Rumor: Next Nintendo Direct could be a Partner Showcase, airing soon

February 8: New speculation indicates that a Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase could be released as soon as next week.

Many Nintendo fans are counting on a Direct this month based on past precedent. In previous years, a general presentation was held in February. But now it seems that instead of the big event, we could be getting a smaller presentation focusing on third-parties.

During the latest Nate the Hate podcast, it was stated: “I’m going into the first Direct of the year with the expectation that it’s going to be a Partner Direct. I don’t think Nintendo will host a general Direct this February. I think they’re going to do third-parties instead.”

Nate did not provide a date for the Nintendo Direct. However, some believe that it will be happening on February 15. Nate brought up speculation of the event taking place within the next week.

The Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase format kicked off in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Nintendo hasn’t used this type of presentation since 2022, but may feel it may not have enough content to make a general broadcast.

The Switch release schedule is fairly filled up with many expecting a hardware announcement at some point this year. Mario vs. Donkey Kong arrives next week, Princess Peach: Showtime comes out in March, and Luigi’s Mansion 2 and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door will follow sometime in 2024.

February 16: The February 15 date thrown around by some obviously didn’t happen, but a Partner Showcase could be coming next week. That’s according to Pyoro, who has a perfect track record with Nintendo rumors.

February 19: Pyoro has been giving hints about what we could be seeing here. It looks like Penny’s Big Breakaway will be present and Contra: Operation Galuga will seemingly be getting a demo.

Elsewhere, it looks like Game Freak could be showing up, but don’t assume that’s for Pokemon. It could be something such as Pand Land which was trademarked in Japan or a Switch version of Pocket Card Jockey.

Finally, Nintendo could be here as well, but not in the way you think. If it’s something like a Hyrule Warriors situation where Koei Tecmo handles publishing duties in Japan, that sort of game could be appearing as well. Another one of the Nintendo-related tweets mentions dolphins, which has some thinking that the Wii IP Endless Ocean could be showing up.