Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

I know most people probably disagree, but I don’t think Prime 4 is a cross-gen title. Sure, the Switch’s Successor may be able to play it through backwards compatibility, but I don’t think it’ll be a cross-gen title like Twilight Princess was. It’s possible, especially if it’s a few months after the Switch Successor’s release, but I think it’s pretty unlikely at this point.

I think a partner showcase is definitely possible, as there’s still plenty of time for a full general Direct in September, but I wouldn’t be mad if we got a general Direct earlier than usual!

@FishyS Oh I didn’t realize that, we keep getting updates about this game even though there’s been no official announcement (at least that I’m aware of) XD

@Pastellioli Yeah I’d hope we get an August N64 drop, it’s felt like a long time since the last one! My guess is that whenever the Direct happens is when we’ll get new content for NSO/64.

There's maybe a slim chance of the next Direct being a Mini, but expecting a Partner Showcase? Even if any more information about Echoes of Wisdom could likely be relegated to its Overview Trailer, they openly teased showing off more modes in Super Mario Party Jamboree during the last Direct, and Mario & Luigi: Brothership is in need of a second trailer. The Pokemon World Championships knocking out most of the usual filler in Pokemon Presents makes it likely that Pokemon Legends Z-A will be showing up in a Direct, as The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero and Detective Pikachu Returns did in June 2023. Nintendo very consistently releases games in the slot preceding Thanksgiving, so the lack of one this year as far as we know is quite conspicuous. December is open as well. 2025 is barren - unless Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 are in February/March, we need new announcements to cover those months, especially with how consistently they've had games in the Switch era. Partner Showcases generally only happen now when Nintendo has nothing to show. In June 2022, we knew every game that would be coming for the rest of the year. This February, Nintendo actually forced one of their own announcements into a Partner Showcase, and the only other games they could've really talked about were all Mario games - two being rereleases that they simply figured could receive their next news updates on Mario Day alongside confirming a sequel to the movie. If the Switch successor isn't out until April at the earliest, then there's two gaps that Nintendo will likely be looking to fill. Best to give them the limelight in the Direct instead of dumping trailers for them in a few months that garner less attention because the successor will have likely already been announced.

Honestly at this point I don't think Z-A is going to show up at a direct. It'll probably just be Pokemon Day 2025.

Yeah agreed, Z-A is probably a late-2024 title, it won't be rerevealed until next February.

But yeah a partner direct is unlikely. M+L Brothership full overview, Mario Party trailer, Epic Mickey (It is published by Nintendo in Japan), Echoes final trailer, Prime 4 release date, and maybe an actual direct appearance for Emio all could easily fit in. Add in two 'new' titles (Say a port / remaster for February and the one Q1 new title we always get for March if it's not Prime 4 in that slot) and you easily have enough for it to be at least a Mini.

I'd assume the new Q1 title will have to be the one more thing tho. Maaaybe we'll get a teaser for the Q2 title as well, we'll see.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we got the Switch 2 reveal this week with a small presentation. Leaving space for a full September Direct that covers content across Switch and Switch 2 and how cross-generation titles and backwards compatibility will behave

For a potential September Direct, I do wonder if they will announce a ton more 2025 titles, cuz I think only a handful of titles have been confirmed for 2025, and a lot of the remaining 2024 games are releasing very soon.

Realistically, i do expect maybe a few overviews for a couple of the 2024 games and a few 2025 announcements. And then they might go into the 2025 games more in an early 2025 Direct in February and date them. That’s how I think they’d do things when you look at the frequency of Directs they hold. I would maybe expect a few announcements for new 2025 titles, some third-party games, some more looks at a few of the upcoming 2024 games, maybe throw in another port or remaster of some older game from maybe the Wii or WiiU, and an NSO update, and that’s how I would think the lineup for a September 2024 direct would go.

I’ve heard people say that maybe they could port Wind Waker or Twilight Princess, which did seem like super obvious picks for Switch ports, but they surprisingly haven’t done that yet. Maybe they could do that for a new port they might announce soon, but I don’t know what any “leakers” have said on Switch ports of those two, cuz they have been so wrong so far and I don’t keep up with “leaks” anymore, and I do feel like that ports of those are becoming increasingly unlikely, but I can’t explain why I feel that way. I also don’t know if any “leakers” have been teasing a port of an older Nintendo game.

Alongside a possible N64 NSO announcement in the Direct, do any of you expect them to drop other NSO related content for the other services alongside that? I think the other services have been updated recently, and some of the updates for it appear to be monthly rather than 2-3 months like the N64 app.

@Pastellioli
I do wonder how much they can announce in terms of 2025 content without talking about Switch 2. Presumably most of the big 2025 titles are all tied to Switch 2 in one way or another. Of course we have Prime 4 but that's a title that was announced years ago. Hard to see them having a lot of other content they'll want to talk about without at least giving a perception of them being associated with Switch 2

For example if they are planning on doing Wind Waker/Twilight Princess remakes as cross gen titles. But on Switch 2 they run at a higher resolution, framerate or have some light RT effects or something. I'd imagine that talking about them being for Switch first and especially if they release on Switch before Switch 2 is out? That'd take a fair bit of shine off the Switch 2 versions. So yeah, I think we maybe need to keep our expectations in check.....

For NSO, I think definitely there has to be something for NSO. No question about it. I still think the most obvious move is Pokemon because I think it's the biggest splash they can make outside of a new system. And I think new systems are probably going to be saved for Switch 2. Although, Sega Master System? Dreamcast maybe? Possibly they expand to N64DD or Satellaview? I think there's space for something a bit out of left field along those lines

I just can't see them doing something that would overshadow Emio or Splatoon 3 considering Nintendo are promoting both a lot recently. Partner Showcase and a standalone Super Mario Party Jamboree trailer could work though if a Direct with game announcements strategy had to happen this week.

There it is, Partner Showcase and Indie World.

Had a feeling it would be a partner showcase.
Interesting approach showing them back to back, I kinda like it!

Dang. Only time I'm actually busy tomorrow is at 9am central time.

Oof, well I guess we’re waiting until September! These are the two options of the 4 likely that I wouldn’t really care about XD

This seems likely that Nintendo are gearing up for a Switch 2 announcement sooner rather than later. Perhaps not a full blown “here’s everything about the console and launch games” but certainly its initial showcase.

Well okay, I was sure as heck wrong. I think we are getting the Switch 2 initial showcase in the next couple of months after all.

Notably they didn't say it won't include anything related to the Switch successor.......

edit: NVM, it's in a reply to the tweet

Wowie, looks like I was sure wrong about there being no direct in August lol. I wonder if them doing this will delay or reduce the chances of a general direct happening in September, cuz I looked at the Direct list on Wikipedia and they don’t follow up Partner Directs or Indie World directs with normal Directs fast.

OMG YESSS. i havent been active here recently lately but YAYYYYY DIRECT. im glad an indie world is with it , cause i tend to enjoy those better than partner showcases. hopefully this means general direct in september, or possibly an echoes of wisdom direct :3 now, NOBODY say the s word!
@Pastellioli OFF TOPIC BUT I LOVE LOVE YOUR NEW PFP AHH

I think there was a leaker that claimed the presentation wasn’t an Indie World or a Partner Showcase. Hilariously, it’s both! Anyone remember which leaker this is?

Considering Partner Showcase is present, I think there's going to be another Rare NSO shadow drop batch like in February. Slalom, Digger T. Rock, Battletoads, R.C. Pro-AM II and 1 of the N64 games (my guess would be Conker given the Mature N64 app released in June).

@OctolingKing13 Haha, thank you! Chose to make it a GIF. It took me a bit since the video I took was too big, so I had to use a GIF converter.