Nintendo Direct September 2021 Roundup
Nintendo was back with a very short notice drop for a Nintendo Direct on 23rd September 2021. Nintendo promised the Direct would be mainly focused on games releasing in 2021, but you know with these things there’s always going to be a few surprises here and there. Well, we got those and a whole lot more, so let’s jump into the Nintendo Direct September 2022 Roundup.
First up we had a new expansion announced for Monster Hunter Rise called Sunbreak, this is coming Summer 2022. Monster Hunter Rise is one of the best games on Nintendo Switch and it’s great to see this getting a little more life, so looking forward to that one.
Mario Party Superstars was up next, with more details about the mini-game-filled title coming to Nintendo witch on October 29th, 2021, which isn’t very far away at all. This Mario Party game looks much better than the previous installment.
Voice of Cards – The Isle Dragon Roars from Square Enix was up next, which looks like an interesting take on a console-based card game. Probably not for me, as I never seem to get card games like this, but the take on the genre was interesting.
Disco Elysium The Final Cut is coming to Nintendo Switch with preorders available now. This was one of the best games of the year when it debuted way back in 2019, and it’s a fantastic game with a very deep and branching narrative. If you’re interested in this one, then now is a great time to check it out.
Hyrule Warriors Expansion Pass II Guardian of Remembrance is coming. To be honest, this one isn’t for me, but it seems to have found an audience. At this moment in time, all I am interested in from Zelda is Breath of the Wild 2, plus maybe the ports of Twilight Princess and Windwaker. This is a pass from me, but if you want to get hold of it then you can soon on October 29th, 2021.
Chocobo GP is a cute take on Final Fantasy crossed with Mario Kart. This is a cartoony-style cart racing game, with Final Fantasy characters. Looks like pretty standard Mario Kart-style gameplay, so if you like the world of Final Fantasy with the gameplay of MarioKart then this one could be for you. This is coming sometime in 2022.
We didn’t get the Final Smash Character announcement, that’s being saved for its own Smash Direct coming on October 5th, where Mr. Sakurai will be presenting the final character. Who is it going to be? Waluigi? Sakurai himself? We’ll find out very soon.
Kirby was up next in his new game called Kirby and the Forgotten Land which is coming Spring 2022. This is being developed by HAL Labs, who works in the same building as Nintendo and apparently work very close to the team who brought us Super Mario Odyssey, so we’ll see if anything has rubbed off on them. Kirby looked great in this 3D platforming, showing off plenty of classic Kirby abilities. This one has definitely been added to my Watch List, and I’ll be going in-depth on this one in a future episode of the podcast.
Animal Crossing also had a direct coming in October 2021, where we’re going to get content updates and news about what is coming in the world of Animal Crossing.
Mario Golf is getting some updates including new characters and courses, Starwars Knights of the Old Republic is coming to Nintendo Switch in November 2021, and Dying Light 2 Stay Human is also coming to Nintendo Switch via the cloud.
Project Triangle Strategy has been renamed simply Triangle Strategy, and that one is coming in March 2022. This is the follow-up from the team that brought us Octopath Traveller and had a demo, and plenty of changes have been made to the game since that demo. This one looks like a classic turn-based RPG, with HD 2D pixel art on 3D backgrounds. All looking very cool and can’t wait to play this one.
Metroid Dread was shown off next and this was the final trailer before the release in a few week’s time. Metroid has never looked so good and I can’t wait to play this on October 8th.
Then we had a BIG announcement. N64 and Sega Genesis (or Megadrive) games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online. Both systems are coming with controllers too, which can be picked up for $50 (or your local region equivalent). This is a new tier on the subscription package, so Nintendo once again demonstrate being the masters of getting us to pay for stuff we’ve had before. Slightly worryingly they haven’t announced the price or tier just yet, but who am I kidding, it doesn’t really matter. I’d pay that simply to play Ocarina of Time again. Here’s a list of the games.
Nintendo 64 Games:
Super Mario 64
Mario Kart 64
Star Fox 64
Yoshi’s Story
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
WinBack: Covert Operations
Mario Tennis
Dr. Mario 64
Sin and Punishment
Sega Genesis Games:
Castlevania Bloodlines
Contra: Hard Corps
Dr. Robotnick’s Mean Bean Machine
Ecco The Dolphin
Golden Axe
Gunstar Heroes
Musha
Phantasy Star IV
Ristar
Shining Force
Shinobi III
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Streets of Rage 2
Strider
We then had probably the funniest announcement of the direction with Miyamoto coming out and announcing the theatre release date for North America for the Super Mario Bros movie. Chris Pratt Mario, Seth Rogan DK, Jack Black Bowser. The internet immediately blew up after this with Mario Bros Movies memes. it wasn’t so long ago Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu, so I guess this isn’t going to be super weird. But still.
Next, we had a big showcase for Splatoon 3, which is coming in 2022.
Then the show closed out with Bayonetta 3. This one was announced in 2017, and Nintendo basically said sorry for the wait. It looks very good and hopefully worth the 5-year wait.
That concludes the Nintendo Direct. The biggest thing in there for me personally was Nintendo Switch Online’s announcement of N64 and Sega Genesis games. Really looking forward to getting to play Ocarina of Time once again, as it’s been a few years now. It’ll be interesting to see what holds up and what doesn’t. I have a feeling some of the Genesis games are going to play great on Nintendo Switch.
Other games I am looking forward to including Triangle Strategy in March, Kirby’s next game looks great and we have the final smash character announcement coming up really soon. The Monster Hunter Rise Expansion should be great and also it’ll be interesting to see the next steps for Animal Crossing.
Let me know what was your top moment. I’d probably give the show an 8 out of 10. But let me know what you think.