Nintendo Directs Thread

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

That Direct was amazing!!

Probably the best one I've seen in a while. Last two were pretty underwhelming, but this one was very solid.

First of all, its so good to see Pokemon news in a Nintendo Direct. Not only did we get the DLC for Scarlet and Violet, but we got the return of Detective Pikachu. Its great that we didn't have to wait a week for a Pokemon Presents. I've grown tired of having to sit through 15 mins of mobile games to get to the big news. In my opinion, they should save some news for Nintendo Directs...with all the other Nintendo games. It helps strengthen a Direct.

And WOW Mario fans were eating good!! We got a reveal I never thought I'd see with a remake of Super Mario RPG AND a new Princess Peach game. Its great to see Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon on the Switch also. Super Mario Bros Wonder also looks incredible. Nice to see we're moving on from NSMB and 2D Mario is evolving. Great to see Daisy is playable also.

Pikmin 4 is also looking like it'll be a pretty solid game. The whole night expedition thing looks interesting. Its cool to see the first two will make it onto the Switch, which means all 4 major Pikmin games will be available on the Switch.

Other highlights included a new Wario Ware, Sonic Superstars, the Arkham Collection, and Mythforce.

Overall, this was an amazing Direct.

 

[TheCapsFan]

Oh boy. Fire Emblem again. It feels like no Nintendo franchise has more games on the Switch than FE aside from Pokemon. I'm not stating that as a fact, it just feels like it. The system has been so oversaturated with FE.

Ugh, same. Nintendo has utterly flooded the market with Fire Emblem since Awakening revived the series and not just the Switch, but the 3DS before that got multiple FE games to the point where it's practically a yearly IP.

And what bothers me more about FE is that unlike some of the other IPs that get frequent releases, Fire Emblem... doesn't really sell all that well. Most of Nintendo's key pillars that get frequent releases like Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon all sell 10+ million copies but Fire Emblem hasn't even sold half of what they do with the highest selling FE game being Three Houses at 3.82 million. Unless FE costs Nintendo pennies to make (which I doubt it is), it's not like FE is extremely profitable, so why does it get so many games? I wish Metroid got this much love (which to be fair it has been a little lately, but it's never gotten this much), because that's a much closer peer to FE's sales.

It's funny to see you guys talking above about the oversaturation of FE games, because that was one of the saddest omissions for me in this direct, lol. As a fan of the series I was really hoping for an FE4 Remake announcement especially because Engage disappointed me in many ways, FE4 is supposed to be one of the best in the series, and it never came to the West back in the day.

Also: minor tangent warning - the oversaturation of FE games isn't necessarily a result of Nintendo developing and pushing the games. It's actually a second party, Intelligent Systems, which develops the FE series (as well as Advance Wars, but primarily Fire Emblem) specifically for Nintendo platforms. Regarding sales: 3.82 million doesn't seem like a lot especially when you compare it with those other three franchises, but for a more niche genre like TRPGs, that's an astronomical number! So, from the dev's point of view: high specialization in a series + growing & huge sales + fan pressure to localize old games = higher demand -> more projects in development = more Fire Emblem games (instead of them working on other projects). And Nintendo isn't going to look at that and say "no we don't want more FE games" when they are, in fact, selling well. I understand where you're coming from as an outsider/not a fan of the series (personally I'd love to see Intelligent Systems work on a new IP!!) but trust me - there ARE new and old fans of the series and they are buying Fire Emblem in droves! That's the real reason for all the Fire Emblem games on Switch.

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Anyway, this leads into my thoughts on the Direct as a whole - this one wasn't really for me, personally. The biggest hope I had was to see at least a trailer for Metroid Prime 4, and we didn't - so that worries me immensely for the future of that game. I definitely don't think it's coming out until late 2024 at this rate, but I kind of expected to at least see something. The "maybe" hope I had was FE4 Remake, which I explained above. And the "longshot" hope was the announcement of Xenosaga remasters/ports to Switch. Lol no.

Despite this though, there's a lot that I still found in here to look forward to! The highlight was definitely the Super Mario RPG remaster - I've never played the game before, and was waiting for it to come out on SNES Online - but this is even better! Super Mario Wonder looks fantastic, the exact return to form of 2D Mario that I hoped would happen. And Star Ocean R looks really good - I love the HD/2D art style, so it'll be interesting to see how a dev team not named Team Asano handles it.

Other cool things: S/V DLC got a little showcase, though we don't know too much more than we knew previously - Detective Pikachu 2 exists - Pikmin 1/2 Remasters are great, though a little late in my opinion - Metal Gear Solid Collection is awesome to see on Switch - and, that Princess Peach game looks pretty intriguing.

Other omissions: Persona 3 Reload not being there leads me to believe that the Switch version that leaked doesn't actually exist, TOTK DLC wasn't really an expectation, but it was a nice leadup at the end there to...amiibo, which made me a bit sad - there were rumors about Metroid Prime 2/3 Remasters/Ports, but I think they're probably going to get released/announced closer to whenever Prime 4 is ready.

 

[Insanish Danish]

Also, there's what, four Fire Emblem games on the Switch? Two of which are spinoffs? I'd hardly call that "oversaturated".

I also wasn't that crazy about this Direct. I never played Super Mario RPG so I'm interested in trying out the remake, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder looks fun, but otherwise, eh. I was hoping for confirmation that Persona 3 Reload would be on the Switch but I'm not surprised we didn't get it. I do hope it will be making its way to the Switch eventually, even if it happens after releasing on other platforms, since the Switch would be my only means to play it...sigh.

And we're never getting a Tomodachi Life sequel/port, are we...sob

 

[wanderist]

I have no real expectations, just gonna see what's coming and what interests me. I learned about games like Harvestella and Ryza through Directs even though it wasn't what me or others were initially interested in, so I like to just go in with an open mind. Kinda helps that the only series I'm waiting for news on is Pokemon which I'm not expecting here.

Hahahaha

I thought it was a nice direct just for all the stuff that I knew would excite other people. It was nice to see Detective Pikachu's sequel finally living even if I'm not personally interested in it. The Direct starting with SV DLC really threw me off, seems I wasn't the only one either, but it was a pleasant surprise. The new areas look really cool from what I saw and it's always nice seeing old favorites come back. The new Pokemon look really cool in-game too.

Other than that only game that seriously piqued my interest personally was Palia, despite me usually hating free to play stuff. It gave slight Harvestella vibes which I loved, and it seemed like a game my mom might also get into so we can play together. I'll keep an eye on it. Some of the other stuff like Dragon Quest Monsters looked interesting at least so I'll keep an eye on them.

Overall it gave me some stuff to keep an eye on and even gave me stuff I wasn't expecting with the Pokemon news so I'm satisfied.

 

[Aulos]

It was a solid Direct without a lot for me, as per usual.

-Glad to see more details on Pokemon's DLC, especially seeing Blitzle and Zebstrika in HD for the first time! Otherwise, not much here for me.
-The Super Mario RPG remake is unexpected, but that game was very strange to me, I couldn't ever get into it. Just didn't feel like Mario in any way, shape or form. But... I will love getting a remade OST because there are some great OST pieces! (Certainly a much better surprise than another FE remake lol)
-Peach getting her own game is neat, we'll see how it turns out.
-Great to see new characters in the MK8 DLC because it had been lacking that so far.
-The new 2D Mario did not excite me. I just can't get hyped for 2D Mario, it just doesn't grab me.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Regarding sales: 3.82 million doesn't seem like a lot especially when you compare it with those other three franchises, but for a more niche genre like TRPGs, that's an astronomical number! So, from the dev's point of view: high specialization in a series + growing & huge sales + fan pressure to localize old games = higher demand -> more projects in development = more Fire Emblem games (instead of them working on other projects). And Nintendo isn't going to look at that and say "no we don't want more FE games" when they are, in fact, selling well. I understand where you're coming from as an outsider/not a fan of the series (personally I'd love to see Intelligent Systems work on a new IP!!) but trust me - there ARE new and old fans of the series and they are buying Fire Emblem in droves! That's the real reason for all the Fire Emblem games on Switch.

That's... not really how businesses tend to operate. They don't compare sales relative to their genre and say "Oh, well this game is selling more than other TRPGs, so we should make a zillion of them". No, they usually decide which genres to make based on what sells. If not a lot of TRPGs sell, then it's not wise to make a lot of them, you make another genre they do like. Other than that, the only other factor that would make it sensible to work on a niche IP is if it's cheap/quick to make, because then the cost savings make up for the less than stellar sales.

If the issue is IS is pumping out games quickly, maybe Nintendo should see if they want to work on another IP. I think they can find something more lucrative than the likes of Fire Emblem. For a developer that pumps out a lot of games, none of them have even cracked 5 million sales, so what they're currently doing isn't that popular.

Also, there's what, four Fire Emblem games on the Switch? Two of which are spinoffs? I'd hardly call that "oversaturated".

5 actually, they have Three Houses, Engage, the port of Tokyo Mirage Sessions (which is a crossover of FE and Shin Megami Tensei), and the 2 Warriors games. And 5 is a lot, most IPs only get 1 or 2 games per generation. The only other IPs on the Switch that have 5 or more are Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon. 5 games is not an insignificant number in the slightest, usually to get that many games a generation it has to be extremely profitable, and FE does not appear to be. So yeah, I'd call that oversaturated. For the amount it sells it only deserves 2, maybe 3 at most, per console.

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Anyway, as for the Direct, I thought it was really good. Yes the new announcements were a bit Mario heavy, but some big surprises nonetheless (even when some of the things shown were rumored). Also really showed that the Switch still has some games left in the tank, it's pretty clear that they're not quite ready to move on from the Switch yet, we probably won't see a successor until 2025 at the earliest at this point (especially because of Mario Wonder, you don't come out with a new 2D Mario game a year if you plan to move on soon, you save something like that for the next gen launch)

Mario RPG looks utterly stunning, the new Peach game intrigues me, and Mario Wonder. Ohhhh Mario Wonder. This game is exactly what 2D Mario needed. 2D Mario has been pretty stale for over a decade now and this game is a desperately needed shakeup. And it's just so wacky and trippy, which are exactly the kinds of Mario games I love. Nintendo is really not pulling any punches here trying to turn the page from the stale and repetitive feeling NSMB games.

Beyond Mario, Pikmin 4 is also looking good and shadow dropping remasters of the first 2 games is a nice surprise. Nintendo is really trying to push for Pikmin to be a successful franchise and it's working on me, ever since the 3 Deluxe demo I've become more and more intrigued by Pikmin so I might just be a full fledged fan when all this is said and done.

I'm not quite as hyped with what they showed for Pokemon. SV DLC showed a bit more footage of the new areas and they look neat, but I want to see new gameplay (in this case most likely new sidequests, facilities, etc.). They're not showing off any of that yet, just the areas themselves and some of the Pokemon being added. Detective Pikachu also isn't my thing, so not really excited to see that return.

Disappointed with no Metroid at all. Not even a remaster of Prime 2, but I even thought Prime 4 had a good chance of appearing. With Prime 4 being the only other game beside Pikmin 4 that we knew about and having been 4 years since the game restarted development, you would've thought they'd have shown something. Just what is going on with this game? It feels like it should be ready (or at least close enough to see something) at this point.

So yeah, definitely one of the better Directs in recent history. I was wrong about A LOT, but they defied my expectations in positive ways.

 

[TheCapsFan]

That's... not really how businesses tend to operate. They don't compare sales relative to their genre and say "Oh, well this game is selling more than other TRPGs, so we should make a zillion of them". No, they usually decide which genres to make based on what sells. If not a lot of TRPGs sell, then it's not wise to make a lot of them, you make another genre they do like. Other than that, the only other factor that would make it sensible to work on a niche IP is if it's cheap/quick to make, because then the cost savings make up for the less than stellar sales.

If the issue is IS is pumping out games quickly, maybe Nintendo should see if they want to work on another IP. I think they can find something more lucrative than the likes of Fire Emblem. For a developer that pumps out a lot of games, none of them have even cracked 5 million sales, so what they're currently doing isn't that popular.

I'm not arguing that IS is looking at other TRPGs and saying "we are selling more TRPGs than the other guys, so let's make more TRPGs." I used that comparison because I think it's unfair for us as consumers to compare sales from Nintendo 1st party in-house developed flagship series, that will get loads more attention in the way of marketing and development budget, to sales of a more niche franchise, in a more niche genre, developed by a second party. It's comparing apples to apples, not apples to oranges. Of course it's not gonna taste like an orange if it's an apple, of course it's not going to sell as much as those other series.

I AM arguing that IS views Fire Emblem as their most lucrative series, and I think on that we agree. When you look at the other series that IS develops, in the modern day Fire Emblem is the leader in sales. It sells more than Warioware, Paper Mario, and Advance Wars. In terms of cost to create, IS has been creating Fire Emblem since the series started - so they are incredibly familiar with how to develop Fire Emblem games and games similar to it. FE is also not a very intensive game in the way of graphics or performance - more effort is put into the map design, unit balance, storywriting, world-building, combat structure, etc. So, cost effective development paired with the most sales out of their staple franchises means that Intelligent Systems is always going to be developing a Fire Emblem game. Nintendo knows this and must agree that it's profitable, otherwise they wouldn't publish the games. Thus we get more Fire Emblem games.

I'm also arguing that IS can develop what they want. They aren't owned by Nintendo. They do work incredibly closely with Nintendo, and I'm sure that the business decisions they make are done in partnership with Nintendo, but at the end of the day Nintendo can't force them to develop a game that they don't want to develop. And if they don't view their team as having the right skillset for the game, and they don't think they can meet standards set by the industry, themselves, and Nintendo, they're not going to develop that game. If IS wants to make a FE game instead of whatever Nintendo wants them to do, then they're gonna make an FE game. Now, if that's the case, Nintendo doesn't have to publish FE games, but again, they're profitable, so they do.

I don't want to derail the thread too much farther than I already have, but I do want to ask one question: What other Nintendo-owned franchises would you suggest IS take a look at to develop that could be more lucrative than Fire Emblem? You mentioned you'd like to see more Metroid love earlier, a (niche on your terms) series with a very specific kind of level design that is very hard to emulate at the level that fans of the series expect - do you think a studio primarily known for developing turn-based RPGs is going to magically be able to deliver a Metroidvania-style game on the quality of Super Metroid or Dread, and sell two million more copies than the highest selling game in that series? No way. Perhaps Pokemon is more likely, if we're trying to get closer in genre...but Nintendo doesn't have a majority stake in The Pokemon Company, so that's unlikely. Maybe a Splatoon TRPG spinoff in the style of XCOM or Mario + Rabbids? That would be cool. The most likely thing I can think of is perhaps a Mario & Luigi style RPG - IS already develops Paper Mario, so they have experience with the Mario IP, and M&L has reached a height that was higher than FE, but that was twelve years ago now and the M&L series is...kind of in limbo at the moment, with the last new entry in the series barely cracking a million. It'd certainly be worth a shot, in my opinion, but I'm not sure it would be more popular than FE is right now.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I AM arguing that IS views Fire Emblem as their most lucrative series, and I think on that we agree. When you look at the other series that IS develops, in the modern day Fire Emblem is the leader in sales. It sells more than Warioware, Paper Mario, and Advance Wars. In terms of cost to create, IS has been creating Fire Emblem since the series started - so they are incredibly familiar with how to develop Fire Emblem games and games similar to it. FE is also not a very intensive game in the way of graphics or performance - more effort is put into the map design, unit balance, storywriting, world-building, combat structure, etc. So, cost effective development paired with the most sales out of their staple franchises means that Intelligent Systems is always going to be developing a Fire Emblem game. Nintendo knows this and must agree that it's profitable, otherwise they wouldn't publish the games. Thus we get more Fire Emblem games.

It's their most lucrative, but not by much. Paper Mario isn't far behind, and Warioware is probably cheap, so there should probably be a bit more tradeoff between the 3.

I don't want to derail the thread too much farther than I already have, but I do want to ask one question: What other Nintendo-owned franchises would you suggest IS take a look at to develop that could be more lucrative than Fire Emblem? You mentioned you'd like to see more Metroid love earlier, a (niche on your terms) series with a very specific kind of level design that is very hard to emulate at the level that fans of the series expect - do you think a studio primarily known for developing turn-based RPGs is going to magically be able to deliver a Metroidvania-style game on the quality of Super Metroid or Dread, and sell two million more copies than the highest selling game in that series? No way. Perhaps Pokemon is more likely, if we're trying to get closer in genre...but Nintendo doesn't have a majority stake in The Pokemon Company, so that's unlikely. Maybe a Splatoon TRPG spinoff in the style of XCOM or Mario + Rabbids? That would be cool. The most likely thing I can think of is perhaps a Mario & Luigi style RPG - IS already develops Paper Mario, so they have experience with the Mario IP, and M&L has reached a height that was higher than FE, but that was twelve years ago now and the M&L series is...kind of in limbo at the moment, with the last new entry in the series barely cracking a million. It'd certainly be worth a shot, in my opinion, but I'm not sure it would be more popular than FE is right now.

I think the best thing they can do is get better at making larger, more explorable game worlds and do more RPGs that take advantage of that, exploration based genres (open world games, sandbox platformers, action/adventures or RPGs that are a bit more sandboxy like the older Zeldas or older Pokemons, Metroidvanias) just plain sell. A Pokemon game would be great, maybe a Zelda spinoff that's more RPG-focused, heck just making Paper Mario more open might help it surpass Fire Emblem.

 

[Max1996]

Detective Pikachu Returns HYPE! I've been waiting for god-knows how long for that!

 

[Nicolas721]

Nice to see Pokemon being in the spotlight in a Direct again after receiving nothing but breadcumbs during the last 3 years. I thought Detective Pikachu would release Early next year but it seems it's almost taking this year's release period, makes me wonder if they couldn't achieve a physical version of SV+DLC ready in time for November. The game looks okay, but it doesn't feel like a priority to me for now.

And Mario lives! Both games look good on their own. RPG is cute and the mechanics give me some old school vibes. But I think I'll go with Wonder, the graphics give me Mario & Luigi Dream Team vibes, the mechanics look interesting and it just looks fun to play. The early reveal of the Peach game & Dark Moon remaster feels like they want to cater to the movie fans, though there's nothing wrong with that.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

You know, when it comes to Nintendo Directs, I think its a very safe bet that we're gonna see a Nintendo Direct in September. September has always been a consistent month for Nintendo Direct's, minus the Partner Showcase in 2020. Things are gonna be interesting though as rumors of a Switch successor have intensified.

 

[Okido]

A Direct has been announced for tomorrow!



Time to get out your predictions again...

 

[Daren]

Mario RPG remake news, perhaps?

 

[Poke Dragon]

There will be something related to Side Order, whether that's its true release date (December 31, 2024 is a placeholder, deal with it) or some actual gameplay clips, maybe even a little bit more about the story.

Sora Amiibo or something else related to Smash Ultimate, hey, if Mario Kart 8 Deluxe got something long after its release, why can't Smash Ultimate?

A possible remake/remaster/port of an older game

Back to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, returning character plus new and returning tracks.

 

[Emmy]

I would really like to see some news about the Princess Peach game that was teased last time.

 

[Insanish Danish]

I will continue to hope and pray and beg for Tomodachi Life sequel/port and probably be let down once again

 

[lisianthus]

Hmm.... a new Rhythm Heaven would be amazing, oh my god... other than that... I guess I hope there's a lot of puzzle games announced? I don't have any particular hopes off the top of my head, really. Who knows, maybe they'll announce the Switch 2? Although I sort of doubt it to be honest...?

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I'm so excited! I think we all figured one would happen, but its still exciting to see. I'm sitting here crossing my fingers that its finally time we see Metroid Prime 4 again. Its been nearly 5 years since it restarted development. It would definitely be a good thing to close the Direct on.

As for what I think could potentially show up.

• The final DLC wave for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Hoping Diddy is returning.
• Side Order for Splatoon 3 with a release date.
• Probably another quick Super Mario Bros Wonder trailer.
• Hopefully that new Princess Peach game.
• Maybe that Professor Layton game revealed in the February 2023 Direct.
• More footage of the Super Mario RPG remaster.

Random hopes

• Metroid Prime 4 after so long.
• Tears of The Kingdom Amiibos. I just want my boi Tulin!
• Tomodachi Life sequel potentially?
• A remaster of F-Zero GX. Its been talked about quite a bit, so hoping.

 

[Emmy]

Them remaking the "Another Code" games on the Switch is something I never dreamed I thought I'd ever see.



I can die happy now...but maybe not before they remake the Kyle Hyde games as well?

 

[Juliko]

I have to admit, I was NOT expecting a Spy x Family game of all things in this...but consider me interested at least.

I've never heard of the Trace Memory games, but I might buy the collection when it comes out. Seems interesting.

Sad about no Rune Factory or Etrian Odyssey announcements, but oh well.

YEEEEAHHHH Paper Mario Thousand Year Door! I have friends who really love this game, so this is a huge win!