History of the Nintendo Switch: 2020
COVID brings about one of Nintendo's biggest surprise hits..
In March of 2020, the world was struck by the COVID pandemic and as a result - most of the population had to remain indoors. As businesses were starting to suffer from the lack of people coming to purchase products in-store, Nintendo managed to turn this situation into a huge plus for them. They announced Animal Crossing in 2018 for a 2019 release but that date came and went. However, in February of 2020 we got more details on New Horizon. They also announced that this title would be released a month later in March. This timing couldn’t have been more fortuitous for Nintendo as this allowed all the people who were stuck inside with nothing to do seeking the enjoyment of such a cozy game which caused sales to skyrocket. This helped 2020 become the year of Animal Crossing as a whole with people wanting to build up their island as much as possible and have friends visit for a chance at getting ahead in the stalk market. While Nintendo would continue to release many games in 2020, no game was pivotal to their success as Animal Crossing that year. Also around this time, reports of a Nintendo Switch Pro would be heating up - this would cause many people to wonder if we’d see a new iteration of the Switch to help close in the gap that other consoles had on the Switch as the graphical power of the Switch was really starting to show it’s age even as far back as 2020. However, Nintendo was able to keep the steam moving and the Switch was selling faster than ever before at this point..
Timeline
January
Jan 9th
Pokemon Direct
Jan 16th
Smash DLC Direct - Byleth
To the Moon
Jan 17th
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore
Jan 21st
The Walking Dead Season Two / A New Frontier
February
Feb 12th
Pokemon Home
Feb 14th
Darksiders Genesis
Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl GOLD
Feb 20th
Nintendo Direct - Animal Crossing
Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition
Feb 25th
Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection (I believe this gave us the first emulation on Switch DS games)
Samurai Shodown Reboot
Two Point Hospital
Feb 28th
Rune Factory 4 Special
March
Mar 6th
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
Mar 13th
Langrisser I & II
Mar 17th
Indie World
Exit the Dungeon
Mar 20th
Animal Crossing New Horizons
Doom 64
La-Mulana / La-Mulana 2
Mar 26th
Nintendo Direct Mini
One Step from Eden
Shinsekai Into the Depths
Mar 27th
Children of Zodiarcs
Saints Row IV: Re-Elected
Mar 31st
Operencia: The Stolen Sun
April
Apr 14th
Ver 10.0.0
Transfer Software between SD/Internal Memory
Remap Controller Buttons
Play Activity Settings
Apr 20th
Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope
Apr 23rd
SmileBASIC 4
Apr 24th
Trials of Mana Remake
Apr 28th
Indivisible
Apr 30th
Streets of Rage 4
May
May 7th
Void Bastard
May 12th
Huntdown
May 14th
Ion Fury
May 21st
Journey to the Savage Planet
May 22nd
The Wonderful 101: Remastered
May 26th
Minecraft Dungeons
May 29th
Bioshock: The Collection
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
XCOM 2 Collection
June
June 4th
Shantae and the Seven Sirens
June 5th
The Outer Worlds
51 Worldwide Games
Jun 17th
Pokemon Presents
Jun 22nd
Smash DLC Direct - Min (from Arms)
Jun 24th
Pokemon Presents
Pokemon Cafe Mix
June 25th
Brigadine: The Legend of Runersia
July
July 7th
Catherine: Full Body
July 8th
CrossCode
July 9th
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2
July 17th
Paper Mario: The Origami King
July 20th
Nintendo Direct Mini - Partner Showcase
July 21st
Panzer Paladin
July 28th
Samurai Shodown NeoGeo Collection
August
Aug 18th
Indie World
A Short Hike
Spiritfarer
Aug 26th
Nintendo Direct Mini - Partner Showcase
West of Dead
Aug 27th
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered
Moon
September
Sept 3rd
Nintendo Direct - Mario 35th Anniversary
Sept 9th
Minoria
Sept 11th
RPG Maker MV
Sept 17th
Nintendo Direct Mini
Nintendo Direct - Monster Hunter
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
The Long Dark
Sept 18th
Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Sept 24th
Going Under
Kirby Fighters 2
October
Oct 1st
Super Mario Bros 35
Oct 3rd
Smash DLC Direct - Steve + Alex (Minecraft)
Oct 8th
Game Dev Tycoon
Oct 15th
Ring of Pain
Oct 16th
CrownTrick
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Oct 21st
ScourgeBringer
Oct 28th
Nintendo Direct Mini
No More Heroes 1 + 2
Part Time UFO
Oct 30th
Pikmin 3 Deluxe
November
Nov 13th
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory
Nov 20th
Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity
Sakuna Of Rice and Ruin
December
Dec 1st
Ver 11.0.0
NSO Icon added to Home
Auto Download Saves
Transfer Screenshots to Smartphone
Prioritize downloads
Empire of Sin
Dec 2nd
Shiren the Wanderer The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate
Dec 3rd
Immortals Fenyx Rising
Taiko no Tatsujin Rhythmic Adventure 1 + 2
Dec 4th
Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
Dec 8th
Doom Eternal
Monster Sanctuary
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2
Dec 15th
Indie World
Collection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend
Dec 16th
Dicey Dungeons
Dec 17th
Smash DLC Direct - Sephiroth
Dec 18th
Super Nintendo World Direct
Dec 29th
Wingspan