Mario, Zelda and Pokémon Reportedly Appearing on the NX Within Six Months of Launch

In addition to the already announced Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nintendo’s next console, the NX, will have both a Mario and a Pokémon game released within six months of the console’s launch next March, MCV’s sources say. MCV describes them as “sources close to Nintendo,” but they remain anonymous, so this should be taken with a grain of salt,

However, this would not be surprising, as Nintendo definitely needs more than just Zelda to sell the NX. The sources say that Nintendo “is determined that NX will not suffer the same slow start as either the Wii U or 3DS,” which were both marred with lackluster launch lineups. Nintendo was able to turn the 3DS around with many great games, but the perception that the Wii U had few, if any, worthwhile games persists to this day, even if it’s not true.

MCV’s sources also confirmed last week’s leak that the NX would be portable with the ability to dock and display on a TV screen is “100 percent accurate.” As the console is portable, the graphics capability is reportedly “somewhere between a PS3 and PS4.”

Perhaps the most interesting revelation concerns Nintendo’s strategy with the NX. Nintendo is apparently not targeting PS4 and Xbox One owners but rather the smartphone crowd. “It won’t appeal to PS4 fans. Nintendo seems set on trying to upgrade smartphone gamers. That’s going to be a big job for the marketing department,” one source who had hands-on time with the NX said.

Nintendo has always marketed themselves more as the family console than Sony or Microsoft. Nowadays, though, a kid’s first gaming platform is almost always a smartphone or tablet. Nintendo will definitely have to work if they want to appeal to that crowd and to convince people that the NX is worth having and carrying around as opposed to a smartphone.