Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

On a more pessimistic note, there are plenty more examples of Nintendo remaking a classic game to great commercial success and critical acclaim, and proceeding to do absolutely nothing with the rest of the franchise. That Metroid Prime 2&3 might potentially fall between the cracks isn't a possibility we can entirely rule out.

So far as good reasons why they might be taking their time go, they might be wanting to rework the multiplayer mode of MP2 for network/online play, and MP3's extensive use of motion and pointer controls. It's not just a case of dropping the assets into an engine that already does everything it needs to.

I'd be optimistic on the whole, though. If they'd wanted us to forget that there were two unreleased games in between MP and MP4, they'd have quietly dropped the 4.

@Matt_Barber I just hope they release 2 and 3, since if they don't- I can't see a world where 4 sells well outside of the smaller Metroid fanbase.

@VoidofLight Yeah, but just look at what they did with Metroid Dread.

Not one of the previous 2D Metroid games has had a native port to the Switch, even now, and they've only been dribbled out on NSO over a very long period.

In spite of all that though, it's the best selling Metroid game ever, at over 3 million copies.

Prime 4 has the potential to top that by some margin, with the right marketing, and of course that should include getting the entire preceding trilogy out on Switch first. I just don't think we can count on Nintendo to do that, given their track record.

@Matt_Barber With Dread, the game was easier to get into because it caught the players up to speed if they didn't play the others. While Prime 4 might do that, I genuinely don't know if they will. Especially given how the game relies on a character from Metroid Prime Hunters. I'm just glad it probably won't be the only launch title for Switch 2- given that it doesn't exactly have the widest appeal like Zelda or Mario does.

@Matt_Barber
There might not be native ports of 2D Metroid games Switch but I'm fairly sure all of them exist on NSO. Or at least do now, they might not have when Dread launched. Also it's not like Dread is titled "Metroid 3" or something

Metroid Prime 4 being 4 is going to make people want to play 1, 2 and 3. As it stands they can't short of buying second hand or piracy. To me it seems like that's something Nintendo could capitalise on and ideally the time to do it is before 4 launches

Not saying they will by any stretch. Or that they'll be proper remasters. For all we know NSO on Switch 2 includes GC and that's the route we go. Just saying that before 4 comes out will be when the interest for the previous entries will be at its peak

@VoidofLight I'd think that, whatever happens with re-releases, Prime 4 is going to have to be a self-contained experience, because most people who never played the earlier games will go straight for the new one.

Hunters, in particular, is very unlikely to see a re-release, because it's so wedded to the DS in terms of its graphics and control scheme.

I'm not overly concerned though, because the Prime games just aren't that heavy on story, and most of what there is happens via show, don't tell, not lengthy exposition dumps. It's not like they've got to recount the events of Other M, thankfully.

@skywake Yes, they're on NSO now, but only the original Metroid and Super Metroid were available when Dread launched. It's taken several years since to add Metroid II, Fusion and Zero Mission to the roster. Samus Returns, the much improved remake of Metroid II, is still stuck on 3DS.

Pinball, Federation Force and Other M are also currently in limbo, not that any of them would be considered essential to the canon.

On the whole, I'd think that MP2&3 are far and away the most important Metroid games that you can't currently play on the Switch in some form, and absolutely should be ported before MP4 is released.

It's just that Nintendo's chaotic approach to the series as a whole doesn't inspire confidence.

i never thought id have to bring this thread alive 😞😟 not active since thursday must be a record !!
also did you see out lord and savoir pyoro’s account got locked 😔 rip to the greatest leaker ever known to humanity

@OctolingKing13 It usually settles down a little for a while after a direct.

As for Pyoro, it will be interesting to see what other leakers do. There were more very accurate leaks from other leakers than most of us realized happening this round:

• "2D Zelda game featuring Zelda with Link's Awakening graphics and 'different' gameplay" was being discussed weeks before the direct
• Someone leaked the name of the Mario and Luigi game an hour before the direct but everyone ignored it.
• A legion of people could have leaked MP4 and no one would have payed attention.
• Mario Party seemed so likely that it is unclear if it was leaked or if some putative leakers just guessed.
• Hard to know which were guesses, but pretty clear the date of the direct leaked.

So even though Nintendo shut down Pyoro's source, there seems to be people willing to leak bits and pieces.

To some degree I feel like leakers with a mixed track record (or no track record) make for the most interesting discussions because then we can imagine and discuss something without truly being spoiled since we know it might not actually happen.

The only thing I will really miss about Pyoro is having the date of the direct 100% confirmed several days beforehand. I wish Nintendo would just do this.

Seems like Pyoro is gone, then. I’ll miss Pyoro, definitely the most trust-worthy source we’ve had for Nintendo leaks, probably ever.

It was all avoidable as well. Pyoro could’ve just pretended to not know anything at all for this Direct and just kept silent until the next one.

@Matt_Barber Given Metroid's history, Hunters will likely someday get a Zero Mission / Samus Returns style reimagining down the line, rather than a remaster / port. It absolutely needs it, just like Metroid & II

I mean... it seems clear Nintendo discovered the place in the backend which was leaking. Even if Pyoro had stayed quiet this time, they wouldn't necessarily have any information to leak next time. Plus it seemed clear Pyoro didn't realize the rug had been pulled until partway through that day.

Rumor has it that ILCA is developing Mario & Luigi Brothership.

Would make sense given that a lot of former AlphaDream developers ended up at ILCA.

@FishyS Almost every Direct has either a shadow-drop or opens pre-orders for games. I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo intentionally avoided doing it (besides the N64 mature, which didn't come to Japan since it was already a thing there) just to try to see if Pyoro could leak it. (Nintendo's games come out in 3-5 months so they should've been able to be pre-ordered after the Direct) I bet future Directs will continue to have shadow-drops/pre-orders after the Direct, so Pyoro would likely still have his source.

@PikminMarioKirby Or Nintendo could just wait until the end of the direct to upload everything through a new secure channel. I'm sure they are capable of fixing security leaks in a variety of ways once they notice them. I suspect what they did this time was a stopgap security measure before they fix it for real as well as verification of the leak's source.

I agree the lack of pre-orders was likely part of that. Not sure why they didn't add them in Friday but maybe their current process is slow.

@FishyS That is potentially a way Nintendo could handle it as well to avoid leaks. However, if Pyoro just never posted during this Direct, Nintendo may not realize the reason why. Yeah Idk why pre-orders aren't open yet, especially with how soon the games will be releasing.

@PikminMarioKirby If you watched Pyoro's tweets that day it was very clear they didn't know they were cooked until too late. So if it was a sting, Pyoro maybe could have avoided it, but as with all good stings they didn't know there was a sting to avoid. Honestly, I think Nintendo was clever.

I wonder what finally annoyed Nintendo enough to go after the leaks, or maybe they have someone following the patterns, and it just became obvious what the leak was so they closed it as a matter of course. Considering complicated computer networks touching all over the world and hundreds of people all over the world under non-disclosure agreements, I bet leaks are a constant worry for them.

when are the first party games gonna be available to preorder in the US? echoes of wisdom is only in three months !!

@PikminMarioKirby @FishyS I don't think Switch 2 will be revealed this year but if it was revealed by September, putting preorders up late could allow people to make an informed judgment about whether to buy Switch 1 software or to buy Switch 2.

@Grumblevolcano That would make a lot of sense in the very unlikely event the Switch 2 reveal is coming out in e.g. July. Especially if there were Switch 2 physical boxes that were a little different for upcoming games.

But given the weirdness with the leaks and eshop as well as the issues in the US with canceling pre-orders left and right, it sounds like there are a lot of plausible explanations.