Last night were the annual Game Awards, the award show for all of us fans of gaming and fun. Before I get into the winners and all of that stuff, I have to say I really enjoyed this year’s Game Awards, a lot more than most years. It could have something to do with the amazing Nintendo presence, but I really enjoyed it this year. I wanted to write about the amazing night Nintendo had of winning the Game Awards.
Nintendo Nominations and Winners
After looking back at the list of nominations for this years Game Awards I noticed Nintendo was nominated in about 12 different categories with multiple nominations in that category. They had something like 26 nominations including two games represented in the “Game of the Year” category.
Games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey were their heavy hitters. They had all 5 nominations in the “Handheld Category” with Metroid: Samus Returns as the winner for that category. There was a sprinkling of games like Splatoon 2, Arms, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, all of which are Nintendo Switch exclusives.
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was the winner of the Best Strategy Game category, and Super Mario Odyssey won the category of Best Family Game. Then steps up The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild which took home gold as the “Best Action/Adventure Game,” “Best Game Direction,” and the big prize of the night: “Game of the Year.”
Game of the Year
We all knew it had to come down to Super Mario Odyssey, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild the absolute two best games made this year. Both were absolutely worthy to be called Game of the Year, but when all is said and done, Zelda takes the crown. When it was announced, I daresay, I teared up a little bit with happiness for the crew that worked so hard on that game. It was truly a mind-blowing experience and deserves every bit of acclaim that it gets.
Announcements and Reveals
The night wasn’t only a great night for Nintendo because of all the wins that they had throughout the night, but also because they had the best reveals of the night. Zelda: BOTW DLC was revealed to the world last night and made available for people to play. Why not give us more content, including a motorcycle for Link and the Champion’s Ballad storyline, to the best game of the year?
Not only that, but we get Bayonetta 1 and 2 revealed for the Switch to be coming out this February. After revealing that, Reggie was saying did you really think that is all I have to reveal, and we got to see that Platinum Games is working on Bayonetta 3 for the Nintendo Switch.
As I reflect on all that Nintendo has done in just one year, I can’t help but be excited about the future. The amazing night for Nintendo at the Game Awards of 2017 was well deserved and I for one am proud to be a Nintendo fan.