Nintendo Trademarks New Service “Nintendo Check-In”

There is a Twitter account called @trademark_bot that automatically posts a tweet every time a trademark is registered in Japan. Recently, the account picked up on a new Nintendo trademark for a service called “Nintendo Check-In” and a logo for it.

[商願2017-82264]
商標:[画像] /
出願人:任天堂株式会社 /
出願日:2017年6月20日 /
区分:41(映画の上映・制作又は配給,演芸の上演,演劇の演出又は上演,音楽の演奏,ゲーム大会の企画・運営,オンラインによるゲームの提供,娯楽施設の提供,おもちゃの貸与… pic.twitter.com/1H9qs1g6Ly

— 商標速報bot (@trademark_bot) July 10, 2017

According to Nintendo Everything, the tweet, when translated, explains that the trademark for “Nintendo Check-In” falls under trademark category 41, which can be used for producing or distributing films, plays or musicals, planning or managing gaming tournaments, providing entertainment facilities, renting toys or providing games online. From this information, it seems most likely that “Nintendo Check-In” will be one of two things. It’s possible it could be Nintendo’s own video steaming service, seeing as how the Switch doesn’t have Netflix, Hulu, or other video streaming services, but I don’t think this possibility is as likely as the other. The other possibility is that “Nintendo Check-In” will be the service Nintendo has discussed that will act as a Netflix or Hulu but for old video games. Nintendo has stated before that they are working on a video game streaming service that will give gamers access to a library of classic games for a low, yearly subscription fee. This seems to fit perfectly with category 41’s description of providing games online.

If “Nintendo Check-In” is in fact going to be a video game streaming service, it’s likely it will start off with NES and SNES games, likely even Nintendo 64 games, many of which were available on the Wii and Wii U’s virtual console. One has to wonder if Nintendo will give in to fan demands and give players access to now-classic GameCube games as well. GameCube games were playable on the Wii if you had the physical disc, but they were never available via virtual console on either the Wii or Wii U. Now that the GameCube is more than a decade and a half old, older than the N64 was when the Wii came out, it’s possible that GameCube games can now be considered “classic” enough to earn them a spot in Nintendo’s streaming service.