Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@Don Technically the leak didn't say general direct, just some type. But the reasoning was supposedly to make the schedule earlier to fit Switch 2 reveal later on this year.

None of us seem to have any confidence in leakers at all at the moment, but it is curious that one of the few remaining leakers with any credibility left to their name made a very specific prediction for a very unusual time of year. And repeatedly doubled down on it. It feels like they are betting all their remaining credibility on a week which basically no one would normally predict.

Granted, when/if they are wrong they'll just make an excuse 😆

@PikminMarioKirby I'm still leaning towards a March 2025 reveal for Switch 2. That said, MH Wilds at Sony's TGS booth (MH is a huge hardware sales driver in Japan) and the general reaction to Indiana Jones coming to PS5 (the doom and gloom from the Xbox playerbase sounds more extreme than the February Xbox multiplatform rumours) has me less confident than before.

Just noticed the number of weekly eshop releases is at a rare low, a rare low that (apart from the dead area around new years) has only been matched in the last year by the 2 weeks before the June 2024 direct and the week before the September 2023 direct and.... in February when there was supposedly going to be a direct that got delayed/ turned into a partner showcase.

I am definitely not clutching at straws. 😆 But it is a remarkably consistent pattern I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been making a graph of the number of entries in the weekly on-Switch 'new releases' article.

@FishyS I love that you are looking at this . Will be very interested to see if it follows the recent pattern...

@skywake And no one ends up learning anything from the leakers being exposed either unfortunately.

@VoidofLight I pretty much never believe in leaks anymore, and I’m sure some of the people on other gaming leak forums and subreddits don’t remember what happened in June when the two remaining leakers still with a drop of credibility turned out to be fakers and quit their hunt for internet clout. It was that that made me stop reading on leaks and rumors, and also made me see how it’s only done for attention and clout. Clout is the only reason for why someone would “leak” stuff, and not for any good reason at all. I just wait for official confirmation if I do come across any rumor articles on NL or PX, cuz some of these rumors just generate doom and gloom and lots of opinions when the rumors haven’t been confirmed true yet. Plus, some leakers take and say the same info from other leakers and try passing it off as their own to seem cool and credible, which sounds sorta annoying.

I do wonder what the odds are of them saving the Direct for Thursday, if it materializes, so they can push Emio as being "available now." I'm sure they really want the game to perform well with how unorthodox the marketing has been for Nintendo in a bid to get more eyes on it, so it'd be odd if there's a Direct next week that buries the game. Also, in terms of charting, the game...isn't right now. It is buried in the US eShop charts, between an Assassin's Creed bundle and Snipperclips, so getting more eyes on it in a Direct might help it fare better - look at how Good Job! charted after appearing in a Direct when The Stretchers barely got any attention (granted, it was shadowdropped completely out of the blue, and we've seen first-party games like Detective Pikachu Returns chart considerably more once they actually release, but I think the point holds water).

@Novamii The obvious answer for what's left is a 12th game for this year and a February and March game. And the typical September NSO update. And third party games which were lighter than usual in the June direct. They could pretty easily fill up a full direct. Or if they don't want to do all that they could have a mini to fill in a couple gaps.

@Novamii it seems like the only thing left to build hype, would be to re-release some of the games that have been rumored for years. TP + Windwaker, Prime 2 & 3, maybe some N64 games or adding a new system to the service...but other than that, seems pretty dry. I am in the same boat as you - no clue and it is fun, especially since we really don't have any prominent leakers left. Hopefully a Switch 2 reveal is in the cards soon, but who knows, we could be waiting until 2025 for that.

@Novamii Most September directs only announce games for the next year + a shadow drop.

2023:
Next Year: Princess Peach Showtime Full Reveal, Side Order DLC, Paper Mario TTYD, Mario vs DK,
Shadow Drop: F-Zero 99
2022:
Later That Year: XC3 DLC Wave 2
Next Year: FE Engage, Pikmin 4, Fatal Frame: Mark of the Lunar Eclipse,
2021:
Shadow Drop N64 on NSO
Next Year: Kirby Forgotten Land, Bayonetta 3 Re-Reveal

I'd assume that we'll stick to that, and it'll be mostly new trailers for holiday games with a few 2025 game announcements.

@Novamii Well given that Switch 2 is debuting in May at the earliest, that still leaves Feb, Mar, and April games to cover at a minimum assuming they keep up 1 per month. Which just so happens to be the titles that September directs usually reveal anyways.

I don't think there will be any cross--gen titles shown or mention of Switch 2.

Could be April. If we believe the leaks, they only actually said 'later than March' (the end of the Nintendo fiscal year). Switch 2 could come out April 1st.

That said, imagine Nintendo announcing an April 1 release date now and giving no other info and then in April saying 'April fools, Switch 2 is actually coming in October' 😆

@FishyS Okay true, but April is a strange month to debut a system in. There's a reason it's a dead month for new game releases. Still I suppose it's not completely ruled out if they want it out for some time before Golden Week.

There are a lot of rumors about a Nintendo Direct this upcoming week which is really weird since Emio releases this week. I’m going to assume the Direct wouldn’t be on Thursday since (I think) that’s the day Emio releases. I kind of doubt this potential presentation is a general Nintendo Direct, but it’s not completely out of the question. I think something like a Super Mario Party Jamboree Direct wouldn’t really conflict with Emio sales, so that’s a possibility. It could also be something less Nintendo focused like a partner showcase or Indie World, but with some of the rumors going around that seems less likely.

Have you guys ever noticed that Nintendo direct almost perfectly line up with Apple Events? That means we might have a Switch 2 Reveal Direct next month. Also, May 2025 is the latest the switch 2 can launch, so Nintendo has to make their announcement now.

I am sort of expecting a Direct to happen a few days or maybe weeks after Emio releases in a few days. I don’t expect one for the remaining days of August, one in maybe early to mid September would make sense of course.

Also, as the days are quickly passing, it looks like there is an increasingly unlikely chance that there is going to be any N64 NSO news this month, so I am now expecting an N64 game to be announced during a potential September Direct. It’s almost guaranteed at this point.

@PikminMarioKirby I do agree with that. I think they could maybe market Emio in a Direct, but I don’t think they should have one happen around the release of the game. I also think a Direct could maybe overshadow that game. An August Direct sounds super unlikely.

I think Nintendo could easily have a full Direct, be it this week or sometime in September. We could see some pretty lengthy Mario & Luigi Brothership and Super Mario Party Jamboree trailers, an Emio reminder (depending when the Direct is), Metroid Prime 4 and DKC Returns HD trailers, and a short look at Zelda Echoes of Wisdom. I think there could be a shadowdrop and/or a 2nd game for November in the usual ‘Pokemon’ slot as well. Probably a couple 2025 reveals as well. It’s been pretty quiet for NSO recently so maybe we could get something new for that? There’s also been the MySims leak going around, and that could very well be in the Direct.

@Pastellioli I think NSO/64 should get some sort of announcement soon. I wish they’d give us a roadmap, it’d be nice to have less uncertainty about the online service. I haven’t had many opportunities to play Donkey Kong 64 but I really enjoyed what I played of it, so I’d really like it to come to NSO! I also enjoy Diddy Kong Racing a lot (more than many Mario Kart games) so it’d be a dream come true having it on Switch. As for GBA, there’s not too much else I’d want besides Kirby Nightmare in Dream Land.

I don’t think we’re getting an entire general Direct in August, however I’m not completely ruling out the possibility. Something like a Partner Showcase or Mario Party Jamboree Direct wouldn’t really overshadow Emio too much, I’d imagine. It’d probably get some attention off of Emio, but I don’t think it would really impact sales of the game that much.

I doubt there would be too much worry about over-shadowing Emio. Fundamentally it's not a game expected to sell very well outside of Japan so if anything a direct could give it a little extra advertising.

Whether it be a mini, long direct, or partner showcase we'll see within 3 days or so. And if there is nothing, then basically every remaining half-accurate named leaker will be wrong 😆 And the current eShop before-direct pattern will apparently have been a coincidence.

@PikminMarioKirby I'm not sure I would call the thing you spoiler tagged a leak anymore since it is literally on the official dev website and has remained there.

@PikminMarioKirby I also do think that a Partner Showcase could work, sort of to fill a small gap and like a bit of a preparation for the big stuff they might show in a September Direct, but I’m not sure how quickly they follow up Partner Directs with general Directs, so I might have to read a Wikipedia article for that.

I do wish they showed a roadmap after they finished releasing the remaining games they had for 2021-2022 when they first announced the N64 service. But, I think having some sort of uncertainty makes it a bit more exciting since you can just imagine the possibilities what they will announce. I would also like DKR on there, since that Nintendo and Microsoft/Rare partnership seems to be going well on NSO, plus it’s super hard to play on an emulator on the phone. I have heard it’s super fun and some even say it is better than a lot of the Mario Kart games, but DKR is so hard to play on the phone. They tend to drop N64 games every two to three months, and the last one was in June, so that’s currently two months since, so the next announcement should probably be next month, or maybe in a few days but again, I think the chances of a new N64 NSO announcement for August is slim but this month isn’t over yet, so let’s wait and see! I’m not sure if they will do two games at once, but that is what they did for the past two N64 NSO drops. After a possible August or September drop, I think the last one for this year would be in November or December.