Nintendo Direct - Feb 9

[xMetroid]

I expect a big direct. Even if they don't announce sh*t they will have Splatoon 3, Kirby and definitely some kind of Mario game announcement. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 should be there as well. Nate says it was supposed to be presented last year in February and released in December but plans changed with optimization and covid so by delaying it they probably just planned to keep the same marketing plan just 1 year later since it worked well with XC2.

I expect to see Zelda Botw 2. Even if the chances of it releasing this year are like 30-40% in my mind, i feel like they are still planning to do so and they will want to start a bigger marketing push now (since next direct will be April or even June and that becomes a little late knowing Zelda games usually get a full year of big showing). Botw had a big gameplay trailer showing bits of the story, and key mechanics and several HOURS of gameplay at E3 like 8 months before it came out. So i don't feel like having the first real trailer for Botw 2 is farfetched since all we got right now was labeled as teasers. I do not expect a title reveal until like E3 if it still comes out this year.

But even if the game is planned to release in March 2023, i feel like we could still see it since we haven't seen it since 8 months and they said they would show it again last year but they didn't. I also think the last trailer didn't get the reception they anticipated, it was a pretty underwhelming one. I feel like even if everyone knows it is probably not representative of what the game is, they need to get something to hype up the sequel.