Nintendo has just had an N64 trademark approved. Nintendo filed a trademark for an N64 controller last year. It was for the controller in a “goods and services” situation, which invited plenty of speculation regarding a potential N64 Mini. Now, the trademark application has been approved.
Nintendo Life broke the original news of the controller trademark application and BusinessInsider has broke the news about the approval. The report explains that the trademark in question is of the N64 controller itself. Nintendo supplied an image of the controller and it is exactly the same style as the NES Mini and SNES Mini controllers as appears on their respective boxes.
Nintendo could be preparing to launch an N64 Mini, much in the same style as its popular NES and SNES Mini consoles. It would make sense, especially considering the buzz surrounding the recently announced PlayStation Classic. An N64 Mini is an easy conclusion to jump to, however. There has been no official word of such a mini console from Nintendo. Companies often apply for trademarks like these so Nintendo might just want to keep hold of its property. Applying for a trademark like this means Nintendo can do what they want with the N64 controller image.
Just as there’s the possibility of an N64 Mini, Nintendo could have wanted this to coincide with the possibility of releasing N64 games on Switch. Since the launch of Nintendo Switch Online, we have been able to play NES games with added online multiplayer as part of the paid subscription. Nintendo might be gearing up to add N64 games to the service.
This isn’t the first time Nintendo has applied for an N64 trademark, however. Back in May, we reported that Nintendo had applied for another N64 trademark. It’s now up to Nintendo to decide how it uses the newly acquired N64 trademarks.
