Here’s every announcement and trailer from the February Nintendo Direct

Nintendo Switch can now be earned via new missions and rewards within Nintendo Switch Online.Console owners with a Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) subscription can now go to the NSO app and find missions that can be completed for Platinum Points. These points can then be used for exclusive rewards, like new customisable icons.The missions currently include tasks like “play software that supports online play” and “back up save data”.

Extremely OK Games has finally acquired the Game Awards trophy that it won for Celeste in 2018 but never received.YouTuber PrestigeIsKey discovered the award on eBay when attempting to track down a replica of a Game Awards trophy that he could own. He was surprised to find an actual Game Award listed on the site (via PCGamer).The award was offered for £373 ($500 USD), and the seller’s other items were primarily car parts and key fobs, which raised some suspicion about the authenticity of the product on offer.

Pokémon Unite character has been revealed as a possibly surprising choice in the form of Hoopa.The official Pokémon Unite YouTube channel released a trailer showing off Hoopa’s abilities. Hyperspace Hole is an ability where “Hoopa creates a large ring at the designated location, and after a set amount of time, Hoopa and any ally Pokémon in the area of effect will return to their base.”Once the Hyperspace Hole is in effect, Hoopa and ally Pokémon can also warp back to where the ring was created.

The Pokémon Company has announced that a new Pokémon Presents broadcast will air this weekend.Announced via Twitter, the publisher confirmed that the upcoming Pokémon Presents will take place on Sunday, February 27 at 2 PM GMT / 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET.The broadcast will be 14 minutes long and feature a pre-recorded video, according to the post. So far, The Pokémon Company hasn’t revealed any information about what fans can expect during the presentation.In a separate post on its website, the publisher confirmed that the presentation would coincide with the day Pokémon Red and Green (the first Pokémon game) was released on February 27, 1996.

Mina The Hollower, the next game from the studio behind Shovel Knight, has surpassed 16,000 backers on Kickstarter.Developed by Yacht Club Games, Mina The Follower is a “bone-chilling love letter to handheld gaming” featuring a classic 8-bit aesthetic in the style of Game Boy Color, refined for the modern era.The game was announced last month with the developer requesting $311,000 (£230,000), which was surpassed within 24 hours of its Kickstarter posting. Now, as of writing, the indie game has reached over $925,000 (£680,437) worth of pledges and has over 16,000 backers.With 12 days to go before the Kickstarter ends, the number of pledges seem to be rising steadily and has almost reached $1million, over triple its set amount.With 60fps action and top-down gameplay, the game follows the player as Mina, a whip-wielding Hollower and visionary inventor.

The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is coming to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pass next week, Nintendo announced alongside a trailer.This time travel take on The Legend Of Zelda releases on February 25, and is available alongside other classic Nintendo 64 titles as part of the Nintendo Switch Online and Expansion Pack subscription.With the announcement that the 3DS and Wii U eShops will be closing down in 2023, playing Majora’s Mask on the Nintendo Switch will soon become the only modern way to purchase the game from Nintendo, as the Wii U Virtual Console and 3DS remake versions will no longer be available.In a now deleted Q&A section on the announcement, Nintendo said it has “no plans to offer classic content in other ways [outside of Nintendo Switch Online]”. This has caused quite a concern for many fans that want simple ways to play legacy titles.When the next Zelda Nintendo 64 game hits the subscription service next week, many players may need to be cautious, as both The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time and Mario Kart 64 launched on the service with major emulation issues.Ocarina Of Time had issues reported of input lag, and incorrect rendering of fog and reflective elements in the game as well.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus has been discovered by a player, leading others to speculate it could be cut content.As spotted by VGC, a new YouTube video posted by Faz Faz shows them inside the room, which is only accessible with third-party software on PC.Although the entire room is decorated with the typical present-day items such as a television, bed, desk, laptop, and beanbag, nothing can be interacted with. There’s even a Pikachu Nintendo Switch sitting on the television stand.You can check out the full video below:The video shows the player walking around the small room and through the furniture models.

Nintendo has announced the Portal: Companion Collection will be released for the Switch this year.During yesterday’s (February 9) Nintendo Direct, it was announced that Portal and Portal 2 will both be coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2022 in the form of a collection, although no specific date was given.Nintendo also shared the news on Twitter, saying, “No lie, the Portal: Companion Collection – featuring the award-winning games Portal and Portal 2 – is warping onto NintendoSwitch this year!”Portal is a physics-based puzzle-platformer released by Valve in 2007 and uses a portal gun to allow players to link two locations together.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has been announced with confirmation the game will launch in September for Nintendo Switch.During the latest Nintendo Direct, and saving the announcement for last, Nintendo announced the latest game in the Monolith Soft RPG series with a 2-minute story trailer.The trailer debuted the game’s main cast, several open-world environments, and third-person action that is so familiar to the RPG series. It will apparently tie together the futures of the worlds depicted in Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2.You can check out the official trailer below:Additionally, following the game’s reveal, Xenoblade Chronicles 3‘s executive director Tetsuya Takahashi also shared a message on the new title, detailing further information that will interest fans of the 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,” Takahashi said.“The key visual features a broken great sword of Mechonis and the body of the Urayan Titan with a gaping wound,” the director continued.

Kirby And The Forgotten Land trailer was unveiled last night (February 9) during the Nintendo Direct, showcasing a new mode.The ever cute yet weird pink blob has learned how to transform into much bigger things, courtesy of the new Mouthful Mode. The trailer showcases what to expect.

Nintendo Direct of the year has been announced, and it’s shaping up to be a big one. If you’re wondering what’s in store for the Nintendo Switch in 2022, don’t miss it – here’s how, when and where to watch the Nintendo Direct.The Nintendo Direct is scheduled for today (February 9) and will broadcast at 10PM GMT / 11PM CST / 2PM PT.When it goes live, the Nintendo Direct will be available to watch on Nintendo’s official YouTube channel, which you can see below.As to what’s in store, Nintendo says it will feature “roughly 40 minutes of information mainly focused on Nintendo Switch games launching in the first half of 2022.”While it’s safe to expect more news on Kirby And The Forgotten Land, which launches on March 25, there’s a few other games which could potentially make an appearance.

Nintendo has announced their first Direct of the year will air tomorrow (February 9) with a focus on games releasing in the first half of this year.Tomorrow’s Nintendo Direct will last roughly 40 minutes, and will be “mainly focused on Nintendo Switch games launching in the first half of 2022.” It starts at 10 PM GMT, but the announcement provided no other details on what might be shown.

1-2-Switch may be gaining a sequel, according to reliable insider, Zippo.As posted on Zippo’s blog and then spotted by VGC, supposedly a sequel is in development.On the blog, Zippo pointed out that sometimes “I really, really don’t understand Nintendo“. That’s because Zippo is no fan of 1-2-Switch. The blogger described it as “one of the most dull, lifeless, forgettable games I have ever played,” and added that “usually when I do a scoop, it’s usually a game I’m interested in”.Despite Zippo’s lack of enthusiasm for the original game, it sold well.

Techland, issues concerning co-op play and “problems with redeeming rewards” are the top of the list to be fixed in Dying Light 2.A tweet from launch day (February 4) has talked about some of the major issues players are facing in the game, and assures that Techland aims to fix them. This follows news that the game had a day one patch featuring over 1,000 fixes.The official Dying Light Twitter said: “Dear gamers, thank you for your feedback. Two things on the top of our list: disconnects in co-op mode and problems with redeeming awards, codes, and other in-game content, including Twitch Drops from TechlandGG.

Nintendo devices.In court documents spotted by Eurogamer, the US government has recommended that Bowser – who pled guilty to two charges in 2021 – should be imprisoned for five years, with a further 3 years of supervised release.This is due to “the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history and characteristics of the defendant, and the need for the sentence to reflect the seriousness of the offense,” as well as “to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct.”On the other hand, Bowser’s defence argued that he is “the least culpable and only apprehended defendant from this indictment,” leaving Bowser to “take the full brunt of the government’s argument that the court must ‘send a message’ of general deterrence by imposing a lengthy term.”The defence also added that Bowser has already “served a significant sentence by spending 16 months in pretrial detention under harsh conditions”, and requested a 19-month sentence instead of the US government’s 60-month recommendation.Outside of jail time, Bowser faces paying to significant fines in regards to the case. After Bowser pleaded guilty in November he offered Nintendo £3.2million ($4.5million) in damages, though in December 2021 it was confirmed that he would pay the company £7.5million ($10million).Bowser is being charged with Trafficking in Circumvention Devices, and Conspiracy to Circumvent Technological Measures and to Traffic in Circumvention Devices, after he pled guilty to both in return for a further nine charges being dropped.

Nintendo has announced that franchise revamp Pokémon Legends: Arceus has now reached over 6.5million players across the globe.Released last week on January 28, the newest Pokémon entry adopts a more open world-type approach to the traditional formula, and players look to be onboard with the new direction.The title even accounted for almost half of all boxed game sales in the UK the week it launched, and joined other Nintendo Switch titles to dominate the sales as a whole.“Thank you to the more than 6.5million explorers worldwide who have already embarked on an exciting new adventure in Pokémon Legends: Arceus,” wrote the official Nintendo of America Twitter.Thank you to the more than 6.5 million explorers worldwide who have already embarked on an exciting new adventure in #PokemonLegendsArceus! We hope you're loading up on more potato mochi before your next research mission! pic.twitter.com/u1MKRHkhhD— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 4, 2022Whilst the release date of the new Pokémon title means there was no major data in the most recent financial reports for Nintendo, there were some other notable milestones and statements made.Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo Switch has now outsold the Wii, with a few years left on its life cycle.

Nintendo reportedly hints at making its next console backwards compatible with the Nintendo Switch.Following the announcement that the Nintendo Switch has sold 103.54million units since it was launched in March 2017, the company reportedly spoke on the future of its consoles in a new Q&A with investors (thanks, VGC).According to Japan-based analyst and investment adviser David Gibson, who summarised the answers on Twitter, the company is ready to make its next console backwards compatible.Responding to a question regarding the Switch’s 98million annual players and how they will factor into the next console, Nintendo said: “Into 6th year of Switch and we are maintaining momentum, we are looking at how to expand and grow this 100m users, leading into next-gen device.”Q) How think about the 98m versus next console?A) Into 6th year of Switch and we are maintaining momentum, we are looking at how to expand and grow this 100m users, leading into next gen device (sounds like next device will be backward compatible!) 7/— David Gibson (@gibbogame) February 3, 2022Gibson also added his theory to the Tweet, saying, “sounds like next device will be backward compatible,” although Nintendo didn’t elaborate.The company was also asked how new console users are buying their games. Nintendo said that around 60 per cent of game purchases were from the console’s catalogue in the last fiscal year.

Techland after the last-minute reveal that Dying Light 2: Stay Human will use Denuvo, the controversial Anti Tamper DRM technology.The inclusion of Denuvo was quietly revealed yesterday (February 1) via a back-end Steam update.“Dying Light 2: Stay Human was in development for seven years,” a Techland representative wrote on the Steam forums.“Throughout that period, over fifteen hundred people invested their time and talent into making the game. To protect the efforts of the whole team from piracy we suffered when we released Dying Light 1, we’ve included the Denuvo system, at least for the launch period.

Yacht Club Games – the developer of Shovel Knight – newest title has already exceeded its Kickstarter goal after less than 24 hours.The indie developers announced a new game last night (January 1) and simultaneously opened up its Kickstarter funding only for the goal to be exceeded by the next morning.A requested total of around £230,000 has already been surpassed, and as of publication around £265,000 has been raised with 29 days left for backers to pledge.Called Mina The Hollower, this new game aims to emulate the 8-bit aesthetic of Game Boy Colour titles like Link’s Awakening, whilst running at 60 FPS and in widescreen.A series of stretch goals have also been announced for Mina The Hollower, now that it has reached its funding goal. Some of the tiers include a copy of the game, a CD of the soundtrack, and official pin, a design works book and even the opportunity to help design an NPC.“The biggest risk is that Mina the Hollower may take longer than anticipated,” said the developers in a post.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus has been a huge hit for Nintendo, with the new game enjoying an even bigger UK launch than its predecessors, remake duo Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.As noted by games industry business site GI.biz, Pokémon Legends: Arceus accounts for almost half of all boxed game sales in the UK last week, and beat out another new entry, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection.Nintendo Switch games dominated the charts as a whole, with Mario Kart 8: Deluxe the second best-selling game of the week, despite launching in April 2017, while Animal Crossing: New Horizons in at number four, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at six, and the Switch version of Minecraft at seven. However, it’s also worth noting that these charts only reflect physical game sales, not digital purchases.Part of the appeal of the latest Pokémon game may be that it is a major departure for the series.