Prepare for Nintendo in your pocket as Miitomo launches tomorrow

When word first broke out that Nintendo was going to start developing smartphone games featuring some of its biggest IP's, speculation ran rampant on what their first game would end up being. Something Mario related? Zelda? Metroid? As is often the case with Nintendo, the answer became "Nope, none of those things!," as the publisher revealed that their first smartphone "game" would be Miitomo, a social network type thing that lets you use Miis to interact with people. Because conversing with others is much easier when filtered through the big heads of Nintendo's freak people.

In any case it didn't take long for the game to come out in the East, with Miitomo out now in Japan and racking up downloads in the two weeks since it's release. Over a million people downloaded the game in just its first three days of availability, and Nintendo is hoping to expand on that success with its upcoming launch here in the West.

And it seems we won't have to wait very long to talk to Mii's either, as Nintendo announced yesterday that the game will become available for iOS and Android this coming Thursday, March 31. Also coming that day will be an enhanced eShop for Wii U and 3DS, with a few more Nintendo games for you, if you didn't get enough already. As for the game, who knows if it'll be good or not, but this is a good step forward for Nintendo, and sort of a landmark moment for them.

Imagine five years from now, Nintendo games everywhere, on every platform and device. They could own the market if they really wanted to; their games are good enough to do it, I just wonder about the lack of buttons. They basically introduced the world to the A and B buttons, and the D-pad, but can they succeed without one?