If you follow gaming rumors at all, you’ve almost certainly heard about the possible Nintendo Direct hitting in the coming weeks. Personally, I don’t think any of the “leaks” are real, but I do think they’re popping up now because a Direct being right around the corner makes a lot of sense. There’s almost always one in either January or February, and since we didn’t get one in January, it makes sense that we can expect one very soon.

I’ve debated a little bit about what kind of post I wanted to do with this information. Should I do a predictions one, similar to what I do with E3 every year? That seems a little weird when the actual Direct isn’t even confirmed to be happening. So do I just talk about what I would want to see? In the end, I figured I’d do a little of each.

At the time of this writing, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is exactly one hundred days from release, and we actually still don’t know all that much about it. We know that it’s following up Breath of the Wild and is a similarly structured game. We know that there’s some new tools, like what seems to be time manipulation and a large glider that Link can ride on. But we still haven’t had that one big breakdown of what exactly is happening in this game and what we’re doing. This seems like the perfect time to finally do that.

Before writing this, I rewatched last year’s February Nintendo Direct, which featured new information on Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp. This reminded me of just how long we’ve been waiting for this game. I think we’re going to finally get a release date. I have a funny feeling that they might not bother with a physical release anymore and shadow drop the game on the eShop after the end of the Direct. As someone who prefers physical games, I kind of hope not, but also I can’t deny how exciting being able to play a game on the same day that a release is officially revealed.

Last year’s Direct ended with the announcement of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which would be released in September of last year. This is important because we really don’t know what Nintendo has planned after Tears of the Kingdom’s release in May this year. Xenoblade is a huge game, which means that the possibilities of what could be surprise announced for this year are not limited to smaller games. I think we’re going to see what the Super Mario Odyssey team are up to, and it’ll be out this year. There’s been rumors for years that they’re working on a new Donkey Kong game, and more recently rumors that they’re doing a new 2D Super Mario. I could really see either of them being true. Neither series has had a new entry release on the Switch, although both have had ports of their Wii U games. If I had to guess, I think they Mario one is more likely, but I think it’d be cool to see what that team would do with Donkey Kong.

Speaking of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, we’re still due a new DLC story, similar to the Torna- The Golden Country DLC we got for the second game. This one is a pretty easy guess, but I think we’re going to hear about that at this Nintendo Direct.

And for one last prediction, I think we’re finally going to see something on Metroid Prime 4. I think the game is still a ways off, maybe next year if we’re lucky, but Nintendo knows we’re dying to know what that game looks like. It was announced all the way back in 2017 and other than a video saying they were starting over a couple years later, we’ve heard nothing. But along with that, I think we’re going to get an announcement of a remaster of the original Metroid Prime. This has been rumored forever, to the point of it seeming like it’s never going to happen. But I still think it’s coming, Nintendo is just waiting for the right time. And you know what, I think that’s true of the long rumored ports of the Wii U Zelda remasters too, but I don’t think those are going to be shown at this Direct.

Okay, that’s what I think we’re going to see, but what would I really like to see? Hmm.

Nintendo has represented just about all of their major franchises on the Switch already, so it’s time to give some of the neglected ones some time to shine. If you’ve ever read my E3 predictions posts and seen my shot in the dark predictions for Nintendo, you probably know where this is going. I want to see Nintendo revive StarTropics. They love re-releasing the original game on everything, and sometimes the sequel, so we know they haven’t forgotten about it. StarTropics 3, make that happen.

Another one that I’m sure anyone would guess I would say would be Tokyo Mirage Sessions 2. I love the first game, it’s my favorite JRPG of all time. And the crazy thing is, it should be a hit. As a crossover with the Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem game, both of which are very popular, there’s no reason that it shouldn’t be able to succeed. I think Nintendo needs to try again and needs to put way more marketing budget behind it and really drive home just what exactly the game is. A casual consumer could very easily know about Persona and know about Fire Emblem, but when they walk past a box that says “Tokyo Mirage Sessions” on it, are they going to make that connection? Probably not, and I think that helped doom the game from the start. But I’d really like to see them try again with a sequel, and it would be cool if it was at the Nintendo Direct.

What about Star Fox? Other than a guest character spot in Starlink, Star Fox is another really neglected franchise on the Switch. I liked Zero more than most people, but think it could benefit from more traditional controls. Porting the game from the Wii U to the Switch could help make that happen. That’d be cool to see. It’d be even cooler to get a whole new Star Fox game, but I’d like just some kind of Star Fox representation at this Direct.

And that’s my thoughts. What do you all think? Are my predictions reasonable? Will I ever get any of my wishes? Are we even going to get a Nintendo Direct this month? I guess we’ll find out soon.