As announced on Twitter, we will be getting a Nintendo Direct tomorrow, 11PM CET, with 40 minutes focused on the first half of 2023. And I probably don't need to tell you what we can expect here: it's going to be 35 minutes of waiting through smaller announcements, before the big marketing push for Tears of the Kingdom will finally begin.
Time for Tears of the Kingdom
We haven't really seen that much of the game yet and this can either make you worried, or it can be seen as a good thing. I would personally prefer it if Nintendo were to restrain themselves from showing too much of the game, because I like to be surprised while playing myself. But I also don't want to be out of the loop and I want to talk about the game before its release here on this blog, so ignoring the official media isn't an option for me.
The Nintendo Switch Presentation Trailer for Breath of the Wild, as epic and amazing it may be, had used so many key scenes that I often thought, "Oh, I know this from the trailer", while playing through the more story-focused parts of the game. Of course it was all just small glimpses and up until that point they hadn't even shown us that game's Zelda... You have to build up some hype somehow and that's what's going to happen tomorrow, where they want people to talk about the game for the next three months straight. And that's best achieved with a meaty trailer.
Surely, we will also get to see the first actual gameplay, where they may introduce us to some of the new core mechanics, like morphing through ceilings, the object-based time reversal, or the more sophisticated sky diving. So, they will certainly elaborate on some of the things that got teased in the three previous teaser trailers.
Other than that it will be all about the marketing around Tears of the Kingdom. With Breath of the Wild Nintendo got a huge money maker on so many fronts, where the sequel surely won't be any different. We can expect things like:
- Nintendo Switch OLED Model - Tears of the Kingdom Edition
- Tears of the Kingdom Limited Edition
- Tears of the Kingdom Expansion Pass
- Tears of the Kingdom amiibo
- Other merchandise
Unusually for Nintendo, we already had some leaks in the last two months, where we apparently can look forward to that Nintendo Switch OLED and potentially even some Zelda LEGO. Well, take my Rupees, Nintendo!
I don't necessarily expect them to announce a full amiibo line, like they did with Breath of the Wild, since the age of amiibo is over. But they will very likely bring back the amiibo system from Breath of the Wild and may introduce one or two new figures, like Link in his new ancient look, with the long hair and the corrupted arm. The Eyegore monster would also make for an awesome amiibo.
An Expansion Pass isn't a safe bet, since the development of Tears of the Kingdom already started as DLC and they had five years of adding all sorts of things to the Hyrule from the previous game. So, they might go without one and just move on to the next game, but it's still a possibility, especially since DLC keeps a game in the news and will offer more content throughout the rest of the year. We will see.
Maybe there also will be some special exclusive armor piece if you have a savegame of Breath of the Wild on your Nintendo Switch, or something like that, but they have already done this with Age of Calamity, even though this only gave you the Training Sword.
There is also the question whether they will open the Nintendo Direct with Tears of the Kingdom or save it for the end. If they open with it, to get it out of the way so to speak, this means that they have another ace up their sleeve, something big to end the Nintendo Direct with. But I don't really see this happening, because I personally expect that Tears of the Kingdom will be the big thing for 2023 and they don't want to distract from it, even if there is something else on the horizon.
It also feels like this may be the swan song for the Nintendo Switch and any other big shots, like a new Super Mario or even Metroid Prime 4, are probably already in development for the next system. There is still Pikmin 4, though, which could be a title for later 2023 and could be shown in the Direct.
What about other Zelda?
If you look at comments on Twitter and the like, which you probably shouldn't, you will see quite a number of people asking for ports of The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD, as well as remakes of Oracle of Ages & Seasons. And this is what you call "setting yourself up for disappointment". Since it's a given that we will be seeing Tears of the Kingdom tomorrow, it seems like some people desperately need something else in their hopes and expectations that won't be happening.
Naturally, it would be nice to get all these Zelda ports and remakes at some point, but there is the right time for this and this time is not now when we're getting the next big AAA The Legend of Zelda title in just three months. A The Wind Waker HD or a Twilight Princess HD can't and shouldn't compete with that and are best saved for a time with no new Zelda release. Nintendo does not want their releases to cannibalize each other.
At this point I believe they are saving these for the Switch successor and will also throw in Skyward Sword HD for a three-in-one collection. Maybe with all these titles upgraded to 4K... And the Link's Awakening remake already ran quite badly on the Switch, where a follow-up certainly will profit from better performance as well.
So, what else?
If we're talking about ports and remasters, I'd love to see Metroid: Samus Returns on the Nintendo Switch, running in the same engine as Metroid Dread. The timing would even be a great fit, where the original came out after Breath of the Wild and maybe didn't get the attention it deserved due to being released on an older system with the Nintendo 3DS. This will also give the Metroid fans something to do in the meantime, where I don't expect to see Metroid Prime 4 tomorrow.
The fourth wave of the Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will certainly be teased. Here I'm hoping for a release in April, so that this is out of the way before Tears of the Kingdom will eat up all my time. We've recently seen the new Piranha Plant Cove in Mario Kart Tour, where this course will likely make it into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as well this year.
Speaking of DLC, Fire Emblem Engage will likely have its second pack announced, where the Expansion Pass will offer four up until the end of 2023. And it's smaller announcements like this that will fill the Nintendo Direct. It always is. There is also the Bayonetta Origins game coming soon, which hasn't been featured in a Direct yet. And likely some more third party ports and JRPG stuff, even more ports, and so on.
I don't expect to see Silksong, but I'd love to be wrong. People keep claiming that it has to come out soon, because Microsoft said during their presentation in June 2022 that all featured games are slated to come out in the next 12 months, but Hollow Knight: Silksong wasn't part of that infographic, even thought they've showed a new trailer for the game. So, don't hold your breath!
The big star tomorrow will be Tears of the Kingdom and everything else will most likely just be padding.
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