Sometimes combinations just work out. Peanut butter and chocolate, digital clocks and VCRs, root beer and ice cream. And then there's the idea of Nintendo and Disney, an idea that really should work out well. Indeed, it would seem to be so obvious that reports suggest even Disney and Nintendo are coming around to how good an idea it is, and the companies are poised to start working together on a "pan-media partnership," if the reports hold true.

The word is that the two companies, largely competitors in a lot of ways--just look at the amiibo / Disney Infinity project if you want to see more--may be set to start working together in a way that allows each side to use the other's intellectual property in varyious projects. This could be something as simple as allowing the amiibo to wander into Disney Infinity to a Monsters Inc movie featuring Bowser and the rest of the Koopa clan.

Some have even suggested a possible Mario / Mickey crossover game, and that could get interesting; let's remember the hay made in the sunshine of Mickey's brief adventure with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and realize some possibilities afoot. Better yet, Nintendo has always had something of a clear family focus, so bringing in Disney--which has likewise had a family focus--means some definite possibility afoot.

While the crew of gamers eagerly awaiting the next Halo / Resident Evil / Fallout title might not be too interested in whatever Disney brings to Nintendo, there would likely be plenty of gamers with an interest. Make said games sufficiently fun and even the core gamers might stop in for a little bit of disarming fun, a palate cleanser of sorts between high-impact mayhem games. Certainly I enjoyed a few Wii games, and was happy to see Raving Rabbids make the jump to Xbox 360 so I could bunny dance and fire carrot juice at vacationing bunnies.

This could be the kind of thing that lights a fire under Nintendo. The Wii U, sadly, is buckling under a lack of games and a continuing negative image; most of the games announced at E3 would never be seen on Wii U, and that's going to hurt in the long run. But if Nintendo can separate itself and make a completely different prospect from Microsoft and Sony, it can run its own project, quiet and secure in the knowledge that it has a market, and it doesn't have to fight in the console wars any more because it has its own slice of land, a slice that neither of the other companies really wants.

Only time will tell just how this winkles out in the end, but right now, a Disney / Nintendo partnership may prove to be just the ticket for keeping Nintendo afloat and landing Disney some extra cash as well.