E3 2021: Nintendo Direct live report Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. E3 2021: Nintendo Direct live report Here's the big one. Join us live from 5pm! Blog by Martin Robinson Editor-in-chief Updated on 28 Sep 2021 199 comments Happy Nintendo day! Not to get your hopes up too much, but this promises to be a half decent Direct, with news on this year's big releases from Nintendo and room for a surprise or two. Join us from 5pm BST! Our live coverage of this event has finished. Coverage 15:48 pm UTC Well hello hello hello. – Martin Robinson 15:48 pm UTC Who's excited? – Martin Robinson 15:48 pm UTC Who's stupidly, almost impossibly excited? – Martin Robinson 15:48 pm UTC The same person who's no doubt going to be deeply disappointed in about an hour's time. – Martin Robinson 15:48 pm UTC Still! – Martin Robinson 15:49 pm UTC There should be at least *something* interesting in this Nintendo Direct. – Martin Robinson 15:49 pm UTC *cue 40 minute deep dive into the finer mechanics of Mario Golf: Super Rush* – Martin Robinson 15:49 pm UTC Actually you know what, I'd take that over some of the shite some publishers have tried to pull this E3. – Martin Robinson 15:49 pm UTC Anyway, I'm hoping we might get slightly more than that. – Martin Robinson 15:50 pm UTC Is it reasonable to expect some Breath of the Wild 2 news? – Martin Robinson 15:51 pm UTC That would be enough for me. – Martin Robinson 15:51 pm UTC I'm so glad I decided to skip that one! – Martin Robinson 15:52 pm UTC Maybe slightly less reasonable expectations: the heavily rumoured new Donkey Kong game from the Mario Odyssey team; the new game from the Arms team (which'll probably be Mario Kart 9); a new 2D Metroid; the overdue Xenoblade X port. – Martin Robinson 15:52 pm UTC Any one of them would make me happy! – Martin Robinson 15:52 pm UTC I'm asking for too much already aren't I? – Martin Robinson 15:54 pm UTC Whatever happens, I'm sure it'll be slick as anything. – Martin Robinson 15:54 pm UTC Oh, and one last thing - wouldn't it be nice to know if there is indeed a revised Switch coming this year? – Martin Robinson 15:55 pm UTC I've had mine since launch day and it's falling apart a bit - the fan cover's broken off, it's got all sorts of bumps and bruises. – Martin Robinson 15:55 pm UTC It has been well loved. – Martin Robinson 15:55 pm UTC I've never played Eterntal Darkness... – Martin Robinson 15:55 pm UTC So I'd jump at the opportunity to play it. – Martin Robinson 15:56 pm UTC Under five minutes to go and honestly my heart is racing so much I might just burst. – Martin Robinson 15:56 pm UTC (You might have picked up over the past few years that I'm a bit keen on Nintendo stuff sometimes). – Martin Robinson 15:57 pm UTC We don't even know much of what Nintendo has planned for the back half of 2021, so there should be at least some news. – Martin Robinson 15:58 pm UTC Two minutes to go! – Martin Robinson 15:59 pm UTC I'm thinking wistfully of past magical Nintendo E3 moments - the Twilight Princess reveal, the first glimpse at the 3DS. – Martin Robinson 15:59 pm UTC Wii Music! – Martin Robinson 15:59 pm UTC What will today add to that pantheon? – Martin Robinson 16:00 pm UTC This is probably the more sane approach than downing your second pot of coffee, holding on tight to your Donkey Kong plushie and crying sweet tears of anticipation. – Martin Robinson 16:00 pm UTC It's an 18! – Martin Robinson 16:00 pm UTC There might be swears and nudes! – Martin Robinson 16:00 pm UTC HERE WE GO!!!!!!! – Martin Robinson 16:01 pm UTC Koizumi and Takahashi are here to take us through the show - nothing other than the big guns here. – Martin Robinson 16:02 pm UTC Koizumi seems to be going for a more agreesive side parting these days - perhaps his lockdown style? – Martin Robinson 16:02 pm UTC He still looks handsome as mind. – Martin Robinson 16:02 pm UTC And the first game is!!!! – Martin Robinson 16:02 pm UTC Well, that's Ganon so it must be Zelda-related - but it doesn't look like Breath of the Wild. – Martin Robinson 16:02 pm UTC Oh, it's a new Smash character - and it's Tekken's Kazuya. – Martin Robinson 16:03 pm UTC Which makes a lot of sense seeing as Bandai Namco help with so much of the dev of Smash Bros - I sort of wonder why it's taken so long for Tekken to make an appearance. – Martin Robinson 16:04 pm UTC It's not quite the scene setter I imagined... – Martin Robinson 16:04 pm UTC Indeed, it's almost troll-like opening up with Ganon when the expectations are set so high. – Martin Robinson 16:04 pm UTC But you know what, I'll take it. – Martin Robinson 16:04 pm UTC And I'll take any opportunity to see Sakurai do his thing. – Martin Robinson 16:04 pm UTC What a man! What a legacy! – Martin Robinson 16:04 pm UTC What a very neat and tidy desk. – Martin Robinson 16:05 pm UTC Maybe this will be a 40 minute deep dive into Kazuya in Smash tho... – Martin Robinson 16:05 pm UTC We are getting reports in that that's a ponytail palm he has as well. – Martin Robinson 16:06 pm UTC It looks a little undernourished to me, but I'm new to this houseplant thing so I won't be casting aspersions. – Martin Robinson 16:07 pm UTC I'd trust Sakurai with my asparagus fern any day. – Martin Robinson 16:07 pm UTC And that's Smash, which makes a fairly brief appearance before we move on to Life is Strange - like, all of it - coming to Switch. – Martin Robinson 16:07 pm UTC The remastered collection of the original is coming later this year, with the new True Colours coming in October. – Martin Robinson 16:08 pm UTC Other surprising third party games! Eidos Montreal's recently revealed Guardians of the Galaxy is also coming to Switch. – Martin Robinson 16:08 pm UTC As is Worms Rumble! – Martin Robinson 16:08 pm UTC Yes, I know there's a lot of Worms about - but something about this one tickles my fancy. – Martin Robinson 16:09 pm UTC Guardians of the Galaxy, by the way, looks to be a Cloud Version for Switch - as with the likes of Hitman 3. – Martin Robinson 16:09 pm UTC Two Point Campus also gets confirmed for an apperance on Switch for 2022. – Martin Robinson 16:09 pm UTC And now onto a proper reveal - it's the new Monkey Ball. – Martin Robinson 16:10 pm UTC And more importantly - it's the return of Monkey Target proper. – Martin Robinson 16:10 pm UTC (though to be perfectly honest, I'd just take a proper re-release of the original Monkey Ball. Oh, and a new Joy-Con with the same octagonal joystick of the GameCube. How else to get that 0.1 string?) – Martin Robinson 16:10 pm UTC Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is coming October 5th. – Martin Robinson 16:11 pm UTC Oh, I wasn't paying attention. – Martin Robinson 16:11 pm UTC This is a remake of Deluxe, so it's pretty much asll I wanted. – Martin Robinson 16:11 pm UTC Still want that octopad Joy-Con, mind. – Martin Robinson 16:11 pm UTC And now something something Mario Party. – Martin Robinson 16:12 pm UTC I know so little about Mario Party Im not even sure if this is a new one or not. – Martin Robinson 16:12 pm UTC It's out in October anyway. – Martin Robinson 16:12 pm UTC But now! It's a new Metroid. – Martin Robinson 16:12 pm UTC With confirmation that development on Metroid Prime 4 carries on apace. – Martin Robinson 16:12 pm UTC This is Metroid 5. – Martin Robinson 16:13 pm UTC Or Metroid Dread, as it was sometimes known. – Martin Robinson 16:14 pm UTC I am beyond excited for this. – Martin Robinson 16:14 pm UTC I wonder whether it's MercurySteam again, as with Samus Returns? – Martin Robinson 16:15 pm UTC Anyway, after literally decades waiting, Metroid Dread comes out in October. – Martin Robinson 16:15 pm UTC October 8th, to be precise. – Martin Robinson 16:15 pm UTC YOU READ THE DATE THE WRONG WAY ROUND! – Martin Robinson 16:15 pm UTC (I do that all the time). – Martin Robinson 16:16 pm UTC Now the real big guns - Just Dance 2022! – Martin Robinson 16:16 pm UTC Ha, wow - and now a new Cruisin'. – Martin Robinson 16:16 pm UTC Cruisin' Blast is coming this Autumn. – Martin Robinson 16:17 pm UTC Dragon Ball Z Kakarot makes a belated appearance on Switch later this year. – Martin Robinson 16:18 pm UTC Now the remaining 20 minutes of the show will be taken up with a deep dive on Mario Golf. – Martin Robinson 16:18 pm UTC and I'm okay with that. – Martin Robinson 16:18 pm UTC I quite liked the slight Dreamcast aesthetic of Mighty No. 9! – Martin Robinson 16:18 pm UTC As ever, I have the worst taste in video games. – Martin Robinson 16:19 pm UTC And another update on an imminent game - Monster Hunter Stories 2, which is also weeks away. – Martin Robinson 16:19 pm UTC A quick PSA also while this plays - don't watch the Monster Hunter movie which finally comes out in the UK this week. – Martin Robinson 16:19 pm UTC It's absolutely dreadful. – Martin Robinson 16:20 pm UTC A new WarioWare? – Martin Robinson 16:21 pm UTC That is entirely fair. – Martin Robinson 16:21 pm UTC It's been a while since a proper WarioWare, right? The Wii U one seemed like a curious offshoot. – Martin Robinson 16:21 pm UTC This one introduces proper two player. – Martin Robinson 16:21 pm UTC WarioWare Get It Together comes September. – Martin Robinson 16:22 pm UTC Here's Koizumi taking over the reins! – Martin Robinson 16:22 pm UTC Shin Megami Tensei 5, this'll be. – Martin Robinson 16:23 pm UTC Moody, slightly impenetrable RPG lols for those of you who like things a bit darker. – Martin Robinson 16:24 pm UTC I've got SMT3 sitting on my Switch atm, alongside the desire to bone up on the series. – Martin Robinson 16:24 pm UTC It's just sometimes hard to get in the mood for a gloomy 80 hour JRPG, so I haven't started yet. Sorry! – Martin Robinson 16:26 pm UTC It does! It looks very much in keeping with Atlus stuff from the turn of the century, which I love. – Martin Robinson 16:26 pm UTC It's most certainly a mood. – Martin Robinson 16:27 pm UTC A Danganronpa collection next, which expands upon the head-twisting visual novel series. It's coming to Swich latert this year as a compilation - and all four games within will also be avaialble seperately. – Martin Robinson 16:28 pm UTC And one of the last Wii U games we haven't seen on Switch yet! Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water. – Martin Robinson 16:28 pm UTC NEW GAMES! – Martin Robinson 16:29 pm UTC Doom Eternal's campaign expansion will be available later today. – Martin Robinson 16:29 pm UTC Tony Hawks remaster, which we knew plenty about, is also due soon - the 25th of this month to be precise. – Martin Robinson 16:30 pm UTC Ah, Strange Brigade is coming out today. – Martin Robinson 16:30 pm UTC I can't say I was a huge fan of this when it originally came out. – Martin Robinson 16:30 pm UTC Anyway, onwards to the Mario + Rabbids game Ubi lifted the lid on on Saturday. – Martin Robinson 16:30 pm UTC Well, Nintendo lifted the lid on it slightly before then, but let's not get bogged down in details. – Martin Robinson 16:31 pm UTC Well, how about this. – Martin Robinson 16:32 pm UTC It's a remake of Advance Wars! – Martin Robinson 16:32 pm UTC And a remake of the second one! – Martin Robinson 16:32 pm UTC That'll do nicely - it's out on December 3rd. – Martin Robinson 16:32 pm UTC And finally! – Martin Robinson 16:33 pm UTC A Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity expansion? – Martin Robinson 16:33 pm UTC The trolling is incredibly strong with this Direct. – Martin Robinson 16:33 pm UTC As someone who liked the base game - I echo your sentiments. – Martin Robinson 16:34 pm UTC Ah, it's a Zelda section - there's hope yet everyone! – Martin Robinson 16:34 pm UTC First an update on Skyward Sword HD, which is due next month. – Martin Robinson 16:35 pm UTC There's another five minutes left. So I really hope so. – Martin Robinson 16:35 pm UTC (It'll just be the remakes of the Capcom GameBoy games lol). – Martin Robinson 16:36 pm UTC Well, before that even here's a special Game & Watch that comes with the first two NES Zelda games plus Link's Awakening. – Martin Robinson 16:36 pm UTC Well, here we go. – Martin Robinson 16:37 pm UTC Breath of the Wild 2. – Martin Robinson 16:37 pm UTC Excuse me while I go silent and stare wistfully at this. – Martin Robinson 16:38 pm UTC Skydiving, Skyward Sword style, Talus with entire enemy camps on their back, whole landmasses that ascent into the sky. – Martin Robinson 16:38 pm UTC And it's not coming out this year. – Martin Robinson 16:38 pm UTC Well, that's that. – Martin Robinson 16:39 pm UTC Nothing on the new Switch - which may well be postponed to next year at this point to avoid supply issues. – Martin Robinson 16:39 pm UTC And I've got to say, a fairly underwhelming showing. – Martin Robinson 16:39 pm UTC Albeit understandably so given the impact of Covid on developers. – Martin Robinson 16:40 pm UTC Still, a new Advance Wars! – Martin Robinson 16:40 pm UTC Or a remake of the first two, at least. – Martin Robinson 16:40 pm UTC And we do get a new Metroid - that's two bits of very welcome news. – Martin Robinson 16:41 pm UTC And that was that - and I believe that is E3 2021 pretty much done and dusted. – Martin Robinson 16:41 pm UTC As expected it was a slight year for big new announces. – Martin Robinson 16:41 pm UTC But I'm still happy with the selection of games we've got to take us through to the end of the year. It's not as if there aren't enough games around to play. – Martin Robinson 16:44 pm UTC Thank you, as ever, for joining us here! – Martin Robinson 16:44 pm UTC It's been... interesting? – Martin Robinson 16:45 pm UTC There is a Treehouse coming later which should give us some more details on these games (I'm certainly curious to see if it is Intelligent Systems on those Advance Wars remakes - something about the way they look makes me suspect not). – Martin Robinson 16:45 pm UTC Kami: Cheers Martin, do this again when Sony has its event in what, a month or two? I look forward to it - always lovely to see you here! – Martin Robinson 16:45 pm UTC We'll have news from the Treehouse event as it happens, but for now I'm signing off. – Martin Robinson 16:45 pm UTC And possibly pouring myself a big gin and tonic. – Martin Robinson 16:46 pm UTC Thank you and farewell! – Martin Robinson Comments Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More Blogs Digital Foundry DF Direct Weekly: do we really need a Horizon Zero Dawn remake? 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