A massive 60 minute long Nintendo Direct is planned for this week, but it’s not a general one or anything to do with Metroid Prime 4…
As we get towards the end of October, the only major preview event left for the year is The Game Awards in early December. It’s highly unlikely Sony or Microsoft, or anyone else, will have another showcase this year but, as ever, Nintendo is the exception.
There almost certainly won’t be another general Nintendo Direct from them this year but it is widely assumed there’ll be a dedicated one for Metroid Prime 4, which isn’t due to launch until December 4.
However, that’s not what this week’s Nintendo Direct is about. It’s not about Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment either, which is out on November 6, but it is instead a second Direct dedicated solely to Kirby Air Riders.
Nintendo did actually announce a second Direct for the game a while back, but it’s hard to imagine many people were looking forward to that prospect with much anticipation.
Now that the date is confirmed, the Direct is due to start on Thursday, October 23 at 12pm BST and, incredibly, it’s due to last for ‘roughly’ 60 minutes.
This is baffling because, from everything we’ve seen of it so far, Kirby Air Riders is one of the shallowest and least interesting games Nintendo has put out in years. Indeed, the original GameCube game, that this is a sequel to, is one of the lowest rated Nintendo games ever.
Expert, exclusive gaming analysis
Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.
Perhaps there’s some hidden depth in the aspects of the game that have not yet been revealed but that’s hard to imagine, and yet director Masahiro Sakurai is going to have to end up talking about something.
Many fans will immediately be hoping that he’ll let slip word of a new Super Smash Bros., which is what Sakurai is best known for, but there’s so far been absolutely no hint of him working on anything like that, and dedicated Nintendo Directs usually are strictly one subject only.
It’s possible he may talk more generally about game development, which is something he likes to do in his popular YouTube series of videos, but even that is relatively unlikely, and it probably is going to be just 60 minutes of non-stop Kirby talk.
Apart from anything, Kirby Air Riders seems a strange game to release in the first year of the Switch 2’s life, since it has so much in common with Mario Kart World, at least in terms of the basic premise and cartoon visuals.
Some fans have theorised that Nintendo is purposefully indulging Sakurai, in order to convince him to make a new Super Smash Bros., which he’s sworn not to do.
There may be some element of truth to that, but we’ll probably never know for sure and for now the only thing to look forward to on Thursday is a very deep dive into what continues to be the Switch 2’s least enticing title.
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
