I honestly think them skipping a June Direct would be a bad choice. I think having a direct follow up the Switch 2 release would be perfect, also to show more of what’s in store for the console besides what else they’ve announced, to kind of convince more people to make the swap since I know there are a few that plan on sticking to their OG Switches for a few more years. Though, Nintendo is known for being sometimes unpredictable, especially with their strange Direct schedule last year and them completely skipping September and a February Direct this year, so I sort of wouldn’t be surprised if they skipped June entirely. I did come across some rumors and discussion from a credible source last week that said a June Direct either would likely occur on Switch 2 launch week (which didn’t happen) or sometime this week, but apparently the source now doubtful of it happening, though of course that should be taken with a grain of salt.
“Woah-shi! It’s a double Yoshi explo-shi!” - Yoshi’s Woolly World ad, 2015
If you’re curious, the character in my PFP is Toothy from Happy Tree Friends.
@SplatRay001 I just hope if they make Animal Crossing 80, they don't do what they did with New Horizons and release an unfinished game that needs free updates to finish.
"It is fate. Many have tried, yet none have ever managed to escape it's flow."
I'm kinda wondering if we're seeing Nintendo Directs die a slow death and Nintendo shift to Nintendo Today for their announcements. We've just seen a major new title drop in Nintendo Today at a time when we'd expect a June Direct, I'm wondering if they're trying to test if this is a better way for them to announce new games. I doubt we won't see a Nintendo Direct again ever, we'll surely see more Partner Showcases and I'd bet on at least one more mainline Direct, but I'm feeling like Nintendo Directs might become less and less of a factor now.
Would fit in with the movie stuff too as Yoshi’s been kind of absent more recently on the games side of things (Yoshi’s Crafted World was 6 years ago but we know Good Feel did 2024’s Princess Peach Showtime so too early for a new Yoshi game).
I'm wondering if Good Feel is sick of working on Yoshi. We've seen this happen before (Retro wanted to shift to DK games in the early 2010s because they didn't want to be known as "the Metroid Prime guys"), maybe Good Feel doesn't want to work on Yoshi anymore and has different projects they'd prefer instead. Additionally, Yoshi does feel like it could use the DK Bananza treatment, it's gotten kinda stale (I personally think it's showing potential to evolve with Crafted World but it's not quite there yet and still mostly just same old Yoshi) and sales haven't been super great, so I suspect Yoshi might be suffering a drought and might need a different team to pick it up. Maybe like DK they also look to another in-house team to reinvent Yoshi.
@PikminMarioKirby wouldn’t Smash bros be a much larger IP than Pikmin?
Yeah Smash is a pretty glaring omission from this major IP list (I also don't think you can call Mario checked off without a platformer game of some type because Mario spinoffs have each become their own thing at this point, both in gameplay and sales). At this point, I'm calling it, SSBU Switch 2 Edition for 2026. I don't see any other scenario being feasible at this point. Sakurai is working on Air Riders and is nearing retirement, I don't think he's working on Smash 6, and I don't think the younger Smash devs are rushing out Smash 6 anytime soon (I wouldn't expect it before 2030). I suspect they give Ultimate the MK8D treatment to get used to developing Smash on their own and to give Smash fans something to hold them over while they take their time figuring out what direction they want to take Smash 6.
@Bolt_Strike I don't think they'll kill directs for Nintendo Today. A lot less eyes are on that app, and a lot of people don't really use it. I hardly check it and get my news through accounts that repost the contents of the app- which I'm sure most do.
"It is fate. Many have tried, yet none have ever managed to escape it's flow."
@VoidofLight Well like I said it might be a slow death. It wouldn't make a lot of sense for them to quit cold turkey now because Nintendo Today is still new and doesn't have a lot of users, but over the course of a few years? I could see it. Nintendo likes to have control of the messaging and they might think that even waiting to put a Nintendo Direct together is too long in the social media age where it's far too easy for things to get leaked. They might think Nintendo Today might help them get the jump on leakers and just get the news out when it's ready instead of needing a giant event.
@Bolt_Strike Ehhh. I just doubt they're going to do this. They'll always get more eyes on their stuff by hosting big events instead of just doing small drops here and there. I didn't even know there was a splatoon game revealed until I saw someone on social media talking about it.
"It is fate. Many have tried, yet none have ever managed to escape it's flow."
Nintendo has 5 main 1st party IPs; Mario, Zelda, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, and Splatoon, and 2 main 2nd party IPs; Pokémon and Kirby.
Of these, this is how each are represented on Switch 2 thus far:
Mario - Mario Kart World, Mario Party Jamboree TV
Zelda - Hyrule Warriors Imprisonment, BotW and TotK upgrades
Animal Crossing - N/A
Pikmin - N/A
Splatoon - Splatoon Raiders
Pokémon - Legends Z-A
Kirby - Air Riders, Star-Crossed World DLC
I wonder when we’ll get Animal Crossing and Pikmin stuff for Switch 2? I think Pikmin 4 is very likely to get Switch 2 DLC, but when will we see Animal Crossing?
Donkey Kong is one of the bigger franchises also. Let's expand out what you have with all the big franchises in approximate order of sales. I'll include all announced games, GC NSO, and free updates which were big enough for Nintendo to highlight them on their free update list.
Switch 2 or announced appearances:
Pokémon - New game + NSO + free update
Super Mario - NSO + free updates
Mario Kart - New game
Zelda - New game + S2 versions + NSO +free updates
Sports - ??
Animal Crossing - ??
Super Smash Bros - ??
Mario Party - S2 version
Donkey Kong - New Game
Mario Sports games - NSO
Kirby - New Game + S2 version
Fit games - ??
Brain Age - ??
Mario RPGs - ?? (though we just drowned in them)
Yoshi - ??
Splatoon - New Game + free update
Nintendogs - ??
Duck Hunt - ??
Luigi's Mansion - NSO
Wario - ??
Metroid - New Game
Fire Emblem - NSO
Tomodachi - New Game
Star Fox - ??
Big Brain Academy - free update
Pikmin - ??
Xenoblade Chronicles - ??
Clubhouse Games - free update
Excite - ??
Style Savvy - ??
F-Zero - NSO
Nintendo Land - ??
Rhythm Heaven - New game
Impressive percentage of that long list are bringing at least something.
What's the general opinion here, direct or no direct? I haven't been keeping track - can someone please fill me in?
The lack of many third party Switch 2 announcements during last week's summer game fest activities plus assuming a parallel schedule to 2017/Switch 1 made a lot of us assume there would be a June direct. However, the fact that Nintendo just dropped an announcement for a major first party game in the Nintendo Today app is making some of us question whether there will be a direct.
Sooo... maybe? Or maybe a partner direct? Or maybe nothing but random drops until September? Hard to know.
@Bolt_Strike Ehhh. I just doubt they're going to do this. They'll always get more eyes on their stuff by hosting big events instead of just doing small drops here and there. I didn't even know there was a splatoon game revealed until I saw someone on social media talking about it.
Well yeah, that's the thing. They know they have a legion of Youtubers and fanboys salivating to post any shred of Nintendo news they can get their hands on so I don't think they feel the need to do big events to get everyone's eyeballs. They feel like they're so big now that they can dictate when and where the news is and everyone will follow, and having multiple tidbits of news here and there helps keep them continuously relevant. Might be a bit of an arrogant strategy, but with the Switch's success we're seeing arrogant Nintendo again, so I think this fits their MO.
@Bolt_Strike It would just suck to have a random reveal and nothing to look forwards to before it though. At least with directs we know when we're getting big news. With this, it's just random on if you'll wake up and have a series you like get an announcement- or if it takes 7 years to see if it does.
"It is fate. Many have tried, yet none have ever managed to escape it's flow."
Yeah there's definitely a direct later in the month. So much stuff still needs release dates. I'm guessing they revealed Raiders now for two reasons. Firstly, they needed to announce the update anyway so why not, and second: to avoid the confusion of people thinking it's Splatoon 4. If they just cold opened to this in a direct, most would've assumed it was Splatoon 4 until the title reveal.
Zelda - New game + S2 versions + NSO +free updates
Sports - ??
Animal Crossing - ??
Super Smash Bros - ??
Mario Party - S2 version
Donkey Kong - New Game
Mario Sports games - NSO
Kirby - New Game + S2 version
To me what this list highlights is the need for something for Switch Sports, Animal Crossing and Smash in the medium term. Even if it's just a free update that improves resolution/framerate or just an announcement of something else. They quietly dropped a Splatoon 3 free update on us, I could see them doing something similar for Animal Crossing
Smash Bros I'm a bit less confident about because its not clear if or when they'll be another one. Or development effort into the current version. Switch Sports, less exciting maybe, but I think it could do with a Switch 2 Edition that adds additional sports, GameShare. Possibly even adding some of the Wii Sports Club GamePad stuff as options. I mean it did prominently feature in their promotions for GameChat
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Wondering the same thing. Maybe Prime 2 & 3 Remastered sometime in the fall, and Prime 4 is the Holiday game? There's a part of me that thinks Nintendo would never make Prime 4 the big game of the year, but it'd be pretty awesome if they did.
@VoidofLight I mean I didn't necessarily say it's a good thing (but it's also not necessarily a bad thing either, means we don't have to wait for February, June, or September to get news), just that I think they're going to do it.
@Joev14 Prime 4 delayed to 2026 could also explain the Direct situation. You could have Prime 2+3 as a September Direct shadow drop and Prime 4 is absent until that same Direct. Kirby and Hyrule Warriors could appear in a Partner Showcase like how Part Time UFO and Age of Calamity appeared in the October 2020 one. DK Bananza, Drag x Drive and whatever happens next for MK World could be Nintendo Today news.
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