In a reality where COVID-19 never came to fruition and the current global pandemic didn’t change the course of the world to the severe extent that it did, 2020 would have looked very different forNintendo. WhileAnimal Crossing: New Horizonskicked off the beginning of the year, the35th anniversary of Super Mariowould have been a much bigger focus, bringing the announcement forward withPaper Mario: The Origami King, theSuper Mario 3D All-Starscollection, andSuper Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Furyheadlining a year-long event alongside upcoming games,Pikmin 3 DeluxeandHyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
Luckily, while Nintendo was forced to delay plans for the Super Mario 35th anniversary celebration,Nintendo Switch Pro rumorsand two major franchise anniversaries has set the company for a big year. Next year will be both the 35th anniversary ofThe Legend of Zeldaand the 25th anniversary of Pokemon, two of the most popular franchises in video game history and the highest-grossing entertainment franchise of all-time in Pokemon’s case. Players are in for a huge year of events and new game releases, and ifSuper Mario 3D All-Starsis anything to go by, could see many beloved games brought forward to the Nintendo Switch.
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The Legend of Zelda 35th Anniversary
The Legend of Zeldais a franchise that needs no introduction, particularly on a platform like Nintendo Switch whereBreath of the Wildis considered by many as one of the greatest games of all time. Back in 2019, Nintendo filed new trademarks for a variety of Super Mario products from new games to toys, apparel, and merchandise, all of which turned out to be related to the franchise 35th-anniversary celebration. Similarly, back in July Nintendo filed an almost identicaltrademark listing forThe Legend of Zelda, indicating it has plans to hold a major celebration event for the franchise as it did withSuper Mariothis year.
Naturally, while new toys and merchandise is exciting, players are far more interested in what new (or returning) games will make their way onto the Nintendo Switch. So far, players already have access to the early NES and SNES games through Switch Online, and the GameBoy classic,Links Awakeningwas remade from the ground up in 2019. Nintendo will almost certainly follow Super Mario 3D All-Stars and release a Zelda collection of games (especially whenHyrule Warriors: Age of Calamityis almost here andBreath of the Wild 2is still in development) and considering the only Wii U left to be ported are the Zelda HD remakes, that’s not a bad place to start.
Following the mainline games, Nintendo could easily port of the HD and 3D remakes into a single collection which would give playersOcarina of Time,Majora’s Mask,Wind Waker, andTwilight Princess.The Legend of Zelda:Skyward Swordalso leaked for Switch earlier in the year, so don’t be surprised to get another collection of remakes, and a separate port Skyward Sword.
Pokemon 25th Anniversary
Despite not actually being a Nintendo owned property,Pokemonis synonymous with Nintendo, and The Pokemon Company isn’t going to pass up this big of an opportunity. Now thatThe Crown Tundra has been confirmed to release at the end of October, development onPokemon Sword and Shieldis likely winding down as Game Freak moves onto new games, which are speculated to bePokemon Diamond and Pearlremakes, a Johto-themed sequel toPokemon Let’s Go, and the inevitable ninth generation. One of those games is almost guaranteed to release by the end of 2021 andNew Pokemon Snaphas already been announced for 2021, so what else could the company have up its sleeve?
LikelySuper Mario 3D All-Stars, there are a number of rumored Pokemon collections currently making the rounds that indicate plans to bring some of the older games in the series to the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo recently renewed its trademark forHeart Gold and Soul Silver, a Nintendo DS and 3DS collection is currently rumored to include ports ofBlack and White,Black 2 and White 2,X and Y,Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, andSun and Moon, and finally, the most exciting (but most farfetched) rumor states that it will bereleasing every Pokemon generation to dateon Nintendo Switch, starting with a Kanto collection, followed by Johto a few months later, and so on.
Game Freak and The Pokemon Company has a lot of ground to make up after fan backlash forPokemon Sword and Shield, so the idea that it could release full-blown remakes ofPokemon Diamond and Pearl, a newPokemon Snapgame, and rerelease the older games in their original glory is an exciting one.
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For the time being, there’s no way to know what plans Nintendo might have up its sleeve and based on how it handled the Super Mario 35th anniversary announcements, it’s unlikely that there’ll be any news prior to Pokemon day in February. Nintendo has a strong lineup of first-party games to close out the year includingPikmin 3 Deluxeat the end of the month andHyrule Warriors: Age of Calamityin late November. Beyond that, it looks like 2021 could shape up to be a fairly big year for Nintendo Switch fans withSuper Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Furyin late February, followed by the anniversary of The Legend of Zelda and Pokemon.
