2020 – The Year of Champions

Let's resist the urge to call this the "Year of Calamity" and solely focus on what the year 2020 had to offer for fans of The Legend of Zelda. The series will be celebrating its 35th Anniversary next year, where it was already the turn for Super Mario in 2020. So, if you didn't expect anything major for Zelda during this year, there is no blaming you.

And while we didn't get a new entry for the main series in 2020, it was a year for Zelda spin-offs to shine. First came Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the Necrodancher featuring The Legend of Zelda, which was already released on Nintendo Switch in 2019, but got a series of three DLC packs and a physical release this year.

The highlight of the DLC was probably the "Symphony of the Mask", a completely new story campaign, where you play as Skull Kid. But there was also a Character Pack, featuring Impa among others, as well as a Music Pack with a bunch of remixes.

For the longest time it looked like Cadence of Hyrule would be the only thing worth mentioning in 2020, but in September we got the announcement for a completely new game: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which was going to be released already two months later... Quite the surprise!

The first Hyrule Warriors already came to Nintendo Switch two years prior with its Definitive Edition, so this new Hyrule Warriors game focused entirely on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, taking place 100 years before the main events, where you get to meet and finally play as the infamous Champions: Mipha, Daruk, Revali and Urbosa.

And of course these were not the only playable characters, where this game is certainly a beast of its own and you can get entertained for many hours with tons of content in what is essentially just one giant love letter to Breath of the Wild. Maybe it will even set you in the mood for the sequel, where we may hear about the next major Zelda game in 2021. But more on that tomorrow...

Otherwise 2020 has seen the rise of new Champions in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Even though nothing of it had anything to do with The Legend of Zelda, the DLC for Smash has been going strongly with four Challenger Packs in total, three of which came in a new Fighters Pass. While the additions of Byleth, Min Min, Steve and Sephiroth had all sparked some controversies, you can't deny that all these fighters turned out to be quite unique, especially the ones from ARMS and Minecraft. And it will be interesting to follow the development of the upcoming DLC, even if there probably won't be anything in it for Zelda fans, but you never know... So, let's see.

PS: For me it was also the "Year of Champions", because I've played a lot of Quake Champions this year, where it's my most played game in 2020, even more than Age of Calamity. It also features an array of different playable characters from the Quake universe, as well as guest appearances of the Doom Slayer and B.J. Blaskowicz. If you're a fan of classic Arena Shooters, then give this a try.