Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

There's a Sonic Central stream tomorrow at 5pm UK time.

Also there's the State of Play tomorrow at 11pm UK time:

@PikminMarioKirby alr, hopefully yalls predictions will be true! really excited to see what the launch titles are. praying for mario kart x. i really hope it lives up to eights legacy. also expecting a glimpse of 3d mario (never played odyssey actually, only person who hasnt haha), and possibly animal crossing (one comes every four years on average, if you include pocket camp). im also hoping the new ip will be okay, arms got really repetitive fast, but it was a great concept!

@Grumblevolcano Aside from Astro Bot, PlayStation fans haven't been liking what Sony is doing recently (PS5 Pro, Concord, etc). I wonder how this State of Play will be received, it doesn't sound too good based off of what we've heard.

@OctolingKing13 Mario Kart 9/10 (whichever it is lol) is so exciting, it has big shoes to fill in after MK8DX and it's Booster Course Pass (Hopefully Kirby will be playable!). I wasn't a huge Arms fan personally, I do agree it was a cool idea though! I hope the new IP is good, I'd love to see it incorporate Mii's somehow, or maybe an original cast like Arms. I think we'll probably get 3D Mario, Mario Kart, and a new IP within the first year of Switch's Successor (Similar to how Switch handled it)

Oh yeah, I actually think this week is the last week for a Direct this month, but my expectations for one are super super low. I now think they could have one in October instead, and break tradition for the first time! I won’t be shocked if a Direct actually doesn’t happen at this point.

Yeah that State of Play I think will have Resident Evil 9 and some other 3rd party announcements that are really good, but I expect 1st party announcements to be weak.

As for a Direct, I don't think we'll be getting one for the rest of the year, but it depends on how and when they intend to reveal Switch 2 and it's launch year software.

My guess for a launch lineup for Switch 2 would be:

• MarioKart X
  Animal Crossing X
• New IP X
• Metroid Prime 4 (crossgen)

Today's got the Super Mario Party Jamboree overview trailer. Also there'll be chapter 3 of that Echoes of Wisdom interview as hinted at by yesterday's NoA tweet.

@Grumblevolcano We're probably not getting a normal Direct the rest of the year, and this enforces that idea even more. Only having 1 general Direct a year is kind of rare, usually we have 2-3. Nintendo skipping out on September is also really rare, I think the only explanation would be that the Successor is being announced at somepoint before the end of the year, and Nintendo wants to give that presentation some space.

@Grumblevolcano @PikminMarioKirby It’s a big overview trailer for a game that’s not coming out for another 3 weeks, and it’s interesting they decided to drop it this week when Zelda is just days away. But I’m assuming it means absolutely nothing other than the social media team are chucking up whatever they receive from marketing as and when they get it.

@PikminMarioKirby I mean, it is the last year of the Switch’s life before the next console releases. They probably just have nothing new to showcase.

@FragRed Nintendo probably could've waited until EoW released for the overview, since we still have a bit over 3 weeks until Jamboree releases. Typically overview trailers are the final big trailer for a game, which indicates that it wouldn't appear at a Direct.

@VoidofLight Nintendo released at least 11 3DS games in 2017, I don't think Legends Z-A, DKCR, and MP4 are the only Switch games next year. Nintendo easily could've shown off 1-2 new games for H1 next year, as well as have big trailers for the upcoming games like Brothership, Echoes of Wisdom, Mario Party, and the 3 games I listed above. That along with some 3rd party content and a possible NSO addition could pretty much fill an entire 40 minutes. Nintendo seemingly decided to have things separated though. It seems very intentional to not have a Direct, Nintendo could've easily done a Direct Mini also but we didn't get that this month either.

@PikminMarioKirby Yeah that’s what I thought which is why releasing it now, three weeks early and just before another big game launches is such a bizarre move.

@FragRed 3 weeks isn't necessarily abnormal since sometimes it's about a month beforehand, but it is unusual seeing it before a different major title. It would make sense to move this out of the way, if the theory is right that we're getting the Switch Successor announcement in early October.

@CaleBoi25 I don't think so for Animal Crossing being a launch title. It's a huge social game, you can't release it if there's not an install base already built up and units aren't freely available, you'll choke the life from it. Even Splatoon 2 waited 4 months before launching to make sure there was at least a decent chunk of people to play at launch.

@link3710 I think they moreso meant launch year. I doubt all of the games they listed would release day 1 for the system. Maybe 3D Mario and Metroid, but certainly not Animal Crossing.

I feel like, most likely Nintendo will give the new Zelda some space to breathe before any Switch 2 reveal given how big sellers those two both would be. I'm not deep in the analysis trenches, but it doesn't make any sense to release a game, then disuade consumers from buying it with a flashy new console that people have to save up money for.

@Bluelink45
I think people put too much emphasis on "spoiling sales" with the announcement. There will always be something you're going to tread on. I'd agree that I don't think it's this week but I think after that it's fair game again for an announcement

Worth remembering that Pokemon Sun/Moon released less than a month after the Switch reveal. Paper Mario Colour Splash was less than two weeks before it

I would argue getting the hype cycle right for a new platform and it's launch matters far more than a single holiday game in 2024

@link3710 @VoidofLight Yes, sorry, I should have been more clear, those titles are my guesses for a big launch year lineup, not day 1 options.

@Bluelink45 Was going to say the same thing as @skywake. There’s really no good time to announce new hardware with Nintendo as they typically have a game per month. But the Switch 2 having backwards compatibility isn’t going to hurt sales on games coming out because they’re all going to play on just fine on current and future hardware.