堂一些最大型的电子游戏属性给外部公司，除了试验一些基于我们现在在iOS或Android平台上所采取的方法相同的操作系统外。当然，也有传闻在任天堂制作的Android平板电脑上将会出现教育类的《马里奥》游戏。

Nintendo games（from gamezebo）

正如你所看到的，你的想法可能和我是一样的，即关于任天堂是否真的想要涉及手机游戏业务。在某种程度上，我们不能责备任天堂的犹豫：平板电脑和智能手机上的AAA级任天堂游戏的稳定流可能会破坏它们自己的3DS市场，这是现在能够将该公司从日益惨烈的Wii U销量中拯救出来的少数方法之一。除此之外，Wii U也仍只依赖于第一方发行。如果任天堂能够合理分割资源并开始创造手机游戏，那么在2015年之后，其游戏阵容将变得多小呢？

让我们假设在今年年末他们将开始制作手机游戏：这是作为任天堂粉丝的我们想要看到的吗？当然，我将第一个告诉你，我很高兴加入欢呼的行列，但如果你不再这么想，那么手机上的任天堂游戏的真正现实将可能与我们理想中的0.99美元《宠物小精灵》游戏具有很大的差别（游戏邦注：尽管现在许多第三方NES和GameBoy模拟器已经能够用于Android设备上）。

如果说现在的任天堂所面临的情况是什么，那便是这家电子游戏公司似乎总是落在时代背后几步。现在的他们只推出了第一款HD游戏主机，甚至这台主机还不能播放DVD。虽然在过去几年里他们的数字eShop得到了很大的完善，但从整体上看来却仍很简陋，他们也才刚开始试验像完整的零售游戏下载和DLC等内容。

super mario（from gamezebo）

所以如果任天堂在2014年开始制作手机游戏，那么很有可能他们所创造出来的内容会较为陈旧。他们可能会坚持那些经过证明能够取得成功的游戏类型，所以我敢打赌在看到完整的《超级马里奥世界》前他们将采取与《Super Mario Runner》或《The Legend of Zelda: Rupee Crush Saga 》一样的方法。当然，我认为现在的eShop上还有些游戏非常适合手机移植，就像最近发行的《NES Remix》。当然，价格是他们需要先解决的一个问题。

我想全新的任天堂手机游戏定价将在14.99美元以上，就像在eShop上所看到的那样，但就手机产业而言这与100美元无异了。他们可以选择走免费道路，我们暂时不清楚任天堂将如何试验这种方法。我们已经看到了许多开发者因为过度使用免费策略而破坏了游戏经典，就像上个月的《幻想传奇》（我们也不能忘记公众最近对于EA重新启动的《地下城守护者》的公开叫价）。你是否能够想象在《塞尔达传说》中花0.99美元去换得额外的一些卢比，或者花2.99美元去升级你的炸弹包？

sony（from gamezebo）

我认为需要提及的另外一点便是，为什么我们觉得任天堂最需要做的便是制作手机游戏。毕竟，索尼最近已经创造了自己的手机游戏去推动一些专有的PlayStation游戏的发展，如《瑞奇与叮当：连接之前》，而《Candy Crush》则打败了《Knack’s Quest》，你并未看到任何人继续玩这些游戏，是吧？谁能保证任天堂在手机平台上的尝试结果会有所不同呢？

我希望任天堂能够在手机设备上创造一些独立的应用，而不是完整的游戏：就像3DS上的《Pokédex》应用，或本周刚出现于手持系统上的《Pokémon Bank》。考虑到任天堂的历史以及手机游戏的发展趋势，我并未看到其它方式能够帮助他们更有效地向前发展。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Why Nintendo making mobile games is a bad ideai

By Joe Jasko

In the midst of their recent financial woes, Nintendo is currently looking at a great state of transition, or as others might even call it, a great state of turmoil. So to help get themselves out of this rut, the Mushroom Kingdom creators have been slowly investigating other areas of the industry, including the potential of game development on tablets and smartphones: something that most mobile gamers have been dying to hear for quite a while now.

Maybe it’s because of their bright and colorful worlds, or their quirky characters and lighthearted stories, but the general consensus has been that Nintendo games would just go hand-in-hand with the nature of mobile gaming. Well I’m not so sure.

The last time we heard from the “Will they, won’t they?” campaign, Nintendo has reiterated once again that the company will NOT be making their own mobile games going forward (but might still use the platform for certain kinds of game demos). However, they also recently announced their intentions to begin licensing some of Nintendo’s biggest video game properties to outside parties, in addition to experimenting with a new operating system that would function in a similar way to what we have now with iOS or Android. And then of course, there’s the whole spiel on potentially making educational Mario games on a Nintendo-manufactured Android tablet.

So as you can see, your guess is as good as mine right now as to whether or not Nintendo will ever actually dip their toes into the mobile games business. In a way, you can’t really blame the Big N’s hesitation: a steady stream of AAA-quality Nintendo games on tablets and smartphones would most likely damage their very own 3DS market, which is one of the only things saving the company right now from consistently dire Wii U sales. And beyond that point, the Wii U is still hurting for good first-party releases as it stands. If Nintendo split their resources to start making mobile games, who knows how slim that game lineup would look in 2015 and beyond?

But let’s say they did eventually decide to start making mobile games by the end of this year: is that something that we, as Nintendo fans, would really even want? Sure, I’ll be the first to tell you that I’ve happily joined in on the excited clamor of “OMG Pokémon on iPad plz!” but if you stop to think about it, the actual reality of Nintendo games on mobile would likely be vastly different than our idealistic expectations of a $0.99 Pokémon game (despite the many third-party NES and GameBoy emulators that are currently available on Android today).

If there’s one critical thing we can say about Nintendo right now, it’s that the video game company always seems to be a few steps behind the times. They’ve just now put out their first HD game console, and the thing isn’t even capable of playing DVDs. For as much as their digital eShop has improved over the years, it’s still a little rough around the edges, and they’ve only just now begun experimenting with things like full retail game downloads and DLC. And don’t even get me started on their use of those things they call Friend Codes…

So if Nintendo made a mobile game in 2014, the odds are that it would probably be a little bit archaic. They would also probably adhere to the genres that have already proven successful for the platform thus far, so I’d put my money on seeing a Super Mario Runner or The Legend of Zelda: Rupee Crush Saga way before we get a full-fledged Super Mario World. Granted though, there are still some games on the eShop right now that I think could be a great fit for a mobile port, like the recently released NES Remix. But then, of course, there is the issue of pricing.

I would imagine that most new Nintendo games on mobile would be aggressively priced at $14.99 and above, as they are for the most part on the eShop, which might as well be $100 as far as the mobile industry is concerned. The alternative is going the free-to-play route, and we have no idea how Nintendo would even go about experimenting with something like that. We’ve already seen how developers can overuse free-to-play tactics to ruin an old gaming classic with last month’s Tales of Phantasia (and we can’t forget about the public outcry over EA’s recent handling of the Dungeon Keeper reboot). Can you imagine paying $0.99 in The Legend of Zelda for an extra handful of rupees, or $2.99 to upgrade you bomb bag? I can almost see the angry pitchforks and torches as I type this.

Another point I think is important to raise is why we feel the need for Nintendo to make mobile games in the first place. After all, Sony has been making their own mobile games lately to help promote a few exclusive PlayStation titles, like the mediocre endless runner Ratchet and Clank: Before the Nexus and the Candy Crush knock-off Knack’s Quest, and you don’t see anyone going on about those games, do you? Who’s to say that Nintendo’s experience on mobile would turn out any different?

My best bet (and hope) is that Nintendo will make some standalone apps on mobile devices, rather than full-fledged games: kind of like the Pokédex app on the 3DS, or the Pokémon Bank that just debuted on the handheld system this week. Given Nintendo’s history and the current trends of mobile gaming, I don’t see any other way to make it all run smoothly. But now we want to hear what you think about the topic! Do you still want to see legit Nintendo games turn up on mobile platforms? Or do you think it’s probably best if Nintendo and mobile just remain minor acquaintances?(source:gamezebo)