Nintendo is bringing Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem to smartphones

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Nintendo announced today that it's bringing two of its best-loved franchises to smartphones: Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem. The company revealed the news during its yearly earnings call, also confirming that its next console — the mysterious NX — is headed for a March 2017 release.

Few details were given about the future smartphone titles, but the two games seem like a smart choice for Nintendo's developing mobile strategy. The company launched its first smartphone app Miitomo in March, but the title was decidedly niche — a free-to-download social network driven by Nintendo's cartoonish Mii avatars. Nevertheless, the game still racked up more than 10 million downloads, and as more traditional titles with established fanbases, Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem could do even better.

More #Nintendo apps are coming to smart devices, including Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing! pic.twitter.com/ZLsHirPltM

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 27, 2016

Fire Emblem is a tactical RPG, with players controlling a roster of fantasy characters and deploying them in miniature battles. Animal Crossing is less straightforward to explain, but is similar to the Sims franchise — if, that is, all the human characters were replaced by cute, anthropomorphic animals. As titles that users can pick up and play for short bursts of time, both seem well suited to smartphone gaming.

The two titles will be coming to smartphones some time this Autumn, reports The Wall Street Journal, but we'll have to wait to find out more about them. Nintendo confirmed that it's on track to release four new smartphone games by March next year, so we may hear about more upcoming titles sooner rather than later.

SourceTakashi Mochizuki (Twitter) Nintendo of America

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Source: Nintendo is bringing Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem to smartphones