Can people chill now about Nintendo having a slow year? Nintendo is still averaging one new first-party release every month (Mario vs DK, Another Code, Princess Peach Showtime, Endless Ocean, TTYD, Luigi’s Mansion 2) and we’re getting a slew of great third-party games as well. Nintendo wouldn’t frontload all this into the first half of the year unless they still have something big up their sleeves for the latter half.
It’s still a better year than 2018, where the only Nintendo games were a mediocre Kirby, an unfinished Mario Tennis, a divisive Mario Party with a miniscule number of boards, and direct ports of Tropical Freeze and Captain Toad with no substantial new content at all. That was the whole year. It’s only saving grace was Smash Ultimate, which came so late in the year it was practically a 2019 game.
Nintendo always likes to play their cards close to their chest, so even if we aren’t getting a Switch 2 this year, I’m not concerned at all about the rest of the year. The last game we know about releases in June, and we’ll probably get a Direct that month to show us what else is in store. Now is the time for easy ports/remakes and bringing back niche titles.
I think this year we could still get a new Rythm Heaven, Wind Waker + Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 2 & 3, a remaster of Chibi-Robo 1 & 2, the rumored Kid Icarus Uprising remaster, and maybe even a new Wario Land game (although Good Feel clearly wouldn’t be the ones developing it; maybe WayForward, since Nintendo trusted them enough to do Advance Wars). We’ll also probably get something Kirby, and for that I’m predicting a free NSO-exclusive City Trial battle royale.