A Nintendo Direct is set for September 12, and we’ve got predictions

After heavy speculation, Nintendo has announced a new Direct for September 12 at 6am PT, or 1pm UTC. As usual, Nintendo asks that you tune in for the latest on its upcoming releases on both the Switch and Switch 2 consoles. What announcements, you may ask? Well, we’ve got thoughts.

After the last Nintendo Direct in July, it’s been a bit of a lacklustre summer. We had the Indie World Direct and the Kirby Air Riders showcase, but neither of those gave us much to go off, apart from giving us the Hollow Knight Silksong date. Now that Silksong is out, Nintendo needs another ace up its sleeve – and we think this will come in the form of Nintendo Mario birthday celebrations.

Given the timing and the contents of the last major Mario anniversary’s Direct in 2020, we expect Nintendo to go pretty Mario-heavy for his fortieth. Prior leaks pointed to a trio of platformer games making a return, dubbed thus far as the New Super Mario Bros. 40th Anniversary collection, but we don’t know if this has any legs, as the post has now been deleted. We do expect there to be limited-time items and merchandise available, as in 2020. What those will look like, we’re sure Nintendo will reveal soon, but you can expect them to be as flashy and cool as the 2020 items.

Apart from Mario fun, we can also hope and pray for some Metroid Prime 4 details, or maybe news that the new Digimon game will arrive on Switch. We can imagine the announcements of ports for popular PC games will be on the horizon – Helldivers 2, Starfield, and Hades 2 are our personal predictions. Our real new clown make-up is that there’s magically a new Animal Crossing game, though there’s no evidence for that at all, just a gamer’s instincts – but hey, if Nintendo needs to get the Switch 2 numbers up and running, that’s an easy winner.

What predictions do you have for the Nintendo Direct? Chat with us about it on our Discord. While you wait, check out some of the best Switch games, get excited with our list of upcoming Switch games, and if you’re on the fence about whether Nintendo Online is worth it, our guide could lend a hand.