Nintendo News: 3/17/2022

March 23, 2022 Gabriel Coello 1018 Views 0 Comments Fire Emblem, Mario, Nintendo, Video Games

Nintendo has dropped a lot of news lately. Here’s a look at the biggest announcements Nintendo has to offer.

Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp was delayed indefinitely.

Following the recent developments in the Ukraine, Nintendo decided to delay the highly anticipated remake of Advance Wars 1 and 2 until further notice. Though we can only speculate, it’s probably due to the fact that Advance Wars 1 opens with a Soviet Union-esque nation invading a neighboring country to get new territory. The game also portrays war in a very silly light, which could also contribute to the delays. This isn’t the first time the series has been delayed thanks to a real world conflict, either-the original Advance Wars got delayed in Japan for three years thanks to 9/11. Nintendo has not given a release date for the remake-all they’ve said is that they’ll release it “when things calm down.”

Masahiro Sakurai’s New Project

was declared the “Most Valuable Creator” at the Famitsu Dengeki Awards. Upon receiving his award, he said that he’s been working on “something new,” and that “he’ll have rings around his eyes by the time he’s done with it.” No information as to what this elusive project is has been given-all he’s said is that it “may or may not be a video game.” Masahiro Sakurai has been one of the most prolific creators in gaming, having created Super Smash Brothers and Kirby very early on in his career, as well as scenario writing and directing Kid Icarus Uprising in more recent years.

While all we can do is speculate, we do know that the last time he said he had a project that was eating into his sleep schedule, it ended up being Smash Brothers: Ultimate, one of the highest selling games ever made. When Sakurai says he’s working hard on something, it almost always ends up being pretty big.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

Set in between the massive timeskip in the middle of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes serves as both a sequel to the original Fire Emblem Warriors and a what if scenario/midquel to the critically acclaimed Fire Emblem: Three Houses. The plot, so far, seems to indicate that the main story will be centered around asking the question “What if the main character didn’t fall into a three year coma in the middle of the game”? While little gameplay has been shown, it looks to be a strategic action RPG, just as its predecessor. Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes will release on June 24th, 2022, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.

Mario Strikers: Battle League

The long awaited sequel to Mario Strikers Charged, Mario Strikers: Battle League, was revealed. The game promises to have 5v5 co-op, fully utilizing the Switch’s unique local co-op method. The game looks to be another entry in the “fantasy sports genre”, combining the magical elements of the Mario mythos with the high-octane technical play of soccer. The trailer showed off two stages being combined into one, implying that both teams can pick a stage to form one big, hybrid stage. The game releases exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on June 10th.

Nintendo Switch Sports

Speaking of sports, Nintendo announced a sequel to the original Wii Sports, simply titled Nintendo Switch Sports. Not much is known about the title, other then the fact that it’ll be getting a closed beta test later this month and will have a variety of competitive sports available at launch, like tennis, soccer, badminton, volleyball, and bowling. The game is set to release exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on April 29th 2022.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC

Mario Kart 8: Deluxe will be receiving 6 waves of DLC, each containing 8 reimagined classic tracks from other Mario Kart games. The first wave will release in March 18th, and will include Choco Mountain, Coconut Mall, Tour Tokyo Blur, and five other unknown maps. The rest of the new tracks will be from Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart 7, and Mario Kart Tour. The DLC will finish being released sometime in 2023.

Xenoblade Chronicle 3

The long awaited sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was announced as a Nintendo Switch exclusive. Set several years after both Xenoblade 1 and Xenoblade 2, the game is set to bridge the worlds of the two titles, via a story about a war between the worlds of the original two games. The game has a large cast of characters, some of which appear to be descendants of the main characters from 1 and 2. The executive director, Tetsuya Takahashi, had this to say about the upcoming game.

“Hi everyone, this is Tetsuya Takahashi from MONOLITHSOFT.

Just over four years since the release of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and one and a half years since the release of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, we now bring to you news regarding the latest game from MONOLITHSOFT: Xenoblade Chronicles 3. As the name indicates, it’s the third installment in the Xenoblade Chronicles series. We are currently making final adjustments to ensure we create the best game possible based on everything we’ve learned from the past entries in the series.

The key visual features a broken great sword of Mechonis and the body of the Urayan Titan with a gaping wound. I imagine everyone who saw the trailer was quite surprised by the final scene. What is this visual hinting at? I can’t reveal that just yet. What I can tell you is that this visual was conceived quite some time ago. More precisely speaking, we came up with it sometime between the end of development of Xenoblade Chronicles and the beginning of development of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. So, it’s not something we recently added to the series.

We believe the game will be enjoyable for both those who’ve played Xenoblade Chronicles or Xenoblade Chronicles 2, as well as those who will be playing a Xenoblade Chronicles game for the first time.

The characters were designed by Masatsugu Saito, who also designed the characters for Xenoblade Chronicles 2. While we can’t reveal them at this time, Koichi Mugitani created some of the game’s key artwork. As you can see, familiar staff members with the Xenoblade Chronicles series have once again come together to create this game.

The game music was also handled by artists who’ve contributed to the series in the past. The music for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, Manami Kiyota, ACE (TOMOri Kudo, CHiCO), Kenji Hiramatsu and Mariam Abounnasr.

The music in this game maintains the unique Xenoblade Chronicles touch while also taking on a new challenge, namely that of integrating a flute-based melody as its motif. The flute is actually one of the key themes in this game. A variety of other elements and themes are hidden in the trailer andwe’ll be revealing the details a bit at a time going forward.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a new adventure bringing together the worlds of Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to take players into the future. While there is still some time left before the release of the game, I hope you’ll look forward to it.”

The game is going to release in September 2022.