A YouTube commenter with no verified industry credentials just set off one of the biggest Nintendo rumor cycles of the year. On September 5, 2026, VICE reported that an account called malo932 claims Nintendo is building an all-new Super Smash Bros. title for Switch 2, alongside a revival of the long-dormant Nintendogs series. Within hours, ComicBook, Notebookcheck, Stevivor and Nintendo Everything had all picked up the story, and by September 6 it was the most-discussed Nintendo topic online.
Nintendo has said nothing. No press release, no Direct teaser, no statement to any of the outlets covering it. That silence is normal for leak season, but it hasn’t slowed the story down. Here’s what malo932 actually said, why anyone is listening to an anonymous YouTube account, and what a Smash Bros/Nintendogs leak means two or three days before Nintendo’s own September Direct.
The Headline Leak: What malo932 Claims About Smash Bros and Nintendogs
The claim is simple on its face. According to VICE’s reporting, malo932 says Nintendo is not building a Switch 2 port of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the 2018 crossover fighter that has sold tens of millions of copies across its life on the original Switch. Instead, the leaker says the company is developing a wholly new entry in the series for its next-generation hardware. Separately, in an August 2026 YouTube comment first flagged by fans and later reported by VICE and ComicBook, the same account teased the return of Nintendogs, the Nintendo DS pet-simulation series that has been dormant since 2011.
Neither claim comes with a release date, a subtitle, screenshots, or any hard technical detail. That’s consistent with how malo932 has operated in the past: short, cryptic YouTube comments rather than leaked documents or code. It’s also exactly why outlets covering the story, including ComicBook, are careful to frame both games as rumored, not confirmed. As of this writing, on September 6, 2026, Nintendo has not acknowledged either project in any form.
Who Is malo932? Inside the Track Record Fueling the Rumor
Malo932 isn’t a known games journalist or a longtime industry insider with public credentials. Per VICE’s reporting, it’s a mysterious YouTube account whose actual identity and sourcing method are unknown even to the outlets covering it. What makes the account notable is timing: VICE reports that malo932 posted claims about a Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake and a Star Fox Switch 2 remake days before NateTheHate, an insider VICE describes as one of the industry’s most reliable, reported the same information back in March 2026. Both of those remakes were later folded into Nintendo’s official messaging, with the Ocarina of Time remake getting a formal Switch 2 announcement in June, according to reporting compiled by GamesRadar.
Malo932 also claimed, roughly a week ahead of the official announcement, that Nintendo would hold two separate Direct presentations on September 8 and September 9, 2026. Nintendo Everything later confirmed a Nintendo Direct scheduled for September 9. That’s the pattern reporters are pointing to when they say the account has “seemingly leaked more than five major Nintendo titles over the last six months,” in VICE’s phrasing.
ComicBook’s coverage pushes back on how much weight that record deserves, noting the account “does not have the most robust track record” and isn’t considered an S-tier source, even while crediting it as the first to leak the two September Directs. That split in tone, VICE treating malo932 as increasingly credible, ComicBook treating the account with more skepticism, is itself part of the story: two outlets covering the same leaker reached different conclusions about how much to trust them.
The Exact Words: What the Leaker Actually Posted
On the Smash Bros. claim, VICE reports that malo932 responded directly to a user asking whether Nintendo was simply porting Ultimate to Switch 2. The account’s reply, quoted by VICE, was blunt: “No, a new Smash is in the works.” That’s the entirety of the public evidence for a new Smash Bros. title right now, one sentence in a YouTube comment thread.
The Nintendogs tease is even more indirect. According to VICE, malo932 never typed the word “Nintendogs.” Instead, responding to other users in an August comment, the account wrote: “Cozy weird games are strong in Nintendo, and maybe another ‘forgotten’ cozy weird Nintendo series is coming back, barking. Wink wink, woof woof.” Readers connected the dots from the barking references, and outlets including VICE and ComicBook now describe it as an unmistakable Nintendogs tease, even though the leaker avoided the name entirely. VICE also reports that malo932 has floated other unconfirmed projects in the same comment threads: a new 3D Mario game reportedly targeting 2027, a possible new Wario Land title, and a Super Metroid remake described as “close” to finished.
How VICE, ComicBook, Notebookcheck and Others Are Covering the Story
VICE’s article, bylined by Brent Koepp and published September 5 at 7:10 p.m., carried the headline that most other outlets echoed within a day: a new Smash Bros. and Nintendogs revival reportedly headed to Switch 2. ComicBook’s version, written by Tyler Fischer and published the same evening, led with the same two games but spent more time questioning the leaker’s reliability. Notebookcheck framed its coverage around timing, tying the leak directly to the looming September Direct. Nintendo Everything ran it as a straight rumor roundup, and Stevivor’s headline framed it as an “insider tip” rather than a confirmed report. Wccftech, which has separately tracked other Switch 2 hardware and software leaks throughout 2026, also picked up the broader story as it spread.
What’s notable is how uniformly cautious the language is across every one of these outlets. Words like “reportedly,” “claims,” “insider tips” and “rumor” appear in nearly every headline. None of the five outlets named above treat this as confirmed Nintendo news, and several explicitly warn readers to treat the claims skeptically until Nintendo says otherwise.
Nintendo’s Official Silence: What the Company Has (and Hasn’t) Said
Nintendo has not issued any statement about a new Smash Bros. title or a Nintendogs revival. The company’s public communications around its next-generation hardware have focused on acknowledging that development is underway, not on confirming specific software. That distinction matters: Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has spoken publicly about hardware strategy and development timelines in past investor briefings, but those comments have never extended to naming unannounced first-party titles tied to leaks like this one.
Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai has also weighed in on the broader question of a sequel, though not on this specific leak. In interviews earlier in 2026, Sakurai indicated that he would need to be personally involved in any true successor to Ultimate, a comment widely read as him keeping the door open without confirming any project is underway. That’s the closest thing to an on-record statement from anyone connected to the franchise, and it stops well short of confirming malo932’s claim.
Why a New Smash Bros Beats an Ultimate Port, According to the Leak
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is arguably the most content-complete fighting game ever shipped, with every playable fighter from the series’ history included at launch and years of DLC added afterward. A straightforward Switch 2 port, with a resolution and frame-rate bump, would have been the cheapest, lowest-risk way for Nintendo to keep the franchise present on new hardware. That malo932 is instead describing a from-scratch sequel is the part of the leak generating the most fan discussion, because it implies a multi-year development cycle rather than a quick remaster.
It also lines up with Nintendo’s general pattern this generation. Rather than reissuing Switch-era hits unchanged, the company has largely paired Switch 2 with new or substantially reworked entries, from remade classics to updated multiplayer titles. A brand-new Smash Bros. would fit that playbook, giving Nintendo a genuine system-seller rather than a catalog refresh. None of that confirms the leak is accurate, but it explains why reporters and fans found the claim plausible enough to run with.
Nintendogs: The Numbers Behind a 15-Year-Old Franchise Bet
If the Nintendogs tease is accurate, Nintendo would be reviving a series with a genuinely strong sales history. The original Nintendogs launched on the Nintendo DS in 2005 and sold roughly 23 million copies, according to figures cited by ComicBook, making it the second best-selling DS game of all time behind New Super Mario Bros. Its only sequel, Nintendogs + Cats, arrived on the 3DS in 2011, sold around 4 million copies, and scored a 71 on Metacritic, a noticeable step down from the original’s 83.
That’s 15 years without a new entry, which is a long gap for a series with those kinds of numbers. It also puts Nintendogs in a different category from most of the other titles malo932 has floated: unlike a 3D Mario or Wario Land, which sit inside franchises Nintendo revisits every hardware generation, Nintendogs would be a genuine dormant-IP revival, closer in spirit to bringing back Star Fox or Ocarina of Time than to a routine sequel.
Timing Is Everything: The Leak Lands Days Before Nintendo’s September Direct
The story broke on September 5 and 6, just two to three days ahead of Nintendo’s own Direct presentations scheduled for September 8 and 9, 2026, confirmed separately by Nintendo Everything. That proximity is doing a lot of work in how the leak is being received. If Nintendo has a new Smash Bros. or Nintendogs announcement queued up, this is close to the ideal window for a leak to surface and then get vindicated within days. If it doesn’t, the leak will look exactly like dozens of pre-Direct rumor cycles that fizzled the moment the actual presentation aired.
Nintendo’s September Direct lineup already has confirmed anchors that have nothing to do with this leak: a new Fire Emblem entry launching September 17 and Capcom’s Onimusha: Way of the Sword arriving on Switch 2 September 25, based on prior scheduling reports. Neither Smash Bros. nor Nintendogs has appeared on any official Nintendo release calendar. If either shows up in the September 8-9 broadcasts, it will be the fastest confirmation of a malo932 claim to date. If neither does, the leaker’s track record takes its first real hit since the Zelda and Star Fox leaks earlier this year.
Malo932’s Leak Track Record So Far
| Claim | When Posted | Current Status |
|---|---|---|
| Zelda: Ocarina of Time Switch 2 remake | Before March 2026 | Later announced by Nintendo (June 2026) |
| Star Fox Switch 2 remake | Before March 2026 | Corroborated by insider NateTheHate |
| Two Nintendo Directs on Sept. 8 and 9 | About a week before official reveal | Confirmed by Nintendo Everything |
| New 3D Mario, targeting 2027 | 2026 (undated comment) | Unconfirmed |
| New Wario Land, possibly 2027 | 2026 (undated comment) | Unconfirmed |
| Super Metroid remake, “close” to finished | 2026 (undated comment) | Unconfirmed |
| All-new Super Smash Bros. (not an Ultimate port) | September 2026 | Unconfirmed — this story |
| Nintendogs revival | August 2026 | Unconfirmed — this story |
Historical Context: How Nintendo Leak Cycles Usually Resolve
Nintendo has one of the leakiest pre-announcement cycles in the games industry, and also one of the most litigious histories around leaks that involve actual stolen files. The difference here is important: malo932’s claims are not built on leaked internal documents, source code, or retailer databases, the kind of material that has previously led to real legal action against leakers. They’re built entirely on cryptic public comments left on YouTube, the same low-friction format that has become common among Nintendo-focused leakers over the past few years.
That format cuts both ways. It’s easy for an account to build a track record quickly, since even a handful of correct guesses can look impressive when compiled after the fact. It’s also easy to overstate a hit rate, since vague comments (“a new Smash is in the works”) can be framed as accurate regardless of what actually ships. NateTheHate’s rise to becoming, in VICE’s words, one of the industry’s most reliable insiders followed a similar arc: a series of specific, later-confirmed claims built credibility over time. Whether malo932 follows the same trajectory or turns out to be a lucky guesser depends entirely on what happens at Nintendo’s September Direct, and at any Direct after it.
Confirmed vs. Rumored: What We Actually Know Today
| Item | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Nintendo is developing successor hardware to Switch | Confirmed (general terms) | Nintendo investor communications |
| Nintendo Direct presentations on Sept. 8 and 9, 2026 | Confirmed | Nintendo Everything |
| New Super Smash Bros. game in development for Switch 2 | Rumored | malo932, via VICE |
| New Smash is not a port of Ultimate | Rumored | malo932, via VICE |
| Nintendogs revival in development | Rumored / teased | malo932, via VICE and ComicBook |
| Official Nintendo confirmation of either title | None as of Sept. 6, 2026 | — |
| Sakurai’s willingness to work on a Smash sequel | Confirmed (general statement) | 2026 interview reporting |
Market Impact: Switch 2’s Software Pipeline Needs a Hit
The leak arrives at an interesting moment for Switch 2’s commercial trajectory. Nintendo’s most recent quarterly results, covering April through June 2026, showed hardware sales falling 34.4% year-over-year to 3.82 million consoles, even as total lifetime Switch 2 sales climbed past 23 million units, according to figures reported by Engadget. Revenue for that quarter came in at 517.8 billion yen against analyst expectations of roughly 445 billion yen, and net profit rose 53.5% year-over-year to 147.4 billion yen, comfortably beating forecasts. Switch 2 software sales, meanwhile, grew 9.2% year-over-year to 9.46 million units.
Put those numbers together and the picture is a console with slowing hardware momentum, a $50 US price increase that took effect September 1, and software revenue still doing the heavy lifting. Nintendo has stuck with its forecast of 16.5 million Switch 2 units for the fiscal year ending March 2027, but hitting that number gets harder without new system-selling software regularly refreshing the release calendar. A genuinely new Smash Bros., a franchise whose Ultimate entry became one of the best-selling fighting games of all time on the original Switch, is exactly the kind of announcement that could move that needle. That’s the commercial logic underpinning why this leak is getting more attention than a typical rumor about a mid-tier Nintendo franchise.
Competitive Landscape: Platform Fighters and Cozy Games in 2026
Smash Bros. Ultimate has faced competition from platform fighters like Sony’s Multiversus relaunch and independent titles such as Rivals of Aether II, none of which has come close to displacing it as the genre’s commercial center of gravity. A ground-up Switch 2 sequel would reset that gap in Nintendo’s favor for another console generation, particularly if it launches with a roster and content depth that rivals struggle to match on day one, the same advantage Ultimate held over its competitors throughout the Switch era.
Nintendogs would be entering a cozy-game market that has grown considerably since 2011. Life-sim and pet-care games have become a reliable mobile and console category, with titles built around low-stakes, ongoing care loops finding sustained audiences well outside the traditional gaming demographic Nintendogs originally targeted on DS. A modern Nintendogs on Switch 2, especially one built around the console’s touch and motion capabilities, would be entering a market that has matured significantly rather than creating one from scratch, which could work in its favor if Nintendo treats it as more than a straight remaster.
5 Predictions for What Happens Next
- The September 8-9 Directs will not fully confirm either title. Nintendo rarely validates leaks on the exact timeline reporters expect, even when the leak turns out to be accurate months later.
- Malo932’s public profile will grow regardless of outcome. The account has already crossed into mainstream gaming coverage; that visibility tends to be self-reinforcing even when specific claims miss.
- If a new Smash Bros. is real, expect a multi-year runway. A from-scratch entry following Ultimate’s scale would likely target a 2027 or later window, not an imminent release.
- Nintendogs, if real, is more likely to surface as a smaller-scale announcement than a headline Direct moment, consistent with how Nintendo has handled other legacy-IP revivals.
- Expect at least one more malo932 leak before the claims are resolved, given the account’s pace of roughly one notable claim per month over the past six months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has Nintendo confirmed a new Super Smash Bros. game for Switch 2?
No. As of September 6, 2026, Nintendo has made no official statement about a new Smash Bros. title. The claim originates entirely from a YouTube commenter known as malo932, as first reported by VICE.
Is a new Nintendogs game actually in development?
That’s unconfirmed. Malo932 teased the idea in an August 2026 YouTube comment referencing “barking” and a “forgotten cozy weird Nintendo series,” without naming the game directly. Nintendo has not commented.
Who is malo932?
Malo932 is an anonymous YouTube account that has posted a series of Nintendo-related claims over the past six months, including the Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake and Star Fox remake, both later corroborated by other reporting, and the September 8-9 Nintendo Direct dates.
Would a new Smash Bros. be a Switch 2 port of Ultimate?
According to the leak, no. Malo932 specifically stated, “No, a new Smash is in the works,” in response to a question about an Ultimate port, implying a from-scratch sequel rather than a remaster.
When is Nintendo’s next Direct presentation?
Nintendo has scheduled Direct presentations for September 8 and 9, 2026, according to Nintendo Everything. Neither Smash Bros. nor Nintendogs has been officially placed on the agenda for either broadcast.
How well did the original Nintendogs sell?
The 2005 Nintendo DS original sold roughly 23 million copies, making it the second best-selling DS game ever, according to figures cited by ComicBook. Its 2011 sequel, Nintendogs + Cats, sold about 4 million copies and scored lower with critics.
Why are outlets treating this leak as credible if it’s unconfirmed?
Because malo932’s prior claims about the Zelda and Star Fox remakes and the September Direct dates turned out to be accurate. That track record is why the claims are being covered at all, though every outlet reporting on it, including VICE and ComicBook, stresses the information remains unverified.
What happens if the leak turns out to be false?
Nothing formal. Leak accounts like malo932 face no real consequence for an inaccurate claim beyond reputational damage, and outlets typically simply stop citing the account as favorably in future coverage.
