Nintendo finally confirmed Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s name and a release date: 12th May 2023 - plus new details on what to expect from Link’s next adventure, which will apparently take him “to the vast lands of Hyrule… up into the skies and [into] an expanded world that goes beyond that.”
Originally confirmed to Eurogamer by Shigeru Miyamoto in 2015, Nintendo finally gave us an official first teaser for Pikmin 4. I can’t quite believe it’s still in development, but it is, and it is coming to Nintendo Switch in 2023.
Another huge announcement today came in the shape of Fire Emblem Engage, the next main game in Nintendo’s strategy series which was leaked earlier this year. Set 1000 years after the war against the Fell Dragon, this installment will let you summon and fight alongside past heroes such as Marth and Celica. It launches on 20th January 2023.
Next up, GoldenEye 007, which was simultaneously announced by Nintendo for its Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription, as well as directly by Rare for Xbox Game Pass via Twitter. This new version adds online multiplayer to the Switch version, while the Xbox edition has 4K visuals.
Other upcoming N64 games headed to Nintendo’s subscription were also detailed, including Pilotwings 64 and Pokémon Stadium.
Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe, a remake of the Wii original, was announced today for launch on Switch on 24th February 2023. This version includes a new copy ability, local multiplayer support and new mini-games.
Fresh from breaking sales records in Japan, Splatoon 3’s first post-launch Splatfest will ask you what you’d use to survive on a desert island: Gear? Grub? Or… fun? Look for that over the weekend of Saturday 24th September.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s third wave of DLC will arrive this “winter” with eight more tracks, including Merry Mountain from Mario Kart Tour and Peach Gardens from Mario Kart DS. These tie in perfectly with past track leaks, lending yet more legitimacy to those.
Today brought new gameplay for Bayonetta 3 which, as we knew, arrives next month on 28th October. A separately-released video looked at the game in more detail - which you can watch here.
We got a round of updates on existing Nintendo games, such as the next wave of content coming to Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s Expansion Pass. Volume 2 will let you add the new mechanical-looking hero Ino to your party, and dress up in beachwear, because of course. This all arrives on 14th October.
Over in Mario Strikers: Battle League Football land, a second free update to the game will launch later in September and bring Diddy Kong to the game, plus more gear, another stadium, individual rankings based on skill points, customisation options for supporters in the audience and stadium effect options. It would have been great to have this stuff ready for launch, but oh well.
And for Nintendo Switch Sports, its long-awaited Golf Update got a slight delay to this “winter”. Today’s footage showed local play and a new eight-player online survival mode.
Onto the third-party games, which were headlined by the announcement of Octopath Traveller 2. The next adventure in the retro pixel 3D CG series will arrive for Nintendo Switch on 24th February 2023.
A brand new Final Fantasy Theatrhythm game was also confirmed, in time for the franchise’s 35th anniversary. Theatrhythm Final Bar Line has a frankly ridiculous number of tracks from the series - as well as from other franchises - and will arrive on 16th February 2023.
The beloved indie masterpiece Tunic will arrive for Switch on 27th September, thanks to several prayer circles here at Eurogamer.
Project Zero/Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse launches outside of Japan for the first time in early 2023, Nintendo announced. It’s also coming to PlayStation and Xbox, after initially arriving for Wii back in 2008.
Critically-acclaimed co-op game It Takes Two will come to Nintendo Switch on 4th November, it was confirmed. That’s the same day as Final Fantasy-esque farming game Harvestella, which gets a Switch demo today.
The similarly-liked Sifu will launch for Switch on 8th November.
Speaking of farming games, Rune Factory 3 Special will launch on Switch next year - and an all-new Rune Factory is in development.
Want more farming games? The GameCube Harvest Moon classic A Wonderful Life will return on Switch in the guise of Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life. After almost 20 years, it will launch in the summer of 2023.
Yet another farm game, Fae Farm, launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch in spring 2023.
Another GameCube classic, the role-playing game Tales of Symphonia Remastered, arrives for Switch in early 2023, as well as PlayStation and Xbox.
Various Resident Evil games are coming to Nintendo Switch via cloud versions, including Village on 28th October. Also coming this year are cloud versions of Resi 7, 2, and 3.
Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, from the creators of Danganronpa, is coming in spring 2023.
From Ubisoft, there’s Just Dance 2023 Edition on 22nd November and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope on 20th October. As we found out the other day, the latter will include Rayman in a post-launch expansion. We also got a look at Oddballers, a party game coming in early 2023.
Launching today is a simulation RPG named Various Daylife, alongside arcade shoot-’em-up Radiant Silvergun.
Machine-building simulation Factorio launches on 28th October. Crisis Core - Final Fantasy 7 - Reunion is coming to Switch on 13th December. Arty 2D exploration adventure Ib turns up in spring 2023.
Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star launches in March 2023, while Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key turns up on 24th February 2023.
Also confirmed for next year: SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake and roguelite Endless Dungeon. Remakes of Front Mission 1-3 were also shown, though without release information.
Finally, games appearing in montage form included Disney Speedstorm (winter 2022), Lego Bricktales (autumn 2022), the Life is Strange Arcadia Bay Collection (27th September), Romancing SaGa - Minstrel Song - Remastered (1st December), and lastly Fall Guys Season 2 - which begins 15th September.
