Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

Where do we see the alleged Planet Robobot port slotting in?
I can see it being in May to keep things ticking over if June is the Switch 2's release month

@PikminMarioKirby The Switch 2 Direct will probably have a release date for something, whether it's the console itself or some games so the no upcoming known release dates situation would end on April 2nd (gap between XCX on March 20th and Switch 2 Direct on April 2nd is shorter than the previous gap).

As for prior to April 2nd, at this point it does seem like at most we'd be seeing for new announcements is more NSO related stuff. Whether NSO Expansion Pack game for March, a F-Zero 99 update or early Splatoon 3 SpringFest theme reveal.

I wonder if we'll find out how long the Switch 2 Direct is before it airs.

@Grumblevolcano Probably not in advance

This may sound like old news because there's been rumblings of this for a while but GC NSO is all but confirmed now. There are some FCC listings for a new controller and, well, it lines up with the GC controller pretty damn well. Also the product codes and packaging all seems to line up with previous NSO controllers. Safest of safe bets for the Direct I think

It's actually kinda fitting I stumble across that bit of news this morning actually. I just moved house and last night was going through a few boxes. Rather fittingly last night it was Wii and GC controllers. I'd kinda forgotten that I had as many WiiMotes as I did. Anyways, I hope when GC on NSO happens Wii isn't far behind and in both cases there's a chance of support for the original controllers I already have

I really hope they do! I work that day and want to know if I can request enough of the morning off to watch. I really prefer when they give us advanced warning of directs; when they don't I basically can never watch them live.

Yeah I'm sure the Switch 2 Direct will have dates for some releases, but not before the FY ends, so it's still kind of surprising. We probably won't get any Switch game release dates, unless one of the games is cross-gen. People keep on saying Legends Z-A or Metroid Prime 4 will be cross-gen, but at most I expect backwards compatibility with maybe an enhanced version playable on Switch 2.

I wonder if we'll find out how long the Switch 2 Direct is before it airs.

I'm sure we will, maybe a week before the Direct, or perhaps the usual 1-2 days. Hoping for a very long event, I could see it running around an hour or so.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say summer is when the Switch 2 is launching. If they launch later in the year, Nintendo is going to have to contend with GTA 6. That'll probably drown out anything they'd release in that time-frame, especially if the game is the first 100 dollar game like many are thinking it will be.

@VoidofLight Although GTA6 and MK9 coming out the same day would lead to some really entertaining memes, I agree Nintendo will want to avoid that unless they simply aren't ready earlier for some reason.

@FishyS I made a joke at the end of 2023 how the last wave of the Booster Course Pass would announce GTA VI. And... it kinda did? At least, we had the announcement of GTA VI's first trailer on the same day the last wave of the Booster Course Pass released. Would be funny to see the two tied together again with the same release date. But, I think I'll say the next information on GTA VI will come when the new Mario Kart releases.

I could see trailer 2 in early April. Sony's had the marketing for the past 2 Rockstar games (GTAV, RDR2) so they may have the marketing for GTA6. The easiest way to give PS5 a big boost among all the Switch 2 hype would be for the GTA6 marketing cycle to begin around the Switch 2 Direct while the game isn't coming to Switch 2.

Meanwhile if the game is coming to Switch 2, trailer 2 coming in early April would act as a way to show the extent of Switch 2's 3rd party support.

April does make sense. Especially if it is coming this autumn. That will give it six months of marketing.

I hope so... I have to work, so I want to know if I can squeeze it in or not!

Unpopular opinion, but I really don't want GC on NSO. If we get that, then Wii will be next, and DS and WiiU and.... Boom, no remasters ever again. NSO is good value imo, but I really have no intrest in adding more to my "to play" list.

@CaleBoi25
I still see them releasing full-price remasters of GC times from time to time whether or not GC comes to NSO. They did it with Link's Awakening and Mario 64 in a short time frame - as long as people keep buying, they'll keep doing it for the bigger games.

They seem all about the Luigi's Mansion franchise lately - I can see the first game getting the full remaster treatment in the first couple years of Switch 2. Cult classic, room for some tasteful added stuff, ride the hype train they have going with the next Mario movie and 3D Mario game.

@rallydefault I agree with @Caleboi25, the evidence we've seen in the past suggests that when GCN NSO arrives they'll mostly abandon doing GCN remasters/remakes. The only examples we've had of Nintendo doing ports/remasters/remakes which come after a system is on NSO are:

• Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light localization port (original Famicom game was Japan exclusive)
• Famicom Detective Club remakes (original Famicom games were Japan exclusive)
• Super Mario RPG remake (original game by Square Enix who hasn't released any games on NSO)
• Advance Wars 1+2 remakes (note that the remakes were originally scheduled for December 2021 which was 14 months before GBA NSO happened, the delays to April 2023 were what caused it to release after GBA NSO)
• Mario vs. DK remake

The examples you gave were of games whose ports/remasters/remakes happened before the system came to NSO.

A realistic possibility is that they'll still remake/remaster any games they consider special enough, and put everything else on NSO.

FWIW I agree with @rallydefault here, I don't think GC/Wii on NSO removes the possibility of remasters. The precedent of it "not happening with NSO systems so far" doesn't really hold because NES/SNES/GB/N64 aren't really fertile ground for remakes and remasters to the extent they used to be. Much harder to impress just having an SNES or N64 game existing on a portable than it was on GBA, DS, 3DS. Something like Star Fox 64 3D was only really impressive because, well, N64 done well on a portable was almost enough on its own on the 3DS. So there's just a straight up disconnect on Switch between the systems that are viable for remakes for and the systems Switch has on NSO. With rare exceptions

Also there is precedent for remasters/remakes happening on a system while there was also the VC happening. eg Twilight Princess HD while there was Wii VC, NES VC on 3DS while they were still doing 3D Classics, stuff like that packaged Kirby Collection on the Wii which was released while the VC was certainly a thing. Was VC exactly the same thing as NSO is? No. But it's really not THAT different in terms of "competing with a retail product" and, in any case, if they feel like Wind Waker on NSO would compete with a Wind Waker HD they'd just..... wait a while before putting Wind Waker on NSO

I mean SNES exists on NSO, that didn't stop Super Mario RPG from getting a remake

@Grumblevolcano
Indeed, but internally the releases were close enough that Nintendo most likely knew what their plans were. LA was added to NSO in October of 2021, and the remaster was released essentially two years earlier in September of 2019. You can't tell me that they at least had a darn good idea they were gonna put LA on NSO at some point while that remaster was in development.

So, especially if they leave a year or two as buffer like that, I can see them easily picking a few of the bigger GC games to remaster for full-price releases only to then put the original on NSO after the initial sales wave dies down. And honestly, the LA remaster in particular is different enough (even for an LA connoisseur like me lol) to still buy the game even if I'm purchasing later and have the "free" option of NSO.

The buffer will be bigger, but if GC games do come to NSO, we'll most likely see Metroid Prime on it, so there will be another example of them doing the big remake while most likely having knowledge of their plans to have it on NSO a few years later.

@skywake
The stars do align every now and then lol

@rallydefault Link's Awakening was added to NSO in February 2023 as part of the launch Game Boy NSO lineup. October 2021 was N64 and Genesis.

@Grumblevolcano
Well howsabout that! My apologies.

I still stand my point. No way in Banjo’s hairy behind Nintendo didn’t know what they were gonna do with the NSO offerings when they decided to do that remaster. Same is gonna become true for Prime in the near future.

As long as they know they can make bank off some carefully selected GC remasters, they’re gonna keep doing them.