A cast list for the animated Mario movie, new Nintendo 64 and Genesis controllers, Bayonetta 3, Square making a Mario Kart knock-off with Chocobo? It was one busy morning, even by Nintendo Direct standards.
Nintendo 64 and Genesis games, with multiplayer, are coming to Nintendo Switch Online.
It won’t be part of the regular Switch Online subscription, but what Nintendo’s calling “Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack”. It’ll be launching in late October, after the release of the Switch OLED, with more info on pricing to follow.
As for what you’ll get? Nintendo confirmed a list of N64 and Genesis games for launch, including:
- Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Mario Tennis
- Mario Kart 64
- Super Mario 64
- Dr Mario 64
- WinBack: Covert Operation
- Starfox 64
- Yoshi’s Story
- Lylat Wars
- Sin and Punishment
The following SEGA Genesis games will be included at launch:
- Castlevania: Bloodlines
- Contra: Hard Corps
- Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
- Ecco the Dolphin
- Golden Axe
- Gunstar Heroes
- M.U.S.H.A.
- Phantasy Star IV
- Ristar
- Shining Force
- Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Streets of Rage 2
- Strider
Importantly, Nintendo will also be launching new wireless N64 and Genesis controllers for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. They look, well, authentic enough so far.
Nintendo also confirmed these would be the next N64 games to be added to the service:
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Pokémon Snap
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
- Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
- Mario Golf
- Paper Mario
- F-Zero X
Kirby’s getting a full 3D adventure, Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
It looks sweet and cute! The pink blob’s ability to consume all living things looks like it’ll give Kirby and the Forgotten Land a bit of a Super Mario Odyssey-type quality, where you’ll resolve different levels through the new powers gained. Think swords, spiky hats, a flamethrower, that kind of stuff.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is aiming for an autumn 2022 release date in Australia.
The Castlevania collection is a thing, and it’s out today.
If you never got to enjoy Konami’s Castlevania classics on the Game Boy, now you can on the Switch. Castlevania Advance Collection, which we knew about courtesy of classification listings, combines all of Konami’s Game Boy hits into a single package. It’ll be available on the eShop from today for $US19.99.
Here’s all the games you’ll get in the pack:
- Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
- Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
- Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
- Castlevania: Dracula X
Finally, Bayonetta 3.
Unfasionably late as ever, but always welcome. Due out sometime in 2022, Bayonetta 3 made up for lost time with almost 4 minutes of footage and style, as well as what looked like a little cameo from Devil May Cry‘s Virgil at the end.
We got some more Splatoon 3 gameplay.
In typical Splatoon style, this was chock full of details that are easy to miss. There was no new announcements about an exact release date, but we got to see some multiplayer gameplay on one of the new maps, the return of old weapons, and a greater look at some of the environments in the story mode.
Splatoon 3 is due out for release sometime in 2022.
Actraiser Renaissance gets a remaster.
This was a neat surprise. It’s a bit on the pricey side — $44.95 for Australians — but it’s probably worth it for what remains one of the most unusual games of its time. Along with the 2D side-scrolling platforming segments, Actraiser had you building lands in the Realm Management phase, where you could spawn earthquakes and lightning to move obstacles out of the way of your people.
The remaster, along with touching up the graphics, also has 15 new music tracks, re-arrangements of the original score, a new realm to play in, more action stages, additions to the realm management and action, new stories, auto-save functionality and customisable difficulty. More info is available here.
Chocobos are getting their own Mario Kart-esque game.
Called Chocobo GP, it’s basically Square Enix makes Mario Kart with the Final Fantasy franchise. Except the chocobos are racing on rollerskates instead of in an actual car, which most of the other contestants appear to use.
Chocobo GP, which is probably the closest we’ll get to any new content for Mario Kart itself, is due out in 2022.
Animal Crossing is getting its own direct next month.
This’ll specifically cover content coming to Animal Crossing: New Horizons in November, although that doesn’t preclude more announcements beyond that. You’d imagine there would be a chunk of info if Nintendo’s dedicating a whole Direct to it, though, even if it’s on the shorter side. We’ll provide more details once they’re announced.
Monster Hunter Rise’s next expansion is called Sunbreak.
It’s the next paid expansion for Monster Hunter Rise, which is currently still a Switch exclusive. Due out in the Aussie winter next year, it’s adding an expanded quest rank, hunting actions, new areas and new monsters, including what just seems like … Dracula in an elder dragon? Maybe?
Either way, I’m here for it.
More Mario Party Superstars: new and old boards, mini-game modes, and online play across the lot.
If Boo nicks any of my stars I will legitimately yell at the TV. This was mostly just a look at some of the content for Mario Party Superstars, including Mount Minigames which will have seven “courses” and modes including Survival, where people compete over the longest winning streak.
Mario Party Superstars launches on October 29 this year.
Yoko Taro’s new card game has some strong Hand of Fate vibes.
It’s called Voice of Cards and it launches on October 28, a day before Mario Party Superstars. Pretty stacked October for Switch fans — and everyone else so far.
As for the game, you’re trying to slay a dragon in a realm, where everything is represented as cards. It’s a spin on tabletop RPGs, where you deal with the randomness of not quite knowing what encounter lies under the next card. It’s very Hand of Fate, but Yoko Taro style. I’ll play it.
Disco Elysium hits the Switch on October 12.
It’ll get a physical release early next year too. This should run just fine on the Switch, given the work ZA/UM already did to make it run on laptops with integrated graphics a couple of years back.
The Super Mario animated movie will have Chris Pratt as Mario.
OK, so while you’re absorbing the news that Star Lord will be cracking Mario jokes, the rest of the full cast list is here. I’m down for a bit of Always Sunny humour as Luigi, and Jack Black as Bowser is a solid pick. What’ll be real fun is the confirmation from Shigeru Miyamoto that other Nintendo properties will appear in the film too.
The movie has a Christmas 2022 release date so far. We’ll keep you posted as to the exact timing for Australians when we know more. Also, and this is kind of funny, but someone called Chris Pratt being casted last year.
Hyrule Warriors is getting more DLC through the expansion pass.
It’s called Guardian of Rememberance and it’ll be available — I kid you not — on October 29. Purah and Robbie will be added as new characters, along with a third that hasn’t been revealed yet. The story will also include two new battles over Goponga and Kakariko Village, and the Coliseum is being added as a new stage.
The final Smash Ultimate character will be revealed on October 6 Australian time.
Just days before we get the Switch OLED — and Metroid Dread — we’ll also know who the final Smash character will be. It’ll be a full Smash-style direct with Sakurai, and given this is the final one expect it to be a little bit longer. I doubt I’ll finally get my wish of Psyduck in Smash, but the reveal should be pretty special.
Knights of the Old Republic (the old one) is being re-released on the Switch.
It’s not the remake — that’s definitely not coming to the Switch yet — but a re-release of the original. It’s launching on the Switch November 11 internationally.
Dying Light 2: Stay Human is coming to the Switch — via a cloud streaming service.
Australia hasn’t gotten any of the Switch’s streamed games (Control, Resident Evil Village), so I don’t think we’d get this one either. Still, it’s neat to know that more companies are using the service. (This also wasn’t announced during the direct, but The Forgotten City is coming to the Switch too via cloud gaming, which is interesting.)
On the plus side, Dying Light: Platinum Edition is getting released for the Switch on February 4, 2022, with a free demo launching on the same day.
Triangle Strategy still looks like a banger.
The game’s also improved the visuals, camera angle controls, difficulty, loading times and reviewing previous dialogue, based off feedback from Triangle Strategy‘s demo. It’s launching March 4, 2022.
Oh yeah, there was more Metroid Dread as well.
Footage looked good, as expected, and no change to the release date. (It’s a Switch OLED launch game, so that was never going to happen.) Metroid fans, however, will appreciate more of a data dump into Dread‘s homeworld, Planet ZDR, and a ton of new screenshots on the Metroid Dread website.
Here’s a couple:
The Shadowrun Returns trilogy is getting a Switch re-release too.
This one’s launching sometime in 2022. Not the flashiest announcement, but a great set of RPGs that will play real well on a handheld. Definitely recommend these if you haven’t played them already.
There’s free Mario Golf: Super Rush content today, including harder AI opponents.
It’ll be a free update and includes Koopa Troopa and the super-quick Ninji, as well as a new icy and desert courses. It’ll be released as a patch for Mario Golf today.
Deltarune Chapter 2 is out on Switch, too.
If you already bought Deltarune Chapter 1, you’ll get this as a free update.
Surviving The Aftermath is a procedural strategy/world-builder launching this summer.
This is currently in early access on Steam, so I imagine the Switch release will mark the game’s full launch on PC as well. It’s an unforgiving city builder that with some RTS-style base building mechanics along with food/survival mechanics to manage. The reviews are pretty mixed so far though, so curious to see if this does better once it hits the Switch.
More classic NAMCO games are launching today.
It’s PAC-MAN and the scrolling arcade top-down shooter XEVIOUS. They’ll be added to the NAMCO Arcade Archives collections that are already available.
Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition is dropping this December.
This is basically a re-release of the 3DS game from 2015, wrapping up the original and all downloadable content into a single release. We don’t have an exact date beyond December, though.
So, a pretty big Nintendo Direct. A lot of 2022 announcements and re-releases, but there’s also a lot of content updates and releases today, and more stuff in the coming weeks.