The Big Nintendo Direct — How Do I Feel?

So, it happened today. Nintendo finally showed their hand for this year. It was a beautiful, game-packed Nintendo Direct — 50 minutes of pure goodness. How do I feel, though?

Before we get into that, let’s take a step back, because context is incredibly important here. Nintendo is in a sticky situation. This became clear from public reactions leading up to this Direct, driven by comments made by the President of Nintendo himself, Shuntaro Furukawa, during a recent shareholders’ meeting. Just like Nintendo connects with their audience through Directs, they also have financial reports to go over with shareholders. During those meetings, investors ask questions, and executives have to answer truthfully.

Not too long ago, Nintendo announced a price increase taking place in September 2026. It’s not too far away, but it felt like more of a heads-up than Sony gave customers when they raised the price of the PS5. They even gave more notice than Microsoft did when they announced their various price increases.

During that Q&A with shareholders, Furukawa said this: “We will prepare a robust software lineup to enhance the Switch 2 ownership value.” This statement felt like a promise that Nintendo would prepare a lineup of games so amazing it would entice hesitant gamers to make the jump from Switch 1 to Switch 2, despite the price hike. It also indirectly promised existing Switch 2 owners, “Hey, we’ve got the games, and we will show you soon!”

Or did it?

When I first heard that quote, it sounded to me like something they will do, not something they currently have. It felt like a future plan. However, when I listened to the community discussions, it seemed everyone took it to mean Nintendo already had a treasure chest of AAA-quality games just waiting to be released.

To me, context is key. This price increase was likely something they tried their best to avoid or push back. Knowing that game development times have increased significantly from the Switch 1 era to the Switch 2 era, I took his words as an outline of what they plan to work on.

Let’s go back to what Nintendo actually announced today. With this context in mind, I think you will start to see a very clear, and potentially worrisome, trend.

First-Party Offerings

On the first-party side, they announced several “Switch 2 Enhanced Versions” of existing Switch 1 games — specifically, Xenoblade Chronicles 1, 2, and 3. Some of these will feature extra content not found in the original versions. They also announced Xenoblade Genesis for 2027 — a brand-new entry exclusive to the Switch 2. That’s great for Xenoblade fans, of which I am not one.

The prophecies were true: they also announced Nintendo Switch Sports Resort exclusively for the Switch 2. The first Switch Sports sold 18 million units, so this is going to be a massive system-seller. My family was among those who bought the first one.

They also showed more of the previously announced Splatoon Raiders, revealed the release date for Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave, and announced a free demo for the highly anticipated Star Fox game (which was also predicted by the insider Nate the Hate) coming out in two weeks. We smashed the download button on that as soon as possible, proved our Top Gun worthiness, and got a “Mission Accomplished” on the available level. Score!

Let’s not forget about Pokémon Pokopia. They announced both free enhancements and a paid DLC pass that will drop in three waves. Lastly, the ever-elusive Rhythm Heaven Groove made an appearance, though it had already been discussed and shown many times before.

Let’s recap the first-party side before we jump into third-party offerings. Four out of the nine games shown by Nintendo (keep that number 9 in mind!) were already announced and are coming out within a month. All of those were announced before Furukawa made his statement about a “robust software lineup.”

What about the other five? Three of them are Switch 2 Enhanced Versions, which are just graphical upgrades to existing Switch 1 games with some additional content. That leaves only two brand-new announcements: the DLC for an existing (though popular) Switch 2 game, and one completely new game, Switch Sports Resort.

“Robust software lineup.”

Third-Party Showstoppers

Moving forward, let’s talk about the third-party offerings.

Square Enix showed up with some heavy hitters. Kingdom Hearts 1, 2, and 3 have finally arrived on Switch 2, and I discovered my son, Nick, desperately wants to play them. He legitimately cried when my wife told him we couldn’t play it today! Square also announced that the Switch 2 will get a day-and-date release for Kingdom Hearts 4 when it launches across all platforms, which is amazing to hear. On top of that, they revealed a new 2D-HD game called Final Fantasy Resonance.

Microsoft showed up with Minecraft. Shift Up, the developer of Stellar Blade, is both developing and publishing their game for the Switch 2 — which is interesting, considering Sony actually published it on the PS5.

We also got Lies of P: Complete Edition from Round8 Studio, and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 from Saber Interactive. To quick-list a few other major third-party titles: Metaphor: ReFantazio, Deltarune Chapter 5, Rayman Legends Retold, Big Walk, One Piece: Grand Gourmet, a few shadow drops, and one I am super excited about because I didn’t even know it was still in development: RuneScape: Dragonwilds.

However, the true MVP of Switch 2 third-party support has to be Capcom. They have already given us Resident Evil 7, 8, and 9, Pragmata, Street Fighter 6, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, and Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. Today, they showed up with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, a brand-new game coming to all platforms in September 2026. They also showed off Dragon’s Dogma 2, the massive 2024 open-world RPG.

That is an immense amount of support. While it isn’t coming directly from Nintendo, it brings a massive library of games that Switch-only gamers have never been able to play, alongside brand-new multiplatform games launching this year. I think this is fantastic, and I always love seeing this level of third-party commitment to a Nintendo console. A lot of these games will be day-one buys for me.

Reading Between the Lines

But let’s look closer. Remember when I told you not to forget the number of games Nintendo showcased? One of them was Star Fox, arguably Nintendo’s biggest game of the summer. Now that the demo is live, we finally know which Nintendo-owned studio is making it… Velan Studios? They aren’t a first-party Nintendo developer; they are an independent third-party company.

Which brings us to the grand finale. They closed the Direct with the biggest rumored project of them all: a massive remake of arguably the best game of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This game is constantly praised as a masterpiece that revolutionized the industry by pioneering core 3D mechanics.

The reveal was amazing, but let’s circle back to the rumors. This game leaked heavily beforehand. One insider, XboxEra’s Shpeshal Nick, specifically stated that both internal and external developers were working on this remake, and that it had a massive budget. Based on what we saw, it absolutely has a high budget. Nintendo even called it a Rebirth of the game, implying a complete ground-up remake. We can already see distinct design changes to Link’s house and the Great Deku Tree, proving this isn’t a simple copy-and-paste remaster.

Wait a minute… two of the largest games for the Switch 2 this year — Star Fox and Zelda (both N64 revivals) — aren’t even being fully developed internally by Nintendo? One of those is a proven fact, and we still don’t officially know who is driving the ship on Zelda.

This is where the worry sets in. If you read my review of “Switch 2: Year One,” my final judgment was positive. Nintendo and their partners worked hard to bring much-needed ports to the system. But while third-party studios are showing up strong, Nintendo’s internal teams seem to be struggling to keep pace.

It is becoming clear that current-generation development times are taking a toll. I think the reason we are getting a remake of an older Zelda game before a brand-new mainline entry is because Nintendo’s internal team simply isn’t ready. Eiji Aonuma previously mentioned that the Zelda team wanted to be the first to bring a Zelda experience to the Switch 2, but Koei Tecmo beat them to it (with Hyrule Warriors). Meanwhile, Pokémon Winds and Waves is slated for next year, breaking the usual cycle of annual Pokémon releases.

This brings Furukawa’s statement back into sharp focus. “We will prepare a robust software lineup to enhance the Switch 2 ownership value.” This wasn’t a promise of what Nintendo currently had tucked away. It was an admission that they need to put in the work to get that lineup ready. It was corporate PR speak for: “We haven’t fully justified this price increase yet, but we will.”

Final Verdict

With all that said, my feelings are still mostly positive. I love the third-party lineup, and my wallet is going to suffer because of it. Zelda is coming, and I can’t wait to watch my wife play through the rebirth of the greatest game ever made. Star Fox looks incredible, and I’ve already mastered the demo level. It is incredibly fun. Objectively, this was a very strong Direct.

But my final judgment echoes a famous quote from The Dark Knight: “This is the Nintendo Direct we deserve, but not the one we need right now.” (Yes, I tweaked it a bit, but it fits perfectly, doesn’t it?)

Nintendo fans might feel let down because the internal software lineup doesn’t match the hype of a “robust” corporate promise. However, that’s the danger of taking financial reports and shareholder Q&As at face value. It’s easy to grab a headline soundbite and interpret it one way, when in reality, a CEO is just trying to tell the truth to investors without causing a panic. It’s a very fine line to walk, and sometimes, it leaves the rest of us reading between the lines.