Web Video / Nintendo Direct

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Nintendo Directs are online presentations produced by Nintendo where news about upcoming video games, events, and other things concerning the company are relayed directly to its fanbase. They began on October 21, 2011, with only Japan and North America receiving the presentations before expanding to other regions. Worldwide directs were presented by CEO and President Satoru Iwata until his death in 2015, after which executives in charge of directly managing game development, such as Shinya Takahashi and Yoshiaki Koizumi, would take up the role.

Nintendo Directs are known for not being publicly announced too far in advance, with announcements that one will be aired usually coming no more than two days prior, resulting in both a lot of predicting when the next one will happen and a concentrated two-day burst of hype when one is announced.

The show can be viewed on the Nintendo eShop, YouTube, Twitch, and the official Nintendo website. An extensive list of every Nintendo Direct ever can be seen over here.

Microsoft and Sony would create their own equivalents in the following years: Inside Xbox starting in 2018 and State of Play in 2019, respectively. Larger software publishers would also follow the trend, with Ubisoft (Ubisoft Forward) and Square Enix (Square Enix Presents) debuting their variants in 2020.

Bringing the following examples directly to you:

• Art Shift:
  • Was done occasionally during the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U-era to promote certain games, ranging from Iwata having a "paper border" when presenting Paper Mario: Sticker Star or being a LEGO mini-fig when showing off LEGO City Undercover, to several Nintendo executives appearing as Miis for a dedicated Tomodachi Life Direct.
  • The E3 2014 and 2015 Directs also engaged in this: the former had animated skits created by Stoopid Buddy Studios (of Robot Chicken fame), while the latter featured puppet versions of Iwata, Miyamoto, and Reggie made by the Jim Henson Workshop in place of live action appearances.
• Ascended Meme: When Doug Bowser was announced as Reggie Fils-Aimé's successor as President of Nintendo of America, the Internet naturally began pointing out that he shares the same name as Mario's nemesis. Later, during the E3 2019 Direct which formally introduced him, the King of Koopas himself appears before Doug Bowser arrives, complaining about a "mix-up".
  Yoshiaki Koizumi: Are you related?
  Doug Bowser: No, but we get that a lot.
• Bilingual Dialogue: When Yoshiaki Koizumi introduces Doug Bowser, Koizumi speaks Japanese while Bowser speaks English, yet the two carry on a brief conversation just fine.
• Catchphrase:
  • "Directly to you" as part of the introduction, accompanied by extending both hands forward while tilting the hands upright, palms parallel to each other, was used during the Satoru Iwata-era of presentations.
  • "Please take a look" when introducing the reveal trailer for a major new Nintendo-published game.
  • "Please understand" at the end of apologies for product delays and issues.
  • "But before we go", or some variation thereof, referring to the final announcement of a presentation.
• Commercial Switcheroo: This is frequently done with the Super Smash Bros. series due to its status as a Mascot Fighter allowing for trailers to start out as a Bait-and-Switch. One notable instance is the September 2018 Direct, which began as seemingly teasing a Nintendo Switch entry in the Animal Crossing series, only to reveal the character Isabelle as a new fighter... after which it's revealed that another Animal Crossing character was watching the trailer themselves, and they announce the brand-new installment.
• Dream Within a Dream: At the end of the Tomodachi Life Direct, Bill dreams that he is standing at a pier when a giant Reggie head rises from the sea. He is then awoken by the actual Reggie, only to be awoken again by a production crew member who voices concern about him passing out in the middle of filming.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • The first few Nintendo Directs were plain, with Nintendo executives Reggie Fils-Aimé (for the Americas), Satoru Shibata (for Europe/Australia), and Satoru Iwata (for Japan and global presentations) explaining a game or product against a white background and no music. It wasn't until around the E3 2013 Direct that efforts were made to develop a more lively, unified look. Region-specific Directs were also phased out after 2015, with all presentations being global going forward.
  • Nintendo Directs used to be more frequent prior to 2017, occurring almost monthly as opposed to a major showcase occurring tri-annually. Each game also got discussed in heavier detail versus only three or four "spotlight" titles getting such treatment, meaning presentations tended to be longer and/or featured less titles, with games often appearing across multiple Directs. Finally, comedic skits featuring Nintendo staff and executives were regular staples of pre-2017 Direct presentations, but became rarer afterwards.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Announcements for "headline" titles are preceded by a short introduction that often uses wordplay alluding to the game that's about to be shown (e.g., "A Classic Comes Alive" for Live A Live).
• Foreshadowing:
  • The August 2018 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct used the Animal Crossing-based Smashville and Luigi's Mansion stages to highlight the new "stage morph" feature. The following September 2018 General Direct was bookended by announcements for new installments in both series, as well as the announcement of Isabelle joining as a newcomer in Smash.
  • Partway through the June 2024 direct was the announcement that the Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy Advance app that would be receiving The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Metroid: Zero Mission later that day. The next two Spotlight announcements in the presentation would be new entries in both franchises.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: The Nintendo Direct format is occasionally used to promote non-video game Nintendo projects. These have included tours of locations such as the Super Nintendo World zone at Universal Studios Japan, and trailers for films like The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
• Insistent Terminology: From 2018 onwards, Nintendo of America began to regularly refer to games as "the [name of the game] game" in their marketing, with some instances leading to long-winded phrases such as "the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass DLC for the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe game". This is to avoid the generalization curse that plagued other brands and their products.
• Large Ham: Several game-specific Directs have their announcers act in this manner. One notable example was the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza in November 2014, which was hosted by Xander Mobus, who is also the in-game announcer and remains in-character for the entirety of the presentation.
• Lost in Translation: Occasionally, the jokes made in these videos have to make use of a translator's note in order to explain them to either the Japanese or English audience.
  • The E3 2019 video had a mistaken identity skit that didn't quite translate into Japanese, as it's based on the fact that the president of Nintendo of America, Doug Bowser, shares his last name with the Super Mario villain in most territories. However, in Japan, his name is "King Koopa" instead.
  • One Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct has Masahiro Sakurai joke that putting Kazuya Mishima into the game was a Mission from God. The joke requires you to be familiar with Japanese kanji, or at least know that one of the kanji used to spell out "Nintendo" can be translated into "heaven."
• Redubbing: The North American versions of Nintendo Directs have the hosts dubbed over in English, though the original Japanese track can still be heard below. Averted for the European versions, which opt for subtitles instead.
• Retool: The April 2017 Direct saw the debut of a new logo and the "headline-centric" presentation format, which delivers information in a more fast-paced, trailer-focused manner that runs in sharp contrast to prior Directs, which would spend time discussing and building up to each trailer, in addition to frequent comedy skits. Red and white also became the predominant color scheme over blue and white, matching the similar shift in Nintendo's corporate colors.
• Running Gag:
  • People staring at fruits and vegetables. It started with Iwata staring at a bunch of bananas in the E3 2012 showcase, later that year Bill Trinen stared at a tangerine in the same way, and yet again with LEGO Iwata holding a carrot.
  • Bill stealing Reggie's donuts.
• World of Pun: The disembodied voices that narrate much of the presentation are seemingly incapable of introducing games without some kind of silly wordplay.

"That's all for today's Nintendo Direct. Thank you for watching."