Topic: What will he the big release of this year? Since we won't be finding out today

@jump I love Mario, my first console was a NES and the first games I had were Mario (with duck hunt!) And Mario 3. Mario 3 is my 1st or 2nd favourite game ever, so I'm a huge Mario fan, and I want every Mario game possible on the switch, but i'm just not sure a more casual fan would consider Mario ports a must have purchase?

I still think they would sell millions (I said 5m+ for each release earlier in the thread) but i'm not sure they would have the hype of BOTW2 or Odyssey2?

I would be pretty upset if I had been a steady Nintendo fan over the years and this was considered the big release for the year. Yeah, the upgrade in graphics and the ability to replay on a current device would be nice but really pretty meh. I feel that way about all the WiiU ports. Just not worth the double dip in most cases.

@MarioBrickLayer Wait, you think it would sell over 5 million in the first year but it wouldn't be a big release. How many copies does a game got to sell before you consider it big?

I'm sure Odyssey, BOTW, Animal Crossing, Smash and Pokemon all did 10m in first year didn't they?

@damien33ad While not remasters, 2018's holiday lineup was about legacy content. Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee was a Pokemon Yellow remake and Smash Ultimate was a new game celebrating the legacy of the franchise ("Everyone is here", most of the old stages returning, etc.).

I'm still leaning towards the 3D Mario collection turning out to be Odyssey 2 or Odyssey DLC. Undecided which because BotW 2 was revealed to have originally been DLC for BotW but having more DLC for BotW would've meant having to release the DLC for Wii U (Nintendo's promise was that the Wii U and Switch versions of BotW would have the same content) so BotW 2 allows Wii U to be avoided, Odyssey doesn't have that given it's only on Switch.

This Christmas is also interesting as Nintendo are up against the PS5 and new XBOX, do you try and sell to your core fans (mario) and keeping your big hits for later? OR Would Odyssey 2, BOTW2 or Metroid Prime be enough to stop someone not buying a PS5 if they planned to get one? It would be interesting to know how many Switch owners have multiple consoles.

Literally your first post starting this thread was talking about the Mario releases.

@Magician I like the idea of Good-Feel making a Mario & Luigi game. I don't think Game Freak is working on New Pokemon Snap, it's being developed by Bandai Namco.

The safe bet at this point feels like the reported Mario Remasters. I was skeptical of this rumor at first, especially since a few Mario things have been launched since w/o any kind of "35 Year celebration" branding, but the upcoming Monopoly game has sealed it for me. The other part of my theory is that we probably should have seen Super Mario Odyssey 2 by now, but it makes sense that we haven't if the team has been busy remastering a trio of older games for Switch, and adding some additional content.

What else could outdo that now? I don't think BOTW2 is coming this year - Nintendo usually would start a hype train up for something like that ~6 months in advance. MP4 for 2020 is a pipe dream. Bayonetta 3 may well be coming by EOY, but it's not going to Nintendo's holiday centerpiece.

We do also know about 2 Pokemon games - an unseen Detective Pikachu game, and Pokemon Snap. Every Holiday window for the Switch thus far has had a Pokemon game, so maybe here too.

Other than that, is there really anything else that can outdo the remasters that we haven't heard about yet? Probably not.

So, Mario Remaster + A Pokemon game? Seems like a big enough holiday slate for me (and probably a couple of smaller things sprinkled in).

Agreed. I love Mario but I have no interest in re-buying the same games I already own, even if they have a lot of improvements. I know a lot of people would be happy with it so I don't have a problem with these games being remastered, but I'll be disappointed if it's the only major Nintendo release for the rest of this year.

I totally agree too, there are some remastered games that I won't buy cause I lot of theme are similar (the remastered version is the same as the first version)

How much a Pokémon can this world take? It’s almost suffocating me!

If there's a Pokemon physical release this holiday, it'll likely be a repackaged version of Pokemon Sword/Shield with the expansion pass because the expansion pass is 2020's mainline Pokemon game.

People are still predicting a Pokemon game from GF this year? The instant they revealed the DLC packs I knew that wasn't going to happen. And look, one of them even comes out in November, the prime time for a GF Pokemon game release.

The DLC packs are essentially a replacement for the third version. (hopefully they still don't try to make one of those). I think if people looked at it that way they might understand better. The DLC packs are the 'game' that GF is producing this year.

Actually i almost forget Pokemon Sword / Shield DLC packs due to overshadowed by Animal Crossing New Horizons that stole my attention for straight 4 weeks in a row.

@damien33ad I think it’s because fans are so desperate they talk like it exists. It doesn’t 😂 for comparison, the length between releasing Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 was 3 years. Odyssey was released in 2017.

If Nintendo was going to make a sequel, we’d probably hear about it either this year or next. Otherwise it’s probably not going to happen.

But honestly I’d prefer a 3rd galaxy before Odyssey 2 but there’s a very low chance that’s ever happening.

@damien33ad Well nothing's been announced yet but it's a prediction based on how Mario games after Sunshine had sequels (e.g. Galaxy -> Galaxy 2, 3D Land -> 3D World) and how Odyssey hasn't had DLC yet meanwhile most 1st party Switch games have.

@Magician looking at your list, New Pokemon Snap is Bamco not GameFreak. We can assume GameFreak is working on both the next remake and the next mainline Pokemon, as well as DLC. As for Snap, it's probably being worked on by the Pokken team, which also shares a ton of names with the Smash team I believe.

IS is almost certainly working on a Fire Emblem remake I'd wager while they plan the next mainline game.

Monolith Soft has that new IP ARPG in the works that should be ready to show off any time now if it's gone well. They have five studios now after all, so even with BotW they should have more room in the pipeline. It's pretty safe to assume something Xenoblade related is in development as well, though possibly only the earliest of phases since DE just came out.

@Grumblevolcano @damien33ad I think Odyssey 2 is a similar argument to Galaxy 2 and BOTW2, the first games were extremely popular and there is an opportunity to reuse much of the development from the 1st game in the sequel.

I don't see it coming this year, but I wonder if as part of the anniversary we'll see a Metroid Prime 4 or BOTW2 style trailer?

It seems odd that some people don't seem to think ports and re-releases count as big releases on the Switch when the best selling game on the Switch is a port, the big launch game was a port, the Switch versions generally outsell their counterparts and the port begging is non-stop.