My hopes for Nintendo's September 2021 Direct

 Everybody expected a Direct this month so now that it is happening, what do I want to see?

Based on Nintendo's Direct patterns gamers all around the world expected that Nintendo would drop another Direct in September. September 15th to be exact. After all, there had been a Direct in September for the last 5 years without fail usually around this time. September 15th came and went but no Direct happened. Turns out we didn't have to worry much. It was just delayed a little. To a Thursday no doubt. Friday even for me hear in Europe!

So, as is tradition, let's talk about some of my hopes for the Direct. And yes, I will admit: I am recycling some content from my previous Nintendo Direct prediction post 'Let's Talk About my hopes for Nintendo's 2021 E3'. Some of my hopes simply carry over from that article though my views have changed on them somewhat.

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Let's get right to the juicy stuff. The one thing I really, really want to happen. Xenoblade Chronicles 3. I even wrote an entire post on the rumours and ´leaks´ surrounding this game a few weeks ago. In short, after voice actress Jenna Coleman potentially had a slip of the tongue and said something along the lines of ´a 3rd game is coming´, industry insiders used the opportunity to share everything they knew about the game. From the game being more visually demanding to it merging all games in the series together. All allegedly of course.

I´ve got mixed feelings about all of this but either way, I do want to see it. For it to be the big opening of the Direct with a nice reveal trailer. Hopefully, that is enough to not only see if the ´leaks´ and rumours are true and just get my blood pumping. Alongside a release window of course.

Rumour has it that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will tie together all of these games and expansions to create one big, epic finale. If so, then Xenoblade Chronicles X should really get a Switch port. Then the entire series would be playable on the Nintendo Switch. How cool would that be?!

A Fire Emblem remake

Fire Emblem Three houses became the best selling entry in the series but since its launch in 2019, we haven't heard anything about the series aside from its DLC. We're now more than 2 later. Enough time for a new entry, no? A remake seems most likely to me. The timing is just right for it. A classic game in the series with added polish with quality-of-life updates would hype up older fans while intrigue newer ones with a look into the series' past.

Which game would I want a remake of exactly? Well, I think that the 2 games most likely to get a remake under the ‘Echoes’ banner are The Binding Blade and The Blazing Blade. The Blazing Blade is the first game that made it to the West but didn't really get that much of a chance here. The Binding Blade is what The Blazing Blade’s is a prequel to. A remaster would finally bring it outside Japan and complete the duo if you will. And, if I may be so bold, they could even choose the remake both and release them as a one-two-punch. A man can dream, no?

Nintendo Switch online expansion

I´m also interested to know if all of that speculation about more consoles coming to Nintendo Switch Online is true. There have been rumours of GameBoy, GameBoy Colour and/or Nintendo 64 coming to the service. The timing for new consoles wouldn't be bad as NSO launched around this time and the renewal window for the bulk of NSO subscribers is coming up soon. Nintendo has also filed a patent for a new controller recently which could very well be a new classic controller to coincide with NSO expansion. They brought NES and SNES style controllers to the Switch so why not a, for example, N64 controller. Enough evidence to support the idea for NSO expansion is out there is all I'm saying.

It might end up disappointing though. There has also been talk about Nintendo either upping the price of NSO and/or introduce new tiers to the service. From a gamer's point of view, the value of NSO isn't really there. You have to pay for online play that is below par and a variety of games that, well nice, are pretty outdated. In Nintendo's eyes though, 20,- is a steal for all of those games. Upping the price is, in their eyes, necessary and warranted. Very interested to see what the future of NSO is, as I´ve discussed before, and thus hope to get to see that this Direct.

A Smash DLC Fighter reveal

Before diving into the rapid-fire round let's take a quick look at Smash. There's only one DLC Fighter left in fighter pass vol. 2. The final fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in general. Revealing this final fighter would end this Direct with quite the bang. Which character do I think it’ll be? Originally I went with either Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon, just because I like the latter and because the former has been on a roll lately. For Crash, I could still see it happening. He has more, and more recent, games on the Switch and this year is his 25th anniversary.

Since then though Waluigi has popped up in my head as a good candidate. It has been a fan favourite pick since day 1 and with this not only the final fighter but perhaps even the final fighter under series creator Masahiro Sakurai. It would a fitting, circle closing, final pick and I am a sucker for that kind of stuff.

Rapid Fire round

I suspect that this Direct will feature a check-in for a lot of already announced games. I can hardly talk about all of them separately and at length zo, to close things out here’s a rapid-fire round of some of the games I suspect to see (again).

Square Enix’s Project: Triangle Strategy (I actually like that name you know!) is on the top of the check-in list for me. Learning that a tactical, Fire Emblem like game using Octopath Traveler’s 2D-HD graphics was in development excited me quite a bit. I enjoyed the Demo but it had problems so I hope that the game will pop up again and we get to not only learn more about it but see what was improved based on the feedback from the aforementioned Demo.

I also suspect that we'll see a Nintendo name check Metroid Dread and the OLED Switch since they're coming out next month just to remind people of that close release. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl and Pokémon Legends: Arceus will get a similar kind of attention as well as another reminder of the limited edition Zelda Game & Watch. Splatoon 3 hasn't been seen since its reveal earlier in the year and since it is still listed as a 2022 game I think a solid 2nd look at that game is very likely to happen. Oh and another look at Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Mario Party Superstars as well. Gotta have that Mario representation!

In terms of new stuff, rumours of a new Donkey Kong game developed by the Super Mario Odyssey Team has been going around lately. As it’s the character 40-year-anniversary I can see something DK happening. And more Animal Crossing: New Horizons content. We know they're working on something new for that game. Something that's, hopefully, bigger than any kind of update the game has received until now. Brewster anyone?

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So those are some things I really wouldn’t mind seeing in this new Direct. If we'll get to see even some of this is all up in the air but hopefully some of the games I talked about will be included alongside some great surprises.

Let’s wait and see!