Is Nintendo working on an Android tablet?
Nintendo may be working on an Android tablet targeted at educational games for children if a series of tweets from Nintendo America software engineer Nando Monterazo are any indication.
Nintendo may be working on an Android tablet targeted at educational games for children if a series of tweets from Nintendo America software engineer Nando Monterazo are any indication.
Although Nintendo has vehemently refused to port its IPs over to mobile platforms, it could all be about to change. A series of tweets by Nintendo America software engineer Nando Monterazo strongly hint that the company is developing an Android-based gaming platform targeted at children, with a focus on educational titles starring Nintendo characters.
Spotted and collected by fan site Nintendo Everything, the tweets went into quite a bit of detail.
Experimenting with a tablet of Nintendo, the system is based on android, fully modified and unified as a database of the tablet. #Android
— Nando Monterazo (@NandoMonterazo) November 18, 2013Nintendo is testing only the "Android" but in fact she wants a system written in C/C++ in a Unix environment for the system single tablet!
— Nando Monterazo (@NandoMonterazo) November 18, 2013Many people will be wondering if games "Nes", "SNES" or "Game Boy" the tablet will not have these games, educational games only! #Tablet
— Nando Monterazo (@NandoMonterazo) November 18, 2013@Chris_Utah3DS @DeSero ...now the tablet is primarily focused for schools!! :-)
— Nando Monterazo (@NandoMonterazo) November 18, 2013The tweets have since been removed, and Monterazo has been kicked off the project for talking if his subsequent updates are anything to go by:
Amazing how the internet is dangerous, in my excitement I released information that should not, Now I'm out of the project who liked!
— Nando Monterazo (@NandoMonterazo) November 20, 2013Now I'm on another project and I hope to have no more problems, have a little more careful when talking over the internet, it is dangerous!!
— Nando Monterazo (@NandoMonterazo) November 20, 2013Nintendo has refused to comment, noting only, as it always does, that it "does not comment on rumour or speculation".
It's also worth noting that Monterazo specifically stated that Nintendo's NES, Game Boy or SNES games will not run on the platform. This is in line with the company's refusal to port, which has been a bafflement to everyone — the company's older titles are sitting around collecting dust while fans constantly build Android emulator after emulator (which Nintendo has removed from the Google Play store) for a chance at getting their beloved favourites on mobile.
We're not holding our breath that this will be an immediate mobile game changer for Nintendo, but it could be a first step to opening up its games to a massive potential new market. That said, let's see if this tablet eventuates first.