When we wished you many happy returns this time last year, we had no idea we’d be typing the same message in 2020 during a global pandemic. Despite assurances that it would “all be over by Christmas,” the world is still gripped by the COVID-19 outbreak, with little sign that 2021 is going to be much different.
(Wow. This is the most depressing Christmas message we’ve ever posted in the history of the site. Let’s liven things up a little, shall we?)
The world being in lockdown certainly helped Nintendo’s case, with the Switch being the year’s biggest-selling console and games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons selling like hot cakes – and providing the perfect tonic for our lockdown blues.
While you could argue that the release of must-have games on Switch slowed a little in 2020 compared to previous years, we still had the likes of Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Streets of Rage 4, Pikmin 3 Deluxe and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, as well as countless other eShop releases led by the likes of Hades, A Short Hike and Horace.
With Switch looking likely to surpass the Wii in terms of lifetime sales, it would seem that the console’s future is bright – and rumours of a more powerful ‘Pro’ model mean that 2021 could potentially be a very interesting year indeed for Nintendo fans. Who knows, we might even see Bayonetta 3 or Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 next year – which is reason enough to be very excited indeed.
But enough of looking ahead! Let’s take a moment to appreciate the here and now; no matter how you’re choosing to spend Christmas in this most unusual of years, everyone from Nintendo Life would like to wish you the best of times – stay safe and enjoy the big day as much as possible, and let’s hope next year is a little more normal.