Feature: Will We Finally See These Games In The Not-E3 Nintendo Direct?

In order to keep myself from being depressed or one of those people in the comments whining about Metroid Prime 4, I'll expect literally none of these to be in the direct.

In fact, I'll take it a step further. I'm not expecting ANY of these to release EVER. That'll keep me from being disappointed.

I expect no first party Nintendo games at other showcases (Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is technically a Ubisoft game) but third party games are fair game. As for a Direct, I'm starting to doubt there will be one.

I don't think we will see anything on both Silksong or Metroid Prime 4.
I really do hope I'm wrong though because the wait feels like an eternity.

In order: Yes. No. No. No.

I don’t think Prime 4 will be a Switch game, or if it is it’ll be the Switch’s swan song game and launch alongside the Switch 2 version. Doesn’t have the same appeal as a Zelda but it’d still be a good poster child for the next system at launch especially if the visual upgrades are substantial. It’s taken this long for it to come they might as well save it.

Bayonetta 3 is a must surely. As for anything else, anything could happen.

Lmao that Bayonetta 3 bullet list is funny when you see all the updates over the years compiled together.

We will see these games whenever we see them. I've sort of stopped caring about them now due to them taking so long but that's not to say I'm not looking forward to them because I am.

Let's go Pikmin 4!

Here's my pessimistic prediction: Metroid Prime 4 and Retro Studios are in development hell and the studio will soon close along with the cancelled Prime 4.

Pikmin 4 will not release on Nintendo Switch given we already got Pikmin 3 Deluxe. Nintendo probably even fought against putting resources into porting it to Switch. I don't think the higher ups want to commit resources to what is essentially Miyamoto's obscure pet project, so it gets put on the back burner, and Miyamoto himself is busy with theme parks and movies.

We might get a Pikmin animation, but no games for the foreseeable future. I wish Pikmin was bigger, but it's unfortunately very, very niche.

Today's Xenoblade 3 trailer makes me more convinced there won't be a June Direct. The September 2017 Direct gave us a look at the different Titans in Xenoblade 2 in a somewhat similar way.

So I'd guess Outer Wilds and Sports Story ends up in either an Indie World or shadow drop announcement, Bayonetta 3 ends up being a standalone trailer around August, Prime 4 and Pikmin 4 end up being games used to market new Switch hardware and Grezzo's game appears in a September or February Direct.

Silksong I could see appear at a Geoff Keighley event, maybe Game Awards.

Metroid Prime easily wins the poll, but I have no expectations that we’ll see it. Literally none. It doesn’t even cross my mind anymore. It’ll get here when it gets here, and my money is on it being a “Switch 2” title regardless.

The one thing that I truly want for Switch is an achievements/trophy equivalent. Again, no chance at all but that’s what I want. I’m fresh out of current games that I want to play so I’d replay some if I had an incentive to do so. And before people say that fun should be the objective, I literally get fun out of the challenge of unlocking trophies. So… I’ll just nip that in the bud there 😂

I suppose we'll find out next week.

Did you say silksong? Silk song? SIIIIIIILKKK SOOOOONG! SIIIILLLK SOOONG! (You hear the voice run into the distance, screaming silk song)

We will see all of these, along with Mario Kart 9, a new Kid Icarus, new Hogan's Alley and Star Fox.

I would expect Metroid Prime HD or Trilogy before Metroid Prime 4.

The Bayonetta 3 bullet points was a telenovela worth of headlines, I was gripped the entire way through.

It's hard to know how these kinds of things will pan out until it happens (as boring of an answer as that is) but for my money, I'd say we'll get big bits of news of Bayonetta 3, Sports Story, Outer Wilds and maybe Pikmin 4 if we're lucky. We may get a re-reveal for MP4 but considering how the biggest bits of news surrounding that has been the hiring of staff, I'm not holding my breath.

I mean, whatever. Bayo 3 I'm looking forward to, but the footage they showed last time was, uh, rough, and not quite at the level of the spectacular Bayo 2. Not giving up on it, though: Bayo 2 and Astral Chain are my two Platinum games on Switch and they're both amazing.

Metroid Prime 4 I'm obviously looking forward to but, um, and this will sound sacrilegious coming from a guy with a Super Metroid avatar, but I never actually played the other Prime games. So maybe re-release those first?

I expect we'll get a date for Bayonetta 3 soon, regardless of whether there is a Direct or not.

To be perfectly honest, Pikmin 4 is the only one of these I'd likely buy at launch, but I've given up hoping to hear more about it.

I'm really hoping we get a new release date for Advance Wars soon.

I am not even looking for those games at all. 🤨
I found some upcoming kids games mostly from play-asia without E3 event or Nintendo Direct.

A proper Fire Emblem would be nice. Hint hint.

I’m wondering what happened to Finding Paradise, since it’s been out on steam for 5 years already?…

Pikmin 4. Yes. Letsa go. Yes

@Grumblevolcano Totally with you. I thought the XC3 trailer drop was basically confirmation there's no Direct. Otherwise, that would have been for the direct.

Of course that makes Nintendo the only main company not participating in #NotE3 in some way, unless twitter posts count as participation. (Plus Ubi who announced they'll do a show later in the year.)

@Beaucine GASP blasphemy!

Yeah, you should try the Prime games out once you get the chance. I’ve played through the first one a dozen times, such an amazing game, very atmospheric. Try it without a guide!

Play as a witch with gun shoes and a suit made out of hair to fight off biblically-accurate angels. It's awesome.

@KateGray Why didn't anyone tell me before now that this was a real Shin Megami Tensei game?!

I am going full-on pessimistic for this potential Nintendo Direct:

-There will be no MP4
-There will be no Mario
-There will be no Genshin
-There will be no Goldeneye
-There will be no Banjo
-There will be no Kazooie
-There will be no Red Bull Wings
-There will be no New Wave Race
-There will only be more N64 Controllers and Pokemon News (14 new games to announce but they're all Sword and Shield reskins)

That is all. Xbox wins baby.

Edit: There will be no Nintendon’t Direct

No. there is no silk song yo

Hollow Knight Silksong, Pikmin 4 e Metroid Prime 4 is a collective delirum, Bayonetta 3 is problaby the octobre release.

No. Probably. I dunno.

To modify what I consider a perfect line of poetry, "At this rate, we'll have more luck playing pick-up sticks with our butt cheeks than we will getting a flight out of here by daybreak any of these games releasing this year."
If you know what movie this is from, we can be friends.

I feel like Bayonetta 3 (most likely) followed by Silk Song
(could happen) are the only even slightly plausible ones from this list.

Starving to death in pikmin 3 already traumatized me enough, so I'm avoiding pikmin 4 even if it does magically come out.

I doubt Nintendo is gonna do a showcase, maybe in a week or two.

If they do, my one and single hope is a new Switch. I love my OLED model, but man, the hardware limitations are starting to have too much of an impact.
It’s like anything that’s not 2D just runs so poorly on the system, that I can play it better on my phone.
It sucks! Gives us a new version already.

No word we are getting a new Direct yet.

Nintendo is probably not doing anything this month. We might need to wait until September for another direct. I don't think they have anything else to announce for the summer. Bayonetta is likely Q4 if I had to guess or delayed to next year.

Can we just move past from the pandemic already.

Otherwise, E3 has been canned since this thing began in 2020. Are we going to have an E3 in 2023 or even at all in-person anymore?

I think all the pessimistic comments forgot one of the most pessimistic outlooks-there will be no direct. On a serious note I hope Nintendo gives us something new to look forward to.

@ChromaticDracula didn’t even have to look up the quote. Planes trains and automobiles. Great movie.

I'm wondering when we're going to hear about Advance Wars 1+2 Re-boot Camp again.

Pure Vaporware as far as im concern, with only 2 or 3 exceptions

@JGruns Took your advice! I will send you 5 Vbucks as a reward in your inbox. You should receive it between the times of now and never.

Xbox Cloud wins baby!!

I saw this headline and hastily assumed Nintendo actually announced an incoming Direct! Ah well… 😔

Hopefully they give us something, in the ol’ E3 spirit. There’s far too many games to play already for me to be overly concerned, though.

@NEStalgia So this is what it's come to has it, guessing what might be in a Direct, if we get a Direct? OMG

If Metroid Prime 4 has reasons to explore other than missile upgrades and health and ammo i don't need then that's what I'm most excited for. It needs better rewards or completely new weapons that aren't the arm cannon. For a 3d game it feels like a sci fi Kings Field only you have the same weapon all game, no leveling up, no magic and no inventory. I've tried all 3 and finished 2 of them, I really want to like them too.

@TexanBanjo But there's the mobile pikmin game, I have a feeling that one will make more money than any other pikmin, so it looks to me that Nintendo really care about pikmin and happily put money and resources into the franchise. Maybe they don't need a pikmin 4 if the mobile game is there? We want a pikmin 4 but it might not make sense to Nintendo to make it just yet.

I have a confession to make - I never cared for Hollow Knight, no matter how many people told me how good it is. I just didnt. But looking at that Hornet girl knitting around with her silk really makes me wanna play that sequel. Looks outstanding.

So does Bayonetta 3, sadly I cant get myself to pick Bayonetta 2 back up because that child with his crazy necklace was just too annoying for me to handle, but I think theres a good chance we will get a lot closer to Bayonetta 3 and Silksong with this upcoming direct.

Also, didnt Retro Studios say Metroid Prime HD Collection is ready to go and Nintendo is just holding it back for whenever? I think now is the time to get people back in the mood for the franchise.

Edit: Screw it, I am switching my profile picture to Hornet.

All I need is some Bushiden news and then I'll be good.

@rjejr Yup. We don't even need bingo cards anymore. We'll just burn them in protest.

looks like there is not gonna be any Nintendo Direct.

The only game I am interested in out of this list is Pikmin 4. Starting to think it has completely restarted development at this point though. It was teased by Miyamoto years ago as being pretty far in development and I haven't heard anything about it since.

I expect bayo and silksong news... But not in a direct

Hopefully they give us something, in the ol’ E3 spirit.

@Teksetter Well-put. There is a certain carnival atmosphere to proper multi-platform events that I feel is worth preserving, even experienced remotely.

I'm beginning to wonder if Nintendo is naturally disinclined to hold events during E3, if they were always doing this out of obligation. They do like to announce things in their own way and time. Of course, one should then ask if they have the same perspective on the Tokyo Game Show.

We'll find out soon, one way or the other. I do imagine, though, that things will grow rather angst-ridden and unpleasant around here if they "snub" our June expectations...

I’m one of the few that wants to see Sports Story most of out of this bunch (if only because I don’t believe we’ll see Prime 4 or Pikmin 4 soon). Loved Golf Story. 9.5/10 game for me.

That said, I’ll acknowledge Silksong too. After all, I feel like Hollow Knight is a 10/10. (Fun fact for me too: it’s the only video game I’ve ever completed while flying in an airplane) For some strange reason, I’ve just had so little hype for the game. I don’t know if it’s the delays or if I just have this feeling that it won’t live up to the first game or what, but I’ve been somewhat cautious with the game. Of course, I felt the same about Axiom Verge 2 and I actually liked the second one better, so I could be wrong, but that’s how I feel.

I'm not banking on any of em to be honest. So it'll be a nice surprise if we see any of them 😉

Although Silksong was officially announced just over 3 years ago (Feb 2019) we’ve actually been waiting much much longer. Initially this was a Kickstarter tier reward to the original Kickstarter campaign way back in 2014 and was meant to be DLC.

It has been my most anticipated game for SO long now. Wishing Team Cherry well on getting over the line. Hopefully an update soon.

Kid Icarus... 😭 Please, please... 🥺

I expect Nintendo to announce the closure of Retro Studios, without any mention of Metroid, Starfox, or F-Zero; allowing those franchises to remain forgotten. I’m serious. Retro hasn’t done anything in over 7 years. They are not the same studio from the year 2002. StarFox’s on-rails gameplay is not in-fashion and needs major reinventing. F-Zero while beloved has been replaced by MarioKart.

There's no Direct! Stop spreading lies, nintendolife!!

I never thought a Direct would happen so close before an upcoming release, which would be Strikers this week...but after, I think that's possible. I've been thinking next week would be the Direct, either Tuesday the 14th or Thursday the 16th. I would like to see Metroid Prime 4 since Retro teased with their updated banner, but after whatever is being done with previous entries in the Prime Series...whether that be just Prime remade or a remaster of the Trilogy.

That logo of MP 4 is obviously not the final design.

The joke's gonna end up being on us when they decide to not do a Direct any time in the next week

Delay it until later in the summer like they did in 2020.

Maybe Silksong, if we’re lucky.

Turns out non-events don’t get me hyped like events do :/

I’m convinced their won’t be one around not-E3/SGF they have a pretty solid line up for 2022 already assuming no slippage; Xenonlade 3, Bayonetta 3, Splatoon 3, New Pokémon. I think we’ll get one later in the year to promote those.

I won't hold my breath to hear anything about Metroid Prime 4, but it's high time, if you ask me

@Drydoctor That’s WAY out of proportion. I too think they are being too quiet at the moment (and the Zelda delay really hurts in that regard). To me it all points to them preparing for the next system. They want to avoid ever launching a console without a steady stream of games again, but as a result towards the end of Switch‘s life cycle software support begins to be anaemic. I too hate it, but Nintendo is not “on life support” by any means. Switch keeps selling with still a good chance to become their bestselling system, the catalog keeps selling. Any good game they put out eventually hits 10m, which are astonishing numbers, way higher than in the Wii days.

I think there will be a direct soonish but I think the big announcements will be a Zelda rerelease and Game Boy games added to NSO. They've been trying to release a Zelda related game every year, BOTW2 has been delayed, porting over Wind Waker or Twilight Princess HD would be an easy way to keep up the yearly release schedule. As for the Game Boy games, we've only got one more previously announced N64 game to go and to be totally honest that system didn't have a particularly massive library so, while I expect we'll continue to get occasional N64 drops, I think bringing in Game Boy and GBA games would be an easier way to stretch out the drip feed. I think Pokemon Snap will be added to N64 NSO, and then they'll bring in the Game Boy games.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I hope Metroid Prime 4, the next Grezzo game and Pikmin 4 are for the next Nintendo console. I still have so many Switch games to play and at this point the console really is starting to creak. Pikmin and Metroid Prime 4 are both games that would heavily benefit from more advanced hardware.

@HotGoomba you're playing 4D reverse psychology chess, I like it

@NEStalgia There's now even more fuel to the fire of no June Direct, Nintendo revealed a Three Hopes trailer with demo shadow drop.

@Grumblevolcano I thought it was pretty apparent last week when the new Pokemon trailer dropped that we weren't getting a direct. I honestly think the reasoning is because they are currently in the midst of a hostile takeover via Elon Musk.

@Grumblevolcano Yeah. I mean, it's Nintendo, whenever you think they'll zig, they unzip the background and do a can-can. But short of Nintendo trolling us, they're pretty much going out of their way to tell us there's no Direct. They're taking E3 week to just make a bunch of twitter drops.

It's the most depressing possible outcome short of Nintendo being bought by Comcast.

Sony's at war with E3. Nintendo's at war with Keighley. Can we get anyone that these companies aren't at political war with to actually coordinate an event with all of them? Maybe China can host it. All the companies love China!

One thing is for sure, we will get new hardware announced. Possibly a mention of next gen.

@Jokerwolf OLED Lite HAS to drop soon.

Not new hardware overall. They're not going to replace OLED less than a year into it's well-selling life, or announce 2023 hardware before holiday sales of current models. But OLED Lite is so obvious and conspicuously missing.

@NEStalgia I think they are going to announce a next gen system and that it will be fully backwards compatible with no re-lease date. That makes way more sense and will instill confidence to the board and investors without hurting any seasonal sales. They have done this in the past and have lied about the length of console generations since the NES.

@NEStalgia Nintendo is not being bought by Comcast. Best case scenario is a bidding war between Tencent and PIF. 🤑

@Jokerwolf Announcing a "no release date" next gen system now will risk sales though. If they're doing 2023, and I'm still thinking that's too soon for them, but if they are they won't announce until 2023. They're selling well, they're not in a position requiring defensiveness to the board. It's not a WiiU to "NX" situation they had to reveal their hand early even at the cost of current hardware sales. They control the narrative, not the investors right now.

At the most they'll give an "Of course, we are always working on the next hardware iteration with a focus on providing unique Nintendo-like surprises, but have nothing to announce at this time." response to remind investors they're working on new hardware but not in a business cycle to put it forward. That's more for the AGM later in the month than anything public facing, now.

Saying anything now will cannibalize their commanding holiday sales as people wait for a "Switch 2" or buy a PSXB "in the mean-time." Announcing new product announces the end of the current product. That's why Apple still does the "Available today!" thing.

@rjejr Sony should buy Nintendo!

@NEStalgia People who are still waiting to get a Switch are likely never getting one, it will not hurt sales in any meaningful way.

@Jokerwolf if you don't think announcing a product is obsolete months before the holiday rush hurts sales, I'm not sure what to tell you.

Whether or not they're doing 2023 switch 2, they're not announcing it in 2022. That's just plain stupidity, and Nintendo isn't that stupid. And I still find it unlikely they're not going to milk an OLED Lite. It's money on the table. Nintendo doesn't leave money on the table. So you might get the monkey's paw version of your "new hardware" this summer in that form. But if you're holding out for a switch 2 announcement in the next 6 months, I think you'll be disappointed. You were expecting one in 2021, too....

@NEStalgia I wasn't expecting anything in 2021, you have mistaken me for someone else lol. 6 years is a realistic lifespan for the switch and the final 1.5 - 2 years we will see many cross gen titles. It is likely why Prime 4 has been delayed so much and same for BotW 2, they want next gen system sellers.

@NEStalgia Sony won't buy Nintendo, Sony is only interested in the Western market these days, not Japan.

So, I just went down a list of the top 50 video game companies in the world looking for a western 1 for Sony to buy and all that's left is Sony, Nintendo and MS and all the ones it owns. 🤑

@rjejr There's always Embracer....

@Jokerwolf Maybe, I could have sworn it was you Anyway, yeah, maybe 6 years is enough, at least for normal tech companies, but for Nintendo, I'm still not sure they've milked all they can from this one, so it would seem strange for them to change now. The OLED isn't even a year old, and sales are still very strong while their competition is more hamstrung by chip shortages and logistics issues. The chip shortage should go on into 2024 according to Intel, so launching a new hardware platform while their old platform is selling so well, at a time when their competitors are still hamstrung on supply (and would be in a position to eclipse them in supply if Nintendo plunges in during the shortages). If this were the before times, then sure they'd have launched something now. But currently, there's atypical forces in play that make it non-ideal to launch even if the original plan was to do so. Whether they do or not, I still say there's a 0% chance of an announcement beyond "we're always looking at the next hardware" before 12/26/2022. You can tag me and laugh at me publicly if I'm wrong, but I'm putting that one in writing now.

@NintendoWife
Hopefully they have learned their lesson which is launch with something major,have a great first year of releases slated and keep engaging and promoting 3rd party partners. As you said Wii really didn’t move huge units of very many titles, by comparison Switch is a goldmine for publishers.

@IronMan30

Ahh Hogans Ally…..that was one of a handful of arcade games I could do some serious damage on with one quarter when I was a kid. Given the current environment I wouldn’t expect any gun games from Nintendo anytime soon….hell we may never get Advance Wars unless Vlad keels over…..if those are the new PC rules in gaming we may never see a new COD game again.

@QuickSilver88
I think Nintendo have learned that lesson. That’s why they never even considered a Mario Odyssey 2 or next Mario Kart for Switch. With Wii they made the mistake to „waste“ everything on the outgoing platform, leaving them empty handed for Wii U. Skyward Sword was a huge mistake - not the game, I love it, but still releasing it on Wii. It didn’t sell because Wii was practically dead at that point and should have been used to attract people to Wii U instead. Actually a very good counter-example to the damn quote of „a delayed game being good eventually“! Yeah good game, but there is such a thing as „too late“.

I’m sure the above (and many more) games are all lined up already for whenever the next system needs to launch. They know they‘ll need Mario at launch and Mario Kart within the first year. Zelda with its notorious delays is turning into a curious case again: Nintendo surely wishes they’d never announced BOTW2 for Switch, in the first place. Would be a no-brainer as a system seller.

@NEStalgia "Embracer"

I expect a lot from you, but even for you that's good. 👍

I think it's more likely that PIF buys Sony though. And you know I'm right. 🤑

@CANOEberry
I do imagine, though, that things will grow rather angst-ridden and unpleasant around here if they "snub" our June expectations...

No doubt there! I think disappointment too easily turns to anger on this lovely internet we share.
Staying silent next week really would be a break with tradition, though, and a huge letdown for us millions of fans in the West.
I sincerely hope Monday they'll announce a Direct for later in the week and set peoples' minds at ease.

As for the Tokyo Game Show, I'm no scholar on that topic, but Nintendo cancelling out of that would seem outrageous - they'd probably have to cancel the show if the undisputed king of the hill didn't show up! I imagine the hancho's in Kyoto would feel like they are betraying their many loyal fans in Japan.

I need to try golf story again. I bought it cuz of the hype & it was really boring. I deleted it to make room on my microSD card, but I need go redownload it, & give it another try.

I hate all the "console exclusive" talk for silk song. At least be honest & put "timed exclusive" in there. I fell for that & bought the 1st on switch, & was pissed when it came to game pass shortly after i started it (i didn't get around to playing it for a long time, which would likely be the case with the sequel, so I'll wait for a game pass release, maybe).

Anyone who pushed a switch pro (at all), or a switch successor in 2022, should never be trusted again, IMO. Remember who said that, so u know who is trustworthy. 😜

I just want a port of Wildermyth.

Metroid prime 4: I think we will get what is known as a 'sizzle reel' like some minor gameplay footage with a summer 2024 release window

BOTW 2: another sizzle reel with a winter 2023 release window

Pikmin 4: they will announce it is in development, but no release date

What I am most interested in seeing in the not E3 E3 direct is more info possibly release dates for many of the titles revealed in last year's not E3 E3 direct like portal 1 and 2, no man's sky, advance wars 1+2 reboot camp, the strong rumored wind waker HD remake, an announcement of Mario Odyssey 2.

And from my personal wishlist of I hope they will say it but it's nearly impossible are the reveals of fallout 3, fallout New Vegas, Madden coming to switch, the switch has no professional football (NFL) titles outside of retro bowl), I would also adore if it was announced that titles from the marvel vs Capcom fighting series and titles like eternal darkness and killer instinct being ported to switch.

@NEStalgia No I would never tag you or laugh or anything like that I'm way cooler and nicer than that lol.

I just know that Nintendo's lied every single console generation they've had since the first Nintendo about how long their generations gonna last and how long are they gonna continue to support the old systems. As long as the next generation system is fully backwards compatible I don't think many people will be that upset about them announcing something. Honestly them announcing the fact that it's backwards compatible is all that they need to do to sell it.