Nintendo Direct February 8, 2023: Information and Reactions

EDIT (Sunday the 12^th, 11:43): It’s multiple days after the fact, but I’ve decided to make several edits to mistakes in the original article to make it more accurate for any future reading. All of them have been marked as having been edited.

Another Nintendo Direct, another late night. But in this case, there really was just so much stuff. I mean, like, a ton of stuff! A lot of it had been rumored and some had been datamined, but, well… a lot hadn’t! Anyway, I’ll not keep ya.

Pikmin 4 officially shown! It’s more domestic, in the sense that it’s literally set in the surprisingly intact ruins of a suburban human home. The basics are still there: run around, throw Pikmin and go through them as they die, and use their unique powers. The game seems to draw from Pikmin 2 (in the reintroduction of caves EDIT: and White and Purple Pikmin) and 3 (in the focus on rescuing several Lilliputian EDITED for spelling: castaways)
- New features: Ice Pikmin that can freeze enemies and water, the Bulborb-esque friendly doggo Oatchi that acts as an especially powerful party member, and the apparent ability to explore levels at night—which becomes filled with more vicious animals, something previous games only hinted
Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s new DLC party member is Masha, a “Lapidarist extraordinaire” who can create accessories. Alongside her, Volume 3 also adds the Achsage’s Gauntlet, a roguelike-inspired rush of battles. Releases February 15
- The already announced new story mode in Volume 4 features the return of a noticeably older Shulk and Rex from Xenoblade 1 and 2, fighting a character who seems similar to Xenoblade’s Alvis
Samba de Amigo: Party Central, a “brand-new” Samba de Amigo game, announced. It features Wii-esque motion controls based on using the JoyCons like maracas to follow the prompts. Features extra mini-games, an online mode, and forty songs. Releases “this summer”
Fashion Dreamer, a fashion game with online capabilities, announced. Releases “in 2023”
After being announced, the Dead Cells Expansion Return to Castlevania officially releases March 6, with twelve covers and fifty-one original Castlevania songs. Pre-orders now available
TRON: Identity, a narrative adventure game, launches “first for consoles” on Switch “this April”
An HD port of the 2010 cult classic Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, in which you use ghostly powers to solve mysteries, announced. Releases “this summer”
Deca Police, a JRPG / mystery game about cops in a virtual city, announced. Releases sometime in 2023.
More footage of Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon was shown off, showing how it functions as a “one-person co-op” game à la Mario & Luigi or It Takes Two. Cereza can’t do damage but can manipulate and weaken enemies the demon Cheshire can kill
Splatoon 3’s Expansion Pass officially announced and revealed. Comes in two waves:
- Wave 1: a returning Inkopolis from Splatoon, complete with old shops like Booyah Base and NPCs like Spyke. Instead of Deep Cut, the Squid Sisters play for Splatfests. Notably, every single material thing—Tableturf, Salmon Run, shop products—in Splatsville is available here, and vice versa. Launches “this spring”
- Wave 2: Side Order, an apparent new story mode set in a snowscape
Disney Illusion Island, the delightfully animated 2D platformer that was announced last September, features unique character powers, four-player co-op, and Kirby-esque hugging. Releases July 28, with pre-orders now available.
Coming after a datamine of the game, the waves and new characters for the Fire Emblem Engage Expansion Pass have been announced:
- Wave 2: Hector (The Blazing Blade), Soren (Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn), Camilla (Fates). Releases today!
- Wave 3: Chrom and Robin (Awakening, as a team), Veronica (Heroes)
- Wave 4: A new story, “Fell Xenologue”
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, a game about using psychic powers to engage with and manipulate two worlds, announced. Soundtrack by Celeste composer Lena Raine. Releases “first for consoles on Nintendo Switch” in June
A demo for the opening hours of Octopath Traveler II will be available today! The full game launches February 24
We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie, one of the more well-liked follow-ups to the classic Katamari Damacy, announced. Releases June 2
- In addition, Nintendo Switch Online members can get a free trial of the first REROLL from February 20 to 26
Sea of Stars, an RPG with very pretty sprite art that had been announced in 2020, releases August 29
Omega Strikers, “human air hockey” styled multiplayer sports game, announced. Releases April 27, with pre-orders now available
Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection, a compilation of remasters of the first three Etrian Odyssey games, announced. Features additional character art, difficulty levels, and an “auto-map” function for the series’ elaborate real time mapmaking mechanics. Releases June 1, with pre-orders now active
After a year being shelved out of respect for the (still ongoing) crisis in Ukraine, Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is back on track for an April 21 release. Pre-orders begin today… or rather, they’ve been reinstated
Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe will feature a bonus story: Magolor Epilogue, the Interdimensional Traveler. Stars the villain, Magalor, who starts out with nothing and must defeat enemies to purchase various powers in an order up to the player. Features twenty levels and four-player co-op, and still releases February 24
- A “specially arranged” demo for the full game is available today!, as are pre-orders
After years of speculation, the stone cold classic Metroid Prime has been remastered (beautifully) in the form of the bluntly-titled Metroid Prime Remastered. Seems to keep all the fun visor-clouding goodness, as well as a more traditional dual stick control option. While the physical release is February 22, the digital release is today! And at a somewhat surprising $40
- EDIT: Upon further inspection of the game, and actually playing it, it’s clear that the name is somewhat dishonest; the game’s far closer to a full—if extremely faithful—remake, filled with entirely remade models
Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE, the suprenatural detective game that was announced in September, officially releases June 30
Baten Kaiton I & II HD Remaster, a collection of MonolithSoft’s two GameCube card-playing RPGs, announced. Releases “summer 2023”
Fantasy Life: The Girl Who Steals Time announced, featuring extensive time travel mechanics alongside the series’ normal life simulation gameplay. Releases some point in 2023
After far too long and far too many terrible Level-5 corporate decisions, Professor Layton returns in Professor Layton and the New World of Steam. Nothing else known!
Wave 4 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass announced, featuring an all-new Yoshi’s Island course and… Birdo! Yes, we’re finally getting new characters, and Birdo even has alternate colors! Releases “this spring”
Sizzle reel: Minecraft Legends (April 18), Blanc (February 14), Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection (April 14), Have a Nice Death (March 22), WBSC eBaseball: Power Pros (today!), Disney Dreamlight Valley (out, but whose Realm Update comes this “April”), Tales of Symphonia Remastered (February 17)
A new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom showed some wild stuff, including homing arrows, giant robots, and voice acting for Ganondorf. Oh, and pre-orders also begin today, and there’s a collector’s edition that was scooped up well before I could even consider them
- Importantly, Tears of the Kingdom will be $70 USD, a price increase that matches modern Triple-A development games (and ultimately reflects the ballooning cost of each blockbuster). Nintendo has claimed that it won’t be EDIT to finish an incomplete sentence: consistently applied, though I imagine they’ll eventually change to that as the standard price.
- EDIT: The trailer notably also includes several instances of Link using broken and derelict machinery to create vehicles like cars and flying machines, an exciting bit of design that likely harkens back to Breath of the Wild players making vehicles out of innocuous objects like mine carts

Nintendo Switch Online news: NSO is finally getting its Game Boy mode!

This features both Game Boy and Game Boy Advance. However, Game Boy Advance is, unsurprisingly, exclusive to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack
Game Boy launch games: Tetris, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX, Gargoyle’s Quest, Game & Watch Gallery 3, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Wario Land 3, Kirby’s Dream Land
- Other planned games: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, Pokémon Trading Card Game, Kirby’s Tilt ‘n’ Tumble
- ~~Super Mario Land~~ ~~was shown off, and I assume it’s a launch game, but it’s not 100% clear.~~ EDIT: I mistook footage of SML2 for Mario Land; there’s no sign of it currently
- You can choose and regularly switch between a Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Color screen filter
Game Boy Advance launch games: Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (featuring all the e-Reader levels the Wii U release kept), WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgame$, the previously Japan-only Kuru Kuru Kururin, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
- Other planned games: Metroid Fusion, Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, Golden Sun
Online and local play are included for both. Game Boy allows two players at once; GBA four.
Available today!

In addition, the Japanese Direct announced a remake of 1997’s Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg.

Videos:

Wolfman’s Soapbox: Sure, Nintendo, thanks. Not like I had to watch the Direct at 8 PM and try to release it before midnight or anything.

But I kid. This was extremely fun. I had heard about Ghost Trick about an hour after the Direct ended, and I was like “aw, that sounds fun! But I’m sad I heard about the weirdest part before getting to watch it.” Oh, hohoho, my naïvety. Of course, we knew about the Metroid Prime remaster for years (though journalists were cautiously predicting a full $60 release, not the pleasantly surprising $40 one). And of course, we also knew Nintendo had plans to add Game Boy and GBA to Nintendo Switch Online at some point down the line. And of course, many of us predicted something more to the Kirby remake, just going on what we already got. And if you ignore the world of leaks and datamining, we knew Pikmin was coming up and that Advance Wars couldn’t wait Putin to keel over and leave the rest of us alone. All of those things happened, all of them were fun, and as a journalist it’s nice to have them out of the way. As a player, of course, I’ve got a hankering for some GBA Zelda-ing.

But, uh, I would not have predicted much of what we got, to the point where Ghost Trick seems like the more sensible option. Like, a remaster of both Baten Kaitos games? A new Samba de Amigo? Weird, old man Rex? And Nintendo advertising an Alone in the Dark Game Boy Game!?! The mind boggles! Boggles, I say!

Since I am tired and don’t know how much more I can opine on this, I suppose I’ll end by saying that while I enjoyed the early Nintendo Directs, with their fun leaks, this kind of giant event is more fun. It’s more fun, more satisfying, and when it’s back by so much and so many types of games it just feels great. I loved playing the remaster of Katamari Damacy so much, and while I had heard that its sequels weren’t as good I still wanted more; now I have one of them—the better sequel, apparently. At their best, Nintendo Directs are beasts that can have something amazing come by at any turn, and have something you don’t find so amazing still moving by at a fast clip. The header shows how great this individual Direct was, and why Directs can be so fun.

And with that, I’m going to rest.