Nintendo leak may have confirmed NX launching this year with Zelda NX

It was right about the Pokemon Sun and Moon codename

Recently, there was a Nintendo leak posted on NeoGAF said to be from an internal US marketing budget and schedule overview for the rest of 2016 leaked by a Nintendo insider. Fake leaks happen all the time (Rayman in Super Smash Bros., anyone?), but with today’s official announcement of Pokémon Sun and Moon, this rumored information has gained credibility.

The leak said that a new Pokémon game would be announced for release this holiday season, code-named “Niji,” and that word was included in the file names of press assets sent out today. Nintendo has since changed the file names after people started to make the connection, lending credibility to the leak.

The source says Nintendo NX will launch in 2016 alongside Zelda NX, which is apparently going to be a port of Zelda for Wii U. So, essentially the same thing Nintendo did with Twilight Princess, releasing both a version on GameCube and Wii. The marketing budget for the new Wii U Zelda is said to be $10 million with part of that funding possibly going towards the NX version. I have to imagine this will upset some fans who purchased a Wii U just for the new Zelda title.

Other details from the leak include the total marketing budgets for Wii U and 3DS; the Wii U is said to have a $34.5 million budget, while the 3DS has a larger budget of $56.25 million.

With the Wii U’s budget being a bit low and 3DS’s so high, and with a port of the Wii U Zelda supposedly coming to NX, it is safe to assume the NX is closer to a home console than a portable at this point.

A 3DS release list was also included, but nothing all that surprising was listed by name. It’s mostly things we already know are coming like Mario and Sonic Rio 2016, Hyrule Warriors Legends, Bravely Second, two Dragon Quest games, and two waves of budget-priced Nintendo Select games. Also, the still-not-canceled Metroid Prime: Federation Force, a game I’m personally looking forward to.

However, a few games were listed by code-names only.

• Caviar F – an all-ages smaller-budget game set for release in the fall.
• Torte City – a big-budget game for all gamers releasing in the summer.
• Cadillac – an all-ages smaller-budget title for late summer.
• N-Stars – a big-budget game for all ages releasing in fall or during the holiday season.
• DMW2 – Disney Magical World 2?

Want to take a stab at what these games could be?

My guess would be Torte City ends up being a new proper Animal Crossing title; Cadillac is a new Wario game; and N-Stars is the next iteration of Mario Kart that has characters from other Nintendo series from the start and not just as DLC like Mario Kart 8. 

3DS 2016 Line Up By Nintendo Revealed (Verified Source at Nintendo) [NeoGAF via Kotaku]