Okay I'm hereby forbidding Nintendo from releasing anything the coming three days. 2021 has gone on long enough, it's time to call it quits and calculate... the 2021 NWR Futurology winner award!!!!
As always, we'll go over everyone's predictions for the year, see which ones came to pass, and hand out points!
First up, predictions newcomer TOPHATANT123: - A 2D Metroid is absolutely coming out this year from Mercury Steam, and I will absolutely ignore it because I'm not really a Metroidvania guy.
- Doshin the Giant will be the WHAT?! character in the 2nd fighter pass.
- That Splatoon side scroller will finally emerge.
- A 3D Kirby game will finally release and have controversial elements.
- Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity, surprisingly does not have any DLC.
- A sequel to everyone's favourite recent sonic game, sonic forces 2 will be announced. You will also be allowed to port over your terrible original character.
- The Switch operating system will gain one new theme in 2021.
- Breath of the Wild 2 will receive a 89 metacritic
- Tatsu, from Xenoblade X, will appear in an official Nintendo Direct, a Direct Mini will not count.
- The credits sequence for No More Heroes 3 will be over 17 minutes in length.
- Fully correct on Metroid. I hope you didn’t play it, so you can get this 1 point
- Splatoon 3 could technically still be a sidescroller and was revealed this year ½ point
- Kirby 3D didn’t release, but sure was announced, and I found some steaming controversies already. ½ point
- A new 3D Sonic did get announced. Different name, and no word yet on furry imports, but I’ll allow it. ½ point
Wrong calls: No Doshin in Smash, no Tatsu, BOTW2 doesn’t exist, no new themes, of course Hyrule Warriors 2 would drown in DLC, and the No More Heroes 3 credits are only 12 minutes (including mid- and post-credits scenes).
Total:
2 ½ points!Last year this would’ve landed you in 3rd place!
NEXT UP, last year’s 5th place finisher, will this be the Year of Luigi Dude?I'm going to go big this year.
1. The Bowser's Fury part of the upcoming Switch port of 3D World can almost be considered its own game. The original Wii U version of 3D World was only 1.7 GB while Nintendo's own reports say the Switch version will be 5 GB. Mario Odyssey in comparison was 5.7 GB. So either something like New Super Luigi that redesigns every level, or some huge Mario Odyssey style open world levels. Either way it's going to be epic.
2. Zelda's 35th Anniversary will be huge. Nintendo will also release a Zelda 35 similar to Super Mario 35 that is available for a limited time and based off the original as well. The rumored Skyward Sword HD will be released as part of the upcoming 35th anniversary as well. Nintendo will pull a Mario 3D All Stars with Zelda and release a limited time collection that includes Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity will get a huge DLC expansion that actually has the original story of what happened during the Calamity instead of the DBZ style alternate timeline the base game has. And finally Breath of the Wild 2 will be Nintendo's big holiday game this year.
3. Metroid will also have a big year. A New 2D Metroid from Mercury Steam will come out this year and it will be Metroid 5. And yes the villains will be who the 100% completion reward for beating Samus Returns shows. A trailer for Prime 4 will be shown with a 2022 release date at the end. Metroid Prime Trilogy HD which has been done for a while will finally come out this year as well since they'll finally have footage of Prime 4 to show so they'll want to get Metroid Prime hype train going.
4. A new 2D Kirby that's a traditional adventure game will come out this year. Unlike Star Allies, this one will be more single player focused with some major gimmick like Planet Robobot.
5. With Retro busy with Prime 4, Nintendo has gotten Playtonic Games to create the next 2D Donkey Kong. Since the studio is made up of former Rare employees who even worked on the original Donkey Kong Country games, Nintendo is more then happy to work with them again. The game will be announced this year but won't come out until 2022.
6. A new Wario Ware for the Switch will be released.
7. A new Fire Emblem Echo's will be released that will be a remake of the 4th game, Genealogy of the Holy War. The 5th game Thracia 776 will also be remade for the game as something unlockable after beating it or DLC announced later.
8. Arms 2 and Splatoon 3 will both be announced and released this year as well.
9. A port of Xenoblade X will happen with an added epilogue to deal with the huge cliffhanger left at the end of the original Wii U game.
10. One of the upcoming Smash Bros DLC character will be Crash Bandicoot. For the final Smash Bros DLC character, Sakurai will say **** it and reveal Goku.
- Pretty spot-on regarding Bowser’s Fury! 1 point
- Less so on the Zelda anniversary. You hoped for BOTW 2, a 3D All-Stars collection, Hyrule Warriors 2 DLC, and Skyward Sword… will you settle for the latter two and a Game & Watch? ½ point
- Half-right on Metroid! Nothing on Prime 4 though, but enough right on Dread I’ll give you the full 1 point
- A new WarioWare did release! 1 point
- Nothing regarding ARMS 2, but Splatoon 3 is a lock. ½ point
Wrong ones: 2D Kirby, Playtonic on DK, Fire Emblem remakes, Xenoblade X ports, and those pesky Smash predictions.
Total:
4 points, wowzers! You went big and delivered. Lend us your crystal ball!
Welcome to the Bungle, we got fun and game (predictions)- New Switch Model improved Switch hardware releases holiday 2021
- New Game from Ubisoft Uses a Nintendo IP like Mario + Rabbids and Starlink
- Zelda re-releases For 35th anniversary several older games are released on switch, not as a collection
- New Kirby Game Not a platformer
- New Wario or WarioWare Game
- Battletoads (2020) ported to switch
- Games without release dates Bayonetta 3 will release in Summer 2021, Breath of the Wild 2 delayed to 2022, Metroid Prime 4 teaser trailer with 2022 release window
- Wii U eShop Announcement of closure in 2022
- Smash DLC Challengers include a Pokemon and two 3rd party characters, one from Koei Tecmo
- Super Mario Movie Delayed to 2022
- Define improvements I guess, but Switch OLED does exist. 1 point
- Ubi is indeed doing Tom Clancy’s Rabbids 2! 1 point
- WarioWare is another lock 1 point
- Mario Movie is indeed happening in 2022. Here’s 1 point for you, but not for Chris Pratt
- ½ point for the BOTW 2 release window
Wrong answers: Smash DLC, Battletoads, Zelda anniversary, the hurtful jinxing of the Wii U eShop (first of all how dare you), and surprisingly no new Kirby games were released at all.
Total:
4 ½ points!Another strong year from last year’s Soothsayer Champion, Bungle takes the lead for now!
Last year’s bronze finalist is up next, Insanolord!• New 2D Metroid Game from MercurySteam
• Pikmin 4 Finally Comes Out
• Zelda 3D All-Stars for the Zelda Anniversary
• New Star Fox Game from the Starlink Team at Ubisoft
• N64 Games Added to Switch Online
• Rare Replay Ported to Switch
Fine have it your way, I’ll use bullet points instead.
• Metroid. Boom. 1 point
• N64 on Switch. Boom. 1 point
• everything else: no boom. 0 points.
Total:
2 points, same as last year. Insanolord is a straight shooter, and the definition of consistency. Those are valuable assets in this economy, ya know.
Nickmitch has last year’s silver medal, can he take the gold this time?- Breath of the Wild 2 makes it out in time to celebrate Zelda's 35th.
- All three Smash DLC characters make it out this year. No Pokemon, one last anime boy, another boss villain, with my wild card being Lala and Lolo.
- Metroid happens, but only in trailer form.
- Nintendo continues to do focused, "Direct Minis" without a "big one". (No non-single game specific Directs over 35 minutes.)
- Bayonetta 3 is the Halloween release
- Another follow up for Ring Fit Adventure (a free update or paid DLC)
- Rhythm Heaven (or Wario Ware) finally comes to Switch
- Sinnoh Remakes, mega evolution is still dead.
Last minute adds:
- A Mario Sports game, going further to say it's Golf.
- Nintendo adds another console to Switch Online, gonna say GameBoy
- Pretty good on the Smash calls! Kazuya is the boss enemy, Sora is your anime boy, and Pyra/Mythra aren’t Pokémon, but indeed a dual character. I’m going for the full 1 point!
- Metroid did happen, but more than just a trailer ½ point
- Reviews are saying Mario Golf: Super Rush definitely exists. 1 point
- New NSO system? Yes. GameBoy? No. ½ point
- Sinnoh Remakes are a go, and a sales success too. 1 point
- WarioWare was another out-of-nowhere, good shout. 1 point
Wrong ones: no BOTW 2, Ring Fit, Bayo 3, and not a single small Direct in sight.
Total:
5 points! Wowzers, that’s almost half! Getting awfully close to beating casino odds.
Stratos wound up at the bottom of last year’s chart, how’s his season been?1. Zelda 35 Celebration! A new Zelda game is announced. One of the Wii U titles (Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, not both) will drop in celebration. Collection of the 3DS Zelda's (Ocarina and Majora) comes to Switch a la 3D All-Stars
2. Prime Trilogy is released when the date/release slot of Prime 4 is announced (example: Prime Trilogy is out now/this Fall and expect to continue the adventure in Prime 4 in Spring 2022!)
3. Something Star Wars comes to Switch that is not Lego. Both something from the old LucasArts catalog as well as something newer and/or original for Switch
4. New Pokemon game releases, either Gen 4 remake or Let's Go Marill/Mareep/Togepi/Pichu (Gold/Silver)
5. Waluigi comes to Smash
6. A non-Mario Kart racing game comes to Switch (Diddy/Donkey Kong Racing, F-Zero, Excite Trucks/Bots, or different property)
7. New mainline Fire Emblem is announced but not released this year. Only FE releases will be a re-release like with Shadow Dragon or a remake of an older game.
8. Banjo-Kazooie game is playable on Switch (either as an N64 port or the X-Box ones or through X-Cloud/Gamepass)
9. A new Switch model is released that is both in line with what us "core gamers" hoped for in a 'Pro' model while not quite being what we hoped for at the same time
10. Nintendo annoys us by not fixing the joycon issues until the lawsuits force them AND continues to use these awful "Disney Vault release windows" to create artificial scarcity
- There was that new Star Wars mobile port, alongside KOTOR! 1 point
- Sinnoh Remakes babyyyyyy 1 point
- How on Earth did you predict a new Cruis’N release? 1 point
- Banjo-Kazooie got announced, but won’t release until January. Close but no cigar. ½ point
- Your description of the SWOLED seems spot-on. 1 point
- Joy-Con-gate is still trucking. Not sure if Dr. Mario World counts as getting Disney Vaulted, but maybe? ½ point
Wrong: Zelda Anniversary, nothing on Prime 4 yet, Waluigi was criminally snubbed, no Fire Emblem.
Total:
5 points. Boom! Rocketing from last to first! Now that's a comeback.
Up next it’s the pal of all pokes, the president of Ninjala himselfMy two big predictions are that we're going to get a new Pokemon game that's pretty much all open world style areas (they've been blatantly experimenting with that with the DLCs) and some kind of Switch Pro model.
Also, Zelda will slip into 2022.
[…]
My Nintendo Predictions are as follows:
- Nintendo will piss off the Smash fanbase at least seven times.
- Nintendo will piss off the Pokemon Fanbase at least five times.
- Nintendo will piss off the fire emblem fanbase somehow
- The Metroid fanbase will get pissed off with little to no action on Nintendo's part.
- Game Freak will piss off the Pokemon fanbase.
- TPCi will piss off the Pokemon fanbase
- Junichi Masuda will piss off the Pokemon fanbase
- Nintendo will piss off the Star Fox fanbase.
Not quite correct on Pokémon, but you did get the Pro model half right
½ point, Zelda did slip into 2022
1 point , and most fanbases were indeed pissed off
1 point, so it’s an almost clean sweep!
Total:
2 ½ pointsWill Lemonade turn 2021’s lemons into, well, lemonade?I had some predictions in the discord, so I will post them here too
E3 is cancelled again
PAX is online only again
Switch Pro doesnt happen
Grezzo will release a new 2D Zelda
For the Pokemon anniversary, we will get the new Detective Pikachu game
Nintendo will announce a new IP and the main character will be the final Smash character
Crash is coming to Smash
Bit of a toughie on the PAX prediction. PAX East and Australia were cancelled, and an Online Event did indeed occur in July. But PAX West
did happen in some capacity. I’ll go for
½ a point there. Same on the Switch Pro prediction, really.
Total:
1 point. Bummer, because I like a lot of these ideas more than what Nintendo wound up doing.
MASB, our market analyst, must have better insight than these other dweebs, surely!1. For Zelda 35th Anniversary, They will release a remake of either Link to the Past or the Oracles games. I'd prefer the Oracles games since we had A Link Between Worlds so recently. Breath of the Wild 2 will release this year (the big holiday game). Zelda Game & Watch (but more limited edition since so many of the Mario G&Ws are sitting on the shelves).
2. Pokemon 25th Anniversary: The Pokemon Diamond/Pearl remakes are all but certain if rumors are anything to go by. Let's go left field and say a Pokemon Trading Card Game will be released for Switch. Games in that series should have been released years ago. But apparently Isihara has a burning hot hatred of Nintendo since it's been revealed he wanted Pokemon to go mobile-only since the DS era. Luckily, Nintendo owns all the trademarks sucker! :p This is a man that almost lost Pokemon due to a hard drive crash in the early 90s, so his power shouldn't be unchecked. :p
3. Smash Ultimate roster reveals: Another Capcom respresentative. Maybe Rebecca Chambers to promote Resident Evil Revelations 3. Maybe a Koei-Tecmo representative. Ryu from Ninja Gaiden or Cao Cao or some other character from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
4.A Rhythm Heaven game. Against all odds, the Famicom Detective Club games will be translated. A Style Savvy game may be released for the holidays. Mario Golf. Time to hit the links! Some RPG elements like the GBC/GBA games but not all the fans would want, the same way as with Mario Tennis Aces. Have some strange restriction like Aces did with only being able to play one set at a time. Maybe each course will only have 9 holes. :p
5. A big multiplayer game. Nintendo will want to show off its not Wii-DS era online system. Splatoon 3 with a battle royale element?
6. A new Fire Emblem game will be announced, but not released this year.
7. We'll see a clip of Bayonetta 3 at best. 2022 release, at best. :p
8. A clip of Metroid Prime 4. 2022 release. Will be released before Bayonetta 3 will. :p
9. A Kirby platformer will be revealed for Fall release.
10. New Switch will be revealed. People will be disappointed in that it's not much of a power bump. Nintendo will do the bare minimum as usual.
11. Collabaration with Ubi Soft. Zelda RTS, but no Rabbids inclusion since they want the Zelda series to have more dignity/seriousness. Maybe Assassin's Creed will be the Ubi Soft inclusion, if there is one.
12. Nintendo 64 games added to NSO in the fall, around renewal time. 1 N64 game released a month. Within 3 months, every other month. :p
13. Harada/Nagoshi will be "Switch what?" until they're fired or retire. :p
14. A funeral will be held for Super Mario Bros. 35th anniversary on March 31st. On April 1st, they'll announce that it is illegal to own Mario games henceforth.
- Zelda did get a Game & Watch. ½ point
- Diamond & Pearl remakes did happen. A new Trading Card Game was announced but isn’t out yet, so it could conceivably still come to Switch. 1 point
- Spot-on regarding Famicom Detective Club! 1 point
- Switch OLED was certainly met with mixed responses 1 point
- Bayo 3 was indeed a clip at best. 1 point
- Exactly right on the one-per-month N64 NSO drip-feed! 1 point
- a new Kirby game was revealed, is likely some kind of platformer, but not for this year. ½ point
Nagoshi did leave Sega, but presumably for a better paycheck. Exactly wrong on the Ubisoft prediction though, and Prime 4 remains AWOL.
Total:
6 points! MASB steals the lead! Can anyone deny him still?
Grading my own homework again- The three new Smash Bros. fighters will all release this year. They are: Dr. Robotnik, Crash Bandicoot, and a Konami character. A smaller, third season pass is announced, to Sakurai's chagrin.
- Zelda Twilight Princess HD is ported to Switch this year, but not Wind Waker HD.
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury scores lower in reviews than the original and is once again unjustly snubbed during GOTY season.
- Another Game & Watch is released, this time containing all the Game & Watch Gallery releases. No other retro/mini consoles.
- Boyfriend Dungeon becomes the surprise indie critical darling of the year.
- The Zelda BOTW sequel will not release this year, but Age of Calamity gets a big DLC expansion.
- E3 is cancelled once again.
- A new Fire Emblem game is announced, again working with Koei-Tecmo.
- NSO adds SNES Vegas Stakes and either Mario RPG or EarthBound, but not both.
- Sonic & Mario Tokyo Olympics is re-released with bonus content to tie into the event (which will happen, but without any audience).
- All Smash characters did release, but I got none of them right ½ point.
- Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury scored 89/100 on Metacritic as opposed to 3D World’s original 93/100. Also didn’t see it in many GOTY talks. 1 point
- Another Game & Watch, but it was Zelda themed instead. ½ point
- I was completely right on BOTW2 and the Age of Calamity DLC. 1 point
Wrong predictions: No 3D Zelda port at all, E3 was digital only but did technically happen, no Fire Emblem at all, no Olympics, wrong NSO predictions, and Boyfriend Dungeon didn’t dethrone Inscryption/Death’s Door/Chicory/etc.
Total:
3 points. Better than last year, but not by much.
Can Mop It Up mop up some points?I'm gonna make some bold proclamations for once! But first a few tame ones.
I'm guessing a new Mario Golf will be announced this year, since it feels like it's been a while since Mario Tennis Aces wrapped up. "Yeah well everyone's saying that one."
I'm also in the "New Fire Emblem" train, not sure what it'll be though.
There's gotta be at least one more port from Wii U announced this year, right? Though there isn't a whole lot worthwhile left. Nintendo Land is the most popular, but would require the most work to convert and may need some redesign changes, so they may not do that one. While the next in line for popularity would be Yoshi's Woolly World, I actually think that Xenoblade X would be more likely, since they've been Xeno-crazy lately. "Talk about a real port-able system."
There's gotta be a Super Mario Party 2 right? I know they released that Clubhouse Games thing last year, but that can't have taken their full development effort. "What is you a filthy casual?"
A new Pokémon game besides Snap will release this year, probably the gen IV remakes that are so heavily rumored, but maybe a new Mystery Dungeon?! "Frankly, we'd rather catch a cold."
Due to its explosive popularity, they'll do another year's worth of free updates and events for Animal Crossing New Horizons. "Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in!"
A new Switch model will be announced, not sure if it will be something more powerful or something more like the Lite. "Hedge your bets folks."
They'll add a new system to the NSO thingie, but not until September. My guess is original Game Boy, which may or may not include GBC lumped together. "Mmm, pea soup."
Super Mario 3D World seems like it could get some DLC, such as a new world and new characters (Yoshi?!). "Quit making me want to rebuy games!"
A new Dr. Mario title on the eShop feels long overdue! Though they might do something like Dr. Mario 99 instead. "We've got to stop calling everyone who wears a white coat a doctor."
Nintendo will release a Zelda collection of some kind, but it will include the original versions of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, not the HD remasters. "This isn't funny anymore."
Possibly my boldest prediction: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 will release this year! November most likely. "Your baloney has a first name, and it's Mop it up."
I'm gonna say Nintendo will not completely ignore Metroid's 35th anniversary and will release Metroid Prime Trilogy HD... However, it will be simply the Wii game upscaled on emulation and not an HD remaster. "That'll be $60 please."
Nintendo will make at least one more public apology about Joy-Con drift, but will continue to do nothing. "I'm sorry you made this post."
Despite this being the year of Zelda, I'm still gonna guess that Super Mario Odyssey 2 is in the works and will release this coming fiscal year, possibly the October slot like the original, but may be a Feb or March 2022 title. Bowser's Fury seems like it was an experiment when deciding what to do with Odyssey 2. "Who knew predicting a Mario game was a wild guess!"
- Correct on Mario Golf, fore! 1 point
- Not the correct Wii U port, but we did see Fatal Frame reappear?
why??? ½ point - New Mario Party indeed. 1 point
- Also correct regarding the Pokémon Gen 4 remakes! 1 point
- Once again hedged bets are the safe, but boring option: a new Switch model does exist. ½ point
- ½ point for NSO. Good call, wrong system
- Not sure how to read your Mario 3D World prediction. Bowser’s Fury came right in the box rather than being DLC, but I don’t recall if we knew that ahead of time ½ point
Wrong ones: Fire Emblem is MIA, Zelda got a Game & Watch instead, Metroid went unignored against all odds, Dr. Mario got delisted on mobile rather than released on Switch, and no big Mario sequel.
Total:
5 points! What a performance!
Last contender this year, Khushrenada!Kirby game, Mario sports game, Fire Emblem Echoes game, Nintendo announces new hardware around June to September depending on how E3 stuff may be working this year, Pokemon unveils a Diamond / Pearl remake, Animal Crossing Party (sort of like Wii U Party but with Animal Crossing characters), Famicom Detective comes west, Pushmo comes to the Switch eShop, not 1 but 2 new IP games are released, BotW2 is going to March next year for 5 years after BotW1, Fatal Frame from Wii U gets ported and I'm out of time.
- Golf counts as a sport! 1 point
- New hardware is kinda vague, the OLED was right outside your predicted window, but I guess the Skyward Sword joy-con count as hardware…? ½ point
- How come everyone knew about these Diamond & Pearl remakes? 1 point
- Weirdly you’re the 2nd person to call Famicom Detective Club getting localized. What a world. 1 point
- Fatal Frame got ported indeed, another Moonshot prediction there. 1 point
Total:
4 ½ points! Great score with some risky plays. Not enough to steal the crown, but very solid.
That's all folks, let's take a peek at the
2021 Leaderboard:MASB: 6 points
Mop It Up: 5 points
Nickmitch: 5 points
Stratos: 5 points
Khushrenada: 4 ½ points
Mr Bungle: 4 ½ points
Luigi Dude: 4 points
Order.RSS: 3 points
Pokepal: 2 ½ points
TopHatAnt: 2 ½ points
Insanolord: 2 points
Lemonade: 1 point
Big swings, big upsets, and generally way more accurate predictions than last year. Nickmitch pulls off a second consecutive Top Three finish, Stratos and Mop It Up are the biggest gainers, and Mr Bungle gives up the crown to your new NWR Futurologist Champion…
MASB!
Thanks for playing everyone, the new thread for 2022 will go up soon!
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