Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

I think anyone with kids at home during lockdown could understand that productivity while 'working at home' does not reach normal levels, and often is totally disrupted. Keeping your family on an even keel emotionally and mentally, to most sensible people, is likely the priority, so if that means writing off an afternoon's work to play with the kids, go for a walk etc. then that is what is happening. That's certainly the case from my perspective and my employer has made it very clear that my priority is my own welfare and that of my family, with no expectations set about how much work I can get done or how much time I can clock. I recognise all employers are not as supportive as this, but every employer is faced with the reality that employees with kids off school are in tricky situations.

This pandemic is doing more than just relocating where people work. It's affecting how they work, how much work they can get done, how they feel about their work (motivation and goals etc).

Collaborative projects can still happen remotely, but it will inevitably be slower and a bit harder.

@Octane I believe the option of Kyoto being included in the regions was being discussed in the lead up to the decision, but it was ultimately decided it would be premature (perhaps because it’s a major population hub adjacent to two of the country’s worst affected regions (Osaka and Hyogo)). I can’t find the source for where I read that but I’m pretty sure that I did, so the error wasn’t without justification.

Incidentally, I’m not really arguing against your wider point; just indulging in some fact checking on a finer scale.

I really don’t know how big the knock on effect of all this will be, and I imagine even people closer the centre of the matter aren’t exactly sure. The national picture changes on almost a daily basis, and has been doing so since as far back as February (when we saw the first school closures). I don’t really envy anyone trying to make predictions amidst all this.

When was “Zelda 64” first shown and when did it appear?

That franchise has a long history of games taking far longer than originally envisioned. I wouldn’t be surprised if their ambitions have grown dramatically as they’ve made the game.

2020 isn’t going to be a great year for Nintendo.

I’m expecting Pokemon let’s go Togapei & Switch Fit Adventure 2 alongside some good ports like Mario 3D World & possibly something else like Pikmin 3. Bayonetta 3 hasn’t been shown at all yet - that one seems the most likely to suddenly appear for a winter 2020 launch. That looks like the limits of their ambition just now.

Hopefully there will be some big original concepts in 2021 & 2022 alongside the big anchors of Zelda and Metroid.

@StuTwo I really hope not, cause that would be quite disappointing.

@StuTwo You expecting a sequel to Ring Fit when the first continues selling so well they can’t keep up with demand? I think it’ll be a single game for the entirety of the Switch life cycle like a fair few other games. Also don’t expect any new Pokemon games this year when they’re releasing DLC for Sword and Shield.

I agree its going to be a quiet year all around with maybe a port or two and that’s it. With 2 new systems on the horizon, I think it makes sense to let them keep the spotlight and then come back strong next year when the other two are going through the traditional year one drought.

@Octane yeah but life has continually prepared for disappointment!

I think they just don’t have the development pipeline to be making enough AAA games to release more than 1 a year.

Hopefully their recruitment at Monolith and Retro will eventually change that slightly but I think we’re not going to see any monster hit.

@FragRed I do expect a Ring Fit sequel on Switch. It’s such a unique game selling to a specific audience. It’s the type of audience that buys Just Dance every year and an asset flip sequel would be so easy to make but sell to a lot of people (and would easily replace the original on store shelves).

If there’s not a new Pokemon game then a “game of the year” box on shelves is something I could see The Pokemon Company doing.

I suspect that Nintendo originally had Metroid Prime 4 or something from Retro pencilled in for this year but we know how that turned out.

@StuTwo I doubt it. It's far more likely Ring Fit Adventure will see a substantial DLC pack than a second release thanks to the pack-in hardware. And Pokemon is right out of the question, they aren't going to let anything distract from the season pass.

@StuTwo We pretty much know anything Retro was working on prior to taking on Metroid Prime 4 was cancelled so don't get your hopes up that we will see anything until whenever, assuming it does release, Prime 4 is finally re-revealed.

There may well be a re-packaged Pokemon Sword and Shield but as I said previously there will be no new games. There really is no point and I think I read that they said don't expect any more Let's Go games but I need to look into that before I outright I put it across as fact.

I just think you are going to be hugely disappointed if you expect any new Ring Fit games especially when you look at how other hugely successfully titles have been treated such as Super Mario Party and of course nothing has been really added to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. They did an update for Ring Fit recently and that may well be how Nintendo supports it moving forward.

Also in agreement that Nintendo’s priorities will likely be more focused on trying to produce enough copies of a relatively recent game that is currently selling out at soon as there is stock than trying producing a new entry to supersede it. At least in the current year. Even Wii Fit only got a single entry per console, and we’re now in the era of DLC making expanding in previous titles easier than ever.

It’s precisely becuase Ring Fit is a big deal for Nintendo right now that they’d be shooting themselves in the foot making a game the public can’t get enough of dependant with a direct sequel.

New paper Mario
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch/Paper-Mario-...

@StuTwo Metroid Prime 4 development started a little over a year ago. Regardless of the situation, it would never release this year. I'm even doubtful it's coming next year; it's probably a 2022 game.

Eh, it's a cool way to do it, @Octoguy ....

If I remember rightly, it restarted a year ago?

If depends on the reason for the restart, if it was a code/developer quality problem and the original story + level design etc is staying the same it could come out sooner. If they've started testing it and realised the game design needs serious work then they are almost starting with a blank piece of paper and 2022 or later will be when we see it.

@gcunit yea well said. Pretty much a struggle every day being at home with the kids and keeping them busy etc. I work from home most days and it's next to impossible. Not because I'm not driven, but because the kids make it hard.

Example: my daughter walks into my office Area( I say area as i had to move my desk into our somewhat roomy walk in closet lol), and asks me "daddy, is it suppose to be nice out today?" I get about 15-20 of those types of questions a day. And she walked right past her mother to ask me.

So yea it's pretty hard to be productive depending on your family/living situation.

Could all announcements be like this in 2020? So no Direct in 2020?

@MarioBrickLayer They announced it in January 2019; they said they restarted development; which means pretty much from scratch.

@Octane I'd say it's more likely development started in the back half of 2018. We know at least that Retro showed off a prototype of some sort that impressed Nintendo enough at some point prior to the January announcement. It's not like they went out the next day and announced they were restarting development, they likely waited a few months to make sure it was proceeding well. That puts it at approaching 2 years in development, meaning next year is quite possible as an original target. This one, not so much.

@DuskformLycanroc sweeesweeeeeet!!!!! That's awesome, i really want to get into the series. I need to go back and play the original game prior.

@link3710 Best case scenario. Still; three years for a brand new game is the minimum I think.

@Octane Best case scenario would be that the prototype they put together was far more extensive than we thought and that cuts off another 6 months of development. At a bare minimum, I don't see how development could have started any later than September 2018. Don't forget, it probably took at least a month for marketing to decide on how to reveal this information to the public and film the video after they got approval to do so, and then they very clearly timed the video to place it right before a Direct to help mitigate the damage. So November 2021 isn't out of the question, since that's 3 - 3.5 (maybe but unlikely close to 4) years.

But of course, that's all pretending that COVID didn't cause delays. Now? It's first half 2022 at the earliest.