Nintendo Renews 39 Trademarks, Including 6 Zelda Titles

Trademark renewals are a common process for companies to prove that they are still using given intellectual properties, and to prevent other companies from using the same names. Usually you won’t hear news about the renewals because they typically aren’t very noteworthy. However, Nintendo has managed to turn heads with recent trademark renewals because of the sheer amount of games they have renewed all at once. Among the renewed trademarks, there are 6 Zelda titles on the list.

Notably, all of the games are pretty old; even the ones that are 3DS titles are around 8-9 years old. Here is the full list:

• Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive! (3DS)
• Kirby’s Adventure (NES)
• Kirby Air Ride (GameCube)
• Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64)
• Kic Icarus (NES)
• Jam With The Band (DS)
• Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (DS)
• Dillon’s Rolling Western: The Last Ranger (3DS)
• Face Raiders (3DS)
• Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (GameCube)
• The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (N64)
• Kousoku Card Battle: Card Hero (DS)
• Balloon Kid (Game Boy)
• Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (Wii)
• Alleyway (Game Boy)
• WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii)
• Wave Race (Game Boy)
• Mario Sports (could be an umbrella term, Mario Sports Mix on the Wii, or Mario Sports Superstars on 3DS)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! (DS)
• Urban Champion (NES)
• The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube)
• Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link (NES)
• Swapnote (3DS)
• Super Mario World (SNES)
• Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube)
• Steel Diver (DS)
• Spirit Camera (3DS)
• Kirby Mass Attack (DS)
• The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
• Pokémon Ranger: Shadows Of Almia (DS)
• Radar Mission (Game Boy)
• Pullblox, aka Pushmo (3DS)
• The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
• The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time (N64)
• Nintendo Presents: Style Boutique (DS)
• Nintendogs + Cats (3DS)
• Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! (DSi)
• Cruis’n (Wii)

It’s quite a strange collection of games; some are popular titles, whereas others weren’t very successful or haven’t had any new games added to their respective series in a long time. It makes sense to see the Zelda titles, popular titles like Super Mario Sunshine, and classics like Kirby’s Adventure; they would likely be ported up or remastered eventually, but the motives of renewing so many trademarks all at once are uncertain. The current rumors surrounding them point to Nintendo’s plans to revive their Virtual Console service or add a lot more retro games to Nintendo Online in the new decade. For example, a game like Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, Nintendo’s only rated-M game to date, would probably only see the light of day again as a retro port because its developer went out of business. Yet, a game like Face Raiders, which utilized 3D effects exclusive to the 3DS, probably won’t work as a port, thus its renewal probably has no significance at all.

As for the Zelda games on the list, we already have a port of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link on Nintendo Online. There was talk of a remake after the President of Inti Creates expressed interest in doing so, but whether Nintendo would take the company up on the offer remains to be seen. It would actually be really cool to see the 3DS remakes of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask ported to the Switch and given HD graphics, or at least ported among the release of other Nintendo 64 games on Switch Online. We’ve seen so many Wii U games ported to the Switch already that I wouldn’t object to The Wind Waker HD on Switch! While I’m not clamoring for anything to happen with Phantom Hourglass, a future port along with other DS games would be a natural progression along the line. Probably the most interesting name on the list, however, is Skyward Sword. Unless future Nintendo consoles also implement motion control technology, the Switch might be our only chance to see the game ported or remade, like Aonuma jokingly stated two years ago.

Do you think these trademark renewals have any significance? Or perhaps Nintendo simply decided to do their spring cleaning so to speak? What games on the list would you like to see ported or remade? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

Source: Nintendo (via Japanese Nintendo, Metro Entertainment)

Charles Xavier

Charles is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon. He is a Visual Development artist focused on enviroments and pitch paintings. Check out his Instagram and Twitter to see his latest artworks, a lot of which is Zelda fan art! His favorite candy is Skittles – he feels the world should know this.