Nintendo fans, you’ve got a lot to look forward to in 2020

The party continues for those who invested in Nintendo’s revolutionary Switch console, you can look forward to a year of some of the biggest games of 2020.

I must confess, I was a little late to the Nintendo fan party.

I maintain this was through no real fault of my own, indeed some of my most wonderful childhood gaming memories were Nintendo-fuelled kart-fests at friends houses, or late night sleepovers spent hunting one another down in Goldeneye 007.

Unfortunately for me, however — these were only ever random snatches of joy to be had while visiting the console-filled homes of classmates.

I never owned a Game Boy. Never had the chance to catch even one Pokemon, let alone attempt to catch ‘em all. No NES, or Super NES, or Nintendo 64. No GameCube.

And look, I had a blessed childhood, make no mistake, I can hardly complain.

But if my parents had a fault, it was that they were staunchly anti-video games.

Luigi's Mansion.

It just wasn’t something they felt they could support — TV was already “melting the minds of young people” and a gaming console would only serve to keep their daughter glued to the screen even more (probably true).

As a result of this deprived upbringing, there are huge gaps in my gaming background that I’ve been slowly filling in as I (ironically, and some would say inevitably) went on to pursue a career in video games journalism.

By the time I was working in video games, Nintendo was delighting consumers with the Wii. A fabulous console that — while groundbreaking and enormously popular — it was definitely aimed at kids and families, while I was ready to get stuck into complex RPGs and action shooters.

Nintendo’s follow-up console, the Wii-U was a solid attempt by Nintendo to bridge the gap between a family console and one that the so-called ‘hardcore’ gamer could embrace, but it was graphically not quite up to the task.

Everything changed with the launch of the Nintendo Switch in 2017.

It was sleek, stylish, portable — and had the hardware to finally join the ‘big console’ party. That winning formula Nintendo had been working so hard to develop; a console for kids, for families, for casual and hardcore gamers alike — something to be played at home on the TV or riding the bus — they’d done it.

Suddenly, I had a Nintendo console in my hands I was truly, deeply excited about.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

And with it came the pure, unbridled magic that was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

At this year’s E3 in Los Angeles — the biggest gaming event of the year (and one I’ve attended many times) I was more excited about visiting the Nintendo booth than any other. The Nintendo Direct presentation had stunned fans with a series of thrilling announcements, I almost don’t know where to begin with what I’m most excited for.

Let’s start with an obvious one for me — and actually not a Nintendo title, but just to prove how much things have changed with this incredible new console: The Witcher 3, my favourite game of all time, is coming to the Nintendo Switch.

Never in a million years could I have imagined playing a game like that on a Nintendo device — yet here we are. Geralt, with me, on the train — it’s all I’ve ever wanted.

The booth that had been set-up on the show floor at E3 for Luigi’s Mansion 3 was nothing short of spectacular.

I disappeared into a shadowy corridor only to emerge in a huge purple-lit hall decked-out in all the spook-tacular paraphernalia we’ve come to love from the franchise.

Bubbling cauldrons, dry ice, low-flying bats … and row upon row of consoles set-up with the game for punters to play.

It’s fun, it’s charming, it’s challenging — there are new abilities like slamming ghosts to inflict quick damage, AOE knock-backs and the gloriously green ‘Goo-igi’ makes a return.

I played The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, which as the name suggests is classic Zelda refreshed with a modern design.

Luigi's Mansion.

This works so well for long-time fans who want to recapture the gloriously-challenging Zelda gameplay of their youth with the benefit of modern mechanics, art and design — but also for newer Nintendo fans like myself who were unfairly deprived (as you can see this is still a sore spot for me). I can enjoy this new take on classic Zelda on the Switch without having to wrangle outdated controls.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been delayed to 2020 — but fans don’t seem to mind as they know Nintendo wouldn’t deliver anything less than perfection where this game is concerned.

And when I say fans, I mean just about everyone.

I find it so wonderful that even the most dedicated shooter-fan will drop everything to play this charming game about crafting and farming and making friends.

I find it equal-parts baffling and wonderful, and a testament to Nintendo’s ability to create something so universally lovely.

There is of course new Pokemon on the way with Sword and Shield — I played through a section of puzzles inside a water gym, enhancing my Grookey with the new ‘Dynamax’ feature which made him suddenly huge when I unleashed him in battle.

A weird announcement that I have to mention is the development of a Dark Crystal game — barely anyone I know has heard of — let alone seen The Dark Crystal, a dark fantasy, Jim Henson puppet film from the ‘80s. It’s an odd choice but I am so here for it.

Lastly, the announcement of a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild had every Nintendo fan positively beside themselves — it was one of the biggest reveals of the entire expo.

There was an assumption that there would be some kind of DLC (downloadable content) coming — so the news of an entire sequel being in development was the greatest gift of all.

And for this Nintendo fan, it just keeps getting better.

Stephanie Bendixsen attended E3 as a guest of CBS Interactive.