That would mean an announcement for the same would be coming later today. If that weren’t enough, Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb is leaning heavily (sarcastically “guessing”) towards a Direct happening this week on the latest Game Mess. The jury is still out on whether it’s a full Direct, a mini Direct or a partner showcase.

Leaker Pyoro, who reported on Super Mario RPG Remake and Super Mario Bros. Wonder before their announcements, hinted at there being announcements for Donkey Kong and F-Zero (which would make it a full-fledged Direct). Based on a recent ESRB rating, WB Montreal’s Gotham Knights could also be announced for the Nintendo Switch. Time will tell, so stay tuned for more details.

It's going to be on the 14th.

— NateTheHate2 (@NateTheHate2) September 12, 2023

The rumoured Direct presentation will apparently feature announcements for a coupld of classic Nintendo franchises, based on hints recently dropped on Twitter by leaker Pyoro, who accurately leaked Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Super Mario RPG Remake ahead of their announcements earlier this year.

In one tweet, the leaker wrote, “Let’s just say fans of a certain MATLAB function will be happy with the upcoming Direct.”

MATLAB, a numeric and programming platform developer by MathWorks, doesn’t have a link to any of Nintendo’s franchises, but many have speculated that the tweet references MATLAB’s “fzero” function, and that Pyoro is potentially suggesting that an F-Zero game will be announced.

Meanwhile, in another (much more straightforward) tweet, the leaker included only a gif showing Donkey King from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, potentially indicating an upcoming announcement of a new Donkey Kong game.

In additional tweets, the leaker has also claimed that Nintendo will reveal new details for the upcoming Princess Peach game, and that a Game Boy Advance F-Zero title will also be announced for Nintendo Switch Online.

Of course, with a company as notoriously secretive and unpredictable as Nintendo, it’s always wise to take any and all leaks with a grain of salt- for now, at least. We’ll keep an eye out for more new details, so stay tuned for further updates.

Let's just say fans of a certain MATLAB function will be happy with the upcoming Direct

— Pyoro (@Pyoro_X) September 8, 2023

pic.twitter.com/qMW86bL92Z

— Pyoro (@Pyoro_X) September 8, 2023

yep

— Pyoro (@Pyoro_X) September 8, 2023

It will come to NSO but I'm not teasing it.

— Pyoro (@Pyoro_X) September 8, 2023

In a press release announcing a Donkey Kong-themed expansion of their theme park, Super Nintendo World, Nintendo revealed that as of March of this year, the Donkey Kong has collectively sold over 65 million units worldwide. That’s an impressive number no matter what way you cut it, but given how infrequent major Donkey Kong releases have been over the years, that becomes even more impressive.

Leaks have suggested that the Super Mario Odyssey development team at Nintendo is working on a new 3D Donkey Kong game, and that Nintendo wants to expand the franchise and turn it into its next big multimedia property, following in Mario’s footsteps. The Super Nintendo World expansion definitely seems to fall in line with that, so here’s hoping we don’t have to wait too long for the next Donkey Kong game.

The artist now works at Playtonic Games, who last shipped Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair following the mediocre original. Fans seem to be quite nostalgic about the “good old days of Donkey Kong“, as they share their experiences with the franchise in response to the original tweet.

There’s still no word on the next installment in the franchise, although rumors seem to suggest that Nintendo EPD is currently working on a new Donkey Kong game. The game is rumored to be a 40th-anniversary celebration, suggesting its release to be this very year. Nintendo didn’t reveal anything related to the matter during its E3 2021 Direct, so fans should keep expectations in check for now.

Well, according to Zippo, it definitely exists. In a new blog post, the insider insisted that a new Donkey Kong game is in the works, and has been apparently for over three years at this point. The insider states that the game isn’t a one-off, and that apparently the IP is “being taken seriously” at Nintendo, who want Donkey Kong to become their next “multimedia conglomerate” after Mario.

Zippo claims that a Donkey Kong animation is also in early development right now- this could either be a film or a show, though the insider isn’t sure about this particular point. Meanwhile, the multimedia expansion apparently also includes merchandise, a theme park expansion, and more.

“Just be patient,” Zippo writes. “You’ll be hearing more sooner rather than later.”

If this game has indeed been in development for over three years, we hopefully aren’t too far away from getting official word on this from Nintendo. As for Donkey Kong’s multimedia expansion, it makes a lot of sense on paper for the franchise- though of course, with Nintendo, you can’t ever be too sure about anything, especially if something makes sense.

Either way, it sounds like we might hear more about this soon, so stay tuned.

However, the truth is, even though we may lack concrete leaks and rumours, there have been rumblings in the last few months – those, coupled with the application of some basic common sense, can help us figure out what we may be about to see soon come E3 in early June. We already had a look at what we might be able to expect from Microsoft’s event at E3 recently. Now let’s take a look at what we hope to see from the other big platform holder bringing the hype to the big annual convention this year.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPDATES ON THIRD PARTY GAMES

The Nintendo Switch has seen an incredible amount of uptake with third parties, which has finally started to manifest in the form of some big name exclusives for the platform in the last few years. Right now, it doesn’t seem like that’s about to stop any time soon either. We already know major upcoming third party games are scheduled for the system, such as Shin Megami Tensei V, Monster Hunter Stories 2, and Triangle Strategy; there’s every possibility we get more information on each of those at E3 as well, including, presumably, a release date (or at least month) for Shin Megami Tensei V, which Nintendo and Atlus promised last year would get a full simultaneous release this year.

That apart, E3 2021 would also be the right time for Capcom to announce Resident Evil Outrage, the new Resident Evil title that Capcom has developed for the Switch as a lead platform, and which Nintendo apparently has marketing rights for. It’s unclear whether or not the game is a Switch timed exclusive – we know that others versions of the game exist, but we’re not entirely clear on whether or not they’ll launch alongside the Switch version. Regardless of the status of those other versions, the Switch version is, by all accounts, due out early next year, and due to be announced very soon now that Village is released, and Capcom is no longer concerned with focusing marketing on it. Now would be the time for us to see it, and it would be a pretty impressive announcement, too.

NEW FIRST PARTY GAME ANNOUNCEMENTS

Nintendo’s first party teams have been very quiet for a while; we know they’ve been working on a lot of upcoming games for the back half of this year, a lot of which got pushed back because of COVID-19, but after such a long period of silence from the company, it may be time to lift the curtain – at least a little. For example, a new 2D Metroid game has been rumoured to be in development for a long time now – apparently it even finished development a while ago. And what reason Nintendo may have had for holding it back (if it exists) is unclear, but if the game is real, announcing it at E3 for a release date for later this year will win Nintendo a lot of goodwill. Metroid is a franchise with a lot of cachet with enthusiast fans of the medium, and the IP has been dormant for a good while – unveiling a new 2D game will probably help placate fans who are getting antsy owing to the prolonged development cycle of Metroid Prime 4, as well as those are perplexed at the continual absence of Metroid Prime Trilogy from the platform.

We might get to see the next Monolith Soft title as well. Whatever that game is, even if it’s a new concept entirely, is likely to be branded Xenoblade, given that we have been told by Monolith Soft themselves that Nintendo is hoping to build that brand as a core pillar; that said, it’s not entirely necessary we see that game this year at E3. While Monolith’s last full fledged release was almost four years ago, since then they have released two expansion-sized games, one remaster, and continue to assist on the development of other Nintendo titles as well.

Finally, we have heard that Nintendo apparently went ahead and acquired the full stake to the Astral Chain IP. The original game, which launched in 2019, was fairly well received, and went on to sell over a million copies. It was also envisioned as the first game in a trilogy, so there is every possibility that more games are planned – and if they are, maybe we can see something this E3 from that? This one is a bit of a long shot, unlike the other possibilities raised so far, but since Nintendo was actively pursuing stakes in the IP as recently as a few months ago, who knows?

DONKEY KONG

One big rumoured first party game announcement from Nintendo is Donkey Kong. A brand new Donkey Kong platform developed not by Retro, or any other outsourced partner, but Nintendo EPD themselves. EPD is, of course, the master of platforming games, and seeing them tackle Nintendo’s resident primate for the first time ever is an exciting proposition-particularly since the same team that got us Super Mario Odyssey is supposed to be working on Donkey Kong as well.

What’s even more exciting is that at least one of these rumours pegs this new game as being a 3D platformer. We haven’t had a 3D Donkey Kong game in over 20 years, so you can imagine why that prospect is so mouth watering to so many fans of platforms and Donkey Kong alike. The rumours peg this game as releasing later this year, so Nintendo can’t really announce it any later than at E3 – which means we may be about to see the big gorillas triumphant homecoming in very short order.

UPDATES ON PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED AND RELEASED GAMES

While Nintendo hasn’t made a lot of major announcements for first party games in a while, there still are a few that have been announced ahead of E3 that we will probably see at E3 this year. Splatoon 3 is due to launch next year, and we can probably expect to see it get at least a bit of a blowout at Nintendo’s event. Mario Golf and Skyward Sword HD are both due to launch just a bit after E3, which means we are almost certainly getting to see more of those during Nintendo’s show as well. And while Pokemon typically holds its own event separately from Nintendo, upcoming Pokemon games still do get featured in Nintendo’s E3 events – even if only as passing mentions. Which means we can probably expect to see at the very least Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, if not Pokemon Legends: Arceus as well, come Nintendo’s E3 show.

Beyond that, we will probably also get some announcements of updates for existing games. A new update for Animal Crossing New Horizon being detailed at the show is probably a given, and we will almost certainly see the announcement of the next character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as well (though who knows who that will be at this point). The last few E3 character announcements for Smash have really brought the hype, though – Ridley in 2018, and Hero and Banjo Kazooie in 2019. So whoever it is who ends up getting announced this year will probably be a pretty big deal as well.

UPDATED GLIMPSES AT METROID PRIME 4 AND BAYONETTA 3?

This one is honestly more pie in the sky than anything. We know both games are in development, but neither are presumably due for release any time soon. Metroid Prime 4 restarted development in 2019, and while that’s been enough time for Retro Studios to show off something, it’s also important to remember that most of the time since has been spent in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and so development may simply not be as far along as we may expect or want or like. Hopefully, they’re able to show us a short glimpse at the game, but CG trailers are typically not Nintendo’s style, so hopefully the game is in a state where some gameplay footage can be shown off – even if Nintendo is not willing to commit to a release, well, year, for now.

Bayonetta 3 is also in a similar situation. While we don’t have as many specific insights into its development, we do have reason to suspect it’s been rougher than expected, and with COVID disrupting that as well, it’s not as much of a given that we’ll get to see it as it may have been in other circumstances. That said, hopefully Platinum do have something to show us for it – even a short trailer will probably go a long way towards placating fan concerns.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD 2

This one is an absolute, total shoe in. The new Zelda game will be shown off at Nintendo’s E3 event, and presumably, it will be given a final name and a release window as well. It’s unclear when that release window might be – while originally I would have insisted on it releasing as Nintendo’s Holiday game this year, and to align with Zelda‘s 35th anniversary, Nintendo has shown no sign of actually acknowledging that anniversary, and, well, we have rumblings (as well as basic common sense) suggesting that COVID may have delayed its development, and that it may be likelier to launch next year – presumably early next year – than this one.

Regardless of when it’s releasing, though, we do expect to get a good look at the game. We’ll presumably get the setup for its story, see what the major hook for this game is, see how the gameplay and mechanics have evolved since Breath of the Wild, and see how the world map has changed as well. It’s likely to be among the most exciting things shown off at E3 this year – I just hope that it’s also, against all odds, confirmed for a release this year too.

WHAT WON’T BE THERE

While it’s not necessarily within the scope of this discussion, it’s probably not a bad idea to step back from the hype and calibrate expectations to rule out things that will almost certainly not be at E3 this year. The most obvious one – Hollow Knight Silksong. The follow up to Team Cherry’s seminal metroidvania game is launching exclusively on PC and Switch, and while it, too, has been long in the coming, Team Cherry has explicitly confirmed the game will not be shown off at E3 this year. So… that sucks, but strike it off the list.

The rumours that continue to circulate about a new Mario Kart game are also almost certainly just those, rumours, and a new Mario Kart game is extremely unlikely to be launched on the Switch, given how Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continues to break every sales record in the book more than four years from its release. While, obviously, one day a new Mario Kart game will exist, it will probably be held back for the Switch successor – not the Switch Pro, the Switch 2, proper, presumably in hopes of recreating the kind of early push the Switch got from Mario Kart.

Speaking of which – the Switch Pro. I’m reasonably confident this thing exists. I’m sure it’s launching this year too, in fact. But that said, do not expect it to be at E3 this year. There are several reasons for this – the most important one is that Nintendo does not, and has never, announced a system revision at E3 (or, well, not since the days of the Gameboy Advance, more than 20 years ago). Nintendo typically tends to announce these revisions a few weeks out from release at the most – the Switch Lite, as one example, was announced just a little over two months from release, and conspicuously and decidedly not at E3. Even if the Switch Pro is real, and due to launch this year, it will probably get announced independently a bit down the line – I’d expect late June, early July at the earliest, and late August at the latest.

Which means even when E3 is done, Nintendo fans will have a lot to look forward to this year.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

It’s been over seven years since we last got a new Donkey Kong game, and fans of Nintendo’s iconic series have been getting antsy in the absence of announcements of a new one, especially given how good the last couple of them were. Of course, with Retro Studios being busy with Metroid Prime 4, there’s the question of who would even handle a new Donkey Kong game- it seems all of those questions are going to be answered soon, if new rumours are to be believed.

Known Nintendo insider Zippo recently published a blog update, in which they claimed that a new Donkey Kong game is being developed by the Super Mario Odyssey team at Nintendo EPD. Apparently, the development team is “not interested in making a sequel to games they didn’t make”, so it’s unlikely that this new game will come with the “Country” moniker. Zippo says that the game is likely launching before the end of the year, and that as such, a reveal at E3 next month is looking “very likely.”

Meanwhile, YouTuber LonelyGoomba also recently published a tweet, saying that a new 3D Donkey Kong game is being developed by the Mario Odyssey team. In an article, Nintendo Life says that their own independent (and very reliable) source has told them the same thing, only that the game will be 2D, not 3D.

Even with similar information coming from multiple sources, it’s best to remember that this is unverified info for now, so treat it as such. Either way, with a supposed E3 reveal, we’ll know one way or another soon enough.

I heard an unlikely rumour that the Mario Odyssey team are working on a 3D Donkey Kong game.

I think I would actually prefer that to another 3D Mario.

— LonelyGoomba (@LonelyGoomba) May 12, 2021

ABRA, KADABRA (POKEMON)

Pokemon as a series has always embraced its whimsy, and that is constantly reflected in the way it names its eponymous monsters. One of the funniest examples of this is the entire line of Gen 1 Psychic Pokemon Abra, which evolves into Kadabra, showing no subtlety in its Abracadarba reference.

Billy Mitchell – Donkey Kong

The self styled King of Kong that featured heavily in a 2007 documentary, Billy Mitchell was one of the earliest professional gamers on record, holding world record high scores on Donkey Kong since the 1980’s, and also Pac-Man, in which he held the first ever perfect score of 3,333,360. Until his hubris brought him down, and curious minds at Twin galaxies, the de facto arbiters of gaming records, looked a little closer than he would have liked at some of his tapes. A VHS tape he gave to the site during the 2007 films production would prove to the site that his scores were set through emulator, instead of original arcade hardware, causing his scores and his crown to be stricken and the man effectively blacklisted from competitive gaming.

DONKEY KONG

Back in the early 80s, Nintendo was nowhere close to being the powerhouse it is today- so when the Japanese company was sued by Hollywood bigwig Universal for Donkey Kong’s perceived likeness to King Kong, they were certainly the underdogs. Nintendo’s attorney Jack Kirby, however, argued that Universal themselves had claimed before they remade King Kong a few years earlier that the property had become public domain, leading to a victory for Nintendo. The Big N were so enamoured by their lawyer’s work, they would go on to name a certain pink mascot of theirs in his honour.