Well, it’s that time of the year again – Nintendo has announced a 40 minute Nintendo Direct for tomorrow, September 14th, prompting us all to run around like our hair’s on fire. And as is ritual, we must attempt to know the minds of the gods and what fate has in store by speculating what exactly we’ll be seeing in tomorrow’s presentation.
The Direct announcement explicitly states that it’s focused on Switch games for winter, which shoots down the most fervent piece of whispering the past couple weeks – that we’d be getting a Switch 2 reveal. Personally I don’t think it’s impossible that we’ll hear any peep about the console at all, but I do doubt we’ll get a name or a look: my guess is that we’ll have an announcement of an announcement, a later date when all will be revealed.
For the actual upcoming games… well, it wasn’t so long ago that we got a Super Mario Bros. Wonder showcase (presumably to prelude its appearance at Nintendo Live 2023), so despite being the upcoming big ticket release it’ll probably have a more diminished presence in the Direct than you’d normally think. In turn, we’ll hopefully get a few more details about Super Mario RPG’s remake. And hey, what about that Princess Peach game they sorta soft-announced back in June? We gotta hear something about that, right?
As far as leaks and rumors go, the clamor for F-Zero is even stronger than usual – though some of those same rumors suggest that it’s not going to be a long-awaited sequel but F-Zero 99, a battle royale version of the SNES classic. Given that F-Zero is partially a demolition derby that could be a ton of fun, even if it’s not what the diehards have been anticipating. The same leak source also teased some form of Donkey Kong news – either an animated spinoff or a brand-new Donkey Kong Country game would be delightful.
And besides that… it’s honestly the wild, wild west as far as speculation goes. The usual suspects are out – Fire Emblem fans praying for a Genealogy remake, Kid Icarus fans waiting for an Uprising port, and unfunny people making the same canned Mother 3 jokes they have for over a decade. There’s still no word of Metroid Prime 4, though at this rate I’m pretty sure the icecaps are gonna melt before we see a peep of that game.
What makes speculation particularly sparse and tricky is that most of Nintendo’s mainstays have had releases in the past year or two. Zelda, Pokémon, Splatoon, Kirby, Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, and Pikmin all had releases in either 2022 or 2023 – some of them are still getting updates. Metroid Dread came out at the tail end of 2021, and while Animal Crossing is dormant (relative to those), we always get exactly one of those per console, so it’s unlikely that we’ll see anything major. I don’t even want to joke about another Smash Bros. entry (Mr. Sakurai please just rest) so… what else is there to be seen?
We don’t know. But lack of expectations is sometimes the best situation to be in. Have nothing met, and you won’t be as disappointed. In turn, if something truly strikes out of left field… then it can be more pleasurable than the most hotly anticipated title you can think of.
We’ll just have to see what Nintendo has in store tomorrow when the Direct airs at 7 a.m. PT.
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Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
