September 23rd Nintendo Direct Recap
Credit to: NintendoThis went surprisingly well
Welcome back, y’all! This time around, we’re taking a look at the most recent Nintendo Direct livestream that aired September 23rd, 2021. In it, we got some pretty good announcements, with quite a few of them being some real heavy hitters. Here, I’ll be going over each game they revealed or revealed new content for, and then I’ll go over my final thoughts, and I’ll actually grade the Direct using my 5-point system. Ready? Let’s jump right into it.
Monster Hunter Rise
We start off this Direct with a pretty great cinematic, featuring a crazy looking new dragon monster (apologies for not recognizing it, I know you Monster Hunter fans must’ve recognized it if it’s from a previous game) soaring across the dark purple skies, far above the barren wasteland that’s full of debris and age-old structures. The monster expands its glowing red wings and flies off into the distance, letting out one final roar until we see the official reveal for a brand new DLC called Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, which is shown to be coming out in the summer of 2022. Not too far, but it'll still be a fairly long wait. Luckily, there’s going to be plenty of other Nintendo games to play while we wait patiently for it. As you’d expect, the Sunbreak DLC will come with a new monster, likely a new area, and some new weapon, armor, and palico and palamute customization options. Off to a good start.
Mario Party Superstars
For this game, we got some pretty cool reveals for some new boards to play on, such as Woody Woods, Yoshi’s Tropical Island, and Horror Land. If these names sound familiar to you, that’s because these are boards that were playable on the old N64 Mario Party games. It’s confirmed that we’ll actually be getting five boards, so we’ll have to see which ones the other two will be. After these reveals, we see a place called Mt. Minigames, where you can just play minigames instead of playing on the boards. You cut right to the chase and play either solo, or with friends. We see minigames called Survival and Tag Match, but they confirm that this area will have seven minigames in total, which is pretty disappointing. Of course, we can expect more minigames to come, but it’s just a very light number to start us off. Mario Party Superstars will be releasing on October 29th, 2021, so make sure you and your friends get your pre-orders ready.
Voice of Cards: The isle Dragon Roars
Here’s an interesting one. Voice of Cards is actually an RPG game, but it instead uses cards for everything, such as the protagonist, allies, enemies, even the towns and the shops you visit. Now, this is a medieval-themed RPG (I’m sure you figured that), so it’ll be all about magic, sorcery, knights, kings and queens, etcetera etcetera. When engaged in battle, you’re once again using cards, but the combat is just like a classic turn-based RPG game. Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars will launch for the Nintendo Switch on October 28th, 2021, but you can download and play the demo for free today.
Disco Elysium - The final Cut
This one’s a little weird, but I’ll do my best to explain this game as it was explained during the Direct. First of all, this game is a top-down view, role-playing game, so that’s already cool (to me at least). In this game, you wake up in a run-down hotel room with no memories of who you are or how you got where you are. You eventually discover that you’re a detective who’s investigating a murder, and you’re needed to use all twenty four of your skills to properly interrogate and discover clues to help you crack the case. Your decisions and actions also impact the story, so you need to plan things carefully and really think about the potential consequences your actions might have for the future. You can pick up this game digitally on October 12th, 2021, but you’ll need to wait until early 2022 for the physical version.
Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity
The second part of this game’s expansion pass has been properly teased, finally. In the cinematic we’re given, we see Terrako being attacked by a mysterious, fearsome Malice-infused creature, Link teaching Zelda how to ride the Master Cycle (Smooth, Link, smooth), and the Champions and friends engaging in battle, with King Rhoam needing to defend himself. Interestingly, we see the fallen villain Astor, which means he’s either revived somehow, or it’s just a flashback that we’ll be experiencing. We see Robbie and Purah, who are officially confirmed as playable, but we also see Sooga, which I take as a hint that he’ll be the surprise playable character. In terms of story, it seems that King Rhoam will be a central piece, as Link and allies need to rally together and defend him from Ganon’s evil forces. So, this second DLC pack comes with Robbie and Purah and another playable character (definitely Sooga), a brand new story, new stages, and something called" “actions” for characters, which I assume are emotes, but I could be wrong. This second pack, called Guardian of Remembrance, will be available October 29th, 2021, or will immediately download for you on that date if you already purchased the expansion pass like I have.
Chocobo GP
Um, okay? This was a weird turn. I’m not mad at it, but boy it really seems like Nintendo will make literally any other racing game instead of a proper Mario Kart 9. Anyways, Chocobo GP is a cutesy little racing game set in the world of Final Fantasy, where you can play as cute racers from the series, grab stones called “magicites’ (item boxes) to get a new item/spell to attack the competition, defend yourself, or speed past the opposition. You can drift for boosts, do tricks, and use unique special abilities as you race, and when the racing is over or hasn’t started yet, you can trick out your ride by customizing it. If you remember Chocobo Racing for the PlayStation, then this should be a very familiar game for you. Chocobo GP is set to release sometime in 2022.
Super Smash Bros: Ultimate
While they didn’t reveal the last fighter, they did officially confirm that this will indeed be the very last time we’ll be getting a presentation for Super Smash Bros: Ultimate with game director Masahiro Sakurai. That actually hurt to hear, I was so used to hearing this guy crack jokes and show us new characters. They confirmed that the final livestream will take place on October 5th, 2021 at 7:00 AM PT, or 10:00 AM EST. This livestream will officially reveal the character, and show off how to play as them. What a good three years it’s been with this game.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
That’s right, a new Kirby game. Not only is it a new Kirby game, but it’s a 3D Kirby game. Think of it like Kirby’s very own Mario Odyssey. Sounds really cool when I put it like that, and it sure does look cool. You get to travel and explore a run-down, overgrown metropolitan city where there is no life whatsoever, other than the enemies you face and the occasional Waddle Dees you’ll need to save. Inhale enemies and use them as projectiles, or absorb them to gain their unique powers to fight your way through this vast, forgotten city, and face off against bosses such as a massive angry gorilla. This game was actually rumored since I believe 2020, so it’s great to see that the rumors were legitimate. I will 100% pre-order this when it’s available. Kirby and the Forgotten Land will be available Spring 2022.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
I know, right? Content? For this game? Since when? Just joking… but seriously, why did it take so long to finally even get a tease at proper new content? Anyways! We see a little villager walk up the stairs within the museum as our good old, bug fearing Blathers is sound asleep, and we see an entrance to the left side at the top of the stairs. Guess what? It’s The Roost! Our good old coffee making pigeon, Brewster is finally coming to our islands to whip us up some good coffee, but that’s not all. We’re going to get an entire livestream going over all of the content coming to the game in the near future. We can expect this livestream sometime in October, but the update that’s bringing Brewster will be available sometime in November.
Mario Golf: Super Rush
We’re getting even more content for this lovely golfing game, in the form of two new playable characters, Koopa Troopa and Ninji, and two new additional courses. This update is actually already available, so get to teeing off with your friends!
Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition
We’re back in the Disney world with all of our old pals like Donald, Mickey and Goofy, alongside other classic characters from Frozen, Sleeping Beauty, Lilo and Stitch, and more. Meet them all, make your own costumes, and just have some fun. All of the DLC from the original release on the Nintendo 3DS will actually be available completely for free for this game as well. Expect this game this holiday.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
That’s right, the original Knights of the Old Republic is coming to the Switch, and I couldn’t be happier. The Switch is starting to get a pretty sizable collection of Star Wars games, and boy am I all for it. Play as the Mysterious Stranger all over again, and choose your destiny as you align yourself with the dark side or the light side of the Force. This will be available November 11th, 2021, and pre-orders are already available.
Dying Light 2: Stay Human - Cloud Version
We’re back in the vicious world of Dying Light, where we need to use parkour to make our way as fast as possible around the city or to evade hordes of grotesque zombies, or use our combat abilities to protect ourselves from zombies and other human factions. Play co-op or fly solo, just remember to not get bit and stay human. This will be made available alongside its previous game, Dying Light: Platinum Edition, where you can get up to speed with the story so far. Dying Light 2 will be available February 4th, 2022, with demos already being made available for everyone. Dying Light: Platinum Edition will be available October 19th, 2021.
TRIANGLE STRATEGY
We’re finally hearing more about this HD 2D RPG, and we find out that they have been taking feedback from demo players to improve or fix issues that gamers ran into as they played the first demo. They’re already adding in new features, but I’m sure we’ll find out a lot more for this game later this year. TRIANGLE STRATEGY will be available March 4th, 2022.
Metroid: Dread
While we don’t find out too much, we do see a lot more of the story cinematics and find out what Samus’ mission is for this game, which is to scope out the target planet, Planet ZDR, to confirm whether or not the deadly X parasites still exist on the planet, and it’s up to her to find out why the research robots called EMMIs have gone rogue. You can find out more details on this game at metroid dot nintendo dot com, and you can read up on cool reports that describe what exactly is happening right before and during this game. This game will be available on October 8th, 2021.
Nintendo Switch Online Updates
It’s finally happening! Y’all. We are finally getting the long rumored N64 update to Nintendo Switch. We finally get to play The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, Mario 64 (again), Mario Kart 64, and much, much more. It’s also confirmed that we’ll eventually get more games as time goes on, like The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Pokemon Snap, F-Zero X, and more. But that’s not all. Alongside the N64, we’re going to get the SEGA Genesis update! Play games like Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Streets of Rage, Ecco the Dolphin, and more. This will launch this October, but that’s not all! We’re going to be getting wireless versions of the classic N64 and Genesis controllers for about $45 each. Upgrade your current Nintendo Switch Online membership to include the N64 and SEGA Genesis in October, and pick up these nostalgic controllers to really get a feel for their respective consoles and games.
Collections and a Classic
If you like collections, you’re gonna enjoy this. You’ll be able to purchase the Shadowrun Trilogy Collection, the Castlevania Advance Collection. The Shadowrun Trilogy will be available next year 2022, while the Castlevania Advance Collection is already available. In terms of classics, we have one specific one: Actraiser Renaissance from the Super NES. Enjoy this sidescrolling adventure with beautiful HD graphics, and use the powers of a god to destroy and build a flourishing kingdom. This is already available, so be sure to pick it up!
Deltarune Chapter 2
I actually have no idea what this game is, but hooray if you like this series! Deltarune Chapter 1 is already available, but this second chapter will actually be a free update that’s available already!
Quick Reveals
Alright, let’s blitz through this. First up, we’ve got Hot Wheels Unleashed, a racing game that also lets you build your own tracks. This will be available September 30th, 2021. Next up is Surviving the Aftermath, a survival based top-down game, which will be available Holiday 2021. Next up is Shin Megami Tensei V, a game that eeeeveryone has been talking about. This is already available for digital pre-order. Next up is Wreckfest, which is indeed another racing game, but you can crush your friends. Neat. This will be available Fall 2021. Next up are two games, which are the Arcade Archives Pac-Man and Xevious, already available. Last is Rune Factory 5, something that I assume is about… farming? Available March 22nd, 2022.
Super Mario Movie
Yep, this one was a pretty big surprise. While there was no trailer for this animated movie, there was a cast reveal, and oh my God, this is going to be the funniest movie of all time. Let’s start. Mario will be voiced by Chris Pratt, Princess Peach will be voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy, Luigi will be voiced by Charlie Day, Bowser will be voiced by Jack Black, Toad will be voiced by Keegan-Michael Key, Donkey Kong will be voiced by Seth Rogen, Charles Martinet, the original and current voice actor for the video game versions of Mario, Luigi, Wario and Waluigi, will be voicing surprise cameo characters, Kevin Michael Richardson will be voicing Kamek, Sebastian Maniscalco will be voicing Foreman Spike, and Fred Armisen will be voicing Crank Kong. All I can say is… wow. I can’t believe my favorite Super Mario character is voiced by Charlie from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This movie is dropping Holiday 2022, and I seriously can’t wait to see this thing.
Splatoon 3
Man am I happy to see more of this game. Fun fact if you don’t already know: I’ve never played a Splatoon game. I’ve always wanted to, but I just never got to buy one, since I was more focused on the usual Zelda game purchases, Mario game purchases, etcetera etcetera. Now that I write articles for you guys, I have the perfect reason to buy this: I get to tell you guys all about it. Now! We do see a few things in this reveal. We see a few new weapons, we get to see a bit more of the new central hub area, but we also find out something important for the story. Mammals, or mammalians as they’re directly called, are returning to the world. How that impacts the story, we’ll have to wait and find out when this game comes out 2022.
Bayonetta 3
I know, right? It actually exists! I’m super happy for you Bayonetta fans, because I know just how much y’all were asking for this game, and boy has it been such a long wait for y’all. Well, she’s finally back, and she’s rocking some amazing hair and a sweet new costume/suit. This game is coming VERY soon, which is sometime in 2022. Happy for y’all.
Final Thoughts
Let’s be real. That was one of the best Directs we’ve gotten in a long while. We’ve got a new Kirby game, we got Bayonetta 3, we got details on the Mario movie, we got N64 and SEGA Genesis games AND the controllers, and we’re getting FLOODED with other games/DLCs in 2021 and 2022. That was really really good. Even when they showed the lesser known games, I wasn’t bored, because they were either actually interesting, or they showed a good game right before or right after one of the weaker reveals. This was solid. No, we didn’t find out who the new Smash fighter is, and no we didn’t get more Breath of the Wild 2, but realistically speaking, we got a whooole lot of goodies, so let’s be a little grateful here. But what did you all think? Let me know on my Instagram and Twitter, and make sure you’re following those accounts to stay posted on the latest news and reviews for your favorite entertainment topics. That’s it from me, this has been The Wolf Den!
