I usually watch Nintendo Directs and game showcases live or very shortly after they air. This past Friday’s Nintendo Direct (9.12.2025) was a bit tough for me, since I was driving to Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios. That night, I even got to visit the Super Nintendo World store in Universal CityWalk, after seeing my favorite band perform (Dream Theater) at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando.

I wasn’t very impressed with the merchandise at the Super Nintendo World store, other than the giant, cute sleepy Yoshi plushies. Other than that, most things said SUPER NINTENDO WORLD ORLANDO on them, which I’m usually not a big fan of. I’m much more into the strange items at the Nintendo Stores (NYC, San Francisco, and online). They carry more items that feel like they’d be worn by characters in games. My Splatoon shirts and hoodie might even be based on actual in-game items.

It wasn’t until late Saturday night, after returning from Orlando that I finally had the chance to sit down and watch the hour-long Nintendo Direct from Friday — I guess that’s just one day later, but it felt like ages. Lucky for me, I avoided most of the announcements by staying off of social media during my trip. I knew about the new Mario movie, but that was it.

I was expecting many big announcements due to the length of this Direct. There was a pretty wide spread of game announcements, but we also spent the beginning bit on the Mario 40th anniversary — we even got a teaser and the name of the upcoming The Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel, from Illumination. Something that I like about the Nintendo showcases (Directs, Partner Showcases, and Indie World) is that they don’t just rush through a bunch of game trailers, they summarize what you just saw after many of them to let them really sink in.

Some presentations show off fifty or more trailers and by the end of it you don’t even remember half of the games you were excited about. Of course, each game trailer gets its own YouTube video following the showcase, so you can also just look through them one-by-one.

Enough about all of that, let’s go over my TOP FIVE list of announcements from the Nintendo Direct last Friday:

1 | Mario’s 40th Anniversary

First off, there was that teaser reveal for the next movie in the Mario Bros Cinematic Universe, or the NCU (Nintendo Cinematic Universe). The next movie will be The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and will feature many of the same voices from the first film. We’re also about to get a Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 game collection on the Nintendo Switch (and Switch 2) for anyone who missed out on this franchise.

There were two big announcements during this first section focused on Mario’s Anniversary. First was a new Mario Sports game — Mario Tennis Fever. I previously owned Mario Tennis Ultra Smash (for Wii U) and Mario Golf Super Rush (for Nintendo Switch) and while they were fun to play, they were better as party games with friends.

Mario Tennis Fever is adding some new mechanics on the court, but I am mostly excited to try out the new story mode. It sort of reminds me of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate spirit mode. You begin as baby characters and try to work your way up to a pro tennis player. I have also always loved tennis video games for some reason, from realistic to arcade games.

The second big announcement during the Mario 40th section came in the form of a brand new Yoshi game. I have loved Yoshi games since Yoshi’s Island on the Super Nintendo. The last two games I played, Yoshi’s Wooly World and Yoshi’s Crafted World were very simple, but I still enjoyed them so much. I love the look of these games, and I like that each one goes in a different visual direction.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book looks to be more of the same kind of gameplay, but with some added elements. I also love the stop motion graphics when you are inside of the storybook world. I really have some high hopes that this game will add some brand new features to the Yoshi series.

2 | Hades 2

I’m currently going through the same situation with two different games right now. Two of my favorite third party titles on the Nintendo Switch were Hades and Hollow Knight. The thing is, I never beat either of these. Also, the long awaited Hollow Knight sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, just released and we are currently on the brink of the release of Hades 2 (on Nintendo Switch 2).

I’ve made some real strides in Hollow Knight over the past few weeks. In Hades I finally made it to the main boss (Hades), but I have yet to beat him. I feel like that should happen quicker than me beating Hollow Knight. I may jump into Hades 2 without beating the first game.

Hades 2 will release on the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 on September 25, 2025.

3 | Virtual Boy coming to NSO

I never owned a Virtual Boy, but I remember playing it until my head hurt at friends houses many times. At the time, this was some high tech advancement for gaming, but it later felt like more of a joke. I thought this would be something Nintendo wanted to forget, but not only are they bringing the games to Nintendo Switch Online, there will also be a replica shell of the actual Virtual Boy. We’ll be able to slide our Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 screen right into it and play like the old days. Nintendo is also releasing a cardboard version, but I want the real deal.

4 | Pokémon Announcements

Pokémon is something I’m interested in, but never really got into. Pokémon Legends ZA really looked like the game that could pull me into this world. That game is coming out in about a month.

I like that Nintendo showed off something we know is coming out very soon with Pokémon Legends ZA, but they also included something brand new for the Pokémon franchise — Pokémon Pokopia. This looks closer to a Minecraft or Animal Crossing set in the Pokémon world. 

I really like when these big franchises give us the option of something familiar and something brand new. It’s also great these two games are spaced out with one coming next month, and the other next year.

5 | Resident Evil Collection

As a kid, I remember being terrified as my friend played Resident Evil games and I looked on from his bed. I later went back to these games (and remakes of these games) and got pretty far into some of them — usually around Halloween time.

Once the franchise moved to a first-person horror gamestyle it was too much for me. I remember giving Resident Evil: Biohazard a couple of tries but being too spooked out to keep going.

Seeing the newest first-person Resident Evil game, Resident Evil: Requiem coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 is great news. I love seeing these big third-party new releases coming to a Nintendo console. The added bonus is seeing the last two games in the franchise come along with it, Resident Evil: Biohazard and Resident Evil: Village. In fact, I’ve been thinking of giving VIllage a try this year.

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There were plenty of other big announcements and even a sizzle reel showing off some older titles getting Nintendo Switch 2 Editions soon. Some games even feature GameShare, where only one person needs to own the game to play with friends on their own Switch consoles. We also got a look at Samus’s sick ass motorbike in Metroid Prime 4 Beyond.

I’m happy to see more big AAA third-party games making their way to the Nintendo Switch 2 — some upcoming and some recent releases from other consoles.

If you missed the Nintendo Direct you can watch the entire presentation right here: