Zippo Predicts: Nintendo's 2022 February Direct.

Hey everyone, okay, I'm sure you know the deal on how this works by now. 

I'm gonna run through some predictions, let's get started. 

Splatoon 3 Date:

I strongly believe that this will happen. We'll get an overview of the game's base content, including more of the campaign, and then the release date. I'm predicting this will be June. 

Advance Wars Date:

This is another one that's almost guaranteed to be here. I'm genuinely looking forward to this and I'm loving the visuals for these remakes. Given how much content both games squeezed into those two GBA cartridges, 60 bucks is real good value. April release.

No Breath Of The Wild 2:

I know some fans will be disappointed, but I don't think Zelda has even a small chance here. They're playing the waiting game and they'll use June as their opportunity to do a full blowout of the game. Be patient, it's time will come. 

1 2 Switch Is Getting A Sequel And It's Going To Be Lame:

The secret is out there now, and yes, it is real. I expect it to look underwhelming, and I don't think it's going to sell well at all to the core audience. This is squarely aimed at casuals and it'll probably do just fine, but the rest of us will forget this is announced a minute later.

Batman Arkham Collection:

I think this another near guarantee. The Arkham games are finally coming to Switch, at least some of them are. I believe this collection will feature Arkham Asylum, City and Origins, and will retail for $60. 

Earthbound:

I believe there will be an Mother/Earthbound, that being a release of Earthbound on the SNES NSO. It's been long requested, so I think it'll release on it by the end of the week.

GoldenEye 007:

There's been a lot of smoke here and I think we'll finally see the fire. Goldeneye will come to NSO with full online play and the internet will go insane. This game defined a generation and am entire genre. It's a big deal. 

No Bayo 3:

This will be another no-show. The game is coming out this year, no doubt, but I don't think we'll see this again until June, when they have a date ready to go. As of now, I'll go ahead and predict Bayo 3 will be... September.

Kirby:

Kirby will continue to look absolutely incredible. Cannot wait. That is all.

Sonic Origins Will Return: 

After 9 very long months, I believe we will finally see Sonic Origins legit for the first time. It'll be exactly what you think it is, with the additional of a reworked Sonic 3& Knuckles, which will feature the beta music from from the game's original soundtrack. I expect this to be extremely controversial, but you wouldn't get this at all if not, so it's gotta be this way. Additional features I'll predict will be playable Super Sonic and Knuckles in Sonic CD, lock on technology, and an amazing animated intro made by a very popular studio. The last thing I will predict is that this collection will receive a collector's edition of some sort.

Persona 4 Announcements:  

This is gonna turn some heads. I believe one of the Persona ports I heard about will be here and that it will be Persona 4 Golden. It'll release alongside Ultimax, same day and date and it's going to be awesome.

The Next Fire Emblem:

I very strongly believe that the next Fire Emblem game will be here, and it's being developed by Koei Tecmo once again, with the remake being saved for some time next year. This will set itself apart from Three Houses in a lot of ways, I think, and i predict every choice of the game will be a branching path, I mean, every single one. I predict this game will launch in either July or August.

 

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: 

I do believe the long rumored Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will be here, and it's going to look absolutely stunning. I think this one will lean into a more open world setting, and many of characters from Xenoblade 1 and 2 will make appearances. I predict this game will launch in the summer/fall of the year. 

Last one, here we go: 

Everyone knows about the Mario Kart rumors, but will we see it here? Hmm.

My prediction will be: 

Well yes, but actually no.

My read here is that this will be the last announcement of the show. It'll feature a CG trailer of Mario and Luigi racing, which will then give way to characters from other Nintendo franchises joining the race, such as Link, Inkling, Fox MCloud and Spring Man. 

The game will feature a special third party character, but I don't know if this would be the time for their announcement. Much like Smash, I think Nintendo wants to give regular updates on this game throughout the year, a strategy that's been proven to work. 

We'll get the title: "Mario Kart X". 

It's a double meaning, the first being "X" is the Roman numeral for ten, given it's the tenth game in the mainline series. And the second is that in Japanese, X is usually associated with "cross", referencing the crossover nature of the game. 

It'll end with the with a nothing except for a "2022".

So those are my predictions, this thing is a mere few hours away, so keep your expectations low, hype responsibly, and most of all, have fun!