Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Nintendo Direct February 2021 Predictions

Nintendo Direct logo

It's happening...! Tomorrow! Nintendo just announced the next major Nintendo Direct on Twitter. And this feels almost surreal. Nintendo fans, including myself, have been expecting a proper Nintendo Direct for a long time now. It almost felt like they were done with the format for good and instead just will do single game announcements in the future...

But take a look at the expectations here, after Paper Mario: The Origami King had been released. Well, the Mario game is a different one, but the situation is the same: Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is now available and thus it's time for some news about what's on Nintendo's horizons.

Of course a part of the Nintendo Direct might focus on upcoming games that we already know about, like Monster Hunter Rise or New Pokémon Snap. But there certainly will be some surprise announcements there as well and with 50 minutes there is plenty of time to announce all sorts of things. Like a new 2D Metroid...

Two years ago they've shown us the remake of Link's Awakening and history could repeat itself here with remakes of the Oracle games... maybe? But it's probably too soon for this and it seems like GREZZO has been working on something else, anyway.

About Zelda overall, I've recently seen a lot of people with high expectations for news about Zelda's 35th Anniversary, which will start this Sunday, February 21st. But I say "start", because Nintendo usually doesn't celebrate such anniversaries on date and instead does something later during the year. There was just recently stuff for Fire Emblem's 30th Anniversary, which officially began in April 2020... The 35th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros. is also still going.

And remember the 30th Anniversary of Zelda in 2016? Yes, me neither... Despite having multiple games released in March 2016, including Twilight Princess HD,  they didn't bring up the 30th Anniversary before September 2016 and then only for some amiibo and an artbook. I think the 35th Anniversary will get more interesting, but that doesn't mean that Nintendo will do something early.

So, I wouldn't hold my breath for any Zelda news just now... Except for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which is in desperate need of some DLC and updates. They might even shadow drop some of it tomorrow... We've been over the possibilities for this, where you can take a look at my DLC suggestions from last month. But part of it would be bringing back all the armor items from Breath of the Wild, which were based on other major Zelda games and which would be perfect as a first anniversary celebration.

Speaking of DLC, Nintendo practically confirmed that we'll be seeing the next Challenger Pack for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in the Nintendo Direct. This is great news and if I had to take a wild guess, I would probably go with Monster Hunter, because this would go perfectly hand in hand with the upcoming release of Monster Hunter Rise.

Well, see you after the Nintendo Direct!

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