Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

Man I wish Elden Ring was a proper physical. That's heart breaking.

I wonder if Nintendo will announce anything for Zelda’s 40th anniversary. Hopefully in the next Direct. I would be surprised if we don’t get a Zelda announcement this year.

Also hoping for a new Paper Mario game this year. It’s been 6 years since the last Paper Mario game came out. Hopefully the next one brings back the traditional battle system.

I do think that either a remaster or a remake for Zelda coming out during this fall is a reasonable guess. Twilight Princess remaster, that rumored Ocarina of Time remake, something on that level. No new mainline until 2029 at the earliest.

As for Paper Mario, I am guessing most likely 2028, maybe 2027 if we are lucky, since the Thousand-Year Door remake only came out back in 2024.

@Nep-Nep-Freak
Ocarina of Time remake would be great. Loved the N64 classic, it would be a lot of fun to revisit all the locations, dungeons and characters in their modern rendition.

4 weeks to go Tomodachi Life Living the Dream.
I must get the game ASAP.

@RobLife1 At this point the week beginning April 5th seems the best chance for a Partner Showcase. If one was happening this week, it would've been announced by now meanwhile the following 2 weeks have 1st party releases (Wonder and Galaxy movie respectively).

While Emio did release the same week as the August 2024 Indie World + Partner Showcase, Nintendo did do the other Partner Showcases on weeks there was no 1st party release.

@Nep-Nep-Freak i wouldn't be that pessimistic about paper mario. most of the games have released the year following a major fire emblem (remember, both are developed by the same team). still not likely the announcement comes this year, but i highly doubt a 2028 release.

@Nep-Nep-Freak
I personally waiting for the Paper Mario clones by 3rd party developers so it will give more diversity and better idea in making turn based RPG games.

@squiddu-real, the bet is on then. I believe the next Paper Mario is 2028. Feel free to quote these words when it's announced for 2027 😜.

Since we like using historical precedent on when games may release in this speculation: Paper Mario releases every 4 years, with two exceptions.

Paper Mario: 2000
TTYD: 2004
Super: 2007
Sticker Star - 2012
Colour Splash - 2016
Origami King - 2020
TTYD: 2024

@Haruki_NLI it's kind of only one exception; Super Paper Mario was simply out a year early.

I could definitely believe a new paper mario in 2028.

Did TTYD even take up major resources for Intelligent Systems' Paper Mario team? Generally remakes/remasters tend to have a shorter turnaround and at best only push the new game like, a year or two out. Honestly I feel like a new Paper Mario could happen at any time, 2028 would feel a tad late given that the last game was a remake from 2 years ago, I feel like 2027 is closer to the worst case scenario.

@Bolt_Strike
I personally prefer the clones of Paper Mario by 3rd party developers for offering more differse ideas for turn based RPG.
Even Mario himself never talk, never say any words, but the clones by 3rd party developers (Bug Fables for example) they made every characters talk and have dialogues.
I think it just the closed minded of some Nintendo gamers to accept new ideas for the 1st party games.
I grew up by 3rd party games standard so when I found the petty gimmicks from Nintendo 1st party games like that, I didn't feel impressed.

@Bolt_Strike 2028 is a long wait, sure, but I'm not sure PM is a big enough franchise to get pushed ahead. They've got a pretty consistent 4-year cycle. Correct me if I'm wrong, tho — I have only played the original and Super!

@Bolt_Strike I think it was a fairly sizeable project. On the scale of remaster — remake, it's definitely on the remake end but I suppose development time must have been saved on story writing, character design etc. So while there may have been a four year gap between it and Origami King, they could well have wrapped up the bulk of development a little earlier.

Having said that, I do think 2028 is realistic especially if they're going for something different and/or are making a new engine for it.

I think the next Paper Mario will be ready for 2027, but if they're committed to this 4-year cycle, they can just bank it for 2028 (which we know they do for lots of stuff).

Wouldn't be at all surprised if it comes next year, though.

P.S. - Origami King is a top-10 Switch game.

People have implied TTYD remake couldn't have taken as long as the other HD Paper Mario games, and while I've not played Color Splash or Origami King, I feel like that's based on nothing other than TTYD being a remake instead of a new game?

Do they not understand that for a remake they had to remake every asset? That's what...remake...means.

I will say Paper Mario went from 3 to 4 years, which by modern game standards is an impressive turn out when it feels like most other game series went from once a year to once a generation. (barely hyperbole)

Turns out Nintendo's PAX East presence is very limited again:

https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/nintendo-brings-hands-on...

The games present are Wonder Switch 2 Edition, Pokopia and Pokemon Champions. Doesn't seem to be any 3rd party stuff there at the Nintendo booth.

@kkslider5552000 remaking every asset is still a much different endeavor from designing and modeling them from scratch. in any art form, having a base to work off of is naturally much quicker.

that's not to say it only took a year or whatever someone else said, but i don't think it would take the entire cycle of the average paper mario game to finish, nor would it take the full effort of all of intelligent (in fact, tose and marza animation planet are known teams that helped with this remake, marza with lighting and tose with sound design and "general production", whatever that means).

Has there ever been, in the history of Directs, two Partner Directs in a row without a general one in between? I think this is very unlikely.