こにちはみんなさん!
2014 is officially in the books. For me, it was a good year. Nintendo had its day at last and it was their strongest year for the Wii U by far. Strong Wii U sales, ever-strong 3DS sales, and the very successful launch of amiibos has ensured a good year for Nintendo. However, for everyone who isn’t a Nintendo fan, this year was likely a disappointment across the board. However, that doesn’t mean that good games weren’t released this year.
I’m going to be perfectly honest, I didn’t play a lot of this year’s big releases. I was busy playing games that I hadn’t finished from last year, as well as writing articles for Haruhichan. It hardly seems fair for me to even do a Game of the Year Awards because of how little I played this year. Regardless, I will still do my best to present my Game of the Year Awards to you. It’s a tradition for me anyway. There will be reduced categories due to my lack of game playing. Shooters, for example, are off the list this year. As I don’t have a PS4 or Xbox One yet, don’t expect any of those to be here either. For the console games, they have to be exclusive to the console. So Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U won’t appear in those categories because they’re on multiple platforms. So, let’s begin!
Best Action:
Hyrule Warriors (Omega Force, Team Ninja/Nintendo. Wii U)
Freedom Wars (Dimps, Shift, SCE Japan Studio/Sony. PS Vita)
Bayonetta 2 (PlatinumGames/Nintendo. Wii U)
Winner: Bayonetta 2
I’ve said it many times: PlatinumGames is the best action game developer in the industry. They don’t disappoint with Bayonetta 2. Crazy, over-the-top, and rewarding action combat is what you get in Bayonetta 2 from start to finish, and the road to mastering the system to get better medals will have you coming back for more.
Best Driving:
Winner: Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo. Wii U) by default
Even if there were other games to compete here, I don’t think they would have beaten out Mario Kart 8. Mario Kart 8 was a great racing game that had nice, reliable online, absolutely amazing graphics, a great soundtrack, and of course, the classic Mario Kart gameplay.
Best Fighting:
Winner: Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U (Bandai Namco, Sora Ltd./Nintendo) by default
Again, not a whole lot of competition here. I doubt any other fighting game that released this year would have been able to top this game. It’s the culmination of two years work from Bandai Namco, who had to be brought in to help because of the size of the project. The expanded roster, great graphics (Wii U), somehow smooth frame rate (3DS), fantastic soundtrack, and of course the frantic and fun gameplay the series is known for, this game is the total package once again.
Best RPG:
Bravely Default (Square Enix, Silicon Studio/Nintendo. 3DS)
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 (Compile Heart, Idea Factory, Felistella/Idea Factory International. PS Vita)
Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire (Game Freak/Nintendo. 3DS)
Winner: Bravely Default
Wait, what? It’s not Hyperdimension Neptunia or Pokemon? Nope, it’s not. Even a reboot of the original Hyperdimension Neptunia or a remake of the Hoenn region, is not enough to help snag RPG of the Year from me. Bravely Default, although it had its flaws, was still a much more enjoyable overall experience. Bravely Default has set the tone for what random encounter JRPGs should be like, as well as providing all of the things that made the original Square games so great. Nice risk-reward gameplay, killer soundtrack, and a good group of characters helped lead the way.
Best 3DS Game:
Bravely Default (Square Enix, Silicon Studio/Nintendo. 3DS)
Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire (Game Freak/Nintendo. 3DS)
Winner: Bravely Default (see above reasons)
Best Wii U Game:
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Retro Studios/Nintendo)
Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
Hyrule Warriors (Omega Force, Team Ninja/Nintendo)
Bayonetta 2 (PlatinumGames/Nintendo)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
Winner: Mario Kart 8
In terms of showing off what the Wii U can do, Mario Kart 8 is a perfect example. While 4-player local multiplayer isn’t ideal, single-player and two-player play showcases the actual power of the Wii U with its graphics, frame rate, and overall fun factor.
Best Vita Game:
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 (Compile Heart, Idea Factory, Felistella/Idea Factory International)
Freedom Wars (Dimps, Shift, SCE Japan Studio/Sony)
Winner: Freedom Wars
I’m not going to lie; my PS Vita is basically my machine to play the Hyperdimension Neptunia games. That is the reason I bought the console in the first place. However, I can’t deny that the Vita has a bunch of other great games. Freedom Wars is a game I almost skipped on but I decided to give it a chance, and I’m glad I did. The game has some great, fast-paced action and fighting gigantic robots never seems to get old.
Game of the Year:
Bravely Default
Mario Kart 8
Bayonetta 2
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U
Freedom Wars
Winner: Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U
My most anticipated game of 2014 did not disappoint. I was initially a little worried that the game was light on content after playing through the 3Ds version, but the Wii U version has everything anyone could possibly want out of a great game. Great graphics, a stellar soundtrack, and gameplay that managed to covert me from Melee is something that was hard to accomplish.
My Anime of the year Awards are coming up next, so stay tuned! Yeah, I know it’s late, but better late than never.
また後で!