Viral Nintendo Direct “leak” reveals Switch Pro, BOTW 2 & more – is it real?

A new Nintendo Direct “leak” has surfaced online claiming that on January 11, the Japanese gaming juggernaut will unveil a Switch pro and plenty of new games. The only question is, of course, is it real?

Nintendo didn’t have a real Direct for all of 2020, instead streaming a series of Mini and Indie Directs in an attempt to quench fans’ thirst for content.

For those still starved for Nintendo news, you may not have too much longer to wait to see some big game reveals if this leaked document proves to be real and not some hoax.

The leak in question is of a sheet of paper detailing all the games and hardware that will be shown off at a January Nintendo Direct. The top of the page features the Nintendo logo in all its glory with a big bolded “internal use only” directly under it.

Nintendo Switch Pro and games ‘leaked’

From there, the document claims that Nintendo will be unveiling its next piece of hardware in the form of a Switch Pro, that will have 4K support, pro Joycons, a HD screen and a price of $399.

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A date for the Switch Pro is listed as April 23, 2021, which seems to be the planned release.

Elsewhere, new games listed include Mario Kart 9, Splatoon 3, Super Mario Odyssey 2 and Metroid Resurgence – all planned for 2021.

BOTW 2’s name possibly revealed

Next, third-party titles Kingdom Hearts: Destiny’s Embrace, Bayonetta 3, and a “premium edition” of Grand Theft Auto V all stand out as non-pro games.

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That said, some games claim to only be releasing on the Switch Pro model, such as Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Devil May Cry 5, and Black Ops Cold War.

Most notably, on the very bottom of the leak, “The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of the Past” is listed with an April 23 release, the same as the alleged Switch Pro. This is most likely supposed to be the follow-up to Breath of the Wild, as a sequel has been in development.

Is the leak real?

While all of this may seem like a Nintendo fan’s dream come true, this needs to all be taken with a grain of salt.

For one thing, “first party software” is spelled incorrectly as “softwar.” Another glaring spelling error is “Plant’s vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville.”

Finally, it seems highly unlikely that a new Metroid game could really be releasing in 2021, as development on Metroid Prime 4 shifted from Bandai Namco to Retro Studios and had been restarted since the project’s announcement in 2017.

In any case, only time will tell if the leak ends up being true and Nintendo does in fact have some big Direct plans later in January.