Ho ho ho! Yes, the most wonderful holiday of the year has officially arrived and it's time to start cracking out the sweetmeats, beverages, and — if you're reading this — video games. It's Christmas!

Following on from an all-round miserable 2020, this year has been... well, not a whole lot better really. COVID-19 restrictions continue to come and go and come again in many places around the globe, and it's looking like things will continue in a similar vein as we head into 2022 in a week's time.

Still, at least 2021 featured some fine video games to help get us through — and a whole load of them came to Switch. We had braced ourselves for a trickle of releases due to the knock-on effect of 2020's disruption, but Nintendo did a good job of making things appear relatively 'business as usual'.

We Nintendo fans saw a host of great games on Switch throughout the year, including Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, Bravely Default II, Monster Hunter Rise, New Pokémon Snap, Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, WarioWare: Get It Together!, and the unexpected and awesome Metroid Dread. We even saw new hardware with the lovely Switch OLED, too. Not a bad old year at all, games-wise! (Check out our reader-ranked top 50 best games of 2021 for a bunch more highlights from the past 12 months.)

With the Switch software library bulging at the seams, we've also got a little piece of site news, or new site news, to be precise. As you may have noticed if you follow our lovely YouTube channel, we have a new site up and running — codes.nintendolife.com — where you can buy Switch eShop codes and credit for your region. 'But we can get those from anywhere!' we hear you cry. Ah, but can you get 10% off by using the code XMAS10 at checkout anywhere else? Probably not! The store is currently available in 18 countries, and we'll be adding more regions soon.

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That's quite enough of that frivolity; onward to different frivolity! With 2021 all but wrapped up, we're all naturally looking to the horizon to see what's coming, and with the likes of Splatoon 3, Bayonetta 3 and (whisper it) Breath of the Wild 2 penciled in for next year, there's an awful lot for us to look forward to in 2022.

But before we get to the new year and whatever it may hold, it's time to relax a little. Please enjoy Alex, Jon and Zion’s special Christmas message above, and from all the team here at Nintendo Life the Merriest Christmas and the Happiest of New Years to the loveliest of people — you.

We're off to have some pumpkin pie and do some caroling. Yes, PUMPKIN pie, not... well, not what we used to think Brenda was singing. Have a good one!