Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

These three things alone would make this one of the best Directs of all time!

As for NSO, I really hope we get Diddy Kong Racing, DK64, Super Smash Bros, Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland, and Banjo-Tooie. I doubt we'd get all of those at the same time, but those are some of the most obvious exclusions in my opinion.

I think Prime 2+3 are pretty likely to release as we (will) have 1 & 4, and many people haven't had the chance to play 2 & 3 , so this would be a great way to have all of them on the same console (similar to Pikmin)

@OctolingKing13 Grumblevolcano's predictions are here!

@PikminMarioKirby Diddy Kong Racing, heck yeah! That game is so hard to play on an emulator, so I'm just waiting for them to drop an official re-release that uses a controller. I am a bit surprised they still haven't put the Banjo sequel on there yet or DK64, cuz those seemed to be the most obvious picks. What I would want to see the most is an update for the 17+ N64 app, and I am thinking of a few games I would want on there, plus that version of the service is very empty at the moment, so I think it would be best if they tried to update it as fast as they could. Conker is a very obvious and heavily requested pick for the 17+ service, and I would like to see it released on a Nintendo console again.

I do wonder when the next N64 NSO drop is. I have checked the release schedule for the games, and it did seem at first they did one game a month, but recently they seem to be doing one game every two to three months, though they can sporadically release them with no clear schedule. If I were to guess since the recent N64 update was last month, the next N64 NSO drop would be next month or September and then the next and final drop for this year would likely be in either November or December. That is what I am hoping, and I am banking on a September update since that seems very fitting for a Direct.

@Grumblevolcano ok thats a pretty reasonably assumed direct, thanks. man if new leaf hd happened id die from excitement.
a playstation showcase for the same day is pretty likely imo too. hoping for a glimpse of wolverine !!
@PikminMarioKirby love the thought on all pf those wow ^_^ it would be a great direct, but you gotta count the thousand anime games in. i think you predicted the date really well tho !!

@OctolingKing13 A: Yes, Cats are the best. B: I absolutely hate the shovelware and anime crap that is in the directs. I just wait for the direct to be over, then I watch it and skip unwanted trailers.

@Grumblevolcano I'm still 100% on 'never gonna happen' territory on New Leaf HD. Anyways, I think that'll likely only happen if the Switch 2 is either about to be announced / is announced by then. Otherwise, we'll see at least one Q2 2024 non-port / remaster (read: ground-up remake / new) revealed. Nintendo has been making sure that every quarter has something in that category for... years now I think? I doubt they'll break the streak right before the Switch 2 releases, they're clearly trying not to lose momentum this go around.

@Tayrailbridge
I would guess that the Switch 2 reveal would be it's own thing. Either a trailer like they did with Switch or a Direct of some kind of presentation dedicated to it. I don't think it would be an item within a larger Direct

How that would line up with a September Direct? Not sure. But presumably if the announcement happens in August or something then a September Direct might contain content for Switch 2. If it doesn't then the September Direct might instead be just a Switch 2 reveal. And then there's the third option where Switch 2 gets revealed after meaning the September Direct has nothing Switch 2 or just straight up doesn't happen

@Tayrailbridge It might get a passing-mention in the next mainline Direct. Probably little more than, "we have information to share about our new console early next year. please look forward to it." A new device from one of the leading Japanese companies would warrant having its own event.

@link3710 I figure the September Direct would act similar to last year's one and the lineup past March 2024 after that Direct was:

• LM2 HD - Summer 2024
• TTYD - 2024
• Metroid Prime 4 - TBA

The equivalent this time would be (lineup after March 2025):

• New Leaf HD - 2025
• LM1 HD - 2025
• Pokemon Legends Z-A - 2025

Maybe they'd give a release window to New Leaf HD or LM1 HD but don't see specific dates happening. Those release dates would come in a February 2025 Direct Mini (or general Direct but leaning towards Mini) mirroring the September 2016 3DS Direct strategy.

If New Leaf HD actually appears in September, I will be convinced Grumblevolcano is an insider.

@FishyS Wind Waker 2 will also happen (I am not insider I am just a fantasy poster).

@FishyS I'm just predicting based on the Animal Crossing/Splatoon dilemma. If there was a way for a new Animal Crossing and Splatoon 4 to both happen early on in the Switch 2 era (e.g. both in 2026), I think New Leaf HD would be very unlikely. But based on the past and taking into account longer cycles (Nintendo's already said that more powerful hardware means longer cycles), I get the impression that Splatoon 4 would be around 2026 and new Animal Crossing would be around 2030.

@Grumblevolcano Why would Animal Crossing be around 2030? That's 10 years after New Horizons released, and 9 years after it's free updates finished (which, mind you, were cut short). Given that Splatoon 3 and New Horizons don't share staff beyond a small handful of artists and localizers, I don't see the connection.

Besides Shuntaro Furukawa (for obvious reasons) and Hisashi Nogami (Producer of both series), the top staff, programmers and most of the rest of the staff are all different:
(Source: https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Animal_Crossing:_New_Horizon...
https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/List_of_Splatoon_3_staff)

There's no reason to assume the two series have any effect on each others schedules these days. It appears that Hisahi Nogami is managing two completely separate teams.

@Grumblevolcano thats a pretty good prediction, but i feel like after the massive success of New Horizons (40M+ units sold) that they would want to get a new animal crossing on the switch successor as soon as possible. also animal crossings usually come 5years. orrrr this is just me really hoping for an animal crossing sooner than later :[

I don't understand the point of a remake of an existing Animal Crossing game. Seems like a waste of development effort. Putting one of the older games on NSO I can see or putting out another update for NH maybe. But not a NL remaster

Even as a fan of the series I don't see why I would care about New Leaf HD

Figure Nintendo would prioritize Animal Crossing over Splatoon.

Between the two, AC is the more popular franchise, 80m copies sold versus Splatoon's 30m.

@skywake While New Horizons is a good game that makes many improvements over New Leaf, New Leaf still has it’s own charm (New Leaf is my favorite game in the franchise) Here are a few reasons this game should make a return (just some things I think New Leaf did better):

• New Leaf’s town has a lot more going on than the New Horizons island. By that I mean New Horizons only has Tom Nook’s office, Dodo Airlines, Able Sisters, and Museum. New Leaf on the other hand has Police office, Town Hall, Train Station, Coffee Shop, Retail store, as well as Harv’s campsite and the huge Main Street which has a museum, Timmy/Tommy store, Able Sisters, shoe store, garden store, Club LOL, Post Office, Shampoodle, post office, dream place, and a photo booth. New Horizons doesn’t have a Main Street, and originally lacked many of these places, eventually some were put on Harv’s island, but it lacks the uniqueness of Main Street. Almost every place had unique music and buildings on Main Street, but the New Horizons equivalent doesn’t really use buildings or unique musical themes, but they’re just standing outside with some stuff around them. Which is fine, but I liked New Lead more in this regard.
• Timmy/Tommy’s store feels unfinished in New Horizons. You can’t upgrade the shop much in New Horizons, once you are finished upgrading (might just be one upgrade) you have one floor with a few items on display, and stairs that are blocked off? New Leaf has multiple floors, with Gracie even owning a luxurious top floor. It can upgrade a few times and when it’s finished it ends up feeling complete, and huge!
• Puzzle League and Desert Island Escape were pretty fun games in New Leaf, however for some reason they were removed in New Horizons.
• Key special characters felt missing in New Horizons. Characters like Chip, Resetti, Joan, Rover, Lyle, Digby, Booker, Copper, and Nat all felt either replaced or just felt missing for the most part.
• I also personally prefer New Leaf’s soundtrack and graphics more, but those are mostly just my opinion.

So yeah those are just some of the things that I think stand out above New Horizons. I think New Leaf plays as a more traditional Animal Crossing game, so I think there would be quite a bit of interest from people who’s first Animal Crossing game is New Horizons.

I admit to being one of those (many) people who started the series with New Horizons. And as one of those people... I honestly have no interest in going backwards in the series; it just doesn't feel like that kind of series to me. New Horizons is the traditional one for me because it's the one I've played 😝 Would I be happy with a new game which includes some of those New Leaf features you are mentioning? sure. Would I buy New Leaf HD? Probably not.

btw, I think it is unfair to say ACNH doesn't have some of the things in your list-- it has coffee shop, wedding island.. sure the shoe store and garden store are now booths but that added a whole aspect to the game where you can't get everything every day. And the dream place is your bed/after you go to sleep which is adorable. 😆 I can understand why they decided to make fewer official buildings because it allows more room for customizing your island. That said, I'm also happy to see new changes in the next game.

@FishyS Yeah I think a new entry should take some notes from both games, as both do better in different aspects.

The buildings being replaced by smaller/outside things doesn’t feel as fun, even though it serves a similar purpose. (at least to me). The garden shop, shoe store, Club LOL, and the others all had their own music, but now they are just kinda put in the town center. I do like the idea of not having everything available every day, and New Leaf also explored that a bit with Redd, Sahara, etc., it definitely brings charm to hopping on every day for something different to happen.

@PikminMarioKirby
I prefer ACNH than ACNL, for keeping my villagers forever and more The Sims style.

New Horizons leaves it up to you more. I made my own outdoor marketplace, band stand, restaurant and gave them each unique music. It's adorable how the villagers browse your goods or try out the various musical instruments or sit down in your restaurant. I think a new game could do both things if there was more real estate. Technically you can fly places but that was pretty slow; if there were more places you could get to in real time, that would be neat. I hesitate to say the dreaded term 'open world' but ACNH is about as closed as you can get so a little more open/connected wouldn't be bad. Having certain areas you can't control and others you can fully modify would be interesting.

Either way, personally I think Nintendo needs a brand new animal crossing to try to keep some of that huge influx of players from this gen. 2026 would be ideal but who knows.