Nintendo Direct (Thursday 27th March 2025 @ 14:00 GMT)

[Julius]

Well, there it is. 30 minutes long, livestreamed. 

Nintendo, The Kings of Left Field, zig instead of zag in a big way one final time this gen, announcing what will be seen as a swansong presentation for the original Switch. 

And thus begins what will surely go down as one of the most hype weeks of Nintendo news ever.

My body isn't ready, but let's do this 

Edited Wednesday at 02:07 PM by Julius

[Dcubed]

Congrats @Hero-of-Time, you win a cookie!

Don't eat it all at once

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm pretty excited for it. It's great to see Nintendo finally supporting a home console in the later stages of its life. They be coming for that PS2 record....

[Dcubed]

So... Fire Emblem 4 Remake & Kirby Planet Robobot HD are all but assured...

Would Nintendo show off anything from Metroid Prime 4 here, or are they just gonna save it for the Switch 2 Direct and treat it as a Switch 2 launch title instead?

I could see them throwing in a last-minute Rhythm Paradise here; I mean, it's not exactly gonna be the kind of game that needs all that next-gen powar anyway.  And Wario Ware Move It came out a good year and a half ago, it could be a good Q3 title.

Oh yeah, we'll probably get a release date for DQ 1 & 2 HD2D as well.

Otherwise, gimme DKR on NSO already!!!

Edited Wednesday at 02:33 PM by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

3 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

So... Fire Emblem 4 Remake & Kirby Planet Robobot HD are all but assured...

Would Nintendo show off anything from Metroid Prime 4 here, or are they just gonna save it for the Switch 2 Direct and treat it as a Switch 2 launch title instead?

I could see them throwing in a last-minute Rhythm Paradise here; I mean, it's not exactly gonna be the kind of game that needs all that next-gen powar anyway.  And Wario Ware Move It came out a good year and a half ago, it could be a good Q3 title.

Otherwise, gimme DKR on NSO already!!!

There has been a few people speculating that a Rhythm Paradise/Heaven game could show up. Seems like the right time if it was to happen.

Personally, I think they should save Prime 4 for the Switch 2 show. Saying that, there could be an argument for showing it here and then showing how good it will look on the Switch 2 come next week.

Yeah, DKR or DK64 on NSO would do me nicely 

[Julius]

17 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Would Nintendo show off anything from Metroid Prime 4 here, or are they just gonna save it for the Switch 2 Direct and treat it as a Switch 2 launch title instead?

I think it really depends on if they're planning on releasing two separate SKUs of Prime 4: 

• If there are separate Switch and Switch 2 SKUs planned, and it's coming at the launch of the Switch 2, then yeah, I think you could feasibly save it for the Switch 2 Direct. 
• If there aren't and only a Switch SKU is planned, I think you show it off tomorrow and it is used as the example in the Switch 2 presentation of some hypothetical next-gen boost being applied to backwards compatible games. 

Obviously, Nintendo have had games launch simultaneously on two platforms with separate SKUs before on systems which technically had backwards compatibility, and even some that didn't, but the potential for "boosts" to certain games and these Directs only being a week apart makes me think they'll do anything they can to not muddy the waters. Or maybe they willingly do that anyways. I mean, it is Nintendo. 

I'm leaning towards it being the latter. I don't think the OG Switch gets mentioned in the Switch 2 Direct outside of talk about backwards compatibility and a potential boost to performance for select games. Prime 4 is going to be a prime (heh) candidate to showcase that. 

 

Besides that, yeah, I'm just going to throw out there what I mentioned in the other thread: 

On 3/25/2025 at 10:26 AM, Julius said:

a quick wishlist for me outside of the aforementioned Fire Emblem and Kirby:

• Chrono Trigger port – first big event after the anniversary, I'm tired of this tomfoolery S-E. For the love of Time just give me a straight port at this point. 
• Update on DQ I & II HD-2D – 4½ months removed now from III's HD-2D success, I think an update now makes sense because I think S-E should have bigger DQ-shaped fish to fry come the Switch 2 Direct next week. If not, it'll probably get lost in the shuffle on DQ Day in May or during Not-E3 in June, but this feels like a great chance for it to take centre stage. 
• Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD ports – while there are other Zelda games I want to get to before it, Wind Waker is definitely the one I most want to play for the first time. I have it on Wii U but the prospect of a Switch port has kept me kicking that bucket down the road. Do it, you cowards. Thanks for reminding us of it @S.C.G
• Where are the rest of the best of the indies?! – indies have been such a massive and defining part of the Switch's success, that it's crazy that some of the best indies which make the most sense on a device like the Switch haven't landed on the system yet. Where the hell are Papers, Please and FTL?! 

I think a couple more games releasing for NSO as you guys have mentioned makes complete sense, too.

To go back to the well asking for more ports, something for Prime 2 and/or 3 makes sense here to me with 4 on the horizon. Hell, I could see a repeat of 2023's Feb Direct where they get shadow-dropped on the eShop after the Direct. Would be a nice little stinger after showing Prime 4! 

Edited Wednesday at 02:40 PM by Julius

[Cube]

I think Metroid Prime 4 will be in this one, it's not a major enough title for the Switch 2.

@Julius I'd definitely recommend playing Wing Waker on Wii U, the Switch version would have to cut the best improvement from the game.

[martinist]

gamepad sea chart is best sea chart

Nice to see one last nintendo direct for the switch before it all moves over to the successor.

I'm hoping for a wind waker / twilight princess announcement hopefully.

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Cube said:

 

@Julius I'd definitely recommend playing Wing Waker on Wii U, the Switch version would have to cut the best improvement from the game.

Ehhh, I'd go with second best.

Ain't no beating the Swift Sail!

Actually, scratch that, third best. Gyro controls, baby!

Edited Wednesday at 04:22 PM by Glen-i

[killthenet]

I played Wind Waker HD almost exclusively on the Gamepad  so I didn't get the two screen experience

I was thinking earlier that Nintendo might use tomorrow's Direct to announce whether or not anything is replacing the gold points scheme - it makes sense to keep more finicky admin stuff out of the big Switch 2 blowout and if there's bad news to share they're (like if there is a price hike for NSO membership) then they would be better off getting it out of the way here

I'm playing through Return to Dreamland at the moment so I'll be happy to see another Kirby game released but it does mean we won't be getting a sequel to Forgotten Land in the first year of the Switch 2 which is a shame.

Otherwise I'm keen to see more of Metroid 

[RedShell]

What the hell?  

You wait absolutely ages for a Direct, and then 2 come along at once. Not that I'm complaining.
Man, Nintendo's unpredictability will never cease to amaze me.

[darksnowman]

UFO fiddy.

3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I'm pretty excited for it. It's great to see Nintendo finally supporting a home console in the later stages of its life. They be coming for that PS2 record....

Agreed. Glad the Switch isn't just being immediately dropped. Hoping for another good showing from third parties or something totally new from Nintendo themselves.

[Julius]

Sakurai has retweeted the Direct announcement: 

Interesting...can't remember him going that before. What could it possibly mean? 

A new Smash game for Switch, obviously 

7 hours ago, darksnowman said:

UFO fiddy.

UFO 50 is a great shout! 

Some announcements of other big indies of last year like Minishoot' Adventures and Tactical Breach Wizards coming to Switch would make sense to me too. Maybe the next chapter of Deltarune, too? 

Edited Thursday at 02:10 AM by Julius

[Helmsly]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

Sakurai has retweeted the Direct announcement:

The first Smash brothers coming to the N64 NSO library would be nice

[Dcubed]

6 minutes ago, Helmsly said:

The first Smash brothers coming to the N64 NSO library would be nice

Good point.  It's overdue.  And a fairly likely inclusion.

Still baffles me that it came to the Wii VC but not the Wii U one.

[Hero-of-Time]

2 hours ago, Julius said:

Sakurai has retweeted the Direct announcement: 

Interesting...can't remember him going that before. What could it possibly mean? 

Kid Icarus Uprising Remastered? It was rumored to be a thing a while back.

[Dcubed]

Just now, Hero-of-Time said:

Kid Icarus Uprising Remastered? It was rumored to be a thing a while back.

It wasn't so much rumoured so much as wink-wink-nudge-nudge confirmed by the man himself lol...

 

[S.C.G]

Nice, I'll probably watch this Direct at the shop today if it's not too busy, and will post the roundup article when I get back in the evening.

It should be a good last showing for the Switch at least.

Edited Thursday at 06:01 AM by S.C.G

[Hero-of-Time]

31 minutes ago, S.C.G said:

Nice, I'll probably watch this Direct at the shop today if it's not too busy, and will post the roundup article when I get back in the evening.

It should be a good last showing for the Switch at least.

You should stick it on live for the customers to watch.  

[Dcubed]

5 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

You should stick it on live for the customers to watch.  

This! Do it Sam!

It'll get your customers in the mood to buy some Nintendo junk

[Ike]

Strong opening.

New party member?

[Ashley]

3 minutes ago, Ike said:

Strong opening.

New party member?

I was a few minutes late. What is this referring to?

[Julius]

WOAH PATAPON?! 

[Hero-of-Time]

Patapon on Switch!? What the hell?

[Ike]

3 minutes ago, Ashley said:

I was a few minutes late. What is this referring to?

Dragon Quest I&II.

I'm biased, so it might not apply to everyone