After weeks of speculation, a new Nintendo Direct has finally been confirmed to be taking place on September 13 at 7 a.m. PT, and The Legend of Zelda fans should write that time down. While the event won't be centered around one game, unlike last month's Splatoon 3- focused presentation or June's Nintendo Direct on Xenoblade Chronicles 3, there still seems to be one franchise that is commanding a lot of the excitement around the show, and that's Zelda.
As usual, the Nintendo Direct will presumably announce plans for coming months, including games, DLC, and hardware. This month's installment will mostly feature "Nintendo Switch games launching this winter" according to Nintendo. However, when rumors of a September event began, reports suggested it would be a "blowout" of content for The Legend of Zelda, to the glee of many fans of the franchise.
Breath of the Wild Sequel Announcements
Breath of the Wild 2 was first announced in 2019, yet details on the game are incredibly scarce. Even the final name for the title has not yet been confirmed. So far, it's known that the game will be taking players to the skies of Hyrule in addition to the surface world they're familiar with, with movement mechanics seemingly inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Early trailers also suggest a darker tone to the story, similar to how Majora's Mask had a gloomier story element than its predecessor, Ocarina of Time.
Giant Bomb reporter Jeff Grubb, who gave the initial reports that The Legend of Zelda would feature heavily in September's Direct, has suggested that Breath of the Wild 2 will feature in some capacity during the event. Specifically, reports suggest that Breath of the Wild 2's official name will be revealed. While that may not seem too significant, fans of the franchise have been given very little information on the sequel, so excitement around even the name is to be expected.
Many are hoping for more than the official name to be revealed, however. The last Legend of Zelda project that was announced - the Skyward Sword HD remake - came without new details about Breath of the Wild 2, so some fans were left a little disappointed. Nintendo, then, might be offering some new details to avoid a repeat of that. It seems the most hopeful expectations are a release date and a more in-depth gameplay reveal. A 2023 release is expected, but September's Nintendo Direct may finally give fans a more specific date to look forward to.
Zelda Ports Coming to Nintendo Switch
While Breath of the Wild 2 news might be what many are looking out for, reports suggest most of the Legend of Zelda announcements will be about the return of two older games from the series. These are purported to be Switch ports of 2002's The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and 2006's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
This won't be the first time these games have been brought onto new Nintendo platforms. The Wind Waker, initially a GameCube title, received an HD remaster for the Wii U in 2013. Similarly, Twilight Princess was initially released on both the Wii and GameCube but later got its own HD remaster for the Wii U in 2016. A port to the Switch may work off the basis of these HD remakes instead of the original releases. They may also again change certain parts of gameplay to fit the hardware of Nintendo's current-gen console or make graphical updates.
The potential of these ports has garnered excitement from most, but also some understandable reservations from some. When Skyward Sword HD was released in 2021, many were disappointed by the full $60 price tag. It seemed a bit steep for what was mostly a graphically improved version of a 2011 title, with a few quality-of-life updates and controller changes made for the Switch Joy-Con. If the reported rereleases of Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker are on the way, then The Legend of Zelda fans might hope for a lower asking price, or maybe a game bundle.