ICYMI: February 2022 Nintendo Direct Recap

Love must be in the digital air, for Nintendo has graced us with a new Direct in February. Spanning over 40 minutes with some unexpected reveals, Nintendo and its partners have shown off games coming this spring and summer and one additional title releasing in September. If you missed the news, don’t worry–we’ll catch you up on all the announcements that will make you feel the love for the future of the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo Pow Block Podcast Direct Recap Show | 2.9.2022

Hosted by Shinya Takahashi, general manager of Nintendo’s Entertainment Planning and Development Division, the Direct kicked off with a trailer of Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. This Musou game takes place in the Fire Emblem: Three Houses universe. Developed by Koei Tecmo, you’ll play as one of three main characters from Three Houses and battle through waves of baddies. The story is still under wraps but you’ll fight other soldiers and dragons. Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes will release on June 24th. Check out the trailer below.

Next up, Advance Wars: 1+2 Re-boot Camp is finally set for release on April 8th. The turn-based title was planned for release last year on December 8th, but it was delayed to allow more time for polishing. It certainly seems that developer WayForward added a lot of new material. Firstly, all commanders are fully voiced. You can fast-forward your battles and reset your turns for better strategy. You’ll also be able to customize and share maps with friends. You can even battle friends in local and online multiplayer.

Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky finally lands on Nintendo Switch. The game will include all current updates, and you’ll be able to explore various planets to craft and build on. No Man Sky is planned for a Summer 2022 release.

It’s time to gear up and get ready for some kicking, sliding, and bob-ombing? That’s right, Mario Strikers is back with a new game aptly named Mario Strikers: Battle League. This five on five arcade sport brings the well known Mario characters to the field to play some soccer. You’ll tackle, use items, and fire special shots to score goals and win the game. You’ll buy gear to change your appearance and stats. You’ll also be able to pull off the Hyper Strike. Hyper Strike is an ultimate move where you’ll charge up after you touch an orb that lands on the field. If you’re successful, you can score two goals instead of one. Up to eight players can be in a match. The online functionality will include an Online Club mode, where 20 players can join a club and play for higher rankings. Mario Strikers: Battle League releases on June 10th with pre-orders available now. Check out the trailer below to see the game in action.

Salmon Run, a co-op horde-like mode, returns to the Splatoon series in Splatoon 3. This time, you’ll fight bosses like newly added Fish Sticks, who is a Salmonid Tower you have to climb and destroy the odd salmon in order to defeat it. You’ll also fight Flipper-Flopper, who jumps and shoots a ring of gunk over you. It’ll try to flatten you, so you have to be quick! Watch the trailer below to see this additional feature in this Summer 2022 title.

Square Enix brought a lot of titles to this Direct that were simply jaw dropping. One of them was a Front Mission 1st and Front Mission 2 remake. Front Mission is a tactical RPG that was only released in Japan back on February 24th, 1995 for the Super Famicom. Front Mission 1st is planned for a Summer release with Front Mission 2 arriving later in the future.

Square Enix also brought us Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition. Rumors about its release have been circulating for some time, and today, it was revealed that not only will the original Chrono Cross will be playable, but Radical Dreamers, a new text based adventure, will also be packaged in. Radical Dreamers was the follow up to Chrono Trigger before Chrono Cross was released on PlayStation 1 on August 1st, 2000. Radical Dreamers was only released in Japan for the Super Famicom on February 3rd, 1996. Watch the trailer and hear about these legendary titles. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is planned for April 7th. Pre-orders available now on Nintendo eShop.

Square wasn’t done yet because they reminded us that the Kingdom Hearts titles is gracing the Nintendo Switch with its Cloud versions. What was more surprising was that another Japan-only release is coming to America. Live A Live is finally releasing in the States as a full-on HD-2D sprite remake. This 1994 JRPG was originally released on Super Famicom and now, America gets to experience this classic RPG on July 22nd. Pre-orders are available on the eShop. Check out the trailer.

Last but not least from Square Enix, Triangle Strategy has a new demo that lets you play Chapters 1, 2, and 3. Your saved data will carry over to the rest of game if purchased. Watch the latest trailer for Triangle Strategy, releasing March 4th.

From the creators of the Asphalt series, Gameloft SE brings us Disney Speedstorm. This combat racers puts Disney and Pixar characters to battle each other as they race on various tracks inspired the Disney and Pixar films. Check out this free to play title with new characters and tracks added later in the year. It also have cross play so you can race others online on their platform of choice. Disney Speedstorm releases this summer.

During the Direct, Nintendo revealed some classic franchises that will appear on Nintendo Switch. Star Wars: Unleashed, which appeared on the Wii, will launch on April 20th. Next, Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection tells the complete Ezio story line. It will sneak onto the Switch on February 17th. Finally, SD Gundam Battle Alliance from Bandai Namco lets you control miniature Gundams to battle evil and gain experience to make your Gundam stronger. It will launch later this year.

It seems Kirby has some new powers that don’t suck. I know–a bad joke–but what they showed blew our minds. Kirby can inhale cars, vending machines, and more in Kirby and The Forgotten Land. While saving the Waddle Dee on this mysterious island, you’ll enter Mouthful Mode. This mode allows Kirby to become items that will allow him to travel faster, break certain pipes to get higher, and more. Watch the trailer to see it in action. Kirby and The Forgotten Land releases on March 25th. Pre-orders available now.

Shohei Ohtani introduced MLB The Show 22 for Nintendo Switch. You’ll have cross progression and cross play included in the game. MLB The Show 22 releases on April 5th with pre-orders available now on the eShop.

KLONOA: Phantasy Reverie Series brings the PlayStation classics of Klonoa and Klonoa 2 with remodeled graphics for this 2D side scrolling platformer franchise. It will be released on July 8th.

Valve is bringing Portal and Portal 2 to the Switch with Portal: Companion Collection. The award winning series is gracing a Nintendo platform for the first time. You solve puzzles by using the Portal gun to get to higher platforms, solve puzzles, and survive the traps that are laid before you. In Portal 2, you can play local, online, and split screen with a friend. Portal: Companion Collection will be available this year.

Nintendo Switch Sports is a follow up to Wii Sports. Activities included in this game include Tennis, Bowling, Chambara. Additional sports are also added this time: Soccer, Volleyball, and Badminton. The physical version will include a leg strap where you can play shootout mode with your legs. Local and online play are included so you can play on one Switch with both modes. For a demonstration for Volleyball, Yoshiaki Koizumi joins Takahashi for a quick game. Nintendo Switch Sports will release on April 29th with an Online Play Test planned for February 18th-20th.

Get ready to drum up some action with the new release of Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival. You’ll get to beat your way through 76 songs–one of which is an orchestrated theme song of The Legend Of Zelda. Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival will be released sometime this year. Along with it, a paid subscription will be offered that will bring the total songs to 500.

Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course DLC will bring more bosses and a new playable character, Ms. Chalice, who has a double jump and a dodge roll to her game play. Fight new bosses and enemies on June 30th.

Metroid Dread is receiving two free updates. The first adds two different modes: Dread Mode and Rookie Mode. Dread Mode presents players with a one-hit-kill challenge. If you felt the game was too hard, Rookie Mode allows you to gain more health when you recover from health pickups. The second update will bring a Boss Rush Mode to the game. The first update is available now with the second update coming in April.

EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound come to Nintendo Switch Online–available for play now. EarthBound Beginnings, originally known as Mother, never came to America until the Wii U was available. EarthBound, known as Mother 2, was the first game and the sequel to Mother that was on Super Nintendo, with a re-release on Wii U as well.

Next, they did a montage of games coming to Nintendo Switch. Zombie Army 4: Dead War by Rebellion will be arriving on April 26th. GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon by Konami is available now on the eShop. Demon Slayer from Sega will be available June 10th. LEGO Brawls by LEGO Games arrive in June. Two Point Campus by Sega comes May 17th.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe lives on: the Direct announced that this successful racer will receive paid DLC known as the Booster Course Pass. A total of 48 tracks from various Mario Kart games are remastered and will release in six waves. All of these will contain eight courses per wave, coming to completion by the end of 2023. The first wave will be released on March 18th, and if you have the Expansion Pass, you will get these waves at no additional cost. If you want to buy it, it’s available for pre-order at $24.99 USD.

Now, the finale. The last reveal for the Direct was a high-profile prediction from the Boss Rush community. Monolith Soft officially revealed Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Tying the worlds of Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2, you can see the beautiful world in action, and trust me, Monolith Soft has left everyone speechless with its stunning detailed environment. Not much is known about the story or the characters yet, but September–its intended release date–can’t get here fast enough. We hope to learn more in future Nintendo Directs. Watch the trailer to see for yourself.

Nintendo truly did not disappoint with this Direct. With games for everyone and anyone who wanted to know the future plans for Switch, we got a bevy of games coming this Spring and Summer with Xenoblade Chronicles 3 leading the charge for Fall. You can watch the entire Nintendo Direct below.

Did you enjoy the Nintendo Direct? Any games interested you or not? Let us know in the comments, Facebook group, or on our Discord.

Source: Nintendo

Image source: Nintendo

Listen to The Boss Rush Podcast – Mondays at 7AM ET

If you want to hear more about video games, gaming culture, and other topics of the video game industry, you can catch The Boss Rush Podcast live on Wednesday Nights on Twitch at 8:30PM ET / 5:30PM PT or on Monday mornings at 7AM ET on YouTube and podcast services everywhere. Thanks for listening!

Get this episode three days early on Patreon!

Listen to Nintendo Pow Block Podcast – Wednesdays at 7AM ET

If you want to hear more about Nintendo, new games, indies, news, and snacks, check out Nintendo Pow Block Live on Twitch every Monday night at 8:30PM Eastern / 5:30PM Pacific or on Podcast Services and YouTube Wednesday mornings at 7AM. Thanks for Listening!