Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

I'm trying to think what the 2nd longest gap between release of a Nintendo game and announcement of DLC is (obviously 1st is MK8 Deluxe with a gap of nearly 5 years). New Horizons comes to mind (March 2020 - October 2021) but then there were free content updates in between launch and the DLC announcement.

Pretty much what I'm trying to figure out is whether there's still hope for Mario Party Superstars DLC. That game was fantastic but could do with some more boards and minigames, preferably from the GC games.

@Grumblevolcano You know, I completely forgot about DLC for that game, but I still think it's pretty likely. Especially because of what you mentioned, how Nintendo has a bit of a history of adding DLC to games that have already been out, sometimes for years. The fact that Superstars isn't even a year old at this point still gives me hope, especially considering games like Splatoon 2 and AC:NH got expansions around a year or so after release.

This seems pretty much confirmation Nintendo's not going to be announcing new hardware this year:

@Grumblevolcano Yeah, the release date is pretty convincing evidence. Not that I was expecting new hardware this year anyway, but hopefully this means that rumors will subside for a while.

I'm not really sold on that Scarlet/Violet OLED.
I think the Splatoon 3 one was way cooler

Just give me a BotW or Bayonetta one and I'll jump from my release day switch.

@StarPoint I was mostly thinking about announcement this year for release in early 2023 being deconfirmed (I felt 2022 release was deconfirmed when BotW 2 was delayed to 2023). Announcement in September/October for release in March for example would make people skip the limited edition OLED.

@Grumblevolcano Ah I see, That makes sense. Now I guess the question is would Nintendo announce new hardware in February/ March to release alongside BOTW 2 in April/May? Or is that not far enough in advance?

I still sleepy to digest the Pokemon Scarlet / Violet trailer. 🥱

@StarPoint If BotW 2 doesn't get delayed, I could see hardware announce in January and release in June (Nintendo has treated June as Spring before) but I'm leaning more towards BotW 2 being delayed to Holiday 2023 with new hardware coming then.

@Grumblevolcano We now have two special edition Switch model for this year alone. So you're probably right.
I wonder for how much longer they are going to stick with the Switch. Like, seeing Splatoon 3 DLC plans I guess until the end of 2024 at the earliest? I guess they could release new hardware either way but an entire new generation when there are service games on the old one still active?

Also, seeing that we got a new Pokemon trailer today, I doubt we'll have a Direct this week either.

Switch 2/Pro in 2022 is over.

@Grumblevolcano
There's always a possibility that Zelda will be delayed again given its scope/scale, but I'm almost certain Nintendo wants the game to be released within this fiscal year (by March 2023) since they always try to have at least one big game released during the first quarter of each calendar year.

@westman98 They could swap Zelda with Zelda and release Wind Waker HD + Twilight Princess HD in January-March 2023 having that as the big release for that time window. Wind Waker would be releasing for the first time on a successful Nintendo system which would help give it a boost and releasing in January didn't stop NSMBU Deluxe from doing very well. It's also pretty much tradition at this point that a Wii U port releases early on in the year (2022's was a bit unique but still Earthbound Beginnings did debut on Wii U).

@Grumblevolcano
I'd actually like to see Wind Waker + Twilight Princess HD for Switch actually get confirmed before I can believe that they will be used to fill in the gap from BOTW2 getting delayed again.

@westman98 That's the point, if BotW 2 gets delayed I think they'd announce the ports at the same time. Kind of like how Aonuma announced Skyward Sword HD in the February 2021 Direct following a brief update on BotW 2 saying to expect news later in the year.

But this isn't about rumours here, rather that for the past decade Nintendo have used 3D Zelda HD remasters in the gaps left by the longer development cycle for BotW and its sequel. I did awhile back think 1 or the other (not both) but Bowser's Fury being rather sizeable increased the chance of both.

If I’m not mistaken, non-e3, non-mini directs always take place on the same week day throughout the entire year, and so far in 2022 we’ve had the February general, Xenoblade 3, and Splatoon 3 directs all on Wednesdays. Also given that the 15th is the start of TGS, could Wednesday the 14th be our most likely date?

If BotW 2 gets delayed again, then I feel like the game is just in dev hell, and probably isn't going to end up being good upon it's release. It's been the longest time since Zelda titles, and they keep pushing the date back every year pretty much. I get Covid happened, so they couldn't entirely help it, but if they weren't so sure about the game hitting a Spring 2023 release, why did they say Spring? Why not just say 2023, and given themselves a buffer period?

Also, I wouldn't be so upset about it if they would actually show people footage of the game, or show more than a few seconds of gameplay every now and then. However, we're going through periods of complete silence, and not being told much of anything other than the game is getting delayed with a few seconds of footage. Footage which shows little that's really new, and a ton of stuff that feels more like content you'd find within DLC for the game rather than a full on sequel.

This is exactly how I feel as well. I think if they weren't absolutely positive that it was going to hit this timeframe, they would have just given a vague 2023 release time.

@VoidofLight If they wanted to use it as a launch title for new hardware, they may have been confident of a Spring 2023 release for the new hardware back in March 2022 but since then a lot of real world things have happened like the cost of living crisis that has the potential to make releasing new hardware backfire. Nintendo doesn't want to be in the position where the next hardware fails like the Wii U and investors force them to release their games on PC to make up for the failure (the Wii U's failure is what forced Nintendo into the mobile space).

Breath of the Wild 2 doesn't have to be a launch title for the next Switch hardware.

I could totally see a scenario in which BOTW2 launches in March 2022 alongside a special-edition Zelda Switch OLED model, while the Switch 2 launches in holiday 2023/spring 2024 with Metroid Prime 4 and the next 3D Mario game (or the next Mario Kart, or literally anything else).