Nintendo has announced the first major live stream/event of 2021 with a Nintendo Direct coming tomorrow, February 17. The live stream will take place at 2 p.m. PT | 5 p.m. ET and as Nintendo says, it will be “featuring roughly 50 minutes of information focused on available games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and games coming to Nintendo Switch in the first half of 2021.”
This is the first official Nintendo Direct since 2019. Since then, Nintendo has only released Nintendo Mini Directs focused on single games and partner showcases focusing on titles coming to the Switch from third-party developers. They have also released Indie World Showcases revealing indie games coming to Nintendo Switch. As to what we’ll see, since it’s focused on the first half of 2021, we could see new looks at games such as Bravely Default 2, New Pokemon Snap, and Monster Hunter Rise. All of these are scheduled to release during the first half of 2021.
There are also titles that have been announced but have been radio silent for a while. Last year, the developers of Bayonetta 3 said that the game was still in development. The game was initially revealed way back when in 2017. The next Metroid Prime restarted development with Retro Studios back as the developer. Nintendo also talked little about Breath of the Wild 2 in September but said that there wouldn’t be any updates for a while. Something else to note regarding the timing of this Direct is that The Legend of Zelda’s 35th anniversary is on Febraury 21. For Super Mario Bros. 35th anniversary, Nintendo announced several things such as new games and products. You can probably expect Nintendo to do something similar with The Legend of Zelda.