A New Kirby and a New 2D Metroid Just Got Dates

A Solid, Unspectacular Direct — With Two Real Exceptions

Nintendo’s September Direct ran its promised 45 minutes and covered more than 36 games, mostly ports, remasters and third-party release windows that were never going to move the needle. Two things did: Kirby and the World Beyond, a new 3D adventure closing out the show, and Metroid Ravenous, the first new 2D Metroid since Dread. Everything else here is routine winter line-up filler — competently produced, mostly forgettable, and not what you set an alarm for.

Kirby and the World Beyond Closes the Show

Kirby’s next outing is another 3D adventure in the mold of Kirby and the Forgotten Land — Kirby wandering an open, chest-and-secret-filled world, absorbing enemy abilities as he goes. The trailer’s hook is literal: Kirby picks up a sword, slashes through the wall bounding his own world, and the map opens up into something bigger, which is presumably where “the World Beyond” gets its name. Nintendo didn’t show combat depth or co-op details, and there’s no telling yet whether this leans closer to Forgotten Land’s linear-but-open stages or something more sprawling. It’s due Spring 2027 on Switch 2, which is a wide enough window that a firmer date is still a ways off.

There isn’t much more to say with confidence at this stage — a single trailer is a single trailer — but a new mainline Kirby landing this cleanly, right after Forgotten Land proved the 3D format works, is the kind of low-risk, high-competence Nintendo output that’s easy to plan a Switch 2 slot around once it actually has a date. Nintendo didn’t confirm co-op for this one either way, and Forgotten Land’s own answer to that — a second player controlling a tethered Bandana Waddle Dee, not a full second Kirby — is worth remembering before assuming this will be a couch-co-op game by default. If it follows the same model, that’s still genuinely fine for a younger sibling who wants to be involved without needing to actually clear stages.

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Metroid Ravenous Brings 2D Samus Back in January

This is the bigger deal of the two, and it got a firmer date to match: January 28, 2027, Switch 2 exclusive. It’s a straight 2D side-scroller — the first since 2021’s Metroid Dread — apparently picking up after Dread’s events as Samus explores an alien moon. The new mechanic is an energy-drain ability: Samus can siphon life force directly out of an enemy, which then dissolves, and use that stolen energy to power temporary abilities. The trailer also showed a wall-warping dash move, the ability to run across water, the return of Dread’s parry counter, and an energy blade for close-range kills. A new group of antagonists is teased but unnamed.

Dread was a genuine highlight of the Switch era for anyone who grew up on the 2D games, and Ravenous reads as more of the same formula rather than a reinvention — which, going by Dread’s track record, is exactly the right instinct. If you’ve already got Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on the radar, this is the second Metroid release worth clearing a Switch 2 slot for inside the same twelve months, and the two couldn’t be more different in approach: one’s a first-person exploration epic, the other’s a tight side-scroller built around a single new gimmick.

Worth flagging up front: nothing about “enemies dissolving after Samus drains them” reads as gorier than Dread’s own parry-kills, which already leaned into isolation-horror atmosphere over cartoon violence. This has never been a series aimed at younger kids, and Ravenous isn’t repositioning itself as one — treat it the same way you’d treat Dread, which is to say: a solo game for you, not a family co-op pick.

Family Angle: Which One to Actually Plan For

These two land four months apart, and they’re not interchangeable in a household with kids. Kirby and the World Beyond is squarely the pick-up-and-play option — bright, forgiving, and (going by Forgotten Land’s precedent) built to let a less-experienced player join in without carrying the run. Metroid Ravenous is the opposite: atmospheric, methodical, and a series that has always rewarded patience over reflexes, which makes it a genuinely good fit for an evening after the kids are in bed rather than a shared-screen pick. If a household is only going to follow one of these closely, Kirby is the one that fits family game night; Metroid is the one that fits a dad’s own backlog.

Everything Else From Today’s Show

Nothing on that list is a reason to change plans. Most of it is a Switch 2 edition of something that already exists, a port, or a release-window confirmation for a game already on the radar. That’s a perfectly normal Direct — not every show needs to reset the conversation, and this one mostly didn’t try to.

The one cluster worth a second look is the run of third-party remasters landing this October — Resident Evil 2, 3 and 4 all arrive the same day (October 16), and The Witcher 3 follows three weeks earlier. That’s a genuinely strong month for anyone who missed those games the first time around and has been waiting for a Switch 2 excuse to catch up, even if none of it is new content. Persona 4 Revival next May is the other one worth a mental note now rather than later — Atlus remakes tend to sell out preorder windows fast once a firm date lands, and May 20 is still eight months out.

What’s Next

Kirby and the World Beyond is the one to watch for a firmer date — “Spring 2027” is still a three-month window, and Nintendo has a habit of tightening those closer to launch. Metroid Ravenous already has its date locked, so the next real checkpoint is a longer gameplay showcase, likely at a Nintendo Direct closer to January. Both land on the same Nintendo Switch 2, and if you also caught yesterday’s Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct, the winter 2026 into spring 2027 stretch is shaping up to be a genuinely busy one for the console — even if today’s show, on its own, wasn’t.

What was announced for Kirby at the September 2026 Nintendo Direct?

Kirby and the World Beyond, a new 3D adventure where Kirby teams up with a floating companion and pushes out beyond his usual world. It closed the show, and it’s due Spring 2027 on Switch 2.

When does Metroid Ravenous release, and is it 2D or 3D?

January 28, 2027, exclusively on Switch 2. It’s a 2D side-scrolling entry - the first since Metroid Dread - with a new mechanic where Samus drains energy from enemies to gain temporary powers.

Was this the same Direct as the Zelda 40th Anniversary show?

No, separate broadcasts on back-to-back days. The Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct ran September 8 and gave the Ocarina of Time remake its release date. This is the general Direct from September 9, and it didn’t touch Zelda at all.