Nintendo Reveals Miitopia Box Art

Miitopia was one of the surprise announcements from last week's Nintendo Direct presentation, coming to the Switch on May 21, 2021. Many readers are probably familiar with Miitopia on the Nintendo 3DS, where it garnered fairly average reviews for a Nintendo turn-based RPG.

Now, Miitopia is headed to the Nintendo Switch with a handful of changes that should offer a more robust experience for those who may have missed out on the title back when it was released in 2017. Nintendo of America has also revealed the full box art of the Switch version of Miitopia, which incorporates the new elements coming in the updated version.

Fans were able to see what sort of new elements they could expect from Miitopia on Switch in last week's Nintendo Direct. Players will be able to customize their Mii characters to much greater effect in the Switch version of Miitopia, including being able to add highlights to a Mii's hair and give each Mii more distinct eyes. Additionally, players will be able to tame horses and incorporate them into their party, meaning a Mii's horse will be able to aid them in battle. These new gameplay elements are showcased in the game's box art thanks to the greater space allotted by the game cases for the Nintendo Switch.

Fans also learned a bit more about the Switch version of Miitopia following the Direct last week. It turns out that Grezzo, the studio most well-known for working on several Legend of Zelda remakes and remasters, will be co-developing the game alongside Nintendo. Grezzo has a strong track record behind the games that the studio has worked on, so this version of Miitopia will likely be handled with a lot of care. Nintendo fans can look forward to taking their Miis on a wacky fantasy RPG adventure when Miitopia releases for Nintendo Switch later this year.

On January 5, Nintendo announced it planned on acquiring Next Level Games, a Canadian-based developer that had been working closely alongside the company for the past decade. Next Level Games' most recent release, Luigi's Mansion 3, has been a huge sales success for Nintendo and earned a great deal of critical acclaim as well, so it makes sense for Nintendo to bring the studio into the fold in an official capacity.

Next Level Games was reportedly looking to sell, which is why Nintendo made the move. Next Level Game is a proven asset for Nintendo, and it wants the studio to keep producing high-selling, critically-acclaimed games as Nintendo Switch exclusives. However, there are many other studios that Nintendo works closely with that it has not acquired, and it may be in its best interest to do so at some point down the line.

Even some of the biggest Nintendo fans may be surprised to learn that the company doesn't actually own Game Freak, the studio that develops the main series Pokemon games. Nintendo has had a close relationship with Game Freak ever since the release of the original Pokemon games in the 90s, and so the vast majority of the studio's titles have been released as Nintendo exclusive games. However, Game Freak has occasionally branched out, securing publishing deals with other companies and making titles for non-Nintendo platforms.

Theoretically, Game Freak could find itself bought out by some other company, which would mean Nintendo would lose its Pokemon developer. Plus, Game Freak and Nintendo already share a building in Tokyo, so it's not like the Game Freak offices would need to move or anything. The fact that Nintendo hasn't acquired Game Freak already is odd, so it would make sense for it to happen at some point down the line.