Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@Nintoz that implies a very large number of games, since I can’t imagine them spending more than an hour on one game

@PikminMarioKirby I was thinking more about how Treehouse Live could make the pacing of the Direct faster. So like if it was just Direct they'd perhaps have a long 5-10 minute segment just about Mario Kart but with Treehouse Live being present, they could approach it that Mario Kart is just a 1-2 minute trailer and then go in depth with the game during a 30 minute Treehouse Live segment.

15 minutes 1st party in the Direct would mean like 6-7 game announcements which sounds reasonable.

@Grumblevolcano Assuming Mario Kart is our huge launch title, I think that'll get a long look at the Direct since it'll have far more publicity there then it will during the treehouses. Treehouse will likely be showing gameplay and not really having any major reveals games there, so for Mario Kart specifically I think they'll have quite a bit to say about it in the Direct (especially if Switch 2 releases within the next couple of months).

Perhaps we'll get something like 'a new game in the Super Smash Brothers series is now in development', whether it be for Smash Bros., Animal Crossing, Luigi's Mansion or whatever. This wouldn't even take a minute I'd imagine, so I could see this happening at somepoint during the presentation.

How sad are folks going to be when Nintendo hits us with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe rather than a new Smash?

(I assume Nintendo will just re-up the licensing contracts for the characters used.)

@Magician If that also means that Sakurai has been working on something more interesting rather than just making nothing but Smash Bros. forever then I'll be very not sad.

@Magician I wouldn't mind if they kept Ultimate around with the simple (but for many people vital) addition of rollback netcode, and did a different Nintendo (+ Friends?) crossover game for the Switch 2.

@Magician I dunno... I'd be pretty disappointed, honestly. The Switch and Smash Ultimate have both sold incredibly well, so I'd really rather they make a new Smash game. At least with when Nintendo made Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the Wii U turned out to be a massive flop for them, so I could see that as a good reason for bringing the game to the Switch. A lot more people got to play MK8 as a result. Maybe I'm too spoiled or whatever, but those are just my thoughts.

Ooh! Hour long plus the Treehouse returns! This really is Switchmas all over again.

Less than 24 hours now! Can't wait to see what Switch 2 will hold!

@Magician I kind of hope that they don’t do a Smash DX. I kind of feel like an upgraded Switch 2 port of Ultimate wouldn’t make sense, especially because the Switch 2 is going to be backwards compatible and Ultimate is most likely going to be playable on there. I feel like all an Ultimate DX would do is add a few more characters, some stages, maybe a bit of content and modes, and possibly fixed online, but I would prefer if they made a new Smash instead, though if they are, I don’t expect it to be announced till a few more years, mainly because Ultimate had a long development cycle, plus the length of DLC development. Apparently some people are already expecting a new Smash to be announced soon, but I really do not think so. Maybe in a year or two? I noticed there haven’t really been any legit rumors or leaks for a new Smash pop up. I recall seeing one show up randomly on Instagram but it sounded super fake.

@PikminMarioKirby I had a look at past Switch era E3 Directs and with the sole exception of Smash Ultimate at E3 2018 (25 minutes), the others which later on during E3 had Treehouse segments had the Direct show a maximum of 3 minutes (e.g. LM3 at E3 2019, Metroid Dread at E3 2021, SMTV at E3 2021).

So I'm optimistic they won't spend too long on Mario Kart in the Direct.

I kinda hope that Sakurai is working on a new game. I don't want another Nintendo direct solely focused on Smash (that isn't a smash direct) as Smash isn't a game I really enjoy personally.

...not to be that guy, but what do we think the odds are of a June direct? I think it's fairly likely seeing as Nintendo probably wants to stay ahead and have a consistently loaded calendar unlike than the past few years where there would be just 1-2 unreleased games before each direct. Right now the rest of 2025 is looking like this:

Mario Kart: June 5
Zelda switch 2 editions: June 5
Welcome Tour: June 5
Donkey Kong: July 17
Mario Party Switch 2 edition: July 24
Kirby Switch 2 edition: August 28
Drag x Drive: Summer (I would guess August)
Metroid Prime 4: I'm guessing Fall
Kirby Air Riders: Probably holiday based on Sakurai's recent comment
Pokemon ZA: Probably the usual mid-November Pokemon slot at this point
Hyrule Warriors: Winter 2025

Which is pretty solid, (switch 2 editions definitely beef it up) but there's a large information gap for after the summer that leads me to believe they're gonna stick with the usual June and September directs. I feel they'll want to announce a bigger switch 2 exclusive holiday title for launch year than Hyrule Warriors or Air Ride, and there's plenty of new info to be shared about known games (Prime 4 and DK are certainly still hiding something, the latter being basically confirmed with that Pauline leak). I could also see another remaster or 2 coming to switch 1 this year such as Woolly World, Robobot, or Prime 2/3 (I refuse to give up hope lol). All this information plus a 2026 reveal or two and third party support could certainly make for two more satisfying directs this year.

There still some people sticking to usual second half of November for PL:Z-A release aka 1 or 2 weeks before Black Friday, but for first time a date is a bit different now! English dates stuck to say Late of that Year like always, but Japanese/Asian ones went with saying Autumn instead usual Winter of that Year. Aka ORAS/SM/USUM/LGPE/SwSh/BDSP/SV used to say at beginning of the year trailers for English ones Late of that Year and Japanese/Asian ones Winter of that Year, this time PL:Z-A said still Late of that Year for English while Japanese/Asian said Autumn of that Year! So from all of that we can summurize that PL:Z-A will come a bit sooner then usual second half of November, so most likely it will be between September and first half of November this time!

@ImGrenadeMan I'm leaning towards the lineup for games which don't have release dates yet being:

• August - Drag x Drive
• September - Prime 4
• November - Legends Z-A
• December - Kirby Air Riders
• January 2026 - Rhythm Heaven Groove
• February 2026 - Age of Imprisonment
• March 2026 - Tomodachi Life Living the Dream

I remembered that Square Enix announced Rebirth to be "Next Winter" in June 2022 and that game released in February 2024 (which is still a part of Winter 2023).

So February 2026 for Age of Imprisonment would line up with the 40th anniversary of the Zelda franchise while still being in the Winter 2025 release window.

If my lineup prediction is correct, I could see Nintendo doing what they did in 2022.

XC3 Direct -> DK Bananza Direct
Splatoon 3 Direct -> Metroid Prime 4 Direct
General Direct after Splatoon 3 launches -> General Direct after Prime 4 launches

@ImGrenadeMan I think a June or July direct is pretty likely. They had a zillion games in the April direct but not all had release dates and some of them went by pretty darn quickly and could use a more extended preview. Plus I'm expecting the wave of incoming third party ports to grow larger. Switch 1 had a direct a month after release and I think it would work again this time.

The timing may also depend on if or when Nintendo plans to have some type of Mario 40th anniversary celebration (which they might not given all the things going on, but they might)

Given how things are panning out with the Switch 2, I dunno if I'm even excited for the next direct. I get a really bad feeling that the price is going to become so steep that I won't be able to afford the console anymore. Genuinely hate tariffs.

@VoidofLight I'm in the same boat. I can't get excited for anything related to the console right now, because of all the uncertainty around it.

I get the feeling there could be a May general Direct:

• The Mario Kart World Direct barely revealed anything but it feels like there's still surprises to be revealed
• 3rd parties haven't been announcing their games for Switch 2 after the Switch 2 Direct
• We know there's an update about the future of Switch 1 at the May 8th earnings call
• Pokemon games releasing late in the year get their release date announced in May/June

I think if there was anything major that they wanted to reveal about MK World they definitely would have done so at the direct. I agree the presentation was strangely slight though, and it’s possible they’re still hiding some things. Given the game is a sure fire hit and they’ve already shown off the big gimmick that ups the scope, perhaps they’re just saving the other surprises for us to discover ourselves when it releases?

@ImGrenadeMan I think if they had nothing else to say about Mario Kart World, they would've done the Mario Kart World Direct a month before launch like they usually do with game specific Directs. For example:

• Splatoon 3 Direct August 10th 2022, game release September 9th 2022
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Direct June 22nd 2022, game release July 29th 2022
• Animal Crossing New Horizons Direct February 20th 2020, game release March 20th 2020
• Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Direct November 7th 2017, game release December 1st 2017

The current gap is more like SMB Wonder and Mario Maker 2:

• SMB Wonder Direct August 31st 2023, Switch 1 general Direct September 14th 2023, game release October 20th 2023
• Mario Maker 2 Direct May 15th 2019, Switch 1 general Direct June 11th 2019, game release June 28th 2019

Granted the 2 games weren't present much in the respective general Directs (a few seconds in a sizzle reel) but the game specific Directs showed a lot of new info. I could see the reverse happening where a general Direct has a more sizable Mario Kart World presence because of how they approached the game specific Direct.