Nintendo Direct Reveals New Fire Emblem, Breath of the Wild 2‘s Official Name, and the Return of GoldenEye 007

This morning a meaty Nintendo Direct revealed a slew of upcoming games headed for the Nintendo Switch, including a new Fire Emblem title, Pikmin 4, and the release date of the much-anticipated follow-up to Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The presentation kicked off with the reveal of Fire Emblem Engage, a new mainline entry in the tactics RPG series from Intelligent Systems that will be released on Jan. 20, 2023. The trailer featured an amnesiac hero who appears able to summon spirits of characters from old Fire Emblem games, such as Marth. It is unclear how many elements Engage will share with the last mainline entry in the series, Fire Emblem Three Houses, but at one point in the trailer, we got a glimpse of a hub area that looked reminiscent of the management elements found in the previous title.

We also received word on another tactics RPG series, with updated release dates for the Front Mission remakes. While the first game’s remake was originally slated for this summer, it will now be launching in November of this year. The remakes of the second and third games are planned for 2023 and an unannounced date, respectively. The Front Mission games are beloved tactics RPGs initially released in 1995. The remake of Front Mission 2 will mark the first time that game is being released in the west.

Octopath Traveler 2 was officially revealed and announced for a Feb. 24, 2023 release. Similar to the original game, the JRPG will follow eight playable characters with intersecting storylines. Each new protagonist was shown, and the sequel will use the same “HD-2D” art style as its predecessor. It will be coming to the Switch as well as PC, PS4, and PS5.

Later, Miyamoto made an appearance to announce Pikmin 4. While there was only a brief teaser with no gameplay footage, a 2023 release window was revealed, and the game will apparently have simplified controls compared to its predecessors. The last major Pikmin game came out in 2013.

We also received a release date for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, which will be out on Dec. 13, 2022. This remake of the PSP game will feature new visuals, gameplay updates, and updated musical arrangements. It’s unclear how much this update to Crisis Core will tie into the meta-narrative insanity of Final Fantasy VII Remake, but based on where the FFVII: Intergrade DLC leaves off, there may be more to this reimagining than meets the eye.

To close out the show, we finally got an official title and release date for the follow-up to 2017’s genre-defining Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The new game is called The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and it’s planned for a May 12, 2023 release. The trailer featured Link diving off a sky-bound temple, floating islands in the clouds, and mechanical gliding devices.

And beyond these larger announcements, there was a slew of other showings. The team behind Danganronpa showed their renamed detective game, Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, which is set to come out next Spring. Radiant Silvergun, a classic shoot ‘em up from the masters at Treasure, gets a surprise release on the Switch today. Kirby Return to Dreamland Deluxe, a remake of a four-player platformer for the Wii, was announced for Feb. 24, 2023. We saw more gameplay for highly anticipated upcoming releases such as Bayonetta 3 and Mario + Rabbids: Spark of Hope. Tunic, one of the best games of the year so far, will get a Switch release on Sept. 27. And it was made very clear that fans of farming/life sims will have plenty to look forward to, with a remake of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (which is now called Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life for complicated legal reasons), Fae Farm, Harvestella, Rune Factory 3 Special, and the reveal of a new untitled Rune Factory game. JRPG fans were similarly catered to with looks at Atelier Ryza 3, Tales of Symphonia Remastered, and Various Daylife. Nintendo also slipped in that Goldeneye 007 will be coming to the catalog of N64 games included with the Switch Online expansion pack and that it will feature online matchmaking.

You can watch the full showcase here: