I've Come Around On The Nintendo Smartphone Idea -- Do It Nintendo.

[Jizz_Beard_thePirate]

Soundwave said:

Captain_Yuri said:

Honestly, what you are describing isn't a phone or a game experience that I would ever want. Most games, including the ones on android/iOS use quite a few on screen buttons if they are "serious mobile games." Replacing the home button with a joystick/trackball will make the phone start to look weird and ugly. L+R could work but again, A+B button will make the phone look ugly. We legit need 2 joysticks, 4 physical buttons + L+R in 2017 at a minimum if anyone is gonna take this thing seriously as a gaming device.

Hence why they should make it a preimum looking smartphone with front facing speakers and all that jazz but include a case with it that interfaces with the phone when connected that acts like a controller. This way, it will be able to support and play all games that are both made for it and the ones from the Play store while making it feel like a phone when the case is off. You want to play a game? Bam put on the case. You want to use it as a phone and not make it look like an awkward phone? Take the case off!

Here's an iPhone patent with a pop up joystick ... does it really make the phone look that different?

L/R buttons would be discreet, that's not a problem. 

Things like dual analog and all that .... could be offered via a seperate controller. Most people don't need that. Most Nintendo IP would be perfectly playable with a physical d-pad + 2 physical buttons + on-screen buttons. You could make a playable Mario game (2D or 3D), playable 3D Zelda even, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Pokemon, F-Zero ... I mean pretty much any and everything if you really wanted to. It would be massively more usable than just touchscreen alone. 

Most people are not interested in playing something like Call of Duty on the road anyway. 

If it's going to pop out like that and move around, it will 110% look weird. Specially when you are talking with someone and u have this thing poping out. The home button on my Galaxy S7 looks elegant and professionally made. That, combined with how Nintendo handheld generally looks, will not give a premium feel. Nintendo is not Apple or Samsung when it comes to design. And since Apple already has a patent, Nintendo will get sued since Samsung got sued for having a phone with rounded corners.

While I agree that not all Nintendo games needs more than a few buttons, it is still better to have than to not have. Developers need a standard to develop for while gamers need ergonomics and we have all seen how the media reacts when they see something that looks off. Attaching a controller for additional options will make it feel like that extra circlepad addon nonsense that the 3ds had. I just don't see why they need to sacrafice the look of the phone when they can simply include a case which connects to the usb and turns the phone into a gaming device. A phone needs to be able to be taken everywhere without other people looking at it for the wrong reasons.