Nintendo Direct recap: Bayonetta 3, Splatoon 3, and every big announcement
Today was a remarkably bizarre Nintendo Direct. It was filled with things that people have been trying to predict so much so that no big surprise felt like it. We’ve waited so long for a lot of this so let’s just get right into it. Here’s all the big announcements from the Nintendo Direct hosted on September 23, 2021.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak
Strap in as a massive new add-on gets attached to the already impressive Monster Hunter Rise. I can’t wait to fly around the new areas on my Rush Jet when this hits consoles next summer.
Mario Party Superstars
More footage was shown on the most “recent” addition to the Mario Party line. It’s a remark of Mario Party for the Nintendo 64 but completely rebuilt from the ground up complete with online multiplayer modes and quick modes where you can play games without fussing with the game board.
Voice of the Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars
I was startled that Nintendo showed this so early in the show. Yet ANOTHER deck-building rogue-like is coming to the Switch. Get ready for another adventure as three heroes learn to save a kingdom while another developer learns that making your game based around cards costs less to animate.
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
If you haven’t played Disco Elysium already, first off, welcome to Earth…but secondly, this is a perfect chance. A version that includes all the trimming, Disco Elysium is a perfect game to take on the go as it plays like the most complex Choose-Your-Own-Adventure game.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – Expansion Pass Part 2
Nintendo hasn’t cropped a video of this one yet but it looks pretty cool. So far they haven’t shown much other than the ability to play as two super techie characters. One with ridiculous cyborg cutting arms that look like they’re built from the remains of Guardians and another that seems to be on some sort of ball-shaped robot thing. I love bizarre characters in games like these.
Chocobo GP
Nintendo revealed a kart racer. In this racer you can pick from various characters from a beloved franchise. You race around tracks power sliding to get boosts and picking up weapons to help you advance. That’s right, it’s Mar…*cough* it’s Chocobo GP! Adorable versions of Final Fantasy mainstays race each other and, honestly, as a filthy casual I’m super hyped.
Announcement of the FINAL Smash Brothers Reveal
This one was weird. They didn’t hint at who the final character will be but they said the reveal was going to be October 5th. This one was weird because they called it “The Final Mr. Sakurai Presents for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate”. So while the good money is on them announcing the final character and then all taking a much-needed break, that clever wording could also mean that it’s the final thing Mr. Sakurai is announcing before stepping down and letting someone else torture themselves on this giant monster no one ever seems happy with in the first place.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
An open-world 3D Kirby game that looks like it plays like a mix between Mario Odyssey and old-school Kirby mechanics. The environments look a little sparse but it’s still got time. I can’t wait to see how this develops.