A surprise Nintendo Direct is happening this week, but it’s dedicated to a Switch 2 exclusive nobody was asking for.
Video game leaks are so prevalent, it usually means most Nintendo Direct presentations are rumoured well ahead of time, especially since the advent of the Switch 2, but Nintendo has managed to keep its latest announcement under wraps right until the last moment.
As announced first on the Nintendo Today app (and later on X), a Nintendo Direct will take place on Tuesday, August 19 at 2pm UK time. Unlike the recent Partner Showcase and Indie World presentations, it will feature games from Nintendo’s first party slate. Or rather one game.
If you’re hoping for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond or Splatoon Raiders, you’ll be out of luck though. This ‘in-depth look’ is dedicated entirely to Kirby Air Riders, for a whopping 45 minutes.
For a comparison, the Directs dedicated to Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza – the biggest Switch 2 exclusives so far – were both around 17 minutes long. So this is a serious amount of time to dedicate to the sequel to what was a very simple game.
The reason for this lengthy runtime might be the creator at the helm. Kirby Air Riders is directed by the actual creator of Kirby, Masahiro Sakurai, who is best known today as the man behind the Super Smash Bros. series.
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This is the first Kirby game Sakurai has worked on since its predecessor Kirby Air Ride, a single-button racing game which came out on the Nintendo GameCube in 2003.
The original isn’t exactly held in high regard, even among Kirby sickos, so it’s puzzling why Nintendo is putting so much energy into a belated sequel, whose basic gameplay is likely to be quite similar to Mario Kart.
Many fans have posited the idea that Nintendo may have greenlit Kirby Air Riders as a favour to Sakurai, in exchange for him working on a new Smash Bros. game. Although it’s unlikely that’ll ever be admitted to publicly, even if it is true.
Following the Direct announcement, Sakurai has promised there’ll be ‘a lot more information’ on Kirby Air Riders from both his X account and the newly launched social media accounts for the title. He also posted a picture of his cat, because why not.
Considering we’re getting a dedicated Direct for Kirby Air Riders before Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, it’s possible the former could be released sooner than expected. With the Switch 2 version of Kirby And The Forgotten Land set to arrive later this month on August 28 too, we might be in for a Kirby onslaught over the next couple of months.
This Nintendo Direct will be broadcast just hours before Gamescom Opening Night Live, which is set to kick off tomorrow at 7pm BST.
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