Nintendo kicks off the year with some big surprises
Today’s Nintendo Direct has concluded, and dang, that was a pretty good Direct. From known upcoming games to complete left-field reveals, it felt like it flew by at a blistering pace.
The company has become quite good at pulling a few surprises out for every stream, but usually a few items leak out ahead of time. There were certainly rumors around this one, same as any other, but the lineup is honestly still baffling to look at. Live A Live, Chrono Cross, Front Mission; heck, even a Wii Sports follow-up! And some of the best meme fuel in town thanks to Kirby’s new Mouthful Mode.
l'm sold pic.twitter.com/Kk1iMPcwuA
— ☀️🥖 Kéké 🥖☀️ (@Kekeflipnote) February 9, 2022
With all that in mind, let’s run down the quick list of what got shown today.
Nintendo Direct February 2022 news recap
- Fire Emblem Warriors is back, and with a Three Houses setting in a new version called Three Hopes. It arrives on June 24, 2022.
- If you wanted more tactics than Warriors, Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp arrives on April 8, 2022.
- The infinite void of No Man’s Sky comes to Nintendo Switch this summer.
- Soccer is back in style for Mario sports spin-offs when Mario Strikers: Battle League hits the net on June 10.
- No firm date yet for Splatoon 3, but we did get a Summer 2022 window alongside a new trailer for this game’s take on the co-op Salmon Run mode.
- The first two Front Mission games are getting remade. Giant robots? Tactics? I’m in. The first one’s out this summer.
- Disney Speedstorm arrives this summer for Nintendo Switch, putting beloved Disney characters behind the wheel of their very own karts. Surely no other kart racer will show up in this Direct to steal Elsa’s thunder.
- A few ports are in store: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is coming to Nintendo Switch on April 20, Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection hits the Switch on Feb. 17, and mobile suits roll out when SD Gundam Battle Alliance hits Switch later this year.
- Chrono Cross is alive and well in 2022, and it’s coming to the Nintendo Switch on April 7.
- Kirby shows off his, uh, “Mouthful Mode” that he’ll get in Kirby and the Forgotten Land. The internet will never be the same. That’s still set for March 25.
- MLB The Show cover star Shohei Ohtani showed up to spotlight this year’s iteration, which is coming to the Switch.
- A few game collections are on the way. We already knew about Kingdom Hearts, but Klonoa and Portal are also getting Switch collections.
- Live A Live is finally coming to North America on July 22. Seriously, I’m still shocked this is happening.
- Wii Sports is back to break more televisions with Nintendo Switch Sports on April 29. There are even some more sports packed in with this version, like Soccer and Badminton.
- The latest Taiko no Tatsujin game, Rhythm Festival, is coming to Switch this year. It has “Megalovania” from Undertale in it, so that’s pretty rad.
- Triangle Strategy has a Prologue demo out today, and it will let you carry save data over into the full game.
- The Delicious Last Course of Cuphead hits Switch on June 30.
- Metroid Dread is getting two new difficulty modes, Dread and Rookie, later today. A Boss Rush mode is coming April.
- Both EarthBound and EarthBound: Beginnings are coming to the Nintendo Switch Online service today. Mother 3 hold-outs are still suffering.
- Next up is a sizzle reel of upcoming Switch games. Zombie Army 4: Dead War arrives April 26, GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon is out today, the Demon Slayer game arrives June 10, Lego Brawls is coming in June, and Two Point Campus hits on May 17.
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has been an incredible seller for Nintendo, and it’s finally getting an influx of new content. A ton of remastered Mario Kart courses are coming to the Switch racer, 48 in total.
- Finally, Nintendo closed the show with the reveal of Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
There was nothing new on Breath of the Wild 2, but overall, it was a pretty exciting Nintendo Direct. Let us know what you thought below!
