Pokemon Company CEO reveals Nintendo NX will be console/mobile hybrid

It looks like all previous reports surrounding the Nintendo NX are holding true as The Pokemon Company's CEO has revealed we should expect a console/mobile hybrid when the console debuts.

32

We heard reports just last month which point to new The Legend of Zelda, Mario, and Pokemon games will release within six months of the Nintendo NX’s release. But today, The Pokemon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara not only confirmed there will be Pokemon games on the upcoming console, but gave some additional details as to what kind of product it will be.

Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Ishihara-san described the Nintendo NX as “trying to change the concept of what it means to be a home console device or a hand-held device.”

Considering all we’ve heard about the Nintendo NX, such as it being a mobile-console hybrid, its detachable controllers, and it being compatible with its line of smartphone games, it appears Ishihara-san’s comments appear to hold water.

Reports of the NX possibly using cartridges instead of discs give even more credence to his statements as a mobile-console hybrid would benefit the most from this type of media.

With reports circulating Nintendo may reveal the NX in October 2016, we could soon finally learn what Nintendo has up its sleeve.

Senior Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 20, 2016 7:20 AM

    Daniel Perez posted a new article, Pokemon Company CEO reveals Nintendo NX will be console/mobile hybrid

    • reply
      September 20, 2016 8:34 AM

      JUST FUCKING SHOW IT ALREADY!!

      • reply
        September 20, 2016 9:54 AM

        yah agreed.. I'm kinda getting the feeling this thing will basically be a WiiU but portable.

    • reply
      September 20, 2016 8:40 AM

      Hopefully it doesn't carry on their handheld/mobile legacy of being a non-ergonomic hand destroyer.

      • reply
        September 20, 2016 9:28 AM

        If it is going to have the detachable controller bits I am sure there will be 100 different third party versions.

    • reply
      September 20, 2016 9:04 AM

      Can they just show the shit already?

    • reply
      September 20, 2016 9:16 AM

      To the surprise of absolutely no one

    • reply
      September 20, 2016 9:17 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        September 20, 2016 9:32 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        September 20, 2016 9:39 AM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          September 20, 2016 11:19 AM

          Yeah. Seems to me it will be the inverse of the WiiU where the tablet is the actual system and there's a base station you leave connected to your TV.

      • reply
        September 20, 2016 10:13 AM

        i actually think it might be an andriod tablet running a custom Nintendo OS

        • reply
          September 20, 2016 11:12 AM

          That's possible if the other rumor about why Nvidia skipped a chip release round turns out to be because of this. They'd already have a leg up on working with Android on their chips.

      • reply
        September 20, 2016 10:15 AM

        Wouldn't really make sense for them to be making an iPhone game as well then.

      • reply
        September 20, 2016 10:16 AM

        It's probably some kind of meat and cheese platter.

      • reply
        September 20, 2016 10:40 AM

        I doubt it. Are people going to want to have to connect their phone to the TV so family can play games?

        • reply
          September 20, 2016 4:38 PM

          I did that with a Bluetooth controller app and emulators like 5 years ago.

          • reply
            September 20, 2016 4:42 PM

            Sure, me too but say you have kids and they want to play on it but it's your phone?

            Let's say you're like any human, you want text messages popping up on the TV?

            I'm drunk and these two occur to me. I'm sure there's plenty of other problems, and lets say that most if not all can be solved with smart software design, do you think Nintendo can do that? These guys are only a couple years from using friend codes.

            • reply
              September 20, 2016 8:41 PM

              I don't think it's going to be a phone, otherwise they wouldn't be making iPhone games. But it's not too far outside the realm of possibility.

      • reply
        September 20, 2016 10:45 AM

        Look how well Ngate worked

      • reply
        September 20, 2016 4:27 PM

        [deleted]

    • reply
      September 20, 2016 9:18 AM

      Yep.

    • reply
      September 20, 2016 9:24 AM

      A bunch of European retailers are headed to Nintendo HQ today and apparently signed some hefty NDAs/. And developers are starting to talk about signing NDA's. Hopefully the rumors of a Sept 23rd reveal are true.

      • reply
        September 20, 2016 11:13 AM

        You'd hope developers have already been working on this for a while, not just now. That would suggest there's little chance for 3rd party launch titles.

        • reply
          September 20, 2016 11:43 AM

          It's a Nintendo system, who cares about 3rd party titles? Give me Mario and Zelda and I'll be happy. Throw in Metroid and me love you long time.

          • reply
            September 20, 2016 11:55 AM

            consumers seem to have spoken pretty clearly with the Wii U that Nintendo titles are not enough anymore

            • reply
              September 20, 2016 12:01 PM

              this - I use to buy nintendo hardware just to play metriod games - i wont every do that again

              • reply
                September 20, 2016 1:37 PM

                yeah, Nintendo's relative value/quality has gone down over time as the rest of the industry has caught up and Nintendo has refused to play in increasingly popular spaces (FPS, 3rd person shooter, online mp, etc). You're making a significant trade off buying a Nintendo console now and giving up access to the best versions of EA sports, CoD, etc.

              • reply
                September 20, 2016 2:50 PM

                As I argued to Serpico or Craddock, if you want more Metroids, Nintendo needs more Maddens.

                • reply
                  September 20, 2016 4:34 PM

                  If you want more Metroids then fans need to buy Metroid.

                  Splatoon, a game on a system with only 13 million units sold, outsold every individual Metroid game by more than double with 5 million sold. The only games that sold more were Smash 4 and Mario Kart 8.

                  That's huge and its what the market cares about. Metroid has its fans but even under the best circumstances it can't clear 3 million, let alone the 1.5 million Metroid Prime 3 sold on the Wii. By comparison Donkey Kong Country Returns sold like 7 million.

                  I love Metroid but its the closest thing Nintendo has to a niche franchise.

                  • reply
                    September 20, 2016 4:38 PM

                    Oh I wasn't talking about Metroid, literally. Sorry. I meant Nintendo first-party games, in general. Including the niche ones.

                    • reply
                      September 20, 2016 4:52 PM

                      Sure, I don't disagree. Its a bit of a chicken and the egg problem though, one that's probably solved by just selling a lot of units. Wii U had a very poor first year of first party games on top of awful marketing and messaging. The system didn't come into its own until 2014, by then it was amazing but it was too late.

                      Wii U had a decent lineup of third party launch games, it was mostly third party, but that evaporated once the system bombed. If Nintendo has a strong NX launch then third party should follow, like what happened with the DS, Wii, and 3DS.

                      3DS is a weird case btw, it had a TERRIBLE launch and terrible first version hardware, but somehow it ended up doing really well once the library picked up. Wii U's library is even stronger but it never recovered in the same way. People love handhelds and Pokémon I guess.

                      • reply
                        September 20, 2016 5:00 PM

                        you're going to struggle to get 3rd party ports if your hardware strategy makes ports from the competition impossible. The hardware unit sales necessary to justify a Wii U port go way up when a Wii U port is actually a Wii U exclusive version with meaningful differences to accommodate the change in power levels.

                        What happened with the DS, Wii and 3DS is their unit sale lead was so enormous that 3rd party exclusives, not ports, were justifiable (ex Madden on Wii wasn't a port, it was a completely different game, and handhelds obviously weren't competing for PSP ports). If your strategy falls apart without market dominance you've got a rough ride ahead of you.

                        • reply
                          September 20, 2016 5:20 PM

                          Yup, and I'm sure they're completely aware of this. Not deciding to make a shitty PC and instead playing to their strengths is clearly what they're going to do and I'm not convinced its a losing strategy. At worst I still prefer not having a three way race to see who can make another generic box that's ostensibly about power, except, you know, shitty PC.

                          Apple didn't become a giant trying to take on Microsoft over the desktop, they knew that was a lost fight. Playing to their strengths and targeting a different and underserved market worked well for them. Nintendo doing the same thing by running with their dominance in handheld and combining the best game studios onto one platform instead of splitting them between two could do the trick.

                          Price will also be very important. The thing the most popular systems had in common were price. The 360 had its early lead because of price. The PS4 crushed the XB1 based on price. The Wii was huge partly because of price. The 3DS was big, again, because of price. If Nintendo can nail price and launch library with the NX then that will be very good for them. Its also a possible opportunity if systems like Scorpio end up being expensive.

                          I'm really surprised at how little price is talked about given that there's so much correlation there.

                          • reply
                            September 20, 2016 5:36 PM

                            I certainly talk about price all the time. Nintendo's current console strategy necessitates not just a low price but a price that makes it palatable as a second console. That's what the Wii hit. That's what the Wii U didn't hit. If they insist on failing to serve the core gamer market then they have to price appropriately as an add on, and that means like a $200 machine, not a $300-350 one. The 3DS suffered similarly as no one wanted a $250 add on to their mobile gaming capabilities but we're interested at $170 and below. I question whether they can really hit that price point if they're also insistent on being some unique hybrid with high COGS for tablet bits like the Wii U. If they can then there's a chance for success. If they come out with another $300-350 underpowered home console that's also a handheld that most core gamers don't care about I don't think they're going to do well at all.

                  • reply
                    September 20, 2016 4:39 PM

                    Maybe F-Zero too, Advance Wars, Kid Icarus.

                    • reply
                      September 20, 2016 4:44 PM

                      I was thinking Pikman

                      • reply
                        September 20, 2016 4:54 PM

                        Pikmin 4 will likely be on NX, Miyamoto talked about it almost being done a couple months ago. 3 was fantastic so I'm all for another one

                  • reply
                    September 20, 2016 4:44 PM

                    Sure, but a Metroid game doesn't have to be an expensive product on the same scale, either.

                    If they'd done something on the scale of New Super Mario Brothers with Metroid - an inexpensive, but gorgeous 2D game - fans would have loved it.

                    I love Prime, but Metroid doesn't only have to exist as an expensive 3D game if the market won't support that.

                    • reply
                      September 20, 2016 4:53 PM

                      I loved the 2D Metroid games on the GBA, I'm totally with you. I'd much rather they did that then failed experiments like Other M or Federation Force.

                      • reply
                        September 20, 2016 5:07 PM

                        Zero Mission and Fusion are #3 and #4 of the Metroid games for me personally.

                        • reply
                          September 20, 2016 5:10 PM

                          They're both solid, though I still kinda rail against their move towards more guided experiences.

                          Zero Mission does still allow for a fair amount of sequence breaking, luckily.

                          Gotta say, while I wouldn't recommend it for a Metroid first timer, AM2R is fucking high on the list. It's really good.

                          • reply
                            September 20, 2016 5:13 PM

                            Still need to play that one.

                            • reply
                              September 20, 2016 5:18 PM

                              If you're a Metroid fan, yeah, do so at your earliest opportunity.

        • reply
          September 20, 2016 1:29 PM

          I believe big developers have been already. The article I saw specifically referenced indie devs.

    • reply
      September 20, 2016 10:00 AM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      September 20, 2016 10:52 AM

      apparently they greatly underproduced the pokemon go plus unit, why dont' they just make more of those first... then try out their newest hardware platform ideas.

      • reply
        September 20, 2016 11:11 AM

        They're different companies.

    • reply
      September 20, 2016 11:33 AM

      waiting on your reveal until so close to release just lets the rumor mill control the narrative for a long time

    • reply
      September 20, 2016 1:41 PM

      its gonna be an nvidia shield

      maybe itll be cheap too

Hello, Meet Lola