Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@FishyS Splitting the two teams to work on both simultaneously may need to be the solution in the long run (and may be a solution to many of their issues with lack of resources to work on specific IPs). I could potentially see that down the line, but I'm not sure if they're sufficiently built up their staff to do that now though.

Yea, I mean... yea lol

Of course the mainline games are gonna sell more, so I certainly don't disagree with that.

But the Mario Maker games have been huge hits. The community is still going, actually, which is pretty crazy.

I'm not gonna pretend to know the breakdown of their 2D Mario dev teams, and the internet hasn't historically done an excellent job prognosticating that sort of stuff either. I just think Maker 3 will come out when it's ready. I don't really see them holding it for a rainy day or a super strategic time, honestly - I think they'll just line it up when it's done.

Basically, I'm filing this one under "We're overthinking this."

@rallydefault,

"The community is still going, actually, which is pretty crazy."

I can attest to this. I was still playing the game (Super Mario Maker 2) myself until the tail end of last year, when I finally uploaded and shared all my course ideas that I had (though I still have my Maker ID in my forum signature, just in case someone on these forums who still plays the game in the big 2026 wants to play some courses made by NL people and sees it). About every other week or other from August-December 2025, I would check out Course World and see that new levels were still being uploaded and played. SMM2 certainly does still have a small, but tight-knit, community, even after all these years (unless a drastic number of the 2025 player base dropped at the same time I did 😜, which I find pretty unlikely).

@Nep-Nep-Freak
Yea, lots of YouTubers still uploading plenty of content, too. I still enjoy watching!

@Don
The Switch 2 screen is has a larger vertical height than the 2 NDS screens put together (with the plastic dead space removed). If NDS games ever come to Switch 2, the two screens will simply be displayed one on top of the other, both docked and undocked.

The biggest issue will be access to the bottom touch screen display in docked mode for NDS games that require touch inputs - this is where mouse mode will come in handy.

I've seen people entertain the idea of a second screen accessory for Switch 2 before the console even launched, but I think there are too many issues with such an accessory: it wouldn't work in docked mode, it wouldn't be compatible with the Switch 2's top USB-C port since that port doesnt support video-out (therefore, the bottom USB-C port would need to be used instead), and it would be quite expensive.

Indie direct tomorrow?

Indie World presentations have gotten kinda mediocre in recent years so I'm not expecting much but I'll watch anyway just in case.

I think with Indie tomorrow it pushes out a full first party direct until at least April (I would say May or at the 1 yr anniversary).
However MAR10 presentation is not a full direct, so that could still happen.

Anyone got the prior indie direct dates vs first party to help confirm?

Hmm... So, Indie Direct tommorow, MAR10 Direct next week, and a full Direct in April?

I could also just see MAR10 being the General Direct. The September Direct was tied to the original launch of Super Mario Bros. and I wouldn't be surprised if they timed another Direct to a Mario celebration. If there is a Direct for just Mario (or even if there isn't; we have plenty of games announced and updates via today are sufficient), I would not expect a General Direct until June, at the earliest.

If there was a general Direct in March/April, I think they'd focus MAR10 Day all in on non-gaming stuff like having a Galaxy movie Direct. If we get Yoshi's release date announced on that day however, that deconfirms a general Direct.

I think MAR10 will empty the barrel for anything Mario related (LM, Maker, 3d Mario, Movie, Yoshi, etc.) for this year. I am doubtful they will hold anything for May/June direct. I think they want these announced before the movie is released to capitalize on everyone talking about Mario.

MAR10 Day is never that big. The final Mario Galaxy Movie trailer is all I’m expecting.

Nintendo literally giving us everything but a General Direct. Is Nintendo allergic to first party now? Are they becoming like Valve where they completely forget they have games? Utterly daft marketing right now, it's like they want our Switch 2s to collect dust.

@Bolt_Strike I get what you mean, but the S2 won't collect dust if they announce games for it? First party games are what we need, yeah, but third party isn't turning people away

@Bolt_Strike
Nintendo almost never gives fans what they want.

@CaleBoi25 Third party games don't have nearly the same draw that first party games do. There isn't a single third party game in the Top 25 sellers for Switch. Nintendo consoles primarily live and die by their first parties. And until they announce more and higher quality first parties, it's leaning towards die right now.

We’re days away from a Pokemon game (one sitting at 89 on metacritic, even) and we’re Nintendooming again?

@Buizel it's always Nintendoom time when there is no 3D Mario or Zelda announced, because other games don't exist apparently

Yeah, I really wouldn't have had Pokopia as a GOTY contender, but that's a better score than RE: Requiem and Mewgenics, both of which have already been touted as ones.

Still, if you want your heavy hitter in a big franchise, look no further.

I've a feeling that it's only going to redouble the Key Card discussion, mind you.