Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@Pastellioli

Anything that isn't being reserved for the Switch 2 presentation on April 2nd.

@Novamii Gold points and vouchers were pretty much the best features on eShop, so it's very sad we got bad news for both of them today. Hopefully we get similar Switch 2 features soon, but I'm not counting on it.

@Pastellioli If they do a general Direct soon, I think there will be a Kirby game (most likely Robobot remake).
Metroid Prime 4 needs a release date, so we'd probably get that as well.
I doubt Pokemon would be there (including Legends Z-A) since the Pokemon Presents will most likely happen next week. Mario probably won't have a huge presence either, since 3D Mario and Mario Kart will likely be at the April Direct, and we don't know the plans for Mario 40th anniversary or Mar10 Day yet.
A Pikmin 4 DLC/Pikmin Spin-off could happen, there have been rumors of some sort of spin-off this FY, so maybe it'll happen here.
Some sort of NSO update makes sense, hopefully we finally get DK64 and DKR.
There was a rumor that a remake/new game in a more niche franchise was going to happen soon, so maybe that's the Fire Emblem 4 remake?

@PikminMarioKirby I for sure expect something maybe related to Planet Robobot, since that seems to be the most heavily rumored game for a Switch remaster.

I think news related to Prime 4 is a possibility for sure, since I think that’s one of the already announced OG Switch games that’s just awaiting a release date now.

I feel like they’ll likely announce some more remasters of some games from the GameCube, Wii, or 3DS. I don’t think they’ll announce Wii U ports since a lot of the already requested Wii U Switch ports already released. I know there were those Twilight Princess and Wind Waker ports every leaker has been saying exist, but I wonder if they do, because they seem like obvious choices for Switch ports but they haven’t been announced or hinted at. Some think that they are likely holding off announcing them and saving them for the Switch 2, but that should be taken with a grain of salt.

I do think there could be an NSO update, and I feel like with most Directs NSO info is common and almost guaranteed. Not sure what library would get the update…maybe N64 but I don’t think Nintendo is that fast with updating that (usually takes them 2-3 months), so maybe it’ll be SNES, NES, Genesis or one of the Game Boy libraries.

Oh yeah, I forgot about those rumored Fire Emblem remakes. I think when I used to follow leaks and rumors, someone was saying that remakes were being worked on but it’s been years since that was last reported on, so I feel like there’s a 50/50 chance it’s real but also not real. I don’t actually know if images of the supposed remake has leaked, but I don’t know since I stopped following leaks and leaked pictures. But, I think a smaller or niche franchise would maybe get a small announcement related to it.

Yes, I also don’t expect Pokémon news since they save that for Pokémon Presents instead, so Pokémon content in a possible February Direct is likely a no.

@GrailUK I can see them focusing on remasters or ports of old games to kind of bridge the gap for the Switch 2, whenever that releases this year.

I do feel like the chances of a February Direct are starting to run out, initially I expected a February 2025 Direct last year but after the Switch 2 reveal I kind of thought that the chances for an early 2025 Direct were lessened, but I could be wrong, though I usually don’t see Nintendo do Directs in quick succession. If they are, it’s probably going to be a shorter presentation and they’ll save the big Switch 2 news for April, and if not a Direct, probably a shadow-dropped announcement.

But, I maybe wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t do anything until April, kind of like how they skipped their annual September Direct last year and stayed silent for the rest of 2024 in terms of game news.

@Magician Yes, if they are doing a Direct this month, I would expect it to just be focused solely on OG Switch news, and then when the April Direct happens, they’ll probably shift all their focus to the Switch 2 and their games afterward. I am wondering if they’ll announce a few Switch 2 games during the upcoming presentation and if that will focus more on the console’s features instead.

@Anti-Matter If a possible February Direct happens, I think it’ll focus solely on OG Switch games rather than Switch 2 games. I think after the April Direct happens that will be when they’ll likely start discussing Switch 2 games rather than OG Switch games.

@Novamii @Pastellioli Yeah a Fire Emblem remake has been rumored for a long time like Metroid Prime remastered, and it definitely fits the description some recent leak(s) give. I imagine this is a full remake (more than MP Remastered was), maybe something closer to the TTYD remake?

I think Twilight Princess HD and Wind Waker HD were originally planned to get a Switch port, but I think Nintendo will now opt for GameCube NSO instead of remastering these and other GameCube games. Wii and especially 3DS feel very likely to be a focus with Nintendo remasters on Switch 2, and perhaps the mouse controls will work with these games?

@PikminMarioKirby The two Zelda games from GameCube were already remastered for the Wii U. All that Nintendo would need to do is some tweaking to make them work on a single screen setup instead of the two screens the Wii U used. Also I’m not sure there’s an awful lot from the GameCube library that’s worth an NSO library for. Outside a few first party games, what else is there? The little third party games the GameCube got from this period is going to be more expensive to license, if they can even be licensed.

@Novamii I'd love to see Rainbow Curse return, and that would work a lot better with a mouse. I don't recall the rumor, but I do remember something with the copyright. I don't think it'd be year 1 on Switch, it'd probably at least be after the new mainline Kirby game.

@FragRed I'd say GameCube has a similar sized library to N64, idk the numbers but there's a very good 1st party selection (Mario Sunshine, 2 mainline Zeldas and 4 Swords, Pikmin 1 (probably can't do Pikmin 2 with product placement), Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Luigi's Mansion, 4 Mario Parties, 4 Mario sports (Golf, Strikers, Tennis, Baseball), Animal Crossing, Paper Mario (?) (some stuff may prevent that from coming back outside of it's remake), Mario Kart, Kirby Air Ride, 2 Pokemon spin-offs, Donkey Konga, and 2 Star Fox games). With all of those, that makes about 24-25 1st party games they could do. Currently, GBA has 26 games, but only launched with 6, so I don't think quantity is an issue. I can't speak much for the 3rd party support, though.

Any older game as backup? I'm a little worried the upcoming Switch 1 games won't be under the voucher program either if they are phasing out vouchers. I was planning to get Pokemon Z-A with the second half of my Jamboree voucher from last year.

@FishyS Looking at the list of eligible games, I have pretty much all the games I'd want. Maybe Super Mario RPG, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Pikmin 3 Deluxe, and Princess Peach Showtime would be my biggest considerations if we don't get anything before it expires (I've played all of those besides Princess Peach Showtime). I'd especially consider New Horizons if we knew we'd get a Switch 2 patch to significantly speed up load times.

@PikminMarioKirby Try the demo of Peach if you haven't.

@PikminMarioKirby I think something Fire Emblem related is likely, but I wouldn’t expect the next mainline installment to be revealed until maybe a few more years. Maybe when it’s 4 years since Engage possibly? I think a remaster or remake of an old game could be possible.

I still feel like Wind Waker and Twilight Princess could be ports instead of having an NSO release if GameCube and Wii are added. I feel like Nintendo would want to focus more on the older retro game libraries before moving onto the more modern ones, and I do agree, I kind of see Wii and 3DS getting more Switch ports now that they’ve gotten a lot of the heavily requested Wii U games on NSO (everyone’s been saying after the reveal of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition that there’s no point in having a Wii U), and some other popular Wii U games (like the first Splatoon and Mario Maker) wouldn’t make sense to port to Switch. But, I and surprised they still haven’t announced any ports for Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, because I heard those are the few major Zelda games that don’t have Switch ports and they seemed like obvious choices for what older games to port to Switch.

@PikminMarioKirby Some of what you have suggested is already available to purchase on the Switch. Metroid Prime received a remaster and Pikmin 1 & 2 received a bare bones HD upgrade bundle. Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door also saw a remake just last year. Maybe sports games and Mario Party. Definitely not sure Nintendo ever wants anyone to remember Star Fox Adventures or even bother getting Rare/Microsoft to sign off on it.

Looking back, the 2024 Pokemon Presents was announced on February 20th (a week in advance) so TPC may announce this year's event tomorrow. If they were to repeat that, it does reduce the chance of Direct this week unless Nintendo were to show off a Legends Z-A trailer in the Direct and go "more news in Pokemon Presents on February 27th".

@FishyS Yeah I haven't tried the demo yet. I think it'd be hard to get a feel for this game without playing the whole thing since all the different transformations are kind of different experiences, but it might be good to get a feel for a few of the transformations!

@Pastellioli A Fire Emblem remake makes sense since it won't be #1 priority for Switch 2 (and it's only been 2 years since engage), so might as well have something Fire Emblem related while we wait.

N64 and Sega Genesis were added to NSO in 2021, and GameBoy/GBA were added in 2023, so 2025 lines up for a new console. If they're going chronologically, GameCube and/or DS would make the most sense.

Wii U still has a few games not on Switch, but many of them rely on the Wii U gamepad gimmick so it's not very possible on Switch. Yoshi's Woolly World and Kirby's Rainbow Curse definitely make a lot of sense for Switch ports, but that's about it. Paper Mario: Color Splash is also stuck on Wii U, but with TTYD remake just happening and CS' backlash, they might just keep it on Wii U.

@FragRed Link's Awakening got a remake on Switch and now is on NSO, I expect a similar situation here. Mario 64 was also ported on Switch through 3D All-Stars about 1 year before it's NSO release. It's been 2 years since Metroid Prime Remastered, which was supposedly done for a long time (also might be a marketing thing for MP4). Pikmin 1+2 was also 2 years ago and was ported for marketing Pikmin 4. Pikmin 2 in it's original form will likely never return for copyright reasons, I don't think that's going on NSO. TTYD was likely in development after 2020's Origami King, and that game might not necessarily be able to be added to NSO with some of it's content. Nintendo has put many Rare games on NSO and even has the 3 DKC SNES soundtracks on Nintendo music, so I don't think it'd be much of a problem to put Star Fox on there.

@Grumblevolcano Nintendo has announced presentations at Directs before, so they could just announce a Pokemon Presents randomly during the Direct.

@Grumblevolcano yeah, it could! In 2023 they announced it 6 days ahead and 2022 they announced it 3 days ahead, so! It could even be announced today if they decides to move Presents time again to February 27th mid-night of Japan's time (2016 & 2021) and not February 27th 11 PM Japan's time like previous 3 years was (2019, 2022, 2023, 2024)!

@FragRed GameCube did have far more high quality 3rd party support (and better support) than the N64. They might not always have been the strongest versions of those games but I think there's plenty there. Whether it's worth licensing given the amount of IP trash and the collapse of so many publishing houses leaving properties all over the place is a different question.

I also want to say that I feel like it had a stronger and more diverse selection of 1st party games (but that is more subjective and the big "firsts" on N64 are more important to the development of the medium). Even down to obscure games like Wario World, Doshin, Cubivore, Kirby's Air Ride etc.

The bigger problem I'd have with GameCube on NSO is that the games on the console tend to be far more involved and long than I'm willing to spend time on when I know it's a game that could be presented in a better format. Take WW for instance. I love the original but WWHD really sands down the edges and cuts tons of time wasting. "It's free" is enough when a game is only an investment of a few hours - if it's a 20 hr+ game that's worth me spending 20 hr+ on then I'm willing to pay for a better experience.

Of course there's plenty of cult games that have no realistic prospect of a remaster (Cubivore, Chibi Robo, Doshin, Wave Race Blue Storm etc.) so sure give us an NSO app for them... for the ones that the mass market will actually pay for though (WW, Mario Sunshine, Pikmin, Metroid Prime etc.), a remaster - even a low effort one - is going to be preferable.

If I recall, the demo has a swordfighter level and one of the dreaded cooking levels. If you like both I can't imagine you disliking the whole game. Generally speaking the full game is strictly better than the demo.

3pm UK time has passed so it looks no Direct this week and Pokemon Presents seemingly rules out next week.

@Grumblevolcano Yeah I don’t think it’s looking good this month. I heard it said, “get your wallets ready this week” (samushunter maybe?) regarding announcements of some kind, but I might be picking that out of another context.

I would be happy to have a drop of some kind this month from a remaster, likelihood most favouring the Kirby Robobot port that Nate has mentioned. I’m not a fan of Kirby games, so if I heard about FE or Zelda instead, that’s enough to forgo a show for me personally until the summer.

Yeah to me it was quite obvious that their tweet at the beginning of the month announcing the timing of the Switch 2 Direct was their way of saying "we're not doing one until April, stay tuned until then and please purchase DKC Returns HD in the meantime"

In terms of first party, they may skip February and perhaps Pokemon will get a release day announced next week, but there will definitely be more Switch 1 games this year. April 2 will surely focus only on Switch 2 but also presumably won't be a games-only direct. Do people think e.g. June will have a 'normal' direct with both Switch 1 and Switch 2 games?

I think there is still a decent chance of a partner showcase before April just because Nintendo has agreements with partners to showcase games in various ways.