Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@dionysos283 Super Mario Bros. (NES) launched in Japan on September 13th 1985 meanwhile The Legend of Zelda (NES) launched in Japan on February 21st 1986.

@Grumblevolcano
I believe the Mario 35th anniversary presentation was originally planned for E3 and delayed till September due to the pandemic. Therefor I don't think we'll get a Zelda Direct before approximately July. Nintendo doesn't care about the exact dates.

@dionysos283 The 25th wasn't on schedule with the anniversary date in 2011 so it's totally possible you are right.
If BOTW2 is to come out this year it is safe to say it will be the strongest first party title nintendo has to publish in 2021, unless they have some big shadow drop we don't know anything about (god knows if they have any other ring fit adventures or strange toy con/AR casual titles up their sleeve).
It is safe to say that unless we have a major zelda 35th direct in january, to kick things off in february, BOTW2 is scheduled for christmas.
Since Bowser said the switch is halfway through its life cycle, i'm still expecting to hear something about nintendo's retro library coming to eshop (n64, gamecube and wii) that could have something to do with the time limited release of mario 3d all star. Correct me if i'm wrong, but other than wind waker's limited edition, which came with ocarina and master quest, nintendo has never done a zelda all star collection, so i'm betting on single releases on the eshop for the 35th.
@Grumblevolcano i'm also hoping all of this TBA with a big direct in january to kick off an awesome 2021.
FINGERS CROSSED GUYS.

@teo_o There's also the Zelda Collector's Edition (also on GCN) which contained LoZ, LoZ II, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. It only was missing ALttP since that had just released on GBA.

Tehcnically ALttP + Four Swords exists as well, but while Four Swords has been released separately since it was originally it's debut, so that's an odd case.

@Grumblevolcano
That theory sounds like too much to me (while missing the guaranteed Pokemon titles). I'd say something more like

• 3D World video drop in February
• June release game standalone video drop in March, 1 week after 3D World (Mario Golf perhaps?)
• Pokemon Direct in May (New main series title (November), New Pokemon Snap (July) and Pokemon Unite (August) dated, Pokemon Rumble announced (September))
• Partner Showcases only in June-November
• June trailer drop of July title (Kirby perhaps?)
• August trailer drop of September title (Zelda Port)
• September mini direct with 2 small new titles (Bayo III and Warioware both in October)

I'd say that's my semi-optimistic take on next year.

My prediction is they'll keep dragging us along with small breadcrumbs for quite a bit longer. 3D World and Bravely Default 2 will just get all the focus for the first few months. Then we'll maybe get a Direct in March or April.

@Dezzy
I'm also not getting my hopes up. I thought 2020 would be a spectacular year for the Switch, similar to 2017 and that Nintendo would kick it off with a huge Direct in January. As we now know nothing could have been further from the truth.

One could say that many of the games planned for 2020 probably have slipped into 2021 and therefor expect 2021 to be a spectacular year for the Switch; but like I said, I'm not getting my hopes up.

I have kind of given up on expecting anything from Nintendo for next year. I reckon if Nintendo had anything that was close to ready prior to the pandemic that they could of finished in the pandemic by working at home, they would of done so already and released, so I don't think many of Nintendo's games were ready for 2020 anyway. So pandemic or not, I think 2020 was always (in my opinion at least), going to be terrible for Nintendo. 2021 is where I think we will feel the impact of the pandemic proper, where Nintendo haven't been able to make sufficient progress to have anything available for at least the first half of 2021, if not longer.

I am sincerely hoping I am wrong. But I am doubtful at this point.

@MS7000
Adding to this, it is possible that Nintendo is only doing the bare minimum, since Switch sales are so strong and all the newcomers have plenty of old games to check out. It's only us "old gamers" that are complaining. It is also possible that Nintendo is sitting on a number of games ready to release, once Switch sales go down again.

@dionysos283 That is also possible, and would make sense from a business sense. Why release new games when ports and Animal Crossing exist, right? Just feels kind of terrible that the Switch doesn't feel like it has a good reason to exist. In many ways, I feel like it is a worse Wii U (pay for online, virtual console now tied to a subscription with limited games available, lack of quality of life features in OS, not as much new first-party support).

@MS7000 there are 9 first party titles from WiiU remaining as possible conversions, of which one is Wiifit U (unlikely), one is art academy (could be if they are desperate but come on...), Nintendo land was a show case of the WiiU so... then xenoblade X, Starfox zero (meh), project zero, game and wario, and the two Zelda HDs, WW and TP.
So yeah, easy money but not tons of it.
I'm still wondering what happened to all the 3DS studios that merged into switch development.

@teo_o 4 of those sound feasible; the two Zelda games for the 25th anniversary, Star Fox Zero, and Xenoblade X. Looks like Nintendo's 2021 is set. =P

Regarding the 3DS studios, I think the idea is that not necessarily more games are being developed, but that bigger games would be made, which normally would of taken a lot longer had the teams still been split. The teams are probably still there, but collaborating with the other teams on games.

I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't mind Nintendo doing the Partner Showcases, as long as there's one Normal Direct (whether it's a General Direct or a "Normal" Mini Direct). 🤔

@Grumblevolcano
I don't get what's disappointing with your prediction Direct lineup, I think it's a pretty solid lineup, TBH.

@teo_o
Maybe they're getting ready to bring 3DS games to Switch, LOL. That would be awesome if that happened though.

@SM3DASislit Well there's 2 things:

1. Streams are much more exciting than shadow drop videos and there's only 3 Direct types that are guaranteed streams (general Direct, Indie World, Smash presentation), most of the Directs this year have been shadow drop videos. With streams you have about a day's notice so there's the excitement regarding "what could be announced?", the Nintendo Life chat setup helps make it more of an experience than just announcements and the stream link gets put up early so if you can't watch it live you don't get spoiled on the announcements.

2. Constant having to rely on the hope that backlog is large enough to get to the next upcoming release which could be months away meanwhile general Directs mean you can plan your backlog effectively around the upcoming lineup (e.g. The February 2019 Direct revealed that my backlog needed to last until June 2019 of which then new releases would take up most of the rest of the year).

@MS7000 But that's impossible. 2015 and 2016 were the worst years for Nintendo output and the Wii U didn't have any games. Trust me, I've watched a Youtube video about it.

@teo_o What happened to the 3DS studios?

Intelligent Systems - Moving full steam on Switch
AlphaDream - Dead
Skip Ltd - Dead
Vanpool - Assisting with Kirby spinoffs, no games of their own
Grezzo - Only finished 3DS releases in 2018, but did release 3 titles in 2019 so is probably on board now.
Ambrella - Has only made Pokemon mobile games since 3DS ended
Camelot - Here at full steam
HAL - Here at full steam
indieszero - Here at full steam (though also works with other companies like the recent KH on Switch)
Sora Ltd. - Smash and nothing but Smash
Vitei - Who knows? Hasn't released a game since 2017's Tank Troopers on 3DS
ND Cube - Here, but slowed slightly with only HD releases
MonolithSoft - Here at full steam
Retro - MIA still
GameFreak - Late adapter, but here now. May be slowing though after last release...?
GeniusSorority - Late adapter but here
GoodFeel - Here, but starting to self-publish so Nintendo IP output has dropped

Koei Tecmo - Seems to have picked up in developing titles for Nintendo, though Fatal Frame remains missing
Bandai Namco - Still assisting / developing on many Nintendo published titles
Squeenix - Nintendo is publishing about as many as before
Level - 5 - Nintendo is no longer publishing in the west for them, so they're JP only now

So yeah, most are now transitioned, but a good chunk was lost, namely Skip, AlphaDream, Vanpool (sorta), Level - 5 (sorta), Sora (sorta), Vitei and Retro Studios (sorta). Also, NDCube has definitely slowed down.

That always seemed a bit sad to me. They made a series of fairly well received games, based on core Nintendo characters. Quite a few of them sold very well. Then their last 3 games just sold badly because people had already started to move away from the 3DS (which was a sales trend you saw in other 3DS games too, like Fire Emblem and Metroid)

I always thought Nintendo should've bailed them out, given those factors. It's not like they went bankrupt due to their own bad work (in which case there's a business justification for letting them disappear). They mostly went bankrupt because of the sheer bad luck of misjudging the exact timing of a console transition.

@Dezzy Yeah, but I'm pretty sure Nintendo didn't want Mario & Luigi to exist any longer anyways. It goes against their company design policy these days.

@link3710

How so?

@Dezzy My feeling is Nintendo really aren't bothered with what happens to outside developers, even if they work exclusively/close with Nintendo. If a developer goes under or in the case of Rare, is bought by someone else, then Nintendo shrugs and moves on even if it means losing franchises. I'm not saying that's how Nintendo operates its just how it feels to me they operate. Its why they don't seem to care about purchasing developers to beef up their output.

@FragRed They did buy MonolithSoft in 2008 from BANDAI NAMCO, 1-UP Studio (Brownie Brown), and Retro Studios, so it's not like they haven't acquired other studios before. In the cases of Monolith and 1-UP, they assist with development of first-party Nintendo games; Monolith helped with Breath of the Wild's world design, and 1-UP, (Monolith too) recently helped develop Animal Crossing: New Horizons. They are integrated well, and of course develop their own titles to beef up their output, but I doubt they're neglected or necessarily hung out to dry.

Edit: After reading the last few posts on the Paper Mario / Mario & Luigi debacle, it's a real shame that AlphaDream went under. I loved their games, especially Dream Team and Paper Jam. Another shame is that Nintendo didn't buy them out, or at least try and carry over some of their work, because it was a well-designed series with some cool characters, enemies, and storylines.