Nintendo and its fans have had a very curious year overall, and not exactly in the best of ways. The year started off slow, but then rocketed into success with Animal Crossing New Horizons, which was one of the biggest launches of the year (and still may hold that title depending on worldwide numbers of The Last of Us Part 2). Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition came in May and appears to be successful in its own right. Then, Nintendo revealed Paper Mario The Origami King, and angered many fans with not just their take on the game, but their “vision’ of the franchise going forward. Many fans were hoping for news on what to expect in the rest of 2020, and a new Nintendo Direct Mini seems to have NOT answered those pleas.
A Direct had been rumored for some time, but many were shocked when not only was it a Nintendo Direct Mini, but one that would only be a “Partner Showcase”, highlighting 3rd party games that would be coming to the Nintendo Switch in the current year or the next one.
The main announcements were a trio of DLC packs for Cadence of Hyrule, including a physical version coming in October that would contain all three, the announcement of WWE Battlegrounds coming to the Switch, and two Shin Megami Tensei announcements. The first is a remaster of the beloved cult classic Shin Megami Tensei III. While the second was confirmation that Shin Megami Tensei V would still be coming exclusive to Switch, and both would arrive in 2021.
Despite those new announcements, fans are divided on what to think as a whole. On one hand, there were new announcements made, but, this hardly filled the gap that is the rest of 2020 for Nintendo. Not to mention, the biggest announcements were for 2021, and two are multi-platform titles.
What Nintendo will do next is anyone’s guess.
