Lyichir

It's possible, but hard to tell how likely an overarching Nintendo series would be. Nintendo can be very protective of their licenses, so it's a little hard to judge how willing they'd be to do something along the lines of the Disney series that draws from multiple series including ones that have not had sets before.

I really have no idea what they'll do for minifigure-scale sets next year. Truth be told I was opposed to the shift to minifigures—I hope it's good but I can't help but feel like the current system was a better approach for the Mario franchise's gameplay style, and minifigure-scale sets will have to win me over. I HOPE that they can manage to incorporate similarly tactile, physical play features at minifigure scale...

I don't think either is particularly likely. For one, it's an adult-targeted set (the announcement on the Nintendo Today app featured the "Adults Welcome" tagline), and smart brick sets have so far been a mainly kid-targeted affair. Secondly, with the big announcement of Mario minifigures in sets next year, it'd surprise me greatly if they pre-empted that with a surprise set this year (not to mention that the molds shown for Mario would be a poor match for arcade Donkey Kong's proto-plumber). The pixelated graphics shown on the barrel make me think a more stylized approach that feels more like the original arcade game is more likely, making me doubt we'll be seeing a Mario minifigure or Donkey Kong bigfig here.

From the looks of it it will be based on the Donkey Kong arcade game, probably with a rolling barrel function.

It's not really a ton of prints when you factor in the lack of minifigures (the single biggest source of unique printed parts in most other themes). Parts-wise, this approach probably requires fewer single-use specialized molds than a minifigure-based approach would.

They look pretty cute! Like I expected after Pikachu leaked way back when, they remind me of Lego Mario only instead of each interactive character having to have a specialized molded housing (limiting the number of "digi-figs" you could ultimately play as), it looks like an exchangeable smart brick and tag will allow each brick-built Pokémon to make sound and react to motion. And since Pokémon battles are usually a basic 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 affair, having only a few smart bricks and swapping them out when you want to play with a different Pokémon feels appropriate. I hope the sounds are more authentic than some of the Star Wars ones—since all of these Gen 1 Pokémon originated on the Game Boy (a system with a similarly small speaker and basic chiptune sound effects), I imagine it shouldn't be too hard to make authentic sounds for cries, attacks, and items like Poké Balls. The consistent design style and small form factor also makes me feel like, like the Lego Mario sets with their brick-built enemies, this style could be really inspiring for MOCs (even if Pokémon you build wouldn't be able to have the same sound effects and interactivity). I'm already kinda tempted to start trying to design some of my favorite Pokémon in this style.

Another Spider-Verse series could maybe be a reasonable prediction since the next movie is coming out next year, but that would ALSO make more sense for later in the year since the movie comes out in June. Across the Spider-Verse also came out in June and the minifigure series came out in September (shortly after the streaming/home video release) so the same might very well happen next year as well. That said, if there's a Spider-Verse series in September, I doubt the January one will be Marvel—even though the licenses are technically different (Disney vs. Sony), that might still be just a little TOO Marvel-heavy for one year. But licensed series have also frequently been standalone (like Looney Tunes or the Muppets) or tie in with a brand-new license (like Shrek, the Simpsons, or Dungeons & Dragons), so to be honest Disney/Marvel/DC (which have only gotten a few series each) are only a little bit more likely than anything else under the sun.

The Arcanine looks cool! Its ears seem to be a new part that I'd previously spotted used for the larger wings on the roller coaster here: https://brickset.com/sets/11214-1/Fairy-Roller-Coaster-and-Tea-Party On Arcanine you can see the part that's covered in that set and see that it has a rounded end with a stud there. Previously I'd thought it might be a symmetrical tile, but I guess not.

There's rumors now of a Classic Space themed pinball machine Icons set in July. A lot of the discussion around it has revolved around new Classic Space fig recolors, but depending on the size and functionality it could also potentially have some interesting Technic mechanisms (sort of like how the Nintendo Entertainment System had an interesting Technic function for the moving screen, or the unique chain-driven motion of the Pac-Man arcade cabinet set). Maybe something worth keeping on your radar if you're interested in that sort of thing!

In terms of BDP projects that could go well with modulars, I was quite fond of Le Petit Bouquet when I was browsing the ones currently up for support! I don't know if I would usually have the interest to go for a full building-sized modular (The Museum of Science, for instance, is lovely, but I'm not devoted enough to have room for something that huge and expensive on my modular street). But I really like this little street diorama with a florist's truck and kiosk as well as an advertising post and subway entrance inspired by Paris. I feel like even if your street is less French-inspired (Parisian Restaurant notwithstanding), the truck feels like it'd complement any modular street well much like the various GWP kiosks and vehicles there have been over the years. I feel like in general I would love if more builders tried to promote smaller BDP projects instead of massive, maximalist ones. Small builds that complement other themes/sets are a lot more affordable than large ones, and high detail and advanced techniques like the ones you see in sets like modular buildings are things you only rarely see in small official sets (since smaller sets, by and large, tend to be targeted more at younger builders).

Neat, seems to be a sports-themed wave! The recolored bicycle helmet jumps out at me as one of the most novel recolors (I think it's the one that only appeared in 2022 for the wheelchair racer CMF?). But a lot of the figs seem pretty cool, many representing athlete types who have only ever appeared in CMFs.

I don't mind it (it's colors that are used elsewhere in the build, and is used for mechanical detail in the undercarriage where it isn't be highly visible unless the bed is raised). But also, I kind of accept the use of contrasting colors like that as the cost of introducing Technic-based structure and functionality (with the more complex three-dimensional thinking that entails) to a non Technic-native audience (younger City builders). Anyway, they're fairly common Technic parts so people who are bothered by it can easily swap them out for subtler colors, much like any other kid-focused features that some AFOLs prefer to mod out.

It has a bridle, so is different from both (I believe it's the one that has appeared in Harry Potter sets like the Beauxbatons Carriage and Hogsmeade).

I guess because the eyelash on the Marvel one WASN'T standard, most horse decorations lack that and have the plain circular eye.

Marvel horse is three years old and likely out of production, so there's really no cost difference between producing new horses with the same print versus a different one.