Nintendo is making good on its promise of a final Direct presentation before we wrap up the year, and it’s happening November 12th at 2:00 PM Pacific (5:00 PM Eastern).
The company has put up a splash page for the event which will likely run its usual half hour (or so) in length and both announce new games as well as update the gaming public on titles of which we are already aware.
We expect to see some mention of Zelda, though not the new game (which we’d guess has shifted to the NX platform). Instead, we’re pretty confident that the Twilight Princess HD remake rumoured last month will hit the eShop in March, following the same announcement-to-release schedule we saw with Majora’s Mask 3D last year.
It would be shocking if Nintendo didn’t announce a specific release date for the recently-delayed Star Fox Zero, and since the game was absent from Nintendo’s recent preview event we attended, we’d really like to know what’s going on with its development.
Super Mario Maker updates will almost certainly be shown off to add to the recent content update which included checkpoints and multi-level power-ups. We’re not thinking that brand new mechanics will crop up, but perhaps a few new costumes and courses from notable people in the gaming community (and beyond) are in order.
Other games like Fire Emblem Fates and Bravely Second should get detailed as they’re both expected in 2016. Finally, there will likely be a bit of marketing spiel over the upcoming Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash and Xenoblade Chronicles X on Wii U, as well as some new 3DS hardware not bundled with Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer.
Nintendo has made a point that they will not be discussing the upcoming NX platform or their mobile offerings, having announced their first mobile app, Miitomo, just a couple of weeks ago.
The only other question that leaves is that of what format the Direct presentation will take. The late-CEO of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, was the face of Nintendo Direct for many years, and no one really replaced him in his final months when he was no longer at their forefront. Will the Direct presentation have a host or skip directly into the guest host format that Directs have been known for later in Iwata’s life?
We will find out all that Nintendo has to offer on the afternoon of November 12th.