Nintendo Direct September 2022: Legend of Zelda, Fire Emblem, and more

As expected, Nintendo pulled out all the stops for its fall Direct showcase with several Twitter-shattering announcements stuffed between smaller but no less exciting news. As is usually the case, it didn’t announce everything that fans might have been expecting (ahem, any sign of life for Metroid Prime 4 or a remastered Prime trilogy), but it was a decent showing. Here are the best announcements and trailers from Direct.

The sequel to Breath of the Wild has a name

The latest game in The Legend of Zelda franchise will be subtitled Tears of the Kingdom. Nintendo continues to deliver the briefest yet tantalizing trailers for this game. My colleague Jay Peters covered the news, trying to figure out what to make of what little was shown of Tears of the Kingdom. It’s coming out on May 12th, 2023.

Goldeneye 007 is making its polygonal return to the Switch (and Xbox)

Rare, once owned by Nintendo but now part of Microsoft, announced that it’s releasing fan-favorite FPS Goldeneye 007 for the Switch. Nintendo’s console will be the only place where you can play the game online with other players. Although, it is coming to Xbox with sharp 4K visuals, smoother frame rates, and local multiplayer. No release date has been shared. Oh, and a lot of other N64 games are coming to Nintendo’s Switch Online service in the coming months.

Fire Emblem Engage looks like more of that good stuff

Following up Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a new game in the series subtitled Engage. As for its similarities to Three Houses, there’s the classic strategic battle system, as well as some open-area roaming. It’d be great if it had more of the person-to-person relationship building, but it’s so far unclear as to whether we’ll get that with this game. Either way, I’m a happy camper. It comes out on January 20th, 2023.

Tunic brings its retro charm to Switch

Tunic, a Zelda-like title known for its gorgeous art style and unique in-game language, is coming to the Nintendo Switch on September 27th, which is soon. Jay Peters reviewed that game for us earlier this year when it launched on PC and Xbox, and he said that it rekindled his love of strategy guides. If that doesn’t make sense, it will once you start playing the game.

Nintendo isn’t done with Pikmin

Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto had a cameo during today’s Direct to casually name-drop the upcoming animated Super Mario Bros. movie, the Universal Studios’ amusement experience, Super Nintendo World, as well as Pikmin Bloom. But he also had the task of announcing Pikmin 4, a new entry coming to the Switch in 2023.

2021’s Game of the Year is coming to the Nintendo Switch. It Takes Two, the latest from Josef Fares’ team of A Way Out and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons fame, launches on the Switch on November 4th. Since the game requires two players, there will be a wealth of ways to play the game on Switch, including couch co-op, local wireless, and online co-op.

Get your camera obscuras ready, shutterbugs: Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse makes its western debut in early 2023. Players will control Ruka Minazuki as she attempts to recover her memories. If you haven’t been following the Fatal Frame franchise, you can basically expect a terrifying adventure that forces you to stare fear in the face.

Bayonetta 3 is releasing on October 28th, which is soon. Nintendo showed a quick trailer for the game, which is full of new and returning characters engaging in the series’ signature fast-paced, what-the-heck-is-happening-on-the-screen action. Fans have been waiting a while to get their hands on this game since it was announced a handful of years ago. Shortly, gamers will get to step back into the stilettos of Bayonetta, and for the faint of heart, there’s a setting to keep her clothes on as she morphs into demons made of her hair.

Starting October 28th, you’ll be able to play a cloud version of Resident Evil Village on the Switch. A free demo is available now. Later this year, you’ll also be able to buy access to cloud versions of Resident Evil 7, as well as the recent remakes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3. These are the latest batch of games to launch in cloud-only versions for the Switch. Developers decided that relying heavily on your internet connection would be a better idea than trying to figure out a stripped-down port on Nintendo’s aging console.