Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@skywake I don't think we can dismiss the possibility that both are true at the same time, a general Direct which contains the Switch 2 reveal. Kind of like what happened with New 3DS (Nintendo's only system at the moment in the past 20 years which was just "previous system but more power").

@Novamii I foresee most of the big name publishers having one title. Monster Hunter Wilds from Capcom, Squeenix revealing Kingdom Hearts 3, Bamco with Elden Ring (published by Nintendo) seems super likely, CD Projekt Red with Cyberpunk 2077 is a maybe... but this is starting to feel rather packed. And of course Microsoft / A-B with Call of Duty. EA is hard to predict but... I'm thinking Mass Effect Legendary Edition if they show up at all.

But looking at that list, it doesn't have enough all-age games. So on top of Nintendo's internal reveals (I'm guessing Mario Kart 9/10, New 3D Mario, at least one brand new IP, and Animal Crossing will feature), we're also going to get one more surprising 3rd party title...

I'm going to go out on a limb and say a new Bomberman from Konami will show up of all things.

And to go out on a real limb, I think we'll see a tiny tiny tease for a new Pokémon title that won't be followed up on for ages.

When we get to the actual reveal, they won't even address the Pokémon tease, but they will reveal a new Kirby

So my final guess:

Initial Presentation:

• Mario Kart
• 3D Mario
• Something Monolith (I suspect that mystery new IP we heard about ages ago)
• New IP
• KH3
• Elden Ring
• Call of Duty
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• Mass Effect Legendary Edition
• Ambiguous Pokémon Tease
• Bomberman

Actual Presentation (Early 2025)

• Full reveals of all above besides Pokémon and 3D Mario
• KH 1.5, 2.5, 3 revealed as separate titles
• New IP is revealed as a pack-in title
• Tekken 8
• Street Fighter 6
• Witcher Remake
• ...Gonna guess something I never guess and say Silksong will show up.
• More Wii / GCN / 3DS remasters (Cross-Gen, helping fill out Switch 1's calendar)
• New Kirby Spinoff (Cross-Gen)

June:

• More Wii / GCN / 3DS remasters (Cross-Gen, helping fill out Switch 1's calendar)
• Hyrule Warriors TOTK (Cross-Gen)
• 3D Mario full reveal
• New Donkey Kong
• Splatoon 4 for Early 2026
• Resident Evil 2 Remake
• Talos Principle 2 - Complete Edition, (Talos Principle 1 port will also be announced as a side note)
• Tomodachi Life 3 (Cross-Gen, with a better name)

September:

• Animal Crossing Teaser for Late 2026
• New Fire Emblem for January-March
• A bunch of 3rd party current gen titles that haven't even been announced yet.
• Xenoblade DLC
• Hyrule Warriors DLC
• More Wii / GCN / 3DS remasters (Still cross-gen)
• Another new IP

EDIT: Forgot to mention Legends Z-A full reveal at Pokemon Day 2025, it will only get a brief mention in the June direct

tldr; I think that unlike the 3DS situation, we're going to see Switch 1 support maintained via cross-gen releases, not via a totally separate set of exclusives.

@skywake I think that's a likely reason why they're holding off on showing what the schedule is for next year as well, without it being 'they're abandoning the Switch 1'

To clarify, my position here isn't that there won't be another Direct this year

I'm not at all discounting the possibility of a general Direct that includes a Switch 2 announcement. One that then goes on to talk about Switch 2 games, cross gen games, BC, NSO, continued Switch support. I think it'll be more focused than that but I don't think such a thing is impossible

I'm also not discounting the idea of more Switch announcements. If anything I would be surprised if the average 2025 Direct doesn't spend a fair chunk of time talking about Switch. I think they will almost surely fill out that calendar. At the very least they need to date games like Prime 4

What I'm saying is that after the Directs we just had and with H1 2025 fairly well covered if Switch 2 launches? It seems very improbable that there's a Direct in September just for Switch games. Switch 2 at this stage is almost surely holding up game announcements. I expect they'll want to clear that out of the way before they start doing 40min presentations again

Meh.

I don't expect a passing-mention of the Switch successor in Nintendo's regular Directs, seems crass to think that it would. What I do expect is nothing less than an hour long presentation / event for the Switch successor.

@Magician I don't think people were thinking 'passing mention' in the 'part of a direct' scenario. More like 10 minutes on Switch 2 hardware and then some time on Switch 2 exclusive software.

If it was just an hour on Switch 2 mechanics? 'Like Switch but more powerful and back-compatible' doesn't take much time to say. Sure they would need to show lots of actual gameplay and graphics of games /side-by-side comparisons, but fundamentally people know how the system works. If there is some new gimmick like turning Switch 2 sideways, moving magnetically attached joycons, and playing NSO DS games, that would take some time to show. Otherwise, new games which run on Switch 2 is what people want to see.

@FishyS Yeah, that's what I had in mind. Something like 15 minutes Switch 1 software, 10 minutes Switch 2 hardware, 18 minutes Switch 2 software. It would give a clear picture that the Switch 2 is a system that uses your existing Switch library but also has plenty of games that won't be coming to Switch 1. I'd put Prime 4 as the final game of the Switch 1 segment.

Basically either a quick trailer drop and run job or a full presentation like thing. The former being what they did for Switch in October 2016 or the OLED and Lite and the later being how pretty much every console used to be announced when E3 was still a thing that both existed and mattered

A whole Direct that would include both Switch software, Switch Successor hardware AND it's software would be awesome. I can't say I'm expecting it, but that presentation would be amazing! The Switch stuff would most likely be the games we already know about and maybe 1-2 more new games for Switch. Possibly showing off Switch Successor games like 3D Mario, new multiplayer IP, and maybe some 3rd party stuff?

We've now reached the season, starting next week, where every week we don't get an announcement people will slowly go more and more crazy 😆

@FishyS right? I've told myself to not trust rumors, not get too excited, and I find myself refreshing pages MANY times throughout the day. Good for NL's website metrics I guess
I hope an announcement comes sooner than later, my self control is non existent now...

@FishyS I am also hoping for announcements too…reading so many rumors on a gaming leaks and rumors subreddit many months ago on my favorite dormant game franchises getting revived has filled me with hope and then broke me lol. But, I’ve told myself now that I’d stop reading about leaks and rumors, but I can’t help but wonder what’s next, though a bunch of leakers seem to put out information that goes back and forth about stuff being true and not true or info that clashes with info another leaker said.

Its not exactly Nintendo related, but I remember this leaker with a decent track record claimed for a few years that a game series I like was being revived and that it was green-lit and being worked on, but then another leaker guy came in and claimed that a new game was never in development. With that going on, it’s very hard to trust leakers or tell who is the right one.

@Novamii you are so right. Starting with the Switch Pro, now Switch 2, it's been so much waiting. It's gotta be worth the wait, right?!?

@FishyS "slowly" nothing! We are going insane at the speed of light!

Next week seems to be PS5 Pro time, Sony even teased the design in the PS 30th anniversary celebrations logo.

I think it's funny how many Switch Successor leaks there were yesterday. It's as if the leakers looked at the calendar simultaneously and saw it was 4 days into September and said, 'Now's the time to start rumours about the Switch Successor!'

@Grumblevolcano Oh boy! Can't wait for the reveal of hardware that's completely and utterly pointless.

PS5 Pro's existence is disappointing solely because Sony wasted the one real opportunity to fix the base system's ugly design, and instead they just opted to add racing stripes to it.

I suppose you could argue the design is part of the PS5's identity. Like one of those people born with a messed up face that won't get plastic surgery because they love themselves the way they are. Fair play, I suppose.

@Novamii Exactly. They're upgrading it because they know they can get more money out of people. Not because it actually is needed. Hardly any games take advantage of the PS5's featureset or hardware. There's no need for a console that's slightly stronger if there's no games worth remotely playing on that console in the first place. Every PS5 "exclusive" was either hindered by backporting to the PS4, or was released on PC either the day of release or shortly after release.

@Novamii The vast majority of the PS5 Pro hype seems to be surrounding the concept of GTA6 running at 4K 60fps. PC isn't exactly a priority to Rockstar (see for example how Red Dead Redemption, a 2010 game even came to Switch before PC) so GTA6 will run best on PS5 Pro for a few years or so.