2024 for Nintendo was just as much about what it didn’t show as what it did. With no new console reveal, and fewer heavy hitters, the company may have been forgiven for treading water somewhat.
We did find out that the system will be announced in the current financial year, giving The House of Mario until the end of March, but the best news we’ve got so far is that Switch 2 will be backwards compatible — although whether that includes physical games remains to be seen.
Still, this year we got a new Mario & Luigi RPG, a Zelda game where the princess is the star, and a Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door remake - all of which made our list of the best Nintendo Switch games around.
While next year is expected to be a colossal one for the company, Nintendo still had a solid 2024. Let’s break it down.
There was hardware, but not the hardware you wanted
At the start of 2024, we’d certainly hoped we’d see the Switch’s successor before 2025, but we’re still left waiting at the very end of the year - it’s now been nearly eight years since the Switch launched.
In fact, the only thing we know is that it’s coming and that it’ll be backward compatible with Switch games.
This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct…May 7, 2024
That’s very welcome because Nintendo has been inconsistent with this in the past (how many times did you by eShop versions of Nintendo classics only to need to buy them again on the Switch?), and the current console has one of the best libraries ever.
Our hope is that Nintendo Switch games that are available for the current console might be able to look or run better when the Switch 2 (or whatever it’s called) launches. After all, we’ve had some pretty ropey ports and even the latest generation of Pokemon was a bit of a mess on the 2017 system.
In a June post on X (formerly Twitter), the official Nintendo account explained that the company will announce the new console in the current fiscal year (which runs until March 2025) but that it wouldn’t be mentioning new hardware in an upcoming June Direct.
That June Direct showcased Metroid Prime 4 for the first time since that logo reveal all those years ago, and looked so good I think my Switch let out a little yelp at the prospect of having to run it. Was it running on new hardware? It’s hard to say, but it certainly looks a cut above other titles, even Nintendo’s first party offerings.
Thankfully, Nintendo did sneak some fresh hardware into the end of 2024 with… Alarmo. This smart alarm clock can wake you up with classic Ninty tracks like “Jump up, Super Star!” if you’re into that sort of thing, and certainly ranks as one of the more surprising reveals of the year.
Still, with a relatively modest line-up of first-party titles (more on that in a moment), I wonder if Nintendo is keeping options like the next 3D Mario ready for its next generation of console hardware.
Nintendo celebrates its history
Nintendo’s long-running refusal to put its older games on the Switch hardware has begun to wear down over time, and this year saw the company introduce some heavy-hitters from the NES, SNES, and N64 on Nintendo Switch Online. Killer Instinct, Battletoads in Battlemania, Perfect Dark, and more all made their way over for subscribers and a remaster of Luigi’s Mansion 2 and the remake of Thousand Year Door helped keep those titles relevant today.
Nintendo closed down online services for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software on April 9 - a sad day, but an understandable one nearly eight years into the Switch’s life cycle. While I’m sure many of us would still love Pokemon Red and Blue added to the Switch’s Online library, it's clear Nintendo has heard fan demand for older titles that don’t necessarily need remakes. Here’s hoping it continues in 2025, and onto the new console, too.
Elsewhere, in August, the company released a special Nintendo Direct focusing on the Nintendo Museum in Kyoto, which opened in October - the same month as Nintendo revealed its Nintendo Music streaming service.
Keeping players checking in
2024 was a mixed bag in terms of games. Nothing Nintendo released was bad, of course, but, naturally, nothing hit the heights of 2023’s Tears of the Kingdom.
It started the year with Mario vs Donkey Kong in February, and while we didn’t love it, it’s another first-party exclusive to add to the Switch’s huge library, while we also got Princess Peach: Showtime! in March. Later came one of our favorite Nintendo games of the year in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Remake, which we awarded 4.5 stars in our review.
November finally saw the launch of Mario & Luigi: Brothership, a fresh RPG that doesn’t reinvent the wheel but offers an art style that looks great - but also shows the Switch is struggling to power some of Nintendo’s ambitions in terms of performance. We awarded it 4 out of 5, but as many games as Nintendo launched this year, it felt like it was Pokemon TCG Pocket that captured the zeitgeist more than any other - and that’s a mobile title.
In some ways, this was the year when titles that didn’t launch on Switch came more into focus because of it. Persona 3 Reload launched in February, but not on Switch. That’s notable because the original Persona 3 gained plenty of fans through its PSP version, and the original was ported to Switch. In many ways, it still feels like a franchise-best enjoyed on a handheld.
“Of course, the idea is there, but it's a matter of discussing it with the team and seeing what they think about it, and we'll see what happens,” the game’s director Takuya Yamaguchi said at the time.
That’s not to say there weren’t ports, though. In March, Switch players finally got Kingdom Come Deliverance, as well as the disappointing South Park: Snow Day, while April saw Grounded, an Xbox Game Studios title, arrive on Switch, with Microsoft also discussing its commitment to putting Call of Duty on the Switch.
Sports fans still have little reason to grab a Switch, though. F1 Manager 2024 was a rare high point for the genre, and September saw EA Sports FC 25 and NBA 2K25 releases.
At least the Switch continued to offer fantastic indie games. Animal Well and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes both arrived in May, and our game of the year Balatro also shuffled its way onto the platform.
From franchise revivals to new entries with fresh protagonists, Nintendo did well to keep Switch owners checking back in with new titles every few months.
With third-party ports dwindling, and attention turning to whatever is coming next, it wasn’t the best year the Switch has seen, but it did offer plenty of fun. Still, it’s hard to see 2024 as a year where Nintendo coasted somewhat, but we’re expecting big things in 2025.
A new console, paired with something like a new 3D Mario title would go over extremely well, and even just a performance patch for the likes of Tears of the Kingdom will go some way to selling us on the new system.
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