PixlBit

Nintendo Switch Year 5

 

                                       5 Years later and it's still music to my ears

Hello everyone, how are you? Can you believe that it's been 5 whole years since the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and the Nintendo Switch? I've written posts about Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, and Year 4, so if you want a refresher on those then click on the links. Now that that's out of the way, let's take a look back at 2021 and see how the Switch did.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury was the first big game that released for the Switch in 2021. It's basically an enhanced port of the Wii U game, but this new port offers a number of changes. The base speed of the characters has been increased as well as having a photo mode which is really cool. The game now features online play, one thing I always thought was that this game was perfect for online co-op and they finally did it which is already a step up from the original game. But truly the biggest difference is the new game mode called Bowser's Fury. In this mode you play on a large free-roaming area and what I love is that this reminds me so much of classic Rare like Banjo-Kazooie. It's so good. Is this a possible tease of what the next Mario game might be like? I don't know but I really loved Bowser's Fury a lot.

We then started getting much more story focused games such as Bravely Default ll, which is a sequel to the first Bravely Default on the 3DS. I know there was a second game on the 3DS called Bravely Second, but it seems that they don't acknowledge it at all if we are going by the name of the Switch game. I haven't had a chance to play it myself but I have heard good things about it. Plus I should one day go back to the first game and finish it...

 

                                             This is the best part of Bowser's Fury

Anyway we also saw the release of the highly anticipated Monster Hunter Rise. I played the demo before the game released and I really loved it, I really loved the grappling hook mechanic. Honestly more games should have a grappling hook for mobility if possible since it's really fun and like I said, mobility. I do want to get this one at some point.

We also saw the release of New Pokemon Snap. Fans have wanted a Pokemon Snap game for ages now and they finally delivered. This one was made by the same people who brought us Pokken Tournament. I haven't had a chance to play this game but does it look incredible, it's definitely the best looking Pokemon game out there, next to Pokken Tournament that is. I do want it at some point though.

One of the biggest surprises of the year was that we were finally getting a new Metroid game, not just any Metroid game but Metroid Dread. Yes you read that right. Who wasn't excited to play this game? Metroid Dread was developed by MercurySteam, the same people who brought you Metroid: Samus Returns as well as Nintendo EPD. I really love how fluid the movement was and the gameplay is probably the best in the series if we are talking about the 2D Metroid games. I never found this game hard at all, I say the difficulty was just right for it.  Dread even looks great as well.  It took ages but I say that the wait was well worth it. This was definitely by far my favorite game of 2021 and definitely the last biggest game of the year for the Switch.  

We actually had two more games that released before the end of the year which are Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. These are remakes of the original Diamon and Peark games that released on the DS back in 2007. I honestly don't know what to say about these but I suppose if you ever wanted to play those games back in the day and couldn't, now you could. I haven't played it that much but it enjoyable at least. I was hesitant to add this one but I'm gonna anyway. At the beginning of the year we got Pokemon Legends Arceus and what I can say is that the game is really fun. I really love that they took a risk here and changed the gameplay. I feel like this was a small taste of what to expect for both Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. If this is the future of the series then it looks bright.

 

                              I love how Samus just doesn't care that Kraid is back

Final Thoughts: I think 2021 was a great year for the Switch. We got a number of great titles and I know I say this often but there was really something for everyone that year, whether you are into platformers, rpgs, party games and whatnot. It was definitely a good year, plus Metroid Dread finally released so there's that. I originally wanted to do a Top 10 list of my favorite Switch games but I decided to hold off on that for now.

I feel like the Switch is starting 2022 with a bang as Kirby and the Forgotten Land is launching later this month. It's definitely the first big Switch game of the year and it looks absolutely incredible. I feel like this game is going to give Super Mario Odyssey a run for its money, it looks like it already is. We'll see. Not only that, we are still early into 2022 and we are already looking at another incredible year for the Switch with all the announcements we've gotten lately.

Bayonetta 3 will finally release this year after all these years of waiting. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope will release sometime this year. Splatoon 3 will release sometime this summer, which could be sometime in July. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will release this September which is the rpg to look out for the Switch. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet version release later this year too. And assuming it doesn't get delayed, Breath of the Wild 2 will also release this year, which could be towards the end of the year. Who knows? It looks like another 2017 scenario where we got great games month after month. And the crazy part is that we still don't know what else Nintendo is planning to show.

An interesting thing to note is that Nintendo's next-gen plans may have been leaked. Nvidia recently got hacked or something and apparently palns for another Switch model got leaked. No one is truly sure if this is the always rumored Switch Pro or the successor to the Switch. From the look of it, it will have Ray Tracing and an improved GPU. Honestly I don't know what to make of this myself. A Switch Pro has always been rumored ever since the Switch launched so that's no surprise that it started trending again.

            I never thought that one day I'd have this many Shiny Pokemon on my team

I've said it before and I'll say it again, if Nintendo was keen on releasing a more powerful Switch it would be a much more logical thing to wait for a successor instead. If they wanted to release something with more power, then they would have done so already. The Switch is now 5 years old and it doesn't make any sense to release it this late into its lifecycle. Unless Nintendo does plan to go with the statement they mentioned where they would support it for 10 years if I'm remembering correctly. Although they could release a successor and still support the Switch.

Nintendo is no longer the only one with a handheld in the market as Valve has just released its new hardware, the Steam Deck not so long ago. The Steam Deck plays games on handheld or on a monitor, which is almost like the Switch. They are both similar in concept, but they are for different markets. It's still too early to tell what's gonna happen or if it will affect the Switch in any way but we'll see. This year is certainly shaping up to be a very interesting year for gaming.

The Switch is old, the console was already outdated when it launched but they made up for that with the concept of the system, being able to play your games in any way you want, whenever you are and whenever you want. Plus we got a lot of great games too and in the end the games are what matter here. As of right now, this is also Nintendo's best selling home console of all time, it's incredible to think that they recovered this much from the Wii U. Talk about a comeback story. It was a huge gamble for Nintendo that paid off in the end.

 

So that's it for this one. What do you think of the Switch now that it is 5 years old? What about the Steam Deck? Do you own one? Do you think it'll have any impact on the Switch in any way? Thanks for reading and Happy 5th Anniversary Nintendo Switch!

 

*All images except the first one were taken by my Switch and my copies of the games*