Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

Maybe this is hopium but I think we will get a port of Smash Bros Ultimate on Switch 2. Sakurai's channel is ending this year, he's had about two years break from development at this point, and they are releasing new spirits again which means that at least some of the team have started working on the game again in some respect. If they released the game again with all the DLC, 3-5 new characters, all the old stages we never got in ultimate, plus maybe Smash Run, all in more tuned up graphics, that would be more than enough (but still hoping for Fighters Pass 3 along with all that haha). Not sure if it would be announced this soon but got my fingers crossed for the next Direct .

@Bolt_Strike Then why even bother as the first party games we know of are all HD remastered ports with little to no changes making them unworthy of even a Direct Mini. There will be announcements, maybe not much first party aside from updates and a new NSO roadmap, but there's gotta be some third party announcements left for Switch seeing as third parties wouldn't drop Switch this early given its success.

I've been off down the country over the weekend so I haven't been too involved in Direct discussion as of late, when are we thinking the rumoured February Direct is happening again? I've heard the 8th and 14th get thrown about here and there for the past while myself.

@WiiWareWave Well, there is Princess Peach Showtime and Metroid Prime 4 as possibilities, but for the most part yeah. It could also be a Partner Showcase (which is a kind of Mini anyway)

@Fizza The current date is the 7th so we will see tomorrow if it gets announced.

I'll raise hell if it airs during my training. Nintendo will hear an earful from me 🫠

@NintendoByNature Same here: if it happens at 2PM/3PM, I'll be in the middle of unmissable exams XD

@GalaxicGlobe @SplatRay001 I do think Ultimate is Smash's future on Switch 2. Any brand new Smash game would probably get torn to shreds over massive roster cuts and those would be inevitable given the 3rd party angle Ultimate took.

@Fizza we will riot. There's no other way 🙃

I hope its a early one because that gets me up in the morning lol.

@GalaxicGlobe Last two Directs were at 10am Eastern; however, the last two February ones were both at 5pm eastern, so I'm banking on it taking place in one of those two time slots

@Grumblevolcano agreed, that’s really the only option unless they plan on rebooting the whole series which seems unlikely. My hope is that if they do that they at least include a new single player mode to make the package a bit more fresh, along with the expected new challengers

@Fizza good luck with those exams, I finished mine two weeks ago so I’m all good

@Grumblevolcano Idk we will see

@MarkL1987 Oh well, I like it early but 4pm EST (3 for me) is not bad.

@Grumblevolcano Agreed. Also I think from the development side, they probably want to take a lot of time to figure out their next move to minimize the inevitable criticisms people might have towards the reduced roster and potentially having to do so without Sakurai who seems to be headed towards retirement. Additionally, I've noticed in situations like these when a series faces potential criticism, that series seems to face a relatively long drought, it seems like they want to spend a lot of time carefully planning their next move in those circumstances. For example, we didn't see a proper new 2D Mario game for 10 years after fans got sick of the NSMB series, and Metroid had a 7 year drought after Other M. Smash may follow suit and we're probably waiting a while for Smash 6. Giving Smash the MK8D treatment for Switch 2 and putting off Smash 6 until the Switch 3 just makes too much sense.

If there isn’t a Direct I’ll explode

Microsoft is set to discuss their future plans for Xbox next week. Hi-Fi Rush is likely going to be what kicks off their wider multiplatform push that's essentially an open secret, it's likely notable enough to be a Direct reveal, and there's a real possibility they'll want their business plan event to coincide either with an announcement coming shortly before or after. Maybe they really will do a Direct next week, even with the marketing push for Mario vs. Donkey Kong. Or it could happen this week...or Hi-Fi Rush could just be announced independently.

I struggle to see a Direct happening next week when they've got a 1st party title coming out as there's usually quite a marketing push on the direct for at least a week after it's aired (social media, eshop etc.) and I would imagine they wouldn't want to get tangled in Mario Vs. Donkey Kong promotion as well so if it's gonna happen I reckon it will be either this week, or a little later down the line.

If there really is a Direct coming soon, then not only will we get some more info on the remake of Paper Mario 2, but an actual release date (so I can preorder on Amazon).