Nintendo Files Wario Land Trademark, Sparks Rumors of Switch Game

Lots of new games are heading to the Nintendo Switch in the coming months. Some we know quite a bit about, some we know only that they’re in development, and some we haven’t heard about at all yet. Thanks to the internet age, we’re never in short supply of leaks and rumors, and today’s points to a new Wario Land title in the works at Nintendo.

According to Japanese Nintendo, the company recently filed trademarks for nine Nintendo franchises, including Octo (referring to Splatoon 2‘s upcoming Octo Expansion), Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers, Luigi’s Mansion, Mario & Luigi, Metroid, Metroid Prime, Smash Bros., Wario Land, and WarioWare. The trademarks were filed in Japan for “downloadable video game programs.”

All listed games have been officially confirmed by Nintendo except for Wario Land, which — as Japanese Nintendo noted — has received two new trademarks in the last year. While the filing does not specifically list Wario Land as a Switch title, we know another Wario game — WarioWare Gold — is making its way to Nintendo 3DS systems this August, so it would make sense for Nintendo to put Wario Land on the Switch, bringing the anti-Mario to the company’s hybrid console for the first time.

The Wario Land series got its start on the short-lived Virtual Boy in 1995 with additional installments on Nintendo’s handheld GameBoy systems, a spin-off called Wario World on GameCube, and Wario Land: Shake It! on the Wii. They’re all 2D side-scrolling platforming adventures with Wario taking on enemies and collecting treasures. The next entry in the series likely won’t stray far from this system, but with the innovative features of the Nintendo Switch at hand, who knows what Wario will get into next?

Nintendo has not commented on the Wario Land news at all, so take these rumors with a grain of salt. The trademark was definitely filed in Japan, but there are no details or confirmations beyond that. What do you think Nintendo has in store for Wario? Let us know in the comments below.