Nintendo’s highlights of 2024

Let’s start this off by saying yes, this may not have been the most groundbreaking year for the Nintendo Switch. There was no Super Mario Odyssey or The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Somehow, even with a handful of great Nintendo games out this year, one of the biggest headlines has been any trickle of news about the successor console. Will it be the Nintendo Switch 2? The Super Nintendo Switch? Or something completely unpredictable, as Nintendo often does? None of us know for sure yet, but we likely will within the next few months.

But for now, let’s focus on what made 2024 a great year for the Nintendo Switch, even if it’s on its last legs. Princess Peach and Zelda each got a starring role in their own games. PlayStation and Xbox each brought interesting games to the Switch this year. And there was no shortage of Mario games, either revitalizing older titles or rebooting an old series. The Nintendo Switch is still going strong, and in the coming years could still manage to reach the crowning achievement of the best-selling console of all time over the PlayStation 2. But there is no doubt that the Nintendo Switch is outselling modern consoles, beating the PlayStation 5 by over eighty million and the Xbox Series X & S by well over one hundred million.

The Nintendo Switch is likely entering its final year as the pre-eminent Nintendo console. Aside from its astonishing sales numbers, it also brought some of the best video games of all time. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Mario Maker 2, Pikmin 4, Metroid Dread, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Bayonetta 3, and Kirby and the Forgotten Land just to name a handful. I’m sure we are all looking forward to what the next year holds, but for now, let’s look back on another great year for Nintendo.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

A new Zelda game was not expected this year. Tears of the Kingdom, for example, was announced in the summer of 2019 and didn’t arrive on the Switch until 2023. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom does not have the same grand open-world scale that Tears of the Kingdom had, but it launched roughly four months after it was announced. Echoes of Wisdom was the absolute best surprise Nintendo had this year.

This latest entry in the Legend of Zelda franchise was notable for several reasons. First of all, it places Zelda in the role of protagonist, rather than Link. Second, it brought back the top-down art style that Link’s Awakening introduced back in 2019. Finally, it may not have the same level of open-world exploration as Tears of the Kingdom, but it nearly replicates its endless creativity by using items found in the game. Tears of the Kingdom let players build complicated contraptions out of whatever they could find, but Echoes of Wisdom allowed Zelda to create copies of nearly any object she came across, even including enemies. This gave a whole new level of creativity in solving puzzles and beating dungeons that 2D Zelda games had not seen before.

After Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom brought the Legend of Zelda games to a whole new level, it’s exciting to see that there is still room for innovation. I don’t know what Nintendo will do with the next 3D Zelda game, but I trust that they still have a lot of creative ideas that no one will see coming. If you haven’t tried Echoes of Wisdom yet, you are missing out on one of the most unique Legend of Zelda games in a long time.

Super Mario Party Jamboree

This is not just the next entry in the Mario Party series. Super Mario Party Jamboree has seven boards to play on, at least two more than the latest entries. There are twenty-two playable characters, more than doubling what the previous entry Mario Pary Superstars had to offer. Jamboree also added several new modes and earned itself two Game Award nominations (Best Family Game and Best Multiplayer Game). While it’s hard to go wrong with Mario Party, it’s easy to tell that Jamboree brings a lot more to the table than the average entry.

Super Mario Party Jamboree lets players adjust the rules more than ever before, even introducing “Pro Rules” that add limited stock to item stores, reveal the bonus star category at the beginning of the game, and let players vote on mini-games rather than choosing randomly. Each of the brand-new boards has signature mechanics that add chaos and strategy to what could easily be just running in circles, and the returning classic boards are updated to fit in with these ideas too.

Generally, it’s hard to go wrong with a Mario Party game. It’s one of the most chaotic multiplayer experiences in gaming, and Super Mario Party Jamboree is the ultimate version that the Switch has to offer. For fans of the series and new players alike, it’s been a good year for partying.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

The premiere remake on Nintendo Switch this year came in the form of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, a remake of the twenty-year-old original from 2004 on the Nintendo GameCube. This remake was the highest-reviewed Nintendo game of the year, earning an 88 on Metacritic compared to the next best title, Echoes of Wisdom, earning an 85. While this is a remake of an already great game, it’s still impressive to see a game from twenty years ago translated to modern consoles so successfully.

Overall there is not a lot of new content. The visuals are upgraded with new artwork and character voices have received a well-deserved upgrade, but mostly this is a great opportunity for modern audiences who didn’t get to play this game back in 2004, the chance to finally give it a try. Mario has appeared in a lot of RPGs lately, the remake of Super Mario RPG launched last year and there’s another RPG later on this list. For fans of the series, this could mean signs of more good things to come in the future!

Pokemon TCG Pocket

It’s no surprise that a digital Pokemon trading card game would be successful, but did anyone expect it to be as successful as it is? Pokémon TCG Pocket launched for mobile on October 30th, and in the first weekend was able to earn twelve million dollars from players. Keep in mind that this is a free game to download and players earn two free packs per day. Pocket would go on to out-earn other mobile games like Pokemon GO and Pokemon Unite, easily solidifying itself as a breakout hit for Nintendo and The Pokémon Company during the first year without a major Pokémon video game release since 2015.

Pokémon TCG Pocket brings the long-running trading card game to a simplified mobile version. Players can battle friends, battle online against strangers, and take on solo challenges that the game sets up. But of course, the biggest draw is collecting. Simply by checking the app every twelve hours players earn a pack containing five cards. A premium subscription adds a third daily pack. But players can also spend money on opening packs, and it seems they are doing that a lot. Pocket is planned to have continuing support, and a new collection of cards just launched on December 17th. It will be interesting to see how well the game manages to keep up the momentum of its first few weeks.

Princess Peach: Showtime!

Known best for being kidnapped by Bowser and being rescued by Mario, Princess Peach instead took center stage this year in Princess Peach: Showtime! With a theatrical setting, the princess utilizes a variety of powers unlocked by various costumes. Cowgirl Peach, decked out in full Western regalia, uses a lasso to pull enemies and items toward her. Ninja Peach dashes across the stage and uses scrolls to hide in tall grass. But not all costumes give Peach offensive abilities, proving that there is more to this game than fighting off enemies.

While not receiving the highest critical praise this year, Princess Peach: Showtime! still earned a Game Awards nomination for Best Family Game alongside a few other Nintendo titles. Like many of the other Mario characters that have starred in their own franchises, Princess Peach has a huge fan base and a lot of potential. It’s a shame that the last game she played the protagonist in was Super Princess Peach in 2005. Hopefully, the next game starring Princess Peach won’t have fans waiting another nineteen years.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership

The other Mario RPG on this list is the surprise revitalization of the Mario & Luigi series: Mario & Luigi: Brothership. This is not a remake of any of the older games but a brand new entry in the series that got its start with Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga in 2003. This is also a noteworthy entry in the series because it’s the first one that players can play on their home console, rather than just the handheld. Of course, the Switch can go back and forth, but the visual upgrade and use of cinematic cut scenes is the kind of thing that makes playing on a larger screen worthwhile.

Waiting nine years to see if this RPG series would return must have been a long wait for fans. Hopefully, this means that Nintendo has not forgotten about it and that going forward, whether it be on the Switch or on the successor console, there will be more Mario brothers team-ups to experience.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong

Paper Mario was not the only Mario series to get a remake of a twenty-year-old game. Mario vs. Donkey Kong launched earlier this year, a remake of the original Gameboy Advance version from 2004. The classic rivalry extends back to Mario’s first appearance in a video game (so long ago that he was not yet known as Mario, and was instead called “Jumpman”) in 1981’s Donkey Kong. Rather than jumping over barrels and climbing ladders to save a damsel in distress, Mario vs. Donkey Kong pits the rivals against each other in a series of platforming puzzles over a collection of Mario toys.

The new Mario vs. Donkey Kong also adds plenty of new content, making it worth returning to even if you played the original, plus it’s the ultimate experience for brand-new players too. Overall the puzzles might not be the most challenging for experienced players, but that does mean this is a very accessible game for all levels and age groups. Even going into its eighth year, the Nintendo Switch continues to be the premiere family-friendly console.

Xbox Game Studios on Switch: Grounded, Pentiment

Not to spend too much time on other consoles, but Xbox Studios has had an interesting year in terms of its games arriving on other platforms. The live service game Sea of Thieves arrived on PlayStation in April and even Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is planned to launch there sometime in 2025. It wasn’t all PlayStation though. This year, Grounded, the live-service game from Obsidian Entertainment (Fallout: New Vegas, The Outer Worlds) arrived on Nintendo Switch. Grounded, the game about surviving as a tiny human in a backyard, originally launched in Early Access in 2020, reaching 1.0 in 2022. For a game that needs consistent players to keep active, launching on a new platform can be a great thing.

Another Obsidian Entertainment game also launched on Switch this year, the story-focused single-player experience, Pentiment. Unlike the largely multiplayer-focused Grounded, Pentiment puts the player in the role of a master artist in a historic European town dealing with scandals, murder, and other intrigue. The launch on the Nintendo Switch comes nearly two years after the game originally launched on PC and Xbox. It is exciting to see other major studios like Xbox breathing a second life into their games by bringing them to the Nintendo console. Hopefully, this is a trend that will continue going forward.

PlayStation Studios on Switch: LEGO Horizon Adventures

Xbox might have launched a few games on the Switch well after their original release, but PlayStation Studios took that one step further. Guerrilla Games, the developers behind long-standing PlayStation exclusives Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West, released LEGO Horizon Adventures, which launched simultaneously on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch this year.

The game itself was released to mixed reviews, despite a stunning visual look and a fresh, comedic re-telling of the story from the Horizon games. But this kind of launch is unprecedented for a game developed by a PlayStation studio. During a year when PlayStation’s Astro Bot, a 3D-platformer that wears its Mario inspirations on its sleeve, wins Game of the Year, it’s exciting to think what other ideas PlayStation might have in store, and if they might arrive on the Switch as well.

Indie Games on Switch: Balatro, Animal Well, Another Crab’s Treasure, and more

The Nintendo Switch has always been a great console to play indie games. 2024 was no different, which is a relief because the list of great independent titles goes on and on this year. Balatro took the world by storm earlier this year, winning three Game Awards at this year’s ceremony, and other games like Animal Well and Another Crab’s Treasure had great moments in the spotlight that were only accentuated by launching on this portable console. Personally, I played Balatro on the Switch more than anywhere else, and I was incredibly thankful to be able to download Animal Well the day before a long flight across the country.

But there are so many other great indie games to mention. Games like Neva, The Plucky Squire, and Little Kitty Big City felt right at home on the Nintendo console. Speaking of Balatro, other rogue-lite games like Shogun Showdown and Dicefolk also felt great to play anywhere with the Switch’s mobility. Launching on Switch gave more people access to this year’s incredible stories like Arco, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, and 1000xResist. The list could go on, including short and sweet games like Thank Goodness You’re Here!, and cute cat protagonists like Pluto in Crypt Custodian, but I might keep writing for far too long.

Conclusion

Nintendo had a great 2024, and if it will be the last full year of the Nintendo Switch, there’s plenty of reasons to look back on it fondly. This year brought back great remakes of decades-old games (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Mario vs. Donkey Kong), gave us one of the year’s best multiplayer games (Super Mario Party Jamboree), finally brought back a Mario RPG franchise (Mario & Luigi: Brothership), put two normally supporting-role princesses in the lead role (Princess Peach: Showtime! and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom), and while The Pokémon Company didn’t release a console game this year, it still managed to take over mobile gaming again (Pokémon TCG Pocket).

As 2024 draws to a close, Nintendo fans will start to look at the year ahead. After many long years of development, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is finally planned to launch in 2025. The Pokémon Legends series will make a return with Pokémon Legends: ZA. But there is still so much mystery about what the next Nintendo console will be. Will it launch before the end of next year? What games will launch with it? A new Mario Kart? A new 3D Mario game? Will it be an upgraded Switch or something completely new? For now, we will have to wait and see.