Nintendo is reportedly working on an Android tablet for educational games [updated]

Updated 4:48 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20: Nintendo reps have told us that no one by the name of Nando Monterazo works at Nintendo, either now or at the time of those Tweets. This isn’t an official denial, and if the below reports are true, there could be other explanations (he’s a contractor, or he’s using a pseudonym). Or some prankster out there is trying to pull one over on everyone. We’ll keep an eye on the matter.

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Nintendo is reportedly working on an Android tablet that will be primarily for the educational market, according to a series of Twitter posts from Nintendo of America software engineer Nando Monterazo.

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Fansite Nintendo Everything collected a series of Monterazo’s tweets from Monday as he detailed several features that he’s been testing so far:

Experimenting with a tablet of Nintendo, the system is based on android, fully modified and unified as a database of the tablet. #Android

— Nando Monterazo (@NandoMonterazo) November 18, 2013

At the moment just testing communication environment of educational games that will be shared between the kids using the tablet! #Tablet

— Nando Monterazo (@NandoMonterazo) November 18, 2013

We contacted Nintendo, and a representative responded that “Nintendo does not comment on rumors or speculation.” We also contacted the rep on the phone, and that rep said Nintendo wouldn’t comment on whether Monterazo was a company employee.

Despite the Nintendo connection, Monterazo said that NES, Super Nintendo, and Game Boy games will not appear on the tablet, with “educational games only” being the focus.

Monterazo also said that the unnamed tablet’s educational games will feature certain Nintendo characters, which could include company mascots Mario and Luigi as well as characters from other first-party Nintendo titles.

@Chris_Utah3DS @DeSero It is, a tablet with educational games for children with Nintendo characters….

— Nando Monterazo (@NandoMonterazo) November 18, 2013

Although Monterazo said that old-school Nintendo games will not work on the tablet, this may not necessarily be true if the device is running Android.

As an open-source platform, Android is well known for its emulation capabilities, including running ROM files for a wide variety of gaming systems such as the Super Nintendo, the original PlayStation, and arcade platforms like the CP System II.

Either way, this could be significant, since Nintendo has historically resisted moving into the mobile market.

According to Bloomberg, investors have previously pressured Nintendo to port their games to devices like Apple’s iPhone, which has sold over 400 million units in its lifetime (via Quartz).

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For comparison’s sake, that’s roughly four times as many units as the Nintendo Wii’s sold in its own lifecycle, which began over seven months before the debut of the original iPhone.