Pre-direct lol.

NES-N64 is my favorite era. During that time, they were at their absolute peak as far as game-innovation is concerned. Yamauchi was a gangster and took names. I loved everything about that version of the company.

Well agree to disagree, I suppose. I do have to ask, though, when is the last time you went back and revisited those early Switch 1 Directs? I feel like you may be speaking a lot here on how you remember feeling at the time— my favorite direct for the longest time, for instance, was the 3.8.2018 present. But looking back… I mean Luigi’s Mansion & BiS for 3DS, Sushi Strikers is coming to Switch, lots of third party, and Smash to close.

And FWIW I’m not entirely sure what you are talking about when you praise the pacing of the early-Switch 1 presentations yet are upset about the latest Switch 2 presentations. Could you be a little more analytical/specific in your grievances?

My vote was for that, but I changed my mind after my vote. The Iwata era in this poll is easily the most entertaining for Directs in terms of personality and some banger trailers, but the game lineup was the weakest, especially on the home console front. 

That's the thing, I would argue that how they make you feel at the time is the point. 

In the early to mid Switch 1 era, as far as I remember, Directs were a positive experience by and large, whereas in the Switch 2 era I've felt they have ranged from "okay" to "underwhelming" with too few big epic reveals and long stretches of filler.

It's also just the way they're handled; like take Ocarina for example. Even with the leaks, it could have been a great moment, but instead all we got was ten seconds of Link lying in bed.

But yes, I think we may have to agree to disagree.

And how was Smash Bros Ultimate revealed? Was it not in an identical manner? And I have revisited all the Directs (via listening to ScottTheWoz, AntDude, Nathaniel Bandy, and so forth as I do my morning workout lol), and I can say with confidence that while the contents of the presentations vary, the overall quality has been continually fixed and refined with time. Can you pull up some example presentations from the early Switch 1 days that disprove this? I had a blast with those Direct during the time of their airing, but there is no way I would ever want to return to one-third NS1/one-third 3DS/one-third 3rd-party. The current formula of half-and-half is a substantial improvement to pacing.

Smash isn't my thing personally, so I didn't care about it's reveal being a tease.

Early to mid (remember I didn't just say early) Switch Directs showed a lot of games like Mario Odyssey, Xenoblade 2, Yoshi, Kirby, etc, there was the memorable TOTK reveal trailer, cool surprises like Daemon x Machina, Witcher 3, Doom, Wolfenstein, Astral Chain, etc. 

It's not that Switch 2 era Directs haven't had some good content, they have, but actual wow moments have been few, for me anyway, and they felt poorly paced and had too much boring stuff like minor DLC, reminders of games we already knew about, etc.

There were some misfires in the early/mid S1 era, but so far I don't think there has been a truly great S2 Direct, while S1 had many.

The E3 2017 Spotlight (which actually wasn't a Direct... though I think it makes sense we call it one) was only 20-minutes, no? And that June 2019 Direct was pretty good, though as you yourself list, it was filled with as much third-party content as any modern Direct. Lastly, those "Wow!" moments you talk about: Is that a reflection of the format of the presentations, or of a major announcement? Your initial post was critiquing the pacing, not the reveals. As far as those "Wow!" moments are concerned, that's entirely personal taste.

Take the last Direct for example. Out of like 40 minutes, the entire first half was basically dead weight; stuff we already knew about, minor DLC, low level software. Only with the reveal of Ravenous at the midpoint did it pick up, and Kirby finished strong at the end.

They needed more good quality stuff, spaced more evenly throughout, rather than just Metroid at the mid-point, Kirby at the end, and the other 30+ minutes being a waste of time.

0:31 [Major 3rd-Party Reveal.] Monster Hunter Wilds
2:58 [Major 3rd-Party (Reminder).] Final Fantasy VII Revelation (Recap)
4:12 [1st/2nd-Party Reveal.] Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - Definitive Edition
5:14 [Major 3rd-Party Reveal.] Meccha Chameleon
6:23 [1st/2nd-Party Reveal.] Pokemon Pokopia - Expansion Pass DLC
7:30 [1st/2nd-Party Reveal.] Starfox (Free Update)
8:56 [Major 3rd-Party (Reminder).] The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered
9:36 [Major 3rd-Party Info.] Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Royal Edition
10:16 [1st-Party (Reminder).] Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave
10:55 [Major 3rd-Party Info.] Prof. Layton and the New World of Steam
11:58 [Major 3rd-Party Info.] Yo-Kai Watch 2 Haunted Domain
12:40 [1st-Party Reveal.] Pikmin 4 + Dandori Academy
15:53 [2nd-Party Reveal.] Onyx: The Dark Grip
17:13 [1st-Party (Reminder).] Xenoblade Chronicles 3
18:30 [3rd-Party Filler.] Stage Fright, Disney Dreamlight Valley: The Keepsake Sea, Ondeh Ondeh Kaya’s Tasty Tale, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
21:47 [1st-Party Reveal.] Kirby Air Riders (Amiibo)
22:33 [Major 3rd-Party Reveal.] Cairn
23:50 [Major 3rd-Party Reveal.] Resident Evil 2, 3, 4
24:57 [Major 3rd-Party Info.] Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis
26:08 [Major 1st-Party Reveal.] Nintendo Switch Sports Resort
28:11 [Major 1st-Party Reveal.] Metroid Ravenous
30:49 [1st-Party Reveal.] Mario Kart World (Update)
32:11 [Major 3rd-Party Info.] Mega Man: Dual Override (New Info)
blah blah blah more 3rd party hitters (depending on the viewer)
Closer: Kirby and the World Beyond

For somebody who so heavily supports 3rd-party, I feel like this presentation had something good for you almost nonstop: Monster Hunter, Hyrule Warriors, Meccha Chameleon, Star Fox, Pokopia, Kingdom Come, Prof Layton, YoKai Watch, Onyx, LEGO Batman, Cairn, REII/III/IV, Switch Sports Resort, Metroid, MKWorld update, Dangarompa 2x2, and then Kirby to close.

Anyhow, just revisit those old directs. I can assure you that those rosey-tinted glasses will quickly fade away and you will see that the formula of these Directs really gotten any worse; it's more that these games just weren't your cup of tea.

Monster Hunter wasn't a reveal, it was announced months earlier so we already knew about it.

FF7 Revelation we already knew about, Witcher 3 I think we already knew, Hyrule Warriors, yawn, already played it 6 years ago, Starfox Pokopia DLC was minor and meh, Fire Emblem we already knew about, Professor Layton we already knew about.

Kingdom Come II, legit a good one. 

Yokai Watch 2, old game and AI slop. Pikmin 4 DLC, underwhelming. Onyx looked low budget and meh. Xenoblade Chronicles 3, already played it 4 years ago, Amiibo, meh, I'm here for games not toys.

Resident Evil 2-4, legit a good one.

Tomb Raider, already knew about it. Meccha Chameleon and Cairn, meh, look like the kind of stuff that goes viral on steam among meme kids, not impressive. Switch Sports Resort, already knew about it, Megaman we already knew about.

Kirby and Metroid were great.

So like 80% of it was just recaps of shit we already knew about, there were almost no big surprises outside of Kirby and Metroid.