July - Paper Mario, Deadly Premonition 2, Catherine and Crysis
The ability to take a swim in the coastal waters of your island came to Animal Crossing in July. We got our best look yet of the treats that await in Super Nintendo World, Nintendo discussed its post-Switch plans, and belatedly opened an official Animal Crossing Instagram account. We also got the first of several Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcases.
Nintendo and LEGO officially unveiled the LEGO NES Console set while EVO joined 2020's ranks of cancelled gaming events. Following a Nintendo Treehouse presentation look at Paper Mario: The Origami King ahead of launch, WayForward's next game wasn't what some people were expecting, Animal Crossing's second summer update was detailed. Allegations in the Smash Bros. pro player community also added a very serious and sobering note to the month.
On the games front, Paper Mario, Deadly Premonitions 2, Catherine and PC-slaying legend Crysis (in Remastered form) all graced our Switch menu screens.
Most Popular News Article: Random: Have Super Smash Bros. Boxes Been Teasing Future Games All Along?
Most Popular Review: Paper Mario: The Origami King - A Puzzling Battle System Can't Kill This Funny Adventure
August - Nindies a go-go as Sakurai turns 50
With the summer in full swing and the global mood being gloomier than usual, we did our best to keep news as light-hearted as possible in August. Smash Bros. boss Masahiro Sakurai turned 50, Breath of the Wild dye ingredients were found in the novel of a world renowned author, and the lovely Alex investigated the most jam-packed Animal Crossing island we'd seen to date.
Elsewhere, Xbox boss Phil Spencer continued his unbroken run of saying very nice things about Nintendo, Pikmin 3 Deluxe was officially unveiled for Switch, more 'Switch Pro' rumours were doing the rounds, and Mario's nipples seemingly got nerfed.
Software-wise, the August Indie World Showcase featured a ton of incredible games, several of which launched immediately. We also got to play the delightful A Short Hike for the first time — a well-deserved NL 10/10.
Most Popular News Article: Random: Nintendo Posts New Image Of Mario In The Sunshine, Internet Goes Wild Again
Most Popular Review: Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition - A Weak RPG Enlivened By Nostalgia
September - It's a Mario, Mario, Mario world, plus an industry bombshell...
After months of rumour, speculation and downright praying, Nintendo finally lifted the lid on its Super Mario 35th anniversary plans in the appropriately titled Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct, which featured new games coming soon or in the following months. Scalpers soon got to work listing the limited-release title and it became Amazon's second best-selling game of 2020 before it was even released.
Yes, September was a bit of a Mario blowout — if you weren't a fan of the plumber... well, there was always Animal Crossing, no? Actually, a few days later Nintendo also pulled back the curtain on Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, a Breath of the Wild prequel story set for a November release.
In other news, Ubisoft's Gods & Monsters became Immortals McBlandname, Nintendo accidentally leaked Kirby Fighters 2, many Switch owners got to sample the joys of Super Mario Sunshine for the first time, and the list of games like No More Heroes III delayed into 2021 continued to grow as the pressures and limitations of working from home hit projects and companies without the infrastructure in place to accommodate the worst 2020 could throw their way.
The September Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase brought Monster Hunter news and the surprise drop of Microsoft-published Ori and the Will of the Wisps on Switch. The very next day we here at Nintendo Life jumped into indie game presentation business with the Nintendo Life Indie Spotlight 2020 which highlighted a whole bunch of games on the way to Switch.
All of the above pales in comparison to one bombshell dropped on the industry: the inimitable Jon Cartwright Esq. joined Alex and Zion as the third shard of the Triforce that is Nintendo Life's video team. Wisdom, Power, Courage — we're not sure who's who exactly, but it's a fitting metaphor. Answers on a post card.
Oh, and Microsoft bought some little mom-and-pop outfit, Bithasda or something. They make games, we're told.
And Hades launched, too! And Jump Rope Challenge got a reprive! Good month, video games-wise.
Most Popular News Article: Surprise! Nintendo Says Its Next Console Is Going To Be Very Much Like Its Other Consoles
Most Popular Review: Super Mario All-Stars - All That Glitters Isn't Necessarily Gold
October - Steve, Steve's meat, and other spookiness
October kicked off with the arrival of Super Mario Bros. 35 and news that Steve and Alex were coming to Smash, although Steve's meat caused quite the stir when he did arrive. Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit brought the plumbers karting action into the real world, and rumours of Nintendo investigating new screen tech surfaced.
Towards the end of the month, Nintendo shadow-dropped another Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner showcase (with a cloud version of Control landing on Switch that very day), and the inevitable Halloween events began cropping up in various games, including — of course — Animal Crossing.
Most Popular News Article: "Nintendo Isn't That Smart": Pachter Says Nintendo Should Scrap Switch And 'Only Have Switch Lite'
Most Popular Review: FIFA 21 - EA Insults Switch Owners Yet Again With This Half-Baked Effort
November - Age of Calamity arrives, F-Zero turns 30, NL turns 15
Nintendo's limited-time tactic with Super Mario 3D All-Stars seemed to pay dividends with the game shifting over five million copies in less than two weeks and Paper Mario: The Origami King became the fastest-selling entry in the series.
The special Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. arrived in the hands of nostalgic gamers, and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity launched just after Shigeru Miyamoto's 68th birthday. We also finally got the ability to transfer our Animal Crossing islands between Switches, too. A sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 sold for a record figure, 'Free Melee' morphed into 'Save Smash', and F-Zero turned 30. Nintendo Life also celebrated its 15th birthday in November, in an appropriately subdued and isolated manner we might add, but it was a happy milestone for the site nonetheless.
And outside the realm of Nintendo (does such a world exist?!) Sony and Microsoft launched the next generation of consoles — we're led to understand that the lucky few who managed to secure a pre-order and not fall victim to unscrupulous delivery personnel have been enjoying their giant-sized consoles immensely.
Most Popular News Article: Random: March 31st 2021 Is Becoming An Increasingly Depressing Day For Mario Fans
Most Popular Review: Immortals Fenyx Rising - An Off-Brand Breath Of The Wild That's Still Worth A Look
December - Goodbye (and good riddance), 2020!
After months of waiting, the Doom Slayer finally arrived on Switch to blast 2020 into oblivion in DOOM Eternal. Persona 5 Strikers was finally given a release date in the West, Sephiroth was revealed as the latest DLC fighter to join Smash in a segment of The Game Awards, an event where the omnipresent Animal Crossing: New Horizons took home the Best Family Game.
Elsewhere, EA added another nervous victim to its list of acquisitions, Nintendo broadcast the final Indie World Showcase of the year as well as a Super Nintendo World special, roguelike deck-builder Dicey Dungeons rolled to Switch and and NOA president Doug Bowser tried-but-not-really to explain the thinking behind Nintendo's recent flurry of limited-time releases.
Most Popular News Article: Next Week, Animal Crossing Players Can Donate Their Spoiled Turnips To A Good Cause
Most Popular Review: DOOM Eternal - This 'Impossible' Port Is Nothing Short Of A Miracle
And that's a wrap for 2020! Obviously, many other things went down that we don't have room to include above — let us know below what you thought were the biggest stories of the year.
We can't wait to see what the next year has in store games-wise, so Happy New Year's Eve to you all and we'll see you in 2021!
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.
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