Nintendo is my favorite software publisher, and I greatly enjoy some of their consoles as well. But I see so many Nintendo fans saying that 2021 will be guaranteed to be a great to amazing year for Nintendo. Basically it will match or exceed 2017 and some of their other top years. Financially, 2021 is all but guaranteed to be massive for Nintendo. The worst I can see Switch hardware selling in 2021 is 18-20 million units. And of course, new titles and evergreen titles will sell like crazy.

But so many expect a steady stream of first-party games in 2021, and some other new features and adjustments. I'm keeping my expectations in check. Just because 2020 has been a disappointing year for software on the Switch, that does not guarantee 2021 will have to be a big upgrade to compensate. It's 10/21/2020, and all we have announced for 2021 is Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. New Pokemon Snap and Breath of the Wild 2 will also likely hit in 2021, but we have almost no information on them.

Here are my relatively realistic expectations for 2021.

-Switch Mid-Gen Refresh (New, Pro, Plus, or whatever). It won't launch any earlier than March.

-Nintendo 64 Online Games

-At least one more Wii U port

-Mario spin-off. Possibly both Golf and Super Mario Party 2

-A remake of an older Nintendo game

-New Pokemon Snap

-The rest of the Second Smash Fighters Pass will be released

-Breath of the Wild 2

I doubt we'll get Mario Kart 9 next year, if it comes out at all on Switch. Nintendo Switch Online won't get any significant improvements, the eShop will still be a cluttered mess, Nintendo games and accessories will continue to be expensive.

We'll get some great stuff next year, but I'm not counting on being satisfied or having my expectations exceeded.

Look. Just give me Bayonetta 3 and I am fine. Everything else is a bonus

So I should give up on hoping for a messaging system for my Switch in 2021?

Netflix will come to Switch in 3032.

At this point, I think it's less foolish hoping for Metroid Prime 4 in 2021 than a messaging system at any point in the Switch's lifecycle.

Screw all of that. If 2021 doesn't turn out to be a stellar year I will be very upset.

Breath of the Wild 2 will be released on the last year of the Switch, so as to make it a crossgen title.

What exactly are our expectations?

In general I've seen people on Twitter and on VGChartz telling us to just be patient. That they understand Switch's 2020 could've been a little better in terms of software and transparency from Nintendo. 

All I'm saying is don't expect Super Mario Odyssey 2, Mario Kart 9, Breath of the Wild 2, a new IP, and Pokemon Gen IV remakes all in the same year. We'll be lucky to get 2-3 of those, not all 5.

Metroid Prime 4 is not happening in 2021. Development restarted in 2019. It will release in 2022-2023. Bayonetta 3 might not even be a 2021 release considering we know virtually nothing about it.

Excluding remakes and ports, we've only gotten 5 first-party titles in 2020 (Hyrule Warriors counts as one of those 5, but it's not out yet). That would be a fine amount for Sony and Microsoft. But this is Nintendo. They are very dependent on first-party games to make the console enjoyable.

All I'm saying is that we shouldn't expect more than 6-7 non remake/port first-party titles in 2021. Nintendo has still not reaped most of the software schedule and release benefits of having a unified platform.