GamesNintendo SwitchWith no Switch 2 in sight and an alarm clock filling the hardware void, 2024 has been a year of anticipation for NintendoWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesNintendo SwitchWith no Switch 2 in sight and an alarm clock filling the hardware void, 2024 has been a year of anticipation for NintendoWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
While 2023 was abanner yearfor Nintendo –The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdommade sure of that – 2024 has overall been somewhat quieter for the company. My initial impulsefrom January 2024on what to expect from Nintendo this year as “who knows?” turned out to be shockingly prescient. I mean, who could have predicted that Nintendo would, in fact, release new hardware this year… in the form of Nintendo Alarmo, a proprietary alarm clock with music and motion sensors.
That might sound a bit flippant, but it’s also simply just true. Nintendo did in fact release Nintendo Alarmo this year at a time when everyone from investors to players to journalists like myself are essentially just waiting for the company to actually reveal whatever the successor to the Nintendo Switch ends up being. We know it exists, but we don’t even have an official name yet; momentum does appear to be building behind “Switch 2,” however, even if I would personally much prefer “Super Nintendo Switch” because, well, I’m old.
So, it’s been a year of waiting. Back in May – seven entire months and some change ago – Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa shared that that company"will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year.“That’s a pretty wide window considering that essentially means between then and March 2025. And while there’s still some time left here before the new year officially commences, it seems nearly certain that Nintendo will run out the clock and finish out 2024 without saying much else about “the successor to Nintendo Switch.”
Switch it up
(Image credit: Nintendo)
This isn’t a value judgment on my part, though some of the more rabid parts of the internet have certainly been expressing discontent over the continued holding pattern. 2024, which I acknowledged previously as a somewhat quiet year, still had plenty of Nintendo first-party releases that weren’t quite on the level as a new mainline Zelda. That includes, but is not limited to, a new Zelda-centric spinoff!
Don’t Be Alarmo’d(Image credit: Nintendo)I actually immediately purchased a Nintendo Alarmo, and while it is exceedingly charming it’s really not meant for anyone that 1) has a large bed or 2) doesn’t sleep alone and unfortunately(?) I fall into both categories. While I love the little songs, my partner despises its entire existence in our shared life.
Don’t Be Alarmo’d
(Image credit: Nintendo)I actually immediately purchased a Nintendo Alarmo, and while it is exceedingly charming it’s really not meant for anyone that 1) has a large bed or 2) doesn’t sleep alone and unfortunately(?) I fall into both categories. While I love the little songs, my partner despises its entire existence in our shared life.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
I actually immediately purchased a Nintendo Alarmo, and while it is exceedingly charming it’s really not meant for anyone that 1) has a large bed or 2) doesn’t sleep alone and unfortunately(?) I fall into both categories. While I love the little songs, my partner despises its entire existence in our shared life.
All said and done, 2024 has actually had plenty of first-party video games from Nintendo. There’s an entire game with Princess Peach as the protagonist, Princess Peach: Showtime! Famicom Detective Club came back with Emio – The Smiling Man! The aforementioned The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom! A new Mario Party! A new Mario & Luigi RPG! That’s a lot of Nintendo to go around, even if none of them are arguably anything resembling a flagship title.
Switching with anticipation
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Maybe I’m an outlier, or maybe I’m not, but regardless of how you feel about the past year of Nintendo releases it is fairly easy to define all of 2024 as being all about anticipation. What will the new Switch come with? Whatupcoming Switch gameswill be released for it? Any hardware upgrades? Will the Joy-Cons be fixed?
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There still aren’t solid answers to most of those questions. We knowthe Nintendo Switch 2 will play Nintendo Switch software just fine, and we know that Nintendo Switch Online is coming along for the ride. But these answers really only beget more questions, unfortunately. How does backwards compatibility actually work in this instance? What will Nintendo Switch Online look like on the successor to the Nintendo Switch? And so on and so forth.
All of the first-party releases define Nintendo’s year as much as this anticipation did. There’s basically a caveat to anything and everything Nintendo does or releases that hinges on some version of wondering when the Switch 2 will actually happen. Given that March 2025 will mark 10 years since the Nintendo Switch’s reveal, there’s good reason for that anticipation, but it colors absolutely everything else.
While Nintendo’s year was all about anticipation, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom did still make our ranking of thebest games of 2024.
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Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”