Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

I just noticed something, the Pikmin Switch 1 cycle was:

• Pikmin 3 Deluxe - October 30th 2020
• Pikmin 1+2 - June 21st 2023
• Pikmin 4 - July 21st 2023

Taking Japan timezones into account, if Nintendo were to mirror the Pikmin cycle for Metroid Prime exactly you have:

• Metroid Prime Remastered - February 9th 2023
• Metroid Prime 2+3 - September 30th 2024
• Metroid Prime 4 - October 30th 2025

@Grumblevolcano this is actually insane those dates make perfect sense. do you think prime 4 would release that close to z-a though? a mario 40 presentation earlier in the month and a general direct with a prime 2 + 3 shadow drop would be a great month for nintendo

I mean, maybe. It'd be nice to get a taste of prime 2 and 3 first, but i feel like that would've already happened if they were coming.

@OctolingKing13 The placement of Air Riders means that unless Nintendo shadow drops Prime 4 in September or delays the game to 2026, whenever Nintendo releases Prime 4 it'll be within 2 weeks of either Legends Z-A or Air Riders. Also given that 2018 is the only Switch year Nintendo didn't have a late October/early November release, I think late October/early November makes the most sense for Prime 4.

@Grumblevolcano isn’t December for Prime 4 possible? We’ve gotten Nintendo games during that month (i.e. Smash)

@Grumblevolcano that makes sense, i dearly hope its not delayed.
@Fillbot since they said hyrule warriors would be “Winter” im honestly thinking a january release. trust me i want it now, but i think nintendo needs a better holiday game for december.

@Fillbot Unless Hyrule Warriors is early 2026. Nintendo used to say 2025 but more recently they have gone out of their way to say Winter with no year attached, unlike all other upcoming games.

@SplatRay001 Early December is possible considering XC2/Smash Ultimate/Big Brain Academy, I just think late October/early November is more likely considering the placement of Air Riders.

Whether it's Prime 4 or some unannounced release like Wonder Switch 2 Edition, I don't see Nintendo leaving late October/early November empty.

Wouldn't surprise me if Hyrule Warriors was the Switch 2 release for Q1 2026, with Rhythm Heaven and Tomodachi Life taking up the other months (I expect the latter to receive a S2E though).

Any other Switch 2 games, including Splatoon Raiders, would be April onwards.

Makes me wonder if Rhythm Heaven, Tomodachi Life and Pokémon Champions are all coming out in Q1 2026, and since they're discontinuing the Voucher program, there won't be any more new Switch 1 games... it's all a waiting game at this point.

@ShieldHero seems likely. I can’t imagine they would’ve announced them so far in advance if they weren’t coming Q1

We need Xenoblade Switch 2 editions.

Don't talk to me about an Uprising port! I have been begging for one forever, but with Sakurai working on Air Riders I sadly doubt it's happening anytime soon... I'll be there Day 1 if it does, though!

If there's no news next week (which is likely considering Silksong comes out on the 4th), we'll have gone 5 months with no Prime 4 news. The last info we got was the Treehouse Live demo on April 3rd.

@Hapless I've been hearing the 12th, which is odd because Friday, but also given the US event on Sept. 11 is possible. The 4th has also been thrown around a bit, at least from what I've seen, but it's less common.

I wonder if it's actually on both the 11th and the 12th due to timezones. The 11th should be fine so long as there's no games featuring crashing into buildings with planes or anything like that

Directs are typically the same day in almost all time zones — morning in US, afternoon in Europe, Evening in Japan. Perhaps 11 pm or midnight in Eastern Australia.

I think the only actual supposed leak has been Sep 12, people just question it because Friday is unusual. On the other hand, it's right next to Mario anniversary. There have been a few rare Friday directs, just not usually general directs.

@IceClimbers I think it's likely that anything Nintendo considers a bigger release from here on out will receive a Switch 2 Edition release. It didn't happen for Pokemon Friends, but that's a mobile game spinoff that just happened to release on Switch as well, whereas I believe it's been established that Pokemon Champions will have a specific Switch 2 release, and that at least has integration with mainline Pokemon games. If nothing else, I expect Rhythm Heaven Groove will have a Switch 2 patch baked in that lets it hit 1080p handheld/probably 4K docked, but I feel like there'd be potential for some minigames that use mouse mode. I'm not fully sure if that'd go against any series conventions, but while they did pass on motion controls for Fever because of a lack of precision and input delay, mouse mode gets around both of those issues, and since the game will almost certainly have WarioWare alumni involved (whether it's the old guard at EPD working on it or the new Intelligent Systems team taking over), it wouldn't be too surprising if they wanted to use the most substantial new way to play the console offers.

September event season has started with Sony having announced a 007 First Light State of Play airing on September 3rd.

https://blog.playstation.com/2025/09/01/state-of-play-present...

I will say, I like Nate, but having him around makes direct speculation so much less interesting. If we here a report from someone else, it just becomes a matter of waiting to see if Nate confirms it or not lol.