Nintendo Direct confirmed for 2/8/23

[Perkilator]

As usual, list your hopes and expectations here.

Hopes

• SSBU updated rerelease
• Project X Zone 3
• Kid Icarus
• Metroid Prime 4
• Tomato Adventure remake
• New mainline Mario
• New DK game
• Dragalia Lost on Switch
• Game Boy and GBA on NSO
• ARMS 2
• Trails in the Sky HD
• Sora amiibo
• FE4 remake

Expectations

• A big blowout for Tears of the Kingdom
• Some last bits of info on Return to Dream Land DX
• More info on Sparks of Hope DLC
• Another new Mario game regardless
• Advance Wars
• More info on Engage DLC
• Possibly some Gen 9 DLC?
• More info on the Booster Course Pass

[Fabulously Olivier]

Hopes:

Last chance for Three Hopes dlc. I'm not optimistic, but they could make my day.

I'd like a new Warriors game announcement. Maybe Xenoblade, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, or Golden Sun. Or just Dynasty Warriors 10 or something.

A Golden Sun collection would be great.

 

Expectations:

Engage dlc wave 2 - I'm guessing Hector and Veronica

Advance Wars

Tears of the Kingdom

 

[Etrurian emperor]

I don't expect any new Fire Emblem game to be announced since Engage just came out. 

They really, really should show some actual footage of BOTW 2. The game is supposed to be coming out in May, and it be a bad look if they STILL don't have anything to show.

Given Sakurai's little tease there is at least a teensy tiny possibility of a Kid Icarus port for the Switch, even if what we need is a sequel rather than a port.

I suspect we'll be getting a trailer for the story DLC of Xenoblade 3. 

New stages for Mario Kart 8 is pretty likely. 

[Deathcon]

I expect TotK to get its own direct so they will only tease it here before revealing the date of that direct.

Other then that my only major hopes/expectations are updates about the Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp, Xenoblade 3 DLC, Mario Kart Booster Course, and finally Engage DLC.

[King Marth 64]

I managed to grab my previous prediction list and modified them to use it for 2/8/2023 Nintendo Direct Presentation. My prediction for 2/8/2023 Nintendo Direct Presentation that I think we'll might see in tomorrow are:

• Fire Emblem Engage Expansion Pass from Wave 2
• Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Expansion Pass announcement
• New Fatal Fury installment
• Another Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC Wave from the Expansion Pass.
• TurboGrafx-16 or Sega Saturn Online for the next Nintendo Switch + Expansion Pack announcement
• Another Mega Man Legacy collection (maybe they'll port the Mega Man GB games next or Mega Man Legends + Mega Man 64)

Random (but it might be either 25% chance or not):

• Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp Development Update (I put it as a chance there, but I think it's most likely not show up due to the Ukraine War is still going on and the war did cause the game to delay the release)
• Mega Man 12
• Classic Tekken Ports
• Arms 2

Edited February 7, 2023 by King Marth 64

[WaterKirby1964]

I am super excited and hyped for the Nintendo Direct tomorrow. I don't really have anything to predict, but I am hoping for more news on the Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

[FlyingKitsune]

I'm honestly not sure what I'm hoping for, or even what to predict. I suppose I'll I'm just be going in with no expectations whatsoever for this.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

With Zelda, we're about to find out if a game can spend too much time in the oven. I made a bold prediction that this year would see the announcement and release of the next Nintendo system, meaning Tears of the Kingdom would be another cross-gen Zelda. But I'm not so confident the Super Switch would just be announced during or on the same day as a Nintendo Direct. But then again, The OLED was just a random trailer drop, then released two months later. The original Switch got its own live event, then released two months later. Super Switch too? I've got a lot of theoretical money riding on this.

[WaterKirby1964]

If Mario Kart gets shown in the Nintendo Direct, what courses are you all hoping for to be in Wave 4 of the Booster Course Pass?

[Lightchao42]

I can't do my usual routine of wishing for Pikmin 4 since it's been announced already, so instead I will wish for gameplay and a release date. Anything besides that is a bonus, but I expect that Xenoblade 3's next Hero will be shown, if not the story expansion.

[vanguard333]

Predictions:

1. New information about, and footage of, Tears of the Kingdom. Nintendo has been keeping their cards really close to their chest with this game; we know far less about it now than we did about Breath of the Wild back when it was this close to being released. They will either reveal more information here, or reveal nothing more until the game releases, and the former is more likely.

2. More info on the next couple waves of DLC for Engage.

Hopes:

1. Xenoblade X Switch port announcement.

2. Tears of the Kingdom has Zelda travel alongside Link at different points in the game.

3. Engage gets a free update that gives Alear a proper dragon transformation.

[Fabulously Olivier]

As far as Engage hopes, I'd like a costume update like what Three Houses got. Pick base or promoted outfits for characters, and also be able to use any Somniel & amiibo outfit in any non-mounted class in battle. 

[Fire Emblem Fan]

I'm not getting myself too hyped up, I'm sure there'll be good announcements and news but there won't be a plethora of it. I'm expecting some info on Tears of the Kingdom, Pikimin 4, a last look at Octopath Traveler 2 and maybe Kirby, and potentially some kind of update and/or shadow drop of Advance Wars.

[Etrurian emperor]

I went in with low expectation because Nintendo allegedly doesn't go to E3 because they don't think they have much to show, and I'm still disappointing. The direct lacked heavy hitters. Its mostly Indies, DLC and re-releases that they showed. 

The only big new hitters were Pikmin which isn't for me, and BOTW 2 which was entirely in line with expectation.

And it was the wrong Zelda preview. I'm tired of them just showing disjointed footage that doesn't really tell much. We know just as much of BOTW2 now as we do when the first teaser showed up. Just show the game. Just tell us about the game. Its hard to get hyped if the marketing is so extremely timid. The game comes out in May, so the time to show us their hand was one direct ago. That they consistently refuse to show anything of BOTW2 direct after direct does more to concern me than it does to hype me up. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Etrurian emperor

[Punished Dayni]

A Direct in February? It's more likely than you think.

Spoiler

We start off with a cold open to Pikmin 4, where a ship flies towards a planet and we see the level from before with more things moving about in the field. Then we see gameplay that's about what you'd expect and details of which I'm not familiar with to give any good answers beyond stuff like there being an Ice Pikmin, a non-pikmin that seems like Poochy from Yoshi's games, an alien that looks like it'd be from Ultra Space and a Blood Moon like event. It gets a release date of 23rd July. Next is Xenoblade DLC, so I'll let anyone who knows explain it. Shulk's in the story wave? Then we get Samba De Amigo Party Central, which yeah, makes sense to treat the Joycon as some maracas. It's some day in Summer. Next is Fashion Dreamer, a game that I cannot pretend I'd be up to discussing, if you knew me you'd know I'm a terrible person to ask about fashion. It's out this year and is exclusive. Dead Cells gets a video on the Castlevania DLC (I swore I saw this before), which confirms remixes and they give a date of 6th March. Next we get TRON Identity, a puzzle game with narrative choices coming out April. Next is Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, which gets a port after all these years, out in the summer.

Next is another thriller in a city called Decapolice where people get trained in VR to solve mysteries and have RPG combat, including the main guy turning into a cat at some point. I'm confused if the crime solving actually affects reality. Then the Bayonetta prequel gets another video giving an overview of the game and how Cheshire is the only one who can fight directly. It comes out Paddy's day, so we can't get it Day one physically 😛. Then we get more Splatoon news involving the Expansion Pass, where it has 2 waves and the first is a place from the first game, woof. Then they show of a bit of the next wave and that's it, which seems disappointing. Illusion Island gets what I think is a new game using the character art from more recent shorts (I think we saw this before, another overview trailer I suppose, huh), but hey it has co-op and takes the healing from Kirby. It gets a release of July 28th. Next is the second wave of Engage's expansion pass, with Hector, Soren, Camilla (Ugh) and ChRobin together and Veronica (Ugh, it even uses Heroes gacha mechanics) and a mention for Fell Xenologues, where there's probably some details I'm missing. Hector is today at lease. Next is Harmony: The Fall of Reverie a game with cool cutscenes and what looks like it's a VN, it's out Summer.

Next is word on a Demo for Octopus Wanderer 2, a rerelease of We 💗 Katamari with some new stuff and a demor Katamari Damacy. Then we get Fall of Stars, one of the Chrono-likes with Mitsuda giving tracks (it's out August 29th and has a demo). After that is a free-to-play multiplayer game with soccer on an air-hockey table called Omega Strikers (Preorder? What? It's FTP.). Then we get a remaster of the first three Etrian Odysseys, which is about as you'd expect, it's out First June and each game can be bought individually (that's cool). Advance Wars Reboot Camp finally gets a return with a cutscene filled trailer and a release date of 21st April. Then Kirby: Return to Dreamland Deluxe confirms a new bit of story to the game where you play as Magalor trying to get power again. Seems like it could be a few hours at least? There's also a demo for the game (Poyo!) Then we get NSO news, with GB confirmed for NSO (FINALLY!) Is that Link's Adventure DX? IT IS! It has SML2 too, Metroid 2, Wario Land 3 among others and you can change to all screen filters (Sick), though Oracle of Ages/Seasons is not out yet. Then we get GBA, confirmed for the Expansion pass (I am unsurprised), including a bunch of GBA Mario and Minish Cap (Local Play is confirmed), and of course Metroid Fusion and FE are future releases. FINALLY. Just increase the volume of releases!

Metroid Prime Remastered finally is mentioned (Still no 4), with it being only 1 (Really?) with a bunch of talk about the game and dual analog (Nice), with a release of today and physical copies in 2 weeks (Fast Drop). Next up is that Master Detective Archives: Raincode, giving another brief gameplay overview and a release of 30th June. Baten Kaitos 1 and 2 get confirmed (I remember hearing abut the leak), with a funny step sound effect and what sounds like unaltered combat music, coming out Summer. Next up is Fantasy Life The Girl Who Steals Time (I feel like the person who made Harvest Moon was the director for the first game, am I right?), which is a new game and not a port, with a release date of, this year. Next is Professor Layton (Level 5 direct confirmed!) And the World of Steam gets a 15 second trailer. Then we see the next wave of Mario Kart DLC, so that's a skip. Though it adds Birdo (She wasn't in the game already?). Next is a montage: Minecraft Legends (18th April), Blanc (14th February), Mega Man Battle Network (14th April), Have a Nice Death (22nd March), WBSC eBaseball (What is this? Well, whatever it is it's out Today), Disney Dreamlight Valley adding The Lion King, Tales of Symphonis Remastered (17th February). Then we get the last bit of news. Tear of the Kingdom. We see giant flying monsters, subterranean caves, Ganon calling forth monsters to slay everyone, Minecraft has entered Hyrule, we get a bunch of gameplay and see the new arm in cutscenes, with less than I expected in gameplay. Date's unchanged though. They confirm a limited edition and Amiibo, and with that, that's it.

TL;DR: Level 5 confirmed to be alive. Engage's DLC Emblems are a bit of a mixed bag (True of all the DLC though, eheh!), Decent batch of rereleases and good amount of new demos and GB(A) on NSO finally happened, though of course the libraries could be bigger. Fair amount coming out before August/September, but not much specifically new and those new titles either got nothing specific to whoop about or are Pikmin I suppose.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Punished Dayni

[ciphertul]

Yea, I found this to be an really weak direct, it's sad when the only thing that I was happy for was the Tales remaster.

[vanguard333]

Well, that direct was neat; some good, some bad, some boring, some interesting; it had it all.

The Tears of the Kingdom footage at the end with both story and gameplay footage is pretty good overall. I'm not sure about the new Ganondorf voice; I guess I expected something different from a mummified corpse, but the rest looks really interesting. And we finally saw a bit more footage of Zelda herself, though it was just in a story cutscene. I'm still a little saddened that it looks like Link will still be travelling alone in this game.

7 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

And it was the wrong Zelda preview. I'm tired of them just showing disjointed footage that doesn't really tell much. We know just as much as we do of BOTW2 now as we do when the first teaser showed up. Just show the game. Just tell us about the game. Its hard to get hyped if the marketing is so extremely timid. The game comes out in May, so the time to show us their hand was one direct ago. 

Yeah, I agree. Nintendo really is keeping their cards close to their chest with Tears of the Kingdom, and it is starting to get a little annoying.

 

I knew a Metroid Prime remaster was inevitable, given how Metroid Prime 4 is coming and, with Metroid Dread having renewed interest in the series, they'd inevitably want to introduce new fans to the Prime games. My main criticism is that it is only a remaster of Prime 1. I just bought the entire trilogy for $20 on the Wii U a bit over a year ago; if this remaster is full price, then this will be yet another example of Nintendo charging full price for a Switch version of something you can get at much lower price on a previous console for the simple reason that they know most Switch owners don't have a Wii U. And, even if it doesn't end up being full price, it will still be a little bittersweet. If you're going to only sell the first Metroid Prime game, at least make it a full remake.

Gameboy and Gameboy Advance being on Switch Online is interesting. I'm glad that Gameboy at least doesn't require an expansion pass, but we'll have to see how good the emulation is for these games; I wonder if we'll have another N64 Switch Online situation again or if the emulation will actually be good. That said, there are a number of games that they listed that I want to play: the Oracle games, Minish Cap, Fire Emblem Blazing Sword, etc., but I don't want to play them under a time crunch; I only have so much time each week that I can set aside for playing games; I don't want to have to spend several months' worth of Switch Online for the few hours I could maybe spend on these games, and I think this is the biggest weakness of Switch Online. TV Shows and movies make sense for a subscription model because they're short; one movie is about two hours, and TV shows are divided into 30 minute-to-1 hour episodes. They fit the time one would spend logged in to the service. Games; even old games, take longer, so the lack of permanence really is more of a potential deal-breaker.

[Fabulously Olivier]

I'm... whelmed. Is that a word? Not overwhelmed. Not underwhelmed. Just indifferent?

 

The Engage dlc looks good, and I guess Baten Kaitos could be worth picking up later. But otherwise, nothing really for me.

[Hawkwing]

Just got done watching the direct. First thoughts were that was... alright, if personally underwhelming.

I'm glad to see gameplay of Pikmin 4. It looks gorgeous and I'm happy it wasn't just pretty flyovers like so many game trailers are guilty of. I really need to try out the games at some point, as the franchise looks up my alley.

The Metriod Prime Remaster was leaked so often I expected it would show up eventually. Shame it's not the trilogy as a whole, but I'll probably still pick it up, as I've never tried a Prime game before. Even if I'll be annoyed that it will probably be priced at $60 because Nintendo knows they can get away with it and Gamecube games aren't cheap. I know there's the trilogy on the Wii, but mine is really starting to show its age. 

I only know of Baten Kaitos because of the music from Smash Bros. It uses a card system, and I've had amazing experiences with those recently (Griftlands is one of my favorite games of all time, Fights in Tight Spaces is an underrated gem, and Midnight Suns is an awesome strategy game and is pretty much a superhero version of Three Houses and is better in every single way, fight me) so I'll probably look into it.

I still need a hook for Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo. So far it's just "Breath of the Wild with more stuff to do". Which would be fine if this game weren't releasing 6 years later. Seriously, Monster Mazes's videos on the patents have me more excited about the game than any of the trailers, and those were revealed a year ago! I am fully expecting a direct that focuses solely on Tears of the Kingdom soon, but at this point I find the marketing to be more frustrating than intriguing.

Aside from that, it was pretty much expected news on DLC and Nintendo Switch online. The rest were pretty much indie games and other smaller titles. I'd like to pick up Ghost Trick since I've heard good things about it, and I'm reminded I need to play a Professor Layton game sometime, but aside from that I don't remember much. Oh, and Bayonetta Origins has a "the AI does the fighting for you" mechanic while you play as a supportive mage, which just makes me say that Sacrifice did the concept way more interestingly back in 2000, is an underrated gem, and is 10 bucks on GOG. And that more games need to have the ability to summon volcanoes and tornadoes.

Again, I didn't walk away from this Direct necessarily disappointed, but Nintendo needed more heavy hitters. There are a handful of games I'm interested in and will likely pick up, but I get the feeling Nintendo won't be the most interesting player in 2023. Still, there's a lot that can happen in a year.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Hawkwing

[Punished Dayni]

6 minutes ago, Hawkwing said:

Even if I'll be annoyed that it will probably be priced at $60

Apparently 40, while still a bit high, could be worse.

6 minutes ago, Hawkwing said:

There are a handful of games I'm interested in and will likely pick up, but I get the feeling Nintendo won't be the most interesting player in 2023.

Not something I'd disagree with, but I can see some games I'd have interest in.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Punished Dayni

[King Marth 64]

I definitely knew that Fire Emblem Engage Expansion Pass Wave 2 is going to be showing up and I wasn't expecting that they show off the Wave 3 & 4. (I was expecting Hector, Chrom, & Robin going to show up. But I never expected Veronica to show up for Wave 3 nor Camilla nor Soren be there in Wave 2. But it's strange that they haven't announced any Emblems from Wave 4 unlesss if that Fell Xenologue might have some surprises in the future. (I'm definitely wondered if Nintendo is planning on putting new Emblems for Alm, Seliph, Eliwood, Elincia, & Azura in the future reveals since it looks like they're just going through the CYL Winners in the DLC.)

But I was expecting TurboGrafx-16 Online or Sega Saturn Online might show up, but good thing that the Game Boy Online is still part of the regular Nintendo Switch Online library and good to see Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade is coming to Game Boy Advance Online, but sadly that the Game Boy Advance Online is part of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack since I was going to save my money on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eShop games right now and get the Expansion Pack months later after the Wii U & Nintendo 3DS eShop close down.

But announcing Baten Kaitos 1 & 2 Remastered are coming, I'm going to add that in my wishlist since I haven't gotten any of the two games on the Nintendo GameCube.

Edit: I managed to taken a look at the Japanese library for the GB and GBA games. I did saw the Yakuman (which it was replaced by Alone in the Dark GBC game) in the Japanese GB library and Prince Sable's game is going to be coming on the future rereleases in Game Boy Online (which I did gotten that game imported through eBay while ago) and Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade is in the upcoming future rereleases in the Game Boy Advance Online there as well.

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by King Marth 64

[vanguard333]

1 hour ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

I'm... whelmed. Is that a word? Not overwhelmed. Not underwhelmed. Just indifferent?

Whelmed is indeed a word. It doesn't mean indifferent though; it was supposed to be used the way that people generally use overwhelmed. Perhaps the word you're looking for is "placid".

 

1 hour ago, Hawkwing said:

The Metriod Prime Remaster was leaked so often I expected it would show up eventually. Shame it's not the trilogy as a whole, but I'll probably still pick it up, as I've never tried a Prime game before. Even if I'll be annoyed that it will probably be priced at $60 because Nintendo knows they can get away with it and Gamecube games aren't cheap. I know there's the trilogy on the Wii, but mine is really starting to show its age. 

If you have a Wii U, the Prime Trilogy is available for $20 on the eshop until March 27 (of course they release the Prime remaster only a month before the eshop closes; real anti-consumer move).

 

1 hour ago, Punished Dayni said:

Apparently $40, while still a bit high, could be worse.

Well, at least it's not full price, but that's still twice the cost of Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Wii U eshop. They definitely timed this so that, very soon, that $20 for all three games option will disappear. 

$40 for a remaster of the whole trilogy, I could understand, especially since Prime 3 was built around the wii pointer and gyro aim isn't as fast, but it's just the first game, and it just looks like a graphical update; that's not a remaster, that's a port, especially since it looks like they just put the original graphics through an HD filter and called it a day. Granted, the Prime games don't really need any more of a graphical update than that since they hold up extremely well, but an extra $20 for an HD filter and two less games is a really terrible deal.

[WaterKirby1964]

Best! Nintendo Direct! Ever! 10/10! Most of the announcements like GB and GBA for NSO, DLC for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Fire Emblem Engage, Tears of the Kingdom, Professor Layton and remasters for Metroid Prime and Baten Kaitos I & II were super awesome and hype. The one announcement from the Nintendo Direct I cared for the most was the teaser for Wave 4 of the Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Yoshi's Island as a brand new course is looking super awesome and hype and the unexpected surprise of Birdo getting added as a DLC character for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Thank you very much, Nintendo for the super awesome Nintendo Direct. I really enjoyed it

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Yeah, that Direct was about what I expected. I'm very happy about GBA games coming to Switch Online and I'm happy to see a remaster of Metroid Prime. It wasn't an absolutely amazing best Direct ever kind of a thing, but it was good enough.

[GeoffreyPhelps]

On 2/9/2023 at 12:50 AM, King Marth 64 said:

I definitely knew that Fire Emblem Engage Expansion Pass Wave 2 is going to be showing up and I wasn't expecting that they show off the Wave 3 & 4. (I was expecting Hector, Chrom, & Robin going to show up. But I never expected Veronica to show up for Wave 3 nor Camilla nor Soren be there in Wave 2. But it's strange that they haven't announced any Emblems from Wave 4 unlesss if that Fell Xenologue might have some surprises in the future. (I'm definitely wondered if Nintendo is planning on putting new Emblems for Alm, Seliph, Eliwood, Elincia, & Azura in the future reveals since it looks like they're just going through the CYL Winners in the DLC.)

But I was expecting TurboGrafx-16 Online or Sega Saturn Online might show up, but good thing that the Game Boy Online is still part of the regular Nintendo Switch Online library and good to see Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade is coming to Game Boy Advance Online, but sadly that the Game Boy Advance Online is part of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack since I was going to save my money on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eShop games right now and get the Expansion Pack months later after the Wii U & Nintendo 3DS eShop close down.

But announcing Baten Kaitos 1 & 2 Remastered are coming, I'm going to add that in my wishlist since I haven't gotten any of the two games on the Nintendo GameCube.

Edit: I managed to taken a look at the Japanese library for the GB and GBA games. I did saw the Yakuman (which it was replaced by Alone in the Dark GBC game) in the Japanese GB library and Prince Sable's game is going to be coming on the future rereleases in Game Boy Online (which I did gotten that game imported through eBay while ago) and Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade is in the upcoming future rereleases in the Game Boy Advance Online there as well.

 

I am so exicted for this one.

Edited April 10, 2023 by GeoffreyPhelps