Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

To be fair, run buttons are in almost all Mario games. I much prefer a run button to games which just make you want to break your stick to run. Although a button which just toggles run off and on so you don't have to hold the run button constantly is nice.

My goodness we've gotten a bit distracted from the task at hand, eh? 😆 I love a good (friendly) debate, though, so no complaints here!

February will have a big Direct once again after last year’s no-show.

I’ll keep my expectations in check for once, but SURELY Splatoon Raiders will be fully revealed in that. Can’t shake the feeling it might get a sudden update on Nintendo Today just as suddenly as its announcement though.

I wonder how Nintendo's going to approach the end of the voucher program. We know that's happening at the end of January and we also know that there's voucher games being added throughout 2026 however currently there are none for 2026.

This is another thing that makes me think there's a chance we may get a January Direct Mini and save the next general Direct for March/April/May. Announce some NSO voucher games in the Direct Mini to push NSO subscriptions and voucher sales before vouchers are no longer available.

@Grumblevolcano If either Tomodachi Life or Rhythm Heaven are $50 or $60 games (and I'm guessing Tomodachi Life at least definitely will be), I'm sure they will be added to the voucher program.

Since we get Zelda almost every year and we had new games in Warriors/2D/3D for the last 3 years, a port coming to both Switch and Switch 2 in 2026 feels likely so that could be another voucher game.

And ... possibly some other random game or possibly not? Even if they said voucher games were coming out 'throughout 2026', I could imagine that being anywhere in the 2-4 games range with e.g. Tomodachi Life first half of year and zelda second half of year.

I can't see what kind of Zelda game they could release next year. Outside of re-releasing a remaster or something, we're definitely not getting a brand new game for a while.

I agree, but we were trying to think of 2026 Switch 1 games. So a port or remaster would work for that.

Unrelated, but page 999 of this thread.

Only about twoish months until the next direct should happen. I'm so impatient to find out when rhythm heaven releases

@VoidofLight That's what they did for the 30th and 35th anniversaries. A remaster (Twilight Princess HD in 2016, Skyward Sword HD in 2021) and more content for Hyrule Warriors (Legends port + more DLC in 2016, Age of Calamity DLC in 2021). There was also some kind of special hardware (themed New 3DS XL in 2016, Game & Watch in 2021) but it's probably too early in the Switch 2 era for limited edition consoles, maybe a Switch 2 Pro controller happens instead?

I'm wondering what they'll port, though. I know Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are the popular picks, but I want to see a 2D game.

I think there were some Nintendo patents filed recently that depicted a gameplay reminiscent of Ocarina of Time. Maybe a remake is in the works for 2026 or 2027. If not that, I would expect Switch ports of either Twilight Princess HD or A Link Between Worlds HD.

I suspect the Switch's support after Tomodachi Life and Rhythm Heaven will mostly consist of Wii, Wii U, and 3DS HD ports.

Weren’t those rumors about one of the GameBoy-era Zelda games making the rounds? A remake of Minish Cap or the Oracle games.

@rallydefault oh, PLEASE be the Oracle ganes

I was rather surprised that they didn't do remakes of all the 2D Zeldas using the Link's Awakening engine, because it would seem perfect for that.

Still, I guess that they were busy with Echoes of Wisdom, instead.

It's a potential schedule filler if they're ever at a loose end though.

At this point there have been rumours of remakes and remasters of almost all the old zeldas 😆 One of those rumours will definitely be true by default one of these years soon.

I loathe the idea of more Zelda remakes, but if we're going to have them at all, I'd much rather have remakes of the DS Zeldas instead of the GB ones. Those ones I can understand wanting to update them to work on modern hardware.

I love OoT but I hope they're not just going to bump up the graphics and call it a day like they usually do for their remakes. Those are always dull and feel like a waste of money. If they're doing an OoT remake, I want to see them get ambitious with it and actually make some larger changes because OoT still has some issues in the year 2025. It's still a good game, but it won't be $70 good on Switch 2. Specifically, the kinds of things I want to see improved are the amount of extra content/sidequests in the game and adding some extra content in the story in between Jabu-Jabu's Belly and the Forest Temple to make it feel less rushed.

As far as the extra content, they mainly need to give you more things to do in Hyrule Field. Hyrule Field definitely has a few things here and there, but it mainly feels empty with little to actually do. You've got random hidden underground caves that usually don't have anything of value (IIRC one or two of them have a Heart Piece or Gold Skulltula, but most of them just have rupees), the Poe sidequest, and the Running Man race which gives you nothing. That's basically nothing by modern standards. Hell, even the knock-offs people compare to Hyrule Field (and usually pretty unflatteringly) like the Wild Area in Pokemon Sword/Shield or Sol Valley in Metroid Prime 4 have more to do than in the actual Hyrule Field so it absolutely need new things to do. As for what, the easiest thing to do would be to fill it with enemy encampments and shrines like BotW. But any kind of new content, collectible, and/or quest would be an improvement here.

As for the middle of the story being rushed, it really feels like too much happens to quickly in that part of the game and the dungeon difficulty ramps up too steeply in between those two dungeons. This could be a consequence of the Light Dungeon being cut, but also the Child Timeline side of things isn't that great either. Some spoilers here in case anyone hasn't played the game and doesn't know the story.

But yeah, if they're not willing to go that far I fail to see a point in an OoT remake, especially when OoT already exists on NSO. I'd be just as happy playing the NSO version as I would for a graphics-only remake. If I'm spending $70, it'll be on a version of OoT that's not afraid to upgrade every facet of the experience, not one where they want to keep the nuts and bolts the same and do nothing more than throw a 4K coat of paint on top of what we already played in 1998.

I feel like Ocarina is the last Zelda that needs any big changes made to it. The one that needs more piled onto it is WindWaker- seeing half of the game was cut. Of course, the issue is that most of the cut content of that game is pretty much repurposed now.

@Matt_Barber Oh, I hope not — I generally don't love that artstyle, but mainly I'd like to see something new.

I personally don't see much point in remaking Zelda games outside graphical upgrades and a few QoL features. By that regard, I would welcome Oracles getting the LA treatment, and would be happy with Ocarina and Majora 3D being retooled for the Switch.

I think beyond this you're moving into reimagining territory and I think "new" Zelda titles have already been doing this to an extent. Twilight Princess is heavily influenced by OoT, which itself is largely influenced by LTTP. And the latter world was also revived in Link Between Worlds.