A Nintendo Direct for August 2020 could be on the horizon, and for Switch fans it’s been a long time coming. It has almost been a year since the last full fat Nintendo Direct which aired in September. Since then the House of Mario has held other streams such as the recent Nintendo Direct Mini and the Direct Mini broadcast in March.
But none have been as all encompassing and comprehensive as a proper, full Nintendo Direct.
The lengthy wait is one reason anticipation is sky high for the next Nintendo Direct, but there’s another reason – the Switch’s remaining release schedule for 2020.
At the moment the rest of the year is looking very sparse for Switch fans, with hardly any confirmed releases for Q3 and Q4.
It’s led to speculation that Nintendo has some big surprise announcements in store that they could be saving up for the next Nintendo Direct.
One of the most heavily rumoured announcements is a Super Mario All Stars-style collection to commemorate Mario’s upcoming 35th anniversary.
September will mark 35 years since Super Mario Bros first arrived on the Famicom in Japan, so fans are hoping for a Direct before the big landmark occasion.
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It’s believed the 3D Mario collection will include HD remasters for the Switch of three classic titles – Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy.
If this rumour is indeed true then the release will have to be confirmed by Nintendo before September 13, which is when Super Mario Bros first launched for home consoles.
It’s also believed a new Mario Kart game is in the works for the Switch while a port of Wii U title Super Mario 3D World is allegedly coming to the hit hybrid console.
All this could be announced in the next Nintendo Direct, but we may have got an indication of some of the other announcements.
In a post online tweeter @KeliosFR, who correctly leaked details on the March and July Direct Minis, highlighted some interesting trademarks filed by Nintendo.
Six titles featured in the filings, and if this is any indication of the games on the horizon then Nintendo fans could be getting some exciting announcements.
The games that featured in the filings are Steel Diver, Kid Icarus, Mario Sports, Eternal Darkness, Nintendogs + Cats and Ocarina of Time.
The 3DS was home to Steel Diver, Mario Sports and Kid Icarus games as well as a remake of N64 classic Ocarina of Time.
While Eternal Darkness is a cult classic survival horror that was released on the Nintendo GameCube back in the early noughties.
It’s unclear whether these trademark filings relate to new games or potential ports for the Switch.
It seems possible that Nintendo Switch Online could be getting N64 games this year, following on from SNES and NES collections in the preceding two years.
If Switch Online is getting an N64 collection of free games then that could be what the trademark relates to.
But Nintendo IPs that last appeared on the 3DS are a bit more curious – Ninty surely wouldn’t want to port any of those titles to the Switch?
Which begs the question why have these trademark filings been made? Companies every now and again have to renew trademarks so they don’t lose rights to these titles.
So that’s all this could be. But surely it’s a bit early to be renewing the Mario Sports trademark since the last game in the series was out in 2017?
And the other interesting thing is Nintendo not too long ago renewed the trademark for Eternal Darkness, with that happening at the end of 2016.
While it may seem a long shot, surely there will be Nintendo fans out there hoping these trademarks are a sign of Switch games set to be announced in the next Direct.
A new Nintendogs + Cats game would surely sell by the truckloads, and with other DS titles like Brain Training hitting the Switch it doesn’t seem out of the realms of possibility to see this series make a return.
While the return of the Eternal Darkness, and a potential Ocarina of Time remake or re-release for the Switch, would surely also send fans wild.
It remains to be seen whether any of these titles do end up getting announced in the next Nintendo Direct, or if reveals could be further away.
While this year marks the 35th anniversary for Mario, next year will mark the 35th anniversary for Zelda.
So maybe Zelda fans will find out next year whether there’s anything to this Ocarina of Time trademark renewal or not.
It’s been claimed that the next Nintendo Direct could be as far away as the “very end” of summer, which might indicate a late August stream date.