imjust1n said:

Please no Mario Galaxy 3 Nintendo if you are thinking of doing that I have not bought the 2nd one and barley play the first one. I want a new series : )

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Don't worry. Nintendo themselves have said they've run out of ideas for the Galaxy games. I think we can expect a brand new 3D Mario, hopefully next fall.

http://m.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/36325/mario-galaxy-3-is-difficult-to-imagine-nintendo/

Luckily, it appears 2D Mario and AC are the only IPs that Nintendo likes releasing carbon copies of.

imjust1n said:

Please no Mario Galaxy 3 Nintendo if you are thinking of doing that I have not bought the 2nd one and barley play the first one. I want a new series : )

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It sounds like EAD Tokyo doesn't want to do a third Galaxy title based on director Koichi Hayashida thoughts:

When we worked on Galaxy 1 we came up with a mountain of ideas. Of course, the ideas that made it in to the final product were the ones at the very top. Those ideas that were most compelling or could be implemented most easily and effectively. The other ideas were a little bit rougher. Ideas we weren't positive that'd be as effective, or might have been much more difficult to include.

When you think about trying to make a game like Galaxy 2 from that large group of ideas that we had already decided were on the rough side, that becomes a very difficult project. The only way that we got through the development of Mario Galaxy 2 was by coming up with entirely new ideas. I think of that as a very challenging project when I look back on it.

From that perspective, to say we'd make another game using the ideas left over from Galaxy 2, it's very difficult for me to imagine. I feel like we really did research the field very well for possible ideas and we used everything that was reasonably easy to implement.

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I think we'll learn what a few of them have been up to within the next two weeks. Nintendo's release list is pretty barren, so announcements and dates have to be imminent. Itoi said something Mother related would be announced very soon, and there's that Pokémon tease for January 8th, which is a Tuesday. Famitsu doesn't come out on Tuesday (and I don't remember them ever having any Pokémon announcements), I believe Coro Coro comes out in the middle of the month, and Pokémon Smash airs on Sunday, so that can't be it, either. Nintendo Direct on January 8th?

Kind of off-topic, but the best place to ask it in:

Nintendo Direct usually is every two months. We could maybe get a peek at some of the stuff their devs have been working on. December is when the next real one should be, any chance of it still happening?

wsippel said:

I think we'll learn what a few of them have been up to within the next two weeks. Nintendo's release list is pretty barren, so announcements and dates have to be imminent. Itoi said something Mother related would be announced very soon, and there's that Pokémon tease for January 8th, which is a Tuesday. Famitsu doesn't come out on Tuesday (and I don't remember them ever having any Pokémon announcements), I believe Coro Coro comes out in the middle of the month, and Pokémon Smash airs on Sunday, so that can't be it, either. Nintendo Direct on January 8th?

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Indeed - the 8th is such a random date for an announcement if it's not a Nintendo Direct. Even then, a Tuesday is unusual.

And Nintendo's first party release schedule isn't barren - in Japan it's *empty*.

Keyouta said:

Kind of off-topic, but the best place to ask it in:

Nintendo Direct usually is every two months. We could maybe get a peek at some of the stuff their devs have been working on. December is when the next real one should be, any chance of it still happening?

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On New Year's Eve? What would you say?

StreetsAhead said:

And Nintendo's first party release schedule isn't barren - in Japan it's *empty*.

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This. It literally is *empty*. Here's hoping a Direct rectifies this soon. My fear is that it will but *only* with Game and Wario, Pikmin 3 and Dragon Quest X for Wii U

I love Diddy Kong Racing, but I'm pulling blanks as to how they could make a HD comeback for it nowadays when MK7 and Sonic Racing Transformed have more or less directly taken that series' defining mechanic. Not to mention characters; no Conker and Banjo would suck dick, and I'd hope for more interesting characters than just Dillon if Monster Games was going down a similar path Rare did and using pre-existing characters for a more 'obscure' all-stars game.

Not that any of it is actually happening of course. Did DKRDS even do that well?

deathcobra said:

This. It literally is *empty*. Here's hoping a Direct rectifies this soon. My fear is that it will but *only* with Game and Wario, Pikmin 3 and Dragon Quest X for Wii U

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wii u fit and wonderful 101 might slot in there somehow too. i think that's all the e3 2012 games.

Hiltz said:

It sounds like EAD Tokyo doesn't want to do a third Galaxy title based on director Koichi Hayashida thoughts:

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so that's why smg2 was so good- they had to dig a lot deeper to come up with good ideas instead of just using the ones that had already floated to the top.

AniHawk said:

wii u fit and wonderful 101 might slot in there somehow too. i think that's all the e3 2012 games.

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I forgot Wii U Fit. Drat, that means that addition may will mean everything else of significance will be announced at E3

Watch Da Birdie said:

Also, does anyone think Nintendo is developing a new Takamaru game? Ever since the reveal of it as an attraction in Nintendo Land, I definitely feel they might be looking to bring him back. And there's multiple directions to go with the franchise too that I couldn't really peg anyone doing it specifically.

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Well I know Kamiya said aside from Starfox he would also like to work on a Takamaru game. Although his plate is pretty full at the moment

jay said:

This isn't that relevant, but Camelot called themselves Camelot for the Shining Forces on the Saturn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaNwc-mUgVQ

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Sonic and Camelot were technically separate entities until Shining Force 3 was finished. Sonic was the staff around Hiroyuki Takahashi still at Sega, Camelot was formed after Shining Force Gaiden Final Confict around Shugo Takahashi that already did independent work like on Beyond the Beyond and Hotshots Golf for Sony. Shining the Holy Ark and the Shining Force 3 instalments were collaborations of the two groups before the former left Sega for good and both merged again.

Datschge said:

Sonic and Camelot were technically separate entities until Shining Force 3 was finished. Sonic was the staff around Hiroyuki Takahashi still at Sega, Camelot was formed after Shining Force Gaiden Final Confict around Shugo Takahashi that already did independent work like on Beyond the Beyond and Hotshots Golf for Sony. Shining the Holy Ark and the Shining Force 3 instalments were collaborations of the two groups before the former left Sega for good and both merged again.

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Hiroyuki never worked for Sega, according to the interview he did with Games TM, so the whole setup always really confused me.

I did notice only Shugo worked on BtB and that was credited to Camelot, so what you've said makes some sense.

jay said:

Hiroyuki never worked for Sega, according to the interview he did with Games TM, so the whole setup always really confused me.

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Afaik Sonic started as Consumer Development Studio #4 so it was definitely an internal Sega development group at the start. But it may well be the case that several lead staff were never actually employed by Sega but instead collaborating freelancers like e.g. Sakurai does with Nintendo nowadays.

I'm not sure how I feel about this lack of Direct. On one hand, it could simply mean they have nothing significant to show, so they aren't having One. On the other hand, they could be waiting as long as possible to announce because they know how awesome it will be.

What are you all on about? The last Nintendo Direct was a few weeks ago, on the 7th I believe. Nothing much was shown except more Pikmin 3 footage.

wsippel said:

I think we'll learn what a few of them have been up to within the next two weeks. Nintendo's release list is pretty barren, so announcements and dates have to be imminent. Itoi said something Mother related would be announced very soon, and there's that Pokémon tease for January 8th, which is a Tuesday. Famitsu doesn't come out on Tuesday (and I don't remember them ever having any Pokémon announcements), I believe Coro Coro comes out in the middle of the month, and Pokémon Smash airs on Sunday, so that can't be it, either. Nintendo Direct on January 8th?

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Earthbound HD maybe? Mother Triology HD? eShop exclusive?

How could Iwata be so foolish to have such a completely empty lineup so soon after launch? Clearly they did not learn anything from the 3DS, despite what they said.

I could definitely see the reveal of a 3DS Pokemon game on Nintendo Direct akin to how they unveiled New Super Mario Bros 2.

BD1 said:

Earthbound HD maybe? Mother Triology HD? eShop exclusive?

How could Iwata be so foolish to have such a completely empty lineup so soon after launch? Clearly they did not learn anything from the 3DS, despite what they said.

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Yeah, they're really fucking this up badly. As I wrote a few days ago, if they worry about people bitching about delays, they shouldn't stop announcing games early, they should simply announce the games without a release date. The fear of other developers copying their concepts is even more asinine, as copycat titles are usually not entering production until after the games they copy are out and proven successes - and even then, Nintendo's more hardcore games don't get copied to begin with. Nintendo's secrecy doesn't help anyone, and is in fact the number one reason for the lack of hype for their systems in my opinion.

ChaosXVI said:

What are you all on about? The last Nintendo Direct was a few weeks ago, on the 7th I believe. Nothing much was shown except more Pikmin 3 footage.

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The 5th, but yeah. I think it'd be strange if we had another Nintendo Direct this month.

Datschge said:

Afaik Sonic started as Consumer Development Studio #4 so it was definitely an internal Sega development group at the start. But it may well be the case that several lead staff were never actually employed by Sega but instead collaborating freelancers like e.g. Sakurai does with Nintendo nowadays.

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I never knew there was a CS4?! I thought it was just CS1 (Sports), CS2 (Team Shinobi) and CS3 (Sonic Team)?

Didn't Sonic Co. also work with Climax early on for actual development? I think that was the setup until SF2, that initially Sonic was more a "planning company" like Armor Project, Ape/Creatures or Mistwalker?

YoshiRider123 said:

The 5th, but yeah. I think it'd be strange if we had another Nintendo Direct this month.

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We didn't have a fall conference this year. I could see Nintendo doing a winter conference instead, similar to the awesome 2011 fall conference. December/ January would make a lot more sense than September/ October anyway.

Zen_Arcade said:

Same. I loved Mario Galaxy, but I don't need a third game of it. Though I have no idea where they would take the franchise from there.

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To... 3D Land *cue uplifting tune*

If we get a surprise direct in the next few weeks, I wouldn't expect any megaton reveals. It'll pretty much be dates for some stuff we know is coming soon (LEGO City, Game & Wario) and if we're lucky some other 3rd party ports get formally announced (Tomb Raider, PES2013, RE6, etc).

We pretty much know the extent of Nintendo's lineup heading into E3 and I wouldn't expect to have the veil lifted on anything else until then.

ChaosXVI said:

What are you all on about? The last Nintendo Direct was a few weeks ago, on the 7th I believe. Nothing much was shown except more Pikmin 3 footage.

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YoshiRider123 said:

The 5th, but yeah. I think it'd be strange if we had another Nintendo Direct this month.

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We've had a Direct every other latter part of the month since October of 2011. Not even the pre-E3 one broke the pattern. It's hard to imagine them stopping now, but I guess Nintendo has other priorities at the moment.

lunchwithyuzo said:

If we get a surprise direct in the next few weeks, I wouldn't expect any megaton reveals. It'll pretty much be dates for some stuff we know is coming soon (LEGO City, Game & Wario) and if we're lucky some other 3rd party ports get formally announced (Tomb Raider, PES2013, RE6, etc).

We pretty much know the extent of Nintendo's lineup heading into E3 and I wouldn't expect to have the veil lifted on anything else until then.

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I disagree. I don't think we know Nintendo's full 1H 2013 lineup. Do you really think they won't release a single first party 3DS game in Japan within the next six months? That seems... unlikely. In fact, looking at how insanely successful Animal Crossing is, pretty much the only unreleased heavy hitter, Tomodachi Collection 2, could/ would probably be delayed even if its ready.

If they do something in January, I expect it to be big - and very Japan centric. Especially as E3 simply isn't the place to announce more Japanese focused games to begin with.

There has to be some sort of event soon- if for no other reason than to formally date Game and Wario and Need for Speed.

Keyouta said:

Kind of off-topic, but the best place to ask it in:

Nintendo Direct usually is every two months. We could maybe get a peek at some of the stuff their devs have been working on. December is when the next real one should be, any chance of it still happening?

Click to expand...

erm

Next big one should be mid-late Jan I think. 3rd Quarter Investor thing due at the end of the month so there may be some news there also.

wsippel said:

I disagree. I don't think we know Nintendo's full 1H 2013 lineup. Do you really think they won't release a single first party 3DS game in Japan within the next six months? That seems... unlikely. In fact, looking at how insanely successful Animal Crossing is, pretty much the only unreleased heavy hitter, Tomodachi Collection 2, could/ would probably be delayed even if its ready.

If they do something in January, I expect it to be big - and very Japan centric. Especially as E3 simply isn't the place to announce more Japanese focused games to begin with.

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Oh, I was speaking to just Wii U. Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101 and Wii Fit U will totally fill their Q2 here and there. If we're lucky maybe we'll get a CG Smash trailer or Bayo 2 gameplay trailer something in the next few months, but stuff like Monolith's game, Retro's game, Wii Sports U, Mario Universe, DKRR, Yoshi's Land or whatever else Nintendo has coming won't be unveiled until E3 (or later).

On 3DS we'll get more Japan announcements but I think the west is already covered there too thanks to late localizations and Luigi's delay. I don't see Tomodachi Collection in 1H either (too close to Animal Crossing yet), the only announced game we know of that could be 1H in Japan (outside LM2) is Band Bros. imo.

I'm banking on a late Jan bomb, ala Xenoblade, Kirby, TLS, Pandora's Tower.

I think Kirby was shown to not be overshadowed by Wii U at E3, so could Diddy (if real) be shown to prevent the same at E3 where huge hitters like Mario and maybe Smash could be shown? Surely Diddy is on the level of Kirby, a main DK game with DKCR was big enough of course to be at E3 2010.... but Epic Yarn was there...

I just hope we get a bomb or two in Jan. I also want DKR Wii U to be real so badly. :'( Barrel Blast really failed the hype, we need an uber DK racer, and none would be bigger than DKR2.

Yoshi's Land would be big enough for E3 absolutely, as he is like the co-star of the Mario series.

The irony?

Yoshi's Island DS and Diddy Kong Racing DS were showcased at E3 2006, E3 2006 the sequel? *prays*

Edit: Star Fox Command as well, so we could get a Retro Star Fox (please?), Yoshi's Land (Good Feel?), and Diddy Kong Racing by Monster Games, all for Wii U. If all exist, we're in for a fucking wild ride!

Hopefully we get solid dates sometime soon, which will probably be the extent of announcements for awhile. There's a chance we'll see a spring conference in April, but that's probably the only shot we have at seeing anything 2H related before E3. Nintendo would be smart to save all the big stuff to counter the other consoles' reveals.

wsippel said:

I think we'll learn what a few of them have been up to within the next two weeks. Nintendo's release list is pretty barren, so announcements and dates have to be imminent. Itoi said something Mother related would be announced very soon, and there's that Pokémon tease for January 8th, which is a Tuesday. Famitsu doesn't come out on Tuesday (and I don't remember them ever having any Pokémon announcements), I believe Coro Coro comes out in the middle of the month, and Pokémon Smash airs on Sunday, so that can't be it, either. Nintendo Direct on January 8th?

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Isn't Tuesday often when the Pokemon company updates their website and such? I'm pretty sure Black and White's first website came on-line on a Tuesday.

Anyway, to add fuel to the fire, Shigeki Morimoto, one of the game designers and programmer of Pokemon (he was the dude you could fight in Black and White) will be on Pokemon Smash the Sunday right before on the 6th.

Nintendo's Fall Conference this year was done via Nintendo Direct. That's when we found out about the launch details including price, launch colors, two SKUs, and game announcements for MH3 Ultimate HD and Bayonetta 2 as well as new trailers for games like The Wonderful 101 and Lego City if I'm not mistaken.

We know Wii Fit U is currently scheduled for a TBA Q1 2013 release.

Reggie teased us with the following statement last month:

I think we will continue to surprise the fans with announcements and information. I would not go so far as to say you know everything in our launch window.

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It sounds like it probably won't be anything big. He could have already mentioned part of the content including the upcoming release of Google Street map app for Q1 2013. It will be free download for a limited time. Then there's Panorama View scheduled for Spring. A free demo version will be available, but the full app will have to be purchased in the Wii U eShop. Again, this is for North America's schedule.

Wii Fit U is "spring 2013" in Japan now. You can bank on Q2 imo.

I posted a huge list on a similar topic this month, but I'll cut it to what's being worked on now. Note that if there is another restructure or change in heads and whatnot, we'll probably find out when the next FY starts.

EAD Kyoto Group 1 (Hideki Konno) - Mario Kart U [Early 2014], Assistance in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon [Early 2013]
Reasoning: They developed Luigi's Mansion and might have some assistance for Next Level Games, at least during preproduction. Meanwhile, Mario Kart U would be great for next holiday, but they might have too much out on Holiday 2013 and delay this sure-hit for the following Spring, a la MKWii.

EAD Kyoto Group 2 (Katsuya Eguchi) - Animal Crossing: New Leaf (US/EU) [Late Spring 2013], Wii Sports U [Holiday 2013/2014]
Reasoning: Animal Crossing is Q2 in EU, probably similar for US if not, Summer. Meanwhile, we've seen videos of Sports games since Wii U's unveiling, so it should see a release at some point. Might be a good casual hit for holiday 2013 to combat Kinect 2.

EAD Kyoto Group 3 (Eiji Aonuma) - New 3DS Zelda [Holiday 2013], Wii U Zelda [Holiday 2014/2015]
Reasoning: With GREZZO working on the previous handheld releases, I suspect that some of this team has been able to work on a 3DS adventure. It would really help the 3DS's next holiday, for sure! Console Zelda probably needs 3 years between releases to be finished.

EAD Kyoto Group 4 (Hiroyuki Kimura) - NSMBU DLC [2013], Pikmin 3 [Q2 2013]
Reasoning: No way any new game from Group 4 will be known until 2014 at the earliest. Looks to be about 2+ teams now, so I suspect a team shuffle to other EAD groups or another 3DS project for 2014/5.

EAD Kyoto Group 5 (Tadashi Sugiyama) - Wii Fit U [Q1 2013], Collab Project 3DS [Late 2013/2014]
Reasoning: This team appears to be the smallest group at EAD, and Wii Fit U is expected for early early 2013. Looking forward, I see another collaboration for either late 2013 or 2014, most likely 3DS related.

EAD Tokyo Group 1 (Takao Shimizu) - ???
Reasoning: This team of EAD Tokyo is a mystery to me. It seems the team is fairly small and acts like Kyoto Group 5 in nature. I suspect GREZZO's next project is being co-developed with them, most likely 3DS related. Don't expect a new IP here unless we have all been tricked with their inactivity.

EAD Tokyo Group 2 (Yoshiaki Koizumi) - Wii U Mario Title [Holiday 2013]
Reasoning: Super Mario 3D Land was developed pretty quickly, especially considering the earthquake tragedy. I suspect Nintendo will not let this miss Holiday season, and it might be getting assistance from other developers to make it out in 2013. If other big games hit instead, it will be mid-2014 a la SMG2. New IP is not going to happen.

SPD Group 1 - Game & Wario (w/ Intelligent Systems) [Q1 2013], Tomodachi Collection 2 (JPN-only) [2013]
Reasoning: WarioWare-like games have been made consistently by this team, and Tomodachi Collection 2 has been teased too often for it NOT to miss 2013. The latter will never hit US but will sell better than G&W WW could ever reach.

SPD Group 2 (Hitoshi Yamagami) - Wii U Monolith Soft title [2013]
Reasoning: SPD is hard to figure out, really. But if I had to take a guess I imagine they are working on another Monolith Soft game and perhaps another 3DS title with an outside dev.

SPD Group 3 (Kensuke Tanabe) - Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (w/ Next Level Games) [Spring 2013], Next Retro Project [2013], Next Monster Games Project [2013]
Reasoning: Tanabe's team mostly works on western-developed releases as a support team. Knowing this, he probably is assisting in LM2, although less so with Miyamoto on board. Retro and Monster Games are certain to have new games coming very soon.

SPD Group 4 (Hiroshi Sato) - Mario Party U (w/ Nd Cube) [Late 2013 / Early 2014], Next Camelot Project
Reasoning: This team focuses more on publishing Japanese-developed side-projects, known for working with Camelot's games and, more recently, Nd Cube. With the latter now fully-owned by Nintendo, they might pull back a little from helping, but not at the moment.

SPD Group 5 / SDD (Masaru Nishita / Shinya Takahashi) - Brain Age: Concentration Training (EU/US) [Feb 2013], Jam with the Band 3DS [2013]
Reasoning: I suspect this team is still in existence, considering there are new entries in the team's biggest franchises coming out. One recent JPN 3DS Nintendo Direct stated that Jam with the Band is coming, so expect that within a year I'd say.

Intelligent Systems - Fire Emblem: Awakening (US/EU) [2013], Game & Wario (w/ SPD 1) [Q1 2013], Potential Wii U Ware [2014]
Reasoning: Obvious stuff here. As for another project, that can be possible, but the team just finished a handful of major projects this year. Expect more news late 2013 for a 2014 release at the earliest.

Monolith Soft - Wii U RPG [Late 2013 in Japan], New 3DS Project [2014]
Reasoning: Iwata mentioned in a Nintendo Direct that Monolith Soft ware working on something for Wii U, and it has been ~2.5 years since the last major release from them. I say Japan-only because lol, translations. Hope we don't need another Operation Rainfall this time. Also, the new Kyoto branch is working on something with Nintendo for 3DS but is a bit early yet.

Nd Cube - Mario Party U [Late 2013 or 2014]
Reasoning: With Hudson employees and some team-building, it should be big enough to work on their next project fairly smoothly. I doubt we'll see another Wii Party, after poor US reception.

Retro Studios - New Wii U Title/IP [Holiday 2013]
Reasoning: Some rumors say Retro pulled a teaser trailer from E3 at the last minute, and Reggie has said they are working on something soon. If it misses 2013, I'd say something really bad happened at Retro that we don't know. Keeping positive. Also, rumors speculate that early 2012 there was a second project started, but I'm not holding my breath.

Nintendo Software Technologies - ???
Reasoning: This company is probably working on VC stuff for Wii U and 3DS now, but with one of the creators of Sonic on the team, I also suspect they are working on a new game, whether it is a new IP (doubtful) or a handheld adventure (Donkey Kong Country for 3DS/Wii U anyone?). All speculation. I suspect a 2013/2014 announcement for their next big(ish) project.

HAL Laboratory - 3DS Kirby Title [Early 2014], Possibly Wii U Kirby Title [2014]
Reasoning: HAL tends to work with side developers on the handheld Kirby games now, and after the relative success of RtDL, I think they'll move smoothly to another console Kirby. Note that they also work on OS stuff, too. A handheld Kirby game might be faster to develop, so 2013 could happen with Engines' help.

Brownie Brown - Fantasy Life (US/EU?) (w/ Level-5) [2013?]
Reasoning: This team took forever to release this game with Level-5, and it finally releases in Japan this year. A US release can be assured at some point, but knowing L5's localization speed, I don't know what to think. More support, too?

Creatures, Inc. - Pokemon 3DS adventure or a Pokemon Wii U adventure [2014]
Reasoning: PokePark 2 is only about a year old, so whatever project they are releasing will be at least a year off...it might his Japan late 2013, but America is not going to happen.

Game Freak - HarmoKnight [Early 2013], Next Pokemon Game [Late 2013 Jpn, 2014 US/EU]
Reasoning: There are multiple teams at Game Freak working on Pokemon content, and I suspect the other team has been working between HarmoKnight and the next Pokemon game (not a remake) for 3DS. Whether we see this next year or not depends on how desperate the situation gets before mid-2013.

AlphaDream - ??? [2013]
Reasoning: Well, the website still works, so I assume they are still alive. They also apparently got a patent on a two-screen gameplay gimmick. I suspect this may turn into a 3DS adventure, but with 2+ years since the last release, I think we'll be seeing a Wii U or big 3DS game 2013 or never.

Ambrella - New Pokemon Adventure [2013/4]
Reasoning: It's Ambrella. They only do Pokemon spin-offs, and Rumble Blast did 1+ Million, so they are doing well.

Arika - ???
Reasoning: Arika has a close relationship with Nintendo, but for now, it is hard to see whether they are working with Nintendo at the moment.

Camelot - New Mario Sport game [2014]
Reasoning: Tennis Open was quickly developed, but I think the next project will be in the oven longer...not to mention it could be on Wii U, too. A mystery, this one.

Genius Sonority - The Denpa Men 2 (US/EU) [Probably mid-to-late 2013]
Reasoning: GS had been apparently been working on a big Wii RPG of sorts, but since then the company has shrunken considerably. I'm not sure Nintendo is even assisting the company that much anymore...so expect them to be reduced to pretty-cool Downloadable Games. No Wii U project expected.

Good-Feel - (shot in the dark) Yoshi's Land? [2013]
Reasoning: G-F has been good with Nintendo lately. Wario Land was an okay-seller, but KEY did very well! Knowing this, Nintendo most likely has them working on another platformer, and with rumors of a Yoshi game as far back as late 2011, I suspect it might be true...but it could grace either 3DS or Wii U. It has been quite a time since the last release, too.

Headstrong Games - ???
Reasoning: Just released a game, doubtful we'll see anything for a long while.

Monster Games- (shot in the dark) Wave Race [2013]
Reasoning: It will have been two years since the 3DS launch title (which was probably a little over a year in development), and Nintendo did renew the the Wave Race trademark/copyright(?) along with Eternal Darkness. Now, ED2 was being pitched by Silicon Knights, so perhaps they started with Nintendo for a short time and incited the renewal for it. Either way, something is coming from Monster Games very soon, I suspect.

Next Level Games - Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon [Spring 2013]
Reasoning: Obvious, of course. Doubtful they are working on another project.

Skip - ???
Reasoning: Are they still alive? I suspect so, but they are fairly small in scale. Hard to see what they could be making at this point.

Vanpool - Second Dillon Game 3DS [2013?]
Reasoning: There seems to be some level of hinting that a sequel could be made, and I would not rule it out, either, as just about all of Nintendo's DD games on 3DS did fairly well and got sequels of sorts.

Platinum Games - Anarchy Reigns (US/EU) (pub: Sega) [2013], Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (pub: Konami) [2013], The Wonderful 101 [2013], Bayonetta 2 [Late 2013/4]
Reasoning: Three major releases all announced, probably out by 2013 (with possible 2014 release for B2).

Knowing this, my Nintendo-focused anticipations of 2013:

3DS
Brain Age: Concentration Training (SDD) [Feb]
Fire Emblem: Awakening (IS) [Feb]
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (Chunsoft) [Mar]
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (SPD, EAD 1?, SPD 3) [Mar-Apr]
Animal Crossing: New Leaf (EAD 2) [Q2-Q3]
Jam with the Band (SDD) [Summer-Fall]
Wave Race (Monster Games) [Fall]
Alpha Dream Project [Fall-Winter]
3DS Legend of Zelda (EAD 3) [Holiday]

3DSWare
Tokyo Crash Mobs (Mitchell) [Jan]
HarmoKnight (GameFreak) [Mar]
The Denpa Men 2 (Genius Sonority) [Q2-Q3]
Dillion's Second Adventure (Vanpool) [Mid-to-Late 2013]

Wii U
LEGO City Undercover (TT Fusion) [Jan]
Game & Wario (SPD 1 / IS) [Feb-Mar]
Wii Fit U (EAD 5) [Feb-Mar]
Pikmin 2 (EAD 4) [Apr-May]
The Wonderful 101 (Platinum) [Spring-Summer]
EAD Tokyo Project (probably 3D Mario) [Holiday]
Retro Studios Project (New IP?) [Holiday]
Wii Sports U [Fall-Winter]
Yoshi's Land [Winter-2014]
Monolith Soft Project (JPN-only) [Fall-Winter]
Bayonetta 2 (Platinum) [Winter or into 2014]

Wii U Ware
Panorama View [Spring]
Google Maps [Spring]
Virtual Console [Late Spring-Late Summer]

lunchwithyuzo said:

Oh, I was speaking to just Wii U. Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101 and Wii Fit U will totally fill their Q2 here and there. If we're lucky maybe we'll get a CG Smash trailer or Bayo 2 gameplay trailer something in the next few months, but stuff like Monolith's game, Retro's game, Wii Sports U, Mario Universe, DKRR, Yoshi's Land or whatever else Nintendo has coming won't be unveiled until E3 (or later).

On 3DS we'll get more Japan announcements but I think the west is already covered there too thanks to late localizations and Luigi's delay. I don't see Tomodachi Collection in 1H either (too close to Animal Crossing yet), the only announced game we know of that could be 1H in Japan (outside LM2) is Band Bros. imo.

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Monolith's game is probably something that will be unveiled in Japan, actually. As are a lot of the games they're working on, for both 3DS and Wii U.

TheUnknownForce, are you implying you have inside info? Either way, great list. These next few years have tons of potential barring development problems.

Camelot - New Mario Sport game [2014]
Reasoning: Tennis Open was quickly developed, but I think the next project will be in the oven longer...not to mention it could be on Wii U, too. A mystery, this one.

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Please be a new Mario Golf for Wii U.

wsippel said:

Monolith's game is probably something that will be unveiled in Japan, actually. As are a lot of the games they're working on, for both 3DS and Wii U.

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Monolith's a possibility, but if their Wii U game is something targeting a worldwide release (which may be the case after critical response to Xenoblade imo) it won't debut until E3. Funny enough, both Monolith's Wii games (Disaster DOC, Xenoblade/Monado) also debuted at E3, despite their troubles with finding US release.

I think that Nintendo PR highlighting them as making a Wii U game, which sort of puts them on a prestiege level with Retro, means there's a good chance this is what's happening. Particularly if it's a visually impressive game, Nintendo will be loading their arsenal with the best looking stuff for going against the Duragorbis rollouts.

TheUnknownForce said:

Skip - ???
Reasoning: Are they still alive? I suspect so, but they are fairly small in scale. Hard to see what they could be making at this point.

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I'm hoping they're working on another batch of ArtStyle games for 3DS/WiiU.

HAL Laboratory - 3DS Kirby Title [Early 2014], Possibly Wii U Kirby Title [2014]
Reasoning: HAL tends to work with side developers on the handheld Kirby games now, and after the relative success of RtDL, I think they'll move smoothly to another console Kirby. Note that they also work on OS stuff, too. A handheld Kirby game might be faster to develop, so 2013 could happen with Engines' help.

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Don't forget that HAL did Picross 3D, which should be a no-brainer to follow up on with a 3DS sequel (Picross 3D 3D?) and shouldn't require a whole lot of development time.

Intelligent Systems - Fire Emblem: Awakening (US/EU) [2013], Game & Wario (w/ SPD 1) [Q1 2013], Potential Wii U Ware [2014]
Reasoning: Obvious stuff here. As for another project, that can be possible, but the team just finished a handful of major projects this year. Expect more news late 2013 for a 2014 release at the earliest.

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Eh I dunno, IntSys has a history as one of Nintendo's most prolific studios. Fire Emblem wrapped up ages ago in Japan, and they managed to develop and release a pretty hefty downloadable game (Crashmo) right alongside their other big project (Paper Mario SS). I wouldn't be surprised at all to see them squeak in a new 3DS Advance Wars before the end of 2013, and a 3DS/WiiU DD version of Puzzle League would be a quick little project that'd help Nintendo's eShop lineup.

lunchwithyuzo said:

Monolith's a possibility, but if their Wii U game is something targeting a worldwide release (which may be the case after critical response to Xenoblade imo) it won't debut until E3. Funny enough, both Monolith's Wii games (Disaster DOC, Xenoblade/Monado) also debuted at E3, despite their troubles with finding US release.

I think that Nintendo PR highlighting them as making a Wii U game, which sort of puts them on a prestiege level with Retro, means there's a good chance this is what's happening. Particularly if it's a visually impressive game, Nintendo will be loading their arsenal with the best looking stuff for going against the Duragorbis rollouts.

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But they also need a few heavy hitters to announce in Japan, regardless of where the games will be released. Even if it's just a goodwill thing. Not to mention Iwata teased the Monolith Wii U project in Japan - it wasn't even mentioned in Europe or the US.

Also, countering stuff at E3 is probably a bad idea to begin with. New systems will overshadow anything and everything they could announce by virtue of being new systems - there's fuck all Nintendo can do about it. Unless they plan to announce they bought both EA and Activision, which obviously won't happen. I believe it makes a lot more sense to have teasers and/ or blowouts before and after E3, not at E3. Saving stuff for E3 would be a massive waste.

Anth0ny said:

A new Diddy Kong Racing would be cool, but if Rare or David Wise isn't involved... it's just not the same.

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Wise could theoretically be involved since he's freelance now.

(Nintendo, are you listening? Hire him already, dammit!)

Hot off the heals of the DKR rumor, sadly, apparently Monster's co-founder Dave Pollatsek passed away back on the 13th at 38 due to Cardiac Arrest:

http://www.southernminn.com/northfi...cle_99eb29f1-634e-5c3d-bafb-1d58199c56b3.html

He was Lead Programmer on Pilotwings Resort, and was also name dropped as a programmer on DKR at GFAQs (the post was made back at Sept again BTW).

Poor guy, my Mum went that way. :'(

wsippel said:

But they also need a few heavy hitters to announce in Japan, regardless of where the games will be released. Even if it's just a goodwill thing. Not to mention Iwata teased the Monolith Wii U project in Japan - it wasn't even mentioned in Europe or the US.

Also, countering stuff at E3 is probably a bad idea to begin with. New systems will overshadow anything and everything they could announce by virtue of being new systems - there's fuck all Nintendo can do about it. Unless they plan to announce they bought both EA and Activision, which obviously won't happen. I believe it makes a lot more sense to have teasers and/ or blowouts before and after E3, not at E3. Saving stuff for E3 would be a massive waste.

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Reggie mentioned Monolith's Wii U game, but that might have been in response to a question.

And his response definitely didn't make it sound like a western or NA release is a sure thing. Rather, it was something they would have to "evaluate" and that he hadn't even seen it yet.

chaosblade said:

Reggie mentioned Monolith's Wii U game, but that might have been in response to a question.

And his response definitely didn't make it sound like a western or NA release is a sure thing. Rather, it was something they would have to "evaluate" and that he hadn't even seen it yet.

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I wonder how Monolith's game will be handled. It'll be interesting to see how Rainfall will affect the release schedule. Their recent comments about the game make me think it'll appeal to the western audience more than Xenoblade did.

chaosblade said:

Reggie mentioned Monolith's Wii U game, but that might have been in response to a question.

And his response definitely didn't make it sound like a western or NA release is a sure thing. Rather, it was something they would have to "evaluate" and that he hadn't even seen it yet.

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In October, Reggie said he knows Monolith Soft is working on a Wii U project but hasn't personally seen it yet. Naturally, he does mention that localizing the project has not been decided yet.

Hero of Legend said:

Hot off the heals of the DKR rumor, sadly, apparently Monster's co-founder Dave Pollatsek passed away back on the 13th at 38 due to Cardiac Arrest:

http://www.southernminn.com/northfi...cle_99eb29f1-634e-5c3d-bafb-1d58199c56b3.html

He was Lead Programmer on Pilotwings Resort, and was also name dropped as a programmer on DKR at GFAQs (the post was made back at Sept again BTW).

Poor guy, my Mum went that way. :'(

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Oh too bad... It really made sense to release DKR...

wsippel said:

But they also need a few heavy hitters to announce in Japan, regardless of where the games will be released. Even if it's just a goodwill thing. Not to mention Iwata teased the Monolith Wii U project in Japan - it wasn't even mentioned in Europe or the US.

Also, countering stuff at E3 is probably a bad idea to begin with. New systems will overshadow anything and everything they could announce by virtue of being new systems - there's fuck all Nintendo can do about it. Unless they plan to announce they bought both EA and Activision, which obviously won't happen. I believe it makes a lot more sense to have teasers and/ or blowouts before and after E3, not at E3. Saving stuff for E3 would be a massive waste.

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Monolith's game was mentioned by PR in the west. Which is also the extent of what they've done for Retro's game so far.

I think what Japan mostly needs is 3rd party announcements right now. Nintendo's well covered through 1H, but 3rd parties are almost entirely absent. And Japan is the region where Nintendo actually has the most pull, which is what's really worrying.

I can agree on E3, and I think this year went some way to showing Nintendo puts less emphasis on it than ever. In a couple years I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped E3 entirely either, and they'd be better for it. But at the same time they pretty much have to be shoring up games for going against the competition. Expectations are low, so coming in with as much *surprisingly* good looking stuff as possible is only going to help them in the coming system wars, even if graphics aren't their first emphasis. Galaxy and Prime 3 were still lookers in 2007, even if they were only on Wii.

Speaking of Monolith, I never noticed they were hiring for a network programmer before. Some online elements in the next game maybe?

Xenoblade Online :3