Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@Fizza They do like designing consoles around Mario games.

@Fizza What about the 2D series?

@chapu2006 That's entirely different story yeah, I'm shocked we haven't had a new one in what's basically a decade (not counting ports or Mario Maker). I'd love to see one that has a brand new artstyle from what came before (either Sonic Mania-esque pixel art sprite reimaginings or hand drawn Paper Mario-styled characters. Or that one level from U that was like a Van Gogh painting, that'd be great as well).

Looking back on my predictions, I think I did alright.

We didn't get a new Mario or Donkey Kong platformer (which is a shame) and I fell for the Metroid Prime HD rumours (shame on me), but I did get the Zelda name and date drop correct as well as a new Fire Emblem announcement and the Xenoblade 3 DLC reveal.
Nintendogs didn't happen but that was a wild card anyway, and I'm happy I didn't fell for the WW/TP HD rumours.

I liked this Direct very much. The games I'm most excited about are Octopath Traveller 2, Pikmin 4, Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, Tunic, It Takes Two, Tales of Symphonia Remastered, Atelier Ryza 3, Radiant Silvergun, Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse and of course The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. (I'm not a Fire Emblem fan.)

Sadly, I won't have enough time nor money to play them all.

Well I was half completely wrong and half bang on the money. Not too bad of a trade I suppose?

Also wow.

Wildcard: Excitebike.

I actually wasn't wrong on this one: it just wasn't in the way I expected.

@Fizza clap clap clap, your Wildcard was correct.

Does this mean Wind Waker and Twilight Princess never release on the Switch? It looks like they won't come between now and 2024...

I think this was one of my favorite Directs. I was watching it and just kind of thinking I won't have the time for all the stuff I want to play.

I think I will give that Village Cloud version demo a try.

Usual late in the console cycle stuff. Nobody taking huge risks when people are starting to look over the horizon. So you get more of the sure bets for the platform. The Switch is the platform of RPGs and Animal Crossing so.....

@skywake
Even before Nintendo Direct September 2022, there were already some farm sim games on multi console release got announced from play-asia and Wholesome Direct 2022 before.

I checked out the Japan Direct and it's quite a fair bit different. Like it had reminders of some of the big games from June's Partner Showcase like Nier Automata, Persona 5 Royal and Sonic Frontiers. Nice to see Chemical Plant confirmed, that's my favourite zone from the 2D Sonic games.

Jesus everyone online seems to bloody hate this Direct. As someone who personally loved it, it's honestly quite disheartening seeing people rag on my favourite announcements like the Splatfest, Octopath 2 and MK8 DLC. There was definitely bloat, don't get me wrong, but every Direct has them, even the best ones (remember that really random Dark Crystal game shoved in between Link's Awakening and Luigi's Mansion 3 at E3 2019?). I personally feel as though the rumours were the thing that probably killed it in the eyes of many though: anyone who went in wholeheartedly believing that we'd be getting tons of remasters would definitely have been severely let down. Even I believed them to be honest, but they were of series that weren't my highest priority so that's probably why I wasn't struck nearly as hard as others when they were a no-show.

Seeing people online saying how 'Nintendo Will Never Be The Same!' or 'Nintendo is Misfiring on All Cylinders!' after today's showing is hilarious though like bro, they showed off both Pikmin 4 and BOTW 2: I think they'll be fine.

@Fizza
I think there were some clear issues with the Direct (there was no need to show off 4-5 low-budget farming-related games back-to-back), but I think a lot of the disappointment comes the constant speculation and rumors of titles that are supposedly ready to launch.

Leakers like Jeff Grubb spent days/weeks talking about how Wind Waker HD + Twilight Princess HD and Metroid Prime Remaster would definitely be announced at this Direct for a release in 2022/early 2023, and that BOTW2 would maybe show up as well as part of a "Zelda blowout". In the end, BOTW2 did appear (briefly) with a proper name + release date, while the other games were completely MIA. It's easy to be extremely disappointed if you went into this Direct primarily expecting those 3 games.

Like I have said before, Grubb is a great source for western publishers/developers, but not for Japanese publishers/developers like Nintendo.

@Fizza @westman98 I'd guess Pokemon's role as the big holiday title rather than a big holiday title was also a source of problems. On the 1st party front the holiday schedule is Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, MK8 Deluxe DLC wave 3 and Switch Sports free update (Golf).

When the rumors heated up about Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD being sure things, I rather figured it was going to end up like our perennial Metroid Prime Trilogy/Metroid Prime 1 remaster rumors that never happen.

Scanning the list of announcements, it looks like a good Direct to me. Zelda news, Pilotwings 64 in HD, and the never officially localized Fatal Frame game is getting a 2nd chance at life on the Switch (And hopefully other platforms).

And I'm looking forward to Microsoft's take on Goldeneye (versus the emulated N64 original that the Switch is getting). which was announced today to coincide with the Switch Online news about Goldeneye.

@Fizza At the end of the Direct, I felt a little personally underwhelmed because there was less than usual that I was excited about. I don't care about Fire Emblem, farming sims, Kirby, I haven't played the first Octopath yet, and a lot of other stuff. And although Zelda is my favorite series, I don't really care about a name and date because I already knew the game was coming (and I'm actually good with no WW or TP because I own them both on Wii U and don't need them again). The best announcements for me were probably Tunic and Tales of Symphonia. That said, I still understand it was an objectively good direct because the games were quality and a lot of people like those things. People who say it was a bad direct need to get over themselves. Plus, I could buy no more games for like 5 years and still have plenty to play, so this was all for the fun and anticipation anyways.

@Xyphon22
I was in different case.
I don't even care bigger games like zelda, splatoon, xenoblade, pikmin, fire emblem, etc.
Since farm sim genre is my favorite thing, Fae Farm was my biggest hype when I saw the game for the first time. Story of Seasons A Wonderful Life Remake gave me some hope for better gameplay.
Despite I felt disappointed by Nintendo Direct yesterday but I got some good news from play-asia for the upcoming games that wasn't from Nintendo Direct.

@Fizza The only thing I think Nintendo missed the mark on was them not doing an actual full reveal of BotW 2, but rather just doing yet another teaser.

@Fizza I agree with most of @Xyphon22 comments, of the first 15 announcements (16 being NSO) Tunic was the only one I was interested in, on second look I might consider It Takes Two depending on the reviews. That's not to say I can't appreciate the Direct will appeal to many, if you like RPGs you will have loved it!
I am disappointed about Wind Waker and Twilight Princess as it would now appear they won't be released until 2024, if ever...

@Grumblevolcano
Dont forget about Bayonetta 3.

But yeah, I agree that Nintendo's first party holiday lineup this year looks pretty weak as it only consists of 2 new titles in Bayo 3 and Pokemon Scarlet/Violet. Both titles look good and the latter has a very strong shot at becoming Nintendo's fastest-selling game ever, but...that's it.