Nintendo Direct is a series of online shows or live events created by Nintendo. These events share information about the company's new games, consoles, and other products. The first Nintendo Direct event was held on October 21, 2011, in Japan and North America. Later, the events were also held in Europe, Australia, and South Korea.

Format

Nintendo Direct presentations change in format depending on the presentation and region. These presentations are usually available in both regional and international formats.

For topics that are popular worldwide, a single Nintendo Direct is often made available for international viewers at the same time. These presentations are usually recorded in Japanese and presented by a Japanese speaker. Before Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s president, passed away, he hosted Directs in both English and Japanese, with other languages using subtitles.

After Iwata’s death, Nintendo Directs did not have a worldwide host until 2017, when Yoshiaki Koizumi, a senior manager at Nintendo, took over. From 2018 to mid-2023, Koizumi shared hosting duties with Shinya Takahashi, another manager. From late 2023 to early 2025, Takahashi hosted the main Directs alone, with Koizumi returning later in 2025. E3 Directs sometimes included Reggie Fils-Aimé as a guest host until he left in 2019.

Since 2017, the Japanese presenter and narrators are translated with voice actors or subtitles for international viewers, including in English.

Presentations near the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) were originally made by Nintendo of America, shown in English, and translated into other languages for international viewers. From 2019 until the last E3 event in 2021, E3 Directs were created in Japan, shown in Japanese, and translated into other languages for international audiences.

In Japan, Nintendo Directs were most often hosted by Satoru Iwata until his death in 2015. Yoshiaki Koizumi became the host in 2017. Shinya Takahashi joined Koizumi in 2018. From March 2018 to September 2019, Koizumi hosted Directs in the first half of the year, while Takahashi hosted in the second half. From February 2021 to September 2022 and again starting in March 2025, Takahashi hosted in the first half of the year, and Koizumi hosted in the second half. The E3 2021 and June 2023 Directs had both hosts appear together.

Since 2017, Japan has hosted region-specific "Indie World" presentations, which focus on indie games for the Nintendo Switch.

Directs about Super Smash Bros. and Kirby Air Riders are usually hosted by Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Super Smash Bros., the Kirby series, and the director of Kirby Air Ride and its sequel, Kirby Air Riders.

In North America, videos were often presented by Reggie Fils-Aimé, the president of Nintendo of America, until he retired in 2019, and later by Bill Trinen.

For international Directs produced in Japan since 2017, Nintendo of America shows the original Japanese audio with English narration. Two exceptions were the "Mr. Sakurai Presents" series starting with "Min Min" from Arms in 2020 and ending with "Sora" from Kingdom Hearts in 2021, as well as the Super Nintendo World Directs hosted by Shigeru Miyamoto. This happened because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it hard to record voiceovers. Even after restrictions eased, the Kirby Air Riders Directs hosted by Sakurai were also subtitled instead of dubbed.

Since 2017, Nintendo of America has shown presentations about indie games for the Nintendo Switch. From 2017 to 2019, these were called "Nindies Showcase" and hosted by Trinen. Later, they used the same name as the Japanese "Indie World" presentations.

European Directs were hosted by Satoru Shibata, the former president of Nintendo of Europe. These presentations were also shown in Australia.

Australia only aired the European version of Directs, but one Direct was made specifically for the region on September 24, 2014. This Direct was hosted by Tom Enoki.

For international Directs produced in Japan since 2017, Nintendo of Europe and Nintendo Australia show the original Japanese audio for presenters but use an English dub for narrated sections. These are then subtitled for other languages. Since 2019, only the "Pokémon Direct"/"Pokémon Presents" are dubbed in English for Europe and Australia, with subtitles in other languages.

Since 2017, Nintendo of Europe has shown presentations about indie games for the Nintendo Switch. From 2017 to 2018, they aired the American "Nindies Showcase" presentations. In 2018 and 2019, they hosted their own "Indie Highlights" videos. Since 2019, they have shown Nintendo of America’s presentations under the "Indie World" name, with Nintendo Australia broadcasting later.

South Korea aired exclusive Nintendo Directs hosted by Hiroyuki Fukuda, the president of Nintendo of Korea.

A few Nintendo Directs were made specifically for Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In addition to general Nintendo Directs, there are also Directs focused on specific games or series. These are usually hosted by the game’s producer or director, or by a narrator.

From June 2013 to June 2021, Nintendo used Nintendo Directs instead of traditional E3 press conferences to share news. In a March 2013 financial briefing, Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s CEO, said the company chose this method because different people want different types of information. He added that Nintendo Directs had become effective for reaching different groups of people. Christopher Dring of GamesIndustry.biz noted that Nintendo’s 2012 E3 press conference had too much focus on the Wii U and not enough on game announcements, leaving fans unexcited. By using Nintendo Directs, the company connected better with fans, made executives more visible, and provided more frequent updates.

During the live stream for E3 2013, Nintendo’s website had technical problems because too many people tried to watch at the same time. This caused the video to be unavailable for some viewers, and Satoru Iwata apologized. Despite this, Reggie Fils-Aimé, president of Nintendo of America, said that viewers who watched later still helped promote products.

In 2014, Nintendo added "Nintendo Treehouse: Live @ E3" live streams to their E3 presence. Named after the Product Development department at Nintendo of America, these streams showed localization staff and game developers demonstrating and discussing games announced during that year’s Direct. The year also started a trend of Nintendo hosting a game tournament during the event.

List of presentations

In addition to Nintendo Direct presentations, other online presentations made by Nintendo that do not have the word "Direct" in their names are also included in the list.