Nintendo‘s mobile strategy has been largely predicated on gaining exposure for the company’s home console franchises. Niantic’s upcoming Pikmin game is a clear example of this, and a gambit that will hopefully pay off. However, there is a way to leverage the mobile space in a manner that goes beyond transparent marketing. Nintendo should use the smartphone market to revive franchises that don’t make sense elsewhere, such as Kururin.
For those unfamiliar, Kururin is a largely forgotten, largely Japanese-exclusive Nintendo series. Its first entry, Kuru Kuru Kururin, released for Game Boy Advance in Japan and Europe in the early 2000s, before finally seeing a release in North America on the Wii U eShop. Both its GBA sequel, Kururin Paradise, and its GameCube follow-up, Kururin Squash! were exclusive to Japan. This is disappointing, as the limited releases led to limited engagement, thus burying an inventive puzzle series.
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In essence, the Kururin games are something of a hybrid between Super Monkey Ball and the precise, motion-controlled stages of Super Mario Galaxy. The player controls Kururin in his helicopter the Helirin, guiding it through top-down maze-like stages. The rub is that the Helirin’s blades rotate automatically, and bumping into the wall damages them. This means players have to learn a stage’s layout and carefully navigate its traps. It’s a tense experience that draws on thoughtful planning as often as it does arcade reflexes.
Of course, the high-level experience is about revisiting these stages not with completion in mind, but speed. Zipping through these courses at daring velocities for better times after mastering their intricacies is a rewarding meta-game. There’s a magic to watching skilled Kururin players route these challenges.
Simultaneously, there’s a whimsy to watching the game at any level due to its art direction. Kururin and his world are charmingly simple and embody the same design tenets as Nintendo’s mainline cast. This is certainly part of the series’ success, and it helps breathe another dimension of life into the gameplay experience.
The sum of Kururin‘s parts is a charming and surprisingly thoughtful experience. However, it’s also one that doesn’t make much sense in today’s marketplace. Even New Pokémon Snap, which looked to draw upon ’90s design philosophy, was fundamentally changed by contemporary expectations. It would be difficult to bring Kururin‘s tactile, simplistic arcade design to the Switch. The series thrives on that simplicity, and that doesn’t fly at retail in 2021.
While there may be space for a digital-only eShop Kururin revival, the smartphone marketplace seems to be a better fit. For better and worse, the game’s structure would lend itself perfectly to a free-to-play monetization strategy. More tries could be purchased after crashing the Helirin too many times, and cosmetic wing designs could be purchased too.
The gameplay systems could be adapted organically as well. As the series’ challenge is derived from the constant spinning of the blades and the continued threat of obstacles, not necessarily movement itself, touch controls could be implemented easily. Dragging one’s finger to guide the Helirin would be natural. Plus, the simplicity of the maze concept could allow a talented developer to release a consistent string of new stages, perhaps even ones whose aesthetics tie into upcoming Nintendo titles.
With Kururin’s inviting persona at the forefront of the package and Nintendo’s name behind the game, the series would be a viable proposition on the App Store — and it wouldn’t be at the cost of core players. To the contrary, it would be a fitting opportunity for the hardcore to reconnect with a series that doesn’t make sense elsewhere.
This is where Nintendo’s mobile games should be heading rather than towards advertisement. Instead, it should move toward curating experiences that please the console audience by offering something that doesn’t fit in the hardcore space — something that has crossover appeal with the casual audience. There is merit to this concept, and Kururin should lead that charge.
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