Recap: Everything that happened at the PACKED September 2022 Nintendo Direct

We finally got a date and name for the second Zelda: Breath of the Wild game

Are you ready for a September 2022 Nintendo Direct recap? I’m not! It was a constant explosion of info, and there’s a lot to take in. Let’s attempt to make sense of it all.

September 2022 Nintendo Direct recap: all the news

• Fire Emblem Engage is the next mainline entry in the Fire Emblem franchise, and it’s coming very soon! January 20, 2023, actually.
• It Takes Two is out on Nintendo Switch on November 4 of this year. It’ll sport two-player local play across two Switch units.
• Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is coming west in “early 2023.”
• Wave 2 of the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 expansion pass, which is really the first actual chunk of content, is out on October 13 of this year. It features Ino, a new character that can be unlocked after completing her story quest, as well as challenges. It’ll be followed by several other DLC packs, including a bigger expansion in late 2023.
• Spongebob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake arrives on Switch in 2023.
• Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star edition is confirmed for March 2023 on Switch. Yes, it’s a boxing/fitness game with the Fist of the North Star IP. That’s pretty much all you need to know!

• Oddballers is coming out on Switch in 2023.
• Tunic will arrive on Switch September 27, 2022, which is sure to make some of the folks who held out for it happy.
• Front Mission 1 and 2 remakes are coming, and a third one was revealed for a later date (no window was given, not even 2023). Front Mission 1 will hit in November, and 2 is confirmed for 2023.
• Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (which features an aging system) is confirmed for Switch in the summer of 2023.
• The next Splatoon 3 Splatfest will deal with “gear, grub, or fun.” It starts on September 23. This follows the prior pre-release Splatfest demo of rock, paper, and scissors.
• A second Octopath Traveler game is confirmed for February 24, 2023 (lots of dates were given out today, which is good!). The fully-fledged sequel will feature, you guessed it, eight new travelers.
• Fae Farm, a “farm simulation RPG with magical spells and combat,” will grace the Switch in spring of 2023. It’s a confirmed exclusive.
• Final Fantasy Theatrhythm Final Bar Line will arrive in a packed February, with a February 16, 2023 release date. It’ll also feature NieR song DLC.

• We got to see a bit more gameplay for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, which was a quick retread of info, and a reconfirmation of an October 20, 2022 date.
• Rune Factory 3 Special is coming to Switch in 2023. You can engage in relaxing activities and transform into monsters. Also, a new Rune Factory Switch game will arrive “in the future.”
• More Nintendo 64 games are confirmed, but they’re not arriving all at once: Pilotwings 64, Mario Party 64, Mario Party 2, Mario Party 3, Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Stadium 2, 1080 Snowboarding, Excitebike 64, and GoldenEye 64 (with online play). Expect these to be slowly released over the course of several months. No Genesis games were confirmed in the Direct.
• Various Daylife hits Switch today. See? We got at least one surprise drop.
• Factorio (October 28, 2022) and Ib (spring 2023) were shown off very briefly.
• Mario Strikers Battle League will get a second free update, with Pauline and Diddy Kong confirmed for the roster, with more gear and a new stadium.
• Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & The Secret Key launches on February 24, 2023 (hey it’s that same week of packed games again!).
• We got a quick look at two tracks coming to Wave 3 from the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC pass: Merry Mountain from Mario Kart Tour and Peach Gardens from Mario Kari DS.

• Nintendo Switch Sports will be getting the golf update a little later than expected, this holiday.
• Pikmin 4 is finally confirmed for 2023. We didn’t get any gameplay, but we did get info that it would be “simpler” to control. Shigeru Miyamoto also showed off a bit of his progress in Pikmin Bloom for fun.
• Just Dance 2023 is reconfirmed (after the Ubisoft Forward) for November 22, 2022.
• We got to see some more of Harvestella today, and a demo is coming after the Nintendo Direct.
• Nintendo showed off some Bayonetta 3 footage, but we didn’t really get any big news outside of the known October 28, 2022 date. Thankfully, a new gameplay trailer will come out later today.
• Master Detective Archives: Rain Code will arrive in 2023. As our own Chris Moyse puts it: “It’s set in the world of murder mystery franchise Danganronpa, Rain Code will feature a whole new take on the investigation and accusation gameplay of its brethren, while still sporting over-the-top, hyper-stylized audio/visual package that is the series’ trademark.”
• Resident Evil Village: Cloud Edition will arrive on Switch on October 28, 2022 with a free demo out today. The Winter’s Expansion DLC is out on December 2, and RE7, RE2, and RE3 are out “this year” as cloud versions on Switch.
• Sifu will be out on Switch on November 8.

• Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion will hit Switch on December 13.
• Radiant Silvergun, the classic shmup, launches on the Switch eShop later today.
• Endless Dungeon is coming to Switch next year.
• A Tales of Symphonia remaster is great news! It’ll hit Switch in “early 2023.”
• We got a sizzle reel of dates for upcoming games: Life is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection (September 27, 2022), Romancing Saga – Minstrel Song – Remastered (December 1, 2022), LEGO Bricktales (Fall 2022), Disney Speedstorm (2022), and Fall Guys Season 2 (September 15, 2022).
• Kirby’s Return to Dreamland (2011) is coming back in Switch form with Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe. It’ll have new features, as well as the option to play as Kirby for all four players locally (instead of friends or buddies).

• Of course, the big news was The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. We can finally start calling it by its real name! It also got a date: May 12, 2023. Other than a brief glimpse at some gameplay, that’s pretty much it. The trailer for that is right above.

If you want to watch the entire thing yourself beyond this complete September 2022 Nintendo Direct recap, you can view it here on Nintendo’s YouTube channel.

One thing’s for sure: January and February are going to be packed when it comes to games!