There's a huge debate with Nintendo and release dates lately: people wondering if Zelda will be delayed, angry at some vastly different release dates for EU/US games (Kirby I'm looking at you), lots of guesswork about Star Fox and Xenoblade, meanwhile 2016 is a complete unknown. I tried to bring some facts to the table and give my interpretation of what's going to happen, based on what we know (please do correct me if I made any mistake). I'm gonna keep it mostly Nintendo first party and physical only, listing digital games and third party games only when they're big titles or very famous.
So the point of the thread is trying to guess what Nintendo is going to release and when, not giving a personal wishlist of games.
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NINTENDO 3DS
Let's start from what we know:
- FEBRUARY -
The 13th the New 3DS comes out in Europe and the New 3DS XL comes out in Europe and NA. The same day the 3DS is getting Majora's Mask 3D (Grezzo), Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (Capcom). Finally in February Pokémon Shuffle (Genius Sonority) will be available to download for free.
- MARCH -
An exact month later (the 13th) Code Name S.T.E.A.M (IntSys) sees the light in NA. On the downloadable side we have Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (NST), arriving the 5th in NA, a little later, the 20th, in EU. On the contrary, the 20th NA gets Fossil Fighters: Frontier (Red/Chunsoft). On the third party exclusives front we've got Story of Seasons (Marvelous) coming the 10th of the month in NA (probably never in EU ;_.
- APRIL -
The big N3DS exclusive, Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (Monster), is coming this month worldwide, in particular it's scheduled for the 2nd in EU. Etrian Mystery Dungeon (Chunsoft) is coming to NA the 7th. As far as I know there are no other Nintendo exclusives set for April in Europe, however I'd say it's highly likely we're getting the other Chunsoft game, Fossil Fighters: Frontier, which is currently TBA 2015: it's probably late due to translation woes, just like many other european titles, but they should manage to make it in time for April, so as to plug the hole in european releases.
- MAY -
In May both NA and the EU get Puzzle & Dragons Z (GungHo), with the added Mario themed version. The 15th marks the day Code Name S.T.E.A.M comes to Europe. This could also very well be the month the Smash for 3DS DLC hits, with the already announced Mewtwo and who knows what else (if anything): six months after the Wii U version came out, just like with MK8, but still Spring (the current release window for Mewtwo).
From here on it's all speculation:
- JUNE -
E-fucking-3 time, the moment we're going to learn everything about what's coming out for the rest of the year. There could be a few surprise announcements, just like about every E3, especially on the New 3DS front: they've got to promote that hardware revision somehow, don't they? Maybe not: the DSi had no real Nintendo exclusives on it IIRC, I think they're going to sell it through improved 3D, faceplates and additional features, better graphics for non-exclusive games. Moreover the 3DS is on its way out, with the new handheld possibly announced at E3 2016 and released in early 2017. So I don't see that many titles being announced, one or two max, after all that's what happened at last year's E3, where only S.T.E.A.M was announced.
- JULY / AUGUST -
I think that Nintendo is known for not releasing games in July, so I wouldn't count on anything big, if anything at all. As for August I can see a localization of an old japanese 3DS game (last year NA had Prof Layton vs Ace Attorney in August and Fantasy Life in October), possibly Yo-Kai Watch: Level 5 said they're planning to bring it to the west this year, since we heard nothing about it in the last Spring direct, I guess it's going to be at best a Summer game. I think August is also going to be the month Theatrhythm Dragon Quest (Square Enix) comes to the west, if it ever does; I'm basing this on the past entries of the series, Theatrhythm FF and Curtain Call, which both premiered in the west exactly five months after the original japanese release (March 26th).
- SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER -
Pokémon games have a history of being released in the Fall, especially September and November (X/Y was October though), now they also do worldwide releases and they're basically an annual franchise; so I'd say it's a given that, if we're getting a new game in the franchise, we're going to get it around this period. Possibly Pokémon Z, since another remake is out the question, just like a whole new generation already, while a sequel (like B&W2) is doubtful but could happen. Anyway, if it's going to happen we should hear about it around E3 time at worst.
- NOVEMBER / DECEMBER -
Metroid 3DS. BOOM. To be announced at E3, developed by Retro, 2.5D style, inspired by Super Metroid but with a few innovations. There's a bunch of reasons for which I think this could happen:
What does the future bring? I'd say we'll get Rhythm Heaven in 2016 if the game comes out this year in Japan (Summer?): we always get it around one year later, I just hope we get it at all. Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodo Ryunosuke no Boken, the new Ace Attorney game coming out this year in Japan, is also a good candidate for 2016 localization. Fire Emblem If, supposedly coming out this Summer in Japan, is almost surely an early 2016 release, Awakening already set a precedent, being one year late; there was some hope for 2015 after the direct, but it was quickly crushed. There's the Great Detective Pikachu game published by The Pokémon Company, announced as a project last year in tv, we never heard anything more about it, I'd say it's either a 2016 title or outright cancelled, especially if we don't hear about it at this E3. Bravely Second could be another possibility, given what happened with the first game (we got it after more than a year) and Square Enix track record on localizations, we aren't getting it this year, however we should get it someday, I think the first game did more than ok worldwide. Dragon Quest VII: I doubt it's coming 3 years after Japan, but we never know *cue Let It Go*.
So the point of the thread is trying to guess what Nintendo is going to release and when, not giving a personal wishlist of games.
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NINTENDO 3DS
Let's start from what we know:
- FEBRUARY -
The 13th the New 3DS comes out in Europe and the New 3DS XL comes out in Europe and NA. The same day the 3DS is getting Majora's Mask 3D (Grezzo), Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (Capcom). Finally in February Pokémon Shuffle (Genius Sonority) will be available to download for free.
- MARCH -
An exact month later (the 13th) Code Name S.T.E.A.M (IntSys) sees the light in NA. On the downloadable side we have Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (NST), arriving the 5th in NA, a little later, the 20th, in EU. On the contrary, the 20th NA gets Fossil Fighters: Frontier (Red/Chunsoft). On the third party exclusives front we've got Story of Seasons (Marvelous) coming the 10th of the month in NA (probably never in EU ;_.
- APRIL -
The big N3DS exclusive, Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (Monster), is coming this month worldwide, in particular it's scheduled for the 2nd in EU. Etrian Mystery Dungeon (Chunsoft) is coming to NA the 7th. As far as I know there are no other Nintendo exclusives set for April in Europe, however I'd say it's highly likely we're getting the other Chunsoft game, Fossil Fighters: Frontier, which is currently TBA 2015: it's probably late due to translation woes, just like many other european titles, but they should manage to make it in time for April, so as to plug the hole in european releases.
- MAY -
In May both NA and the EU get Puzzle & Dragons Z (GungHo), with the added Mario themed version. The 15th marks the day Code Name S.T.E.A.M comes to Europe. This could also very well be the month the Smash for 3DS DLC hits, with the already announced Mewtwo and who knows what else (if anything): six months after the Wii U version came out, just like with MK8, but still Spring (the current release window for Mewtwo).
From here on it's all speculation:
- JUNE -
E-fucking-3 time, the moment we're going to learn everything about what's coming out for the rest of the year. There could be a few surprise announcements, just like about every E3, especially on the New 3DS front: they've got to promote that hardware revision somehow, don't they? Maybe not: the DSi had no real Nintendo exclusives on it IIRC, I think they're going to sell it through improved 3D, faceplates and additional features, better graphics for non-exclusive games. Moreover the 3DS is on its way out, with the new handheld possibly announced at E3 2016 and released in early 2017. So I don't see that many titles being announced, one or two max, after all that's what happened at last year's E3, where only S.T.E.A.M was announced.
- JULY / AUGUST -
I think that Nintendo is known for not releasing games in July, so I wouldn't count on anything big, if anything at all. As for August I can see a localization of an old japanese 3DS game (last year NA had Prof Layton vs Ace Attorney in August and Fantasy Life in October), possibly Yo-Kai Watch: Level 5 said they're planning to bring it to the west this year, since we heard nothing about it in the last Spring direct, I guess it's going to be at best a Summer game. I think August is also going to be the month Theatrhythm Dragon Quest (Square Enix) comes to the west, if it ever does; I'm basing this on the past entries of the series, Theatrhythm FF and Curtain Call, which both premiered in the west exactly five months after the original japanese release (March 26th).
- SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER -
Pokémon games have a history of being released in the Fall, especially September and November (X/Y was October though), now they also do worldwide releases and they're basically an annual franchise; so I'd say it's a given that, if we're getting a new game in the franchise, we're going to get it around this period. Possibly Pokémon Z, since another remake is out the question, just like a whole new generation already, while a sequel (like B&W2) is doubtful but could happen. Anyway, if it's going to happen we should hear about it around E3 time at worst.
- NOVEMBER / DECEMBER -
Metroid 3DS. BOOM. To be announced at E3, developed by Retro, 2.5D style, inspired by Super Metroid but with a few innovations. There's a bunch of reasons for which I think this could happen:
- First of all we don't know what Retro has been up to after DKC:TF, but we know that whatever it is, they started working on it ever since November 2013, so November 2015 would mean two years of development (which is basically the usual time they need to develop something).
- They began hiring around May 2014, for projects slated on "Wii U / 3DS", whatever that means.
- Miyamoto said "I definitely think it's a franchise that we value and we certainly want to see what we can do with it in the future. And, obviously, Retro is a very high priority in terms of the potential team that would be considered for working on a Metroid game" (September 2013), just a few months before Retro started their new project.
- The infamous E3 quote: "Shinya Takahashi: So it has been a while since we released the last one and we're having discussions internally about what we can do next. So at this point we have two different types of Metroid games. We have the Prime style of Metroid game and we have the more traditional style of Metroid game. We feel that we do need to take care of both of these styles of play. And the hope is that at some point in the near future we'll be able to share something about them".
- The Trilogy is getting a re-release this year in NA on Wii U.
- If it's not released this year, it's going to be the second biggest gap between releases in the series (6 years!), second only to the huge Super Metroid-Metroid Prime gap (8 years!!).
- Last but not least there's the Nintendo site screw up, right after the January Direct and right after Retro started a twitter account, maybe it was supposed to be revealed in the direct but they changed their minds later on.
What does the future bring? I'd say we'll get Rhythm Heaven in 2016 if the game comes out this year in Japan (Summer?): we always get it around one year later, I just hope we get it at all. Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodo Ryunosuke no Boken, the new Ace Attorney game coming out this year in Japan, is also a good candidate for 2016 localization. Fire Emblem If, supposedly coming out this Summer in Japan, is almost surely an early 2016 release, Awakening already set a precedent, being one year late; there was some hope for 2015 after the direct, but it was quickly crushed. There's the Great Detective Pikachu game published by The Pokémon Company, announced as a project last year in tv, we never heard anything more about it, I'd say it's either a 2016 title or outright cancelled, especially if we don't hear about it at this E3. Bravely Second could be another possibility, given what happened with the first game (we got it after more than a year) and Square Enix track record on localizations, we aren't getting it this year, however we should get it someday, I think the first game did more than ok worldwide. Dragon Quest VII: I doubt it's coming 3 years after Japan, but we never know *cue Let It Go*.