There were plenty of announcements during yesterday’s February Nintendo Direct, but a few of them raised the bar significantly for the Nintendo Switch. The first half of 2022 is now set, and it looks like Nintendo will have yet another spectacular year. Five announcements grabbed our attention, with one overshadowing the rest. This Direct was the best of all worlds; it had something for core gamers, something for casual gamers, and something for those who have held back on purchasing a Switch. Nintendo truly came out guns blazing. This may be their best Nintendo Direct yet, despite Zelda not being shown. Nintendo has perfected the art of a digital presentation and their competitors must take note.
Triangle Strategy Demo
Triangle Strategy is one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2022, and for good reason. The story is tailored to your choices, and the 2D HD graphics are breathtaking. Nintendo announced during their direct that a new demo for Triangle Strategy would be released after the presentation. The demo allows you to play through the third chapter of the game and will carry over your save data to the full version. This is great marketing, and Triangle Strategy has caught my eye ever since it was announced. The game is being released in a little under a month, so, the demo will definitely hold you over until this Square Enix epic comes out!
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Nintendo has been coming out with a lot of sports games it seems; Mario Golf: Super Rush, Nintendo Switch Sports, the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe booster course pass, and now Mario Strikers: Battle League. This isn’t entirely unwelcome though. Aside from Mario Kart, Mario Strikers on the Switch looks to be one of the better Mario sports entries. Its announcement was a complete surprise, but a welcome one. The great thing about Mario sports games is that they’re always a lot of fun, and Strikers: Battle League looks to be no different.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass
Rumors were flying around Twitter over the last couple of weeks that Nintendo would announce a brand new Mario Kart game. Oh were they wrong! Instead, Nintendo is releasing a booster course pass which will bring 48 tracks from previous games, completely remastered, to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as paid DLC. The pass will cost $24.99 on its own or will be free if you own the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. It will include 48 different courses, completely remastered, from previous Mario Kart games. It’s like a new game unto itself. Given the fact that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold over 43 million copies, this is a no-brainer. They were never going to start from scratch when the current game is still selling like hotcakes. This way, everybody wins: younger gamers will get a plethora of new content, and older gamers can enjoy the nostalgia of playing tracks from previous games.
Nintendo Switch Sports
Nintendo Switch Sports is a game that the Switch has needed for a while. Wii Sports sold ungodly numbers and if initial reactions are any indication, Switch Sports has the potential to do this as well. This is the third sports-centric announcement to make this list, but this is Nintendo doing what Nintendo does best: making games that are fun. This game will be far superior to Wii Sports given the technology has advanced so much over the last decade or so. It will be interesting to see how well the game will sell, or if they’ll eventually bundle it with the Nintendo Switch.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Now that we have everything else out of the way, the game that blew everyone away was Xenoblade Chronicles 3. The game looks magnificent and it will be intriguing to see how they tie Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 into the game. Xenoblade is the Final Fantasy of this generation, and each game keeps getting better and better. The game is visually stunning. If the stories and exploration from the first two games are anything to go by, this could be the greatest RPG of all time. And that’s not said lightly.