When we saw games like Mario Kart Tour and Animal Crossing Pocket Camp stop getting updates, we thought that Nintendo was done with mobile. After all, their Mario games there didn’t exactly set the world on fire, and the success of the Switch 1 and 2 made the company less dependent on the platform than ever before. Surely this was it, right?
Well, apparently not. Because completely out of nowhere, Nintendo have announced a game called Pictonico! for mobile platforms. And well, to say it’s a weird one is a bit of an understatement. Take a look at the trailer:
Yeah, it’s basically WarioWare meets Face Raiders. Or for any DSiware fans out there, WarioWare: Snapped Somewhat Decent Edition.
Does anyone even remember this game?
What’s more, given that Intelligent Systems are apparently co-developing it (you know, the WarioWare and Rhythm Heaven folks), it’s pretty much on brand for the company. It’s quirky, it’s creative, it uses smartphone features for comedic effect…
And we have to at least somewhat wonder why it’s not just a new WarioWare game. After all, WarioWare would be perfect for mobile devices. The franchise all but screams “casual-friendly franchise that’d go viral on mobile”. Why create an all-new unrelated game here?
Eh, who knows. If we had to hazard a guess, we’d say it’s either because they want to transition Wario away from microgames in future (perhaps for a Wario Land revival), or because they want to avoid mainline Nintendo IPs in mobile games in general now. Neither sounds all that plausible overall, but hey, we could see at least one of them being the case here.
Regardless, Pictonico! launches on iOS and Android on the 28th May 2026, and you can find links to it on the App Store and Play Store here:
So, definitely check it out if you’re interested in a WarioWare style experience on mobile, and tell us your thoughts in the comments below, or on our Discord server today!
Source: