I'm in for a pretty great direct, and I dont think it's super unrealistic either. With that said... Nintendo always announce things I dont expect instead of the opposite hah.

Slamdunks has to be dates for Yoshi, Fire Emblem and I feel Ultimate Alliance since it would outright stupid not to have it with the movie.
Also a gentle reminder of Mario Bros Deluxe since I expect the direct the day before it launches. Also date for Piranha DLC seems likely.

Then it's more hit or miss.

Fairly likely:
Launchmonth for Luigis Mansion, DLC for Mario Party, Daemon X Machina, new unannounced Nintendo game, a Wii U port perhaps or a Zelda remaster.
Third party games should show up and I think it's gonna be some good ones as well, Wolfenstein Youngbloods, Persona 5, The Assassins Creed collection perhaps. Should be something to cater to the core gamers. Some dates for the announced Resident Evil Games and Final Fantasy games and a couple of more mid sized games not yet announced.

I think the direct ends with a pretty big thing.. either a trailer for Bayo 3 or MP4 or something else we havnt seen of yet but it will be cool, dare I say Retro Studios? na I think that's march or E3

Not expecting Pokemon, Next Smash character or Retro Studios

Many a good ideas here. Many a good ideas.

Week of January 24th (when EShop game schedule goes from being plentiful to incredibly sparse).

I strongly feel the main focus will be the next 3-4 months of indie games and Steam/third party ports that have not been talked about yet. I think we'll get release schedules for games already featured. Already announced games I expect to see details on (even if it is just a screen with a release date):
Fire Emblem
Grandia I & II
Pokemon
Yoshi
Final Fantasy games

Board games

Games that I don't expect but wouldn't be surprised at seeing:
Animal Crossing
Metroid

They start with a Fire Emblem: The Three Houses trailer with an official release date.
They take 3-5 minutes to talk about 3DS games coming in 2019. (Persona Q2, etc.)
They show off Yoshi's Crafted World with a March release date.
Daemon X Machina trailer with a Q3 release.
Various new 3rd party games that are both ports (GTA V) and new games (MK11)
More Wii U games being ported to Switch (Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101, TMS,)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 new trailer with a Q2-Q3 release window.
New Mario spinoff title (a sports game of sorts)
New NES games coming to the Nintendo Switch Online service.
Indie game reel
Luigi's Mansion 3 trailer, with an official title and release date.
Piranha Plant released at the end of the Direct, followed by.
The official gameplay trailer for Joker in Smash Bros, a release date for the DLC and, with the official announcement of Persona 5 coming to Nintendo Switch. (This leans more on the hopeful than realistic side, but after the Game Awards and the recently filed trademarks from Atlus, all bets are off!)

We're not going to see anything about Animal Crossing, Metroid Prime 4, SMT V, Bayonetta 3, or Pokemon Gen 8 at this Direct.

They will do a mini Direct on the 11th, in which they will show:

- The World Ends With You -Final Remix-
- Pokken Tournament DX Battle Pack
- Dragon Quest Builders demo
- Kirby Star Allies
- Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition
- Mario Tennis Aces
- Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
- Super Mario Odyssey update
- SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy
- Arcade Archives NeoGeo: Art of Fighting 2
- Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle DLC
- Payday 2
- Fe
- Celeste
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
- Dark Souls Remastered

Pachter?

"January 2018 Direct"

Games that are really likely to be there :
-Yoshi
-Daemon x thing
-Fire emblem
-Luigi's Mansion (we already saw gameplay so i assume it might be coming in spring)
-Town
-Metroid Prime Trilogy HD
-Piranha plant for Smash
-UA3
-Some 3DS games we all forgot about
-No more heroes (if the Direct is before the release date..)

Things that might happen as a big surprise, not all of them :
-Bayonetta 3
-Metroid Prime 4
-SMTV
-A new Warrior game, probably a mario one or sequel to HW.
-Zelda SS HD

Wild Cards :
-Animal crossing
-Ubisoft new project
-Pikmin 4
-2D Zelda
-SNES games for online sub
-another look at Joker for smash

-Pokemon spinoff

Things we won't see 100 % :
-Pokemon gen 8

-Main Zelda game

-Main Mario game

Some of these look like wishlists ... I can't see them giving dates or trailers for Animal Crossing, Metroid, Pokemon or Bayonetta since those will all be saved for later in the year.

I think we'll get the next three months' NES games for Online announced. A feature on Yoshi. Something on Super Mario Bros. U: could there be DLC coming for that? Is it too early to announce the second DLC character for Smash Bros. Ultimate?

I'd like to see a Persona 5 announcement but it depends on how far along they are with that (and whether it's coming at all!)

I like the idea of some kind of Super Mario Maker reveal: that would really help Online along and it would explain why they're launching Super Mario Bros. U so early in the year.

Oh, and they've got to announce Metroid Prime Trilogy sometime ... surely?

Here is your january 2018 direct:

https://youtu.be/Zahv-P7MJ5Q