In a reality where COVID-19 never came to fruition and the current global pandemic didn't change the course of the world to the severe extent that it did, 2020 would have looked very different for Nintendo. While Animal Crossing: New Horizons kicked off the beginning of the year, the 35th anniversary of Super Mario would have been a much bigger focus, bringing the announcement forward with Paper Mario: The Origami King, the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury headlining a year-long event alongside upcoming games, Pikmin 3 Deluxe and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
Luckily, while Nintendo was forced to delay plans for the Super Mario 35th anniversary celebration, Nintendo Switch Pro rumors and two major franchise anniversaries has set the company for a big year. Next year will be both the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda and the 25th anniversary of Pokemon, two of the most popular franchises in video game history and the highest-grossing entertainment franchise of all-time in Pokemon's case. Players are in for a huge year of events and new game releases, and if Super Mario 3D All-Stars is anything to go by, could see many beloved games brought forward to the Nintendo Switch.
The Legend of Zelda 35th Anniversary
The Legend of Zelda is a franchise that needs no introduction, particularly on a platform like Nintendo Switch where Breath of the Wild is considered by many as one of the greatest games of all time. Back in 2019, Nintendo filed new trademarks for a variety of Super Mario products from new games to toys, apparel, and merchandise, all of which turned out to be related to the franchise 35th-anniversary celebration. Similarly, back in July Nintendo filed an almost identical trademark listing for The Legend of Zelda, indicating it has plans to hold a major celebration event for the franchise as it did with Super Mario this year.
Naturally, while new toys and merchandise is exciting, players are far more interested in what new (or returning) games will make their way onto the Nintendo Switch. So far, players already have access to the early NES and SNES games through Switch Online, and the GameBoy classic, Links Awakening was remade from the ground up in 2019. Nintendo will almost certainly follow Super Mario 3D All-Stars and release a Zelda collection of games (especially when Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is almost here and Breath of the Wild 2 is still in development) and considering the only Wii U left to be ported are the Zelda HD remakes, that's not a bad place to start.
Following the mainline games, Nintendo could easily port of the HD and 3D remakes into a single collection which would give players Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword also leaked for Switch earlier in the year, so don't be surprised to get another collection of remakes, and a separate port Skyward Sword.
Pokemon 25th Anniversary
Despite not actually being a Nintendo owned property, Pokemon is synonymous with Nintendo, and The Pokemon Company isn't going to pass up this big of an opportunity. Now that The Crown Tundra has been confirmed to release at the end of October, development on Pokemon Sword and Shield is likely winding down as Game Freak moves onto new games, which are speculated to be Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remakes, a Johto-themed sequel to Pokemon Let's Go, and the inevitable ninth generation. One of those games is almost guaranteed to release by the end of 2021 and New Pokemon Snap has already been announced for 2021, so what else could the company have up its sleeve?
Likely Super Mario 3D All-Stars, there are a number of rumored Pokemon collections currently making the rounds that indicate plans to bring some of the older games in the series to the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo recently renewed its trademark for Heart Gold and Soul Silver, a Nintendo DS and 3DS collection is currently rumored to include ports of Black and White, Black 2 and White 2, X and Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and Sun and Moon, and finally, the most exciting (but most farfetched) rumor states that it will be releasing every Pokemon generation to date on Nintendo Switch, starting with a Kanto collection, followed by Johto a few months later, and so on.
Game Freak and The Pokemon Company has a lot of ground to make up after fan backlash for Pokemon Sword and Shield, so the idea that it could release full-blown remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, a new Pokemon Snap game, and rerelease the older games in their original glory is an exciting one.
For the time being, there's no way to know what plans Nintendo might have up its sleeve and based on how it handled the Super Mario 35th anniversary announcements, it's unlikely that there'll be any news prior to Pokemon day in February. Nintendo has a strong lineup of first-party games to close out the year including Pikmin 3 Deluxe at the end of the month and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity in late November. Beyond that, it looks like 2021 could shape up to be a fairly big year for Nintendo Switch fans with Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury in late February, followed by the anniversary of The Legend of Zelda and Pokemon.