Overall Game of the Year? (Wii U and 3DS)

[Wii]

Now for the big one.

 

The choices are shamelessly borrowed from Nintendolife.

 

• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
  
• Mario Kart 8
  
• Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
  
• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
  
• Shovel Knight
  
• Bayonetta 2
  
• Hyrule Warriors
  
• Fantasy Life
  
• Tomodachi Life
  
• Mario Golf: World Tour
  
• Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
  
• Kirby: Triple Deluxe
  
• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
  
• Other
  

 

You have until just after the end of the first week in the New Year to make your choice. That should give you plenty of time to play some more games. The poll will give an overall visual result and show how people are voting and who voted for which game. You can only pick one but you can obviously discuss all the other great games that you've played throughout the year.

[Rummy]

As the other two threads will have shown, I've apparently been quite bad at gaming this year - but out of the three I've touched; MK8, Smash4WiiU and Fantasy Life - I think I'd definitely give my vote to the last. A crackingly addictive little title, not without its flaws, but filled with Nintendo-esque goodness imo. Have really been enjoying it, probably my most played game of recent times in fact - clocked up at 60 hours and counting! Wouldn't mind seeing a decent sequel to it at some point.

[Jimbob]

Overall my vote goes down on Tropical Freeze. Brilliant from start to finish.

[Glen-i]

Hyrule Warriors is what I voted for.

 

(Nicked from my post on the top 10 GOTY thread)

I've never played a musou game before, so I really only played this for the Zelda influence, but I've ended up sinking hour after hour into it since.

It's not really about just destroying every enemy in your way, (OK, it is at first), it's more about management. Should you focus on taking keeps to protect your allied base, or try and finish the mission before it falls? Should you go rescue that Hylian captain, or would it take too much time?

It really makes you think on your feet. I love the challenge of trying to A rank things on Adventure Mode. (Not to mention the DLC is very good value for money)

Hyrule Warriors is a game that's gonna keep me coming back for more well into next year.

[Dcubed]

Right! Before I start, I have to preface that I have not yet played Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 2, Fantasy Life or Captain Toad (amongst others) due to a sheer lack of time this year (plus I was playing a lot of games from retro consoles this year, which obviously wont be counted in this list).

 

With that said... my vote goes to...

 

 

WHAT A GAME!!! It was every bit as amazing I was hoping it would be and absolutely worth the long, gruelling wait! A perfectly crafted tribute to everything amazing about the 8 bit generation of games, while also a groundbreakingly bold new take on the familiar sidescrolling platformer concept. The checkpoint system is an absolute stroke of sheer genius, the boss battles are amazingly well designed and all innovative in their own right, new concepts are constantly introduced and discarded as quickly as in Mario Galaxy (with most of them being all new to the platforming genre; it doesn't just ape what came before it!), the economy system is balanced and polished to a mirror sheen that has never shone so strongly in a platform game like this before and everything about the game is fine tuned to perfection.

 

The soundtrack is the stuff of legends, as are the beautifully crafted visuals (adhering closely, but not strictly so, to the NES' limitations - incidentally, the music was actually composed using the NES' sound chip; well, the enhanced VRC6 chip anyway!). The game is packed with globs of content and more gameplay depth than a mineshaft!

 

Even the lightly told story is actually very well crafted, with just enough characterisation to make you feel for your shovelbound protagonist and his shield at arms and told in a unique (and gameplay driven!) manner that you never really see in a platformer!

 

Really, the game is a true treasure (and to think it was unearthed by just a mere team of six!) It's a real miracle of a production and an absolutely stellar game that truly stands tall alongside the 8 bit classics that it was inspired by. I'm easily comfortable in saying that it's every bit as good as the likes of Mega Man 2, Castlevania and SMB 1-3!

 

It's pretty much a perfect game really. It's tough, but amazingly accommodating to less skilled players thanks to an incredibly well thought out series of assistance tools like the checkpoint system and the various armour/health/magic upgrades and the many items that you can pick up along the way; all balanced by a carefully crafted economy system that always encourages exploration and always feels rewarding. It's a game about shovelry and doesn't let you forget it!

 

If you haven't dug into it yet, stop what you're doing right now and get stuck in!

Edited December 22, 2014 by Dcubed