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Nintendo Direct – 9.23.2021

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Nintendo just gave Switch owners their biggest news dump of the year.

Nintendo’s September Direct ran a tight 40 minutes on September 23, 2021, kicking off at 3 p.m. PT, and it packed in a wave of announcements for the back half of this year and into 2022. There was no single reveal that stole the whole show — instead, Nintendo spread the wealth across a new Kirby game, a major Switch Online upgrade, a Hollywood casting reveal, and the long-awaited return of Bayonetta.

• Kirby and the Forgotten Land was unveiled as a brand-new 3D platformer set in a post-apocalyptic, overgrown civilization, targeting a Spring 2022 release.
• Nintendo officially confirmed the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, adding emulated N64 and Sega Genesis libraries with matching wireless controllers, launching late October 2021.
• Shigeru Miyamoto revealed the voice cast for Illumination’s animated Super Mario Bros. movie — Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, and Jack Black — along with a December 21, 2022 release date.

Smash Bros. Fans Get a Date, Not a Name

Director Masahiro Sakurai didn’t drop the final Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC fighter during the broadcast. Instead, he confirmed that the reveal presentation for the last fighter in the game’s Fighters Pass would air on October 5, 2021, giving the community a firm date to circle rather than an immediate answer.

Kirby Goes 3D in a Ruined World

Kirby and the Forgotten Land marks a real departure for the series, trading the usual side-scrolling stages for full 3D exploration through crumbling, vine-choked cityscapes. Nintendo’s trailer leaned hard into the abandoned-civilization aesthetic, and the game is currently slated for a Spring 2022 launch on Switch.

Switch Online Gets Its Biggest Upgrade Yet

The Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack tier folds in emulated Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis titles, with Nintendo also announcing wireless N64- and Genesis-style controllers to go with the new library. The tier and its game catalog are set to go live in late October 2021, giving subscribers a reason to upgrade beyond the standard online service.

Mario Gets a Voice — and a Release Date

Miyamoto himself handled the movie news, confirming Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, and Jack Black as Bowser for Illumination’s animated Super Mario Bros. film, with a North American release date locked in for December 21, 2022.

Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser — landing in theaters December 21, 2022.

Bayonetta 3 Finally Resurfaces

After going quiet since its last trailer in 2017, Bayonetta 3 closed out the Direct with its first fresh gameplay footage in years, confirming a 2022 release window. The broadcast also touched on Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, Splatoon 3, and Triangle Strategy, while Nintendo confirmed a dedicated Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct for October — a lineup of trailers that landed in the same crowded fall stretch as reveals like the Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight trailer and the Destiny 2: The Witch Queen weapons and gear trailer.

Circle October 5 on the calendar — that’s when Sakurai’s team finally names the fighter closing out the Ultimate Fighters Pass, and after this Direct’s teaser, that presentation is the one Smash players will actually be refreshing Twitter for.