Nintendo Direct airing this week "featuring roughly 50 minutes of information"

A new Nintendo Direct will air this Wednesday, February 17.

Nintendo announced the stream today. It will feature "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," the company said on Twitter. The show starts at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 10pm BT. 

This is not only the first Nintendo Direct of the new year, technically speaking, it's also the first mainline Direct in nearly 16 months. Apart from mini and partner Nintendo Directs, the house of Mario hasn't held a reveal stream of its own since September 2019. For reference, the biggest announcements of the previous Direct included gameplay reveals for Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Pokemon Sword and Shield, Overwatch and SNES games coming to Switch, and another Wii U port in Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore. 

Given Nintendo's explanation of the stream, it sounds like ongoing games like Animal Crossing and Pokemon may get yet another spot in this Direct to highlight new content, but all eyes are on new Switch games. We already know of several big-name upcoming Switch games planned for the first half of the year, including Bravely Default 2, Monster Hunter Rise, New Pokemon Snap, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, and more, and they're all ripe for an appearance. We'll also likely get release dates for several other Switch games. 

There's also been some reasonable speculation that, with the Zelda series' 35th anniversary coming up fast, Nintendo may announce a new game or port, or finally give us another glimpse at Breath of the Wild 2, but that's just speculation for now. Still, if an incredibly optimistic listing from one retailer holds up, the sequel may arrive this year after all. 

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