Q10 For the smart device business, can you tell us why Super Mario Run will be released earlier than Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem, which were announced at the start of this fiscal year?
Also, have there been any changes to your mid- to long-term direction for the smart device
business due to the success of Pokémon GO?

A10 Kimishima:
At the start of this fiscal year, we had announced that we would be releasing around five applications for smart devices by the end of March 2017, including Miitomo. Super Mario Run was one of these titles. After that, it became clear that development had proceeded to the point that we would be able to release it this year, and we reconsidered the order of release.
Among other factors, we saw how well-received Pokémon GO was and determined that it would be best to release a Mario-related title ahead of the other titles. In the past, it was not entirely clear what kind of impact the smart device business would have on our existing business, so we were pleased to see Pokémon GO generate the kind of synergetic effect on packaged software that we had expected. Due to this consequence, we want to strengthen our development framework for smart device titles going forward. As for the basis of our smart device business strategy, we continue to hold to the three tenets I discussed in my presentation* today.
*(See page 11 of the “Presentation by the President” in the Semi-Annual Financial Results Briefing.)

Q11 Why did you decide to launch the Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition as a new hardware system instead of as Virtual Console titles? Also, how is the Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition positioned in your business strategy against your other hardware, such as Nintendo 2DS and Nintendo Switch?

A11 Kimishima:
I had heard of many cases, particularly in the U.S. and Europe, where fans who had played on
Nintendo systems 30 years ago still had the system and were playing it with their children to show them how much fun it was. We have also been aware of the strong desire for some of our past hardware to be rereleased. We decided to launch the Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition in order to meet this demand and to provide a chance for fans who didnʼt andeady own the system to play our past games and share the experience with their children. In addition, we felt that providing a chance to play this system again would rekindle an interest in Nintendoʼs game systems. We are expecting that these consumers will wonder what kind of fun new experiences we will bring to Nintendo Switch and give the new system a try. At first, we thought that the Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition would mainly appeal to a limited age demographic, but we had a massive response to the announcement of this system and want to thank our fans for their support.

Q12 You have confirmed that you are planning to ship two million hardware units for Nintendo Switch (during this fiscal year). Was this the same number planned by the company as of the time when you came up with your original financial forecast? If you have changed the number, what was the reason? What is the rationale behind this two million unit figure, anyway?

A12 Kimishima:
The 2 million hardware unit shipment forecast that we have just announced for Nintendo
Switch was the same number we originally planned on (internally at the company) when we
publicly announced the annual financial forecast earlier this year. In the case of Wii U, we launched it in November, and we shipped slightly less than 3.5 million hardware units by the end of the same fiscal year. In the case of Nintendo Switch, on the other hand, as we had already announced when we made the original annual financial forecast, we will launch it in March, the final month of the fiscal year. The fact that we can only ship for one month during this fiscal year was part of the background for determining the annual shipment number.
Please also be advised that we have been preparing for a possible increase in demand as a result of the presentation and the hands-on experiences next January.

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At the start of this fiscal year, we had announced that we would be releasing around five applications for smart devices by the end of March 2017, including Miitomo. Super Mario Run was one of these titles. After that, it became clear that development had proceeded to the point that we would be able to release it this year, and we reconsidered the order of release.
Among other factors, we saw how well-received Pokémon GO was and determined that it would be best to release a Mario-related title ahead of the other titles. In the past, it was not entirely clear what kind of impact the smart device business would have on our existing business, so we were pleased to see Pokémon GO generate the kind of synergetic effect on packaged software that we had expected. Due to this consequence, we want to strengthen our development framework for smart device titles going forward. As for the basis of our smart device business strategy, we continue to hold to the three tenets I discussed in my presentation* today.
*(See page 11 of the “Presentation by the President” in the Semi-Annual Financial Results Briefing.)

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heringer said:

Could that mean Mario Switch is a launch title (or launch window at worst)? They would be in a hurry with Super Mario Run so Mario Switch can quickly ride in the wave.

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heringer said:

Could that mean Mario Switch is a launch title (or launch window at worst)? They would be in a hurry with Super Mario Run so Mario Switch can quickly ride in the wave.

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oti xero said:

Wondering if there will be anything Zelda related on Mobile for BoTW release.

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heringer said:

Could that mean Mario Switch is a launch title (or launch window at worst)? They would be in a hurry with Super Mario Run so Mario Switch can quickly ride in the wave.

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Sir_Crocodile said:

No silly questions?

Doesn't sound like a nintendo q&a to me

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Sir_Crocodile said:

No silly questions?

Doesn't sound like a nintendo q&a to me

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Q5 Can you tell me about any plans to release Super Mario Run on iOS or Android in China?

A5 Kimishima:
We have not yet determined if this title will be released in China. We are not ruling out the possibility, but currently we have not made any decisions as to when and how this might occur.

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ASIS said:

I think all the games revealed on the trailer will be launch titles. I think that's a given.

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ahkdigital said:

"In this situation, I think we have to take inspiration from our new system and
“switch” these trends to a more favorable direction."

Oh, Kimishima!

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Dmax3901 said:

Some pretty good questions, but that may just be because there's a lot more exciting stuff happening with Nintendo compared to the last few Q & A's.

In general it sounds like they're paying attention to their fans and to the mistakes they made with the Wii U.

Also some interesting stuff there about the Switch, Kimishima seems to be saying "you ain't seen nothing yet" in some of his answers. Hopefully it's not all bs.

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heringer said:

Could that mean Mario Switch is a launch title (or launch window at worst)? They would be in a hurry with Super Mario Run so Mario Switch can quickly ride in the wave.

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Skittzo0413 said:

Sure seems like it to me. Mario Run launches in mid December, right? Not long after that Nintendo could show Mario Switch (probably a 2D game actually) at the January presentation, while Mario Run still has some mindshare.

I doubt this will be the Mario game we saw in the trailer, since the general 2D Mario audience doesn't often care about 3D Mario games.

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AntMurda said:

It's evident that they positioned Super Mario Maker for 3DS to launch right after. That's the game.

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Skittzo0413 said:

It could also indicate that a Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing game is planned for the Switch launch period, since those mobile games are still scheduled for early next year.

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ggx2ac said:

Again, I doubt that. I don't think there is a new Fire Emblem game ready for Switch in 2017 unless they went and remastered an old game from the series. (Hopefully from the SNES games. Although it would probably be the Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn games since those are already in 3D.)

Animal Crossing is possible since they have those Wii U assets, it's just they also added that huge update to the 3DS game which is having the Nintendo Direct within the next 24 hours. Most likely the mobile users would go buy and Animal Crossing New Leaf.

Anyway, I don't think Fire Emblem or Animal Crossing will appear at launch. Maybe within 2017 at the very least.

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Skittzo0413 said:

Right, I said launch period, which Nintendo apparently defines as 6-8 months within the launch date.

I'm really just basing this on what Kimishima has been constantly saying about their mobile games initiative almost every time it's brought up, which is that the #1 purpose of their mobile games is to expose people to those IP and encourage sales of relevant software and hardware on their dedicated platform (Switch going forward). I guess they can still get some mileage out of the 3DS with Mario Maker but beyond that I'm expecting every mobile game to have a relevant Switch entry within several months of launch (not necessarily a new game, could just be a remaster/port).

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oti xero said:

Thought of that as well otherwise it wouldn't make much sense. Unless their thinking is "Nintendo is trendy right now, let's use this by releasing THE Nintendo character first". I think that makes sense. Animal Crossing and FE are huge in Japan but not the same in the West. And of course Mario overshadows them all.

Wondering if there will be anything Zelda related on Mobile for BoTW release.

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ASIS said:

I think all the games revealed on the trailer will be launch titles. I think that's a given.

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ggx2ac said:

Nah, I think the Mario title shown will release by the holidays from November. Eurogamer mentioned how the Mario footage shown at the trailer wasn't actually running well during September and was one of the reasons supposedly for why the Switch wasn't revealed in September.

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Skittzo0413 said:

Sure seems like it to me. Mario Run launches in mid December, right? Not long after that Nintendo could show Mario Switch (probably a 2D game actually) at the January presentation, while Mario Run still has some mindshare.

I doubt this will be the Mario game we saw in the trailer, since the general 2D Mario audience doesn't often care about 3D Mario games.

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Skittzo0413 said:

Well that comes out December 2nd. I guess that could be the plan, though I'd have to imagine there is some sort of Mario game at Switch launch announced in January to continue riding that wave.

It could also indicate that a Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing game is planned for the Switch launch period, since those mobile games are still scheduled for early next year.

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maxcriden said:

I do think a 2D Mario game at launch/launch window is likely in this scenario as you describe. I hadn't previously given it much thought honestly because I imagined after the somewhat meh response to NSMB2/U that it wouldn't behoove Nintendo to launch Mario at or near launch, but in the context of mobile success positioning it does make sense. I wonder then if they will still differentiate the next 2D Mario as they'd previously hinted they would. The games need a new take or style to them but with NSMBU as the face of SMR, I wonder if they will go for something much different after all.

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maxcriden said:

In addition to what ggx2ac mentioned above, the other reason the 3D Mario game wouldn't be expected at launch is that Miyamoto-san originally hinted at E3 this year that we may not even see the game until E3 next year. It's possible the timetable for completion of development was moved up -- certainly it seems the reveal may have been, though who knows if Miyamoto always planned to show it earlier and was just being intentionally misleading -- but even if so, it sounds like it wasn't going to release before Fall 2017 if he wasn't being too misleading overall, and as such I think it seems less likely it would be moved all the way up to March.


I do think a 2D Mario game at launch/launch window is likely in this scenario as you describe. I hadn't previously given it much thought honestly because I imagined after the somewhat meh response to NSMB2/U that it wouldn't behoove Nintendo to launch Mario at or near launch, but in the context of mobile success positioning it does make sense. I wonder then if they will still differentiate the next 2D Mario as they'd previously hinted they would. The games need a new take or style to them but with NSMBU as the face of SMR, I wonder if they will go for something much different after all.

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ggx2ac said:

I was going to say a port of Super Mario Maker for Switch but I'd want a sequel seeing as I'd like new features like stages being vertical rather than horizontal and Super Mario Bros 2 assets.

Assuming Tezuka moved onto a 2D Mario right after Super Mario Maker launched I don't think it'd be ready for Switch at launch. I remember he mentioned at an interview (paraphrased in my own words) how he wanted to innovate on the gameplay of 2D Mario to make something new seeing as how Super Mario Maker now exists.

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Skittzo0413 said:

I believe as Mario Maker was coming out they had said they would be doing something very different for the future of the 2D Mario series. I would not be at all surprised to see whatever new 2D Mario they may have been referring to at the Switch presentation, but I'm very hopeful that it is indeed quite different. The NSMB aesthetic needs to go away.

As for 3D Mario, I wouldn't necessarily take Miyamoto's words as a confirmation that it's not ready. Often times Nintendo people can be coy about games that are already in production. But I definitely wouldn't expect it at the Switch launch because I fully expect BotW to be there, and they don't need to have those two games competing. I could easily see Holiday 2017 though.

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Anth0ny said:

Man, they sound so clueless about the appeal of the NES Classic. You can tell it was an idea pitched from NOA and was a struggle to convince the brass over in Japan to green-light.

Such a money idea. Would be a huge missed opportunity if they don't do this with all of their legacy hardware.

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