Nintendo Renews Zelda, Metroid, And Donkey Kong Trademarks

Nintendo has sent yet another round of trademark renewals, this time containing a number of well-known franchise names, into the marketplace. In addition to Mach Rider. Despite the fact that this is likely just another day at the office for the big N, there are a few characteristics that these newly-filed games have in common with each other. So, let’s have some fun and make some educated guesses, just like any normal person would!

It may appear at first glance that this group of four games (which includes the aforementioned Mach Rider as well as The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Metroid Zero Mission, and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!) is a haphazard collection of Nintendo classics. However, there is one significant link between the four games: they are all presently exclusively accessible on the Wii U and 3DS Virtual Console shops, which is a first for Nintendo (unless you own original hardware).

The first thing that comes to mind is, of course, Nintendo Switch Online, which was launched last year and made the Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64 available. Mach Rider and DCK3 would not be a problem in this situation because the NES and SNES are currently available on the service. However, there have been rumours about Game Boy titles being added to the service for quite some time now, so why wouldn’t its younger brother, the Advance, follow suit as well.

Really, it’s just for fun, and we want to emphasize that this is not A SignTM in any way shape or form. It’s possible that it will develop into anything, in which case, fantastic! Even though it would be incredible to be able to play these games on contemporary technology, it’s more than probable that this is simply a business conducting business as usual.