Topic: Nintendo’s Flagship 2018 Game?

2017 was a massive year for Nintendo and one of the best launch years in the company’s long history, but what about its follow up year? How can Nintendo properly follow the release of two of their biggest and best games of all time (Odyssey and Breath of the Wild) in 2018?

We are aware of Fire Emblem, Yoshi, and Kirby all being released in 2018 which are all great, and in a Wii U year that would be enough to satisfy us all, but after the massive launch year of 2017, I think we are all craving and expecting one massive title from Nintendo for Holiday 2018. Kirby is confirmed for Spring, Yoshi is likely to come earlier in the year, but what else?

Pikmin 4, Donkey Kong, and Bayonetta are all possibilities.. but what about that one MASSIVE title like Breath of the Wild or Mario Odyssey? Comment down below what you think that Holiday 2018 flagship title that is hyped all throughout the year and heavily at E3 will be.

Pokemon? Animal Crossing? Smash? Mario Odyssey 2 (lol)? Metroid? Discuss!

I‘m not too sure whether Pokemon will be released in 2018, same with Metroid if I‘m honest.

I could (and want to) see a Smash Bros. 4 Deluxe in 2018. I think a new Animal Crossing is coming, given Pocket Camp‘s existence and one of Nintendo‘s reasons for their mobile endeavors being to market their IPs to them.

The main argument against Animal Crossing is that the team that develops Splatoon also develops Animal Crossing. I'd expect the next AC game to be 2019 UNLESS they use the GaaS approach with additional content released over time. Which, for Animal Crossing, I think that approach could be what the next entry in the series needs to spice it up? It's not like they don't have experience with that model now, and Welcome Amiibo was a very GaaS style additon to New Leaf.

Hm... as for another flagship title... The chance of them pulling something unexpected still remains. I'm... gonna go on a limb and predict a new Kid Icarus. Cause... why not?

Announced to be published by Nintendo for 2018 are Dragon Quest Builders, Kirby Star Allies, Project Octopath Traveler, Fire Emblem, the new Yoshi game, Shin Megami Tensei V, and Metroid Prime 4.

What still up in the air from Nintendo for 2018? Maybe the new Pokémon RPG? Pikmin 4 and Donkey Kong were already mentioned. A game from Retro Studios? Something from Platinum Games? HD deluxe remakes and collections to fill in the gaps? Hypetrain announcements like Animal Crossing, Mother 4, The Last Story II, Professor Layton, and for me at least Excite Truck 2, Endless Ocean 3, and Eternal Darkness 2?

I don't think the flagship title will be in the first half of the year firstly, Nintendo seems keen to rely on their evergreen titles to continue into early 2017. Kirby and Yoshi should help but they aren't flagship by any stretch of the imagination.

The second half of 2018? No clue. It should either be Metroid or Pokemon, which is less likely, or a game they haven't shown off yet. If they reveal its Pikmin thats a bad idea being too niche like Octopath Traveler (which I think will be amazing).

Likely its Smash or Animal Crossing or most likely a new IP. I remember Koizumi said that new IP's are coming and they marketed ARMS very hard although it fell to the wayside. Basically its up in the air but I put my bets on New IP rather than Metroid Smash and Animal Crossing as they haven't had anything leaked.

I was saying in the main Switch thread yesterday that I think there's going to be a big focus on online /local multiplayer games.For one, to make the online membership hard to resist and 2,the Switch is perfect for them. I think we're going to see the Switch equivalent of the Wii/DS series of games but this time, not so casual or gimmicky. These could be the non-traditional Nintendo IP they talked about instead of flagship titles but I'm convinced they're going to be a huge part of the 2018 lineup.

Would love a 2d Mario. With online time trials or objective trials

Why I think that is safe to assume is:

• Kirby.
• Yoshi.
• Smash Bros Deluxe.
• Mario Sports: Basketball, baseball, Hockey, Tennis (or Golf)
• Mii Resort Deluxe

Some that could be announced for late 2018 or early 2019:

• Pokemon Adventures
• 2D Mario
• Luigi's Dark Moon Mansion 3
• Metroid 4
• Mario Party Grand Deluxe
• Paper Mario: Millennium Gate

The only thing I know of right now that could have the kind of impact on the community the way Breath of the Wild or Odyssey as had is maybe Metroid (depending on what they do with it). While I am very excited from Yoshi and Kirby they look like more of the same. I am sure they will be good but will not be GOTY contenders.

Hmm. My guess is they’ll do something completely new. We won’t see a new Mario or Zelda (maybe a remaster in either series).

Smash will certainly come but it’s not the big seller that they can build their holiday line up around - I’m expecting it in May or June. Animal Crossing is huge (& is very important) but not necessarily what the crowd that’s vought Switch so far has been sold the console for.

Metroid won’t be ready.

Pokémon is a possibility. It’s their biggest and most reliable franchise. Again though - will it be ready for 2018?

So I think we’ll see something new alongside the things we already know and the reliable evergreen titles like Animal Crossing and Smash that are likely.

We know Retro Studios works on major landmark games with major commercial appeal & they’re due & they’re supposedly working on a new IP. That’s where I’d look first but there are other teams within Nintendo that have been quiet for more than a year now.

So I am willing to bet the average of 1 game per month release pattern will see a decent slowdown. Kirby will probably be Feb/March, with something on its heels in April.

Unless we get the "surprise" announcement of Mario & Sonic Olympics, which would release around that same time to compliment the Winter Games. And I still expect a Mario Party 11 coming in 2018, I predict Summer.

Outside that, we know Yoshi is a game coming as well. But a flagship title, and I mean one people expect millions to sell from the first month or two, remains a mystery. Unless we see a new collaboration, I don't think we'll see either Pokemon or MP4 till about Spring 2019.

They are aiming for Pokemon and Metriod to come in 2018, both of those would be huge launches. But there is some merit to the idea they might get pushed back. At this point Animal Crossing Switch is widely suspected and hoped for, but unconfirmed, so I doubt we will get it earlier than maybe holiday 2018. We might get some HD remasters of Wii games, if that news about their release on the Chinese Nvidia tablet is accurate. I doubt Nintendo would remaster those games and only release them in China.

2018 is gonna see the release of the "full online services" too. Which is supposed to include whatever retro game Virtual Console type service the Switch will have. I suspect one of the big releases is going to be a major upgrade to the Switch OS with support for legacy content, themes, new multiplayer features, folders and other upgrades.

@StuTwo you are right about Smash if it's just a port with no changes. But this is Smash we are talking about. If they released Smash Deluxe with new characters, maps, even a new game mode, it would sell like crazy. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is still selling well despite having been a just a port without new features.

I think their flagship of 2018 will be Smash Bros. I don't know it will be Smash 5 (new stages like the environment from BOTW or kingdoms from SMO, new characters like BOTW Link and Zelda, Mario with Cappy and characters from Arms and Splatoon 2) or that this will be a Smash 4 Deluxe version. I think we will see this game when they roll out the online services. I can't imagine that they roll out the online services without an online multiplayer game.
I also think that Nintendo will focus more on Apps and the Virtual Console (including the online service?) in 2018.

For the winter holiday I think we can expect the Pokemon game to be the big seller. Because I think that their focus will be on the online service thing I think Pokemon has to do something with it. Maybe online battles, quests or community?

For 2019, their flagship will be Metroid Prime 4 I think.

If I were to run Nintendo I would feel pretty damn good about 2018 and I would not feel pressured to release any more MEGA SMASH HITS. Just release good games and ride the massive hype wave that zelda and mario created in 2017. The Switch will be the best selling console of all times i am sure of it.

Let's see... We have our shooter (Splatoon 2); our racer (MK8D); our adventure (Zelda BotW); our 3D platformer (Odyssey); our RPG (Xenoblade 2); and our fighters (ARMS and Pokken) - and our 2D platformers (Kirby and Yoshi) are both due in 2018. What does that leave, assuming Pokémon, Animal Crossing and Metroid won't be ready till 2019?

Best guess is a party game sometime in the build-up to next Christmas (although 1-2 Switch already kind of fills that hole), and a Mario Sports/Olympics game of some sort in the summer. Aside from that, maybe the next Fire Emblem or, possibly, a Mario RPG? I could definitely imagine the latter popping up somewhere down the line.

For me, Shin Megami Tensei V is the most interesting game on the 2018 slate, anyway.

@Fastballer Unfortunately I don't think that is doable. 2018 for Nintendo is arguably more important than 2017 was. The first year is a year of hype, the second year is when you have to show that you can continue to deliver on the games and the sales to keep the momentum going.

@Heavyarms55 I'm not sure - Smash is huge (and important) but it's not a game that sells to a mass audience in the way that Mario Kart does. Mario Kart 8 will ultimately sell 10 or 20 million odd units to become one of the best selling games in the series (hello Polygon!) but a deluxe Smash port won't sell more than 10 million however well presented or fully featured.

@FragRed I think it's more complex than that. They can't rest on their laurels - they do need to keep attention and community engagement/excitement but the games that will really sell Switch to the majority of new owners (Mario Kart, Zelda BoTW, Splatoon 2 and Mario Odyssey) are already out there and won't disappear next year. All of those games will have very long tails and will be used to justify the purchase of the console.

Year 2 - given the long lasting games that Nintendo has provided in year 1 - will be about filling out genres, providing a wider variety of experiences and throwing a few pieces of red meat to the frothing at the mouth enthusiast audience. They need to anchor the system around a big exciting winter release and they need to keep at least a few relatively evergreen 3rd party games like Doom and Skyrim in the pipeline but they don't need a Zelda or Mario every year.

@StuTwo One way of delivering the red meat would be new more IPs, that would certainly offer big surprises and keep people hyped while a tease of whatever retro is working on in the January Direct would also be a big positive boost.

Maybe we'll see a trailer in The Game Awards? It wouldn't be unlike Nintendo to keep us waiting until the end of January to know anything specific what that year was going to be like. I wonder if not having that one big AAA trailer for 2018 hurt their holiday though.