Nintendo to reveal Animal Crossing mobile game this week

UPDATE 2.05pm: Nintendo fans in the UK will be able to watch Animal Crossing's smartphone game reveal at a slightly more palatable time of 7am UK time:

ORIGINAL STORY 1.30pm: The long-awaited Animal Crossing smartphone game will be unveiled this week, Nintendo has announced.

A special Animal Crossing themed Nintendo Direct will be held on Wednesday, 25th October in Japan - at midday local time, so 4am here.

We're checking with Nintendo UK now to hear if we will get a local version.

Regardless, it will be our first look at Nintendo's smartphone plans for its popular life sim. Will it be a recreation of the main series for mobile phones? Will it be a spin-off? What will the post-Brexit turnip conversion rate be?

Animal Crossing seems especially suited to mobile phones. It's a series which has always worked well on the go, where you can dip in for shorter play sessions more frequently.

Nintendo first announced plans for an Animal Crossing mobile back in April 2016, at the same time as Fire Emblem Heroes. Both were then delayed, although Fire Emblem arrived back in Febraury. It's been a long wait for Nintendo to get Animal Crossing ready.

Nintendo's last major Animal Crossing game was New Leaf for 3DS, all the way back in 2012. There was no major Animal Crossing game for Wii U - just toy spin-off Amiibo Festival - making it the first Nintendo console since the series' N64 inception not to have one.

In the meantime, however, Animal Crossing has been kept alive by updates to New Leaf, and another 3DS spin-off game, Happy Home Designer.