Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

Just got an Amazon notification saying the date for the Prime Trilogy book's shipping/release date has been changed from July 31st (obv a placeholder) to July 19th. Wonder if that indicates there's still hope of a Prime 2 and 3 Remaster coming today or tomorrow?

@PikminMarioKirby A Mini would still have XCX even if just a reminder of its existence like LM2 HD's presence in the June 2024 general Direct. It's looking like at most we've got Indie World + Partner Showcase double Direct for March like what happened in August (much like August, March/April is normal timing for Indie World but an April Indie World would probably get overshadowed by all the Switch 2 talk).

The one positive of no February direct is seeing leakers be totally wrong again 😆 I don't want more leaks to be accurate until after Switch 2 is out.

@PikminMarioKirby Shh! Don't say that when NateTheHate is doing a poll for Nintendo news in February!!!! That certainly means there's going to be a surprise Direct Mini tomorrow morning the same hour as the Pokemon Presents! Nintendo would definitely shoot their own partner in the foot in order to prop up their own announcements!

It's amazing to me that people actually think like that. That they actually believe that NateTheHate is teasing a direct for tomorrow, and that Nintendo would really genuinely schedule their news on the same day as Gamefreak- when both are partners, and Nintendo would know TPCi's schedule better than any other gaming company.

@FishyS
There will be Pokemon Direct today on 27 February 2025, right?

@Anti-Matter Yes, the Pokemon Presents is happening on the 27th. Tomorrow for me, around 8 a.m. CST.

@Grumblevolcano To me it feels a lot more likely to be making separate announcements for now. I still think from Nintendo’s view it would’ve been best to do it all in one Direct/mini in early February, but that seems unlikely as we approach the Switch 2 Direct on April 2nd.

I could see there not being any Direct aside from series specific ones like the Pokemon Presents and potentially something Mario related for Mar10 Day. Maybe we’ll get a twitter direct where they just post several announcements within a week or two?

@VoidofLight I wouldn’t blame Nate for making people think there’s going to be a Direct, the supposed tease I saw had nothing to do with Directs. There’s no way they’d do that now anyways, it’s too late in the month for a Direct. An individual announcement still isn’t out of the question for this month, but they only have 2 days to do it at this point.

I’m sure whatever Nintendo’s planning, if anything, has already been communicated to the Pokemon team. They’re probably both aware of the schedule, and have agreed to it accordingly.

Z-A is late 2025, so I'm sticking with my guess of November release date and Gen 10 in 2026.

The game doesn't look promising, didn't seem like they were aware what starters made sense for Kalos. I was also hoping for a non-modern day setting, like past or future. This game also looks like it will be a lot less free walking around compared to Legends Arceus.

Well @VoidofLight are you happy? Z-A is releasing in the holiday. So now that question's been answered. Gen 10 is clearly being held off for 2026 on Switch 2, you can pretty much lock that in.

It's a relief that Legends Z-A is late 2025 (likely the usual November slot) and I'm liking the look of the initial gameplay.

As for what this means for Direct, it's an odd situation considering February general Directs cover February - July yet the only game in that timespan at the moment is XCX in March so to skip February Direct is odd.

@Novamii yeah, not that keen on the starter choices tbh. Although tbf I felt the same with PLA. I kinda wish that they just stuck with the Kalos starters as we haven't seen those in ages.

But the trailer was pretty neat I thought. I'm intrigued at least, after not being too enthused by the game in concept. It definitely looks more polished than the last couple of games.

@Bolt_Strike Yep! Pretty happy. Kinda glad Gen 10 isn't this year and Gamefreak isn't going to try to rush it. Z-A looks pretty good graphically (mostly texture-wise), so I feel like Gen 10 getting extra time will hopefully help it look better as well.

@PikminMarioKirby Honestly, I feel like the game is still going to be pretty free. Looks like there's going to be some sort of ranking situation for Wild Zones though, given the numbers on the gates to them. The city is open world like Scarlet and Violet as well. I also really like the fact that it's present day Kalos, given that X and Y needed some sort of sequel or side game to round out the legendary Trio a bit more. Especially given how the lore around the central three amounted to barely anything in the original games. I'm also glad because we get to see AZ and potentially the Looker again, along with seeing Zygarde's forms in the context they were intended for originally (instead of being shoehorned into an entirely different region where it doesn't make sense for it to exist within).

@VoidofLight I think this will be the modern way of making a Platinum/Crystal game and I think that's the best way to go about it.

It'd be kind of funny, since this game is all about being in the city, if you couldn't go in the buildings. Odd feature removed from Scarlet/Violet, otherwise I wouldn't be worried about this for this game

This Pokemon Presents actually makes me think Nintendo has something planned prior to April 2nd. 2 Switch games were at the Pokemon Presents, one of which is scheduled for late 2025, and the other didn't have a release timeframe (and was also a mobile game), which implies a release date not in the near future. So April to the end of Summer still have no Switch games. February, unless we get a shadowdrop on the last day of the month (unlikely!), also didn't get a game.

There has to be some sort of announcement, right? Can Mar10 Day and maybe 1-2 twitter drops really fill in April through summer for Switch?

I think this is the first time I've disliked all 3 starters.

@PikminMarioKirby Honestly, the Teraleak makes it clear that Gamefreak pretty much wants to do Legends in the place of Remakes. These are our remakes now I believe. BDSP was only made as a response to TPCi not knowing if an experimental title would bode well in the eyes of Diamond and Pearl fans, so they outsourced ILCA to make a traditional remake while Gamefreak worked on PLA. PLA was a success, and while BDSP was a financial success- it was a critical failure for the fans that it was made to please. Therefore it's why we're pretty much getting an X and Y Legends game instead of a remake, as PLA did super well and so they understand now that people want more experimental games in this series.

Someone for certain article with 2 polls thought that Triumphant Light Pack and Mega Cards reveals was part of same reveal aka TCG Pocket, but Triumphant Light was TCG Pocket reveal while Mega Cards was for Regular TCG reveal! xD
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/02/how-would-you-rate-...

With this and gold points being discontinued, what if Nintendo is doing it because they’re starting see there’s no need for incentives to get people to buy digital content anymore, especially with the changing economy around the world?

@MrCarlos46 I hope not. Nintendo's game revenue is close to 50/50 on digital versus physical but this suddenly seems like they are now actively discouraging digital. Which is odd because they were really pushing vouchers last year.

I'm not convinced they aren't simply transitioning to $70 physical/ $60 digital.

@FishyS Unlikely physical would cost more than digital. They’re usually priced the same.

They also didn’t outright say Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers were ending, just that the current ones won’t work for Switch 2 games. Maybe later down the line there will be Nintendo Switch 2 Game Vouchers but at a higher price point to accommodate the $70 price point for Switch 2 games.

Gold Points however are just straight up gone with no replacement. At that point just rename My Nintendo Platinum Points and make that the de-facto point currency going forward.