Nintendo has once again skipped their traditional June Direct slot, which is when the biggest games in the company’s yearly schedule tend to be announced or shown off. Despite other dates and announcements this year, the Japanese company had been fairly quiet in the interim, seemingly choosing to focus their attentions on Splatoon 3 and Mini-Directs rather than a full one. So a full September Direct has been hotly anticipated.
Did it live up to all that was hoped for? Did you not feel like waking up for it? Do you live in the UK and weren’t privy to it at all? Don’t worry, we summarized the details for you here.
- We start with a new Fire Emblem title, more or less confirming earlier leaks that showed some scattered screenshots of the game. Titled Fire Emblem Engage, the game seems to involve summoning old Fire Emblem characters through the series’ history to aid in battle. It releases very soon, on January 20, 2023.
- Next up is It Takes Two, the EA Original Hazelight game that’s mandatory co-op and released last year on other consoles. I can’t speak to how good this Switch version will be, but It Takes Two is my Game of the Year from 2021, so hopefully more people give it a shot when it releases on November 4.
- We get a remaster of Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, a Wii title that infamously did not come to the west when it was originally released. It is also coming to Xbox, PS4, and PC.
- Next is Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC, which introduces Hino, a mechanical party member. She joins once the player does her quest. This is Wave 2, which releases on October 13.
- Spongebob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake is launching on Switch next year.
- Fitness Boxing is getting Fist of the North Star boxing DLC, which is shown for the first time. This is actually a kind of funny idea and drops March 20.
- From Ubisoft comes Oddballers, an arena-based party game. It looks like Gang Beasts kinda.
- Next is Tunic, a Zelda-like that released on Xbox and PC earlier this year and has already been announced to come to PlayStation. it launches on Switch on September 27.
- Front Mission 1 Remake is shown once again since its announcement a few months back. Front Mission 2, which never released outside of Japan, is also known. The first game hits this November, while the sequel comes in 2023. A remake of the third game is also coming “in the future.”
- Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life launches on Switch next Summer.
- We get the announcement of the first post-launch Splatfest, which pits three deserted island items against each other: Gear, Grub, and Fun.
- The Square Enix logo introduces another HD-2D game, this time a sequel to the title that heralded the term in the first place: Octopath Traveler II. I hope they took a lot of the feedback from the first game. It launches on February 24, 2023. It is also coming to PlayStation and Steam.
- Fae Farm from Phoenix Labs is shown, which appears to be a Stardew or Rune Factory-like with farm life and action combat. It also has four-player multiplayer.
- A new Theatrhythm game is announced, titled Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. With 385 songs, it boasts a big improvement over the previous titles. It will released on February 15, with post-launch DLC from Saga, Nier, Live-A-Live, and presumably other series. It is also coming to PlayStation.
- Another look at Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, which shows more of the world exploration outside of battle. As I said in the Ubisoft roundup from last week, all that stuff looks much improved from the previous game. Sparks of Hope releases in just a few weeks on October 20.
- Oh hey, speaking of Rune Factory, we’re on Rune Factory 3 now. Titled Rune Factory 3 Special, a new mode has been added to improve “quality time” with your spouse. Also, a new Rune Factory series is in development.
- Multiple Mario Party games, both N64 Pokemon Stadium games, 1080 Snowboarding, and Pilotwings 64 are coming to Nintendo Switch Online. I kind of assumed Pilotwings 64 would just never come out because of the Twin Towers, but I guess it’s fine!
- Also Goldeneye. WAIT IS THIS WHY THEY DIDN’T AIR IT IN THE UK
- Goldeneye includes online play, of course.
- It’s also coming to Xbox and, thus, Game Pass.
- Next is Various Daylife from Square Enix, not that I needed to tell you that from the title. It launches later today.
- Factorio, a management sim game where you create a factory to get yourself off a planet, is coming to Switch October 28.
- A game called Id is shown. Looks creepy.
- Pauline is coming to Mario Strikers: Battle League, as well as Diddy Kong. Both come later this month.
- Up next is Atelier Ryza 3, a game series I have no familiarity with but I bet it’s pretty good. I hear good things at least. It launches on February 24. Man that’s a busy month, huh.
- We get information on the third wave of Mario Kart 8, including Merry Mountain from Mario Kart Tour, Peach Gardens from Mario Kart DS, and that’s all we’re talking about today. The next wave will hit this holiday.
- Golf is coming to Nintendo Switch Sports, with local and 8-player online “survival golf.” The update is delayed a bit from Fall to Holiday.
- Miyamoto comes out to talk about the Mario movie. That’s hitting next Spring. The Super Nintendo World in Hollywood is coming around the same time.
- Next we talk about Pikmin Bloom, Niantic’s mobile Pikmin game that came out like a year ago. Miyamoto only gets paid if he teases Pikmin fans every few years.
- Oh, actually, the teases lead to something this time. We finally get a look at Pikmin 4, almost six years after Miyamoto first mentioned it. The game will release on 2023 after an extremely short teaser.
- “We won’t be showing any gameplay today,” says Miyamoto. But he does show a screenshot pointing out that it’s not longer an eagle’s view camera angle but instead closer to the ground.
- Just Dance 2023 is back with a new trailer that is different from the one we saw on Ubisoft Forward last week. That title is available on November 20.
- We see Harvestella, a game about killing an evil Winter. I think this game looks cool. I hope going out on that limb isn’t going to bite me in the ass. We’ll find out soon, though, as a demo will be available today which can transfer save data to the full game when it releases November 4.
- Bayonetta 3 is shown, detailing how Bayonetta herself is fighting to save the world from man-made monsters called Homunculi. It doesn’t really feel like they know how to advertise this game, but sure. Give me more trailers. A new gameplay trailer is also dropping today.
- From the creators of Danganronpa comes a new game that, well, looks a lot like Danganronpa in terms of artstyle. Titled Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, the game stars Yuma, an amnesiac detective haunted by a spirit. You investigate the murders, then the Shinigami you make a pact with creates a labyrinth for you to solve the murder through action.
- Resident Evil Village is getting a cloud version for Switch, just like Resident Evil VII got in Japan and apparently soon in the west. Village will also get The Winters Expansion DLC
- Resident Evil 2 and 3 are also coming via cloud.
- Sifu is coming to Switch on November 8.
- Crisis Core Reunion is also coming to Switch, but we knew that. The game launches on December 13 on Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.
- Radiant Silvergun, a classic Saturn shmup, is coming to Switch today.
- Endless Dungeon is also coming to Switch next year.
- Tales of Symphonia, which got a remaster a few years back, is coming to Switch. I actually didn’t know it wasn’t on Switch yet. That’s weird. It’s available early 2023 or, like, now on other consoles I guess.
- A sizzle reel begins. I’m not even going to try and keep up, I will just come back to this section later.
- Okay back to the sizzle reel. Through the magic of editing, you don’t even notice a wait! It was Life is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection on September 27, Romancing Saga Minstrel Song Remastered coming December 1. LEGO Bricktales this Fall. Disney Speedstorm also this Fall. Fall Guys Season 2 on September 15.
- An announcement of Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe, a remaster of the Wii title with a new copy ability called Mecha. That game was fine. Better than Star Allies, I think. It launche son February 24, which is also now very specifically a surprisingly packed day.
- Koizumi calls it on the Direct with one final announcement.
- Hey, it’s Zelda. I love that guy.
- We finally get a title for the sequel to Breath of the Wild, now titled Tears of the Kingdom. It is releasing on May 12.
That’s it! How did the Direct hit you? Let us know below in the comments.
