Nintendo reveals "kind of silly" photo game Pictonico!

• Pictonico! will be Nintendo's second mobile game of the 2020s, launching next week.
• Players' photos will be edited in-game to present challenges like plucking nose hairs or feeding fruit.
• Nintendo and Intelligent Systems are co-developers.
• A free demo will be available but more games will be locked behind purchasable "volumes".

Nintendo has unveiled a new mobile game called Pictonico!, set to launch on May 28th.

Pre-registrations are open now on the App Store and Play Store, with 80 minigames promised for next week.

These minigames will edit players’ photos and give them a challenge to overcome - stretching and closing a mouth to crunch digital fruit, or sprouting cartoon nose hairs that must be plucked. Another depicts the subject of a photo as a crawling baby who must be fed a lollipop.

While clearing these minigames, players will advance through a numbered series of stages and modes, confronting high-speed challenges, competing in the "danger zone" and more.

A "kind of silly" game

Nintendo has co-developed Pictonico! with Intelligent Systems, the developer of multiple Nintendo IP like Fire Emblem, Paper Mario and WarioWare. Intelligent Systems also develops Fire Emblem Heroes, Nintendo’s most lucrative mobile title and its only game on the platform to surpass $1 billion in revenue.

Pictonico! has been described by Nintendo as "kind of silly". The free demo will contain three games, while paid "volumes" will offer more to play. The minigames are targeted at all age ranges, and photos taken won’t be sent to Nintendo.

While the IP is new, it appears that Nintendo has taken some inspiration from WarioWare and Miitomo. WarioWare titles are known for their collections of wacky minigames, like using a Wii remote for competitive "channel hopping" or posing with Switch Joy-Con to plug up a virtual nose. In 2016’s Miitomo, mobile players could create Mii characters from selfies, chat with them and take in-game photos in a range of sceneries.

Pictonico! also marks Nintendo’s second mobile game of the decade, following 2025’s Fire Emblem Shadows. Last year, Nintendo, Intelligent Systems and Pokémon TCG Pocket dev DeNA teamed up to launch the free-to-play title, but thus far it has failed to reach Heroes’ heights.

After Shadows was shadow-dropped, this time Nintendo has opted to announce its latest mobile game more than a week before release.