Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@GrailUK that makes sense. I'm actually way more excited for paper mario than I have been for any recent AAA nintendo game, so I get where you're coming from. All I'm saying is that production is clearly slowing down this year. To be honest, I don't even see my perspective as negative. If Nintendo is focusing on great software for an imminant new console, that's more exciting to me than big new games this year.

@Sigran102 Now on that, mate, we certainly agree. Looking forward to what they have planned next.

Well, no Pyoro hint, so presumably no direct this week.

How's it already April like 😭😭

@Sigran102 Still, if Switch's successor is released in Spring 2025 or later, we'll need a few more first party games to fill in the gaps. Because after Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon HD in Summer 2024 there're no more first party games coming to Switch that we presently know of, leaving a six month or longer gap for first party releases. I'd expect 4 more games to be announced if that is the timing with three Switch exclusives, probably mostly remakes and remasters, with Metroid Prime 4 being cross-gen. I also highly suspect we'll see a few of those Level 5 games get release dates along with Deca Police possibly being announced as cross-gen.

I'm still hoping for Mario Wonder DLC announced in the June Direct. If we had that, a Zelda remaster, Prime 2/3, maybe a Kirby spinoff and/or a Pokemon game they haven't announced yet, perhaps a 4th random resurrected franchise for the year, Maybe a Mario sports game even though the year is already full of Mario spinoffs... I think Nintendo will have plenty of ways to fill up the year even if we don't have any super blockbusters.

If we get a Direct this month, I wouldn't be surprised to see Tomodachi Life getting a remake/sequel for the 10 year anniversary. Surely, Nintendo sees the need, right?

Right?!?

This evening I couldn't be bothered to do anything and just fancied vegging out, so I elected to catchup on this thread, that I'd somehow not read since late February.

22 pages. Three things I've learnt:

• Only about 20% of the posts in this thread are actually specifically about the next Nintendo Direct.
• Skywake and Bolt_Strike are destined to lock horns for the rest of time. Love it.
• GrailUK might just be looking forward to the next Super Monkey Ball just a little bit. As am I

I want the news drought to end 😭

@gcunit NLife lore moment

I mean... the thread was created on Dec 28 2018 and there have been 15,598 posts. According to wikipedia, if you count all directs, minis, presents, showcases etc., there have been precisely 69 during that time period (no, I'm not making that up, I counted thrice to make sure).[1]

So we average 226 posts per direct/presentation. Make of that what you will. 😅

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Direct

@FishyS Nintendo did do a random Pikmin 4 tweet last week that felt very out of place:

I think it was you who brought up the idea of Pikmin 4 DLC (alongside Mario Wonder DLC) months ago.

As long as it was entertaining

As a side note, I saw a Digital Foundry mini video the other day on whether or not Nintendo can maintain their quality/quantity of output going into Switch 2. Seems my thoughts on this topic are not particularly unique because they largely repeated stuff I've said

Was quite fond of them pointing out that new hardware will actually make it easier to develop the kind of mid-budget games Nintendo often makes. Which is a point I often make on here but isn't a particularly popular one given how many get distracted by the higher budget titles. Don't often hear people picking up on it

Worth a watch given the direction this thread has taken lately

@WiiWareWave I definitely agree there will be something more this year. Maybe the Zelda remasters, Metroid Prime 2, some kind of smaller AA title, maybe a kirby spinoff. But I doubt anything big like Prime 4 is happening until the switch 2 comes out, even if it's cross gen.

Really, all I'm needing is some zelda this year. Doesn't matter which games.

@NintendoByNature Considering Zelda comes almost every year, seems like a fair bet.

@Sigran102 after such a good year last year, I think Nintendo just has to give us at least one heavy hitter this year. I think Prime 4, an animal crossing remaster, or a new fzero or Wii title has to happen. Or else the fans won’t be happy. There’s been at least one big title each year, we can’t stop now!

@FishyS fingers crossed. I need zelda games as a fresh reset for my gaming brain sometimes as silly as it sounds. I'm starting to get into a rut and usually zelda gets me out of my slump. I might even fire up skyward sword soon if N doesn't announce anything for this year in the June direct( assuming there is one).

I think I’m more curious about third party content coming to Switch at this stage. Sounds strange, I know, especially given that we had a partner Direct this year already. But… I suspect there’s at least one third party heavy hitter we don’t know about that’s coming to Switch, hopefully in this fine year of JRPG carnage we’re already experiencing (I’m really struggling to see how I’ll ever play them all). One such JRPG is FF Tactics that I could see being shown in a mainline Direct, and this is probably my deepest hope for a third party title on Switch. I suppose it depends on SqEnix’s approach to how they want upcoming games shown, as Tactics could be a major graphical project and thus show up at a future PlayStation Showcase instead (along with FF9 I’d predict, the other title from the nvidia leak), and then later for Switch. Maybe I’m wrong, but I suspect Nintendo didn’t want to play their hand too much with partner titles in the last Direct and are waiting to unveil them at a bigger showcase. Might show up at a PS or Xbox showcase instead, who knows… but that’s what my mind is interested in, and it’s fun

To be clear on Nintendo’s 1st party content, I am interested in what they reveal this year, I’m just not convinced any of their main titles are slated to come for ‘24 and that we’re getting ports/remasters to tide us over until then. Which is good! Seriously, I missed the Wii u gen and didn’t get a chance to play Windwaker HD, arguably my favourite Zelda title. Same goes for Twilight Princess and other system ports, maybe Xenoblade X, Galaxy 2, etc. Bigger games like Prime 4 I don’t think we’ll see until the next system is revealed, so if we do get a Direct before said system is shown, then I don’t think we’ll see Metroid Prime 4 there. But again, they’ll tide us over… maybe 2 and 3 remaster reveals in the meantime

Anyway, carry on here fam, I don’t spend much time in this thread so I hope I haven’t regurgitated previous discussions already established here. Main point - looking forward to the next Direct whenever it happens and that I think we’ll be pleasantly surprised by a major third party reveal.

Since the port of Super Mario Galaxy 2 has come up, I'd honestly prefer it if there was Super Mario 3D All-Stars 2 with that and Super Mario 3D Land.