Nintendo Announce New Mobile Action-RPG, 'Dragalia Lost!'

Today, Nintendo has announced that it will be releasing a new game for mobile devices.

After a few years of resistance, Nintendo has emerged as a major player in the mobile games market. Early in the smartphone era, Nintendo refused to make games for phone devices. However, with the market expanding like it is, Nintendo swiftly changed their approach and have since released such games as Animal Crossing, Mario Run, and Fire Emblem.

And, it seems that they are not set to stop there. Back in February, the gaming giant announced that it would be releasing an all-new Mario Kart game, named Mario Kart Tour. And today, they announce their latest upcoming venture, Dragalia Lost.

Dragalia Lost is a mobile role-playing-game, co-developed by Cygames (Rage of Bahamut, Granblue Fantasy). It has been described by the production team as a "new gaming experience with worldwide appeal." The game is touted to be narrative driven with an extended focus on character development via story-driven mechanics.

Players can expect the usual eastern RPG aesthetic, beautiful animations and colourful depiction of magic with heaps of dragon-infused conflict to keep everyone busy.

Set for initial launch, late this summer, in the Eastern territories first (Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau), before hitting the Americas and then Europe.

Players in the above (Eastern) territories can pre-register for Dragalia Lost on iOS and Android right now, but players in EU and USA will have to wait until later this year.

It is worth noting that Nintendo has purchased a five percent stake in Cygames. That shows significant investment in the company and the new IP. Not only that, but Nintendo has been criticised for not reacting well to new markets and their slow pick up in the mobile sector is further supportive of that critique. However, with the investment in Cygames (Shadowverse, Rage of Bahamut, Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light, and more) this allows Nintendo deeper stakes within the mobile sector.

Something interesting worth pointing out is the fact that Dragalia Lost is only the second Nintendo mobile game, following the release of Miitomo, that does not include a Nintendo trademark character feature in the title.

The announcement came with a trailer, and from that trailer, it seems that Dragalia Lost takes more from its Cygames parent than it does its Nintendo parent. It follows a very similar design to its previous games, aesthetically, however, there has been controversy surrounding Cygames’ monetization strategy that has been considered to be somewhat exploitive.

For those wondering about Mario Kart Tour. The exact date for release is not known at this point – Nintendo have said that this will be sometime between April 2018 – March 2019.

Mario Kart Tour will be like Mario Kart on your phone – which is very cool! But going by Nintendo’s track record (releases being delayed) it is likely we won’t be able to challenge our friends anytime, too, soon but it is still great news all the same.

That said, there has been no announcement pertaining to the fact that Mario Kart Tour will be a multiplayer game – by that I mean online. Though, that would seem odd for Nintendo not to incorporate online PVP into the game. How else would we settle scores in the office or decide who makes the next round of coffee? Come on Nintendo!

Mario Kart Tour should be available on both iOS and Android and may very well be a free to play game that incorporates micro-transactions. Or, it will work in a similar way to Mario Run where players get an introduction to the game (two tracks for free, for example) and then must pay to get full access.

For all the latest info, stay tuned to Vocal.