Another Nintendo Direct? In this economy? That's right! And it's a 40-minute one, focused on the games coming to the Nintendo Switch in the first half of 2022. Or, technically, mainly focused on the first half of the year...

The Direct will take place tomorrow, February 9th, at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 10pm GMT / 11pm CET.

Of course, at Nintendo Life, we swim in the waters of all things Nintendo, so we're pretty well-placed to make our own predictions, even if they are based on very little information. Let's see what Gav, Kate, and Tom think we might see tomorrow!

Also, you can check out our YouTube video about predictions above, which also stars Kate, having a chat with Alex.

More details on Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Triangle Strategy

Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Image: Nintendo

Tom Whitehead (Deputy Editor): I’ve very excited about both of these, and of course another look at Kirby will be awesome. I really hope Triangle Strategy gets a good segment though, it’s potentially a niche release so I’m hoping Nintendo spreads the word (and I hope the game lives up to my expectations, of course!).

Kate Gray (Staff Writer): Seems pretty likely, given that they’re both Very Soon™. Forgive me if I don’t get super excited about it, though! I think Kirby will be cool but I think we might have seen the main hook already – it’s Breath of the Kirb.

Gavin Lane (Editor): I don’t imagine we’ll see loads of Triangle Strategy, but I’d happily look at it for a while. So. Very. Pretty. And I expect there’ll be a dollop of Kirby to whet our collective appetites some more.

A solid date for Advance Wars Re-Boot? Splatoon 3? Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope? Bayonetta 3? BOTW2?

Advance Wars
Image: Nintendo

Kate: Here are my predictions, in order: Yes, yes, yes, no, and yes. But I think Breath of the Wild 2 will ONLY get a title and a release date, not more footage.

Tom: Advance Wars and Mario + Rabbids seem likely to get dates, as the focus is ‘mostly’ on the first half of the year. Splatoon 3 would be perfect for Summer, and is surely a candidate for a lengthy section. Bayonetta and BoTW2? Hm, won’t hold my breath for much on those!

Gavin: Advance Wars and Splatoon get dates, the others don’t.

A title for Breath Of The Wild 2

Breath Of The Wild 2
Image: Nintendo Life

Kate: My money’s on The Legend of Zelda: The Zelda of Legend. That would be a great title, I don’t know why they haven’t done it yet. Probably because it’s a nightmare to talk about.

Gavin: Almost palindromic. I like it. Announcing the title would be the very easiest of wins here. Although I’d love to see more, Nintendo could quite literally fade up ‘The Legend of Zelda’ on a black screen, fade in the subtitle and job’s a good ‘un.

Kate: I would put money on the fact that everyone’s going to hate the title, though.

Pokémon Legends DLC

Pokemon Legends Arceus
Image: The Pokémon Company

Tom: I think Pokémon Legends: Arceus will get a mention purely because it’s still fresh and is the hot thing at the moment. In the past Nintendo has used Directs to announce an upcoming Pokémon Direct, so that’s my bet here.

Kate: I agree, Pokémon Legends will get its own Direct, so there’s not much to say, but I think they’ll do it Animal Crossing-style and announce it for a couple of weeks’ time. DLC would be interesting, but I have absolutely no idea what they would add to the game, other than a new area, which I don’t find that exciting!

Any news on Metroid Prime 4? Thoughts on Metroid Prime remake / Trilogy HD rumours?

Metroid Prime 4
Image: Nintendo

Tom: Haha, good one. Though I’d hope that if Metroid Prime Remake or Metroid Prime Trilogy HD are real they could get announced. I really want the Trilogy HD, I personally think remaking one of the trilogy would be, well, silly. But Nintendo will be Nintendo.

Gavin: They’ve got to have something on Prime 4 somewhen. Whenever they do it, it gives them the perfect opportunity to plug Metroid Dread while they’re at it. It’s been so long, but we’re getting to the point where there’s got to be a reference sooner or later.

Big first-party game announcement? Donkey Kong? Mario Kart 9? New Fire Emblem? New Xenoblade? About time for a new 3D Mario, no?

Fire Emblem
Image: Nintendo

Kate: Definitely something new needs to be announced, or we’ll only get news of things we already knew about, and that’s boring. But… well… the Switch has sort of become the “ports and remakes and sequels” machine, so if there’s a new Mario Kart or a new 3D Mario I hope it’s really, REALLY special. Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart 8 pulled it off, so it’s not impossible. But I’d love a new first-party game that’s actually new.

Tom: Some of the rumours have been consistent enough that one or two MUST be at least half accurate. A new Donkey Kong is well and truly due, but I’d love it if Nintendo surprised us if it was DK and Mario together, like the old days (but as friends this time). Probably won’t happen though. And look, we all want MK9, but I’m not convinced this is the Direct where we’ll see it - I’d love to be wrong.

Gavin: Buddy Mission: Bond to be localised. And Three Houses was… three years ago now? Yeah, I can see a new Fire Emblem in the works. Or maybe even a port of an old Fire Emblem. Speaking of ports…

Another Port? Wind Waker & Twilight Princess HD? Tomodachi Life?

Tomodachi Life
Image: Nintendo

Kate: I’ll say it quietly, but Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD already exist. So. They’d just need to port them over, right? I KNOW THAT’S NOT EASY SORRY. But Twilight Princess would be great, because I’ve not actually… played it… before. I got as far as Kakariko Village, maybe, and got annoyed because fighting those shadow monsters is really hard with a Wiimote. I’d love a second crack at it!

Tom: I’m going to be unpopular and say I don’t really want any of these? Wind Waker HD, ok, I can see that could appeal to Switch owners that didn’t have a GameCube or Wii U. As for Tomodachi Life, why? And because I’ve said that it’ll probably be a thing. Anyway, as a card carrying Wii U and 3DS owner I honestly wouldn’t buy any of these.

Kate: We had Miitopia on Switch. And remember Miitomo? I think Tomodachi Life or something weird in the same vein would be awesome.

Gavin: It’s not going to set pulses racing but the Miitopia port sold pretty well. There are a couple more Wii U ports I’d love to see given another chance on Switch (Yoshi’s Woolly World, Xenoblade Chronicles X), but I can live without them. I’ve got a three-figure backlog don’t you know! I don’t mention it much.

Game Boy Games For NSO? Finally?

Game Boy
Image: Nintendo Life

Tom: It’d be welcome, I think the games would look great on the Switch with good emulation. That said, Nintendo has barely started its glacial N64 roll-out, so I’d say long odds on that.

Kate: Nah. Too soon. The N64 emulation stuff caused enough issues and the N64 library has only just started. I mean, it would be nice to get more value out of the expansion pack, but that doesn’t mean we will…

Gavin: Perhaps an update for the NSO apps in general. Some filter options might be nice, as would a toggle to switch the borders off. Erstwhile NL video chap Jon Cartwright always wanted that… *sniffs

(Whisper it) GoldenEye

GoldenEye
Image: Microsoft

Kate: If I see another tweet clumsily hinting at James Bond reveals, I will get a License To Kill everyone who’s got the news about GoldenEye. We get it, thank you.

Tom: What Kate said.

Gavin: It’s gonna be Gex.

5th anniversary celebrations… New hardware???? Another Direct?

Switch Oled Model
Image: Nintendo Life

Kate: New hardware is a very optimistic guess, but it would be exciting to have a proper 5th anniversary surprise for the Switch! However, we know Nintendo doesn’t exactly have a great track record of celebrating big milestones…

Gavin: Given the state of supply chains and all that gubbins, I don’t see new hardware announcements on the horizon. I imagine they’ve got some ‘silent’ component revisions going on behind the scenes. Perhaps it’s time for a Player’s Choice equivalent? You know, so physical game buyers have a whole set of uglier box art to avoid like the plague in the coming years.

Tom: I’d love a 5th Anniversary… firmware update. Bear with me, but what if Nintendo has been listening and implements the stuff we want? Folders! Themes! Permanent eShop music! Do it Nintendo. DO IT.

Kate: I would be far too excited if we got themes. My 3DS has an incredible Ace Attorney theme, and I’d love my Switch to have it too. Speaking of Ace Attorney…

Wildcard / One more thing…

Great Ace Attorney
Image: Capcom

Kate: We had a great year of Ace Attorney in 2021, with the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, a really great two-game bumper pack, which was great. What would be even more great is a second Ace Attorney Trilogy, made up of Apollo Justice, Dual Destinies, and Spirit of Justice, although I’d love the art to be better than the original Trilogy remake, please. Maybe they could also re-release Investigations and the Professor Layton crossover too… and do an Investigations 2 official translation? I know, it’s too much to hope for. I think I’d die if any one of these hopes became real.

Gavin: Is new Ace Attorney beyond the realms of possibility?

Tom: As much as I like Ace Attorney, I’ll vote for a complete collection of Professor Layton games instead. Yeah, it won’t happen, but those games were so marvellous that I’d happily play them all again.

Kate: Oh I’d love that as well. I wonder how well the touchscreen puzzles would translate to Switch, though?

Tom: It must be feasible, it must! More puzzley / reading games will be lovely either way!

Gavin: A wildcard? Hmm. I mean, Banjo’s on Switch. We’ve peaked. That’s it folks – video games ended. Great finale, too! Really wrapped things up beautifully…

Oh okay. It’s Zelda 2’s 35th anniversary this year, so let’s go with a remake of that. Alternatively, Metal Gear also turns 35 this year, so Metal Gear Anthology – coming to Switch Holiday 2022.

That's what we think we might see on this surprise February 2022 Direct, although we're almost definitely wrong about some things, and forgetting about others... So make sure to tell us in the comments what we're missing!