Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

I'm not really a Kirby fan despite I already played two Kirby games on Switch but more ported / remastered Kirby games from other Nintendo machines to Switch is very welcome.
I just played Kirby games casually and when I finished the game, I (almost) didn't touch the game again.

I don’t see a timeline where this happens. (based off of Japan release timing) Return to Dream Land was late 2011, Triple Deluxe was early 2014, and Robobot was early 2016. The same month Robobot released in Japan, Nintendo announced that Switch would release March 2017, so I doubt Nintendo ever had time to plan Star Allies for Wii U. Also HAL often avoided Wii U, and ended up having 1 Wii U Kirby side game and 8 Kirby games on 3DS, so it would be unlikely that HAL would put a mainline one on Wii U.

I think the reason Star Allies initially lacked content was because they only had 2 years to make it (and it wasn’t really a part of the RTDL-Robobot era), and it had to be rushed for an early Switch release.

Hmm. It feels extremely inconceivable that they could get a Switch game done in a mere 2 years. And yet they say it started in 2017. Strange. But I do think at the very least that they had concepts before 2017. One thing I can say for certain is that Star Allies is designed with a similar design philosophy to other Wii U platformers like NSMBU, 3D World, and Tropical Freeze. I definitely associate it more with Wii U platformers than Switch platformers, Forgotten Land feels much more like the "true" Kirby platformer and has more in common with the Switch design philosophy.

My thought is not that Star Allies would've released earlier than 2018, but the Wii U would've lasted longer than 2017. The Wii U's lifespan does feel a bit cut short because of its failure, it only lasted a mere 4 years and 4 months, which is a pretty short lifespan, especially by modern standards (it's more around 6-8 years nowadays). I could see a scenario where if the Wii U hadn't been the tremendous failure that it was, that it would've lasted until around 2019ish. And in that timeline, Star Allies would be squarely in late game Wii U territory.

@Bolt_Strike I speak largely in jest... but not entirely.

Whilst there are plenty of Kirby games that appear early in the life of a console, there is often a Kirby game at the end of console life. Kirby's Adventure was amongst the last first party games on the NES. Kirby's Dreamland 3 was amongst the last first party games on the SNES. Return to Dreamland was a late Wii game (though the console lasted another year) etc. I also buy into your theory that Star Allies was probably originally intended to be a late Wii U game.

TPC just announced a Claymation project with Aardman that's happening in 2027. For something that's so far out I'm surprised they didn't save it for Pokemon Day so maybe there is no Pokemon Presents in February 2025.

No Pokemon Presents in February to me would suggest that Switch 2 is being revealed in March and February ends up being a Switch 1 general Direct.

On a different note, we've now got the DKC Returns HD overview trailer:

@Grumblevolcano Doubt there’s no presents. They’re not revealing anything pertaining to Z-A still.

@Grumblevolcano Yeah, I see a near 0% chance there's no Presents in February. Potential cross gen releases of an upcoming game don't really hinder their ability to talk about upcoming games. They'd just hide whatever content or upgrades are exclusive to the next gen version. They didn't stay quiet about BotW until the Switch was revealed, they haven't stayed quiet about Metroid Prime 4 until the Switch 2 is revealed, and they won't stay quiet about Z-A until the Switch 2 is revealed either. It seems fairly obvious that they're saving a big Z-A reveal for this Presents regardless of what's happening with the Switch 2. And heck, we don't even know that Prime 4 or Z-A are cross gen games yet, for all we know they're just late Switch games that won't have a Switch 2 version at all. Way too early to be concerned about no Presents. The Aardman collab is kind of a minor reveal and they know everyone is going to be watching for the main game news, they don't need to hold these kinds of reveals for Presents.

@Bolt_Strike I see it differently. Because of the expectation for mainline news, people watch Pokemon Presents and as a result find out about stuff they weren't actively looking for. This provides more visibility to that other stuff.

So not including something like the Aardman collab in a Pokemon Presents, it gives me the impression that the central pillar of a February 2025 Pokemon Presents (Legends Z-A) is missing so they do standalone announcements instead.

@Grumblevolcano TPC would certainly like that and it's a good bonus for them, but the people watching the Presents aren't as likely to buy into those products. Most of the people actually consuming their side projects are casuals that don't play close attention to Pokemon news and just buy stuff that has Pokemon branding on it.

It's also worth noting that Presents sometimes repeats announcements that were already announced elsewhere. That's been the case with some mobile game announcements for example. Even though they already revealed the collab now, they might repeat it for people that don't follow the news/social media sites covering this now.

The Game Awards happened and while Nintendo did have 2 ads (a "Nintendo Switch has Games" style ad and a Echoes of Wisdom ad), there wasn't the usual one from Indie World. Makes me further think there's an Indie World next week paired with an Indie World eshop sale.

Oh joy. Can't wait to not watch that indie world. They're always pretty awful showcases.

@Novamii Yeah. I don't like the narration, and I don't really like the games they have to show. Usually with indie presentations like these, they really have a lot of samey looking games when I'd rather have more unique looking ones.

@Novamii For me, I hate how "Cozy" games are a heavy thing now. I say this as someone who's a massive fan of Animal Crossing (outside of New Horizons). It feels like New Horizons sorta put that genre on the map, and it feels like a lot of games in the genre try to recreate Animal Crossing- but only based off of what New Horizons did and not the actual original experience of the series.

I just wish more animal crossing-likes actually were made with an understanding of what made the originals so good instead of being pale imitations of New Horizons. I also get that not all Cozy games are like that, and that there's Stardew Valley and farming games, but still.

So many new rumors are spreading. Jan Nintendo direct, lasers in joycons, button to cast to the tv, current gen 3rd party games…the next month may be very interesting (and hopefully exciting). Not sure what to make of it, but really trying to keep my expectations in check.

Im actually trying to decide if I should buy Visions of Mana on xbox. I have a feeling it'll be launching on switch 2 early on.

@Lazz Nintendo choosing to put Skyward Sword on Nintendo Music this week is making it seem like there is a January Direct. The additions to the service post-launch have been:

• SMB Wonder (random)
• DKC2 (already announced)
• Wii Sports (already announced)
• F-Zero X (already announced)
• Brain Training (random)
• Splatoon 2 (already announced)
• Wave Race 64 (random)
• Skyward Sword (already announced)

Already announced means that it was announced in the initial Nintendo Music trailer. So if the pattern continued then Wind Waker would be be added in January considering there's only 2 already announced games left for the service (Super Mario 64 and Wind Waker). I'm not sure Nintendo would add Wind Waker to the service without announcing some way to play the game on Switch which would suggest January Direct.

@Grumblevolcano Ehh by this logic that would mean things like the original Wii Sports would have to be on Switch. Or something like Brain Training.

Most likely we probably aren't getting a general direct in January. If we get anything, it'll probably be a showcase for Switch 2.

@Grumblevolcano I really hope that your logic works out, it would make sense. Not convinced Nintendo thinks this way, based on how 2024 has gone, but I like it. If WW was enhanced for Switch 2, that would be incredible.

@VoidofLight I think from a gameplay perspective, Nintendo sees Switch Sports as a replacement to Wii Sports. Similar thing with Brain Training except for some reason the Switch Brain Training game didn't release in America.

@Grumblevolcano Ahh. Even then I don't think them putting a game on the music app necessarily means they're going to be bringing that game to Switch.