Nintendo has a history of ignoring the rest of the games industry and doing its own thing. Yet after the massive success of 2023, the Nintendo Switch felt complete. Its major titles included two major “Zelda” releases, a 3D “Mario” Game, two “Splatoon”s, and an “Animal Crossing”, and a “Mario Kart” with a large DLC. The Switch had had its say: it was time for a successor. So going into 2024, fans expected the announcement and perhaps even the launch of the fabled “Switch 2”. Yet despite the company’s history, fans were disappointed when Nintendo denied this early in the year during their March 2024 earnings call. Following that moment, the Switch felt a bit forced: at the time there were no major releases announced except “Princess Peach: Showtime!”. Yet 2024 would soon take a turn and become possibly one of the Company’s most unique years.
Things began to change during the June 2024 “Nintendo Direct”: an event that showcased the company’s game announcement, along with some of their partnering developers. Four major titles stood out from among the rest: “Super Mario Party: Jamboree”, the long awaited “Metroid Prime 4: Beyond”, “Mario and Luigi: Brothership” and “The Legend of Zelda: Echos of Wisdom”. The latter three games are the best examples of the company’s major trends of the year: revival of old franchises and innovation. The last time fans heard about “Metroid Prime 4” was all the way back in 2017, and “Mario and Luigi” had been dormant since 2009. In addition, another title from earlier in the year represents this: “Endless Ocean: Luminous”, with its last installment being from the Wii. The innovation part of the year was foreshadowed by “Princess Peach: Showtime” and continued in “Echoes of Wisdom”. These two games see Nintendo giving its usually damsel-in-distresses the main character roles. But the innovation aspect of Nintendo’s 2024 was shown in more detail around the end of the year, with some of their most bizarre announcements.
Nintendo has released some weird products in the past, but when they announced the Nintendo Alarmo in October, fans were shocked. The alarm clock, according to Nintendo’s website, “make[s] waking up fun” by playing songs from some of their games. These songs get progressively louder the longer as time passes after the scheduled wake-up time. The catch: additional sounds are triggered by the user’s motion as they wake up. This bizarre announcement was soon followed by another unexpected surprise. The company was releasing their own music app simply titled “Nintendo Music”. This Spotify inspired app allows “Nintendo Switch Online” (Nintendo’s online play subscription) subscribers to stream music from select Nintendo games.
While 2024 may be perceived as less successful than previous years’ success, what it means to 2025 is immense. The new innovations, changes, and experiments all contribute to the company’s biggest hardware launch. In the same March earnings call that NIntendo denied the 2024 launch of the “Switch 2”, it did confirm that the console would be announced by March 2025. So even though 2024 lacked the major success of 2023, it could be the herald of greater things to come.