nintendo continues its tradition of offering us a Nintendo Direct in February. The manufacturer wants to start this year 2023 well by presenting some of the Switch games to come in the coming months, even if the public’s attention is mainly focused on the upcoming release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. If you missed the broadcast of the show, here is a complete summary of this Nintendo Direct of February 2023.
The DLC Fair
Pikmin 4 logically opened the ball for this Nintendo Direct by presenting us with its first real gameplay images, which focused mainly on the presence of a dog companion to control, which can help us overcome various obstacles, just like ice Pikmin who will be integrated into your little troop.
The real announcement remains above all that of the title’s release date, which is therefore set for July 21, exclusively on Nintendo Switch.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 also came to give some news by telling us about his Season Pass and his new character, accompanied by a kind of rather surprising rogue-like mode. Fans of the series will especially remember the teasing of the game’s last big DLC, which allowed us to see some old acquaintances again.
And since we are in the games already released, Splatoon 3 was present for its DLC Chromapolis / Tour de l’Ordre, which takes us on a rediscovery of the city of the first Splatoonwhile Fire Emblem Engage briefly introduced us to its future scenario DLC as well as the next characters to arrive as emblems, such as Hector or Camilla.
do not forget Mario Kart 8 Deluxewho showed a piece of his fourth wave of circuits, knowing that this salvo will have the particularity of adding an additional character to the roster, Birdo.
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania wanted to show us how much he would celebrate Konami’s license, with the presence of Alucard, Richter, Death and Dracula, who are meeting on March 6.
Some novelties, with dates to get your teeth into
The announcement had been somewhat stale before the live, rhythm game Samba by Amigo Party Central will come and shake your maracas, or rather your Joy-Con this summer.
If you prefer fashion to fiesta, you can turn to Fashion Dreamer, a kind of spiritual successor to the La Maison du Style license, with lots of outfits to try on to climb the ladder of the fashion world. The release is scheduled for this year, without further details.
This Direct was also an opportunity to briefly review Tron Identity And Disney Illusion Islandwho both appeared in last year’s Disney conference.
The first is a visual novel that didn’t have much to show us except that it would arrive as a console exclusive on Switch in April, while the second, which is a platform game playable in solo or in cooperation, told us its release date, set for July 28th.
Among the surprise returns to which we were entitled during the show, and there were many, Ghost Trick: Ghost Detective was certainly one of the most unexpected. The investigation game offers a smoothing in HD and will be released this summer on Nintendo Switch.
Depolice also signs an unexpected return, that of Level-5. The studio is back in business with a new license that puts us in the shoes of a detective and in a futuristic open world. No date, but it’s planned for this year.
And since we are at Level-5, we might as well mention it directly, Professor Layton returns in a new game called Professor Layton and The New World of Steam. No more information about it, so we don’t know if it’s planned for this year or not.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon made an obligatory passage a month before its release to present a trailer centered on combos with the demon Chouchou.
We will rather retain the announcement of Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, new license from DON’T NOD. The narrative game will allow us to control a young woman capable of traveling between two worlds, who will have to make many choices to save these two universes. We will discover all this from June on Switch but also on PC and on PS5 and Xbox Series.
We continue to the radius of surprising returns with We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reveriea remaster of We Love Katamari with new challenges and a June 2 release. If you are a Nintendo Switch Online subscriber, you can now try the game until February 20.
Speaking of demos, there have been plenty of them announced. That ofOctopath Traveler II to begin with, but also that of the RPG Sea of Starsavailable now on the eShop while the full game is scheduled for August 29. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe also offers a demo a few days before its release.
Then came a quick presentation of Omega Strikera free-to-play that mixes MOBA and sports in 3 vs 3, which will be released on April 27. Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection will give you your dose of dungeon-RPG with the first three remastered opuses, knowing that the three games will also be available separately, starting June 1st.
The retro first
It was time : Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp finally talking about him again. Shelved following the start of the war in Ukraine, Nintendo’s game gives us a new release date and is preparing to land on Switch on April 21. Better late than never.
We will then retain the arrival of Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games on Nintendo Switch Online. An announcement that must have given a lot of people a shiver of nostalgia, especially when we learned that these games were available there now.
Among the titles on the program are Tetris, Super Mario Land 2 – 6 Golden Coins, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and others. New games will be added later, like Golden Sun.
You understood, it’s time for retro at Nintendo, and that’s why Metroid Prime finally gets a remaster. Rumors about him had been there for years, but now it’s more concrete with Metroid Prime Remastered, which even offers a surprise release on the eShop. On the other hand, for the boxed version of this FPS, it will be necessary to wait until the beginning of March.
Another highly anticipated remaster: that of Baten Kaitos with Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster. This cult license finally returns to the front of the stage with smoother visuals, starting this summer on Switch. On the other hand, only the first episode will be translated into French according to Bandai Namco.
A final segment dedicated to the mystery game Master Detective Archives: Rain Codewhich will be released on June 30, and Fantasy Life: The Girl Who Steals Timea new simulation-like RPG slated for release this year, aired before moving on to the icing on the cake.
As expected it is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom which concluded this Nintendo Direct and in a beautiful way. A trailer centered on the history of the game has been presented, in order to tell us a little more about this devastated kingdom of Hyrule, affected by a new plague.
But Nintendo especially took advantage of the event to lift the veil on a nice collector’s edition, albeit a bit simple and expensive. An amiibo will also be added to all this to complete the collection.
A Nintendo Direct which is therefore turned towards the past and nostalgia, with many remasters and ports. Since several returns were expected, there is no doubt that Nintendo Switch owners will be delighted, even if we would not have said no to a little more novelty. And you, what do you remember from this Nintendo Direct?