Nintendo Directs are neither consistently scheduled nor consistently packed, but that doesn’t stop them from — and maybe even contributes to — being exciting, hype-filled affairs for an utterly gigantic audience. With the February 2022 Direct announced only one day before, the world had less time than usual to get their engines revved, but still enough time to openly speculate about what the platform holder had for gamers this time around.
Didn’t get a chance to watch it live? That’s okay, we’ve got you covered with everything you missed from the event below.
- A brand new Fire Emblem game is revealed to open the show, but not a traditional title. Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is a sequel to the Switch launch window title, Fire Emblem Warriors, but instead focusing on the cast and and framework of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. The musou title releases on June 24 and will be a different story from the mainline title.
- In other Intelligent Systems IP news, Advance Wars 1+2: Reboot Camp is shown again after its December delay. All the commanding officers from the original now have voice work. Fast-forwarding gameplay is also now a feature in both games, as well as local and online multiplayer. The tactical compilation releases on April 8.
- No Man’s Sky, gaming’s biggest comeback story, is officially coming to Switch. Resolution looks iffy, but otherwise does not look wildly different from its PS4 brother.
- Mario Strikers is back, not seen since the 2008 Wii title, now known as Mario Strikes Battle League. Once again seemingly developed by Next Level Games, visible gear is now a major component of the game. The graphics apply a filter during key cinematic hyperstrike moves to make the game look like the famous concept art behind the Gamecube and Wii titles. Battle League launches on Switch June 10.
- Splatoon 3 makes another appearance, having been revealed almost one year ago now at a spring Nintendo Direct. The new trailer focuses mostly on bosses, specifically in a mode like Splatoon 2’s salmon run, this time titled “Next Wave.” The original mode was only open during specific hours, but it’s unknown if that restriction continues when the game launches this summer.
- Front Mission 1st, a full remake of the first Front Mission game, is coming to Switch. The game launches this summer, with the sequel following eventually.
- Disney tries their hand at the Mario Kart realm in Disney Speedstorm, releasing this summer. Classic Disney and Pixar characters and inspired tracks make up the content in this game.
- For some reason, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed but only the Wii version is coming to Switch on April 20.
- Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Colleciton, which had already been announced, is coming to Switch with HD rumbles and optional touch controls, uh, next week.
- Bandai Namco is bringing SD Gundam Battle Alliance to Switch later this year.
- Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition is an HD remaster of the PlayStation classic. The game was rumored as a full remake, but appears to hew close to the 2000 release. It comes with a newly enhanced soundtrack, which seems impossible, and the original Radical Dreamers for the Satellaview in tow.
- A new Kirby and the Forgotten Land trailer is shown where he accidentally eats a car. This introduces “Mouthful Mode,” where Kirby is barely able to eat things and gets access to that thing — like eating a vending machine to walk around and spit soda. Rescuing waddle dees in the game expands a central hub village in the game, which also allows Kirby to do things like evolve copy abilities to become even stronger. The title releases very soon on March 25.
- MLB The Show 22, which was supposed to come to Switch last year and just…didn’t, is coming to Switch this year with Shohei Ohtani on the cover. The game is still being developed by PlayStation Worldwide Studios, which means their logo is on the Switch box, which is weird as well.
- Kingdom Hearts 1-3 is coming to Switch as a cloud version, which is ludicrously expensive at $90 and also has terrible SEO as I have discovered today. The three titles release tomorrow.
- Klonoa is coming to switch as the Phantasy Reverie Series. The collection includes Klonoa 1 and 2 remade for Switch releasing July 8.
- Portal and Portal 2 are coming to Switch as Companion Collection later this year. “Cake is a lie” jokes in 2022, who would have thunk it.
- Live A Live, a ridiculous previously-Japanese-only SNES JRPG with multiple origin systems that eventually intertwine, is getting an HD2D remake on Switch. The game launches on July 22.
- Wii Sports, one of the best-selling games of all time, is coming to Switch as, get this, Nintendo Switch Sports. This new title includes Tennis, Bowling, and Chambara (that sword minigame). New sports include Soccer, Badminton, and Volleyball. The game uses the leg strap from Ring Fit Adventure or with the physical version of Switch Sports for optional control fidelity. For the first time, online play is also supported. It will be available April 29th, but the leg strap accessory for full soccer will come in the summer.
- Do you think people are going to break their TVs again
- Golf will come in the fall.
- An online play test will occur, uh, next week on February 18 – 20.
- Taiko is coming back to Switch with Rhythm Festival. I kind of feel like these games don’t have the same impact as when they had actual physical drums. If I had the money, I’d buy a Taiko arcade machine to live my best life. Rhythm Festival launches this year with a paid subscription service to upgrade the game’s 76 songs to over 500.
- Triangle Strategy gets a new demo later today that is playable to chapter 3. Save data can be transferred to the full game.
- Cuphead: Delicious Last Course is shown again after its TGA re-reveal, coming June 30.
- A free Metroid Dread update adds a new difficulty that leads to single-hit deaths. A rookie mode is also coming to increase health. Both these updates come today, with a Boss Rush mode coming later.
- Earthbound, a game which Nintendo was in no way prevented in bringing to Nintendo Switch Online before this, is finally coming to Nintendo Switch Online. It is the first SNES game released for the system since last summer.
- Earthbound Beginnings, another game in which Nintendo was in no way prevented from bringing to Nintendo Switch online, is also coming to Nintendo Switch Online. It is the first NES game released for the system since last summer.
- Both are coming later today.
- A montage that includes Zombie Army 4, Getsa-fuma-den, Demon Slayer, LEGO Brawls, Two Point Campus is shown.
- FINALLY MARIO KART 8 DLC IS COMING IT’S BEEN SO LONG
- The DLC is is remastered courses from previous games, including the mobile Mario Kart Tour tracks. Titled the Booster Pass, the DLC will be eight courses released at a time until the end of 2023 for a total of 48 courses. Uh, holy shit? That’s a lot. What the fuck. The first wave is coming March 18.
- The course expansion comes with the expansion pack of Nintendo Switch Online.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is finally revealed, after we reported on it last year. The title is launching in September. Takahashi specifically points out that the story ties together the worlds of the first game and the second.
