Nintendo Leak Hints at a New Zelda Game and More

A Nintendo insider teases 2 new projects.

Just after Nintendo fans were teased with the prospect of two unannounced Mario games planned for the Nintendo Switch consoles, the same insider who shared that info returned this week with indications of what two more in-development games might end up being. Codenames for two Nintendo games were revealed this week by the insider, Midori, who suggested that one of the games might be a Zelda title while the other is thought to be a sports-related game akin to something like Nintendo Switch Sports which released around two years ago now.

Just like last time, Midori took to X (formerly Twitter) to shed some light on Nintendo’s projects and the codenames attached to them. The leaker who’s best known for their insights into things like the Persona series and other Atlus games named two different codenames — “Edward” and “Elsa” — which currently exist for games Nintendo is working on. While those codenames don’t really give away much on their own as one would hope for from a decent codename, Midori believes there are connections to be drawn between those and past codenames for other known games.

“There is a project at Nintendo with the codename Edward,” the leaker said. “This might be related to the rumors of a new Zelda series title.”

For those struggling to see the connection between “Edward” and the Zelda series, you’re not alone. Midori explained in a follow-up tweet that the codename for The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening on the Nintendo Switch was “Richard” which suggests a trend of monarchs or royalty in general for the newer Zelda initiatives.

The other game talked about by Midori isn’t thought to be part of the Zelda series, but the conclusion about what it might be is born from similar connections between codenames.

“There is also a project at Nintendo in development with the codename Anna,” Midori said. “Elsa is the codename for Nintendo Switch Sports. So this title might be related.”

It’s worth acknowledging that the speculation about these codenames and the games they’re associated with is a bit less concrete than the Mario rumors before. The Mario games were both codenamed in ways that made it much more believable to imagine them being related to Mario games while these for the supposed Zelda and sports games, for example, require a bit more guesswork.

Nintendo may end up hosting a Nintendo Direct soon enough amid all the summer gaming events going on soon, so even if a new Zelda or sports game aren’t part of the plans, expect some Nintendo news soon.