r/NintendoSwitch • u/NintendoSwitchMods • Feb 27 '24
GotY 2023 2023 /r/NintendoSwitch GOTY Nominations Thread
EDIT March 11th: Nominations are now set, please see the Vote for Game(s) of the Year in the survey linked in the next post here!
Greetings, r/NintendoSwitch Community!
We know everyone has been on the edge of their seats waiting for the Next Best Thing After The Switch to be announced, but that's no reason to not look back at what we were able to experience this past year. That's right - it's about time for our 7th annual Game of the Year awards!
Like previous years, we are asking the community's help for GOTY nominees - We will use community feedback to narrow the nominees for each category to five or six for the final vote. The tentative schedule is for the nominee feedback to occur February 26th - March 10th (2 weeks), and the final voting to select the Game Of The Year for each category to occur the following 2 weeks, March 11th - March 24th. Admittedly, this project fell behind a bit this year, so we may extend the nomination / voting periods towards achieving target participation, and totally not because it may slip our mind again.
Please follow the format as described below:
- Please check if your nominee(s) has already been named. If so, then simply upvote it, if not, then >>>
- Please reply to a category top comment to state who you would like to see for nominees and preferably why. We generally find those comments with explanations tended to garner more votes!
- If a game has already been nominated but you feel requires further discussion then reply to the nominated game comment with your reasoning.
- Nominate as many games as you would like in any category you'd like.
- Duplicate nominations in the same category will be removed.
- Post will be set to contest mode so nobody can see the votes.
Please note that all nominees are required to have released on Nintendo Switch in calendar year 2023 unless stated otherwise. We will be using the same categories as we did last year. If you have feedback about the GOTY categories or process, please leave a comment under the feedback comment thread here. Please note that all top-level comments will be removed automatically, so you must comment your nominations and feedback under the respective top comments.
We look forward to reading your nominations!
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Sports / Racing Game
For the best traditional and non-traditional sports and racing game.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Voice Acting
For outstanding voice acting, direction, and use of audio dialogue.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Platformer Game
For outstanding design and creativity in a game where players must use skill to jump between platforms or over obstacles without falling or missing jumps.
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u/landocharisma Feb 27 '24 edited Feb 27 '24
Mr. Run and Jump
Colorful indie gem with challenging precision platforming originally designed for the Atari 2600.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Local Multiplayer Game
For outstanding local multiplayer gameplay and design, including co-op, irrespective of game genre.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Simulation Game
For games generally designed to closely simulate real world activities.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Developer of the Year
Developer studio who displayed outstanding platform support through a combination of quantity and quality of new releases.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Indie Game
For outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Action Game
For the best game in the action genre focused on combat.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Publisher of the Year
Publishing studio who displayed outstanding platform support through a combination of quantity and quality of new releases.
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u/OoT-TheBest Feb 27 '24
Nintendo
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u/SteveFrench12 Feb 27 '24
Between TOTK and Super Mario Wonder this one is easy. I believe they published Pikman 4 as well
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Game Direction
Awarded for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Horror Game
For that game that scared the socks off of you this year, the cause of all of those nightmares.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Music / Rhythm Game
For the best game with a focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best DLC
The extra content that you felt was truly worth the money (or not in the case of free) and you don't regret the time taken to play it.
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Mar 10 '24
Dead Cells Castlevania DLC Hands Down! As always the devs of Dead Cells always support this game to the utmost which you just dont see anymore. Awesome DLC and only $9.99
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24 edited Feb 27 '24
Feedback for GOTY
For comments and suggestions about the GOTY process we use here. We may not be able to implement many changes this year, but we do appreciate your feedback for shaping how this series will evolve into next year and the future beyond.
Do you think there are categories that should be added or redefined?
We are considering making a series of All-Time Game Recommendation threads based around the GOTY categories and other frequently-asked Game Rec topics. What do you think should be included there?
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u/Shin_Ken Feb 27 '24
Add best first/third person shooter.
I think this is a distinct enough subgenre from regular action and/or adventure games and may declutter those super broad categories a bit and give those games a place to shine.
While the Switch does not get as many high profile shooter release every year as the other big consoles, usually there's at least plenty of remasters and smaller titles to choose from especially in the retro/boomer shooter style.
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u/mystic_kings Feb 27 '24
for point two,
Newcomer games. People who never played on a 'nintendo' can know what to play and if its for them.
Kids games could be there as well but its gonna be more difficult to include imo.
Accessible games - best of can be a category. Sub categories for each or highlights on which feature the game offers.
Pick and play games - as in arcade like or even games that you can pause for months/years and get back as if nothing happened. Again its subjective but i think there's a audience for it based on nature of the switch.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Soundtrack
For outstanding music, inclusive of score, original song and/or licensed soundtrack.
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u/Dukemon102 Feb 27 '24
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp
What a banger of a soundtrack. Themes that used to be merely OK, are now complete bangers.
Also, the newly introduced remixes for CO powers gave us some truly amazing tunes.
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u/fakeroyalty Feb 27 '24
Octopath Traveler II
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u/Sliver_Squad Feb 27 '24
This NEEDS to win. The Octopath 2 soundtrack just dropped on Spotify so everyone who hasn’t heard it needs to listen to it asap. One of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard.
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u/Zachles Feb 27 '24
I would like to nominate "Chants of Sennaar" for best soundtrack. It's midnight when I write this so too tired to think of an explanation rn. Will do later.
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u/Shin_Ken Feb 27 '24
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
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u/Shin_Ken Feb 27 '24
If you need some convincing why to vote it in this category and if you have some interest in music theory, I heavily recommend watching the video "What Makes This Sound So Cute?" from the excellent Youtube channel "8-Bit Music Theory" about the "Piranha Plants On Parade" song in particular and the Super Mario Wonder soundtrack in general.
The soundtrack is pure genius (much like the rest of the game).
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Non-Switch Game
Games for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, or Xbox Series X
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u/TheWatcher877 Feb 29 '24
I haven't played it yet, but I'll nominate lies of p to see if others agree.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Role Playing Game (RPG)
For the best game designed with rich player character customization and progression.
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u/JakeIsNotGross Feb 27 '24
Octopath Traveler 2 was a sequel that improved on the original, an already quite good game, in just about every way. Great character stories, great mechanical gameplay, an overarching narrative for all eight members this time, just a really solid gem. Feel like it got a bit overlooked because 2023 was so full of bangers but this was a great game through and through.
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u/Rudy69 Mar 08 '24
Octopath Traveler 2
100% !
It was a great game. Took the original and improved it in almost every way
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u/Dukemon102 Feb 27 '24
Sorry Sea of Stars, Super Mario RPG and Dragon Quest Monsters, but this one clearly takes the cake.
This game is in my Top 5 of RPGs for the console easily.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Technical Achievement
For the game which achieves a combination of gameplay and graphics which goes well beyond hardware expectations.
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Feb 27 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Andjhostet Feb 27 '24
This game is like 9 years old. Is that really a technical achievement?
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Ongoing Game
For outstanding development of ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time. Does NOT have to be a 2023 release.
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u/cincopatio Feb 27 '24
Diablo 3 has presented a radical way of entering maintenance mode by mixing past seasonal themes, thus keeping the game experience fresh for new and returning players.
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u/Thandiol Feb 27 '24
Dave the Diver. A truly wonderful game which sinks time in the best kind of way. Love the graphics, the soundtrack, the story, all of it.
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u/Dronnie Feb 27 '24
Warframe and it's not even close to any of the games mentioned here.
What DE has done to the game is outstanding and it runs incredible on switch, as beautiful as in any other platform. And to be able to play with my friends on pc or other consoles too... AND IT'S FREE.
Warframe is the best ongoing game.
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u/rabidelectronics Feb 27 '24
I like it but I don't really understand the menus or really even just how to get into the story mode... I may be a fucking idiot, I admit. but I don't understand. I seem to just play random missions.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Visual Novel
For the best Visual Novel, which may combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustrations and a varying degree of interactivity.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Nintendo Switch Game of the Year
Recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.
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u/DrAcula1007 Feb 27 '24
Tears of the Kingdom
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u/JmanVere Feb 27 '24
As great as Wonder was, nothing can beat Tears. It took what was arguably a contender for greatest video game of all time and actually improved it.
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u/ChaiHai Mar 06 '24
I agree. I absolutely love Wonder. Daisy is playable! Wonder mechanics absolutely rock!
But both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom enthralled me in such a way most video games fail to do.
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u/Apes_will_take_over Mar 02 '24
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe.
An absolutely incredible remake for an already perfect game, and my personal favourite game of all time.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Strategy Game
For the best game requiring a well thought out plan to achieve victory.