September is the beginning of the latest Nintendo Direct, and with it comes some new announcements for what players should be expecting during the rest of the year and the upcoming year of 2022. With 40 Minutes of Content to go through, here’s everything that the Nintendo Direct Showed off today.

A new massive expansion for Monster Hunter Rise comes out in the Summer of 2022. This whole new expansion takes players to the most unlikely of places putting them face-first against some of the new monsters to live inside of the almost Victorian-era landscapes of Monster Hunter Rise. Included in the massive expansion will also be new quests, stories, hunting actions, and as shown in the trailer, a large elusive monster that’s going to be keeping a watchful eye on the player as they run through the new world brought on by Capcom. Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, is set to come out sometime in the summer of 2022, like a switch exclusive, before making its way to PC.

While shown during Nintendo’s E3 presentation, Mario Party Superstars aims to reimagine and recapture the fun that’s from the first 3 Mario Partys, while including some of the best minigames from the Mario Party series. During the game’s showcase at the Nintendo Treehouse, players were shown two levels. The E3 presentation showed off Space Land and Peach’s Birthday Cake, however, the last 3 boards included in the game have not made an appearance. Shown on the box art for the game, Woody Woods is making its way onto Mario Party Superstars. The gimmick on this board has players being sent down specific paths if the Money Moles guarding the corners chose to send players the other direction. Yoshi’s Tropical Island also makes its resurgence into the game. This board sees players going across two islands filled to the brim with tropical fruit. However, there’s a chance that Toadette might be swapped with bowser at the last second. Costing the player their coins, or worse, their stars. Lastly, the inclusion of Horror Land is a no-brainer, with the game switching between day and night, being a precursor to the main gimmick of Mario Party 6. The statue of King boo on the board during the day might not be of any use, but passing it during the night might cause the loss of stars from the player’s who least expect it. Also shown in the game are Mt. Minigames. The Minigame section of the title puts players head-to-head in-game modes like Survival, which sees players attempting to hold the most wins in a minigame-only competition. Or if players are more keen on cooperation, they can participate in Tag Battle, which will put their teamwork to the test if they expect to come out on top. Mt. Minigames will include 7 courses at launch, putting more fun into the game when players have had enough of the game’s boards. All courses and minigames now support online play, so players who want to play with friends from out of town, they can do so. Mario Party Superstars launches on Nintendo Switch on October 29^th, 2021 revealed on the Nintendo direct. 

In this turn-based RPG, the player takes control of a character traveling with their companion through this fantasy world. However, this isn’t a normal RPG, as everything in the world is represented by playing cards, from the overworld to the characters, everyone and everything is a card. Turn-based battles now take the form of card games similar to playing tabletop RPGs. The game is being spearheaded by Yoko Taro, the man behind Nier Automata. The game is also set to feature a rich story following three heroes on a quest to destroy a dragon at the behest of the queen of the land. The game will feature full voice acting for all the characters in the game.  Playing a card game is one thing, but this new spin on a digital tabletop game has players going from fantasy to fantastical in Voice of Cards, coming out on Nintendo Switch on October 28^th, 2021. With a Free demo being available now. 

Players will take the role of an amnesiac detective on a mission to solve the murder that they’re investigating. However, they’re going to have to find information through helping people and making sure that they can piece together their own mind if they plan on finishing what they started. Players will have to hone 26 skills in order to solve The murders. However, how players chose to use their abilities will change the story and the world around them. Choices matter in this RPG inspired by tabletop games, as well as some of the more prominent RPGs to come out over the past decade. With the game being available on steam, those who are looking forward to the title have no reason to wait. However, the game will launch on switch digitally on October 12^th, while the Physical Release of the game launches in Early 2022. 

The Prequel to Breath of the Wild is still being supported, with more of the expansion pass coming out soon. The game’s second wave is coming out on October 29^th, 2021. Included in the second wave of the expansions pass, players will be able to play multiple new stories, fight in multiple new stadiums, and play as the two shekaih scientists Purah and Robbie. However, that’s not all, as the game is also going to come included with a serious amount of new character actions for pre-existing characters.

This Final Fantasy kart racer has players taking on the roles of many of the final fantasy cast. These chibi versions of fan-favorite characters are all coming together in Chocobo GP. The racing game is similar in rules to Mario Kart, but there’s a special final fantasy Twist. Picking up items called magicite will allow players to cast some of Final Fantasy’s spells against other racers, like Fire, Aero, and Doom. However, picking up more of the same element will power up these spells, allowing Fire to become Fira or even Firaga. This can work for all spells in the game and brings a sense of strategy to the racing title. Players will also be able to change the stats of their vehicle by customizing it with a slew of parts. On top of all of this, all playable characters have their own special ability, which can help them get ahead in the race if used at the right time. Also included in the game is a bracket-style tourney mode, allowing up to 64 players to compete in races to determine the Racing champion. Chocobo GP launches in 2022 as a Nintendo Switch exclusive.

While many players thought that the final character was going to appear at this Nintendo Direct, many players were shocked and a little disappointed to find out that they weren’t going to get the final character until a few weeks from now. The final smash character is going to be announced in its own special presentation to finish off the Smash Brothers series. However, the release of this event has lead many to be a little suspicious, that the final presentation just happens to be on the same exact date as the release of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. While it’s not likely, the thought that Nintendo might be attempting to move interest from the Nick Platform fighter to their own platform fighter, being that this is the first time Smash Brothers has competition, is interesting, to say the least. However, for those who were wondering who the final character was going to be, they’re going to have to wait another two weeks before they get their answers.

Leaked before the Nintendo direct, and now properly announced Kirby and the Forgotten Land now has a trailer. This will be the first time in the Kirby series where Kirby has gone from being a 2D side-scrolling title into a full 3D platformer. After waking up on a beach, Kirby is thrown into a mysterious world, with a large city and no one in sight. The city seems to look like the world from our reality, and It’s up to Kirby to find out what’s happened and uncover the history of this forgotten land. Just because the game is in 3D doesn’t mean that classic Kirby elements won’t be included, Kirby will find his way through the world using the same copy abilities he’s had from all his previous games. However, while exploring the world, he’ll also have to rescue his friends and fight fearsome bosses to overcome the dangers of this world. In the trailer, Kirby finds himself in an abandoned mall, saves Waddle Dee and friends, and encounters some new enemies. Until he comes face to face with a giant gorilla. The game is set to come out in the Spring of 2022. 

While the Nintendo direct trailer didn’t show much of what’s to come to Animal Crossing New Horizons, what was shown was that the Roost is back. After the game’s been out for over a year, one of the most requested buildings from the game is now going to be included in the title. With Brewster and his coffee shop settling down on the second floor of the museum. While that’s all that was shown in the trailer, the game is also going to have it’s own direct coming sometime in October. Aside from the direct, the announcement that the Roost is coming back also comes with a release window for the game, with the Roost and more free content coming to the game in November, after the Animal Crossing direct. 

More free content is coming to Mario Golf Super Rush, with two new characters, and two new courses revealed during the Nintendo direct. Of the characters Koopa Troopa makes his return to the greens, being able to do a super drive that makes the ball bounce, and knock away anyone’s balls who are in the way. Koopa Troopa’s special dash allows him to jump into his shell and zip down the fairway like he’s just been kicked by Mario himself. The second character to make the jump into the game is Ninji from Super Mario Brothers 2. Ninji’s blinding speed and glide dash will help him get to the front of the pack in speed golf. Included in the game as well are two more courses that players are going to be able to take on. One of the courses is snow-themed, while the other is a stark contrast, being set in the desert. The update comes out today and is free to download.

Coming from the 3DS to the Nintendo Switch, Disney Magical world puts the player at the center of attention. It’s up to them to complete their Disney world, hang out with Mickey Mouse and friends, and explore the wondrous worlds of Disney. From meeting with Cinderella to dancing on the ballroom floor with Belle and Beast, Disney Magical world puts the player’s Mii into the magic. All the DLC for the original 3DS title is going to be available on Nintendo Switch with the Enchanted edition of the game.

While the remake of Bioware’s Knights of the Old Republic is in its beginning stages, players who want to take the game on the go will be pleased to know that Knights of the Old Republic is coming to Nintendo Switch after the trailer dropped during the Nintendo direct. Players will team up with Jedi, Outcasts, Droids, and more in the unanimously loved RPG title as their decisions will change the fate of the Galaxies far far away. The game is going to be made available to download on Nintendo Switch on November 11^th. 

An incredible surprise, Dying Light 2 is coming to Nintendo Switch. Although, not in the way that players might think. Being that the title is made for next-generation consoles, the Switch wouldn’t be able to run the game. However, some titles like Resident Evil 7 and Control have managed to bypass this by streaming the game to the Switch through the cloud. This is what Techland has in mind for Dying Light 2’s release on Nintendo Switch. Still the same game that’s going to launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X, the game is going to be completely playable on the Switch, the only caveat is that the player is going to have to have a stable enough internet connection to experience it. 

Combining Parkour with the undead, the player is going to have to bring together the broken communities throughout the game’s world, with their decisions changing the course of the story. However, all decisions aren’t going to be either good or evil, as the player is going to have to make some Morally grey decisions if they too want to make it out alive. The game launches on February 4^th, 2022. However, a demo for the game launches on the same day, allowing players to test their internet speeds if they’re thinking about picking the game up. 

While not the cloud version, somehow, Techland managed to get the prequel to the game running on Nintendo Switch. Being the Platinum edition, player’s are going to take control of the GRE agent Kyle Crane, as he runs through the world learning parkour skills to wade through the undead and uncover a massive conspiracy that’ll stop the virus forever, or are the people that Crane is working for hiding something from him. The game also comes with the expansion the following, bringing the game into an even bigger open world, allowing the player to drive around in buggies to make it from one location to another while trying to stay alive during the day and hiding from the monsters that lurk within the night. The game is going to be available to tide over Dying Light fans on October 19^th, 2021.

Players will be thrust into a story of war in stunning HD 2D reminiscent of games like Octopath Traveller, in Triangle Strategy. Playing similar to Fire Emblem, the player takes control of multiple enemies as their decisions throughout the story will change the fate of the world in the game. The video also mentions that with the information from the Demo survey that launched in February of this year, the game has been fixed and tuned to make for the best experience for the fans of the title. Some of the fixes for the game include difficulty adjustments, UI improvements, Camera angle Controls, the ability to review previous dialogue, as well as streamlined game flow and loading times. Triangle Strategy will launch on Nintendo Switch on March 4^th, 2022. 

In the final trailer for Metroid Dread, players have been shown a lot of what the game has to offer, with Samus’ journey to the planet ZDR. This includes some of the new areas Samus is able to explore, some of the new weapons, as well as some new bosses, like Meta Kraid. As well as a mysterious antagonist who looks like one of the Chozo. The presentation largely retreads a lot of what fans have already known if they read the multiple Metroid Dread Reports or played all the games in the series. The game isn’t as far away as people may think. Metroid Dread Launches on October 8^th, 2021. 

Something that was rumored to come out for the Nintendo Switch was the inclusion of Nintendo 64 Games in Nintendo Switch Online. Now, it’s been confirmed during Nintendo direct, but there’s a catch. While players will be able to play some of the Nintendo 64’s Classic titles, including Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, and Star Fox 64, these additions to the Nintendo switch online system are going to be a part of what Nintendo calls the “Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack” which is a reference to the Nintendo 64 Expansion Pack. There’s no price planned for this new addition to the online plan for the title. With the New plan coming out in late October, Nintendo is going to share more details, and most importantly the price of the plan at a later date. However, this doesn’t mean that more games aren’t going to be added to the Nintendo 64 library. It’s also confirmed that Banjo-Kazooie, Paper Mario, F-Zero, and other games are going to be making their way to the Nintendo 64 Library as well. On top of this, in an unlikely twist, joining the Nintendo 64 in the Expansion pack is going to be the Genesis as well. Sonic the Hedgehog, Ecco The Dolphin, and more are going to be playable with the inclusion of the expansion pack. This has lead players to believe that any further, and more recent consoles like the GameCube, or even the GBA, are going to be included in the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack as well. 

With all this, there was one more thing that Nintendo showed off during the Nintendo direct before continuing the presentation. Nintendo also revealed that they’re manufacturing more Nintendo 64 Controllers for Nintendo Switch Online, as well as making their own version of the Genesis controller for Nintendo Switch Online. This now means that a Genesis Controller made by Nintendo is going to be sold by the company, putting a definitive end to the console war of the ‘90s.

Revealed in the Nintendo direct, the cyberpunk fantasy trilogy Shadowrun is coming to Nintendo Switch. Players will venture into the dystopian world where Magic has been brought back from history, as well as fantasy races like elves and Orcs have come back to life, putting a spin on the futuristic world many players have gotten used to. This triple pack game is going to include three whole stories for players to experience. With immersive branching narratives, skill-based character growth, and tactical combat, this version of the tabletop RPG series turned into a video game is going to be an interesting title for those who are into fantasy and futuristic titles. Shadowrun Trilogy launches on Nintendo Switch sometime within the next year.

4 Castlevania titles come to Nintendo Switch, with the rerelease of Castlevania Circle of the Moon, Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance, Castlevania Aria of Sorrow, and Castlevania Dracula X, the games have been remastered to look their absolute best, while still retaining the same feel of the original. Included in these versions of the titles are the rewind feature, which will have players saving themselves from mistakes by rewinding the game to help pull off tricky sections of the game, as well as being able to map their own actions to different buttons on the joy-cons and controllers. Quicksaving is also added into the game, helping players who want to use the feature to save right before a difficult boss fight. The game also comes with every regional version of the game, so player’s who want to play the European or Japanese versions of the game are also able to do so. Another thing included in the collection is a gallery filled with never-before-seen concept art for the titles. The Castlevania Advance Collection launches on Nintendo Switch today, so players can pick it up now.

Actraiser is back in the Nintendo direct, with the Super NES game being lovingly remade for the Switch. Players will take control of the Lord of light, who’s brought back to life to face off against the lord of darkness who’s trying to take over the world. The visuals of the game have been lovingly remade into HD. The player will fight through the world in 2D side-scrolling phases, where they’ll master swordsmanship and magic to defeat evil bosses and liberate the land from the lord of darkness’ grasp. When players are don’t with taking on the forces of evil they can change their pace while still helping the lord of light gain power through the game’s second phase. This next phase will use the lands the player has liberated, and help rebuild the world from the destruction that was brought to the land. In this phase, players will decide what to build, and what to change to make a thriving civilization. The rewards gained from the creation phase will power up the lord of light, who can then use the powers in both phases of the game. The game also comes with a dual soundtrack, letting players choose between the 16-bit chiptune and the rearranged versions of the songs. However, a remake of the game isn’t enough for the developers, as they’ve included new stages, with new boss battles as well, challenging the player once they’re done with their main quest. Actraiser Renaissance is out now, so players can pick it up as soon as they’re done reading. 

Launching last week, Deltarune chapter 2 made its way onto the PC, now, the game is available on Nintendo Switch. Continue the journey of Kris and Susie as they travel between the real world and the mystical world found inside the closet of their school. The adventure continues as the player is able to meet new and wacky characters, while still being able to find their way through the world, bringing justice to whoever needs their help. The game’s still only a demo, with the rest of Deltarune coming out sometime within the future, but much like its PC version, players are going to be able to experience the story for free now, on Nintendo Switch.

A true racing game with the hot wheels brand, players can race the tiny cars through massive twisting and turning tracks stylized like the toys many players found themselves playing in their childhood. Being able to experience the world of Hot Wheels, and Its new track building mode, which lets player’s creativity run free to make whatever tracks their heart’s desire. Revealed on the Nintendo direct, Hot Wheels Unleashed comes out on Nintendo Switch on September 30^th, 2021.

Surviving the Aftermath puts players in the shoes of a person in charge of building a survivor camp. This post-apocalyptic town similar has the players making tough choices while maintaining the happiness of the citizens that live inside of the camp. The Player’s choices can either make the camp thrive or ruin the morale of the other players and instead make the camp suffer in the long run. Surviving the Aftermath comes out on the Nintendo Switch Holiday of 2021.

The Next entry in Atlus’ RPG series, Shin Megami Tensei V tells the story of a girl who’s found their way into an alternate version of Tokyo surrounded by monsters, finding out she’s more powerful than she realizes, she’ll have to make her way through this warped world to find a way back home, while uncovering the secrets that make the world the way that it is. The game is set to launch on Nintendo Switch on November 11^th, 2021 revealed on the Nintendo direct. However, pre-orders are now available for the title.

THQ Nordic has another game up their sleeve, while now shown during their Developer conference, this new game, Wreckfest is a physics-based demolition derby simulator, with players driving around a track that intersects with one another, putting the player in prime spots for some gnarly collisions. Players who want to make it out and to the finish line are going to have to drive skillfully, or use their car to put others in danger so that they can make it to the top. Wreckfest comes out for Nintendo Switch this Fall.

These two games have been out longer than some players have been alive. These ports of the classic arcade titles of Pac-Man and Xevious have been put onto Nintendo Switch Courtesy of Namco. Players now can enjoy the original arcade versions of both Pac-Man and Xevious, as if they’re being played on a real arcade cabinet. Revealed in the Nintendo direct, these relics of the past are available now on Nintendo Switch. 

Players will take the role of an amnesiac as they wake up in a small town with no recollection of who they are. Without any way to remember their identity, they start working with the town to build a life there. Soon, they’ll be farming fishing, and even battling monsters as they help cultivate a life for them. There’s even a chance that they’ll be able to settle down with one of the townsfolk, however, they’ll have to put some work in if they want their special someone to notice them. Rune factory 5 Launches on Nintendo Switch on March 22^nd, 2022 revealed from the Nintendo direct. 

A Massive surprise from the Nintendo direct is the fact that Shigeru Miyamoto has made his way into the Nintendo direct, but what he’s planning to show for the Direct isn’t the release of the new Mario game, yet he announced the cast that’s going to play Mario and Friends in the Super Mario Brothers Movie, as well as the film’s release date. Miyamoto mentions how he has been working with the animation studio Illumination who’s known for making movies like Despicable Me, and Sing. With the help of the company Miyamoto announces the release date, December 21^st, 2022. The film is going to be in theaters. He also follows this up with the cast announcement for the film. Playing Super Mario is the actor Chris Pratt, he’s known for voicing the main character Emmet in the Lego Movie. Playing Luigi is comedian Charlie Day, his previous big-screen roles come from films like Horrible Bosses, Pacific Rim, and the television series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Playing Princess Peach is Anya Taylor-Joy, who’s known for films like the Queen’s Gambit and The New Mutants. The Villain of the story, Bowser, will be played by none other than Jack Black. He’s appeared in another video game movie, Borderlands, as well as the two Jumanji Movies that have come out in the past few years. For Toad, the voice will be provided by Comedian Keegan-Michael Key, who’s been previously known for being a part of Comedy Centrals Key and Peele comedy series. Miyamoto also announces that even though it’s a Mario film, Donkey Kong will be making an appearance in the movie, played by Seth Rogen, of Pineapple Express fame. Three more characters appearing in the movie will also make an appearance, with Kevin Michael Richardson playing Kamek, Fred Armisen playing Cranky Kong, and Sebastian Maniscalco playing the role of Foreman Spike, whose image attached to the headshot of the actor confirms the version of spike players will be seeing in the movie. 

Miyamoto also mentions during the Nintendo direct that Charles Martinet is also involved in the project, saying that while he’s not going to be the voice of the iconic plumber he’s going to be included in the film as surprise cameos for the movie. Many players have pointed out that even though this is a Mario movie, Martinet should be in the leading role, seeing that he’s been the voice of Mario for almost 30 years. However, he’s been relegated to cameos throughout the film, rather than the starring role. With martinet being a seasoned actor this wouldn’t be an issue for him. However, Illumination’s fascination with star studding their cast instead of hiring voice actors to play the roles is going to be detrimental to the film.

However, to give the film some credit, one of the things players have been most worried about with the movie is the plot. The pure existence of Foreman Spike has players being able to rest easy, knowing that the plot is most likely going to center around the Mario Brothers being whisked away to the Mushroom kingdom rather than having the film be about some kid who gets sucked into the game. While this isn’t the cast many expected, players should keep an open mind, and wait for a trailer, even if the cast doesn’t look all that promising compared to Sonic. 

While everyone was still processing the events of the Mario Cast Reveal, Splatoon 3 got more content shown. With not a lot of content to previously go off of, some of the new weapons in the game were shown off. One of the new weapons in Turf war is the introduction of a mecha crab that players can ride. Some new special moves in the game were also shown, with a Splat Ninja being one of them, being able to use their grappling hook to zip around the map, they’re able to get to high places in a near-instant, and attack players when they least expect it. The video then glitches out to show some of the single-player content, which features a very furry octarian. Aside from the octarian, the game also shows that Agent 3 is going to be the main part of the story, included with Callie and Marie. However, Off the Hook is nowhere to be seen. It also looks like the player’s salmonoid friend is going to be the main mechanic of the single-player. Being able to destroy the fuzzy blobs around the map. Touching the fuzzy blobs will have the character become covered in a ball of fuzz unable to move. DJ Octavio also makes an appearance in the game inside of a massive mech, however, with the furry octarians wandering around the map, it’s a possibility that Octavio isn’t going to be playing the bad guy in the game. The single-player campaign is called “Return of the Mammalians” which signifies the return of Mammals into the Splatoon world, being that they’ve disappeared after the takeover from the Inklings and Octolings. 

After this showcase, the “Squid Researcher” which is the alias of Hisashi Nogami, the producer of the Splatoon series. He goes more into detail about what the players saw in the trailer. He mentions that the main town the game takes place in is called Splatsville, a town ruled by chaos. This fits with the final splatfest of Splatoon 2 where players chose sides of either Pearl or Marina with Off the Hook. The winning splatfest team was Chaos against Order, and Splatsville was most likely built upon by Pearl. This will mean that Off the hook is going to include the two characters in the game’s story mode. He mentions that buildings of several generations have been crammed into the city, with the inklings building around what used to be human civilization. He also confirms that the game’s single-player offerings are going to deal with the return of mammals into a world where they don’t exist, (aside from two cats of course). While no release date is planned, the continued progress on the series means that it’s going to come out sometime within the next two years. 

What started out as a trailer during the Nintendo Direct that many people didn’t think was going to be Bayonetta 3, turned out to be just that. The trailer shows an army of generic soldiers taking on massive beasts in a city landscape until they’re stopped by a second beast. With the army seemingly gone, someone appears to stop the beasts, this being Bayonetta, supporting a new look from her previous versions. This twin pigtailed and hairbow design makes her look a little different, and her voice is different from the original voice of Bayonetta. However, some gameplay has been shown for Bayonetta 3, with Bayonetta being able to perform multiple torture attacks at once with enemies, and most importantly, being able to spawn massive creatures to fight the giant monsters around the massive city landscapes in the game world. Bayonetta’s moves mimic what the monster does, allowing for Bayonetta to fight the giant monsters. These include a giant dragon, a giant bat, and even a giant spider that looks like Phantom from Devil May Cry, another game Bayonetta Director Hideki Kamiya worked on. Some other things have also be shown for the game including reality-warping sections of the game in which Bayonetta rides along skyscrapers atop one of her monsters while the skyscrapers twist and warp into the track she’s riding along. The trailer ends with another character that players haven’t seen before. And after 1,386 days according to @DailyBayonetta on Twitter, there finally was some news, as well as a Release date. The game is set to launch Next Year, and with the amount of gameplay shown, it looks closer to completion than one might think. 

Some players have also mentioned that there’s a reason that Bayonetta looks and sounds different in the game trailer. This could be because of the fact that the Bayonetta players see in Bayonetta 3 is the child version of Bayonetta all grown up. In Bayonetta 1, Bayonetta had to take care of a girl with a similar hairstyle in the first game, this turned out to be Bayonetta herself, as a child. This could mean that Bayonetta is going to be about both characters, with the Bayonetta from 1 and 2 losing her legs, and the other Bayonetta with the Pigtails, being the younger version of herself coming back to help. 

However, whether or not this fan theory is true has yet to be seen. 

And with all that in the rearview mirror, the rollercoaster of September’s Nintendo Direct is over. Complete with game announcements that all players were hoping for, as well as one of the biggest announcements of the direct being about a movie, and not a video game.