Recently Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct to show off and announce some new games that fans should look forward to. The direct started off strong with the highly anticipated Pikmin 4 showing the new Ice Pikmin and a dog named Oatchi which will assist you in the game. 

Another highly anticipated announcement was content expansions for Splatoon 3 allowing you to change what hub world you spend your time in as well as something called side order which is expected to be more story content.

More classic games for Nintendo Switch online owners were shown to be original GameBoy. Games like Tetris, Metroid 2, Kirby’s Dreamland, Wario Land, and Link’s Awakening are all available to play now. In addition, people who own the Nintendo online expansion pass will get access to Gameboy Advance games like Super Mario Bros 3, WarioWare inc, Fire Emblem, and Mario Kart Super Circuit.

Some DLC for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was shown in addition to an Expansion to Fire Emblem Engage which is available now. The 4th wave for the Mario Kart 8 course pass was also announced and will make Birdo a playable character.

Some remakes and remasters were shown with Advance Wars 1 and 2 finally getting a release date of April 21st. Advance Wars will get its first new(ish) game since Advance wars 2 in 2003 which will hopefully get more eyes on a really solid strategy game.

Metroid Prime also received a remaster more than 20 years after its original release on the Gamecube. Metroid prime is one of Nintendo’s most loved series despite not having a mainline entry since 2007 making it older than all the Freshmen at Roseville High School.

The last remaster to arrive to the switch is the cult classic Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective which is a DS game from 2010. Ghost Trick has been on my radar for a while now and this will be most people’s first time experiencing the game.

The demo for Octopath Traveler 2 was shown just ahead of its release on February 24th. It will allow players to bring their saves from the demo to the full game if they choose to buy it.

Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe also received a demo leading up to its February 24th release. Kirby’s Return to Dreamland is a childhood favorite of mine and finally being able to play it again after such a long time is very exciting.

And finally the announcement everyone was hoping for, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It shows Link’s return to Hyrule looking more run down and destroyed. It shows new enemies and Link driving vehicles that the player will be allowed to make. The game will retail for $69.99 making some fans upset but if Breath of the Wild proved anything, it’s that Nintendo is bringing their A game to this series, so perhaps the extra $10 will be worth it.

This Nintendo Direct has definitely been one of the best directs in a long time. It had excellent releases and announcements and I can’t wait for the next Nintendo directs in the coming year.