The biggest news and trailers from the first Nintendo Direct of 2022
Fresh off of launching the much-anticipated Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Nintendo held its first Direct presentation of 2022. And it was a big one: the livestream was 40 minutes long and featured surprises like a portable take on No Man’s Sky, the return of Super Mario Strikers, and a Wii Sports revival. Oh, and Mario Kart 8 is about to get a whole lot bigger.
If you weren’t able to catch the whole thing, here are the most important reveals.
Mario’s soccer spinoff is back after a long absence. Nintendo revealed Mario Strikers: Battle League, a sequel to the GameCube original, which looks to include the same wacky gameplay that makes it sort of like Mario Kart but for soccer. It also features support for up to eight players on the same console or via online play. It launches on June 10th.
It’s not Mario Kart 9, but Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is getting a massive influx of new content in the form of 48 new tracks, which will be released in waves over the next two years. The paid DLC, which features remastered versions of classic tracks, will essentially double the size of the racer when it’s all out. The first wave launches on March 18th.
Strikers isn’t the only franchise making a comeback. Nintendo also revealed a new take on the best-seller Wii Sports, with the creative name Nintendo Switch Sports. It features lots of familiar and new sports, motion controls (of course), and is coming out on April 29th.
The sprawling sci-fi role-playing series Xenoblade Chronicles is coming back soon with its third main entry, which is due to launch on the Switch in September. We don’t know much else about it, but it sure does look pretty.
The hack-and-slash spinoff Fire Emblem Warriors is getting a sequel, with a new game set in in the same period
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