The 5 Nintendo Direct Announcements That Intrigued Me the Most

Happy Friday! The Nintendo Direct we’ve been waiting for finally happened this morning, and it was… pretty good?

The Direct was an agenda setter for Nintendo, laying out the rest of the holiday season while giving fans something to look forward to in 2026. We’re also getting a new Fire Emblem, which is big news for its primary audience — me. There’s a lot to cover — including one truly bonkers announcement that is also purely Nintendo — so I’ll try to break it down into the five that stood out to me the most. Here we go!

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1. Against all odds, the Virtual Boy is back

There was a time when Nintendo wouldn’t even acknowledge the Virtual Boy. An early attempt at commercializing stereoscopic 3D games, the Virtual Boy crashed out of the market with just 22 games. Now it’s being released on Nintendo Switch Online alongside a mandatory $99 peripheral ($25 for the cardboard version) intended to capture the claustrophobia and neck strain of the original goggles.

It feels in some ways like an idea that would be cooked up for April Fools Day. The Virtual Boy! It’s back in all its red and black glory! But there’s something admirable, I guess, in Nintendo going all in on recapturing the experience of playing the original Virtual Boy. It’s not for nothing that the development of the Virtual Boy was spearheaded by Gunpei Yokoi, who died tragically not long after its release. Yokoi was a big part of Nintendo’s early success, his philosophy of repurposing “withered technology” leading to the creation of the Game Boy and Game & Watch among other devices, and the resurrection of the Virtual Boy feels like a tribute to his memory.

This is the good kind of nostalgia — a way for fans to experience a part of Nintendo history that has been virtually inaccessible for 30 years. If Nintendo is to be a museum for video game history, then let it be like this. And hey, I’m told Wario Land isn’t too bad.

2. Mario’s 40th anniversary brings with it a movie trailer, remasters and more

This year marks Mario’s 40th anniversary, and as expected Nintendo celebrated the occasion with multiple announcements, some of them interesting, some of them… less interesting. I’ll just run through them quickly.

• Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Galaxy 2 are getting remastered with better resolution, an improved UI, and new content. The bundle will cost you a cool $69.99 (or $39.99 for each one individually) and releases October 2.

• The Mario Bros. movie sequel got a new teaser trailer that pans over the Mushroom Kingdom before revealing that it will be called the Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder is also getting a Switch 2 release featuring a new plaza called Bellabel Park centered around party-based gameplay. The events resemble Mario Party’s mini-games, but with Mario Wonder’s platforming. Other new content will be announced soon ahead of its Spring 2026 release date.

• Mario Tennis Fever is the latest Mario sports title, releasing February 12 on Switch 2.

• Yoshi returns in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, which combines a charming storybook aesthetic with the series’ familiar gameplay. Like Wonder, it’ll be out next spring.

• There will be lots of other events, including a special 40th anniversary museum ticket, a sponsorship for the 2026 Kyoto Marathon, and new products like a physical release of the Mario Galaxy storybook.

Out of them, I’m probably the most interested in the Super Mario Galaxy 2 remaster, which is said to be even better than the original but passed me by when it first released. On that note, it’s interesting that Nintendo is leaning so heavily into Mario Galaxy specifically. I suppose Wii nostalgia release is in full swing.

3. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave may be a sequel (or prequel?) to Three Houses

Sothis is back! The Direct closed with the announcement of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave — undoubtedly the most exciting game this side of a new Zelda for one Kat Bailey. The official summary reads:

Fans quickly fixated on Sothis’s appearance at the end of the trailer, leading to speculation that it might be sequel to the previous game. A lot of people are seemingly still talking about Three Houses’ story. I’ll admit, I’m not one of them — I was too heartbroken by accidentally getting forced down the Church route.

In all seriousness, Fire Emblem has achieved a consistently high bar for quality over the past decade, and the Three Houses brought in a ton of new fans. If it manages to mix the outstanding map design and gameplay of the underappreciated Fire Emblem Engage with the storytelling and character design of Three Houses, it could be really special.

4. Pokémon Pokopia is going to be massive

This is where I call my shot — I think Pokémon Pokopia is going to be a big deal. A mix of elements from what looks like Dragon Quest Builders, Minecraft, and Animal Crossing, the spinoff developed by Koei Tecmo lets you essentially build up your own town from scratch, complete with housing for all your monsters. Honestly, it’s an idea that’s a long time coming, and I’m a little baffled it’s taken this long for it to come around.

The official release reads:

Pokémon games have been dinged for their quality recently, but Koei Tecmo has a good track record and a cozy Pokémon game is basically a license to print money. If it’s good, I wouldn’t be shocked if it sells 30 million copies. Yes, really.

5. And finally, Samus has a bike now

Okay, I think the bike is pretty cool. It also explains some of why Metroid Prime 4 has taken so long to release — it seems as if the development team decided to incorporate open world exploration, which is a departure from the norm for the series. Notably, the world itself looks quite plain, leading to me wonder what exactly Samus can find out there. It definitely opens up more questions than it answers. But the bike? The bike is cool. And we have release date now too — December 4, 2025.

More Nintendo announcements: Hades 2, Resident Evil Requiem, and PowerWash Simulator 2

Here are some of the other announcements that stood out to me during the Nintendo Direct.

• I might buy Hades 2 again on the Switch 2. I put significant hours into the Steam version, but I don’t mind starting over following all of the content updates, and I don’t want to jump between the Switch and Steam Deck while I continue playing Sillksong. Hades 2 is out September 25.

• Dragon Quest VII is getting remade… again. Personally, I would rather literally any other Dragon Quest were remade, but I’m sure someone will be happy about this. It’ll be out in February.

• Square Enix confirmed that the entire Final Fantasy Remake trilogy is heading to Switch 2 while pushing Remake to January 22, 2026.

• Another port: Resident Evil Requiem. It looks really good, too. It’ll be joined by Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village on February 27.

• Both Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Donkey Bananza are getting some pricey paid DLC, with the latter out today. For $20, DK Bananza introduces what amounts to a roguelite mode set on DK Island. Pokémon Legends, meanwhile, will offer up Mega Raichu X and Y along with other new Pokémon. It’ll run players an additional $29.99 on top of the $59.99 for the full release of Z-A, which it out in October.

All in all, a pretty solid Direct with plenty of interesting games releasing through 2026. Now I need to knuckle down and actually finish Silksong.

Thanks for reading another issue of Nintenkats! We’ll be back with more Nintendo news, opinions, and mailbag questions next week! In the meantime, what did you think of the Nintendo Direct? Subscribe and share your thoughts below!