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StarTopic Nintendo Direct Speculation |ST|

When will the next general Direct (full or mini) be?

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If they announced their OSTs were available to purchase digitally my credit card would be out and catching fire before the Direct was even over
 
Alright @Raccoon, here's my actual predictions list. My last one went up before the contest was started. The Direct takes place on February 9th.

Announcements
  • Super Mario and The Legend of the Seven Stars (remake of Super Mario RPG). Releases in June, full date to be announced at a later time
  • Everybody Switch (sequel to 1-2 Switch). More like Wii Play than 1-2 Switch, includes pack-in peripheral (like the Ring-Con). Releases May 13th
  • Untitled Fire Emblem Three Houses sequel. Coming 2022.
Updates
  • Kirby and the Forgotten Land gets a gameplay showcase, showing off more of the town and new modes
  • Triangle Strategy gets a new trailer. Demo releasing after the Direct.
  • Advance Wars gets a trailer. E-shop date is accurate, releasing April 8th
  • Splatoon 3 gets a trailer, releasing in July. Network tests coming in April.
  • Warioware Get It Together gets a batch of free DLC, releasing after the Direct.
  • Monster Hunter Rise: Sunborn gets a new trailer
  • Majoras Mask curses Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, Kirby 64 coming in March
Third Party
  • Chrono Cross remaster finally announced
  • Alan Wake Remastered coming to Switch
  • Mass Effect Legendary Edition coming to Switch
  • Fall Guys finally gets a release date, will go free to play
  • Outer Wilds Travelers Edition shadowdrop (includes Echoes of the Eye DLC)
  • Hollow Knight Silksong returns, given vague 2022 release date. A spokesperson from the dev team comes on to thank fans for their patience
  • Ace Attorney 7 announced
 
So looking forward to the next few weeks, we're looking at: Arceus reviews and then actual release this week, financial results on February 3rd, and then the two prime weeks for the Direct to show up, the weeks of the 7th and 14th. Not bad! Should be fun.
 
Loving the Fantasy Directs, but I'm surprised at how down everyone is on Zelda :/.
Skittzo said:
Can't believe nobody commented on Gone Fission, I thought that was brilliant.
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I got a chuckle outta that! Definitely lots of crossover potential there - no fish in the nuclear wasteland obviously, but lots of memorabilia from Fallout, Splatoon, Outer Worlds, Wasteland etc. to catch.
 
manfromthedam said:
Loving the Fantasy Directs, but I'm surprised at how down everyone is on Zelda :/.

I got a chuckle outta that! Definitely lots of crossover potential there - no fish in the nuclear wasteland obviously, but lots of memorabilia from Fallout, Splatoon, Outer Worlds, Wasteland etc. to catch.
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I was more thinking heavily mutated fish with comical names but yeah.

Also I agree, it's weird to me that so few people think Zelda will be there.
 
Skittzo said:
I was more thinking heavily mutated fish with comical names but yeah.

Also I agree, it's weird to me that so few people think Zelda will be there.
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Personally for me, it feels like BotW2 is “too big” for directs. I know that sounds dumb, and I’m completely open to it being wrong. But look at the first one’s rollout:

  • first teased at E3
  • gameplay demo at TGA
  • not only fully revealed at E3, but had the entire thing to itself with hours of treehouse
  • next tease at the Game Awards
  • final trailer at the Switch Presentation
  • even the DLC was only touched at E3 and TGA after the games release

Somehow, BotW managed to be fully promoted solely through events “bigger” than just regular directs. Aside from the 10 second footage that didn’t really show much new when revealing TPHD.

And now so far, BotW2 has shown only at E3 directs.

Now I don’t think this is a sign that it CANT be in a regular direct, it’s just to say that I get why people think it deserves a “bigger stage” if you will, just based on past occurrences.

If there’s any time though it’d be now. There wasn’t a single regular direct between BotW’s E3 blowout and release iirc, so it COULDNT have appeared in one. And BotW2 clearly hasn’t because it wasn’t ready to be shown.
 
Skittzo said:
I was more thinking heavily mutated fish with comical names but yeah.

Also I agree, it's weird to me that so few people think Zelda will be there.
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My logic is that BOTW2 will be at E3 (or not-E3, whatever) for sure, so unless they do a much larger peek at it than I'm expecting I think they're almost better off not mentioning it at all. I think they're done showing anything about the game until they can do the "big" reveal with the title, more mechanics, etc., and I don't think they'll do that until E3.

This is based on very little besides my gut feeling, though. I'd love for it to be there! But at this point another very short teaser that doesn't show a whole lot feels kind of unnecessary.
 
Phendrift said:
Personally for me, it feels like BotW2 is “too big” for directs. I know that sounds dumb, and I’m completely open to it being wrong. But look at the first one’s rollout:

  • first teased at E3
  • gameplay demo at TGA
  • not only fully revealed at E3, but had the entire thing to itself with hours of treehouse
  • next tease at the Game Awards
  • final trailer at the Switch Presentation
  • even the DLC was only touched at E3 and TGA after the games release

Somehow, BotW managed to be fully promoted solely through events “bigger” than just regular directs. Aside from the 10 second footage that didn’t really show much new when revealing TPHD.

And now so far, BotW2 has shown only at E3 directs.

Now I don’t think this is a sign that it CANT be in a regular direct, but I get why people think it deserves a “bigger stage” if you will, just based on past occurrences
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E3 is dead and The Game Awards left us behind, it's up to Nintendo now
 
9-Volt said:
Ow shit. It's definitely something new and probably close to Kirby. Goodfeel's new game? Oh god please make it so. I need another Goodfeel platformer in my life. Give me DK.
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It's funny you mention this because I was just thinking yesterday that if we didn't have the MonkEPD rumor a DK platformer from Good-Feel could seem likelier.

There are some cool ideas about what a Good-Feel DK could be like in this thread:

 
Raccoon said:
E3 is dead and The Game Awards left us behind, it's up to Nintendo now
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True, things are way different now. We’ll have to see how Nintendo plays the summer direct card without E3. A big part will hinge on treehouse live. Maybe they don’t keep it tethered to the June direct anymore and there will be one after the February one, who knows!

But it was so instrumental in the first game’s marketing I can’t see them doing BotW2 without it.
 
Raccoon said:
E3 is dead and The Game Awards left us behind, it's up to Nintendo now
Click to expand...

That is what I was thinking as well, the E3 is dead, I think Nintendo and other publisher will do their own things, and I don't think they will wait for June.
Also why are all expecting that Zelda is gonna be Holiday Game (4 Quarter)? What if the Game is coming in Late Spring Early Summer or on a time we are not expecting at all...I mean Skyward Sword came out in July and Breath of the Wild came out in March, so everything is possible at this point, we only know 2022, even if they apparently said, we are targeting an 2022 Release.. can mean anything, i dunno maybe i looking too optimistic into it.
 
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Phendrift said:
Personally for me, it feels like BotW2 is “too big” for directs. I know that sounds dumb, and I’m completely open to it being wrong. But look at the first one’s rollout:

  • first teased at E3
  • gameplay demo at TGA
  • not only fully revealed at E3, but had the entire thing to itself with hours of treehouse
  • next tease at the Game Awards
  • final trailer at the Switch Presentation
  • even the DLC was only touched at E3 and TGA after the games release

Somehow, BotW managed to be fully promoted solely through events “bigger” than just regular directs. Aside from the 10 second footage that didn’t really show much new when revealing TPHD.

And now so far, BotW2 has shown only at E3 directs.

Now I don’t think this is a sign that it CANT be in a regular direct, it’s just to say that I get why people think it deserves a “bigger stage” if you will, just based on past occurrences.

If there’s any time though it’d be now. There wasn’t a single regular direct between BotW’s E3 blowout and release iirc, so it COULDNT have appeared in one. And BotW2 clearly hasn’t because it wasn’t ready to be shown.
Click to expand...
SammyJ9 said:
My logic is that BOTW2 will be at E3 (or not-E3, whatever) for sure, so unless they do a much larger peek at it than I'm expecting I think they're almost better off not mentioning it at all. I think they're done showing anything about the game until they can do the "big" reveal with the title, more mechanics, etc., and I don't think they'll do that until E3.

This is based on very little besides my gut feeling, though. I'd love for it to be there! But at this point another very short teaser that doesn't show a whole lot feels kind of unnecessary.
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I mean if it's meant to be releasing this year and they don't mention it in their first direct of the year that'll cause their investors to grow anxious. I don't see them having any direct without at least mentioning when we'll hear more, that would be massively shocking to me.

Leaving it out completely would fuel tons of speculation that it's been delayed which again would cause investors to get jumpy.
 
Phendrift said:
And now so far, BotW2 has shown only at E3 directs.

Now I don’t think this is a sign that it CANT be in a regular direct, it’s just to say that I get why people think it deserves a “bigger stage” if you will, just based on past occurrences.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Botw2 is 100% getting some kind of shout out at the September Direct, no way it doesn’t
 
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Either way, I’m so fucking excited for BotW2 news whenever it comes.

The further we get from the first game’s release, the more happy and in shock I feel that I was actually there for it. It feels so monumental for the industry as time goes on. I only got into gaming within the past decade, and it really feels closest to what many of y’all describe M64 or OoT release experience as. Something that just shook everyone and got conversations about game design in general started. Lots of games are acclaimed, but not lots are able to do that.
 
Skittzo said:
I mean if it's meant to be releasing this year and they don't mention it in their first direct of the year that'll cause their investors to grow anxious. I don't see them having any direct without at least mentioning when we'll hear more, that would be massively shocking to me.

Leaving it out completely would fuel tons of speculation that it's been delayed which again would cause investors to get jumpy.
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Nintendo hasn't cared about that before. Just look at Animal Crossing, yes, it was delayed, but nobody cared that it wasn't in the February 2019 Direct. Nobody cared that Luigi's Mansion 3 wasn't in that same Direct. It would be the same thing here.
 
I like that we're all making fanfiction about what are essentially promotional material for Nintendo's games.

:p
 
Magic-Man said:
Nintendo hasn't cared about that before. Just look at Animal Crossing, yes, it was delayed, but nobody cared that it wasn't in the February 2019 Direct. Nobody cared that Luigi's Mansion 3 wasn't in that same Direct. It would be the same thing here.
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Those are very very different games than BotW2, they never had nearly as much scrutiny about their release timing and how they'd affect Nintendo's fortunes.
 
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Magic-Man said:
Nintendo hasn't cared about that before. Just look at Animal Crossing, yes, it was delayed, but nobody cared that it wasn't in the February 2019 Direct.
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I feel like you're misremembering this. People got really mad about AC not showing up there. I distinctly remember getting really salty because it was the Direct where they showed a like, 5 minute overview trailer of Three Houses, which got shat on by a lot of anxious AC fans who were mad it wasn't AC lol. And a lot of people in general were up in arms on Twitter about "WHERE'S ANIMAL CROSSING??!!". Actually, I also remember post-Direct when Nintendo tweeted about 3H and the replies were full of "nobody cares, where's XYZ game??" (usually AC).

LM fans are chill sigmas, I'll give you that lol
 
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Rooster said:
I know Nintendo is set for a banger year, but does Pokemon, Kirby, Bayo, FE, XC3 (if that's what's being hinted at), AW, Metroid Prime, Splatoon, Mario and BotW2 (and more unrevealed stuff) almost seem too good to people? Like, something's getting pushed to 2023 just for the sake of making sure there's also stuff next year good?
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Well, I think that's what happened with Animal Crossing, so anything's possible... but....

I think 2022 will be the last 'big' push for the Switch. It will probably be the last year it will do astronomical numbers. It won't be a massive decline after that, but I think this is really the final big push the system has. And because of that, I don't think there's really much concern over pushing stuff into the next year.

I do think Mario coming out this year along with all of that, is a little iffy. Honestly, that's probably the title I could easily see the most being internally pushed to early 2023. The game doesn't need to coincide with the movie, it's Mario, and coming out a few months after a generally well-received movie (think something like Sonic the Hedgehog) will still generate a little bit of extra buzz.

But then again, I'm not sure there's any reason to even believe that Mario was ever intended for this year ... assuming it exists ....
 
Magic-Man said:
Nintendo hasn't cared about that before. Just look at Animal Crossing, yes, it was delayed, but nobody cared that it wasn't in the February 2019 Direct. Nobody cared that Luigi's Mansion 3 wasn't in that same Direct. It would be the same thing here.
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Animal Crossing had just been announced the previous fall

BotW2 was announced in 2019 and doesn't even have a title yet

the clock is fucking ticking
 
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As we get closer the harder it gets. I feel like this could be a big one after Nintendo skipping out at the Game Awards. They only had like one first party announcement in the September Direct with Kirby. In my head I feel like they’re holding on to like 20 games ready to be announced anytime lmao.
 
I surprisingly haven't been craving a Direct a whole lot. I don't know. January is usually a slow month but I feel like we have had a good pace of things to talk about. We have a big early release with Pokemon Legends and the the early impressions are looking good. Kirby got its release date announced with well made trailer. Banjo-Kazooie just released on NSO. Maybe I'll start getting hyped more once Pokemon Legends is released.
 
Last February we had a 50 minute Direct, but the first half of 2021 was almost a blank slate. Part of me is still suspicious this is going to be like 2019 and the release calendar really ramps in June, possibly with Splatoon 3 right at the end of the month and then Fire Emblem and more in July, plus titles August through to November.
 
MisterSpo said:
Last February we had a 50 minute Direct, but the first half of 2021 was almost a blank slate. Part of me is still suspicious this is going to be like 2019 and the release calendar really ramps in June, possibly with Splatoon 3 right at the end of the month and then Fire Emblem and more in July, plus titles August through to November.
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I wonder if they can get something biggish in May? May is kind of the month I can see going either way. Maybe some remaster for the month? Are we too close for an announcement to release of a new Fire Emblem for example?

Edit: I forgot about the crappy casual horse game. That will probably be May
 
MisterSpo said:
Last February we had a 50 minute Direct, but the first half of 2021 was almost a blank slate. Part of me is still suspicious this is going to be like 2019 and the release calendar really ramps in June, possibly with Splatoon 3 right at the end of the month and then Fire Emblem and more in July, plus titles August through to November.
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it really does seem like 2022 is 2019 2

especially if we don't get zelda or 3D mario
 
Raccoon said:
it really does seem like 2022 is 2019 2

especially if we don't get zelda or 3D mario
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Except 2019 didn’t truly become great until like June. We’re already looking like to be off to a great start in January with Pokémon Legends. March has Triangle Strategy and Kirby. I can’t speak for Kirby’s quality yet, but there’s way more excitement and potential in it compared to Yoshi in 2019. Advance Wars is coming.


I would maybe call it a beefier 2019 or maybe not compare it to 2019 at all with the start we’re going to have this year.
 
Dark Cloud said:
I wonder if they can get something biggish in May? May is kind of the month I can see going either way. Maybe some remaster for the month? Are we too close for an announcement to release of a new Fire Emblem for example?
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It's so difficult to tell now. Shadows of Valentia had a very quick reveal to release window back in 2017 on 3DS, so it's not entirely unprecedented, I guess.

Right now for me, late April or sometime in May would be the release window for the Casual Stinker that Emily has talked about. Nintendo usually have something for the casual audience around that time - Labo launched in April 2018, the Labo VR kit launched in April 2019, Clubhouse games was slightly later on June 5th 2020, and then we had Miitopia in May 2021 with Game Builder Garage in June 2021. Late April through to the first week of June is where I'd expect the Stinky Horse Game to land, with Advance Wars in early April and then Splatoon 3 and Fire Emblem in late June and July.
Raccoon said:
it really does seem like 2022 is 2019 2

especially if we don't get zelda or 3D mario
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Nintendo's original plan for 2019 had 3 big EPD games - Super Mario Maker 2, Ring Fit Adventure, and Animal Crossing. Obviously, the latter slipped, but it's not outside the realm of possibility this year has 2 or 3 big EPD titles launch. They're overdue, really.

My doubts over EPD are actually more serious when it comes to 2023, because so far on Switch, they haven't managed successive years with multiple EPD titles (unless you count 2017 then all the Labo kits in 2018). They've had 2 strong patches - March to October 2017, and then June 2019 to March 2020, where we got multiple big games from EPD. My question mark isn't whether they manage 2/3 releases in 2022 (I think that happens), is whether they can follow that up with another 2 or 3 in 2023.
Dark Cloud said:
Except 2019 didn’t truly become great until like June. We’re already looking like to be off to a great start in January with Pokémon Legends. March has Triangle Strategy and Kirby. I can’t speak for Kirby’s quality yet, but there’s way more excitement and potential in it compared to Yoshi in 2019. Advance Wars is coming.


I would maybe call it a beefier 2019.
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This is fair. I'd definitely say 2022 is off to a stronger start than 2019. The first major release is new and exciting, first 3D Kirby is exciting, Advance Wars returning is unexpected, and there should be a couple more releases by the end of June.
 
Dark Cloud said:
Except 2019 didn’t truly become great until like June. We’re already looking like to be off to a great start in January with Pokémon Legends. March has Triangle Strategy and Kirby. I can’t speak for Kirby’s quality yet, but there’s way more excitement and potential in it compared to Yoshi in 2019. Advance Wars is coming.


I would maybe call it a beefier 2019 or maybe not compare it to 2019 at all with the start we’re going to have this year.
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this is a fair point

perhaps I'll chalk it up to the sequel being better
 
AngryAlchemist said:
Well, I think that's what happened with Animal Crossing, so anything's possible... but....

I think 2022 will be the last 'big' push for the Switch. It will probably be the last year it will do astronomical numbers. It won't be a massive decline after that, but I think this is really the final big push the system has. And because of that, I don't think there's really much concern over pushing stuff into the next year.

I do think Mario coming out this year along with all of that, is a little iffy. Honestly, that's probably the title I could easily see the most being internally pushed to early 2023. The game doesn't need to coincide with the movie, it's Mario, and coming out a few months after a generally well-received movie (think something like Sonic the Hedgehog) will still generate a little bit of extra buzz.

But then again, I'm not sure there's any reason to even believe that Mario was ever intended for this year ... assuming it exists ....
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Not saying it has to be mainline platformer Mario. Just Mario something. I doubt a year comes and goes without something Mario.
 
Nate seems really confident on this FE rumor, so I think FE definitely gets announced in a Direct. My guess is Mid-February

I feel like that direct will have
-Splatoon 3 trailer with release date(May or June)
-FE reveal with release date(potenitally just a season, Summer)
-Mario and Rabbids trailer and release date
-Short Kirby Trailer with a reminder that its releasing in around a month
-Advance Wars re-reveal for April 8th release
-SMP DLC boards
-Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak trailer and release date
-1 more big surprise announcement

Seems like there is potential for a strong early year direct
 
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Dark Cloud said:
As we get closer the harder it gets. I feel like this could be a big one after Nintendo skipping out at the Game Awards. They only had like one first party announcement in the September Direct with Kirby. In my head I feel like they’re holding on to like 20 games ready to be announced anytime lmao.
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Nintendo never really had that big of a presence at the Game Awards so I don't see why so many people are acting like them skipping out on it was a big deal. If anything I would say it was about time Nintendo dropped any semblance of giving a damn about it.
 
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I’d like to preface my direct predictions with a slight modification to my very real 2022 release schedule:

January 28 - Pokémon Legends: Arceus

February 10 - Gourmet Race 99, Buddy Mission BOND

March 4 - Triangle Strategy

March 25 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land

April 8 - Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp

April 29 - Everybody’s Stinker Horserperson 2

May 27 - Splatoon 3

June 24 - Super Mario Sports Mix

July 29 - Fire Emblem: The Protagonist of This Game Will Be a Fighter in the Next Smash

August 26 - Xenoblade Chronicles 3

September 15 - Game Boy: Nintendo Switch Online

September 23 - Metroid Prime HD

October 21 - Bayonetta 3

November 18 - The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

December 2 - New Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels

Nintendo Direct 2.10.2022

To further illustrate this year’s parallels to 2019, this Direct opens with a trailer for the new 2D Mario game (2022). Rest assured this game will be a fairly significant departure from the tried-and-true “New” formula.

Yoshiaki Koizumi then introduces the first batch of headlines. Featured games include:
  • Advance Wars (April 8)
  • Kirby and the Forgotten Land (March 25)
  • Gourmet Race 99 (immediately after the Direct)
  • Third party stuff
The next spotlight trailer is a reveal for the new Fire Emblem game (July 29).

Now for another batch of Nintendo Switch headlines:
  • Triangle Strategy (March 4)
  • Everybody’s Stinker Horseperson 2 (April 29)
  • Buddy Mission BOND (immediately after the Direct)
  • The long-awaited crossover between Square Enix and Bandai-Namco Super Mario Sports Mix featuring basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, hockey, baseball, and horse racing (June 24 baybee)
  • More third party stuff
Koizumi-san announces that the first trailer for the Super Mario movie will be released on March 10, then shows us the next spotlight trailer. It’s a trailer for a new mode in Splatoon 3. Hisashi Nogami An anonymous squid researcher shares additional details, including the game’s release date (May 27), and announces the Splatoon 3 Global Testfire.

The next game will be our last announcement for today:

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (2022).

The guy that made my burrito today works for Nintendo and he said this is 100% legit.
 
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