F-Zero and Mario leaks hint a July 2020 Nintendo Direct could happen

We don't know much about Nintendo's release lineup for the rest of 2020 now that Paper Mario: The Origami King has launched, but some new Twitter accounts have been discovered that may hint at Nintendo's plan for some surprise announcements happening very soon.

Super Mario Bros. and F-Zero could take center stage in some kind of major announcement expected to happen before the end of July. A Twitter account celebrating Mario's 35th-anniversary — @SuperMario35th — was discovered earlier this month adds credence to those leaks, leading many to assume some kind of game collection would be announced.

An @FZeroJP account was also discovered on July 16. While the account's tweets are currently protected, it's seemingly a placeholder for a game within the F-Zero racing franchise starring Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Captain Falcon. There hasn't been a new game within that franchise since 2003's F-Zero GX. Could these collectively be early hints that some major reveals are slated to happen very soon? Perhaps even as part of a July 2020 Nintendo Direct?

While it's possible that these are both just handles created by fans who want to get a kick out of the community's reaction, the emails associated with the accounts hint that they may be more legitimate than that. Attempting to change their password shows that the accounts are made with an email that ends with "n*******.**.**". This is widely believed to be a @nintendo.co.jp email, which is similar to the ones used for other major Nintendo accounts. That does make it seem like these two accounts are official.

There's little reason Nintendo would create official accounts for Mario's 35th anniversary and F-Zero unless there were plans to use them. As such, the existence of these Twitter accounts has possibly leaked the existence of these projects earlier than Nintendo originally intended.

Microsoft suffered a similar kind of leak earlier this month when accounts for Fable and Perfect Dark were discovered on Twitter. While the rumors about those accounts ended up being debunked or at least denied by an Xbox representative, they have still inspired hope in fans that those franchises will return. Even if they aren't official, these Nintendo leaks will do the same for Mario and F-Zero fans.

The Inverse Analysis — After seeing the accounts for myself, they do appear to be legitimate. Because they do seem real and they've been noticed by Nintendo fans, the company really should make some official announcements sooner rather than later so we can finally learn about how these games might fit into Nintendo's fall 2020 lineup. While the Mario collection is rumored to include great games like Super Mario 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy, the return of F-Zero excites me even more.

Fans have been asking that Nintendo revisit that franchise for years, and it seems that the company has finally listened. I'd even be happy with a port or remaster of F-Zero GX, though a brand new game would even more exciting. Not much else can capture the same sense of blinding speed like Nintendo's sci-fi racing franchise.

A Nintendo Direct is rumored to take place on July 20, 2020, and could hold the announcement of these titles. While this Direct rumor seems fairly unlikely because Nintendo has not announced it yet, the Japanese publisher does need to reveal its fall lineup soon. Hopefully, we'll learn what Nintendo's plans are for Super Mario Bros.' 35th anniversary and F-Zero in the coming weeks, as the Switch's fall 2020 lineup looks pretty sparse right now.