Staring into the abyss of a world where Nintendo has no games scheduled for release. Edit: The Time of Darkness Has Arrived

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Wman1996 said:

The_Liquid_Laser said:

The phrase "Nintendo has had a disappointing year so far" is really code for "I personally don't like Animal Crossing".

Is it, though?

I love Animal Crossing. New Horizons is probably one of my favorite games ever. But this year has been disappointing so far, and the next five months are really barren and uncertain for first-party games. 

We got Tokyo Mirage (Wii U port), Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (A remake of a GBA/DS title), Animal Crossing, Xenoblade Chronicles (A remake of a game that was previously remade on New 3DS), Clubhouse Games, and Paper Mario. 

Bravely Default II is coming out later this year at some point, but it's not really first-party. There's no way Metroid Prime 4 comes out this year, Bayonetta 3 likely won't come out, and the Breath of the Wild sequel likely won't come out this year either.

If this was a line-up for a Nintendo home console, or handheld that wouldn't be disappointing at all. But Switch is a hybrid and the unified focus of Nintendo. When you put that in perspective, the year is a big let-down. Also keep in mind that Animal Crossing was supposed to launch in 2019, so that makes 2020 seem even more barren when its biggest game was delayed from last year.

August is only about a week away and we know very little about the rest of Nintendo's 2020. We don't even have any first-party games confirmed for a 2021 release date. Usually we would know that by June. 

Honestly the best we can hope for are the rumored Mario remasters, and maybe some kind of Mario spin-off or small scale-title.

I get that the lack of announcements is disappointing.  But how do the games that have actually been released so far compare to 2018 or 2019?  Here is what we've gotten from Nintendo so far this year, and we'll compare that to the January to July period of 2018 and 2019.

2020
Tokyo Mirage
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Animal Crossing
Good Job!
Xenoblade Chronicles
Clubhouse Games
Paper Mario

2018
Bayonetta 2
Kirby Star Allies
LABO
Hyrule Warriors
DK Tropical Freeze
Mario Tennis Aces
Captain Toad 

2019
NSMB U
Yoshi's Crafted World
Fire Emblem
Cadence of Hyrule
Mario Maker 2
Marvel UA3

The number of games released each year is about the same, roughly one per month.  But 2020 has Animal Crossing.  That is a huge tentpole game, much bigger than anything released in 2018 or 2019 during the first 7 months.  That is why I say "disappointing" really means "I don't like Animal Crossing".  Animal Crossing is objectively a huge game.  It's not like Nintendo hasn't released anything.  It's just that some people don't like the games released this year.  So far 2020 stacks up better than 2018 or 2019, but that is mostly because of Animal Crossing.  

The disappointing part is not actually lack of games.  It's lack of announcements.  At this point, I am disappointed by the lack of announcements too.  They should, at the very least, tell us when the next Direct is.  And it's true that we normally get an E3 Direct by this point.  However, lack of games isn't the problem.  I get that some people may not like the games that have been released so far this year, but that is totally based on taste.  Objectively, 2020 has been a better year than 2018 and 2019 so far.  When people are saying that it's disappointing, I mostly conclude that they don't like Animal Crossing.