Here’s what we could see from a July 2025 Nintendo Direct
Today, we’re going over some potential announcements we could see in a July 2025 Nintendo Direct.
You know the drill by now – it’s that time of the year again. To some extent, Nintendo Direct rumors are always swirling about in one form or another. If we reported on every single “there’s a Direct this week” rumor that comes up, we’d probably be posting multiple times per month. In fact, generally speaking, the only time we report on Nintendo Direct rumors is when NateTheHate (who correctly predicted the Switch 2’s reveal date) mentions that one is coming soon.
If you haven’t heard already, there’s supposedly a Nintendo Direct in development for later this month. The most likely days for this presentation would be July 23, July 24, July 30, or July 31 – but at the time of writing, we don’t know which one it is yet or if the Direct is happening at all. Either way, we’re due for one soon.
The big reason we sort of “need” a Nintendo Direct is because we could use some release dates. We know that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Kirby Air Riders (plus potentially Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment) are all coming in 2025, but we don’t have concrete release dates for any of them. Regardless, we expect that we’ll hear about these games sometime soon, even if it’s only through the Nintendo Today app and not through a traditional Nintendo Direct. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment was technically announced for winter, which could mean January as well, but it’s just as likely that we see it in December instead. Who knows!
Another thing we could see is some Nintendo Switch Online drops. Recently, dedicated fans actually seemed to discover that the original Super Smash Bros., Donkey Kong 64, and more were included in the background of a recent Nintendo 64 trailer. It does seem like a good time to release them – there certainly isn’t a new Smash Bros. game coming any time soon given that Masahiro Sakurai is working on Kirby Air Riders, plus Donkey Kong Bananza could warrant a Donkey Kong 64 release at some point or another. None of this is even mentioning the GameCube division of Nintendo Switch Online, which could easily receive a shadow drop or a date that includes a new game.
It would also be interesting to see a Mario Kart World update of some sort. At launch, many of the characters had several costumes to choose from – but for some reason, Donkey Kong and Pauline specifically only have one costume each. That seems too specific to be a coincidence, so it’s theoretically possible that we see a Mario Kart World update that includes additional outfits for the both of them. This is definitely reaching, but it’d be great to see additional representation from the DK universe – Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, and Cranky Kong aren’t in the game at all right now. It could be interesting to see King K. Rool too, but that’s highly unlikely unless he winds up secretly appearing in Donkey Kong Bananza.
Beyond that, there’s always potential for some new games as well. Nintendo Switch 2’s line-up this year is pretty big: Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Pokemon Legends: Z-A, and Kirby Air Riders. We’ll throw Drag x Drive in there as well. It’s important to note that Nintendo likes to space out its game releases to generally once per month or so. This is probably because if they release them too close together, people might not have enough money to buy two games at once. Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t have new game announcements – we could potentially see something that releases in 2026, even if it’s another update on Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream or Rhythm Heaven Groove. Camelot hasn’t made a new game since Mario Golf: Super Rush in 2021, so they’re likely almost finished a new Mario Sports game or possibly even a Golden Sun remake or sequel (which is nowhere near as likely, but would still be awesome).
A great way for Nintendo to keep up its momentum without overcrowding new games would be releasing more Nintendo Switch 2 Editions. These could either be free or paid, and we can think of plenty of games that would benefit from them. The Xenoblade Chronicles series in particular would be absolutely outstanding with increased resolution and frame rates – but other games could use one too. Let’s rapid-fire a list of games that would particularly benefit from improved performance: Mario & Luigi: Brothership, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Kirby Star Allies, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Bayonetta 3, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You can read more on why these games would benefit over at our corresponding post.
There’s also technically some potential for Nintendo Switch 1 games too, but not as much. Like we mentioned earlier, NateTheHate has a good track record, and he previously talked about a port of Kirby: Planet Robobot for Nintendo Switch. That hasn’t been announced at the moment, but it would make sense to see a Kirby remake release alongside the Switch 2 Edition of Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It makes a lot of sense to continue releasing relatively low-effort Nintendo Switch 1 ports – the console still has a huge install base that could still be interested in buying new games.
We’re also bound to see a boatload of third-party developer announcements. Though we’ve had games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Street Fighter 6 at launch, new announcements have been fairly far and few between. But now, the flood gates are bound to open any day, and if we had to guess, we’d say the next Nintendo Direct will have a ton of new and surprising third-party game reveals. There have been rumors about big Nintendo Switch 2 plans from Xbox (which we’re hoping haven’t changed following recent layoffs), further support from Ubisoft, and more.
At any rate, what do you want to see most from a theoretical July 2025 Nintendo Direct? Let us know in the comments down below. Stay tuned, too – because when the next Nintendo Direct is announced, we’ll be reporting on it right away.
