2020 might have put most of us through the wringer to a greater or lesser extent, but it's been a surprisingly strong year from a games perspective.
Of course, it's become Nintendo's MO in recent years to concentrate discussion on projects it has in the pipeline for the year in question, so while we're all desperate to hear about big future games like Metroid Prime 4 and Breath of the Wild 2, we don’t expect to get any chewy details about those until they're a matter of months away.
While this silent approach might be frustrating, it has also led to some delightful surprises this year, with excellent games like Paper Mario: The Origami King and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity announced and released in relatively short succession.
In the article below we shall recap some of the most significant stories and games of 2020 covered by our top news and reviews teams, as well as highlight the most popular article and review on Nintendo Life from each and every month of this long, long year. (You can check out longer reads from the past twelve months by perusing our Best of 2020 feature selection).
So, while you might be hesitant to take a trip down Recent Memory Lane, we promise this recap of 2020 will include mostly positive recollections. That said, there'll be a couple of unavoidable negatives to touch on, too — we'll try not to dwell.
So strap in and let’s have a look back on an eventful twelve months.
January - Pokémon Direct, Byleth Direct, but no 'proper' Direct
Looking at Nintendo's 2020 slate, there was Brain Training at the start of the year, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore in mid-January, the delayed Animal Crossing coming in March... and not much else on the horizon. While many were hungry for a full-fat Nintendo Direct (something we wouldn't end up seeing all year, in fact), the January Pokémon Direct revealed a plethora of details around the Sword & Shield Expansion Pass, Pokémon HOME, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX and more with over 200 old 'mon returning to the expanded Galar National Dex.
Elsewhere, Byleth was revealed as the 5th DLC fighter for Smash Bros. Ultimate (as well as a whole new Fighter's Pass), Bethesda's retro DOOMs received an update that made them essential purchases for rip-and-tearers, Masahiro Sakurai revealed that he'd played an awful lot of Playstation games in 2019, a prolific leaker suggested we'd see a Paper Mario game and a 2D Metroid game later in the year (we're still waiting on the latter, of course), and Hideki Kamiya started off the year in fine form with his opinion on the Switch Home Menu (and Switch fans took to mocking up their own theme and folder ideas).
January games included the excellent Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition, the also-excellent 198X, and the triply-excellent To The Moon.
Most Popular News Article: Remember That Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Clone That Killed A PS4? It's Coming To Switch
Most Popular Review: SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays - Brilliant Strategy RPG Action Bursting With Content
February - Wonderful 101 returns while we await the big one next month...
The same leaker that mentioned a Paper Mario release made an oblique reference to a planned Holiday 2020 release with "tires" in it — not exactly much to go on, but Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit did end up releasing in November. Platinum Games teased The Wonderful 101: Remastered just prior to its official announcement, Nintendo was bullish about upcoming competition from next gen consoles and Sakurai reacted to accusations of too many Fire Emblem characters in Smash by pointing the finger in Nintendo's direction.
Elsewhere, we wondered where in the world Pikmin 4 has got to and NL readers voted for their favourite Pokémon starters ever (with somewhat predictable results!). More details about Animal Crossing were bubbling up, people were getting antsy with the lack of Nintendo Direct, Witcher 3 on Switch got an impressive update, and a story about Nintendo Customer Support going above and beyond for an elderly Tetris fan gave us all the warm fuzzies.
Most Popular News Article: Nintendo And The Pokémon Company Release Joint Statement On Sword And Shield Leaker
Most Popular Review: Two Point Hospital - Arguably The Best Version Of An Acclaimed Modern Classic
March - A dear old favourite reappears in the nick of time
The gravity of the global situation that would come to dominate the rest of the year started to become apparent as events began to be postponed, adapted or cancelled. We got an Indie World Showcase, the Nintendo PlayStation sold at auction, Nintendo hit a legal road bump in the ongoing Joy-Con drift fiasco, and everyone and their dog was trying to get their hands on Ring Fit Adventure ahead of lockdown and the gaming event calendar was dealt a significant blow as E3 2020 was cancelled three months out from its planned June slot.
It wasn't all bad news in the gaming world, though. March heralded the significant and very welcome return of a old favourite around these parts: we are, of course, referring to the resurrection of our dear sister site, Pure Xbox. Nice to have you back, old friend.
In other news, Nintendo put out some random little life sim where you potter about doing nothing much. All eyes were following it, apart from the ones on other platforms which were on DOOM Eternal, and even those got distracted occasionally by the delightful Doomguy / Isabelle fan art and memes.
Yes, Animal Crossing: New Horizons would come to dominate the news cycle for a good few months, fuelled partly by its awesomeness and partly by global circumstances that led millions to find comfort and escape to Nook's getaway island. Islands filled with critters, the ability to poop, Isabelle and the Doom Slayer in animated form — you name it, Animal Crossing provided.
Most Popular News Article: Fan-Made Website Lets You Create And Share Animal Crossing Town Tunes
Most Popular Review: Animal Crossing: New Horizons - An Accessible And Addictive Masterpiece
April - Lockdown, review-bombing and a return to the Streets of Rage
Animal Crossing fever took over and people got busy showcasing their talents with incredible island projects and custom designs (and bemoaning Bunny Day). The start of April was also filled with customary pranks, Super Mario Maker 2 received its 'final' update, thousands of Nintendo accounts were reported to have been compromised, and Lord of the Rings star and all-round good egg Elijah Wood visited randoms on the internet to flog his turnips.
A slew of Summer 2020 online presentations were announced to fill the vacuum left by E3 2020's cancellation. Japanese ratings organisation CERO shut down temporarily as the world reacted to COVID-19, although Nintendo's biggest release of the year couldn't stop making headlines, with the game making the front page of the Financial Times in amongst all the sobering pandemic-related news articles.
Games-wise, Jupiter put out its 472nd Picross title, Trials of Mana delivered a beloved and long-missing RPG classic to the West in reimagined 3D form, Sam Barlow continued pushing at the boundaries of the FMV detective genre with Telling Lies, and Dotemu, Guard Crush Games and Lizardcube took us back to the '90s in the brilliant retro revival Streets of Rage 4.
Most Popular News Article: One Month Later, Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Review-Bombing Is Only Getting Worse
Most Popular Review: Cooking Mama: Cookstar - Definitely Needed More Time In The Oven
May - Surprise announcements as Animal Crossing mania grips the globe
Nintendo posted some very healthy sales figures and also revealed Paper Mario: The Origami King scheduled for release in July. The Nintendo Switch Online offering was expanded with four more titles, Pikmin 3 rumours bubbled away and the company also suffered a massive leak of development material.
The news, though, was dominated by Animal Crossing as the game exceeded Nintendo's lifetime sales predictions in its first six weeks on sale. Toom Nook grabbed the zeitgeist by the throat and wouldn't let go, with Gary Whitta's Animal Talking chatshow attracting huge celebrities, artists reimagining characters as humans, players exploiting glitches before they were patched out, and even the person who wrote the Sea Bass joke admitting he was getting tired of it.
Elsewhere, Pac-Man turned 40, Indivisible snuck out onto the Switch eShop without the knowledge of the developer, and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition launched at the end of the month.
Most Popular News Article: Ever Wondered Why A Villager Left Your Island In Animal Crossing? This Latest Datamine Reveals All
Most Popular Review: The Elder Scrolls: Blades - A Grindy Free-To-Play Bastardisation Of Bethesda's RPG Classic
June - The Isle of Armor, Clubhouse Games, LEGO Mario and, yes, more Animal Crossing
A Pokémon Presents broadcast (the first of two, in fact, although the second was something of a damp squib) accompanied the release of the first Isle of Armor DLC for Pokémon Sword and Shield and revealed a host of new Pokémon-related games and products (including New Pokémon Snap). People got a little confused about which DLC they should be buying, but the expansion itself was rather good.
In other news, Min Min was revealed as the next Smash fighter, the Joy-Con drift saga continued, the opening of Super Nintendo World was postponed to 2021, supply constraints hindering Switch production eased a little, and Nintendo and Lego lifted the lid on their Super Mario collaboration.
Fans took to creating their own Direct presentation, Ori developer Moon Studios threw us off the scent of a Switch port of Will of the Wisps, EarthBound turned 25 in the US, and Sega revealed the impossibly cute (and entirely useless) Game Gear Micro. And Animal Crossing continued its rampage across news desks, with a host of brands jumping on Nook's band wagon.
Nintendo's Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics landed on Switch in June, as did free downloadable title Jump Rope Challenge to help you stay active during lockdown. Other notable releases included XCOM 2, Bioshock: The Collection and the Borderlands Legendary Collection.
Most Popular News Article: Here Are The Seven EA Games Reportedly Coming To Switch In The Next Year
Most Popular Review: The Outer Worlds - Obsidian's Fallout-Style RPG Is Worth A Look On Switch
Comments 28
Well... Animal Crossing was good!
I know this is slightly off topic but the picture made me think of it.
I recently purchased a Switch Lite for my wife's mother, she likes Mario Kart, i wanted to get the MK bundle but it was sold out on Amazon, i was then just about to buy the Switch Lite for £200 without a game and get MK separately for £40, but i found the Animal Crossing bundle for £210, so i got that instead and MK separately. I'll keep Animal Crossing myself for my collection.
In short i just got Animal Crossing for £10 lol.
Edit: no actual interest in playing the game but a Nintendo first party title brand new still wrapped for £10 is too good a deal to pass up on.
It was a decent year. I was much more consistently entertained than I was in 2018.
It's a far cry from 2017, 2019, or (by the looks of it) 2021, though.
I feel guilty about having a really good year. Nothing nintendo related so happy 2021!
Aside from the pandemic, I thought 2020 was amazing. It's even my new favorite year after 2017, which was still amazing to me.
-We got Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which became both my new favorite AC game and my new favorite Switch game.
-Pop'n TwinBee FINALLY coming to the US, a game which Japan and Europe got.
-Clubhouse Games, a surprisingly good "shovelware" game.
-Another good Puyo Puyo and Tetris game since Puyo Puyo Tetris from 2017.
-Super Mario All Stars FINALLY released digitally.
-A surprise and great Smash Bros alternative (Kirby Fighters 2).
-etc.
If that's not enough, 2020 also brightened up my day after how much of a mixed-bag 2019 was, in my opinion. I mean, yes, we got Luigi's Mansion 3, Link's Awakening Remake, Atelier Lulua, Umihara Kawase Fresh!, Gensou SkyDrift, and Dragon Quest Builders 2...but 2019 also had Tetris 99, Dragon: Marked for Death, Super Neptunia RPG, and Yoshi's Crafted World, four of which have disappointed me left and right (especially Yoshi, oh my goodness...how did we go from the amazing and fun Yoshi's Woolly World on Wii U to...that? Ugh.).
Overall, there isn't much for me to look forward to in 2021 outside of Cyber-Shadow and Super Mario 3D World, but I'm remaining hopeful.
@SuperGhirahim64 pretty uninspiring as far as Nintendo, but some good indies and ports
There were some good releases this year that I enjoyed a lot. But I've got to say, I think there are already more games I'm looking forward to next year compared to this year lol.
This felt like a weak year for Nintendo, sure Animal Crossing sold lots and is popular but almost noting came out that I was interested in...
Happy New Year Nintendo Life. Thanks for always being a fun and informative gaming site!
We honestly didn't get much 1st party wise aside from a few games. The rest being ports and 3rd party games.
PR wise this was nintendos worst year especially. With the melee controversy they shut down melee tournaments using slippi, a big splatoon tournament as well as an ultimate one. Not to mention earlier this year Nintendo argued joycon drift wasn't a real issue.
Honestly disappointed with this year.
2020= Animal Crossing and some of the worst directs.
In brighter news I found one of the best games I missed the first time around. The Walking Dead.
Happy new year everyone
A bit disappointing, but understandable due to the pandemic. 2021 is shaping up to be more like 17/19 though, and delaying games is far better for both game quality and the health of the developers.
Seeing as I don't care for animal crossing or new paper mario, age of calamity was the only first party game I got. I spent another 400 hours in minecraft, replayed some old games, and bought some fantastic indie games. Here's to hoping next year's better!
It's been a great year for Switch
Not sure why people are so hopeful about 2021. Till now, there's probably one Nintendo title with a release date, with three major announced titles but none having a release timeframe. Of course that may change with a January Direct, but Directs are history, are they not? I'd rather wait for the next Indie Direct.
Nintendo-wise, 2020 was pretty bad for me. Not interested in either of Animal Crossing or Paper Mario. Also those limited time stuff - ugh!
When year 2018 and 2019 were my year of Nintendo Switch, year 2020 was my PS3 year as i changed my focus on building PS3 games during pandemic and i got a lot of new experiences from my PS3 games i bought, something missing from Nintendo games.
Of course i still built my Switch library but it was drastically slow compared by last year. If last year i could collect 14 - 15 Switch games in 1 year, on year 2020 i only collected 4 games.
I will collect more Switch games during year 2021 as my collection will reach 48 games and i have to buy another HORI 24 Switch cartridge box.
2020 wasn't all that bad games wise imo, it gave me two of my favourite switch games thus far being Origami King and Age of Calamity. Just reached the end of Chapter 5 and it's so good.
Let's pretend that last decade was only 9 years long and some games magically appear between 2019 and 2021
I feel like 2020 was a bit weaker than previous years in terms of first party output but I don't really mind. It gave me the chance to work on my backlog and actually replay some of the games I wanted to replay. 2021 looks very promising though.
@TheLightSpirit I have had 2 dreams in the past few months in which Ori had been revealed for Smash. If that doesn't show how much I want Ori in Smash I don't know what does, haha
Since the switch launched this has been the weakest year in terms of new games, hopefully next year is much better
@Grot there’s plenty to play as far as content from other developers. I just have not been fired up about a Nintendo title since Luigi’s Mansion. I am not saying that Pokémon, Hyrule Warriors, AC, 51 Clubhouse, Paper Mario don’t have their virtues. I have three of them . They just aren’t really must have for me.
All things considered, 2020 was pretty good for Switch. There was a lot of content and some amazing games. The real world was not so lucky, however...
Awful year. Nintendo finally broke the fan in me. I no longer buy stuff to try it, running off the 2017 high I had during 2018 and 2019, havent even touched my Switch much at all since Sept (their year report of my playtime reminded how long it's been). But between their weak lineup (which given the times is kind of understandable) but more importantly their gross new (and old) business practices...I just don't care about Nintendo much anymore, from a fan point of view, or as an interested consumer. I don't hate them nor am I excited about them. Just sort of neutral on them. They gotta work hard again for my money.
Wow! It really has been quite a year. Lots of ups and lots of downs. Roll on 2021! Happy New Year everyone!
I've enjoyed the "year off" gaming. Yes, Animal Crossing came at the right time and the lack of other major titles has meant a chance to return to old games not completed or even started.
I sense 2021 will be a big year for Nintendo. A few big titles like Metroid Prime 4, a few surprises like the Metroid Prime Trilogy, an F-Zero Ultimate (dreaming) and a reworked Star Fox Zero (more dreaming), and the announcement of the Switch 2 for possibly early 2022 with Zelda BOTW2 as a launch title. Don't worry everyone, all Switch 2 games will be compatible on Switch.
"Ubisoft's Gods & Monsters became Immortals McBlandname"
I really laughed at that one. It IS kinda bland. They had got off to a wrong start with pre-naming it "Gods and Monsters" anyway.
Dreadful year, Animal Crossing included. I enjoyed AC in the first lockdown, but honestly, the impossibly bad online setup took its toll and I haven't loaded the game up again since August.
Nintendo are rolling in the big bucks with Switch - they need to spend some of it on improving multiplayer and the eShop.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...