Nintendo’s sixth Direct of 2026 has no games but a cool Yoshi popcorn bucket

Yet another Nintendo Direct has been announced, which still isn’t the one you’re hoping for, but at least we have a Yoshi popcorn bucket.

If you’ve been following our coverage over recent months, you may have noticed an escalating irritation around the volume of Nintendo Directs being announced for everything except what most people care about.

So far in 2026, we’ve had a Super Mario Galaxy Movie Direct, a special showcase dedicated to Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream, a Partner Showcase for third party titles, a Pokémon Presents, and an Indie World Showcase earlier this week.

Some announcements justified a showcase, like the reveal of Pokémon Winds and Waves, while the recent Indie World had a decent slate of titles – but for the most part, it’s been the definition of ‘this could have been an email’ several times over.

Following the Indie World, there was a (hopeful) assumption the next Nintendo Direct would be the first party blowout we’ve been anticipating. Turns out, Nintendo is operating at maximum troll, because before all that, the company wants you to have another look at The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, until you cry Luma.

The second Direct for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will air on Monday, March 9 at 9pm GMT on YouTube and the Nintendo Today app. It will show the film’s final trailer, and comes with the disclaimer: ‘No game information will be included in this presentation.’

Expert, exclusive gaming analysis

Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.

Like the last Direct for the film, it will presumably be a trailer and nothing more. As such, we’re not sure why Nintendo chooses to give these events the ‘Direct’ name, when it could just drop a new trailer on a random Monday afternoon and still land with the same impact.

At least the announcement comes with a new poster for the film, which shows some unexpected references to past games. The most obscure is Wart and Mouser from Super Mario Bros. 2, along with the frog suit from Super Mario Bros. 3. All of which only makes it more confusing as to why they skipped so far ahead to base this on Super Mario Galaxy.

If you’re a sucker for extravagant popcorn buckets, a Yoshi bucket will be available at Odeon cinemas in the UK to coincide with the film’s launch on April 1, 2026. There is no details on the price yet, but it likely won’t come cheap.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the sequel to 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, and Kevin Michael Richardson all reprise their voice roles from the original, alongside newcomers Benny Safdie and Brie Larson as Bowser Jr. and Rosalina, respectively.

Based on the amount of Nintendo Directs so far in 2026, there’s a possibility the one we’re actually waiting for could still happen this month (yes, we’re still hopeful). The only time a main Direct hasn’t happened in the first three months of the year was in 2024, but that was as support for the original Switch was starting to wind down.

There are some key unknowns about the Switch 2’s slate for 2026 too. Neither Yoshi And The Mysterious Book or Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave have specific release dates, and we still don’t know what Nintendo’s big Christmas game for this year will be or what year Splatoon Raiders will launch in.

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.