Those 20 seconds of Wave 4 of the Xenoblade 3 DLC was the best part of the whole thing.
Other than that...
Eh.

I felt kind of similar. Just a lot of familiar looking games, nothing particularly new or inventive. Just more of the same.

For me, the one interesting thing was the game scored by Mitsuda. The one with the Chrono Trigger vibe, I forget the name of it. I wish they’d have provided more details about it.

I thought the Direct was good. Best one in two years I think.

Highlights for me was a new Layton game, confirmed release date for Advance wars (even if later than I hoped) and Game boy games in Nintendo Online. Seeing the oracle games in the upcoming games lineup was bittersweet. I want to replay them but I think that it lowers the chance of them getting the same treatment as Links Awakening. I love the oracle games I think they are excellent Zelda experiences, just want them to get the love they deserve.

Also thought the Disney plattformer looked nice and liked the Bayonetta spin off game as well. Doubt that i will play them but if others like them when released I might Pick them up.

Well there's a to be said about this Direct, but the big takeaway for me was the confirmation of my fear that there would be no actual Pokémon games in the GB and GBA libraries and no mention of them being added.

Honestly if they gave Switch owners a way to play Gen 1-3 with online functionality for trading or battling it would be a major phenomenon, but maybe that's also what they fear: stealing away any spotlight from the newer games they can charge $60 for, even if it would no doubt give a notable increase in NSO subscribers. I guess there's some hope they could be added next year during hopefully a break year for Pokémon (a yet to be announced Expansion Pass is of course coming this year), but we'll see.

A solid Direct overall. Enough games are coming that Nintendo didn't bother to show their hand beyond summer.

The Tears of the Kingdom trailer was disappointing though. If Nintendo doesn't want to show us the game three months before release, then that isn't a good sign. Not for Zelda and perhaps also not for anything else they have in the works. They've made a sequel to Pikmin before a sequel to Super Mario Bros., after all. There are also a bunch of GC game revivals all of a sudden and anyone who has looked at sales history for an extented period of time will be aware that there's a rift inside Nintendo between pursuing NES/SNES style to game development approach and N64/GC style. The latter is what sinks Nintendo's fortunes every time they go for it, so 2023 has the potential to be the major turning point where optimism will be pushed aside and has to make way for the attitude "hope for the best, but expect the worst."

Nintendo's recent financial results did not bother me, but this Direct makes me wary of things to come. The lineup of the second half of the year better shows something that makes the upcoming stretch just a coincidental culmination of a variety of titles instead of the new normal.

The lineup is more than fine, what are you reasonably expecting for a console in its 7th year?

Zelda: ToTK, Pikmin 4, Fire Emblem Engage, Metroid Prime Remastered are already 4 significant releases for the year, you got Advance Wars coming in April, another Kirby game too, and to get some boost from the Mario movie release, it's probable there is a Mario game coming in the fall or maybe a Donkey Kong Country game. At least the EAD Tokyo team is overdue for a game release. 

Exactly how much more is realistic to expect here?

The whining over the Nintendo Online Expansion Pak gets tiring too ... Nintendo is offering quite a bit of retro content on the Expansion Pak service, NES, SNES, Game Boy, GBA, Genesis, N64 is great. Cut deals with Microsoft to bring GoldenEye 007 and Banjo-Kazooie to the service, Switch is really a retro gamer's dream for content. It'd be really cool if they can add Dreamcast or Saturn to the service next. I wish they would offer controller customization with button layouts but otherwise it's a terrific service. 

Sea of Stars. The developer Sabotage Studios has a bunch of videos on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@SabotageQc 

Huh. Why were you disappointed in the TotK trailer? I thought it looked awesome. Were you just expecting like a big Zelda blowout with lots of details? I'm guessing they'll probably have like a TotK specific mini-Direct a bit closer to launch. They had a ton of things to announce in this Direct so it's not surprising it didn't heavily focus on just TotK. We got exactly what I thought we would, the first real gameplay video that is more than just a little teaser.

And I don't see what this has to do with making you think this isn't a good sign in general? And what's wrong with getting several highly praised GC games on Switch? I would think a lot of people would be excited about that. Baten Kaitos series, Tales of Symphonia, and Metroid Prime are all highly regarded GC games so I would think anyone would say those a great additions to the Switch lineup.

I do agree about expecting big things for the second half of the year, but that's in order to follow up a great first half of the year - Fire Emblem, Kirby, Prime, Advance Wars, Zelda, a bunch of DLC expansions, Bayonetta Origins, Octopath Traveler 2, remastered GC RPGs, GB and GBA, and some more cool third party stuff. The only like major huge surprise that would have been very cool would be if they announced a Mario game to coincide with the movie release. For second half of year other than Pikmin I'm hoping we get Prime 2+3 or Prime 4 if they aren't gonna do 2+3, 2D Mario, and DK along with like one more AA series we haven't seen on Switch yet.

Yes Soundwave agreed 100%. Lots of games hitting this half of the year, and so far Pikmin and Sea of Stars announced for second half of the year. GB and GBA hit earlier than expected, and Prime remastered launching was a huge surprise. Lineup is really strong, as long as they have a few big games for the Fall (as stated above more Prime, 2D Mario, and DK would do the trick) it's gonna be a great year for Nintendo gamers.

And yeah, at this point there is zero reason to complain about Expansion Pack anymore. And there was never a reason to complain about the basic NSO subscription cuz it was always super cheap but now with GB added its just a ridiculous deal for $20/year. Expansion pack $30 extra for several AAA games DLC included, plus N64 (and GoldenEye!!), Genesis, and now GBA is a great deal. Hopefully they'll be adding at least 1 GB, 1 GBA, and 1 N64 game each month. The expansion pack only seemed like a bad deal temporarily when it first launched and there were only like 9 N64 games, only Animal Crossing DLC, and a buggy N64 emulator (which was the main problem since we all knew there would be a bunch more games added). At this point it's a great deal and the only reason to complain is if you're poor and literally can't afford $50/year but want it, but complaining that it isn't worth $50 is just dumb. I get complaining about Nintendo needing to update their online infrastructure for when the signal sucks every once in a while, but the retro games service alone is worth the money for either the basic or expansion pack.

Was a decent Direct. Something for everyone. The Zelda trailer was very short again but hey. The Layton teaser is interesting. Didn't expect that, might get it when it releases, though I never finished the previous three games. Might also get Metroid Prime, because I never played that one on GameCube (yes). Still, pretty big chance I won't though, stil haven't bought Dread either. The rest, mostly not for me. If I had the online subscription I'd be happy with the GameBoy and GBA games. Didn't expect them to do both simultaneously so that was good.

Thanks. That’ll probably be on my list for this year.