Nintendo held its first live stream event of the year in February and we have all the deets here. Read along to know more.
For people who are new to the Nintendo scene, Nintendo Direct is a frequent event hosted by the Japanese game company that gives its fans insights and news on the upcoming games and other events related to Nintendo.
This year, the event was hosted on the 9th of February 2022, making it the first Nintendo Direct of the year. The 40-minute long presentation was full of surprises, announcements and so much more. There were announcements that I was expecting and there were announcements that took me by complete surprise.
Here are the highlights and brief announcements that happened during the Nintendo Direct event 2022.
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Good news for Xenoblade Chronicles fans:
The development studio behind the role-playing game that is based on the open-world concept, Monolith Soft announced another add-on to the series- Xenoblade Chronicles 3. The video game is going to be the successor of the previous Xenoblade Chronicles launched nearly five years back in 2017. The game is going to be launched somewhere around September.
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Successor to the Wii Sports Series:
Nintendo finally made an official announcement about the rightful successor of the Wii Sports Series which is going to be called Nintendo Switch Sports. The sequel is all set to release on the 29th of April 2022. It will consist of various sports. To name a few: bowling, swordplay, soccer, tennis and much more. Golf is also supposed to be added later after release.
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Mario Kart 8 gets its biggest update yet:
You read that right, probably one of the biggest announcements of the event was about the new updates for Mario Kart 8 which is being called the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass. this will be released in several batches, to be exact 6. Every batch will include 8 new maps. So by the end of the last batch that is going to be released somewhere around the end of 2023, you will have 48 new maps.
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No Man’s Sky is finally on Nintendo Switch:
Straight from the Hello Games studios, No Man’s Sky is all set to have a Nintendo Switch release by mid-2022. For gamers who are new to this game, No Man’s Sky is an open-world survival game that is based on four core concepts- combat, exploration, trading and survival. However, the craziest part about this game is the open exploration it offers. With around 18 quintillion planets and every single one with a distinct environment and residents eager to either be friendly or fight to the death with you, the video game has so much in store for anyone willing to experience the same.
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All about Splatoon:
Splatoon is coming back with Splatoon 3 which is announced to be released in the Summer of 2022. The third-person shooting game has both the multiplayer online mode as well as the story-driven single-player mode. It is a fun game that uses ink as a weapon. Every ‘weapon’ has a different attribute and comes with its pros and cons.
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The legendary Fire Emblem Warriors is back:
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is a sort of follow up of the massive hit Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Houses. This tactical video game is all set to release on 24th June this year as announced during the Nintendo Direct event. We play as the main character, Blyleth who defeats new threats with the help of others. There are four different story paths you can go through.
Other game announcements with their release dates were made during the Nintendo Direct 2022 event
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Release date: September 2022.
- Two Point Campus
Release date: 17 May 2022
- Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) – The Hinokami Chronicle
Release Date: 10 June 2022.
- Zombie Army 4: Dead War
Release Date: 26 April 2022
- Metroid Dread, free update
Release Date: April 2022
- Triangle Strategy (Demo Available now)
- Nintendo Switch Sports
Release Date: 29 April 2022
- Portal and Portal 2
Release Date: 2022
- Kingdom Hearts Intergrum Masterpiece for Cloud
Release Date: Available now
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Available: 25 March 2022
- SD Gundam Battle Alliance
- Disney Speedstorm Racing
- Splatoon 3
Release Date: Q3 2022
- No Man’s Sky
Release Date: Q3 2022
- Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes
Release Date: 24 June 2022
- Mario Kart 8: Deluxe Booster Course Pass
Release Date: 2022- 2023
- Lego Brawls
Release Date: June 2022
- GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon
Release Date: Available now
- Earthbound and Earthbound Beginning
Release Date: Available now
- Cuphead, The Delicious Last Course paid DLC
Release Date: 30 June 2022
- Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival
Release Date: 2022
- LIVE A LIVE remake
Release Date: 22 July 2022
- Klonoa: Door to Phantomville and Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil
Release Date: June 2022
- MLB The Show 22
Gameplay footage released
- Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition
Release Date: 7 April 2022
- Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection
Release Date: Available now
- Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp
Release Date: 8 April 2022
All in all, I was expecting some sort of announcement regarding my favourite The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. However, there were no updates about it and that kinda disappointed me a bit. However, being a long time Nintendo fan I would say that I certainly wasn’t disappointed with the Nintendo Direct 2022 event.
Nintendo did seem to pull out all stops for this February event, setting the bar high for the upcoming Nintendo Direct events.
Missed the first Nintendo Direct of the year. Fear not, Click here to watch the whole 40-minute long event on Youtube.
