Japanese gaming giant Nintendo surprised fans last month with its upcoming video console, the NX, and its collaboration with DeNa, one of Japan's leading video game companies

With DeNa Nintendo intends to create video games for smartphones, something that Nintendo has averted despite increasing competition from Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox.

"As proof that Nintendo maintains strong enthusiasm for the dedicated game system business, let me confirm that Nintendo is currently developing a dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept under the development codename 'NX,'" Iwata said in an interview with Japanese publication Nikkei, translated by Kotaku. Iwata hinted that they're about to take on a wildly different direction with the system than its past platforms. 

"If you only expand on existing hardware, it's dull", Iwata said. "In some shape or form, we're always thinking about how we want to surprise players as well as our desire to change each person's video gaming life." 

Not much is known about the upcoming NX, but gamers are sure to expect something huge.

According to Time magazine, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata said that they "will develop brand new software which perfectly matches the play style and control mechanisms of smart devices." Likewise, DeNa stresses the significance of creating brand new games for smartphone devices and providing quality user experience.

Which means that although Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda have become trademark characters for Nintendo, players won't be seeing them in smartphones any time soon. Nintendo and DeNa have teamed up to create something new, something that's going to be big, something that gamers and smartphone application users haven't seen yet.

Hold on tight for upcoming news about Nintendo's greatest console yet, the NX. The NX is rumored to be released some time next year.