In a 40-minute-long presentation on 9 February 2022, games developer Nintendo caught global attention as it laid out its first Direct event for 2022. The year looks quite promising, with a number of new names and remakes of old classics.
While fans waited with bated breath for Metroid Prime 4, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or the new Mario Kart 9, there are tons of announcements and lineups that will make 2022 quite eventful.
Here are the highlights from Nintendo Direct Presentation for 2022
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
A sequel to the 2017 open-world RPG Xenoblade Chronicles 2, this is the third main entry of the sci-fi role-playing game. It continues in the war-torn world with giant war machines and will bear the theme of “life”.
The trailer of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 shows agonised teenagers running in beautiful valleys with the huge machines and wild monsters running behind them as they strive to survive. A Nintendo press release reads, “Players will step into the roles of protagonists Noah and Mio amid turmoil between the hostile nations of Keves and Agnus.” Though no combat has been shown, the press release also states that there will be six characters from the warring nations.
The game is slated to release in September 2022 on Switch.
Mario Strikers: Battle League
The much-awaited soccer game is set to bring back the heat to your gaming arena. The game supports up to eight players on the gaming console at a time along with the online version.
The sequel to the original GameCube game, Mario Strikers comes as a variation of Mario Kart but is themed on soccer. The Nintendo press release raises gamers’ anticipation as it states, “Super Mario series mainstays like Peach, Toad, and Yoshi put their cleats (and stats) to the pitch and will stop at nothing to score. Customise your characters with gear that can augment their stats and appearance.”
It has been quite a long time since the last Mario Strikes featured in 2007’s Mario Strikers Charged for the Wii. The game is scheduled to release on Switch on 10 June 2022.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC
The Mario Kart 8 has been remastered and is ready to usher in 48 new tracks and courses.
Nintendo has announced the rollout of new paid downloadable content (DLC), which will not only increase the track size but also introduce new maps. They will be launched in six batches of eight maps each from 18 March 2022 till the end of 2023.
These maps are being brought over from previous franchises and titles which include names like N64 Choco Mountain, Tour Tokyo Blur, and Wii Coconut Mall.
However, those waiting for the next part of Mario Kart will have to stand by at least till 2024.
No Man’s Sky
The classic survival game by Hello Games marks its sixth anniversary with a smashing launch on Nintendo Switch. Explore the sky, build your own territory, team up with other gamers and rule the domain with this sci-fi space exploration game.
The Nintendo description states, “In No Man’s Sky, every star is the light of a distant sun, each orbited by planets filled with life, and you can go to any of them you choose. Fly smoothly from deep space to planetary surfaces, with no loading screens, and no limits.”
For No Man’s Sky, all the updates from the past five years have been collated for PlayStation, PC and Xbox versions. Its launch is scheduled for the summer of 2022.
Kirby
Kirby gets a post-apocalyptic spinoff titled The Forgotten Land, and the trailer shows the pink puffball in a voracious “mouthful mode”. Kirby is all ready for its new 3-D adventure as players can turn it into a vending machine to spit juice cans at enemies.
It can swallow whole cars and zoom around on the map, inflicting pain on foes and opponents.
The new version is set to launch on 25 March 2022.
Nintendo Switch Sports
Following the success of the extremely popular Wii Sports series, Nintendo has announced to launch a new take on the series called the Nintendo Switch Sports.
Players can enjoy a completely immersive gaming experience with Joy-Cons and mimic real-life gaming strokes. A host of sports like bowling, tennis, soccer, chambara, badminton, and volleyball will be made available. Needless to say, it will be accompanied by Nintendo’s motion controls.
The sports series will launch on 29 April. You can also try the beta test at the end of February.
Metroid Dread
Nintendo has announced two updates for Metroid Dread, and they are as exciting as it gets.
For those who have mastered this game and are looking for something more challenging, the ‘Dread’ mode ushers in a one-hit-kill element. Amateurs, too, have something to help get a grasp on this. The ‘Rookie’ mode will help them get a better hang of the game.
A boss rush mode will also be launched later in 2022.
(Main and feature image credit: Nintendo Of America)
