During the company's financial earnings report, Nintendo reveals that smartphone games based on both Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem are currently in development.

Nintendo has found success with its first mobile game, Miitomo, and so it's no surprise that the company is moving forward in the mobile gaming market in a big way. It has been announced that the Big N has new games in both the Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing franchises in development for smartphone devices, and some early details on what those titles will entail have been shared with the public.

First of all, the Fire Emblem mobile game will be more "accessible" than the entries in the series we've seen on traditional handhelds and home consoles. Whether or not that means the permadeath feature that has been a big part of Fire Emblem's DNA will be absent in the mobile game remains to be seen, but Nintendo is looking to offer fans a similar value they get with the other games in the series.

By the sound of things, it seems as though Nintendo is preparing a full-fledged Fire Emblem release for smartphones. This could be huge for the series, and get even more eyeballs on the games than was possible with the 3DS entries. Combine the larger user base of smartphone devices with the recent critical success of Fire Emblem, and it's easy to see why Nintendo is bringing the series to mobile.

As for Animal Crossing, Nintendo has revealed one interesting detail about the franchise's mobile debut. Apparently, Animal Crossing on smartphones will feature some sort of connectivity with the games in the series available on dedicated gaming systems. This seems to indicate that Animal Crossing: New Leaf on 3DS will be able to connect to the smartphone Animal Crossing, but there's also a chance that the game could work with the various Animal Crossing spin-offs that have released over the last couple of years as well.

Furthermore, it could also be an indication that Nintendo is prepping an Animal Crossing game for the Nintendo NX or Wii U. After all, if Nintendo wants the mobile Animal Crossing to connect to another game in a meaningful way, it would probably have to build a new game in the series for a dedicated gaming system from the ground-up first.

Whereas Miitomo is more app than game, the Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing mobile games will be driven purely by gameplay. With all of Nintendo's mobile games free-to-play, it will be interesting to see how the company monetizes Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing on mobile platforms when the games release later this year.

Nintendo's Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing smartphone games will be available this fall for iOS and Android devices.

Source: Kotaku