Nintendo’s Touchscreen Monster-Catching Patent Hits Rejection in Japan
Nintendo’s latest attempt to secure a patent around Pokémon-style monster-catching on touchscreens has run into a wall in Japan.
According to GamingBolt, the Japan Patent Office has rejected Nintendo’s patent application 2026-019762, which was filed earlier this year with a request for accelerated review. The application focused on gameplay where players use touchscreen controls to capture “field characters”, command their own “battle characters”, and select actions from a list during play.
In plain gamer language: this sounds very much like the basic flow of a monster-catching game on mobile. Tap, battle, throw item, maybe capture. Familiar territory, bro.
The rejection was highlighted by Games Fray’s Florian Mueller, who noted that the JPO examiner found the application lacking an “inventive step”. That matters because patent offices usually do not approve ideas that are already well known or too obvious compared with older games, systems, or patents — what the legal world calls “prior art”.
The JPO reportedly pointed to several examples that make Nintendo’s claim difficult to approve, including ARK: Survival Evolved, PUBG Mobile, and previous patent applications. The office also referenced how Pokémon games already use mechanics where a Monster Ball can succeed or fail when attempting to capture a Pokémon, describing that kind of system as well-known game design.
That is the key problem for Nintendo here. The claim appears to cover a broad monster-catching ruleset rather than a specific new technology. Mueller’s take is that there is “nothing technologically innovative” about the idea as described.
Why should Malaysia and SEA gamers care? Because this is directly tied to the wider legal pressure around Palworld and games that operate in the Pokémon-adjacent space. Palworld was huge because it mixed creature collecting, survival crafting, guns, base-building, and multiplayer chaos into one very streamable package. In SEA, where mobile gaming is massive and Android access is often the main platform for younger players, a Palworld Mobile launch could be a big deal.
That mobile version is currently being developed with Krafton under PUBG Studios, with an Android and iOS release targeted sometime in 2026. No firm release date has been announced yet. If Nintendo manages to secure broad patents around touchscreen monster-catching, it could create headaches not just for Palworld Mobile, but potentially for other creature-collecting games trying to launch on phones.
For now, though, the JPO rejection is a setback for Nintendo. It does not necessarily mean the whole patent fight is over. Mueller points out that Nintendo can still try to argue its case and convince the examiner, although he also described this rejection as well-reasoned and likely difficult to overturn.
This follows another recent blow in the US, where the USPTO also ruled against Nintendo’s attempt to patent gameplay involving summoned allies fighting alongside the player. That decision was non-final, but it still marked another challenge to Nintendo’s broader push around patenting Pokémon-like mechanics.
The bigger question is where the line should be drawn. Nintendo absolutely has the right to protect its actual inventions and IP. But if a patent becomes so broad that it can cover common genre mechanics, that gets messy fast. For SEA players, especially mobile-first gamers, the hope is simple: let good games compete, let developers innovate, and don’t lock down entire genres behind legal paperwork.
Source: GamingBolt
