Nintendo has just renewed dozens of patents for older game IPs. More than 40 different names, both of franchises and individual titles, have been remarked for Nintendo ownership. This is pretty standard for any major company, as they need to maintain ownership of their core products to protect them from competitors. What happens when this occurs in the video game industry though is that a lot of people think it means new games are on the way. That’s not always the case.
These games have all been fixtures of Nintendo’s efforts in the gaming space for years. Every Nintendo console, both stationary and handheld, has enjoyed these stalwart franchises in some way. These renewals suggest at the very least that Nintendo wants that trend to continue. It doesn’t mean we’re going to see Switch titles developed based on these IPs though, at least not yet.
Some of these games are quite old. For example, I remember playing Wave Race 64 on the N64. The original version was a 1992 release for the Game Boy though, developed internally by Nintendo. Other games like Card Hero, Kid Icarus and more are older Game Boy titles as well. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Super Mario Sunshine, and WarioWare are all on the list as well, suggesting that some more modern GameCube and DS titles could be getting a revival.
Here’s the full list of renewed patents, in total there are 39 patents that have been renewed by Nintendo:
- Alleyway
- Cruis’n
- Animal Crossing: City Folk
- Balloon Kid
- Card Hero
- Dillon’s Rolling Western The Last Ranger
- Eternal Darkness
- Face Raiders
- Freaky Forms
- Golden Sun Dark Dawn
- Jam With The Band
- Kid Icarus
- Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards
- Kirby Air Ride
- Kirby Mass Attack
- Kirby’s Adventure
- Majora’s Mask
- Mario Sports
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong Mini-Land Mayhem!
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong Minis March Again!
- Nintendogs + Cats
- Nintendo Presents Style Boutique
- Ocarina of Time
- Phantom Hourglass
- Pullblox
- Pushmo
- Radar Mission
- Shadows of Almia (Pokémon Ranger)
- Skyward Sword
- Spirit Camera
- Steel Diver
- Super Mario Sunshine
- Super Mario World
- Swapnote
- The Adventure of Link
- The Wind Waker
- Urban Champion
- WarioWare Smooth Moves
- Wave Race
