The First Nintendo Direct of 2022: Surprises and Revivals

Last Thursday, Feb. 9, Nintendo aired their first Nintendo Direct of the year. The 40-minute pre-recorded news presentation featured a variety of announcements focused on games coming to the Nintendo Switch in the first half of 2022.

The Direct opened with the announcement of “Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes,” a spin-off of “Fire Emblem: Three Houses” and the second entry in the “Fire Emblem Warriors” subseries. In contrast to the signature strategic turn-based gameplay of “Fire Emblem,” the “Fire Emblem Warriors” subseries focuses on hack-and-slash action combat. “Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes” is set to launch on June 24.

An announcement for “Mario Strikers: Battle League” followed. The third entry in the “Mario Strikers” series, “Mario Strikers: Battle League” will have Mario and his friends competing in chaotic Mushroom Kingdom soccer for the first time since 2007. The game launches on June 10. Another sports game came in the form of “Nintendo Switch Sports,” the sequel to “Wii Sports,” which will launch on April 29, with a free update in the fall adding in the ability to play golf.

The Direct ended with the announcement of the action RPG “Xenoblade Chronicles 3.” While little information is available at this time, the game’s story is set to combine the worlds of “Xenoblade Chronicles” and “Xenoblade Chronicles 2.” This new entry in Nintendo’s growing franchise is set in the conflict-torn land of Aionios, where the countries of Keeves and Agnus are at war. The central theme of the game, launching this September, will be the sanctity of life.

The Direct also revealed additional information about some games already known to be in development. A trailer for “Kirby and the Forgotten Land,” launching March 25, showed Mouthful Mode, a new gameplay mechanic with which Kirby can transform into and control objects such as cars by inhaling them. Likewise, the presentation announced that the Salmon Run co-op mode from “Splatoon 2” will return in “Splatoon 3,” coming this summer.

Nintendo capitalized on the success of “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” — the best-selling game on the Switch, which nearly half of the playerbase owns — by revealing the Booster Course Pass, which will add 48 race tracks taken from throughout the “Mario Kart” series to “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe,” doubling the game’s course list. This paid DLC will come in six waves of eight courses each, finishing by the end of 2023. The first wave arrives on March 18.

The Direct also covered a wide variety of ports and remakes — some of which were entirely unexpected. “Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection” comes to the Switch on Feb. 17, and the “Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece for Cloud” bundle, spanning almost the entire “Kingdom Hearts” series so far, launched for the Switch on Feb. 10. It is, however, only a cloud version, meaning that players are not so much playing the game as streaming it from a cloud service, and one which is prone to stability issues). Similarly, the “Portal: Companion Collection” is bringing “Portal” and “Portal 2” to the Switch later this year, and “No Man’s Sky” is coming to the console this summer. Finally, the cult-classics “EarthBound Beginnings” and its sequel “EarthBound” have been added to Nintendo Switch Online.

Remasters featured in the presentation included “Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition,” launching on April 7. In addition to “Chrono Cross,” it includes “Radical Dreamers,” a visual novel adventure side story to “Chrono Trigger” — to which “Chrono Cross” is a sequel — that is receiving an official translation for the first time. Additionally, “Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series” is bringing remasters of “Klonoa: Door to Phantomile” and “Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil” to the Switch, reviving the series after its long dormancy. The collection is coming July 8.

In terms of remakes, the “Advance Wars” strategy RPG series is returning in “Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp” on April 8. Another strategy RPG is getting a second chance in “Front Mission 1st: Remake,” launching this summer, with a confirmation of “Front Mission 2: Remake” coming to the Switch sometime in the future. Notably, the cult-classic RPG “Live A Live,” which has never before been released outside Japan, is receiving a remake in the HD-2D art style on July 22.

This Nintendo Direct expanded on popular franchises while giving lesser-known games a second chance at life, and made for a particularly exciting day for fans of the RPG genre.