From Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes To Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Here Are All The New Announcements From February’s Nintendo Direct
Ryan Pearson
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Missed the Nintendo Direct on February 9th? Want the highlights without the chaff?
Have no fear, Bounding into Comic has you covered with a round-up of all the news from Nintendo’s latest presentation!
Source: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (2022), Nintendo
RELATED RUMOR: New Fire Emblem Game Coming In 2022 From Fire Emblem: Three Houses Development Team
Nintendo’s February 9th direct came out the gate swinging, opening with the reveal of Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, a sequel to the Fire Emblem Warriors (2017) hack-and-slash musou title based on an alternate telling of the events in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
According to Nintendo’s Shinya Takashashi General Manager of the Entertainment Planning & Development Division, as he noted during the direct, Three Hopes will tell a “different story in the same universe” as the original Three Houses.
Having sold a total of 2.87 million copies as of March 2020, Three Houses is the best selling-game in the Fire Emblem series, thus making Nintendo’s decision to revisit the war that engulfed Fódlan.
While players had to pick alliances in Three Houses, the trailer in Three Hopes seems to indicate Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude will be working together.
Three Hopes launches June 24th, and those who buy the digital version will also receive regular gifts of Owl Feathers to boost their support levels with other characters.
Source: Fire Emblem: Three Hopes (2022), Nintendo
Up next was a new trailer for Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, showcasing a number of the remaster’s new features including voiced characters, the ability to fast-forwarding combat animations, and the return of the War Room challenges.
Delayed previously in October, Nintendo also revealed the game’s new April 8th release date.
A Nintendo Switch port for No Man’s Sky, the since-salvaged open-world title that boasts an expansive procedurally-generated universe where players are free to trade across the galaxy, explore strange new worlds and even stranger life-forms, or blast foes in your spaceship, was also announced for a Summer release.
Taking the field for the first time since 2007’s Mario Strikers Charged, the Mario-themed soccer spin-off series came out of retirement with the announcement of Mario Strikes: Battle League.
Giving the sport a little more rough and tumble, Battle League will feature iconic Mario characters in 5 v 5 matches filled with items and special shots.
Source: Mario Strikers: Battle League (2022), Nintendo
While each character has stats, the Gear they wear can help modify those stats for different play styles. Hyper Strikes can also be used to score two goals at once.
Up to eight players will be able to play against one-another locally on one Nintendo Switch, while Online Clubs will allow players to join an eponymous club and compete against other such teams for scoreboard supremacy.
Mario Strikers: Battle League launches June 10th.
A little more news on Splatoon 3 was also revealed, with a new trailer showing the return of the series’ co-op game mode, Salmon Run.
Aptly titled Salmon Run Next Wave, this upcoming incarnation of the mode will see players continuing in their attempts to steal Power Eggs, all the while avoiding the Salmnids, their bosses, and a titanic new monster.
Players will also be able help each other deliver the eggs safely by tossing them to one-another, making sure the team can reach their quota before being overwhelmed by enemy forces.
Though details on the three-quel are currenly light, Nintendo promises more information will be released before Splatoon 3 launches in Summer 2022.
In one of the more surprising reveals of the show, Nintendo next announced the latest of Square Enix’s efforts to remake their classic games, FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake.
An updated version of the 1995 military mecha SRPG classic, the first Front Mission title takes place during the war between the Oceania Cooperative Union and the Unified Continental States.
Specifically, it centers on the story of the discharged Captain Royd Clive, who tries to find his fiancée after she goes MIA following a reconnaissance mission gone awry.
However, in the process, Clive discovers that previously unknown powers are pulling the strings of a grand conspiracy.
As seen in gameplay footage shown during the Direct but strangely left out of the above announcement trailer, combat puts players in control of mighty Wanzer mechas, allowing them to use their uniquely customized units to target individual body parts to cripple foes before ultimately taking them off the field.
Source: FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake (2022), Square Enix
FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake will launch for the Nintendo Switch this Summer.
Additionally, it was announced that a remake of the second game, FRONT MISSION 2: Remake, was also coming to the platform “in the future”. Notably, the release of this remake will be the first time the sequel is officially will be made available in the West.
Source: FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake (2022), Square Enix
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Next on the docket was Disney Speedstorm, a free-to-play arcade racer that will support cross-play across Switch, PC, and as-of-yet-unspecified other consoles.
In Speedstorm, each racer will have special abilities that serve to help outpace the competition, with more karts and tracks promised for regular release during the game’s forthcoming ‘seasons’.
The game also supports online play and local split-screen modes. Disney Speedstorm launches this Summer.
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Following a look at the upcoming ports of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, due out April 20th, and Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection, set for a February 17th release, Bandai Namco announced a brand new entry in their long-running SD Gundam series.
Titled SD Gundam Battle Alliance, this action RPG will see players use their own customized Mobile Suit – along with a number of recognizable allies from across the franchise – take on a strange occurrences known as “Breaks” in order to restore the timeline to its proper form.
Alongside presenting them with normally-physically-impossible scenarios through the use of time-and-space distortions ala Dragon Ball Xenoverse, SD Gundam Battle Alliance will also task players with leading a 3-unit squadron in blistering-yet-slightly-adorable combat.
The game will also support online co-op when it launches sometime in 2022.
Source: SD Gundam Battle Alliance (2022), Bandai Namco
Previously rumored as in development thanks to a list of titles leaked courtesy of NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW service – many of which, such as the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition and the PC port of Final Fantasy VII: Remake, have since been officially announced – and a subsequent cross-over with mobile game Another Eden, Nintendo finally revealed Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition.
Originally released in 1999, Chrono Cross follows Serge, a 17-year old who one day accidentally ends up in an alternate world where he had died as a child.
Though the game focuses mainly on Serge’s quest to discover the mystery behind these two worlds, it also features a huge cast of over 40 potential party members for use in its turn-based combat, with your choices affecting not only who will join you, but also the ending you’ll earn.
The remaster will features improved visuals, an enhanced soundtrack, and the ability to disable enemy encounters.
In addition, it will include the 1996 Satellaview visual novel that would later inspire Chrono Chross – Radical Dreams – Le Trésor Interdit – “in an audio novel format”.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition launches April 7th on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition (2022), Square Enix
A new trailer for Kirby and the Forgotten Land was also shown, revealing one of its new core mechanics: during his journey to rescue the kidnapped Waddle Dees from the Beast Pack, Kirby will be able to inhale objects which are too large for even him to swallow.
This new “Mouthful Mode” allows Kirby to use these objects despite his inability to consume them, driving cars, spitting out cans from a vending machine, break objects as a traffic cone, and more.
As Kirby rescues more Waddle Dees, a hub town will be upgraded with more features; such as upgrading his copy abilities into stronger forms.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land launches March 25th.
With the help of Los Angeles Angels superstar pitcher Shohei Ohtani, Nintendo then revealed that MLB The Show 22 would launch for the Switch alongside its PlayStation and Xbox releases, giving a brief glimpse into its gameplay, cross-progression, one-handed exhibition mode, and cross-play.
Nintendo next touched upon several collections, beginning with the previously-revealed Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece for Cloud.
A Cloud-based Nintendo Switch release of the the entire Kingdom Hearts trilogy through Kingdom Hearts III’s Re:Mind DLC for Kingdom Hearts III, the Integrum Masterpiece launches on February 10th.
The games will also be available individually.
Sora’s proper Nintendo console debut was followed by the reveal of Portal: Companion Collection. which will allow players to experience the series’ two mainline entries, as well as the second title’s Cooperative Testing Initiative mode, as well as local split-screen and online multiplayer..
The collection drops on the Nintendo Switch sometime in 2022.
In another blast from the past courtesy of Bandai Namco, audiences were also given their first look at The KLONOA Phantasy Reverie Series, a pair of heart-warming side-scrolling titles – Door to Phantomile and Lunatea’s Veil- in which Klonoa uses his giant ears to float, grab, and vault off foes and save the day.
Though a multiplatform release, the game will hit the Nintendo Switch first on July 8th, with PC, PlayStation consoles, and Xbox releases following soon after.
The game will also support 2 player co-op and multiple difficulty levels.
Another out-of-left-field announcement, Nintendo then unveiled the remake – this one in the HD-2D-vein of Octopath Traveller- of the previously Japan-exclusive LIVE A LIVE.
Originally released in 1994 and its remaster trademarked back in July of last year, this RPG features turn-based battles on a 7 x 7 grid and a story consisting of several individual story lines that link across multiple eras.
Each era, from prehistory to the distant future, features their own protagonist, and only by playing them all can players discover what connects them across time and space.
LIVE A LIVE launches July 22nd on Nintendo Switch.
Source: LIVE A LIVE (2022), Square Enix
Following one big announcement with another, Nintendo then unveiled Nintendo Switch Sports.
The latest entry in the Wii Sports line gives players the ability to play such sports as tennis, bowling, and chambara with friends and online via Joy-Con motion controls.
Soccer, badminton, and volleyball will also be coming to the Nintendo Sports title for the first time.
Included in the physical edition will be a leg-strap, which will be used for motion-controlled shoot-outs in soccer. A patch to add its functionality to other modes will be available later this summer. Bowling will also have an online last man standing mode, and a free update this Fall will add golf.
Those with a Nintendo Switch Online membership can take part in the Online Play Test, featuring random online tennis, bowling, and chambara matches, from February 18th to 20th.
Barring any catastrophic results from the test, Nintendo Switch Sports will officially launch on April 29th.
Source: Nintendo Siwtch Sports (2022)
Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival was the next game to be announced, unveiling 76 songs to which players can drum to, including Undertale’s Megalovania, the Demon Slayer OP Gurenge, an orchestral version of The Legend of Zelda theme, and more.
Among the games features will be a practice mode which allows for players to attempt individual parts of songs, the four player co-op mode DON-chan Band, and Great Drum Toy War, in which players are pitted against one another in a battle to obscure each other’s screens.
An in-game subscription service will grant players access to over 500 songs at when Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival drops in 2022.
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Turning to provide updates on several already announced titles, Nintendo announced that a new demo for Triangle Strategy, granting access to the end of Chapter 3 and the ability to transfer one’s save data to the full game, would be made available ahead of the game’s March 4th debut.
Following a brief look at Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course, which launches June 30th for PC, Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox Consoles, a free update for Metroid Dread was revealed.
Made available a few hours after the Direct, this update adds both Dread Mode difficulty, in which any single hit can kill you instantly, and, on the other hand, Rookie Mode, which increases the amount of health you recover from pick-ups.
Further, another update, set for April, will add a Boss Rush mode.
Next, players who have an Nintendo Switch Online membership were informed that they would soon be able to play EarthBound and EarthBound Beginnings as part of the online service’s library of free SNES and NES titles.
EarthBound sees Ness discover a bee from the future at the site of a meteor crash, who tells him that a boy will stop a terrible evil. It only gets weirder from there.
The prequel, EarthBound Beginnings, sees Ninten and his friends uncover the mystery behind a strange phenomena sweepingacross the country with the help of his growing PSI powers.
After playing a short compilation of upcoming titles which included Zombie Army 4: Dead War (April 26th), GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon (available now), Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles (June 10th), LEGO Brawls (June, 2022), and Two Point Campus (May 17th), Nintendo then revealed that Mario Kart 8 would be receiving more DLC.
While some had expected the announcement of a sequel, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is currently the best-selling Nintendo Switch game, with 43.35 million units sold. As such, the Booster Course Pass DLC was announced.
Remastering tracks from other Mario Kart titles, the pass will release eight courses at a time across six waves, finishing with a total of 48 new courses by the end of 2023.
Confirmed tracks include Coconut Mall from Mario Kart Wii, Choco Mountain from Mario Kart 64, and Tokyo Blur and Paris Promenade from Mario Kart Tour.
Its first wave launching on March 18th, the Booster Course pass will run players $24.99. However, subscribers to a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership will get the pass for free.
Source: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass DLC – Nintendo Switch, Nintendo, YouTube
Finally, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was revealed.
The next entry in Monolithsoft’s action RPG series will see heroes Noah and Mio struggling against the conflict between the nations of Keves and Agnus.
Six playable characters from both nations will be part of a story that will “connect the futures of both Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2” and feature a central theme of “life.”
Those familiar with both titles are sure to have plenty of questions over the trailer’s final shot. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 launches September 2022 for the Nintendo Switch.
Source: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (2022), Nintendo
Are you excited for any of the titles featured in this latest Nintendo Direct? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!
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