StarTopic Nintendo Direct Speculation |ST7| It’s Showtime People! Famiboards Productions Proudly Presents: What Lies Beyond The Door? Act II - Rebirth

[9-Volt]

besides, if I had to guess, I’d say it’s a 2D Zelda year. and I think it’ll be a new one — I don’t think they want to ramp up towards the Zelda movie feeling “stale”.

As long as Grezzo isn't the one doing it. Grezzo and Koichi Ishii need to be free of their Zelda chains, this super talented studio needs to go back to action RPG roots. Ever Oasis 2? Maybe? Something new? much better.

 

[Number1000DKFan]

Donkey Kong just not happening until Switch 2. Donkey Kong has always flourished some of the greatest environments in Nintendo's platforming, the game will look most marvelous on the Switch's Upgrade

There's a reason that EPD 8 team has not spoke a word publicly yet, only ratted to DK Vine Donkey Kong 3D is in our hands by end of 2025 and $470 out our pockets for Furukawa to wipe his booty with! The 3D Donkey Kong Direct may be a greater day than the day comes my child is born, it all comes in due time my brother you just got to Trust The Process #TTP

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the new DK is not 3D

 

[Number1000DKFan]

Donkey Kong I think will be a 2D game. As much as I want a 3D game I think the next one will be 2D.

But at some point this series needs to get back into the 3D space. It’s a big IP. Kirby and Mario have 2D and 3D games. DK should be the same.

Yes

Besides the fact that this was confirmed by numerous leakers (like Nintendo Life’s own trusted source) there’s also the fact that EPD 8 was hiring for two games, a 3D and a 2D

The 3D is Mario, which leaves DK as the 2D

 

[rêverie]

@xghost777 nintendo direct (maybe mini?) on january 24th and switch 2 reveal on march 13th. i was going to say the anniversary of the switch launch, but that's on a sunday this year... boo!

can't wait to be wildly incorrect!

 

[shoptroll]

Just to confirm… there’s no avatar bet attached to guessing the date right? Asking for a friend or two…

 

[Suswave]

(etc)

longstanding fans are not the Switch’s only target and never have been

what does “Prime 2+3” mean to a more casual audience? to a release cadence that already has a few remakes in the pipeline?

Wind Waker HD or Twilight Princess HD are more marketable, but fresh off the heels of a major 3D Zelda sequel. Nintendo has always, ALWAYS believed in cadence, even when executed imperfectly.

and there have been very, very few releases without a specific Switch-oriented selling point.

the Switch is not over, even if the next thing lands in a literal week. there will be two years minimum of Nintendo support — likely more with as massive as the Switch userbase is.

their stated goal is to surprise, delight, and maintain some momentum throughout

that’s not going to look like “nothing but ports” — just like it didn’t last year.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Would Nintendo spend two years and hundreds of devs each on remaking Prime 2 and then Prime 3.

Emulator dumps with edited controls seem more likely.

 

[SpaceGodzilla]

Would Nintendo spend two years and hundreds of devs each on remaking Prime 2 and then Prime 3.

Emulator dumps with edited controls seem more likely.

that's such flawed logic knowing Nintendo

"Would Nintendo spend years and hundreds of devs each on remaking Super Mario RPG,Thousand-year Door, link's Awakening, Metroid prime, Luigi's mansion 2 "

"emulated dumps with edited controls seem more likely"

 

[Deleted member 1005]

Would Nintendo spend two years and hundreds of devs each on remaking Prime 2 and then Prime 3.

Emulator dumps with edited controls seem more likely.

They've spent the entirety of the Switch's life dumping resources into a Metroid Prime 4 that has like a 4 million unit ceiling.

I would not put it past this company to put serious resources into remaking the other two prime games.

 

[Tyrien]

Wow the majority picked February! Cowards! lol jk jk (Satire)

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

We had a lot of wild fun predicting the Direct date in The Legendary Speculator Challenge last thread, but this time I want to open up the guessing game to as many people as possible! The Great Direct Date Guess Event is a badge challenge with two badges up for grabs! It’s very simple to participate, either reply to this post or AT message me in a post and tell me what dates you believe the Nintendo Direct will air and the Switch 2 will be announced in Pacific Time. If you do not reply or AT message me, I will not consider it an official entry. The deadline to enter is December 31st at 11:59 PM Pacific Time and you'll know I have accepted your prediction when I Yeah! your post. At that point I will screencap your answer and ultimately compile a chart in the OP to track participants, so make sure you’ve been added to it by January 4th. You do not have to predict both the Direct and the Switch 2 dates if you don’t want to, but there are no downsides to doing both. For The Great Direct Date Guess Event, you only need the dates to be clear (ie Wednesday January 3rd or Thursday February 4th), so you do not have to worry at all about predicting the time further otherwise.

If you believe an event would air or be announced at midnight Pacific time, for the purposes of proper guessing please put the second of the two days involved. For example, if you believe the Switch 2 will be announced at midnight between Tuesday January 2nd and Wednesday January 3rd Pacific Time, please put your guess down for January 3rd.

@Aurc is helping with creating the awesome badges for this event and we have one design ready to share right now! Winners of predicting the Direct air date will get the Direct Date Champion Badge!



Winners of predicting the Switch 2 Public Announcement Date will get the Switch 2 Date Legend Badge! (This includes a video, tweet, press release etc.) Like the Switch 2 itself, it is still being diligently worked on behind the scenes, but once the design is ready, I will share it in the thread and update this post! Thanks again Aurc for all of your help

So yes, please make sure to get your guesses in by December 31st at 11:59 PM Pacific Time! Have fun Fami!

It will air on February 8, 2024 at 5pm PT.

Cool contest, thank you for setting it up!

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

that's such flawed logic knowing Nintendo

"Would Nintendo spend years and hundreds of devs each on remaking Super Mario RPG,Thousand-year Door, link's Awakening, Metroid prime, Luigi's mansion 2 "

"emulated dumps with edited controls seem more likely"

I think that all of those had a lot more sales potential than Prime 2 and 3 though (unfortunate as that may be).

We'll see if Nintendo decides it's still worth it to do and can find a fairly major dev studio to do it.

 

[xghost777]

Just to confirm… there’s no avatar bet attached to guessing the date right? Asking for a friend or two…

Nope, no avatar bet this time. Just guessing for fun with the chance to win badges! See this post for all of the info

Nintendo Direct Speculation |ST7| It’s Showtime People! Famiboards Productions Proudly Presents: What Lies Beyond The Door? (Badge Event Active!)

2024 feels like it "Could" be a big big big year for Nintendo and fans alike. If the Switch successor really is coming out this year then it is my opinion that we will at least see a brand new 3D Mario in 2024 along with some other big and impressive titles and releases. I still maintain that a...

famiboards.com

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

They've spent the entirety of the Switch's life dumping resources into a Metroid Prime 4 that has like a 4 million unit ceiling.

I would not put it past this company to put serious resources into remaking the other two prime games.

Metroid Prime 4's impossibly massive budget will be revealed to be a masterstroke of genius when it combines Doom Eternal's moment to moment gameplay with an open world and Metroidvania progression, managing to get a 97 Metacritic and sell 4.2m copies.

 

[Deleted member 1005]

Metroid Prime 4's impossibly massive budget will be revealed to be a masterstroke of genius when it combines Doom Eternal's moment to moment gameplay with an open world and Metroidvania progression, managing to get a 97 Metacritic and sell 4.2m copies.

Add a roguelike mode and it’ll bump up to 4.3m

 

[LuckyNumber69]

It may be a stretch, but I wouldn't even be surprised if they brought back the tea-time mechanic in some form to FE4 Remake, considering that not only was the Tea Time paralogue in Heroes Genealogy-centric (with some 3H thrown in of course), but also this cipher art of Lachesis fits perfectly

Funnily enough, I had that exact same thought when the Heroes tea banner dropped. Especially considering, as you said, it was a Genealogy-3H crossover banner.

Honestly, I think for better or worse, Fates skinship equivalents might be a feature of every game in the future—3H had teatime, and Engage had that weird ASMR wakeup thing. Given the tone and aesthetic of Engage, the weird wakeup events weren't really out of place. But for a game like FE4R, something more "classy" like tea time would work much better while still giving players a chance to hang out with their waifus and husbandos. Plus, it'd just be nice and even add immersion to be able to stop by a castle town in the middle of a chapter to momentarily chill out and have a cup of tea lol.

 

[Bullwine85]

But for a game like FE4R, something more "classy" like tea time would work much better while still giving players a chance to hang out with their waifus and husbandos. Plus, it'd just be nice and even add immersion to be able to stop by a castle town in the middle of a chapter to momentarily chill out and have a cup of tea lol.

Man I can't wait to have perfect tea time with Arden!

 

[Concernt]

If FE4RE happens, I want Thracia 776 included because when else will that game get any official love. Given it's definitely a "full on" remake to begin with, I'd even be OK with Thracia 776 as paid DLC.

Of unannounced games that might happen next year, FE4RE is definitely my number 1 in terms of excitement, do I dare to have high hopes.

 

[user55555]

Yes

Besides the fact that this was confirmed by numerous leakers (like Nintendo Life’s own trusted source) there’s also the fact that EPD 8 was hiring for two games, a 3D and a 2D

The 3D is Mario, which leaves DK as the 2D

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the new DK is not 3D

Nintendo Life's "trusted source" was Zippo DK Vine has heard no word from their source on 2D vs 3D

EPD 8 cultivated a team to create the greatest, most novel 3D platformers of all time, producing straight flagship best seller games for every console. I feel it's impossible EPD 8 split to create a 2D Donkey Kong game, that has already had it's formula perfected by Retro Studios. I get that EPD 8 was created for Jungle Beat, but it's not 2008 any more!

The people want 3D Donkey Kong, and in these coming years, one of the greatest development teams of all time will give us 3D Donkey Kong. Trust the process my fellow Donkey Kong enjoyer #TTP

 

[Starbreaker]

With two more years of Switch support I expect it to be more in line with this years software output. There will be more remakes, spun offs, smaller games with a dash of select cross gen games as well. To think that everything will release on both is, with brutal honesty, not going to happen.

They need to bolster more incentive to convince average consumer to buy the next console. Switch will continue to sell on the merits of the wonderful library it already has in addition to some new stuff sprinkled in over the next few years. If they do price cuts, limited editions, and good bundle deals I think we're looking at the PS2 in terms of its legs over time.

 

[Bullwine85]

If FE4RE happens, I want Thracia 776 included because when else will that game get any official love. Given it's definitely a "full on" remake to begin with, I'd even be OK with Thracia 776 as paid DLC.

Of unannounced games that might happen next year, FE4RE is definitely my number 1 in terms of excitement, do I dare to have high hopes.

Only problem is that Thracia 776's gameplay is wildly, wildly different.

Not to mention that there are certain parts of Thracia 776 that are canon to that game storywise, but not necessarily canon to FE4 like certain romantic pairings, motivations for certain characters, etc. If you make it paid DLC, not only would it be the equivalent of basically a whole game, but you'd also have to either canonize certain story elements in FE4R that weren't there in the original, or leave it VERY vague in the Thracia remake.

 

[MetalLord]

Would Nintendo spend two years and hundreds of devs each on remaking Prime 2 and then Prime 3.

Emulator dumps with edited controls seem more likely.

mpr didnt take 2 years,it was more than double that

 

[BassForever]

Thracia 776 needs to be its own remake. The only FE remakes you could conceivably combine into one title are

Binding and Blazing Blade (6-7). They used the same engine, they take place on the same continent, a few characters are playable in both, and they star a father and son duo. They'd be perfect for a reinterpreted remake that better combines the two titles.

Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn (9-10). Basically all of what I said above, only it has the same MC and the games already connect well enough.

Shadow Dragon and Mystery (1 & 3 or 11-12). More here to avoid "umm actually" posts, since Mystery of the Emblem is already a combined game being half a remake of Shadow Dragon and half a sequel. New Mystery greatly expanded Mystery to be it's own game.

Of course with how long FE titles are, the idea of combining two into one single remake game is daunting.

 

[xghost777]

@Aurc has shared with me the final design of the Switch 2 Date Legend Badge! I hope one of us manages to claim this awesome badge so definitely get your guesses in . Thanks again Aurc for all of your help with designing and uploading the badges!

 

[Concernt]

Only problem is that Thracia 776's gameplay is wildly, wildly different.

Not to mention that there are certain parts of Thracia 776 that are canon to that game storywise, but not necessarily canon to FE4 like certain romantic pairings, motivations for certain characters, etc. If you make it paid DLC, not only would it be the equivalent of basically a whole game, but you'd also have to either canonize certain story elements in FE4R that weren't there in the original, or leave it VERY vague in the Thracia remake.

While I don't disagree with your points, I would argue that it would fit in with Nintendo's DLC approach anyway.

On a personal note, and I know I'm being selfish, but I don't want to go paying sixty for a Thracia 776 remake.

Two, wildly different gameplay and questionable canonicity are practically par for the course with Nintendo's expansions. Bowser's Fury basically IS a seperate game, built in the same engine, launched from a menu. Three Houses' DLC's canonicity is questionable at best and makes considerable (although not wild) gameplay changes.

Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion is like any other part of Splatoon's canon, it happened, but nothing happened exactly how you experienced it - for instance, if you played it an unlocked an Octoling, play Salmon Run, then start playing Splatoon 3, Mr. Grizz will recognise you as an employee, making it clear that the playable character in 3 is Agent 8... Which isn't canon to Side Order or Hero Mode. It's also basically a whole game, with some wildly different gameplay - it's programmatically seperate, too, the game basically relaunches to open it and it has specific optimisations and engine changes, albeit minor.

Really, Thracia 776 wouldn't be a departure beyond what Nintendo usually does with DLC or side modes, because Octo Expansion is questionably canon, basically an entire game unto itself, and has wildly different gameplay.

 

[Bullwine85]

Binding and Blazing Blade (6-7). They used the same engine, they take place on the same continent, a few characters are playable in both, and they star a father and son duo. They'd be perfect for a reinterpreted remake that better combines the two titles.

Plus, the fates of certain characters introduced in 7 were left either very vague or just simply not answered depending on your choice. A combined remake with FE6 would work wonders for clearing that up.

An FE9/10 combined remake would work as well. The original games even allowed you to transfer over save data for bonuses. Though I do feel that these two titles would work nowadays better as an HD Remaster more than anything. Maybe some QoL improvements along with overhaul on the...."voice acting"

 

[kirbyfan407]

they haven’t been “known likely,” they’re just some favorite stalwart guesses.

we literally do not know whether or not those things will ever come to the Switch, and I think it’s safest to assume they won’t

people have been “figuring” that those “made sense” since 2016. the perennial estimate.

now that we’ve in fact seen Metroid Prime HD, after our clearest usable indication was that they refocused development on it specifically for the achieved result…

why would we get off-the-cuff subpar iterations of 2 and 3?

to fill a space that is only empty to you because you cannot conceive of what suits it?

similarly with Wind Waker / Twilight Princess. They were on the Wii U! why not the Switch?

everyone guessing them treats them as throwaways to fill a gap. that’s not how they’re seen.

there are clear strategies at play. there’s a reason we got Skyward Sword HD and NOT those. just like there’s a reason Wii U ports fizzled out pretty quickly.

I agree with you on the Wind Waker / Twilight Princess talk, as I'm pretty sure I've yet to see those ever be credibly rumored. I've seen tons of speculation but don't recall anyone reliable ever saying they've heard these games are coming.

As for Metroid Prime 2 and 3, I think these were what I considered credibly rumored, but I recall the rumor being that 2 and 3 were originally planned for lesser remasters which I think you may be referencing. I believe there was some informed speculation at the time that Nintendo was looking at upping the quality of the remasters (which maybe involved bringing them in-house at Retro or maybe the opposite...it's been so long that I forget), but I could definitely see these games not getting released and the project being abandoned. On the other hand, releasing ports of Metroid Prime 2 and 3 at least like Pikmin 1+2 in the lead-up to Metroid Prime 4 would make a lot of sense to me.

 

[Embers]

there are clear strategies at play. there’s a reason we got Skyward Sword HD and NOT those. just like there’s a reason Wii U ports fizzled out pretty quickly.

Yup. Having played TotK, it seems clear why Skyward Sword got an HD remaster:

Spoiler: TotK story spoilers

The structure of Tears is a mirror to SS. In both games, you're following Zelda around on her own mysterious errand, with the TotK twist being that it isn't actually Zelda. But having Skyward Sword fresh in mind helps sell the idea that it might be her, so I can see why the devs might have wanted to give players a refresher course on it.

 

[Xavi]

I won't say it's impossible but a Thracia 776 remake seems unlikely imo. If it somehow happens, my guess is that it'd get the Xenoblade 2: Torna treatment. They'd need to market it really well to let everyone know that you should play FE4 first though.

 

[BassForever]

While I don't disagree with your points, I would argue that it would fit in with Nintendo's DLC approach anyway.

On a personal note, and I know I'm being selfish, but I don't want to go paying sixty for a Thracia 776 remake.

Two, wildly different gameplay and questionable canonicity are practically par for the course with Nintendo's expansions. Bowser's Fury basically IS a seperate game, built in the same engine, launched from a menu. Three Houses' DLC's canonicity is questionable at best and makes considerable (although not wild) gameplay changes.

Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion is like any other part of Splatoon's canon, it happened, but nothing happened exactly how you experienced it - for instance, if you played it an unlocked an Octoling, play Salmon Run, then start playing Splatoon 3, Mr. Grizz will recognise you as an employee, making it clear that the playable character in 3 is Agent 8... Which isn't canon to Side Order or Hero Mode. It's also basically a whole game, with some wildly different gameplay - it's programmatically seperate, too, the game basically relaunches to open it and it has specific optimisations and engine changes, albeit minor.

Really, Thracia 776 wouldn't be a departure beyond what Nintendo usually does with DLC or side modes, because Octo Expansion is questionably canon, basically an entire game unto itself, and has wildly different gameplay.

You have no idea what you're talking about

The Fire Emblem dlc campaigns have been 6-7 chapters and usually take a fraction of the time of the main campaign (5-10 hours compared to the 40-60 of the main game)

Thracia 776 has 25 main chapters, over 30 if you count paralogues and route splits, and takes 30-40 hours without voice acting slowing down story scenes. Anyone suggesting it could be a dlc, even a Torna style DLC, is completely talking out of their ass. They remade Gaiden, they'll remake Thracia 776.

 

[Suswave]

I agree with you on the Wind Waker / Twilight Princess talk, as I'm pretty sure I've yet to see those ever be credibly rumored. I've seen tons of speculation but don't recall anyone reliable ever saying they've heard these games are coming.

As for Metroid Prime 2 and 3, I think these were what I considered credibly rumored, but I recall the rumor being that 2 and 3 were originally planned for lesser remasters which I think you may be referencing. I believe there was some informed speculation at the time that Nintendo was looking at upping the quality of the remasters (which maybe involved bringing them in-house at Retro or maybe the opposite...it's been so long that I forget), but I could definitely see these games not getting released and the project being abandoned. On the other hand, releasing ports of Metroid Prime 2 and 3 at least like Pikmin 1+2 in the lead-up to Metroid Prime 4 would make a lot of sense to me.

my recollection was that they considered an HD trilogy of less-involved porting, but scrapped it in favor of the beautiful Metroid Prime HD we got

I think after that, everything with the project as it was changed — they may not do the others at all, and if they do, they’re unlikely to be released at inferior quality to Prime HD.

If they want 2 and 3 out there, I think they’d be updating them to Prime HD’s quality, and that will surely take time. I also suspect that they are lower priority, if they’re happening at all. TBD, of course. We’ll see what happens.

either way, I’m confident we’re not getting the presumed “easy ports” of 2+3 to fill imagined “gaps”

 

[Suswave]

I’d also argue to anyone jousting at the Pikmin windmill as evidence of Prime 2+3 — that’s an entirely different situation

Pikmin 3 was an entry-point Wii U port while they cooked 4, and 1+2 were poised as a “see where it all began” bonus for 4

this was viable because no expectation had been set for 1+2 — and they were priced / packaged accordingly

by setting the expectation of Metroid Prime HD, I don’t think they’d want to take anywhere near the same approach

we might know the weird backflips that would make it make sense, but imagine you’re a kid new to games, or someone who doesn’t read video game forums or give a shit

if you picked up Metroid Prime HD and said “wow, fuck, this rips” — wouldn’t you be blindsided or disappointed if they dropped 2 and 3 but they both looked and felt like a leap backwards?

wouldn’t that compromise your opinion of 4, especially if 2+3 were presented as a gateway release to hype up 4?

 

[Number1000DKFan]

Nintendo Life's "trusted source" was Zippo DK Vine has heard no word from their source on 2D vs 3D

EPD 8 cultivated a team to create the greatest, most novel 3D platformers of all time, producing straight flagship best seller games for every console. I feel it's impossible EPD 8 split to create a 2D Donkey Kong game, that has already had it's formula perfected by Retro Studios. I get that EPD 8 was created for Jungle Beat, but it's not 2008 any more!

The people want 3D Donkey Kong, and in these coming years, one of the greatest development teams of all time will give us 3D Donkey Kong. Trust the process my fellow Donkey Kong enjoyer #TTP

No that’s wrong

The Nintendo Life had their own very trusted source and also mentioned Zippo as backing the rumor up

Rumour: The Next Donkey Kong Is Being Developed By The Super Mario Odyssey Team

Update: Another source chimes in

www.nintendolife.com

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

mpr didnt take 2 years,it was more than double that

Pretty sure this did not happen (maybe a couple of concept artists were worked on figuring out the art style they wanted to do for the remake back in 2017) unless Retro is just completely incapable of making games at a similar pace to any peer dev.

Four years of development with 200 people (as there was a massive amount of outsourcing in Prime Remastered) leads to a low ball dev cost of $96m, meaning the game would have to sell 2.4m copies digitally to break even.

 

[EvilChameleon]

@Aurc has shared with me the final design of the Switch 2 Date Legend Badge! I hope one of us manages to claim this awesome badge so definitely get your guesses in . Thanks again Aurc for all of your help with designing and uploading the badges!

Are we sure this isn't just a leaked copy of the design of the new joycon holder?

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

I’d also argue to anyone jousting at the Pikmin windmill as evidence of Prime 2+3 — that’s an entirely different situation

Pikmin 3 was an entry-point Wii U port while they cooked 4, and 1+2 were poised as a “see where it all began” bonus for 4

this was viable because no expectation had been set for 1+2 — and they were priced / packaged accordingly

by setting the expectation of Metroid Prime HD, I don’t think they’d want to take anywhere near the same approach

we might know the weird backflips that would make it make sense, but imagine you’re a kid new to games, or someone who doesn’t read video game forums or give a shit

if you picked up Metroid Prime HD and said “wow, fuck, this rips” — wouldn’t you be blindsided or disappointed if they dropped 2 and 3 but they both looked and felt like a leap backwards?

wouldn’t that compromise your opinion of 4, especially if 2+3 were presented as a gateway release to hype up 4?

I mean, yes, Prime 2 and Prime 3 emulator dumps would not sell very well, it's just full graphical remakes are expensive and take a lot of resources.

I will be very pleased if Nintendo does a full graphical remake of 3 with some major gameplay and story changes though.

 

[xghost777]

I’d also argue to anyone jousting at the Pikmin windmill as evidence of Prime 2+3 — that’s an entirely different situation

Pikmin 3 was an entry-point Wii U port while they cooked 4, and 1+2 were poised as a “see where it all began” bonus for 4

this was viable because no expectation had been set for 1+2 — and they were priced / packaged accordingly

by setting the expectation of Metroid Prime HD, I don’t think they’d want to take anywhere near the same approach

we might know the weird backflips that would make it make sense, but imagine you’re a kid new to games, or someone who doesn’t read video game forums or give a shit

if you picked up Metroid Prime HD and said “wow, fuck, this rips” — wouldn’t you be blindsided or disappointed if they dropped 2 and 3 but they both looked and felt like a leap backwards?

wouldn’t that compromise your opinion of 4, especially if 2+3 were presented as a gateway release to hype up 4?

Not saying it's happening, but parts of the original rumors for Prime Remastered was that 2 and 3 would be outsourced remakes and use Prime Remastered as a guideline. This sort of still lined up with the more recent Jeff Grubb rumor a few months back that Prime 2 was next in line.

The timeline is seemingly getting tight in my mind for this to pan out if Prime 4 is at the latest November of 2024. Hope it happens, but I mainly just want the games on Switch so even if they were just HD ports I'd personally still be happy.

 

[BlackthornOrion]

I believe there was some informed speculation at the time that Nintendo was looking at upping the quality of the remasters (which maybe involved bringing them in-house at Retro or maybe the opposite

In addition to the initial "Prime 1 gets the big boy remaster, 2 and 3 are upres'd with modern controls" rumors, iirc some insideres (Grubb? Maybe Nate?) were mostly just speculating that Retro/Nintendo could instead end up taking the work done on Prime Remastered and hand it off fully to an outside studio to handle 2 and 3 while Retro continued to focuse on Prime 4. Obvious problem there is that Prime 1, 2, and 3 don't exactly share a ton of assets so whoever it got handed off to would still be on the hook for a lot of original work

If they were to go that route though, I think Iron Galaxy would probably make the most sense; from what I remember they were one of the more heavily-credited external studios on Prime Remastered

 

[user55555]

longstanding fans are not the Switch’s only target and never have been

what does “Prime 2+3” mean to a more casual audience? to a release cadence that already has a few remakes in the pipeline?

Wind Waker HD or Twilight Princess HD are more marketable, but fresh off the heels of a major 3D Zelda sequel. Nintendo has always, ALWAYS believed in cadence, even when executed imperfectly.

and there have been very, very few releases without a specific Switch-oriented selling point.

the Switch is not over, even if the next thing lands in a literal week. there will be two years minimum of Nintendo support — likely more with as massive as the Switch userbase is.

their stated goal is to surprise, delight, and maintain some momentum throughout

that’s not going to look like “nothing but ports” — just like it didn’t last year.

"longstanding fans are not the Switch’s only target and never have been" Indeed

"What does “Prime 2+3” mean to a more casual audience? to a release cadence that already has a few remakes in the pipeline?" What did Pikmin 1+2 mean to a more casual audience?

"Wind Waker HD or Twilight Princess HD are more marketable, but fresh off the heels of a major 3D Zelda sequel. Nintendo has always, ALWAYS believed in cadence, even when executed imperfectly" There is not many similarities between Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Tears Of The Kingdom, other than they are a Zelda game, and they are 3D. This is like if someone in the world said "Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury? Wtf, Super Mario 3D All Stars just released!"

"and there have been very, very few releases without a specific Switch-oriented selling point" What is the switch oriented selling point of Mario vs Donkey Kong? Or Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, Paper Mario Thousand Year Door? (I guess Paper Mario Thousand Year Door may have 207 fans who have not yet bought a Nintendo Switch)

"the Switch is not over, even if the next thing lands in a literal week, there will be two years minimum of Nintendo support - likely more with as massive as the Switch userbase is" Facts! Thank you for this fun fact

"their stated goal is to surprise, delight, and maintain some momentum throughout" Wind Waker HD, Twilight Princess HD, Prime 2 and Prime 3, may be pretty delightful to fans of their respectful series

"that's not going to look like nothing but ports, just like it didn't last year" Indeed! The next Switch will be announced with many new anticipated games!

Anyways these just my opinions. Happiest holidays gang hope you been enjoying

 

[xghost777]

Are we sure this isn't just a leaked copy of the design of the new joycon holder?

Haha, I suggested a design like this mainly for what would look good as a tiny badge, but it would be very funny to me if the actual Switch 2 looked completely identical to Switch 1 and they just had a big "2" slapped on the joy con grip and the charging dock.

 

[user55555]

I’d also argue to anyone jousting at the Pikmin windmill as evidence of Prime 2+3 — that’s an entirely different situation

Pikmin 3 was an entry-point Wii U port while they cooked 4, and 1+2 were poised as a “see where it all began” bonus for 4

this was viable because no expectation had been set for 1+2 — and they were priced / packaged accordingly

by setting the expectation of Metroid Prime HD, I don’t think they’d want to take anywhere near the same approach

we might know the weird backflips that would make it make sense, but imagine you’re a kid new to games, or someone who doesn’t read video game forums or give a shit

if you picked up Metroid Prime HD and said “wow, fuck, this rips” — wouldn’t you be blindsided or disappointed if they dropped 2 and 3 but they both looked and felt like a leap backwards?

wouldn’t that compromise your opinion of 4, especially if 2+3 were presented as a gateway release to hype up 4?

Your first sentence states Pikmin 1+2 is entirely different. Then your next sentence explains exactly why they would realease Prime 2+3. Then every sentence following contradicted by the release of Pikmin 1+2

 

[BassForever]

No that’s wrong

The Nintendo Life had their own very trusted source and also mentioned Zippo as backing the rumor up

Rumour: The Next Donkey Kong Is Being Developed By The Super Mario Odyssey Team

Update: Another source chimes in

www.nintendolife.com

If Zippo backed up a rumor that said I liked Bass from Mega Man, I would have to question it.

 

[Suswave]

I also feel the need to repeat something I’ve suggested a few times in the past

disclosure has always been a different animal than the one we know

the world of “sneaking things in” and “gap logic” is our conjecture

the calendar is about cadence and it is planned, and it is worked toward — even on things you don’t think don’t take “that much” work

controlling when we know what is crucial to our surprise and enjoyment in their eyes. disclosure is one of the greatest tools in maintaining their mythos. the holes are filled — we just don’t know what’s in them.

 

[Suswave]

Your first sentence states Pikmin 1+2 is entirely different. Then your next sentence explains exactly why they would realease Prime 2+3. Then every sentence following contradicted by the release of Pikmin 1+2

if you think the second sentence explains contradicts the first, you didn’t read what I wrote

 

[ZephyrPhoenix]

Binding and Blazing Blade (6-7). They used the same engine, they take place on the same continent, a few characters are playable in both, and they star a father and son duo. They'd be perfect for a reinterpreted remake that better combines the two titles.

Plus, the fates of certain characters introduced in 7 were left either very vague or just simply not answered depending on your choice. A combined remake with FE6 would work wonders for clearing that up.

Yeah Im not gonna lie, Elibe is probably going to be the one FE continent where they'll entirely rewrite everything in order to make both games' storylines connect with each other properly/far better since FE7 wasn't in mind when FE6 was made.

Just remove the route splits as well, cause fuck route splits (especially the Ilia-Sacae split in FE6 and FE7's splits in general), and they're a massive nuisance.

 

[kirbyfan407]

my recollection was that they considered an HD trilogy of less-involved porting, but scrapped it in favor of the beautiful Metroid Prime HD we got

I think after that, everything with the project as it was changed — they may not do the others at all, and if they do, they’re unlikely to be released at inferior quality to Prime HD.

If they want 2 and 3 out there, I think they’d be updating them to Prime HD’s quality, and that will surely take time. I also suspect that they are lower priority, if they’re happening at all. TBD, of course. We’ll see what happens.

either way, I’m confident we’re not getting the presumed “easy ports” of 2+3 to fill imagined “gaps”

iirc some insideres (Grubb? Maybe Nate?) were mostly just speculating that Retro/Nintendo could take the work done on Prime Remastered and hand it off fully to an outside studio to handle 2 and 3 while Retro continued to focuse on Prime 4. Obvious problem there though is that Prime 1, 2, and 3 don't exactly share a ton of assets so whoever it got handed off to would still be on the hook for a lot of original work

If they were to go that route though, I think Iron Galaxy would probably make the most sense; from what I remember they were one of the more heavily-credited external studios on Prime Remastered

Both of these sound like they might be right to me, with BlackthornOrion's post being what I think I was referencing. I agree that the idea of having another company take the work from Metroid Prime 1 and using that to build Metroid Prime 2 and 3 was an odd one due to the games having different assets and 3 having different controls. However, I remember the conundrum of Retro being too busy with Prime 4 to take on the other games. If another company was already involved in Prime 1, then that sounds like a good guess.

I just hope we continue to see more GameCube games return on Switch or Switch 2 in any capacity. I know they're just ports, but I miss these games and I don't know that they'd be on NSO any time soon. Give me Chibi-Robo, Kirby Air Ride, Mario Power Tennis, and so many others that I don't expect a remaster for. Luigi's Mansion getting a shadowdrop before Luigi's Mansion 2 seems possible to me. Maybe that could be a February Direct announcement.

 

[Suswave]

Both of these sound like they might be right to me, with BlackthornOrion's post being what I think I was referencing. I agree that the idea of having another company take the work from Metroid Prime 1 and using that to build Metroid Prime 2 and 3 was an odd one due to the games having different assets and 3 having different controls. However, I remember the conundrum of Retro being too busy with Prime 4 to take on the other games. If another company was already involved in Prime 1, then that sounds like a good guess.

I just hope we continue to see more GameCube games return on Switch or Switch 2 in any capacity. I know they're just ports, but I miss these games and I don't know that they'd be on NSO any time soon. Give me Chibi-Robo, Kirby Air Ride, Mario Power Tennis, and so many others that I don't expect a remaster for. Luigi's Mansion getting a shadowdrop before Luigi's Mansion 2 seems possible to me. Maybe that could be a February Direct announcement.

Kirby Air Ride would be a damn delight, I don’t care what the haters say

 

[user55555]

I’d also argue to anyone jousting at the Pikmin windmill as evidence of Prime 2+3 — that’s an entirely different situation

Pikmin 3 was an entry-point Wii U port while they cooked 4, and 1+2 were poised as a “see where it all began” bonus for 4

this was viable because no expectation had been set for 1+2 — and they were priced / packaged accordingly

by setting the expectation of Metroid Prime HD, I don’t think they’d want to take anywhere near the same approach

we might know the weird backflips that would make it make sense, but imagine you’re a kid new to games, or someone who doesn’t read video game forums or give a shit

if you picked up Metroid Prime HD and said “wow, fuck, this rips” — wouldn’t you be blindsided or disappointed if they dropped 2 and 3 but they both looked and felt like a leap backwards?

wouldn’t that compromise your opinion of 4, especially if 2+3 were presented as a gateway release to hype up 4?

if you think the second sentence explains contradicts the first, you didn’t read what I wrote

I read what you wrote thoroughly! I respect your opinion and of course would read before responding

By setting the expectation of Pikmin 3 Deluxe, why would they ever release Pikmin 1+2? We might know the weird backflips that would make it make sense, but imagine all those kids that did not buy any of these games regardless and got Pokemon for Christmas. Wouldn't that compromise your opinion of 4, especially if 1+2 were presented as a gateway release to hype up 4? (Which they weren't, they were only high demand games given to the anticipating fans)

 

[user55555]

Kirby Air Ride would be a damn delight, I don’t care what the haters say

I hope we get Kirby Air Ride courses in the new Mario Kart. And Diddy Kong Racing. I have no idea how Kirby Air Ride courses would translate, but considering the mutations of FZero tracks working so well in the Wii U DLC it's definitely possible. And such a good excuse to add Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede to the roster, and/or the ladder 2 as Mission Mode enemies! Machine Passage, Frozen Hillside, Celestial Valley would all be insane, the sound especially

Edit: Gourmet Race soundtrack for new Mario Kart oh my goodness

 

[Josh5890]

We had a lot of wild fun predicting the Direct date in The Legendary Speculator Challenge last thread, but this time I want to open up the guessing game to as many people as possible! The Great Direct Date Guess Event is a badge challenge with two badges up for grabs! It’s very simple to participate, either reply to this post or @ message me in a post and tell me what dates you believe the Nintendo Direct will air and the Switch 2 will be announced in Pacific Time. If you do not reply or @ message me, I will not consider it an official entry. The deadline to enter is December 31st at 11:59 PM Pacific Time and you'll know I have accepted your prediction when I Yeah! your post. At that point I will screencap your answer and ultimately compile a chart in the OP to track participants, so make sure you’ve been added to it by January 4th. You do not have to predict both the Direct and the Switch 2 dates if you don’t want to, but there are no downsides to doing both. For The Great Direct Date Guess Event, you only need the dates to be clear (ie Wednesday January 3rd or Thursday February 4th), so you do not have to worry at all about predicting the time further otherwise.

If you believe an event would air or be announced at midnight Pacific time, for the purposes of proper guessing please put the second of the two days involved. For example, if you believe the Switch 2 will be announced at midnight between Tuesday January 2nd and Wednesday January 3rd Pacific Time, please put your guess down for January 3rd.

@Aurc is helping with creating the awesome badges for this event and we have one design ready to share right now! Winners of predicting the Direct air date will get the Direct Date Champion Badge!



Winners of predicting the Switch 2 Public Announcement Date will get the Switch 2 Date Legend Badge! (This includes a video, tweet, press release etc.) Like the Switch 2 itself, it is still being diligently worked on behind the scenes, but once the design is ready, I will share it in the thread and update this post! Thanks again Aurc for all of your help

So yes, please make sure to get your guesses in by December 31st at 11:59 PM Pacific Time! Have fun Fami!

Update: Here's the design for the Switch 2 Date Legend Badge! I hope one of us manages to win it, so definitely get your guesses in soon

I believe the Nintendo Direct will be announced on February 14th, 2 PM Pacific, and the Nintendo Switch 2 will be announced March 13th, 6 AM Pacific.