Nintendo's Mobile Games Aren't for Me, but That's OK

Casting a wider net

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has finally released worldwide on iOS and Android, and well, it’s alright. I’ve been playing it here and there since the Australian soft-launch last month and I’ve enjoyed my time so far. The most surprising element of the game is just how large it is: truly, Pocket Camp is a fully-realized Animal Crossing experience, just boiled down fundamentals. And that is the reason Pocket Camp isn’t worth talking about all that much. It’s the basic Animal Crossing experience that we all know, just shrunk into the palm of our hand. You gather fruit, befriend animals, and decorate your campsite. In short bursts, it's the gameplay loop I fell in love with on 3DS, but for that same reason, I don’t feel compelled to play for longer than a few minutes at a time. It doesn't bring anything new to the table for longtime fans. Animal Crossing Pocket Camp isn’t for me. It is aimed clearly at a different demographic; the vast sea of people who recognize Nintendo by name, but don’t own a Nintendo console themselves. Similarly, Pocket Camp also marks a clear, distinguished shift away from the sensibilities that launched Super Mario Run to middling success.

Pre-launch, the community lauded Nintendo for standing up to the trends of the mobile marketplace and boldly attaching a price tag to Super Mario Run. I was right there celebrating this move, and even purchased the game twice: once on my sister’s iPod during the Apple exclusivity, and again on my Android phone when the game made its way over. I really enjoyed it too: Super Mario Run is by far my favorite Nintendo mobile game. The gameplay was perfectly tailored to the platform and Run was chock full of new ideas that longtime Mario fans like myself could enjoy. The Toad Rally mode in particular was a great addition, and I hope that it makes its way over to the next console 2D Mario. However, by being so fleshed out, charging 10 dollars, and by introducing new ideas, Nintendo strayed away from what their mobile presence was supposed to, and should, be.

When the DeNA mobile deal was initially announced, the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata spoke about how their mobile titles would act, essentially, as advertisements for their console games; a way to appeal to the average person who plays games on their phone, with only a cursory interest in Nintendo. With that in mind, I believe Super Mario Run failed on this front. Chiefly, that price barrier was, while commendable, so antithetical to the expectations and subsequent realities of the mobile market that the majority of Nintendo’s target demographic in the endeavor was lost before they even got in the door. So, then the core player base for Super Mario Run was the pre-existing, hardcore Nintendo base who already had preconceived notions of the mobile market.

This community doesn’t talk about mobile titles as just games, we talk about them as mobile games. The ‘mobile’ qualifier carries so much skepticism in the hardcore circle that the conversation around titles on that platform become so innately hostile that many people write off mobile games before they ever experience them first-hand. Free-to-play. Pay-to-win. Casual. Shallow. Deceptive. Hollow. Cash-grab. All of these terms, on the whole, properly describe the mobile space, and are so poisonous that most dedicated gamers won’t touch a mobile game with a ten-foot pole. And I don’t blame them. The platform itself casts such a wide shadow that even when Super Mario Run released with console sensibilities, foregoing all mobile tropes, the damage was already done. To this day, Nintendo still adds content to Super Mario Run, and the recent Remix 10 update was quite substantial. The fact that this type of support and these business sensibilities couldn't bring in the dedicated gamer says a lot about the platform as a whole. The hardcore will never move over to mobile, and will probably never take the platform seriously. So, games on mobile shouldn't be tailored for that demographic. It took Super Mario Run for Nintendo to realize that, and their efforts on smart devices since then have reflected this learning.

Both Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp forgo the traditional console values that were the foundation for Super Mario Run, and lean into the traditional mobile values that shoot a game to the top of the Google Play Store. These lighter, airier takes on core Nintendo franchises, full of their microtransactions and endless hooks fit right in with the other fare already on the various app stores. They take the classic gameplay experiences that Nintendo fans know and love, but sift out the complexity in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator. I’d say they’re executed with the Nintendo finish that sets their work apart from the competition, but they really aren’t. DeNA’s hands are all over these two projects. These two games and their presentations seem so basic and sanitized for the mobile audience. However, that doesn’t make these games bad, it just makes them not appeal to me. But, at the end of the day, that’s OK. Nintendo already has me, I own all their consoles and play all their games. I already love Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing. Nintendo and DeNA set out to make simple titles that will drive downloads and revenue from people who only know Mario Kart and Wii Sports. They’re finally succeeding on this front, and I anticipate Animal Crossing Pocket Camp doing big business on the stores. As of right now Pocket Camp is the most downloaded free game on Google Play, surpassing its rivals like, Dune!, and Words With Friends 2, and the seminal editor’s choice ROBLOX port.

I don’t hold the mobile market in high regard. The amount of shovelware that permeates that platform, compounded by the race to the bottom, and greedy microtransaction corporate mindsets behind so many mobile games make this platform antithetical to, in my opinion, ‘true’ gaming. These apps are distractions; a way to spend five minutes here, ten minutes there. I’d be lying to say I haven’t played a traditional mobile game and enjoyed it, I have, but a broken clock is right twice a day. For every Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes or Pac-Man 256, is an aforementioned Words with Friends 2 and its other fifteen Scrabble ripoff competitors. Just like how for every Super Mario Run there’s a Fire Emblem Heroes or Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Console game design and mobile game design are simply two different schools of thought that don’t mix well. But, that’s OK. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp doesn’t take the place of Animal Crossing Switch, just as Super Mario Run didn’t take the place of Super Mario Odyssey. Nintendo set out on a focused mission, and I’m glad to see them accomplishing it. I hope these titles can give people a taste of what 'real' games can be, and convince them to transition to traditional console experiences, and I hope the next Animal Crossing game benefits from the (hopefully) big success of Pocket Camp. In the meantime, there is so much truly tailored content releasing on Nintendo’s dedicated machines that I hardly have time to notice these mobile endeavors. Leave those for the people who haven’t yet made the switch.