A new batch of Nintendo trademarks has gone public, dropping hints at what we could expect from Nintendo in the future.
As we have reported on trademarks before, we will point out here that trademarks being filed don’t necessarily mean that they will be used. Nintendo has an abandoned trademark to use their name to sell vitamins, so they really don’t confirm anything. But at the very least, we know these names and labels are things that Nintendo are interested in using.
As shared by Mike Odyssey on Twitter, Nintendo’s latest trademarks were for these:
- Wordmark for Nintendo Switch 2, featuring the Switch icon next to the number 2
- A separate wordmark for the Switch icon and number 2 only
- Nintendogs
- Yoshi’s Adventure
- Kirby’s Blowout Blast
We’re sure you didn’t need us to point this out, but two of those trademarks are for actual Nintendo games. Nintendogs was a pet simulator for the Nintendo DS, which very smartly used the touch screen so you could pet and interact with your dogs. It was also part of the wave of casual games that was core to Satoru Iwata’s blue ocean strategy that brought it great success in the Wii and DS era.
On the other hand, Kirby’s Blowout Blast was a Nintendo 3DS game, and was itself an expanded version of the Kirby 3D Rumble minigame in Kirby: Planet Robobot. While the main game would occasionally let you seat Kirby in a cuddly pink mech, Kirby 3D Rumble and Kirby’s Blowout Blast had you Kirby inhaling and throwing out enemies in what amounted to a shooting gallery.
Lastly, Yoshi’s Adventure may sound like it’s been used for a standalone video game before, but it’s not. It’s actually for a ride in Nintendo’s theme park attraction Super Nintendo Land in Universal Studios Japan. It’s been confirmed that the ride will also be coming to the Super Nintendo Land located in Universal Epic Universe in Orlando, Florida. That ride is scheduled to debut this year, so we may get an announcement for that shortly. But that announcement may not be in today’s Nintendo Switch 2 Direct.
So, why would Nintendo reveal they’ve trademarked a DS and 3DS game today? It may be a coincidence and they’re just protecting their existing properties. It’s also possible that these two could be coming up in the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, a few hours from when this is being written. And wouldn’t it be interesting if these trademarks hint that there’s some way to play these games on the Switch 2, with 2 screens, and even with one being a touch screen? We’ll see if there’s a lot more to this after all soon enough.
