Taking all previous life-span’s into consideration, the average length of a console generation is around six to seven years. It might sound strange – maybe even a little unnecessary – to talk of generation’s end, given we’ve just seen two new consoles launch but a couple months ago. And while no one is exactly hinting that it’s coming to an end anytime soon, for what will be the start of its fifth year this coming March, it wouldn’t be a stretch to presume that the Nintendo Switch has safely past the figurative half-way mark in its own respective life expectancy. Or has it? If the fact the Big N even released their last home (yet even that moniker is up for speculation) console around mid-way through the “eighth generation” in 2017 isn’t any indication on the company doing their own thing, then nothing is. But we’ve become rather accustomed to this manner of behavior from the Kyoto-based behemoth of video games, haven’t we?
One of Nintendo’s most attractive and canny traditions is their utter disregard for such in the industry; a company so secretive, so conserved, so protective of their property (to the point friction with consumers and the very communities in awe of their work, arises) that guessing at what Nintendo have – or haven’t – tucked up their sleeve, has become a sort of game in of itself. Fake leaks this and self-professed “insider” rumors that (of which amount to little more than narcissistic attention-seeking that maybe gets lucky once or twice). You needn’t look far to find the two tribes already duking it out: “Nintendo Switch is doomed this year,” one party will profess; “Nintendo have plenty in store, they just want to surprise us,” the other side answers back, regardless of how grounded or naive such optimism ends up being. The latter half aren’t entirely wrong though; last year’s out-of-nowhere announcement onHyrule Warriors: Age of Calamityeven existing was two-fold in its bafflement. A successor of sorts to the 2014 Wii U Zelda-oriented Musou was one – on top of the fact that it was pitched as a canonical prequel to Breath of the Wild. The second was that it would be available in a little over a couple of months. You ever wanted to see how a new game announcement should be handled? Well bam, there it is!
In an age of targeted release windows and subsequent delays, though similarly far from a refreshing concept it is, such moments remain welcome no matter the time and year. And while Nintendo are too prone to providing “updates” on anticipated games (as Metroid fans know better than anyone currently), it’s why such a microcosm in our culture that lives for the up-and-down rollercoaster that annual Nintendo release schedules harbor, exists. 2021 is no different, in fact it can be argued that this year is even more unpredictable, even more “up in the air” than even 2018 was. But where 2018 may have had the excuse of understandably not living up to the enormity 2017 garnered, 2021 is a slightly different tale. This will be the third time I’ve taken a look at the Switch’s line-up (assumptions, hopes and predictions very much used liberally here) following 2017’s incredible bounce-back and 2019’s much-needed variety which in hindsight resulted in another great year for Nintendo both on first-party and third-party fronts alike.
2020 was a strange year for Nintendo in retrospect. The easy response would be to declare that it was 2018 2.0 – a year that may have given one, maybe two, “big” releases from Nintendo, but whose broader, twelve month period was overshadowed by the year that preceded it, of their competitors holding the consensus of doing better in output. And of more prominent events elsewhere that altered plenty of trajectories and wound up with many developers far and wide have to “adapt” to changing circumstances. Who would argue against the notion 2020 elicited probably one of the most significant changes in everyday living for us all? The reality, however, is that 2020 may not have been as bad a turn-out as some may pessimistically portray. Add up all the exclusives alone in that period and the picture is a little more rosey.Animal Crossing: New Horizons,Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition,Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics&Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. Four exclusives for the whole year might not sound a lot, but that’s a fair and sizeable helping when you factor in third-party support and independent releases alike which Nintendo have, in the past few years, done well in clawing back from Sony and Microsoft alike.
But to state the company’s two fiercest competitors aren’t themselves trying to reclaim that hold – even without the existence of two (technically three) new pieces of hardware on the market now – would be foolish. With all of history distilled into this look forward, there’s a touch of the irony then that the start of 2021 for Nintendo Switch may well fall on the shoulders of third-party releases. A bizarre, if not unthinkable, statement when not five years ago, all hopes of reasonable, sufficient-quality, third-party support was as dead as a dodo. February alone proves things aren’t as bleak as they once were for Nintendo fans. February alone sees two cult properties, Bravely Default by Square Enix and Shin Megami Tensei spin-off Persona from Atlus, getting a sequel and [further] spin-off alike.Persona 5 Strikerson February 23 andBravely Default IIa few days later, on February 26. The caveat for the former, though, being its availability elsewhere, not least on PC – another promising sign of Sega’s commitment to bringing more of their IPs to the platform, be they previously-released or upcoming titles alike.
A month later comes Monster Hunter Rise, a game so anticipated its recently-released demo has been speculated to have brought eShop servers down. If you’re a fan of Capcom’s beast-slaying adventures (and own a Switch, more importantly) 2021 looks bright indeed – even spin-off entry Stories is itself getting a sequel, expected to release sometime in the third quarter of this same year and exclusive to the Switch. Beyond that you have a mix of smaller-scale/AA, though far from obscure, third-party games such as No More Heroes III to Hollow Knight: Silksong (which remains console-exclusive at the time of writing) whose actual release date remains absent. Beloved, stand-alone Nintendo DS title The World Ends With You is finally getting a sequel after many years of teasing, but it’s also out on PS4 sometime this Summer. Even still, for those who veer towards the Switch, that’s a decent amount beyond the litter of smaller-scale titles bound to help keep the eShop from feeling far from deprived. Sports Story, Axiom Verge 2, Eastward, Cris Tales – just a few [bias] picks Switch owners can look forward to.
It’s a lot of talk too of third-party games on a console better known and prominent for its first-party exclusives than anything else. Which leads us to Nintendo themselves and what they may or may not be planning for 2021. We already know Super Mario 3D World is driving the stake even further into the Wii U’s already-flatlined heart by, like its fellow brethren, getting ported across to the Switch. But even with theaddition of some new contentvia Bowser’s Fury, 3D World’s Switch release (also in February) is still a port of existing material. How about what’s entirely new? Just how far into development was the direct sequel to Breath of the Wild when it wasannouncedat E3 2019? Is it far too optimistic to believe the as-yet-untitled sequel will make it before next December rolls in? Probably, but stranger things have happened, or ratherstranger things have been green-litby Nintendo. February 21 will mark the series' 35th anniversary, or specifically the release of the original NES title in Japan, but would the technicality of its US release falling into next year be enough for Nintendo to try and make it a US-centric 35th anniversary? Will they also try and offer some other form of Zelda-related release, much like they did in 2019 with the remake ofLink’s Awakening?
And what of Metroid? Ah yes, what of Metroid, Nintendo themselves probably mutter jokingly, likely forgetting that it too celebrates its 35th this year. Though the fact Metroid Prime: Federation Force was released around the time of the series' own 30th anniversary; the pessimist in us would declare we shouldn’t have our hopes up. Metroid Prime 4 is still happening yes, albeit deadly silent as to how it’s progressing following thescrapping and subsequent restartingof its development – Retro Studios being drafted in to take over said responsibilities. Is this speculated porting over of the Prime Trilogy real or not? Could that be used as a tide-us-over for what is, more likely, still a lengthy wait. And of Nintendo’s other IPs, or least those likely to get any form of new game: Donkey Kong, Kirby, Pikmin, Splatoon.
As previously stated, Nintendo are secretive and a quick string of reveals, updates and the like could shift perceptions and attitude in as brief a span as thirty-or-so minutes. Nintendo Direct’s have, like a lot of things, had to adapt over the past nine-or-so months given their massive popularity, viewer turn-outs and cultural relevance in our age of continuously-exchanging information. But with Nintendo’s beloved series of livestreams condensed down to compressed packages uploaded as opposed to broadcast, will this fleeting equivalent as of late continue into 2021? This is indeed an early piece to write; my previous articles on the Nintendo Switch in2017and2019were compiled in March of both that year and the succeeding one, respectively. Both of which offering vastly different tones. This one is in January and while may seem pointless given such sparse information at this moment of time, is not without some reason to speculate on how well (or not so) 2021 could play out. It’s third-party material again where final key details remain absent. The continued state of such games like Bayonetta 3 and Shin Megami Tensei V (though a newtrailerfor the latter is better than nothing) once again have the opportunity. Amidst the figurative gap that the Switch’s third and fourth quarter could present.
Then comes the even grander issue surrounding the Switch: the very hardware itself. Once more, rumors and speculation surrounding a fabled “Switch Pro” arerunning amokonline. Nintendo reportedly asking developers to make sure their games support 4K, albeit an upscaled interpretation of such. I remember when Resident Evil 2 was rumored to be coming to the Pro exclusively so far as Nintendo’s family of Switch consoles. Indeed, it’s been a lingering if heated debate many have had for years now, yet that speculation is not without its merits. As brought up in previous articles, it was inevitable that there’d come a point where the Switch’s less-powerful specifications would catch up. As novel its hybrid “play anywhere” selling point is, with both the PS5 and Series X/S now out on the market (to those who can secure one at least), that gap in power, in capabilities, is no longer as easy to ignore.
There’s also the issue of splitting the enormity of the Switch user-base itself. The Switch Lite did little, if any, to split the crowd given its essentially Dock-less pitch – a means for Nintendo to somehow fill in the void left by the 3DS. A nuisance Nintendo created for themselves with the way Nintendo Switch has fundamentally changed the dynamic on what the company represents so far as hardware offerings. The difference with a hypothetical “Pro” model, however, is the entire opposite of Lite’s streamlined direction. It’s the addition of new features, rather than a subtraction. So the question becomes: if this better, improved, beefier model exists, how far does Nintendo push to convince those – new users and more importantly, current owners of their device – to invest all over again in a better machine? The most pressing of scenarios: are Nintendo willing to force that decision more so in the case of first-party titles being created exclusively for the Pro? Could the next mainline Mario be Pro-only?
It’s a risky bet Nintendo may have to stake highly on one way or another, but with sales figures only getting rosier and rosier on both hardware and software fronts alike, just how much could they be willing to risk such good, continuing fortunes? In doing so: the Switch’s spec-sheet – even more a glaring limitation in contrast to what is now the current-generation offering from Sony and Microsoft. As always, for any fan or curious onlooker on everything Nintendo-related, 2021 is sure to be another up and down unraveling of flashes and glass half-empty wallowing. A year that could well see the landscape on hardware shift once more with a third iteration to the Switch brand, as it could see another wave of surprising announcements make any previous worries feel like a needless panic. Could Nintendo go about riding the crest of third-party support for as long as it can feasibly get away with? There’s plenty to both look forward to and spin many a wild theory around, even if it is just the general state of things. For what will be its fifth year on the market, Nintendo Switch in 2021 looks to be the system’s most unpredictable one yet.
