Nintendo Direct: Splatoon 3 and Kirby - What were the big announcements?

Nintendo just announced a bunch of new games, updates and more in a special livestream.

Their Senior Executive Officer, Yoshiaki Koizumi shared the news in a special 40 minute long 'Direct' programme.

It gave fans a sneak peek at some of the updates coming to games like Animal Crossing, as well as new games like Splatoon 3 and Kirby, and even who's playing Mario in the new Mario movie!

Take a look at our round-up of some of the biggest announcements from the latest Nintendo Direct below...

Splatoon 3: Return of the Mammalians

Splatoon producer Hisashi Nogami dressed up as a 'squid researcher' during the programme, to give fans an exciting update about the themes, story and new weapons coming to Splatoon 3.

From the announcement it seems like fluffy mammals will be making their way back into the Splatlands, and will be a key part of the story.

In Story mode, players will take on the role of the heroic Agent 3 in the fight against the evil Octarian army.

Check out this claw-some new addition

As well as this, fans were able to get a closer look at the turf war mode, and some new weapons like the Crab Tank and Zipmaster.

Splatoon 3 is scheduled to be released in 2022 for the Nintendo Switch.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

One of the biggest announcements was the reveal of a brand new Kirby game.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is an open world adventure game - and Kirby's first ever 3D game!

From the trailer we can see Kirby exploring a strange world featuring "abandoned structures from a past civilisation".

Kirby's Sword, Cutter and Fire powers were also shown off in the trailer.

The new game is scheduled for release in spring 2022.

Chocobo GP

If you're a fan of Mario Kart, then this next announcement might be up your street...

Chocobo GP is a new racing game which features characters from the Final Fantasy series, like Vivi, Shiroma, as well as a Moogle and a Chocobo.

The game can be played in single or multi-player mode - if you fancy playing against your friends - and instead of using things like shells or banana peels, players can use something called magicite to help them cast spells like Fire or Aero to slow down other players.

Chocobo GP will be available for the Switch in 2022.

Animal Crossing - The Brewster update

Something that many fans had been looking forward to during the livestream, was an update to Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

And they got one... sort of.

Fans were shown a very short teaser clip which confirmed that Brewster was finally coming to the game.

Brewster is a pigeon character who runs a café called The Roost and was very popular in previous Animal Crossing games.

However, fans will have to wait for another livestream some time in October to get more information about Brewster's update.

What do you think about the Nintendo Direct news? Which games and updates are you looking forward to?