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

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Engage was intended to release in 2020 for the series' 30th anniversary, hence the heavy focus on past Fire Emblem characters. The pandemic meant they would miss it so the release timing became less critical, and as far as we're aware Engage did sit complete for a while, the speed at which the DLC came out afterwards corroborates that.

You also haven't addressed the existence of Iron18 internally. It doesn't matter if you think it doesn't line up, because we already know a game exists internally between Three Houses and Engage, your "realistic timeframe" is already refuted.

I don't know what Fire Emblem 18 could mean because it would be really weird to follow up a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden with... another remake. Expecting the 3DS to survive two more years would also be... very weird.

Then again, Engage itself is a baffling product, obsessed with nostalgia for games that its playerbase didn't play, so I'm not entirely sure what IS is thinking right now.

 

[ohlawd]

Engage was intended to release in 2020 for the series' 30th anniversary, hence the heavy focus on past Fire Emblem characters. The pandemic meant they would miss it so the release timing became less critical, and as far as we're aware Engage did sit complete for a while, the speed at which the DLC came out afterwards corroborates that.

You also haven't addressed the existence of Iron18 internally. It doesn't matter if you think it doesn't line up, because we already know a game exists internally between Three Houses and Engage, your "realistic timeframe" is already refuted.

first time huh

you gon' learn boi and soon

 

[Wockio]

I don't know what Fire Emblem 18 could mean because it would be really weird to follow up a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden with... another remake. Expecting the 3DS to survive two more years would also be... very weird.

There were two first party 3DS releases in 2019, one of them a port and remake. I assume plans changed once everything post Pokemon USUM flopped and the Switch took off.

 

[Bullwine85]

There were two first party 3DS releases in 2019, one of them a port and remake. I assume plans changed once everything post Pokemon USUM flopped and the Switch took off.

Also the remake of Bowser's Inside Story which flopped so badly AlphaDream never recovered.

 

[TsarOfAbility]

Lol I remember buying the trilogy on wii u for 20 euros, such a steal

I remember them using an 'introductory discount' for the Wii games on Wii U and selling it at 10 euros in the first week, same for Galaxy. That's 3,30 per Metroid, insane

 

[Hermii]

No 2D Zelda in the poll? I'm going with that.

 

[Tab]

And also, while it's a minor point, Sigurd's prominence among the emblems in Engage certainly feels like a choice you'd make if you already knew a remake of his game was coming afterwards.

 

[9-Volt]

And also, while it's a minor point, Sigurd's prominence among the emblems in Engage certainly feels like a choice you'd make if you already knew a remake of his game was coming afterwards.

Yeah that's what I noticed. Alear straight up picked Sigurd to have some advice. If that's not a hint for what's to come, I don't know what it is.

 

[Bullwine85]

FE4 remake seems delayed because they are also developing a FE5 remake and will launch them as one game.

Also developing an FE5 remake?

Interesting thought, but doubt they'd release them as one game due to not only the gameplay being wildly different, but also certain story elements and romantic pairings that weren't necessarily canon in FE4 were made canon in FE5

 

[goombaicebro]

nintendo

switch

 

[Brofield]

Twitter drop Direct throughout February, Switch 2 blowout event in March shortly after the Switch 7 year anniversary.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

There were two first party 3DS releases in 2019, one of them a port and remake. I assume plans changed once everything post Pokemon USUM flopped and the Switch took off.

This timeline doesn't really make much sense though.

Mid 2017: Finish Fire Emblem 2 remake for 3DS
Sometime in 2018: Cancel Fire Emblem 4 remake for 3DS, then target a 2020 release date for a brand new game on a much more powerful console?
Mid 2021: Finish Fire Emblem Engage
Mid to late 2023: Fire Emblem 4 remake is completed?

That's really not much time and I don't understand how much of the 3DS dev time would be useful here? The scale of a 3DS remake would likely be pretty small and comparable to the Fire Emblem 2 remake. The scale would have to be massively larger for a Switch remake.

 

[TsarOfAbility]

switch

too

 

[Concernt]

Twitter drop Direct throughout February, Switch 2 blowout event in March shortly after the Switch 7 year anniversary.

The worst timeline.

 

[ImpromptuR]

Also developing an FE5 remake?

Interesting thought, but doubt they'd release them as one game due to not only the gameplay being wildly different, but also certain story elements and romantic pairings that weren't necessarily canon in FE4 were made canon in FE5

This will never happen though. Just an absurd speculation.
If the FE4 remake is real, I bet that will be the last one, since this game can not sell well in 2024/25.

 

[LuckyNumber69]

This timeline doesn't really make much sense though.

Mid 2017: Finish Fire Emblem 2 remake for 3DS
Sometime in 2018: Cancel Fire Emblem 4 remake for 3DS, then target a 2020 release date for a brand new game on a much more powerful console?
Mid 2021: Finish Fire Emblem Engage
Mid to late 2023: Fire Emblem 4 remake is completed?

That's really not much time and I don't understand how much of the 3DS dev time would be useful here? The scale of a 3DS remake would likely be pretty small and comparable to the Fire Emblem 2 remake. The scale would have to be massively larger for a Switch remake.

I mean, you're assuming that IS can only develop one FE at a time.

That aside, we already know from interviews that Engage and Three Houses were in development at the same time, so they definitely didn't start development of Engage in 2018. It's possible that FE4R had less priority while Engage was deep in development, and then once Engage development started winding down (I'm guessing like, late 2019-early 2020, given it was meant to release in 2020?) the focus shifted to FE4R. Because they already had some work done on the game, though, finishing it probably didn't take as long as it would've if they hadn't started development at all until after Engage finished.

 

[crazybenjamin]

I‘m not arguing about which original game is better

Sure, but in general I find the "they put less effort in" talking point to be less meaningful if the game was already good in the first place. I find the actual end result to be more important when it comes to determining what the "objectively correct" price is.

 

[DecoReturns]

But what will FE4 remake be titled

Ribald Tales of the Faith War

 

[Dardan Sandiego]

This timeline doesn't really make much sense though.

Mid 2017: Finish Fire Emblem 2 remake for 3DS
Sometime in 2018: Cancel Fire Emblem 4 remake for 3DS, then target a 2020 release date for a brand new game on a much more powerful console?
Mid 2021: Finish Fire Emblem Engage
Mid to late 2023: Fire Emblem 4 remake is completed?

That's really not much time and I don't understand how much of the 3DS dev time would be useful here? The scale of a 3DS remake would likely be pretty small and comparable to the Fire Emblem 2 remake. The scale would have to be massively larger for a Switch remake.

I think you need to stop being so adamant about certain games not existing because it doesn't seem to be going very well for you like last year when you were absolutely convinced that TTYD HD wasn't gonna get announced... on the day it was announced:

Paper Mario soldiers who believe in an announcement of TTYD HD today are very strong.

But like... No, it's not going to happen.

Mario RPG HD is coming out in two months.

Or maybe keep going, I dunno. We might get the FE4 remake earlier.

 

[ZephyrPhoenix]

This timeline doesn't really make much sense though.

Mid 2017: Finish Fire Emblem 2 remake for 3DS
Sometime in 2018: Cancel Fire Emblem 4 remake for 3DS, then target a 2020 release date for a brand new game on a much more powerful console?
Mid 2021: Finish Fire Emblem Engage
Mid to late 2023: Fire Emblem 4 remake is completed?

That's really not much time and I don't understand how much of the 3DS dev time would be useful here? The scale of a 3DS remake would likely be pretty small and comparable to the Fire Emblem 2 remake. The scale would have to be massively larger for a Switch remake.

I've never seen someone so adamant about something that's actually completely wrong in regards to the existence of a damn game.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

I’m still pretty shocked by Nintendo announcing TTYD two months before SMRPG and I really don’t understand the timing there, lol.

That spacing is pretty terrible for Nintendo’s two beloved Mario RPGs.

But this is different in that I don’t know how it would be possible instead of just me thinking it would be a really weird call (and I do think TTYD right now is a very weird call compared to 2022 or 2025 or another year)

 

[Tab]

Ribald Tales of the Faith War

I've always loved this reference (It's from Robin's support with Sumia in Awakening for those who don't know), because the definition of ribald is "referring to sexual matters in an amusingly coarse or irreverent way".

So Sumia is just casually telling Robin she's reading some kind of vulgar, erotic novel based on Genealogy.

 

[MisterSpo]

Three Houses and Engage started development at the same time with different development teams. That's partially why they're so different - the aim was for Engage to be different to Three Houses, the concept for which was nailed down in 2015 (but it was put on hold for Shadows of Valentia).

So the hypothetical timeline would go something like:

2015:

• Fates releases in Japan.
• Three Houses concept planning; put on hold.
• Shadows of Valentia enters development.

2017:

• Shadows of Valentia releases.
• Three Houses enters development, Intelligent Systems work with Koei Tecmo. This game is originally targeting 2018, believe it or not.
• Engage enters development with the goal being to provide a more traditional heroic fantasy game compared to Three Houses. This game targets 2020, the anniversary year for the series.
• Given Three Houses is Iron17 and Engage is Iron19, there may well have been plans for Iron18 at this point in time (Iron18 references appear in Engage's code). Perhaps it entered production for 3DS but was quickly cancelled; perhaps it never went beyond the planning stages and was canned entirely. If Iron18 is an FE4 remake, then perhaps Engage, as a new title, was prioritised over an FE4 remake given Three Houses was inspired by FE4 and so two titles of that vein in quick succession was deemed a bad idea. As we've seen already, Three Houses briefly began as a 3DS title in 2015 before being put on hold for 2 years, before becoming a Switch co-production with Koei-Tecmo. This should serve as a lesson that FE concepts can emerge, vanish, and re-emerge, and so the idea an FE4 remake was considered, put on hold, and then recommenced is something that has direct precedent.

2019:
- Three Houses releases after a delay.

2021:
- Engage is content complete by late 2021 after pandemic related delays. Staff might move to FE4 remake, which may or may not have been in the works for 3DS c. 2017 to 2019.

2023:
- Engage releases; FE4 is content complete.

2024:
- FE4 releases.

It's not as if Intelligent Systems do all this singlehandedly; there'll be outsourcing, some involvement from EPD and perhaps Koei-Tecmo are involved with the FE4 remake. The development timeline would certainly make sense; Three Houses DLC wrapped up in 2020, with the main game only having taken 2 years. It's also not unusual for Intelligent Systems to wrap up games well ahead of their release. WarioWare Get It Together went to age ratings agencies 12 months before it released, too. They're a pretty efficient developer.

Personally I'm not all that convinced an FE4 remake began on 3DS - interviews at the time Echoes released gave the impression it was the team's farewell to 3DS. However, given how accurate Emily and Nate were on Engage, given the existence of Iron18, and given IS have a clear track record balancing multiple projects and finishing titles ahead of release, I'm inclined to believe the FE4 remake is real and coming.

 

[The Captain]

They hate January

They hate team* January

It’s all done out of spite.

 

[Brofield]

The worst timeline.

Agreed

 

[grobla123]

It's yoshis time to go 3d like Kirby. I want all the core yoshi mechanics like eating stuff, egg throwing, goofy power ups like spitting watermelon seeds, transformations. Heck bring back different rider abilities like ds. Ideally a new artstyle that picks up on the crayon style of og, or maybe paint or something. (only way something similar with enough budget happens is if it's an adult Mario and yoshi game probably, and even then they'd probably make a dedicated 3d mario with yoshi showing up occasionally).

 

[MisterSpo]

Nintendo won't do Yoshi in 3D because they don't want a behind-Yoshi view of Yoshi laying eggs.

 

[CyberWolfBia]

There's not much of a selling point of a 3D Yoshi game, since you can already see that realized in many 3D Mario games (Sunshine, 64 DS, Galaxy 2 and Odyssey).

It's fine, not all franchises need to go 3D; it doesn't make a game necessarily any better than a 2D one.

 

[space_dragon]

Nintendo won't do Yoshi in 3D because they don't want a behind-Yoshi view of Yoshi laying eggs.

 

[9-Volt]

Nintendo won't do Yoshi in 3D because they don't want a behind-Yoshi view of Yoshi laying eggs.

Too late for that, you can see Yoshi's back while laying eggs when you move in Y axis routes in Yoshi's Crafted World. Nintendo DOES want you to observe Yoshi doing his business up in close.

 

[shoptroll]

Week 3 - What four games would you like to see most in Year 1 for Switch 2 and why? You can pick either realistic or dream guesses.

1. Some new Nintendo IP - We got ARMS and 1+2 Switch pretty early in the Switch's life, we're overdue for a fresh internally developed experiment. As always I expect this to showcase whatever new input functionality the new system brings to the table.
2. Final Fantasy VII Remake Integrade or Final Fantasy XVI - I think this would be an outstanding show of support for the new system by Square-Enix if they can get one of these out in the first year.
3. Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece - I'm assuming that Switch 2 addresses whatever problems forced this to be a cloud only offering. This would be a good opportunity to do right by their fans and earn some goodwill and hopefully stoke interest in the next installment (whenever that is coming).
4. One of the big evergreens (that isn't Mario or Pokemon) - Boring option right? But honestly I'm really curious to see what we're going to get in this category in year 1. Mario Kart just finished the BCP a couple months ago. Splatoon 3 has support all the way through this year. Zelda team is probably already planning out the next main game. Are we going to see Animal Crossing wake from its slumber? Smash Bros? I'm assuming we're getting a new 3D Mario game since Zelda is done and dusted for a while, but what else is going to drive all the LEGS memes in the weekly Famitsu threads for the next 5-6 years?
5. (BONUS) - I'd really love to see a new 2D Zelda game. Yes, we should be seeing Mina the Hollower this year (hopefully not next) but I think there's room for 2D Zelda to co-exist with the new BotW derived hotness. Especially because the old 8 dungeon structure (maybe with 3 starter dungeons) with a more guided structure/narrative could be used as the 2D "identity" and differentiate it more from the unstructured open-world direction that 3D Zelda is going in currently.

 

[majimazio]

Did they put the physical copy of Engage out of print to focus on the FE4 remake? It is really puzzling that it went out of print before Bayonetta 3.

 

[BassForever]

Did they put the physical copy of Engage out of print to focus on the FE4 remake? It is really puzzling that it went out of print before Bayonetta 3.

We don't know why so many games randomly went out of print. The speculation is there could be some kind of selects line coming with the recently OOP games being a part of it. I imagine if that's true, Bayonetta 3 being a Sega IP probably wouldn't be a part of that.

 

[ZephyrPhoenix]

Did they put the physical copy of Engage out of print to focus on the FE4 remake? It is really puzzling that it went out of print before Bayonetta 3.

no one knows. People are thinking Nintendo Selects is returning in the future but other than that, no one knows why games starting going out of print, especially with Engage from what I've seen since one would think Engage would be the last game that would go out of print.

 

[Number1000DKFan]

I want to know what the biggest mid Direct surprise will be

Like how last February there was Metroid Prime Remastered and June had Super Mario RPG

My guess would be Metroid Prime 2

 

[the_marmolade]

Next direct has no 'one last thing', just a recap video at the end - not of the direct, but the entire switch line-up. Implying but not mentioning Switch 2. Would be a nice way to end the last Switch 1 only direct!

If it has a last thing it's either MP4 or Zelda related.

 

[majimazio]

no one knows. People are thinking Nintendo Selects is returning in the future but other than that, no one knows why games starting going out of print, especially with Engage from what I've seen since one would think Engage would be the last game that would go out of print.

The other possible reason other than Nintendo Selects would be for the production of Switch 2 cartridges.

 

[DecoReturns]

It’s obvious why games are going out of print.

It’s the same issue every company has in a workplace.

The stupid god damn printer won’t print anymore for who knows what god damn reason.

 

[Dark Cloud]

I want to know what the biggest mid Direct surprise will be

Like how last February there was Metroid Prime Remastered and June had Super Mario RPG

My guess would be Metroid Prime 2

Thats a pretty good guess. So far Nintendo has put Metroid Prime 4, Metroid Dread and Maybe Prime Remastered near the middle

 

[Bullwine85]

Ribald Tales of the Faith War

Descent of Jihad

 

[Tab]

Descent of Jihad

ZIGLUDO'S HOLY WAR

Also wait a minute, are they implying Eldigan and lachesis are a "predestined couple"? She's literally calling him her brother in that screenshot!

 

[oomoepoo]

Also wait a minute, are they implying Eldigan and lachesis are a "predestined couple"? She's literally calling him her brother in that screenshot!

:Kaga:

 

[shoptroll]

Where are people getting that Engage is OOP? Target still has it available on their website (multiple locations near me have it in stock), as does Nintendo if you want it from them directly.

The other possible reason other than Nintendo Selects would be for the production of Switch 2 cartridges.

I imagine we’d have leaks by now if they were manufacturing cartridges already.

 

[Supreme Bum 01]

I doubt they will let Metroid Prime 2 or 2+3 hang in the air by putting it in the middle. I think they are going to do a rapid fire / sizzle real near the end (similar to Feb '23) that ends with Metroid Prime 2+3, followed by the 'one more thing,' being Metroid Prime 4. My guess for the middle is a Mario sports game like Baseball, the Olympics, or some other type of sports compilation.

 

[Magic-Man]

I doubt they will let Metroid Prime 2 or 2+3 hang in the air by putting it in the middle. I think they are going to do a rapid fire / sizzle real near the end (similar to Feb '23) that ends with Metroid Prime 2+3, followed by the 'one more thing,' being Metroid Prime 4.

That's what they did for Metroid Dread and Metroid Prime Remastered though? Prime Remastered wasn't even the middle section, it got revealed with a headline instead.

 

[Bullwine85]

However, given how accurate Emily and Nate were on Engage, given the existence of Iron18, and given IS have a clear track record balancing multiple projects and finishing titles ahead of release, I'm inclined to believe the FE4 remake is real and coming.

There was also the infamous leak posted on Reddit the day after Emily posted what she knew back in June of 2022
A reddit user by the name of /u/miasmadelta posted screenshots of a Chinese build of the game three months before Engage was officially revealed

They state, "I can confirm that this is a brand new FE game, and it has been completed for quite some time now. I'm not sure what the delay has been in announcing it. Interestingly, some aspects of it seem to be reused from the canceled Wii FE game. Additionally, the rumors of an FE4 remake are real as well. Gust has helped a lot with this development - if you aren't familiar with their work, you should take a look at the Atelier games on the Switch. There are many new characters in this game, and I believe people are overreacting a bit about the summoning with thinking of this as a full-blown FEH-style game. Other people with insider information have been mentioning the blue and red haired protagonist for awhile now and waiting for the Direct reveal, I've just decided to finally show a bit."

While there were some instances that weren't accurate (such as Gust's involvement with the game), both Nate and /u/miasmadelta state that the FE4 remake is real. Where there's smoke, there's fire (emblem) I guess?

 

[Dark Cloud]

I doubt they will let Metroid Prime 2 or 2+3 hang in the air by putting it in the middle. I think they are going to do a rapid fire / sizzle real near the end (similar to Feb '23) that ends with Metroid Prime 2+3, followed by the 'one more thing,' being Metroid Prime 4. My guess for the middle is a Mario sports game like Baseball, the Olympics, or some other type of sports compilation.

Like magic man said Prime Remastered was part of a headline reel. I don’t think this is that big of a deal for Nintendo. They can stick the announcement for one or both games in a similar reel during the presentation

 

[Tab]

I still wonder where the erroneous detail of Gust's involvement in Engage came from. Was it just an extrapolation based on the graphical style?

 

[EvilChameleon]

It’s obvious why games are going out of print.

It’s the same issue every company has in a workplace.

The stupid god damn printer won’t print anymore for who knows what god damn reason.

PC load letter? What the fuck does that mean?

 

[SammyJ9]

So we’re all eager to see Prime 4 this year.

Question is, how would you like for it to be revealed?

Like, full-on gameplay action trailer is something I feel could come closer to release. For a new trailer dropping in the imminent future, I would take just some drop-dead gorgeous panoramas over giant, imposing chozo statues, with thunder roaring in the distance. Followed by the “2024”, of course.

For me, this is exactly what I want. I want the big reveal to be a full-on long action trailer with Switch 2 footage that blows everyone away. Basically just skip past the teaser trailers and go for the full main trailer.