While Nintendo Co., Ltd. may be known for trying out new innovations in peripherals and game hardware, the Japanese game company has been reluctant to pick up the latest gaming frontier: phone and tablet games. Rumors had been going around some time ago that Nintendo could be considering the phone and tablet market. But while other game studios, such as Electronic Arts, Inc. and Activision Blizzard, Inc., have already created their own successful mobile game franchises, Nintendo has been holding back.

But despite its notorious aversion to creating Nintendo games for non-Nintendo systems, the company has finally relented and announced a new partnership with DeNA Co., Ltd., a publisher of mobile free to play games, that will take it into the mobile game market.

During a press conference, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said that Nintendo had been considering creating smartphone and tablet games as early as 2010, but the company had instead chosen to focus on its own handheld systems at the time. Now, however, Nintendo feels that it is the right time to enter the increasingly crowded arena of mobile games.

“All Nintendo IP will be eligible for development”

Amidst all of the business-speak in the official press release, one statement stands out: “In order to create completely new game experiences for smart devices, all Nintendo IP will be eligible for development and exploration by the alliance.”

In other words, the new mobile games will not be limited to second-string Nintendo characters (I’m looking at you, Mr. Game & Watch), but instead can include big name characters like Link, Samus, and even Mario.

Nintendo has traditionally been at the head of its class when it comes to the handheld game market, and it has remained there despite attempts by The Sega Corp., Nokia Oyj, Sony Corp. and others to dethrone it. But the smartphone market is a new environment for Nintendo, one that already has its own established studios with top-selling games.

But with the popularity of Nintendo’s first-party titles, it is hard to imagine that the game maker will not find itself in a good position in the mobile market despite its inexperience with the smartphone and tablet platform.

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