Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@Novamii Given how much Microsoft presence was in the Partner Showcase (started with Grounded, penultimate announcement was Pentiment + Rare NSO), I could see the next general Direct opening with a game that's in the next batch of exclusives going multiplatform releases from Xbox Game Studios (the initial batch of 4 ends with Sea of Thieves for PS5 on April 30th).

MCC seems like the natural next fit given it's a collection of Xbox and Xbox 360 games so would probably run very well on Switch.

@PikaPhantom I find it odd that the overview trailer said nothing about the story mode other than a menu showcasing that it exists.

The Endless Ocean overview trailer makes me skeptical of an upcoming general Nintendo Direct. If it was just a normal trailer, then that wouldn't really hinder the possibility. However, an overview trailer is commonly the last trailer a game gets (aside from short ad trailers and a launch trailer) unless it gets some advertising/dlc trailer afterwords.

So what am I saying? Well, there's 3 likely scenarios. #1 is where there is a general Nintendo Direct in April where Endless Ocean is either not there at all or just gets a short mention, I think this is pretty likely still. #2 Nintendo just waits until June for the next big presentation, or #3 where Nintendo has a game specific Direct/a mini Direct. The only game that would get a Direct that's announced right now I think would be TTYD, especially since they've confirmed new content a couple times but haven't really talked about what is new specifically. I kind of doubt it will since it's a remake and they usually don't have full Directs for those, but if it does happen it'd most likely be next week since previews supposedly come out at that point. We should at least be getting a big trailer next week for the game, which could also just be at a general Direct.

I think 1 is the most likely still, but who knows at this point. I doubt there will be any series Direct, because Pokemon will likely wait until August, Mario had the Mario Day thing last month, and other series don't really make sense to get one right now (I heard some people talking about a Metroid Direct, but that in my opinion is very unlikely because they'd probably only have Prime 4, and maybe Prime 2/3 ports, and I doubt that they can have a Direct JUST for that. If there was any more Metroid games, that could hurt the sales of them if they don't spread them out, because Metroid has a hard time selling huge anyways.

@PikminMarioKirby I don't think any of those are the most likely actually. I think the most likely is #4, we get another Partner Showcase in June and they announce a few smaller projects for the second half of the year through Twitter drops. I don't foresee enough first party content coming in the second half of the year to warrant any kind of presentation beyond a Partner Showcase, I think we're waiting for the next gen announcement for that and that's looking more like a September/Fall reveal at this point.

@Bolt_Strike Interesting. I doubt we’ll get another partner showcase, I feel like that only happens once every 2 years or so. People thought that Nintendo’s 2023 looked empty after Pikmin 4, and thought there’d barely be any more games, but then went out to reveal Mario RPG, Mario Wonder, Detective Pikachu, and Pikmin 1+2 all in the same show, and even announced 2 2024 games (LM2 and Peach Showtime) there. I could see something similar, but maybe with MP4, a new Mario Sports, more remasters/remakes, etc. Whether it be in April or June I think we’ll hear something from them, they can’t go into H2 with almost no games. Unless they want to, of course, because they are a mysterious company that’s hard to track

@PikminMarioKirby False, Nintendo had 4 Partner Showcases in 2020. It's not on a reliable schedule of one every 2 years, it's whenever they've been throw off by some kind of scheduling change and don't have 1st party games ready to show for that period.

They could in theory have a June Direct like 2023 and announce a ton of games. But there's a lot of holes and counterevidence in that theory. For one, if they had tons of stuff to show for 2H, why did they not hold a February Direct, where we typically see that? But beyond that, the rumored internal delay, their decision not to attend Gamescom this year, and their utter silence on just about everything this year, there's more pointing towards 2H being a dry spell then them suddenly having major games up their sleeve.

@Bolt_Strike I forgot about that 2020 thing, but that was also just a weird year for Nintendo, and I believe that they had plans for the e3 and then they had to change the year’s schedule.

I doubt that they have major games for H2. If any, we’ll probably just get 1 or 2. Even if Nintendo’s next console releases next year, that doesn’t mean they’re ditching the Switch.
For instance, lets look at the 3DS. Pokémon Sun and Moon And Kirby Planet Robobot came out in 2016, a year before Switch. These were some of the console’s biggest games, with very strong IP, getting both mainline Kirby and Pokemon in the same year. Pokemon Sun/Moon released pretty much less than 4 months before the Switch itself. Saying there’s no big games left in store for Switch honestly just does not seem very likely. I’d be fine if the year was kind of empty, since I’ll have TTYD, but it seems very unlikely. Nintendo probably considers Metroid Prime 4 a somewhat big release, but not a huge one. We probably won’t get something that will sell as good as Mario Wonder in H2, because that is very hard to beat. But I don’t think MP4, a new Mario Sport (Maybe baseball by Namco again), a new Kirby game (those release almost every year), a few remasters, and maybe Pokémon aren’t out of the question. Maybe even something smaller and 2nd party, similar to Another Code and Endless Ocean. They have a lot of options for this year, I think they know it’s in their best interest to continue supporting the Switch for now, especially since the next console hasn’t even been announced yet.

@PikminMarioKirby Still seems a bit optimistic and I'd have questions about all 4 of those that make me believe they're not happening this year. Mario Sports I think is better saved for next gen, it tends to sell well and they'll want some popular multiplayer games early. I'm guessing they have a Mario Tennis game lined up early for the new console. If Pokemon were going to have a new game this year, we'd know about it already. The Pokemon Day Presents is the time to announce something like that, and most likely them announcing Z-A is them saying "Hey, we're taking the year off, but this is what's coming next". Kirby could happen, but I don't think it's a main game, it's too soon for that. Kirby would probably just get an eShop spinoff. And Prime 4 is such a graphically intensive game and would benefit more from the hype of a new generation that it's probably better served as a cross gen release like BotW. So again, I'm feeling like nothing significant in this 2H lineup. They were planning to have a big blowout of Switch 2 launch games for 2H, it got delayed, and they just have scraps left.

@Bolt_Strike Kirby would definitely be a side game, although it was only about 2 years between Triple Deluxe (2014 I believe) to Robobot (2016) and even Star Allies (2018), although the 3D Kirby (Forgotten Land) (2022) was double the wait. I definitely think they are waiting for mainline for next gen. Prime 4 wouldn't exactly work as a console launch (unless it's paired with a bigger game like 3D Mario) because it wouldn't exactly be a huge console-seller compared to majority of other Nintendo's modern franchises.

I really hope Pokemon is taking a break, they need to polish their games before it releases.

Nothing is really known about MP4's graphics, it's weird to make assumptions about how capable the graphics are, but since Metroid Prime Remaster runs well, I assume it will be on par or slightly better than that.

Nintendo seems to keep games until it's a good time to release them, like Fire Emblem Engage and Metroid Prime Remaster. They likely have some backup games like that currently, and will probably release then throughout the 2nd half of this year. We could be seeing these quite a bit in a potential upcoming Direct.

@PikminMarioKirby I could see them finally using that long-rumored Fire Emblem remake/remaster as a sort of "Break glass in case of emergency" sort of scenario. Probably a similar reason they've been holding on to some of the Zelda games for so long: to buy time. They didn't need to port WW/TP because the hype was so strong for TotK. Now that the hype has passed and they're starting on the next big Zelda, they'll likely space out those to give Zelda fans content while the new stuff is still being developed.

@Novamii True! Yeah I think they definitely will try to do some games that they are using as backups. This is especially true if next gen really was going to come out this year

@PikminMarioKirby Especially considering that standard ports don't require nearly as much resources to develop. The games at their core (e.g Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD) are already finished. Not to mention that even back on the Wii U, they were perfectly playable with a pro controller. Sure, some stuff would need to be changed like the Miiverse content and such, (As well as adjustments to the infamous bloom effect.) but that could easily be changed. They could easily be outsourced to external sources like they did with Prime Remastered. I'm sure I'm missing some key stuff, I'm not an expert on the subject (Far from it.) but the amount of effort in porting those compared to making new content would be far less taxing.

Kirby and Zelda are both 'almost every year' games so we could easily get both or maybe just one. Every time we spiral back to the 'what could Nintendo possibly do in late Switch 1 year' part of this channel's loop we seem to think of 6-8 very plausible games, so I doubt Nintendo will have trouble filling in most of the calendar.

It's worth keeping in mind that the codename of Fire Emblem: Three Houses was Iron17, while the codename of Fire Emblem Engage was Iron19. So unless "Iron18" was cancelled, then there might well be a finished Fire Emblem game - possibly the rumored remake of 4 - ready to go for this year.

@PikaPhantom We've been hearing rumors of it for quite a while, I feel like if there's a time to release it, it's probably soon. Not to say that remakes and such don't have potential for a new system, they do. But when people look at a shiny new console, they want experiences that can't be played on the older hardware (At least early on.) The Switch was a different case because our libraries basically started over, but if backwards compatibility is on Switch 2 (Which there's no good reason for it not to be.) then every Switch game (Save for some exceptions like Labo, though that could technically still "run", but might not work properly.) will be carried over as is. At this point in time, ports and remasters are the name of the game while Nintendo works on the big ones. If there's a time to put out that remake (Assuming it's not something pushing the hardware, but I can't really imagine that.) this year would probably be the time, especially with how long we've been hearing about it.

Regarding ports, remasters, backwards compatibility. I think the perception would be that a remaster could well outlast a console transition as the title would already have the "smell of old" about it. They're also generally less taxing titles. Both good reasons to have the tail end of the Switch being remaster heavy

But with entirely new titles it's a bit different. The console transition is a mental barrier. Once that launch happens any title that was already on Switch is suddenly supported via backwards compatibility. It's not a new title that happens to run on the old hardware. It will gain the "smell of old"

Even if that's all purely marketing it's still a thing. So brand new titles in the second half of this year I think really risk being lost

@PikminMarioKirby We don't know for sure, but it's a pretty safe assumption that Prime 4 will have some of the highest quality graphics on the Switch. The Prime series in general tends to be one of the most graphically intensive IPs Nintendo has because of how realistic and ambient it is.

As for the Switch 2 lineup, Prime 4 likely won't be alone. Nintendo seems intent on repeating what they did in 2017 on the Switch and having multiple heavy hitting IPs in its first year. 3D Mario seems like it's going to be the big killer app for the Switch 2 launch. Mario Kart also has a reasonable shot of being launch year as well (perhaps a bit later though, maybe 3D Mario in March and Mario Kart in November). DK and 2D Zelda are possibilities as well. Prime 4 will certainly not be carrying the Switch 2 itself, but I do think it might be part of that initial push.

@Bolt_Strike I forget if I've already said this, but I think one thing that makes Metroid Prime 4 releasing in 2025 as a Switch 2 game or cross-generation title less likely is that Metroid 6 is potentially going to release that year. Dread absolutely sold well-enough to warrant a sequel, there was a 4-year gap between Samus Returns and Dread, and it's unlikely Nintendo handed off another IP to them. Unless they're focusing more on Project Iron at this time, or if the development cycle ends up being longer because that's how it often goes with more powerful hardware, then there's a very real chance we'll already have a Metroid game to pull in the hardcore audience in the successor's launch year. I mean, in August of last year, it was confirmed they have a second project in the works alongside Project Iron, so odds are it's Metroid 6. So while MercurySteam's next Metroid game might not release next year, there's a fair chance it does. Nintendo could space out their releases - maybe Metroid 6 could be finished in 2025, but saved for 2026 - but it's not at all impossible that Metroid Prime 4 hits Switch this year, with a big marketing push on account of it being a likely holiday release/swan song game, sells even better than Dread (3D tends to sell better - just look at how Kirby and the Forgotten Land has hit nearly 7 million copies, while the Return to Dream Land remaster that followed sold under 2 million), and thus makes Metroid 6 a higher-profile release.

I think another sticking point is that with both Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild, there wasn't any significant jump in hardware power between the systems. The decision to bring the latter to Switch was only made in the spring of 2016, and even then, Tose was brought on to handle the port. With Metroid Prime 4, they'd be dealing with a more powerful console. The decision would need to have been made quite a bit earlier than prior to a year before the console launch for them to port it over and make it look like a showcase for the hardware, and that'd likely complicate things quite a bit. There's no real reason to believe that happened, as of right now. It's not impossible, I guess, but Nintendo's been savvier with their release schedules in the Switch era. 2023 was a fairly stacked year, unlike any other late-generation year we've ever really seen on one of their consoles, and they've filled up the first half of this year with smaller releases as well. Honestly, barring TOTK, you can say that about 2023's first half too - and that was with Fire Emblem and Metroid Prime seemingly being finished in 2021 based on ratings, and Advance Wars also being delayed from that year! What I'm trying to get at is that I sincerely doubt that we're about to see releases fall off a cliff because we've already seen Nintendo hold off on releases in order to plug gaps in their schedule down the line. Prime 4 could absolutely be touted as their big game for the year. Maybe when we get Nintendo's next earnings report, which will likely need to allude to the new hardware in some form, they'll suggest that Prime 4 is cross-gen or even imply it's only coming to said system, but I really doubt that'll be the case. Even if they did begin to develop it as a cross-generation game, odds are they got it running well on Switch to begin with, and they'll be able to release that version just fine and tout the next-gen version as an upgrade.

@PikaPhantom
Power gap aside, Switch 2 will likely be closer to Switch than Wii U was to Switch. Not just architecturally but also from a controller perspective given Wii U had the GamePad. Obviously if they want to really stretch Switch 2 titles will need significant work but "same thing but higher settings" tier making it work on Switch 2.... I suspect that'll be less effort than getting BotW on Switch was

Although admittedly GC/Wii was probably closer than this transition will be. Wii was, basically, GameCube Pro. So I'll give you that

Very similar experience here. For whatever reason (possibly largely because I had half an eye on the NL chat and just felt in the mood for posting inane live chat nonsense, whereas normally in the Switch era I ignore the chat and focus on the presentation) but I too was initially underwhelmed during the Indie World and was wondering if it was the least impressive ever.

But then, last night I was knackered and just felt like a YouTube binge, and I ended up watching the 'Kit & Krysta react' version of it, and came away feeling much more positive. Probably both because I was just in a different mood (having recently found a new eshop gem for pennies - there's something dangerously alluring about adding worthy eshop games when there's so many available for £0-3 in the sale) and because Kit & Krysta were decidedly warmer towards the various titles presented than much of the NL crowd, which no doubt rubbed off on me a bit too.