Nintendo has announced their first Nintendo Direct of the year, a Partner Showcase.
On Twitter, Nintendo of America shared this message:
“A #NintendoDirect: Partner Showcase is coming! Watch on-demand via YouTube on 2/21 at 6am PT for around 25 mins of info focused on #NintendoSwitch games coming in the first half of 2024 from our publishing and development partners.
Stay tuned here: https://youtube.com/nintendo”
This Direct had been the subject of a lot of speculation, with a lot of rumors from insiders trying to connect its occurrence to the announcement of Nintendo’s next console. Nintendo has yet to officially confirm or announce that next platform, so this talk is all either speculation or hearsay.
What is more credible are rumors that Nintendo could be announcing one or more of the four titles Microsoft revealed that they will be bringing to the Nintendo Switch. Now, what’s interesting about that is that the Xbox Podcast where Microsoft’s bosses made this announcement was rumored to be scheduled on the same date as this Nintendo Direct. So, Nintendo supposedly delayed their event to make way for Microsoft’s event.
And the reason Nintendo gave way to Microsoft, aside from avoiding having to compete for attention, is speculated to be because Nintendo and Microsoft didn’t want to make their announcements of Microsoft games coming to the Switch at the same time.
Making things even more interesting, Nintendo shared a new Princess Peach Showtime trailer, and announcement of new Splatoon 3 content, on the same week that the Xbox Podcast happened. Fans openly speculated that these announcements could have been made during the Nintendo Direct.
But we have to point out now, that this Direct was announced as a Partner Showcase. What that means is that Nintendo planned for this Direct to not have any announcements for their 1st party games at all. It’s likely that these announcements were never planned for the Direct.
As for what could possibly be announced on the Direct, we cannot speculate on games that have yet to be revealed. But we already know about some 3rd party games that they could feature:
- Star Wars Dark Forces Remaster from Nightdive
- Unicorn Overlord from Vanillaware
- Contra: Operation Galuga from Konami
- Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes from Rabbit & Bear Studios
- Penny’s Big Breakaway from Evening Star
- Rift of the Necrodancer from Brace Yourself Games
- Hollow Knight Silksong from Team Cherry
- Project Bloom from Game Freak, in this situation not working under The Pokemon Company
And once again, the Nintendo Directs are always an opportunity for Nintendo to announce indie games and make them famous to a bigger audience, as they have done for the likes of Shovel Knight and Steamworld. We never know when Nintendo will surprise us, so these events are always worth checking out.
