Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@link3710 I'd even take a Muppet gotcha game I'm so desperate for one

@Kermit1
I saw only one Muppet game on PS VITA.

@westman98 Hm you maybe correct that it wasn’t as early as 2012. I thought I read somewhere some developer had dev kits several years prior to its release but I can’t find the article.

That GPU seems pretty powerful for a Switch successor. Such a massive jump in terms of power especially with ray tracing (I assume that’s what RT stands for), something even beefy PCs and current generation PlayStation and Xbox can just about handle. Just wonder how likely it is Nintendo would want anything that’s such a big leap forward.

@FragRed
IIRC Nintendo first started sending Switch dev-kits to most 3rd party publishers in summer 2016. The Switch didn't exist in 2012 - heck, the Wii U didn't even launch until late 2012.

@westman98 That’s pretty late, thought Ubisoft at least had their hands on it earlier considering they were developing Mario + Rabbids.

@FragRed
You don't necessarily need dev kits to begin game development. A lot of pre-priduction in particular is fairly conceptual.

PS5 dev-kits didn't start going out to most 3rd party publishers until late 2019.

I thought of another possibility of why Nintendo chose not to do a general Direct, to avoid the question of when is Advance Wars coming. If you look back to September 2021, Advance Wars wasn't in the Direct which was a sign the game wasn't launching in December 2021 and then the delay to Spring 2022 was confirmed in October 2021.

These shadow drop announcements like Kirby's Dream Buffet means you don't know how far away Advance Wars is from launch because Nintendo could just randomly shadow drop a trailer with a new release date. Meanwhile a June/July general Direct with the game absent would tell you it's not launching until 2023 at the earliest.

@Grumblevolcano I don't think that's it, they went years without worrying about people asking for BOTW2, Metroid Prime 4 and Bayoneta 3 in the Directs let alone a small franchise like Advance Wars. They have also announced games post E3 Direct for release within the same year before.

The best thing that has ever happened to it is being delayed as more people are talking about it now because "pOliTicZ" than would ever actually play the game. lol

I don't see a direct happening until after Splatoon 3's release

If Nintendo are shadow dropping trailers for games coming out this year, they may not be looking to do any general Directs until next year but instead just do partner showcases for third party releases.

@FragRed I wouldn't think so. All the shadow drops are for games that would be too late to announce in a September direct.

My guess is that their planned tentpole release for the June direct had to be delayed, so they're just piecing out the other announcements. Kirby Spinoff + Bayo 3 release date + Mario Kart DLC (presumably) + the Partner Showcase contents lacks anything with the wow factor you'd expect from a regular direct.

If we look at what'll happen before September:

• Release date for Kirby's Dream Buffet
• MK8 Deluxe DLC wave 2 (probably given the 7-Eleven ad)
• More info on Scarlet/Violet (maybe trailer, maybe Pokemon Presents)
• August's NSO N64 game
• Lots of Splatoon 3 info (Splatoon 3 Direct)
• Any other unannounced 1st party titles for 2022 being announced
• Probably an Indie World presentation
• Maybe more Partner Showcases (leaning towards no given the wording in the June one)

So my guess is:

• Rest of this week - MK8 Deluxe DLC wave 2 (shadow drop on Friday around 1am UK time), maybe if Prime is real then that is announced tomorrow
• Week beginning July 18th - Live a Live releases
• Week beginning July 25th - XC3 releases
• Week beginning August 1st - Splatoon 3 Direct
• Week beginning August 8th - Kirby's Dream Buffet gets a release date announced at the Kirby 30th anniversary concert
• Week beginning August 15th - Pokemon Presents
• Week beginning August 22nd - Indie World, August NSO N64 game announced
• Week beginning August 29th - General Direct (September 1st is a Thursday)

You might be onto something. Just waiting on the Advance Wars release date and where it all fits over the next 6-9 months. Maybe a release date at the next general direct.

Probably an indie world in the next few weeks is my guess.

check out the second Pokémon Presents of 2022

I do think it’ll be in September but I’m wondering if it’ll be a partnership showcase again and Nintendo just shadow drop trailers for games nearer next year. It’s hard to really know after what’s been happening.

@FragRed The article about no hardware this fiscal year is making lean towards the same outcome. No hardware this fiscal year probably means BotW 2 is April 2023 or later (Nintendo have announced Spring titles to be March before like the 2 Kirby games so it was possible BotW 2 was March 2023) and the September general Direct mostly covers September - March which means BotW 2 would likely be absent if it's not a March 2023 release.

What do we have then:

• Kirby's Dream Buffet - I think it's very likely to release in August which means it wouldn't have presence in September
• Splatoon 3 updates - I think it's very likely to have a Splatoon 3 Direct in August, then post launch updates could be a twitter post
• Switch Sports golf - That could be a twitter post like the Leg Strap update was
• MK8 Deluxe DLC wave 3 - That could be a twitter post like Wave 2 was
• More news on Sparks of Hope - Likely at Ubisoft's event in September (Ubisoft Forward) and was present at the June Partner Showcase so could appear at another one
• More news on Bayonetta 3 - Could be a Bayonetta 3 Direct in September/October (Bayonetta 2 had its own Direct) or twitter post like the release date trailer was
• More news on Scarlet/Violet - Pokemon hasn't appeared in a Direct since the March 2020 Mini so could be just twitter posts now that we had the Pokemon Presents yesterday

That's the known stuff, now for the unknown stuff. It's possible that Nintendo announces something else for this year but it's also possible that what we know is it, meanwhile January - March usually has 2 releases so we're likely looking at a maximum of 3 unknowns. Nintendo sometimes uses Square Enix and Capcom exclusives to fill in gaps (e.g. MH Rise took the March 2021 slot). We've also got the indefinite delay of Advance Wars to take into account.

@Grumblevolcano Whatever happens with the new hardware, Nintendo is gonna want to go all out once again with several big releases. BOTW 2 would be again a great showpiece as well as a new Mario Kart because that game alone would sell systems. But I’m not sure they’d release a new game in that franchise while the DLC is still ongoing. They must be working on the next Mario game unless rumours were true and it’s actually Donkey Kong.

There’s so many unknowns about how Nintendo would go about the launching new hardware. When do they reveal it? Because that would likely have a knock on effect as to what they release for the current Switch during that timeframe.

I think Advance Wars will release early next year, probably with minimal advertising. They could always release that Metroid Prime Trilogy early next year, but dunno. Nintendo usually goes pretty quiet on big new releases in the lead up to new hardware because their teams are focusing on developing games for that.

Pokemon Presents spoilers without context:

@Grumblevolcano i believe Nintendo will release a new hardware with Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2, Switch was released with Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, the remake of Link Awakening was released with Switch Lite, history will repeat itself with Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 and the Switch sucessor.