Looking back at the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:great year in console gaming that 🉐was 2020, Nintendo standpoint it also ushered in the triumphant return of several iconic IPs and franchises. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Excellent new entries for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Animal Crossing and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Paper Mario, along with the enhanced Deluxe port of Pikmin 3, graced the Switch in the🐻 past year, gif𝔍ting long-dormant and beloved series to a new generation of players.
However, there is still a slew of Nintendo's best and most unique franchises that have yet to make an appearance on the almost 4-year-old Switch. Of the entries below only one has been officially announced as an upcoming Switch title (168澳洲幸运5开奖网:with no release date), wh🦩ile the rest are based on rumors, hearsay, and plain-old wishful thinking. Will 2021 change that? Hopefully, the list you're about to read grows shorter than a Toad before the end of this new year.
10 Star Fox
No, Starlink doesn't count. Ubisoft's open-world space action title gave Switch players their first real taste of Star Fox action by adding Fox McCloud (and his teammates) as console-exclusive content. However, there hasn't been an official Nintendo-published release since 2016's Wii U title, Star Fox Zero, which itself was 10 years after Star Fox Command🍷 on the DS.
Here's hoping Nintendo can channel the experiences and successes creating their own 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:exceptional open-world in 168澳洲♐幸运5开奖网:The Legend of Zelda: Breat𒉰h of the Wild into a true sandbox Star Fox, sprinkled with roguelike elements à la 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:No Man's Sky. Or that Star Fox Grand Prix that's been ru💞mored♐ for years...
9 🍌 🦂 Kid Icarus
One of Nintendo's smaller franchises with 3 installments, the Kid Icarus series returned to Nintendo platforms after a 20-year hiatus with 2012's Kid Icarus: Uprising on 3DS. Prior to that, the series' angelic protagonist Pit appeared as a playable fi﷽ghter in 2008's Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and his 3D redesign raised speculation at the time that Kid Icarus would make a comeback.
With Masahiro Sakurai and his team at Sora Ltd hard at work on the final 3 DLC fighters for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, don't♑ bet on a new Kid Icarus entry (or even a Switch version of Upri𝓡sing) anytime soon.
8 WarioWare
A multiplayer and party-friendly console like the Switch would be the perfect vessel for a new game in the WarioWare series. We last saw Wario𝄹 don his fluorescent biker gear and bombard us with his bite-sized microgames in 2018's WarioWare Gold o🍷n 3DS.
Of course, Wario was also the star, or more accurately, the anti-hero, of his own 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:acclaimed series of platformers under the Wario Land banner, so a re𝔍turn to hi🌃s 2D roots would certainly be welcome.
7 Sin & Punishment 𝔉
Developed by Treasure and published by Nintendo, Sin & Punishment is an arcade-style rail shooter often regarded as one of the N64's best games. Initially a Japan-only release in 2000, import gamers contributed to its grand cult following across the glo☂be, and the game finally made its worldwide debut in 2007 via Wii's Virtual Console. A sequel for the Wii, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, launched in 2009 (2010 for Europe and North America) to similar acclaim and fanfare.
A third entry on the Switch woul𓆏d be a wise move for Nintendo and Treasure, potentially incorporating motion controlsꦏ, gyro aiming, HD rumble, and all the bells-and-whistles of Nintendo's hybrid console. Or at the very least, a straight port of the original would be a perfect and doable placeholder, given its status as a Virtual Console title.
6 ꦗ Nintendogs
If the Switch wasn't made for adorable pet sims like🌠 Nintendogs, honestly what's the point? Considering the DS original and its 3DS sequel Nintendogs + Cats have combined to sell over 28 million copies worldwide, it should be a no-brainer for Nintendo to th💯row Nintendogs a well-deserved bone in 2021.
If nothing else, Smash Ultimate players still get to summon ar💯guably the cutest 🧔Assist Trophy: the Toy Poodle who happily blocks the screen to "play" with us. Aww, good boy!
5 F-Zero
The patience of ✅F-Zero fans must be whittled down to nothing by now, as there hasn't been a new entry to the popular futuristic racing series in roughly 18 years. F-Zero GX for GameCube remains the franchise's last worldwide release from all the way back in summer 2003, while Japan received the 2004 GBA-exclusive F-Zero Climax.
Togishiro Nagoshi, current Sega CCO and GX's co-producer, recent൩ly said he'd be if Nintendo approached🃏 him. Considering that GX sold over 1.5 million copies while garnering significant acclaim, Nagoshi's statements imply Nintendo is either keeping future F-Zero development in-house or (the more likely option) there is nothing in the works.
4 Eternal Darkness 🉐
The only entry that isn't a proper franchise, but 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:certainly deserves to be, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is a beloved psychological horror game and cult classic🐬 on෴ GameCube. Alongside its mysterious occult narrative, Eternal Darkness is also well-regarded for its multiple playable characters, impressively complex Magick system, and fourth wall-breaking Sanity Effects.
Writer/director Denis Dyack has attempted to continue the series through spiritual successor Shadow of the Eternals, but unfortunately seve🔜ral Kickstarter campaigns failed to generate sufficient interest or funds. ꦿNintendo owns the rights to Eternal Darkness and the "Sanity Meter," so they have the power to bring it back, perhaps even a simple HD remaster.
3 1080° Snowboarding / Wa🃏ve Race 𝄹
Two of Nintendo's best-known sports franchises not 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:to feature Mario, 1080° Snoꦍwboarding and Wave Race have endured similar trajectories. Both had critically-acclaimed and commercially-successful entries on 🍸Nintendo 64 before fizzling out after less-than-stellar reception of their GameCube sequels.
Wave Race: Blue Storm has a solid 80 on Metacritic, though many reviews criticize twitchy controls, low poly graphics, and courses too similar to Wave Race 64. 1080° Avalanche was crushed critically and financially by its competition at the time, EA Sports' SSX 3. But now i🏅n 2021, who wouldn't welcome a return to the lush blue waves or the cr𓄧isp snowy mountainside?
2 Earthbound (Mother)꧙
Earthbound (Mother 2 in Japan) remains one of the rarest gems of Nintendo's collection, as the satirical, hysterical, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:utterly brilliant SNES RPG can only be played on SNES Mini and Wii U/New ඣ3DS' Virtual Console. The first Mother is rarer still as it's currently only available in the West on Wii U as Earthbound Beginnings, while Mother 3 (2006) has never been released outside of Japan.
Nintendo's next move for the franchise should be, at the very least, to add Mother 1 & 2 to Switch Online alongside an English localization of Mother 3 or release all three together as an All-Stars collection for Mother's 35th anniversary in 2024. A cool idea would be a remake of Earthbound in a claymation art style (as seen in its Player's Guide), and aesthetically similar to the Switch version of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Link's Awakening.
1 Metroid
As alluded to in the introduction, Metroid is the only series on this list that has a confirmed game coming to Switch. Originally announced at E3 2017, production of Metroid Prime 4 was cancelled and restarted in January 2019 after the original developer, Bandai Namco, didn't meet Nintendo's high standards. Now✱ with Retro Studios - the geniuses behind Prime 1-3 - back in the saddle, the franchise is in fantastic hands.
Figuring out when players will get their hands on it is still anyone's gu🉐ess. Until then, Nintend♏o could easily hold fans over with an HD re-release of the Wii's Metroid Prime Trilogy, or even a brand-new 2D Metroid which has been .