A new decade of gaming approaches. Now in the excitement of the coming year I’d like to talk about my anticipated games coming to the Nintendo Switch. I’ll be talking about what releases excite me the most but some others will be mentioned.
Animal Crossing New Horizons
Of course most of us here at Ladies Gamers are super excited for the newest Animal Crossing game (only a few months left!). I’m especially looking forward to the local co-op and for the first time being able to select the Southern Hemisphere. Meaning the weather in game will more closely match what I’m experiencing in my life. Although it doesn’t ever snow around here. It will release worldwide for Nintendo Switch on the 20th March 2020.
Portable Tactics
Releasing before Animal Crossing, we’ll be getting a couple of tactical games. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics has a new release date of February 4th, 2020. This is based on the recent Netflix show, containing playable characters from that series. Set to have at least fifty battles and a job system for customising your team.
The first Langrisser game was titled Warsong outside of Japan. The rest of the Langrisser series have not left much further than Japan. In March, Langrisser I & II will be bundled together for a Western release. With a new visual upgrade, although you will be able to choose between old and new backgrounds and art. Yet it looks like the new unit style will stay on both, which I think looks a bit too much like Fire Emblem Heroes. For Americans it will release on the 10th March, 13th for Europeans, and 20th of March for Australians.
Quarter One
January Switch releases include Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore. I’ll be getting the former, while owning the original Tokyo Mirage Sessions means I’m not sure if the new content is worth it for me.
The Outer Worlds is an Obsidian made first-person shooter rpg. The Switch release is said to be happening within the first quarter of 2020. Its story is set in corporate space colonies, with dialogue choices and companions. Having seen other people play it, the only disappointments I’ve seen are the shorter length and lackluster character customization (the hair choices are atrocious!).
Samurai Shodown is the latest entry in the series after a decade long gap. Having released in June this year it is set to arrive on the Nintendo Switch in Q1 2020. This is a weapons based fighting game (you can be de-armed and have to pick your sword up), and health can be taken very fast. There’s also quite a few new characters some of which are beauties. Nakoruru, a classic character, is available as a Mii costume for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
A bit later if at all…
Coming on April 24th we have Trials of Mana, a remake of the third game in the action-rpg Mana series. The first three in the series are available as a trilogy pack on Nintendo Switch. While this version will have beautiful 3D graphics and English voice acting!
Cristales, is a gorgeous looking turn based rpg. Where you can see the past, present and future possibilities, which is used to solve puzzles and hopefully change the future. There is a demo available on Steam, although I find the computer controls they chose to be rather odd. An Australian retailer lists it as a 31st July release although I’m unsure if that will hold.
Minecraft Dungeons looks to be a hack n slash action rpg, using enemies and items from Minecraft. It has local and online co-op and is definitely the kind of game I like to play with my family.
No More Heroes III, was announced for a 2020 release, earlier this year. In January a spin-off of the series, Travis Strikes Again released on Switch. Hopefully this entry will be a return to the usual game play (which unlike Travis Strikes Again is not top-down).
Localize soon please?
There are a few games that have or will come out soon, that have yet to get a Western release date. I hope these will come out next year.
Persona 5 Scramble, is a Warriors game crossed over with Persona 5, similar to Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors. Yet this one is said to be more of an RPG, and it’s story is set after the events of Persona 5 making it a sequel. The focus on story content and movement outside of battles looks awesome but it definitely seems like it might be a single player only experience. Although I generally play those games in co-op the story content will be able to keep me on board. It will release in Japan on February 2020, so hopefully it comes out in other countries not long after Persona 5 Royal.
The original and chanced version of Persona 5 are unlikely to go anywhere other than Sony consoles. At least we have this crossover, Persona Q2 for 3DS and Joker in Super Smash Bros Ultimate.
Around the same time we got Doreamon Story of Seasons, which had released earlier elsewhere, some countries got the Friends of Mineral Town Remake. Originally released on the Game Boy Advance, they’ve now combined the two versions with some new features. Personally I’m really not a fan of the graphics and I hear that they’ve removed rival marriages. Still I am looking forward to playing it.
2017 Teases
We’ll be getting one or two Shin Megami Tensei spin offs but one thing fans of the main series have been waiting for is Shin Megami Tensei V. It was announced early 2017, with a tiny clip revealed a bit later. Going off from articles I’ve read, development wasn’t started until a year after the announcements. Since then there has been no new footage or screenshots of the game. Still many are hopeful that it will arrive sometime in the coming year.
One game I’ve been waiting on is Bayonetta 3. This game was also teased in 2017 (though at the end of that year). Bayonetta 3 has also suffered a lack of new information but I hope that it comes out before the end of 2020.
Pikmin 4 has not been announced for the Nintendo Switch at any point. Miyamoto has talked about a new Pikmin game before, but asides from the Hey! Pikmin spin-off we haven’t seen anything else. We can’t even be sure it’s something that’s getting worked on but I hope it is.
What games are you most excited to play on your Switch next year?