Following up on the massive success of Pokémon GO and the, well, slightly less massive success of Super Mario Run, Nintendo is reportedly planning a Legend of Zelda for smartphones for release later this year, or so The Wall St Journal’s sources have it.
Details beyond that are scarce; it would supposedly follow the release of the also-rumored Animal Crossing mobile game, presumably once everyone has played that into the ground.
How exactly they expect to represent the expansive exploring, puzzling and battling that have defined the series heretofore is unclear. Super Mario Run took a minimalist approach to controls, essentially reducing the platformer to a one-button game.
That would be rather difficult with the vastly more complex Zelda series — doubly so considering the improbably well-received Breath of the Wild was so vast and unrestricted. Whether the company would repeat its pricing strategy for Mario is also unknown; sales weren’t quite what it had hoped.
We’ll likely know more soon; Super Mario Run was announced three months ahead of its release. But if the timing hinted at by the WSJ’s sources is correct, we’ll hear about the Animal Crossing game first, though who knows when.