Of course, and I do hate the soulless profit maximization that those companies are doing too. But you can't just forget about the financials either. Nintendo is a business, not a charity. They need to create something that makes money to keep the lights on.

For that matter, thinking about it some more I'm not entirely sure Bananza is better creatively than 3D Mario either, especially the Bowser's Fury successor I anticipate. Bananza is interesting, but so is Bowser's Fury. Beyond just being the typical open world moment, it feels like they've happened upon an elegant way to hybridize the sandbox style formula with the linear level clear formula which has divided the fanbase. They've come up with an entirely new way to structure platformers and open worlds that I do think could not just sell 10s of millions, but win awards and generate buzz in the way you've described as well as serve as a trend-setter that other games in similar genres could follow. And I'm not sure how much of this they anticipated ahead of time, but it doesn't seem like Bananza is quite doing that the way you describe. Some people do like the creativity on display here, but others find the gameplay loop to be too repetitive and unrewarding, with the digging being tedious and undermining the core appeal of a platformer. So I don't think Bananza quite landed the way they might've wanted and Bowser's Fury style 3D Mario probably would've had more universal appeal and acclaim.

I really do think Bananza could still easily sell a couple more million throughout the Switch 2's lifespan, since it is one of the system's earliest games. I for one want to buy a physical copy of the game... someday, years from now. Once I get higher priority game purchases out of the way first 😅.

As for the timing of the Directs, my part time job schedule will not allow me to watch them live this time 😭. Anyway, I will definitely watch both after I get home from work on the specific days, and my dad wants to watch the Zelda one with me, because he's a big Zelda fan. Now, I will call upon a good friend of mine for their definitely wrong guesses special insider info 📣.

Yes and no. The voxel destruction mechanic was pulled from Odyssey but the EPD 8 team was specifically requested to make a 3D DK game first and foremost.

Insider Nep-Nep-Freak IS HERE with some insider info 📣🎉 which will definitely be completely wrong

Zelda Direct announcements:
Live action movie trailer
Ocarina of Time Remake trailer, release date of November 19, 2026 (I don't give a frick about that being the exact same launch day as GTA VI)
A Link Between Worlds Switch 1 remaster, release date of February 18, 2027

General Direct announcements:
Final trailer for Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave
Another trailer for Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, and the announcement of the timing for an online beta test just like the first Switch Sports
Pikmin 4 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, release date of January 21, 2027
Kirby Planet Robobot Deluxe remaster for Switch 1, which is confirmed to be the final Nintendo published game for the Switch 1, release date is March 11, 2027 (a similar situation to the 3DS final Nintendo published game being Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn back in March 2019)
Another trailer for Xenoblade Genesis, which gives a release time of "Spring 2027" (similar to what they did with Tomodachi Life in the September 2025 Direct)
Announcement trailer of Metroid Ravenous, with a vague "2027" for the release time frame
Probably something small that involves Mario

@N00BiSH Ahh yeah, I forgot about that.

haruki, while i don't have that diagnosis and i feel for you, i can still sorta relate to setting myself up for no expectations? there's some logical predictions (if somehow the oot remake or the movie don't show up in the zelda direct i'll have lots of questions), but otherwise i do fight back against anything besides generic hype. i don't think its particularly hard to do, but the sensationalist nature of everything online makes falling for the idea of "i hope x game is there" just as easy.

and, after announcements, there's a similar initial hype/anger that then dies down and i try to look at things more critically, hence why my reaction to the previous direct didn't take long to become "if you like rpgs then you'll like it, but otherwise it wasn't that great" instead of the maintained overall opinion of "it sucked ass who tf is this high at nintendo". i probably cannot total zero like you do, but i would encourage people to try pushing expectations to zero. "expect the unexpected" is maybe a better way to put it.

Ganondorfs been awfully quiet since the Zelda 40th direct announcement dropped

@squiddu-real
lol what? Like honestly, what even was the reason for you to @ me? lol

@Haruki_NLI
It’s just the usual “let people have their fun” pretty much. Personally, I love the energy that builds a week or so before a Direct. I think it’s a cool time, sort of like Christmas Eve has become almost as fun as Christmas itself in my old age lol