The June 2023 Nintendo Direct has come and gone, and it featured some heavy hitters such as the Super Mario RPG remake, more details about Pikmin 4, and the exciting reveal of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Despite the impressive showing, there were numerous games — such as projects we know are in development, or are heavily rumored — that did not make an appearance during the presentation.
Here are seven rumored and previously announced games we were hoping to see during the June 2023 Nintendo Direct.
7. Chrono Trigger HD-2D Remake
Kicking things off with an unconfirmed game, a Chrono Trigger remake is heavily rumored to be in development. According to insider Zippo, Square Enix is working on a 2D-HD remake of the beloved SNES RPG, in the same vein as Live A Live and Triangle Strategy.
Sadly, this wasn’t shown during the Direct, but hopefully, that doesn’t mean it’s not real. Given that Chrono Trigger is one of the most beloved games of all time, surely, Square will bring it back in the form of a remake someday.
6. Persona 3 Reload
While we know Persona 3 Reload — a remake of Persona 3 — is gearing up to launch for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC in 2024, a Nintendo Switch version has yet to be revealed. However, a listing for the game on Nintendo Switch was spotted at online retailer Play Asia, indicating it will come to the handheld platform at some point. Nintendo and Atlus may be saving the announcement for a later date.
5. Tears of the Kingdom DLC
Nintendo hasn’t confirmed the existence of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom DLC, but the developer almost certainly has something new in the works. Breath of the Wild received additional content mere months after its release, and given Tears of the Kingdom’s success, DLC is almost guaranteed. But it looks like we’ll have to wait longer to see what else is in store for Link and Zelda.
4. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
Since the announcement of the Dragon Quest III HD-2D remake in May 2021, Square Enix has not provided further updates on its development. At the end of 2022, series creator Yuji Horii said, “We might be able to deliver more news on DQIII [remake] soon,” but that wasn’t in the cards this time.
3. Hollow Knight Silksong
Every time there’s a Nintendo Direct (or even an Indie Showcase), the community hopes for any sort of news related to Hollow Knight: Silksong. The highly anticipated sequel was officially delayed earlier this year, meaning developer Team Cherry is likely prioritizing finishing the project instead of putting together trailers for a Nintendo Direct. Still, we would have loved to get some sort of update, but we’ll have to wait longer for this one.
2. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess
This one’s a twofer — including The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, since both were supposedly going to be announced together during a Nintendo Direct in 2022. That never came to be, but many are still holding out hope for some sort of remaster/port package containing these two classics for Switch.
It’s hard to imagine that Switch ports for these games aren’t in the works, but Nintendo doesn’t always do what’s obvious, so we’ll have to wait and see if these ever materialize.
1. Metroid Prime 4
And we’ve come to the most elusive game on this list: Metroid Prime 4. It was first revealed at E3 2017. Two years later, Nintendo announced that development had restarted from scratch. Since this announcement in 2019, we’ve heard nothing about its development.
At this point, it seems likely that Metroid Prime 4 may end up on Nintendo’s next system after the Switch.
