In Nintendo’s first big Direct since E3, the Switch platform holder focused primarily on detailing their remaining lineup for 2021 but sprinkled in a few exciting announcements for the future of the Switch. Didn’t get the chance to watch it live? We’ve got you covered.
- We start the show with more Monster Hunter Rise content, which has gotten a steady though perhaps unassuming stream of content since its March release. The short trailer announces Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak, coming Summer 2022, which seems to serve as an Iceborne-style expansion to the game.
- Mario Party Superstars reveals “new” returning boards, like Woody Woods, Yoshi’s Tropical Star, Horror Land, and a minigame-only mode with seven courses. Superstars releases on October 29.
- Voice of Cards: The Isle of Dragon Roars, a new card game from Square Enix, Nier creator Yoko Taro and music from Nier composer Keiichi Okabe, releases on October 28 with a demo available today.
- Disco Elysium: The Final Cut gets a Switch port with the digital version available October 12. A physical version will be available early 2022.
- Fans of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity can finish out the DLC with new story scenes and a full closing to the game’s alternate story. New characters join the fight on October 29.
- A new Chocobo Racing game titled Chocobo GP is shown for the first time. The game will be available in 2022.
- The final Super Smash Bros. character will be revealed on October 5, finishing off the DLC for good.
- As leaked earlier today, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is shown for the Switch as a 3D platformer for the first time. As shown on the Nintendo schedule, it is releasing Spring 2022.
- An Animal Crossing: New Horizons update will be shown soon in an Animal Crossing Direct in October.
- Koopa Troopa and Ninji, as well as two new courses, will come to Mario Golf: Super Rush later today.
- Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition, an updated version of the 3DS game,
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic — not the remake recently announced for PlayStation 5 — is coming to Switch on November 11.
- Dying Light 2 is getting a cloud version. Dying Light: Platinum Edition seems to not be a cloud version and is coming out October 19.
- Triangle Strategy, which appears to no longer be a project name and is now just the actual name, has gotten a number of changes after the demo from February of this year. The game releases March 4, 2022.
- Metroid Dread! Catch the fever! That game launches on October 8.
- Nintendo Switch Online is getting an update as we are exactly two years from its launch. The update includes a new membership plan, called Expansion Pack, for N64 games and Sega Genesis games in late October. The N64 games will include four-player online.
- Both Genesis and N64 wireless controllers will be released for the Switch.
- Shadowrun Trilogy from Paradox containing three games from the series is coming to Switch; the oft-leaked Castlevania Advance Collection which also includes Dracula X, is officially announced and is releasing today.
- Actraiser Renaissance gets a HD remaster/remake for Switch with a toggle for new and old remake music.
- Deltarune Chapter 2 comes to Switch. You can read our review of Chapter 2 here or listen to the RPG perverts of 99 Potions talk about it here.
- Shigeru Miyamoto comes out for the first time in a long time during the Direct to announce that the Super Mario movie from Illumination will release in Holiday 2022, with December 21 as the U.S. release date.
- Chris Pratt will voice Mario, who according to Miyamoto will be “talking a lot.” Anya Taylor-Joy will be Princess Peach, Charlie Day will be Luigi, Bowser will be Jack Black, Keegan Michael-Kay will be Toad, and Seth Rogen will be Donkey Kong. Charlies Martinet, Mario’s video game voice, will be in the movie in “surprise cameos.”
- Miyamoto reiterates that Nintendo and Illumination, including himself, have collaborated heavily on the movie.
- Splatoon 3 gets its first showing since February. This time we see a bit more of the single-player game, which seems to have more of a sense of place than the previous two titles’ single-player campaigns did.
- The end of the trailer shows an Inkling turning into a mammal and finishes with the words “Return of the Mammalians,” which appears to be the name of the story mode.
- Nogami, the producer for Splatoon, introduces himself as a Squid researcher. The new city hub is called Splatsville. Still no date beyond 2022.
- After multiple years, Bayonetta 3 is finally shown for the first time in a trailer that references multiple PlatinumGames titles as fakeouts. Bayonetta herself is shown fighting large monsters with a new hairstyle of twin pigtails and a somewhat adjusted outfit. This time, it looks like the demons she summons from hell are somewhat controllable. It finishes with a 2022 date and a mysterious shorthaired swordsman.
That’s all for this Nintendo Direct? Is there anything you expected that you didn’t get? Anything you wanted that you were happy to see?
