Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@PikminMarioKirby Possible, would just be bizarre on a Friday.

@FishyS True, depending on the time of day, it could be Mario's 40th anniversary in Japan (kind of like how the final Mario Movie Direct was Mar10 Day in Japan)

If the Friday rumor is true I suspect it is just going to be the 40th, I don't think they'd have a long, full Direct on a Friday they'd just have the relevant Mario things.

I hope the rumor’s wrong just so SwitchForce can go back into the irrelevance he crawled out of. Tired of seeing him be treated as a credible leaker.

Yeah if it's true that there'll be a Direct on the 12th, then I have no doubt it's a Mario 40th Direct.

@Bolt_Strike There's also Rhythm Heaven and Tomodachi Life that need info, and I'm assuming at least one of them is Q1 2026.

honestly because VGC backed it up and the weird friday date, i believe it, but i dont have high hopes. but doing one JUST for mario forty would be slightly strange i fear. Super Mario’s Mid Life Crisis anyone?

@PikminMarioKirby i very much hope youre right about this, thatd be perfect.

I mean... the September Mario 35 anniversary direct was just mario. There was a partner showcase and single game direct later in the month. The only unusual aspect would be having it on a Friday, but that is as close as you can get to the real anniversary date on a weekday.

@FishyS thats true, maybe thatll be the case. 35th was the most jam-packed anniversary celebration so far though, do you think it mightve just been good advertising to promote games already planned and getting through the pandemic? a special edition game boy was released for mario 20, all stars for wii on mario 25, and mario maker on mario 30, so so i think we might see a similar situation to mario 30 where its just a lot of merch and a game and a movie teaser possibly?

@OctolingKing13 Mario 30 had mario maker which was a whole special real game so I would argue it was the biggest anniversary. Mario 35 had the limited NSO game, the limited time 3-ports-in-a-bundle-limited-presumably-because-Nintendo-knew-expansion-pack-was-coming and a few website things. I know they technically included Bowser's Fury in 2021 but that one felt like a game which just happened to be finished nearish the right time so they pretended it was part of the anniversary.

But yeah, I assume movie mention, merch, and Wonder Switch 2 edition and/or some other mario game or port. And some silliness in Nintendo today. If there isn't a September general direct, I suppose some teaser for a big far off future mario game is possible.

@IceClimbers Possibly, but since they were 2026 entries off the bat they're probably coming a bit later than the other games I mentioned (aside from maybe Raiders). They could probably save some February/March announcements for 2026 if needed, but anything still slated for 2025 or early 2026, which most of the titles I mentioned probably are, is more pressing and therefore more likely to show up now.

I think fair to say probably also wise to do a celebration of Mario on the Friday rather than the Thursday given the Thursday is the 11th of September. Not that I personally think that date should be avoided in perpetuity but also I don't think there's any reason to be unnecessarily provocative when they could just do it on the Friday instead

With that said, I know people seem to be clamouring for a Mario 40th Direct and maybe that makes sense. Really it does make sense. And then people are also filling the gap with "well there must be a General Direct also". And sure, maybe. But I think also it's not entirely impossible for there to be a General Direct that just.... exists.... and gives a bit of a nod to the 40th rather than being a pure Mario Direct

@skywake I 100% agree a general direct could just include 5+ minutes about Mario anniversary, I just would have expected it to be on Wednesday rather than Friday, especially if there was any type of shadow drop game.

I'm not convinced we would get both a mario and general direct, but if there is no general direct, clearly other things have to happen soonish also (maybe the expected Prime direct and another partner direct in September or October)

If I'm wrong about Prime 4 being delayed (and it's starting to look like it), then I don't see a universe where we hit the end of September without a deep dive trailer and a release date. It's just the last feasible time for us to learn about the game for a 2025 release, especially if it's releasing before Air Riders (which I think it will be, if it's this year I suspect it's releasing close to Halloween). And as I've mentioned, boy do we need to learn a lot about this game. There is so much of the game that hasn't been shown that warrants at least one more trailer, we've only seen no more than 1/3 of the game and in highly curated segments, there's likely another big mechanic they haven't shown us yet. I'm not sure how we're going to get that news, whether it's a general Direct, Prime 4 Direct, or Nintendo Today update. But it's looking like a foregone conclusion we'll get this in some form this month.

@Bolt_Strike I wonder if Nintendo have been shrewd enough to realise that there will definitely be some audience cross-over between Silksong and MP4... and therefore wanted to give a decent amount of breathing room between the releases?

Perhaps N will eventually just shadow-drop MP4 with a week's notice, IIRC they did a similar shadow drop with the MP1 remaster?

@CJD87 No, they could get away with it for Prime 1 because it was a remake that most of its audience knew well. Prime 4 is a new entry and one they seem to be positioning as a major title (unusually large given Metroid's relatively modest sales). I can buy that they're pausing marketing for Prime 4 because of Silksong, but a shadow drop would be disastrous for it.

It seems that Tomb Raider LAU (Legend/Anniversary/Underworld) Remastered teasing is massively ramping up. It may be something to consider regarding Direct speculation considering TR1-3 Remastered was announced in the September 14th 2023 general Direct. TR4-6 Remastered got announced standalone in October 2024 but Nintendo did skip September that year while State of Play got Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1+2 Remastered.

I just noticed something, the Pikmin Switch 1 cycle was:

• Pikmin 3 Deluxe - October 30th 2020
• Pikmin 1+2 - June 21st 2023
• Pikmin 4 - July 21st 2023

Taking Japan timezones into account, if Nintendo were to mirror the Pikmin cycle for Metroid Prime exactly you have:

• Metroid Prime Remastered - February 9th 2023
• Metroid Prime 2+3 - September 30th 2024
• Metroid Prime 4 - October 30th 2025

@Grumblevolcano this is actually insane those dates make perfect sense. do you think prime 4 would release that close to z-a though? a mario 40 presentation earlier in the month and a general direct with a prime 2 + 3 shadow drop would be a great month for nintendo

I mean, maybe. It'd be nice to get a taste of prime 2 and 3 first, but i feel like that would've already happened if they were coming.

@OctolingKing13 The placement of Air Riders means that unless Nintendo shadow drops Prime 4 in September or delays the game to 2026, whenever Nintendo releases Prime 4 it'll be within 2 weeks of either Legends Z-A or Air Riders. Also given that 2018 is the only Switch year Nintendo didn't have a late October/early November release, I think late October/early November makes the most sense for Prime 4.