I've been thinking about what a possible Direct looks like for this month, and I don't think it would be a partner showcase. Nintendo manages about a game a month or so each year. Currently, we're looking at this for the Switch 2:

Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave (Sept. 17)
Nintendo Switch Sports Resort (Oct. 22)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 NS2E (Dec. 3)
The Legenda of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake (2026)
The Duskbloods (2026)
Pokemon Wind & Waves (2027)
Xenoblade Genesis (2027)

Since we know almost nothing about the 2027 slate, they're going to have games to announce. Unless Xenoblade is in early 2027, there's still a lot unknown, especially if Xenoblade follows the trend of releasing in late summer/fall like the other games in the series. I think Nintendo will probably announce a few smaller games for early 2027 with more teases for the big games later that year.

@ElRoberico

Don't forget Metroid. The Brazilian rating board leak makes it highly likely they have a new game to announce, probably for a 2026 release.

@ElRoberico Xenoblade has skewed more towards Spring/early Summer, Japan release months have been:

• February - XCX (Switch 2)
• March - XCX (Switch)
• April - XC1 (3DS), XCX (Wii U), XC3 Future Redeemed story DLC (Switch)
• May - XC1 (Switch)
• June - XC1 (Wii, Switch 2)
• July - XC2 (Switch 2), XC3 (Switch)
• September - XC2 Torna story DLC (Switch)
• December - XC2 (Switch)

I do think in the end @VoidofLight is right about June/July for Xenoblade though. I used to think February but with KH4 confirmed for late 2027 and Square Enix aims for 1 big game a fiscal year, I think that's pretty much confirmation that FFVII Revelation is releasing in March (a Spring month that's in a different fiscal year to KH4).

For Xenoblade to get most attention it would need to release around the midpoint of Revelation and KH4's release dates.

@Grumblevolcano That's a really good point. I got my releases mixed up, and I was only really looking at the recent ones and excluding X. It definitely feels like a summer release might be the best spot. I'll even add that with a subtitle like Genesis, a spring/summer release date feels thematically perfect.

@metaphysician no way that makes 2026. Nintendo wouldn't send a Metroid game out to die in December.

"Nintendo wouldn't send a Metroid game out to die in December."

Metroid Prime 4 Beyond would like to have a word

Jokes aside, I'm still expecting 2027 release for that Metroid game.

I love everyone considers December a dead spot for games. I think November is worse, games get buried under the "holiday titles" (ugh).

Metroid Prime 4, Xenoblade 2 and Super Smash Bros Ultimate all released in early December, and Wii U had some December titles too. It's fine. Games come out when they come out.

@Haruki_NLI I think it's an attention thing IMO. With media, there's always a dead time. It used to be the summers for TV. It's mostly September and January for film. It's December-January for games because everything released during that time feels like it gets ignored in favor of the Game of the Year conversations or because everything else already came out. The titles in September-November sucked all the air out the conversation and the money out everyone's wallets.

@ElRoberico January is generally a dead time for most industries because of the holidays. The holiday season is the prime selling season because most people are buying more products to give as gifts. This is why the November slot is important, because it's before Black Friday and it ensures that the game is out in time to be on store shelves by then. Meanwhile, December/January is generally after the holiday rush and people are less likely to be spending money so that's why it's considered a dead period. At that point most of the money is already spent and people are saving up to recover their bank accounts from the holiday. That being said, it's not totally dead, some people may have gift cards they could spend and there's always some amount of year round spending for various factors (for example birthdays, it's always someone's birthday at any point in the year, in fact I do have a January birthday so sometimes I would buy a game for my birthday too). So conventional wisdom does say that it's unwise to release games in December-January, but they could get away with it if they wanted.

Usually if they have anything in that slot, it's a smaller, more niche title (although they don't even need to as @Haruki_NLI mentioned Smash Ultimate released in December and Pokemon Legends Arceus released in January and they did just fine, some of these larger titles can still sell in "dead" periods and just seem to sell gangbusters no matter when they release). As for Ravenous, Metroid is niche enough to fit the bill but I suspect not. I think Metroid is in the same category as titles like Fire Emblem and Xenoblade as "IPs that don't sell well but they still want to position as major titles" and after Dread broke sales records for Metroid I think they might feel they'd be selling Ravenous short by putting it in that slot. I suspect that either they're going to try a short marketing window and release it October, or more likely, Ravenous is a 2027 title releasing February or later.

Not sure about the structure if a Partner Showcase, we really don't know much about the 3rd party lineup beyond October. Just a few stragglers in November/December like Metaphor and DQ Monsters meanwhile some 2027 stuff like FFVII Revelation, KH4 and Veronica. Maybe they'd do the same as Sony and have Revelation as the big "one more thing"?

If they were to go the general Direct route, I'd imagine it would be structured like the June Direct:

• Rhythm Heaven Groove = Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave
• OoT Remake = Zelda 40th anniversary
• Xenoblade Genesis = Metroid 6
• Xenoblade Switch 2 Editions = Whatever is used to satisfy the Switch 1 NSO vouchers promise
• Switch Sports Resort = Switch Sports Resort
• Duskbloods + Splatoon Raiders = Duskbloods
• Pokopia DLC = Pokopia DLC
• DK Challenge + DK Bananza SMB 40th anniversary collab = Something to do with either DK Bananza or MK World
• Star Fox = XC3 Switch 2 Edition

And the 3rd party game playing the role of KH4 being FFVII Revelation.

I'm just throwing this out there - I could see that alleged Kirby Planet Robobot remaster being in December.

I can feel my hopes contaminating my expectations for the Direct. I feel like I’m putting too much stock into a new 3D Kirby showing up, and I worry I’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t appear.

@ElRoberico Yeah, there's several rumored titles like the Planet Robobot remaster or Pikmin 4 S2Es that would fit very nicely in between Black Friday and a February/March Direct should they wish to stay relatively quiet until the latter on their 2027 plans.

@UpsideDownRowlet I wouldn't expect that to materialize until February at the earliest. Heck, that might not even be a 2027 title because of the work on Forgotten Land S2E, we could be waiting until 2028 or later for that. If the above speculation on Planet Robobot is correct that could push it back even further. Even if they have a mainline Direct this month I don't think the next core Kirby game will show up there, that feels like something that might need a little more time, especially if it's a 3D game (which is a major conversation we need after Forgotten Land, what does that mean for 2D Kirby?).

It wasn't SNES but we did get an NSO drop this week:

We're getting closer to 100% completion of the Nintendo era of Rare Replay on NSO. Just got Slalom (NES), Digger T. Rock (NES) and Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64) left.

also, update for mario kart 8 deluxe! similar vein as the pikmin 3 update, higher resolution, also 8-player local?

Nintendo has REMEMBERED about updating their games.

Edit: if anyone wants to see video of the update, here:

These free updates make me more confident in next week being a Partner Showcase. The kind of updates Pikmin 3 and MK8 Deluxe received would've been a perfect fit for part of an updates headline in a general Direct in a similar way to what happened last September with stuff like Overcooked 2 and Stardew Valley.

If the 10th is indeed the correct date, a Partner Showcase would make some sense, as that wouldn't cause a conflict with Fire Emblem. It is still questionable though considering the lack of info on the Zelda 40th Anniversary and Ocarina of Time (and to a lesser extent Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, which feels like we would have gotten some small nugget of info, but maybe the June trailer was informative enough to hold off until the weeks before release so idk), as well as the slate for early next year. If 2027 has a slow start, perhaps a Zelda Direct and some Nintendo Today trailers will suffice though.

I wouldn't say these minor news updates mean the direct isn't general. If a chunk of a general direct is about zelda movie and game and there are lots of third party games like last time, they may only have time for their more major first party announcements.

@UpsideDownRowlet Nintendo had a Star Fox Direct on May 6th for a June 25th release which is 7 weeks (and 1 day) later. If they wanted to do that with Zelda, they could do a September 24th Zelda 40th anniversary Direct with OoT remake releasing 7 weeks later on November 12th for example.

I think OoT remake is releasing on December 3rd but considering the popular theory is November 12th because of the Kirby amiibo, I figured comparison with Star Fox would be helpful.

As for the other stuff, they could do a Switch Sports Resort overview trailer in early October and announce the remaining 1st party stuff releasing through the end of March via Nintendo Today. Last year despite having a September general Direct, the only game we knew was coming in January - March after the Direct had ended was Mario Tennis Fever. The others were Nintendo Today drops from late October onwards (New Horizons and XCX Switch 2 Edition announcements, Pokopia and Wonder Switch 2 Edition release dates, Fire Red/Leaf Green announcement).

It’s so wild that this month we could be getting anything on the range of a boring contract-fulfilling partner showcase to a major general direct featuring Zelda 40th celebrations and possibly the next big game reveal such as 3D Mario. I forgot how much fun the early-gen years are in all their limitless potential!