Nintendo is hosting two Directs in the coming days, and it’s pretty much all I’ve been thinking about since the announcement. On Tuesday, September 8, it’s The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct, followed by a more general Nintendo Direct on Wednesday, September 9. While we wait, it's predictions time!

Before we start, a couple of disclaimers: these are all purely my guesses based on public information and my analysis of Nintendo’s release patterns, and nothing more. Nothing here is based on any inside information. But, I will be discussing a couple of relevant leaks over the last few months, so if you have been steering clear of information like that, you may not want to read on.

Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct Predictions

Zelda is my favorite series, so I’m buzzing thinking about all the possibilities we could see Tuesday morning. But I’m trying to keep things realistic in this piece and only sharing predictions that I think have a legitimate chance of happening.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s Full Reveal

This will undoubtedly be the centerpiece of the presentation. We’ve only seen a few seconds of footage of the Ocarina of Time remake, which is set to come out in 2026. So, now’s the time for the full reveal trailer and release date. I can’t wait for this one; my imagination has been running wild over this remake for the last three months, and we’re finally going to see more about the scope of this remake. Is it faithful, or more of a reimagining? What does the kingdom of Hyrule look like beyond Link’s treehouse? All that and more will likely be answered by a more conventional trailer that gives us a proper look at the remake.

I don’t know exactly what Ocarina of Time will look like, but the teaser trailer from earlier this year tells me Nintendo is very confident in this game. You don’t set the internet’s imagination on fire with a 10-second tease of Link’s treehouse if you don’t have really satisfying answers to share when you do finally pull the curtain back, and I expect the Ocarina of Time remake to be a pretty big deal.

Ocarina of Time's Release Date

As for a release date, I’m expecting Ocarina of Time to arrive on Thursday, November 12. Nintendo doesn’t have a game dated for November yet (Fire Emblem arrives this month, with Nintendo Switch Sports slated for October), and it never misses putting out a big game in the weeks before Black Friday. Knowing it’s coming this year, Zelda feels primed for that spot. Nintendo is extremely unlikely to release a game on Thanksgiving (that’s Thursday, November 26 in the U.S.), and it has no reason to go head-to-head with Grand Theft Auto VI on November 19. That just leaves November 5 and 12 as available Thursdays to launch a game. A few weeks back, the Nintendo UK store briefly dated a couple of Kirby Air Riders amiibo for November 12, and Nintendo typically launches amiibo the same day as a first-party game, even if the franchises aren’t related. That date has since been removed, but I’m still pretty locked in on November 12 as Ocarina of Time’s release date.

Ocarina of Time amiibo

With amiibo on the mind, I’m hopeful we’ll get a glimpse of a new amiibo line for Ocarina of Time alongside the reveal. Zelda games typically get tie-in amiibo figures (Echoes of Wisdom is a rare recent exception), so I’m expecting we’ll see figures of Young Link and Adult Link at the very least.

Special Edition Nintendo Switch 2 and Pro Controller

A few weeks ago, allegedly leaked designs surfaced for a Zelda-themed Nintendo Switch 2 console and Pro Controller. These don’t appear to be branded for Ocarina of Time specifically, but rather for the 40th anniversary as a whole. If they’re legitimate, it'd make the most sense to see the products formally announced on Tuesday, potentially alongside my predicted November 12 release for Ocarina of Time. And if they don’t show up, you can pretty confidently write that leak off as fake. Right now, my gut says they’re real and will show up.

The Legend of Zelda Movie News

The Legend of Zelda movie hits theaters next April, and aside from casting news and a few official teaser images from Nintendo, we haven’t seen anything from the film. It’s become common for Shigeru Miyamoto to show up to present Mario movie news in Directs, so it seems very likely that he’ll do the same here. I think we could get official casting news for Ganondorf and other characters that have been reported on in recent weeks, and I bet we’ll see a short clip, too, if not a full trailer.

The Zelda Challenge

In June, Nintendo unveiled the DK Challenge: a series of time-limited challenges tied to Donkey Kong Bananza and classic DK games available on Nintendo Switch Online. It’s Nintendo’s experimental take on achievements or trophies, and notably, the DK Challenge just ended earlier this week. Based on the way it was integrated into Switch 2’s OS, this concept doesn’t seem like a one-off, and I can’t think of a better choice to follow it up than holding the Zelda Challenge for the franchise’s 40th anniversary. I’m not sure what modern game would be tied into this – maybe Breath of the Wild? – but this seems like a good way to build hype for the milestone year while encouraging fans to revisit classic Zeldas in the weeks leading up to Ocarina of Time.

Twilight Princess on Nintendo Switch Online

Speaking of NSO, it bothers me more than it should that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the only 3D Zelda game that’s not playable in some form on Switch 2. Its excellent soundtrack isn’t available on the Nintendo Music app either, which strikes me as odd. I think Nintendo will right both of these wrongs on Tuesday, by shadowdropping the GameCube version of Twilight Princess on Nintendo Switch Online and adding its music to the app shortly after. Twilight Princess turns 20 years old in just a couple of months, so now seems like the perfect time.

The Return of Multiplayer Zelda

The Zelda Direct is 30 minutes long, so I think there’s time for one more game announcement in addition to everything I’ve already discussed. If I’m putting this presentation together, though, I don’t really want to overshadow Ocarina of Time with anything too big. With that said, I think the time is right for the return of a multiplayer Zelda game. Nintendo hasn’t put out a multiplayer-focused Zelda game since 2015’s Tri Force Heroes on 3DS, and neither it nor the Four Swords games are available on Switch or Switch 2.

It’s a more niche corner of the franchise that’s been neglected for some time, and there are a few ways a multiplayer surprise could go down. We could get the “Zelda 99” battle royale treatment we’ve seen applied to classic games like Tetris, F-Zero, Pac-Man, and even Super Mario Bros. for its 35th anniversary. Or, it could be an NSO rerelease of the Game Boy Advance’s Four Swords, or the GameCube’s Four Swords Adventures, either of which could hugely benefit from online multiplayer support. Of course, it could be a brand new game in the style of past co-op Zeldas, but that feels the least likely. No matter what form it takes, I’m ready to see multiplayer Zelda return in the Direct.

The Next Main Zelda Reveal?

The core 3D Zelda team – led by Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and longtime series producer Eiji Aonuma – are no doubt hard at work on their followup to 2023’s Tears of the Kingdom. The question is, will we see it on Tuesday? I’m inclined to guess we won’t. Ocarina of Time is the big Zelda story right now, and even a glimpse of what’s next might take away from the conversation surrounding the remake. If it does show, though, I don’t think it’d be any more than the smallest of teases. We’re talking five to 10 seconds of Link looking over a hill. But I’m not holding my breath. Especially with another general Nintendo Direct the following day, there’s no need to fire the open-world Zelda cannon at this point in the Switch 2’s life.

My Pie-in-the-Sky Dream: The 8-bit Breath of the Wild Prototype Is Released

I said all of my predictions were meant to have a solid chance of happening, but this one’s just for me. While exploring early concepts that would lead to the development of Breath of the Wild, the Zelda team built a playable, 8-bit prototype to test their ideas. It demonstrated ideas like chopping down trees to cross rivers and fire spreading across a grassy field, set in a Hyrule reminiscent of the NES original. It wasn’t meant to be a commercial product, but how cool would it be if Nintendo dropped it on Switch as part of the anniversary celebrations? I think the odds of this happening are essentially zero, but I’d love nothing more than to have access to a playable piece of Breath of the Wild’s development history.

General Nintendo Direct Predictions

That’s just day one! On Wednesday, September 9, Nintendo is airing its general Direct, featuring 45 minutes of updates on Nintendo Switch 2 games. This one is particularly exciting for different reasons: the Zelda Direct is presumably all about getting answers to our Ocarina of Time questions, while we have no idea what the centerpiece of the Wednesday show will be.

Updates on the 2026/2027 Slate

Much of the runtime will likely go to final updates and trailers on Nintendo games still set to come out this year. Expect last looks at Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave (out September 17) and Nintendo Switch Sports Resort (October 22), as well as updates on Pokémon Pokopia’s next waves of DLC.

We could also get another look at Xenoblade Genesis, Monolith Soft’s next RPG that’s due out in 2027. Something I’m not expecting to see is Pokémon Winds & Waves, though. It’s also set for next year, but given that mainline Pokémon games typically release in the Fall, I’m not expecting to see the next generation show up again until a Pokémon Presents showcase in February 2027 at the earliest.

The Duskbloods Release Date

Following its network test last month, I think we’ll get a release date for FromSoftware’s The Duskbloods. The Nintendo Store still lists it as a 2026 game, and December is feeling the most likely to me right now. Nintendo is publishing The Duskbloods outside of Japan. If you follow the pattern of Nintendo typically publishing one game a month, and you accept my reasoning that Ocarina is the November game, the only month left for The Duskbloods to theoretically land in is December. Purely to get a guess on the record, I’ll predict Thursday, December 3, mostly for the reason that when Nintendo does publish a game in December, it’s generally pretty early in the month, like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on December 4 last year.

2D Metroid Reveal

On the topic of Metroid, it’s time to see MercurySteam’s next entry in the 2D Metroid series. The studio released Samus Returns on 3DS in 2017 and Dread on Switch in 2021, so it feels like we’re due for a new one in 2027. There was a recent video game age rating leak out of Brazil for a submission titled “Metroid Ravenous”. That leak featured no details other than the name, so there’s still a lot up in the air. However, Dread’s main villain was named Raven Beak, making “Ravenous” a pretty intriguing title for a potential sequel. Nintendo has been revealing new games fairly close to their release dates over the last few years, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Metroid Ravenous announced on Wednesday and released as early as Q1 of 2027.

The Big Finale

There’s been this itch in the back of my brain all day. Nintendo has never aired back-to-back Directs in this way on two consecutive days. In other years, they’ve just glued the Mario 40th Anniversary segment onto a larger Nintendo Direct. I find the order peculiar, too. If the Zelda Direct blows us away (which I’m expecting Ocarina of Time to), why isn’t that one airing second as the big endcap to the week? Ocarina of Time has the power to close out a show, but it’s probably not going to be a factor on Wednesday. This tells me Nintendo must have something pretty special to end its second Direct with. Something big that won’t launch until the second half of 2027, but the announcement alone will help fuel Switch 2 sales through the holiday season. The two things I can think of that fit the bill are either Super Smash Bros. or the next 3D Super Mario. I think we’ll see one – not both – of these announced at the end of Wednesday’s show.

I can see arguments for each: I predicted a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition at the start of the year. Here’s what I said in January that I still feel today:

“My boldest call of them all is that we’ll get a tease this year for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition to launch sometime in 2027. I believe Ultimate could get the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe treatment this generation, with an enhanced port that carries us through the next several years rather than an entirely new entry. Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai wrapped up Kirby Air Riders a few months ago, and it’s entirely possible he’s already hard at work bringing Ultimate over to Switch 2 with a few new characters. Ultimate noticeably hasn’t received a Switch 2 performance patch like Super Mario Odyssey, the open-world Zeldas, and plenty of other best-selling Switch 1 games, and combined with the fact that a new Smash game almost always hits within the first two years of a new Nintendo console, it feels like a prime candidate for a Switch 2 Edition.”

And, after spending the last year declaring it to be too soon for 3D Mario in the wake of Donkey Kong Bananza – another 3D mascot platformer from much of the same team as 3D Mario – I now think we’re entering the window where we could see the plumber show up any time. The Bananza marketing cycle is winding down: the DK Challenge just ended on NSO, the Emerald Rush DLC has gone through an entire year of limited-time events, and by the time 2027 rolls around, Bananza will have had two full holiday seasons as the primary platformer on Switch 2. I think Mario’s time is coming.

My Dream: Ace Attorney 7

This is one of my favorite series, and I predict it every time. It has to happen at some point!

Those are my predictions for the pair of Nintendo Directs airing over the next few days. I can’t wait to cover it all here on IGN and Nintendo Voice Chat. Be sure to drop your own predictions in the comments!

Logan Plant is the host of Nintendo Voice Chat and IGN's Senior Editor, Playlist and DB. The Legend of Zelda is his favorite video game franchise of all time, and he is patiently awaiting the day Nintendo announces a brand new F-Zero. You can find new episodes of NVC every Friday on the IGN Games YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

gamescom has provided a second response regarding the theft of developers’ equipment during its event, offering an apology for its initial reaction to the ordeal.

On August 28, 2026, indie developer Ryan Laley uploaded a video to X/Twitter claiming that all of his laptops had been stolen at gamescom. He wasn’t the only one affected; several other developers spoke out with similar stories, saying their equipment had also been pilfered at the event.

gamescom responded to the ordeal on August 29, writing that while it was "very sad" about the situation, it "would like to inform [attendees] about general security regulations."

My #gamescom cut short. Our equipment was stolen last night from the booth.

Police reports have been filed.

At a loss for words to describe the feeling. Just defeated. Gonna do my best with what's left of the week.

But a huge blow financially and mentally pic.twitter.com/dKpp3Of6df

— Mimic | Ryan Laley (@RyanLaley) August 28, 2026

"Individual stand security can be booked separately, and exhibitors are advised to insure equipment against theft. This is noted in the terms and conditions of participation and the technical guidelines," it said. "...At an event of this size, however, there will always be individuals attempting to take advantage of the situation. Our security measures are designed to minimize such risks as effectively as possible.”

This statement didn’t go over well. A swath of fellow exhibitors, attendees, and onlookers online felt that gamescom’s reply placed blame on victims of the theft, slamming the event for its "unacceptable response."

Today, September 4, gamescom posted a follow-up statement on social media, in which it apologized for its initial post. It also announced plans to improve security moving forward, promising to host a roundtable discussion with developers who had indie booths at the event.

You can read the statement in full below:

"Over the past few days, we have received a great deal of criticism for the way we communicated about the theft of hardware belonging to several indie developers. That criticism is justified. Our first response did not strike the right tone, and it did not show the people affected the empathy they deserved. We are sorry. A theft like this is far more than a material loss. It can ruin an entire gamescom for the people it happens to, and it can destroy work that took months or years to build - work that, for a small studio, can be almost everything.

"To everyone affected: we understand what this has cost you, and we should have said so from the very first moment. We have already begun talking with those affected - about the theft, about its consequences, and above all to listen. We have also been moved by how this industry responded. Within hours, people offered help - unconditionally, and without being asked. That says a great deal about this community, and we are grateful for it. What it does not do is relieve us, as the organizers, of our own responsibility to work together with our exhibitors and partners to create the best possible environment for everyone.

"We are therefore committed to jointly reviewing and further improving security. Here is what we are doing: Alongside our regular post-event review and our evaluation of exhibitor feedback, we will carry out a dedicated review of security for indie exhibitors. In the coming weeks, we will invite organizers of shared indie booths to a roundtable, so that we can develop concrete measures together.

"We also urge every exhibitor who has experienced an incident to report it - to us and to the police - even if it happened some time ago. Only then can incidents be documented, possible connections between them investigated, and appropriate action taken. You can reach us at sales@gamescom.de. gamescom is made by the industry, for the industry. It lives on the passion of the people who build it, and that includes the many small studios who matter to us enormously. Our commitment has always been to keep making gamescom better - together with the community, not just when things go well. That is exactly what we will do here. Thank you to everyone who is helping us."

pic.twitter.com/lOxBnmMplB

— gamescom (@gamescom) September 4, 2026

Luckily, several good Samaritans have stepped in to help the developers affected by the thefts in the aftermath. Most notably, The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red reached out to Laley on social media, promising to "send a few things" his way. Don’t Scream dev Joe Henson, AKA Indie Game Joe, also offered to help out, transforming a tragic situation into a heartwarming show of support and community effort.

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.

The “hidden movement” genre of board games is one of my favorites and I still remember where I discovered this type of game. I was watching Wil Wheaton’s “Tabletop” series, when the game of the week was “Fury of Dracula”, a game where one person assumes the role of Dracula, spreading terror and attempting to grow his vampire forces around the globe, while the others are vampire hunters, try to track him down and drive a stake through his heart. Despite falling in love with what I saw, it was unfortunately at a time when Fury was out of print, and while eventually I would find myself a copy, it remained a rather sought after game for fellow hidden movement fans. Thankfully, at long last, the good folks at Avalon Hill have brought it back in a brand new 5th Edition, and fans around the world can once again hunt down dracula during their next board game night.

For those familiar with either the Fantasy Flight Games’ 3rd or WizKids’ 4th editions, the 5th edition is largely the same but for everyone else, Fury of Dracula is a one-versus-many with one person playing as the count and up to four other players controlling the hunters. As I mentioned a moment ago, this is a hidden movement game, where Dracula will be moving around the map, placing cards face down noting where he is and was, leaving dangers in his wake, while the hunters try to trap and kill the vampire lord. Each round, consisting of a Day and Night phase, begins with the hunters moving, supplying themselves with tools and special event cards, purchasing travel tickets, or searching for their target. During the day, these actions are generally safer, while attempting to resupply invites potentially hazardous events that may help Dracula instead.

Dracula’s turn is a bit less eventful, but debatably more important. Once all the hunters have taken their nighttime actions, Dracula is then able to move to a new location, placing face down a new location card on their growing trail and an encounter card. These encounters, secret much like the locations themselves until a hunter uncovers them, may spawn enemies, create diversions and delays for the hunters, or worse. Should one of these ever move off the board, “maturing” as it’s referred to, the despair track will increase, putting Dracula that much closer to securing his victory!

Despite the rather simplistic nature of these fights, it also has led to some of the tensest moments in board games I’ve ever had.

Unlike other hidden movement games, such as Whitehall Mystery (another personal favorite of mine) that is purely a game of cat and mouse, Fury of Dracula incorporates a combat mechanism. During situations where the hunters have cornered Dracula, both sides pick a card from their hands, composed of moves or helpful items like holy bullets and pistols on the side of the hunters, and then flip them, then resolve their effects. Despite the rather simplistic nature of these fights, it also has led to some of the tensest moments in board games I’ve ever had. Moments when misreading my opponent led them to safety, or one especially board-flipping time when I expected Dracula, who being only one hit away from death, to flee, only to have him decide to bite and knock me out instead. A defeat that pushed the despair track past its end, and handing the win to Dracula. Utterly infuriating, but also one of the aspects of Fury of Dracula that sets it above many other hidden movement games for me.

In addition to redone artwork (more on that in a bit), this new fifth edition does offer a couple of optional new elements that can shake up the formula a bit for those Fury vets out there. First is the addition of a fifth hunter to pick from, Jonathan Harker, who previously had been relegated to just an ally card. Mr. Harker now can be picked to replace one of the other hunters, and has some powerful abilities that should certainly help the good guys out. He’s able to not only deal additional damage when hitting Dracula but also, similar to his wife Mina, can force him to announce if Jonathan is in an adjacent spot. While a neat addition, it also feels like a bit of a halfbaked attempt too. Unlike the other hunters, Mr. Harker doesn’t get his own unique event card, and instead can simply use the one made for the hunter that he replaces. The balance of the game also doesn’t quite feel like it’s been balanced for him, and I found that when both Harkers were on the board, with their tracking talents, it made for a decently harder time for Dracula. He’s a fun “sometimes” change, but I plan to stick with my normal squad for most games.

Fury of Dracula is typically a game that can take a surprising amount of time, with some games I’ve played lasting past the four hour mark, and the second new addition with 5th edition is a faster game mode that can cut that in half or more. This new faster variant removes a couple of cards and blocks off a couple of the regions of the map (damn that Black Plague) while setting the board state roughly around where it would be after a “week” (about a third of the way through), granting hunters some items to start, Dracula with some damage, despair up a bit, and a few other tweaks. By-and-large I found this new variant to be a solid choice and makes Fury of Dracula a much more viable option on a weeknight. The smaller region and other adjustments (such as the instantaneous water movement and removing the single value train tickets) can make things far more swinging where getting away and staying hidden as Dracula can be more challenging. Again, just like with Harker, it works, but I’m curious how much balance testing went into it.

As one would expect from a new edition of a game, it isn’t usually just the gameplay or mechanics that get a refresh, but the artwork too, and it’s here where the 5th edition sees its biggest departure. Not because the map changes (though the town of Whitby, which plays an important role in the story of Bram Stoker’s original Dracula novel, is finally included) but the aesthetic has changed. And it’s also here where I think the new edition takes a step backwards from the third and fourth editions.

With exception of Dracula’s location cards, the artwork for the event, encounter, item, and combat cards all have ditched the dramatic and detailed full color artwork of the earlier iterations in favor of what I would describe as drawings you may see in an old Victorian-era newspaper. These black-and-white illustrations work, but just don’t have the same impact, with some appearing, dare I say, even a bit corny? The “Dark Call” card for example, now features Dracula staring at the moon with a few bats in front of him, compared to earlier versions where he appears to be basking in the night with hordes of bats all around, against a stormy sky. Then there is the new “Misdirect” which basically makes him look like Batman from The Animated Series, as opposed to a mysterious man in a top hat, lurking in the fog. Hunter and Dracula character cards don’t fare much better either, with the portraits replaced with sepia-tinted photographs of the character. Which, now that I think about it, could you even take a picture of Dracula? I mean, vampires don’t have reflections in mirrors, so can you photograph them? Oh well, questions for another time.