Nintendo Direct announcements about lots of new games, including Kirby, Splatoon 3, and Bayonetta 3. Ni no Kuni II gets released on the Switch with a complete edition of Revenant Kingdom.

Nintendo Direct event showcases dozens of games and a new subscription offering

Nintendo rolled out last week with some big news about big games coming to the Switch in the new year.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land has the pink puffball exploring a cityscape that has been abandoned and which nature is beginning to reclaim.

And Bayonetta 3 is a stylish, titillating brawler that brings back the bespectacled witch to defend humanity against a host of demons.

Splatoon 3, meanwhile, is the next game in the hilarious and frantic shooter which has the squid-like Inklings splattering paint all over the place in competitive Turf Wars.

The new game also has a story mode which has you guiding Agent 3 through an adventure that takes place in different environment where they are threatened Fuzzy Ink that causes fur to grow on them.

Nintendo also detailed a new level of its Nintendo Switch Online subscription service. The Expansion Pack membership will provide subscribers with access to a library of Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games.

Some of the first games to be available include Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Golden Axe, Shining Force, and Castlevania: Bloodlines.

New wireless controllers styled after the Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis controllers are also being released.

Other games coming to your Nintendo Switch in the coming weeks include Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Castlevania Advance Collection, and Actraiser Renaissance.

Ni no Kuni II debuts on Nintendo’s Switch

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is a family-friendly role-playing adventure (developed by Level-5 and published by Bandai Namco) first released for the PS4 in 2018. The new Prince’s Edition, which collects all the post-release content, is a console exclusive to the Nintendo Switch (it’s also available for Windows).

The story, about a young prince named Evan who has been pushed out of power, provides a framework for an adventure that is equal parts exploring and adventure and equal parts world building.

The combat is real time, not turn-based, so you’ll need to learn to vary your quick and slower, more powerful attacks, you’ll have to figure out how to block attacks, dodge enemies, and wield magic.

But the thing that sets Revenant Kingdom apart is that you need to help Evan build a new kingdom, Evermore. To do so, you need to decide how to grow the community. Not just by deciding what to build and where to spend resources, but also by recruiting characters and creating a place where people want to settle.

Your success in the game relies on you building the safe place that Evan dreamt of. Build it and the people will come.