The first major Nintendo Direct in nearly a year and a half will air tomorrow!

This is the real deal as not only will it be a fifty minute event, but it will air at 10pm UK time, which has previously been the time slot for Nintendo’s biggest reveals.

The Direct itself will cover releases from Nintendo for the first half of 2021 now that Super Mario 3D World Bowser’s Fury has released and will also contain Super Smash Bros Ultimate news.

A DLC announcement for Super Smash Bros Ultimate seems likely, with the fourth character in Season Pass 2 likely to be revealed. This announcement follows Sephiroth, Minecraft Steve, and Min Min. There are three more characters yet to be revealed and the rumour mill, as ever, is running wild.

That is unlikely to be the biggest news of the Direct, however, with talk of new Zelda and Pokemon titles to be announced due to both franchises celebrating huge milestones this year.

As far as Zelda is concerned, it seems likely we’ll get the equivalent of a Super Mario 3D All-Stars, bundling the likes of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask together. There is also expectation we’ll see Switch ports for Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Twilight Princess.

As for Pokemon, rumours refuse to fade away that a ‘Let’s Go Johto’ is going to be announced, as well as more content for Sword and Shield.

On top of that, we could finally hear more about Breath of the Wild 2, Metroid Prime 4, and Bayonetta 3. I’d also be willing to bet we’ll finally get a date for Metroid Prime Trilogy which has been seemingly teased for forever.

But this is a major Nintendo-centric Direct, and usually these are reserved for something more than just games. It could be Nintendo Switch Online will finally get access to a new library of games, with people desperate to play N64 and Gameboy titles.

Perhaps there’ll be a major firmware revision. The store could use a bit of an update and maybe there’s a chance we get some form of achievement system. Not holding my breath on that last one, though.

And those insiders just won’t stop reporting on a ‘Switch Pro’. This would seem a logical place to start talking about any hardware upgrades.

Other things to look out for include third party titles. Just recently trademarks were filed for SnowRunner, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and Tales from the Borderlands. We also know Crash 4 and Monster Hunter Rise are hitting next month and there’s probably going to be some more surprises in store. That tease from 343 Studios about having a new place to play Halo: The Master Chief Collection certainly raised some eyebrows.

Either way, this is going to be a fun one you won’t want to miss. There’s going to be a lot of cool things – not everything, surely – but it seems pretty obvious 2021 is going to be a great year for Nintendo and compared to the smaller directs which dominated 2020, this is more in-line with the one you’ve been waiting for!