As fans wade through a quiet video game winter for the highly anticipated Switch 2 console, some have noticed that Nintendo has filed several patents in the background. The patents seem to contain information about Joy-Con charging docks, a capability for a Pro Controller to spit in half for mouse use, and updated trademarks concerning several character IPs. Special thanks goes to Stealth40k, Go Nintendo and Mike Odyssey for discovering this information.
None of the patents seem to have information related to Legend of Zelda but are nonetheless still fascinating. The mouse ability, which was shown in Nintendo’s first Switch 2 presentation, will likely affect the control of future Zelda games. The character trademarks were for Diddy Kong, Game & Wario, Virtual Boy, Joy Mech Fight, Wario’s Woods, and Tank Troopers, a shooter game that was developed for the 3DS. These updates could be little more than routine housekeeping, but something in particular stands out. Both the Diddy Kong and Virtual Boy trademarks spell out “promotional game cards” and “jigsaw puzzles,” which indicate that plans for more Nintendo merchandise is on the horizon. We do know that Nintendo has recently promoted a robust Donkey Kong marketing campaign that features Donkey Kong Country coming to Super Nintendo World. Could we also expect more mainstream Zelda merch? Do these patents tie in with Super Nintendo World in any way? We might not know until more about the Switch 2 is revealed on April 2nd, but for now, it’s only up to our imaginations.
