The leaks were spot on: a new Nintendo Direct has been announced for September, but don’t expect it to unveil the Switch 2.
Seemingly everyone was predicting Nintendo would announce one of its Nintendo Direct showcases this month, even after it held a short one just a couple of weeks ago, to share new details on Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Aside from the company traditionally holding meaty showcases in September, reliable leakers recently began teasing announcements for such a showcase. Nate The Hate even confidently said the next Direct will be held this Thursday, on September 14.
Turns out he was absolutely right, as Nintendo has formally confirmed a Direct will air tomorrow at 3pm BST and it will run for a hefty 40 minutes.
As you’d expect, Nintendo hasn’t even hinted at what will be shown, only saying the focus will be on games launching this *winter* (which is technically December, January, and February, but we don’t think that’s necessarily what they meant).
Some safe guesses include trailers for the likes of WarioWare: Move It!, the Super Mario RPG remake, and the final batch of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Nintendo has at least one more winter games it hasn’t unveiled yet.
Plus, it’s unlikely that Nintendo will only be discussing imminent launches. It’ll probably have some new info for games planned for 2024, such as the untitled Princess Peach spin-off.
As for what’s rumoured to be in the works at Nintendo, recent teases point to a new Mario Vs. Donkey Kong game, a F-Zero battle royale, and separate remakes of a DS and a Wii game – possibly Another Code: Two Memories and Another Code: R – A Journey Into Lost Memories.
There have also been long standing rumours of more modern Zelda ports (The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, specifically) as well as remasters of Metroid Prime 2 and 3.
It was previously claimed that the Metroid Prime 2 remaster will arrive before the end of the year, as well as something Zelda related. If so, no doubt both will make an appearance at this Direct.
You can rule out any Tears Of The Kingdom DLC, though, as just last week producer Eiji Aonuma admitted there are no plans for any sort of expansion.
The big Nintendo talking point, though, is the Nintendo Switch 2… or whatever the next console ends up being called. While it too has been rumoured for years, recent chatter suggests it was shown off in secret at Gamescom last month.
While a 2024 launch is commonly claimed/speculated, no one has suggested dates for when Nintendo will publicly unveil it. It certainly hasn’t been rumoured for this upcoming Direct, so don’t get your hopes up for an annoucement.
The Christmas period is coming up and Nintendo is already advertising a new Mario themed Switch OLED, plus new bundles that come with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Announcing new hardware now would only undermine sales, since people would be encouraged to wait for the new console rather than buy the current Switch for Christmas.
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