With the special Nintendo Switch: a 2020 of successes, we want to offer you one of those ideas that can only make sense when the year is about to end. 2020 will certainly not be remembered as the rosiest time of the new millennium, and everyone is looking forward to putting a good stone on it, hoping for a drastically different 2021. However, the hybrid console has dominated the market again, scoring incredible numbers from a sales point of view; who knows, maybe a little helped by the pandemic period, but in any case a similar consideration would then apply to the entire sector, and not just for the situation linked to Nintendo. Of games exclusively on Nintendo Switch, then, 2020 has brought several, some of which are very, very interesting. Of the latter, the article you are reading will remember only the most important exclusives, taking into consideration the vote received, the originality factor or simply the return of now historical and much loved franchises. But first we will start with purely economic and market-related aspects. How many Nintendo Switches have been sold? How many games? And how many of these games have you already bought, or will you ask for as a gift at Christmas 2020?
Dizzying sales
We've already mentioned how sales of Nintendo Switch in 2020 have been incredible. These are data that come directly from the Kyoto House, therefore more reliable than ever, and also help to get an idea of the videogame market in general. We recall that Nintendo Switch landed on the market more than three years ago, on March 3, 2017; therefore, despite the time lag, such substantial annual sales make us think.
But let's get to the data. As of September 30, 2020, Nintendo Switch had sold a total of 68.3 million units worldwide; of this total, 6.86 million consoles were sold only in the months of July, August and September 2020. Almost seven million consoles in three months. To have a sufficiently valid comparison, it should be noted that as of 30 September 2020 Nintendo sold a total of 75.94 million Nintendo 3DS.
From the point of view of the software (i.e. of the games available on Nintendo Switch) the numbers are just as interesting: in the months of July, August and September 2020 Nintendo Switch sold 49.81 million units (both physical and digital are counted), for a grand total (over the entire life of the console) equal to 456.49 million software. Against the 385.12 million that marks Nintendo 3DS to date, so to speak. Woe to believe that Nintendo intends to stop: by the end of March 2021 the company is convinced to sell at least another 24 million Nintendo Switches!
The successes of 2020
Let's move on to the successes of 2020 on the Nintendo Switch, that is to the titles that continue to grind sales after sales. Let's start with the most recent ones: Nintendo has confirmed that Super Mario 3D All-Stars (very recent, published on 18 September 2020 last) has already obtained 5.21 million units sold. Not even Paper Mario: The Origami King did not fare badly, which in any case could not compete with the All-Stars triptych: for him 2.82 million units sold, and was published as you will remember on July 17, 2020. br> But let's move on to the most successful games ever on Nintendo Switch, which also in 2020 made people talk about themselves, thus entering the Olympus of hybrid console exclusives. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe beats everything and everyone with 28.99 million units sold (from now on we will only indicate the millions, for convenience). This is followed by Animal Crossing: New Horizons, arrived two years later (ie last March 2020) but already at 26.04 million and then Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with 21.10 million.
And now let's remember the exclusives of 2020 for the Nintendo Switch, that is all those games that for various reasons (sales, votes, offer, originality, welcome returns) have made themselves noticed. We bet that more than one of these names is already on your shelf, or in your digital library?
Brain Training by Dr. Kawashima
Yes, 2020 marked the return of Brain Training by Dr. Kawashima, the launch title of the now historic Nintendo DS. A revised version, corrected and adapted to the Nintendo hybrid console, means: among other things, it was the first exclusive of the year, released digitally in January. Our review of Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training well illustrated the quality of the port, and also why a numerical grade is actually missing.
That of the nicest professor ever is actually more a hit and run experience than a real title to be gutted and replayed for good, an original way to test your mind and reactivity in some memory or logic games. There is also another thing to say: on Nintendo DS Brain Training represented an exceptional novelty (also for the use of the Nintendo DS stylus); this surprise factor has completely disappeared on Nintendo Switch. And yet, if you intend to bring your parents or grandparents closer to the world of video games, it remains the perfect choice.
Se you even remotely thought that this article dedicated to the 2020 exclusives for the Nintendo Switch would not have devoted at least one paragraph to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you are crazy. One of the most important (and profitable) franchises of all time is in fact back on the hybrid console, last March 20, 2020: seven years had passed since the last chapter for Nintendo 3DS, that is New Leaf. It goes without saying that all the news of the case have been amply illustrated in the Animal Crossing: New Horizons review, and in all the other specials and insights with which we have cheered you in the following months. Nintendo continued to update the island after about 60 days, with thematic events, new items, even features never seen before. To date New Horizons is the best Animal Crossing ever, and its success does not stop: it is one of the exclusives that has sold the most copies, globally, since the launch of the console. And it will continue to sell.
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
And who said there was no more space for Xenoblade on Nintendo Switch? Between an exclusive and the other, Nintendo has seen fit to also release Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. A very welcome return, which for the occasion introduced a new epilogue, high definition graphics, remastered songs and much more. Here too, to find out more, read the review of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is practically a must. An extra JRPG on Nintendo Switch is certainly not to be despised, especially if so cared for; among other things of his Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition also puts us a very interesting plot and an undoubtedly fascinating game world. Give it a chance if you missed it in due course (yes, this is also a revival of a slightly dated title).
Ninjala
The beginning of last summer accompanied the arrival of a new online (and free) multiplayer title on Nintendo Switch: Ninjala. Another exclusive worthy of interest, but beyond the first two months that involved millions and millions of players, now the rise seems to have stopped. And to say that Ninjala had more than one aces up his sleeve, starting with the original and immediate game mechanics; the ninja children halfway between the metalhead and the pop, then, were so unlikely to be adorable by contrast. It was probably the amount of content (extremely limited) and the little interest aroused in the world of streaming to decree the rapid disappearance of the game from the spotlight. Let's be clear, Ninjala is still there and the season pass is updated by offering a certain number of cosmetic rewards every few days. However, precisely ... have you heard of Ninjala anymore?
Paper Mario: The Origami King
July 17, 2020, midsummer, players still caught up in the inexhaustible Animal Crossing : New Horizons: hush hush Nintendo publishes on Nintendo Switch Paper Mario: The Origami King, the new chapter of the series announced almost by chance a few weeks earlier, already ready. It was one of the great IPs absent, until then, on the hybrid console: Paper Mario, in the company of Paper Toad and all his paper friends, inside a paper world delightfully brought to life in a production which has always made its artistic direction one of its flagships. The new enemy, among other things, was linked to "origami": could (can) there be peace between the two worlds?
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Okay, in 2019 Ring Fit Adventure was a good news: an RPG to play with pelvic strokes, doing gymnastics. But do you want to put with a Mario Kart set in your own room? And here it is: Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. Read: box full of cardboard, and a wonderful remote controlled car from the Nintendo hybrid console. You improvise a track in your living room or kitchen, place Mario's or Luigi's kart, take control of everything with Nintendo Switch. And of course on the screen, in addition to your own home path, all the other game elements that have always made up a self-respecting Mario Kart also appear: cubes, tracks, enemies to overcome, coins. A little expensive, but undoubtedly charming.
