Nintendo will make a first-of-its-kind announcement tonight ahead of release of new Switch console next month

Switch fans will be disappointed to learn that Nintendo will not divulge any new game announcements or feverishly-anticipated tidbits on the successor to the Switch during its next Direct presentation

ALVARO REYES | UNSPLASH
Aaron Brown

By Aaron Brown


Published: 19/08/2024

- 12:28

Updated: 19/08/2024

- 12:29

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Expect details on the opening of the first Nintendo Museum, first announced three years ago

Nintendo will hold its next showcase event tonight, August 19. Known as a Nintendo Direct, these online presentations are used to announce new games, hardware, and more.

On average, Nintendo broadcasts between 4 to 6 Direct presentations every year. The last broadcast, held in June, saw Nintendo announce updates across a slew of new titles for its Switch console, including The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom which lets you play as Princess Zelda for the first time, a brief glimpse of the long-delayed Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, a new original RPG known as Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood, and a new entry into the Mario Party series scheduled to launch before Christmas, dubbed Super Mario Party Jamboree.

However, there won't be anything like that announced during the Nintendo Direct tonight.

Nintendo has taken the extraordinary step of warning fans that it won't share new details on its long-awaited successor to the Nintendo Switch, nor will there be any updates on incoming games for any of its hardware.

The Japanese multi-national company issued the clarification to stem rampant speculation ahead of its next Nintendo Direct, which will focus on a Nintendo Museum scheduled to open this autumn in Kyoto, Japan. The 10-minute Direct presentation will include a virtual tour of the museum, which is widely tipped to focus on the history of the gaming company. Nintendo has existed since 1889 when it produced playing cards.

Nintendo Direct will take place at 11pm BST on Monday August 19, 2024.

That's 3pm PDT or 6pm EDT for those in the United States of America.

It's now been three months since Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed the company, worth 10.4 trillion yen, was working on a follow-up to the Nintendo Switch. At the time, he revealed an announcement would be made during Nintendo's current financial year, which ends on March 31, 2025.

However, since then, we haven’t heard a squeak from Nintendo... although it's worth noting there is a brand-new Nintendo Switch scheduled to hit store shelves on September 26, 2024.

First announced during its packed Nintendo Direct presentation in June, the company revealed a brand-new entry into The Legend of Zelda series, known as Echoes of Wisdom, which will return to the top-down style of earlier adventures and feature Zelda as the playable hero.

The new title is set to be released worldwide on September 26, with Nintendo planning a special edition of its Switch Lite console to commemorate the launch.

An early glimpse of the console during the presentation revealed a gold colour with black buttons and a small Triforce icon nestled under the right analogue stick on the front. There's also a large Hylian Crest emblazoned across the back of the console.

This isn't the first time that Nintendo has looked to its Legend of Zelda imagery for a limited edition Switch, with the company launching a Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom colourway for the flagship Nintendo Switch OLED Model to coincide with the launch of that sequel last year.

nintendo switch lite legend of zelda echoes of wisdom

Nintendo will launch a limited edition Switch Lite to celebrate the launch of The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom worldwide on September 26, 2024

NINTENDO PRESS OFFICE

Aside from its slick paint job, everything else about the Nintendo Switch LIte: Hyrule Edition remains unchanged. Unlike the standard Switch and Switch OLED Model, which have detachable Joy-Con controllers that can be used wirelessly for multiplayer or when the console is connected to a television, the more affordable Switch Lite is designed for gaming on-the-go.

It has a more compact design with a smaller 5.5-inch LCD touchscreen display and 32GB of built-in storage... although that can expanded via microSD card. You'll get around seven hours of battery life before you need to reach for the charger, although that varies depending on what title you're playing.

Unlike recent limited-run Nintendo Switch Lite consoles — like the Pokémon Dialga & Palkia Edition — that retailed for £199, the Nintendo Switch Lite: Hyrule Edition costs a little more at £209.99.

That extra £10 is offset by the bundled 12-month subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, which usually costs £17.99 per year. With this subscription, you'll be able to play in multiplayer games online and access a slew of classic The Legend of Zelda games from the NES, SNES, and more.

Elsewhere in the Nintendo Direct, we saw sneak previews of Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Super Mario Party Jamboree, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, Dragon Quest 3 HD — 2D Remake, Darkest Dungeon 2, Stray, and LEGO Horizon Adventures, to name just a few.

But there was no sign of the feverishly-anticipated follow-up to the Nintendo Switch.

With less than eight months until Switch 2 is announced, according to President Shuntaro Furukawa's own timeline, rumours have gone into overdrive about the follow-up to the Switch.

The latter is the second biggest-selling console ever released by Nintendo, topping the global sales of the Nintendo Wii, Game Boy and Game Boy Colour, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and fast-approaching the gold medal position, currently held by Nintendo DS.

Sony PlayStation 2 remains the best-selling console of all-time, with roughly 155 million devices sold worldwide. For comparison, the Nintendo Switch has shipped 141 million — although it still has one final throw of the dice during the busy Christmas period with a slew of new Zelda and Mario titles (and a shiny new limited edition).

Whispers from the secretive Japanese gaming company suggest its Switch sequel will have a larger 8-inch touchscreen, offer backwards compatibility for Nintendo Switch games, and feature redesigned Joy-Con controllers that snap to the side of the console using magnets.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

A more powerful processor to boost the resolution and graphics of the handheld seems obvious, with Nvidia — the company behind the system-on-a-chip inside the current Switch generation — the most likely candidate.

Onboard storage has been rumoured to be 512GB, much closer to the Xbox Series S and a significant upgrade over the 32GB and 64GB found inside the original Switch and Switch OLED, respectively.

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