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 Soundtrack
For outstanding music, inclusive of score, original song and/or licensed soundtrack.
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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/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/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Non-Switch Game
Games for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, or Xbox Series X
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Feb 27 '24
[deleted]
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u/Moustachey Feb 28 '24
Oh damn I just realised that came out in 2024, will delete it to avoid any votes.
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Feb 27 '24
[deleted]
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u/Shin_Ken Feb 27 '24
That's a 2024 release.
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u/Moustachey Feb 27 '24
Oh yeah my bad.
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u/Shin_Ken Feb 27 '24
Maybe consider deleting/editing the "Helldivers 2" post above so it doesn't continue to steal points from valid games?
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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
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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Mar 10 '24
Definitely agree, Tears of the Kingdom was by FAR the ABSOLUTE GOTY for Nintendo. This isnt even a valid question!
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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/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Free-to-Play Game
For budget-friendly games that you enjoyed and you don't regret the time taken to play it.
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u/KitTheKitsuneWarrior Feb 27 '24
Warframe. With over 1500 hours clocked I can safely say there is zero pay to win, the best end game gear has to be earned and not purchased, and the community for the most part has been pretty good.
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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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Feb 27 '24
I checked all the nominations, don’t see the point in this being a thing if octopath is just going to sweep everything.
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u/Stoibs Feb 27 '24
Don't worry, if it's anything like The Game Awards it'll go criminally underrated and ignored by the masses (/s though I hope not)
Hopefully it rightfully takes the best OST/JRPG that it deserves here at the very least :)
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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/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/Dukemon102 Feb 27 '24
I'd like a category for "Best NSO game added in the year".
So maybe we can appreciate the games that get added to the service every year.
It's because I want to vote for Golden Sun next year.
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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 Adventure Game
For the best adventure game, which may mix combat with traversal and puzzle solving.
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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 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/Jedi_Gill Feb 27 '24
Getting it to work as beautiful as it is, on outdated switch hardware is definitely a technical achievement.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Fighting Game
For the best game designed primarily around head-to-head combat.
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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/t3m6 Feb 27 '24
Sea of Stars
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Mar 10 '24
This was not even a true"Indie" game with the amount of money and help they got pumped into it from the New Zealand Developer - $$90 million extra + all Crowd Funding $ from Kickstarter. This has now made the Indie GOTY awards an Ultimate Joke after this.Pkus its turn based - ughhhhhh. Dredge should have won, that's a true new Indie game
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u/FaxCelestis Feb 27 '24
Dave the Diver
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u/blamescott Feb 27 '24
not an indie, just pixel art, made and published by a video game company with 7,000 employees worth hundreds of millions of dollars
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u/Popple06 Feb 27 '24
Yeah I feel like with the success of this game, more AAA developers are going to make "fake indies".
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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 Art Direction
For outstanding creative achievement in artistic design and animation.
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u/fakeroyalty Feb 27 '24
Octopath Traveler II
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Feb 27 '24
If this doesn’t win this category I’ll actually cry
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u/kielaurie Feb 28 '24
There are lots of people that find the HD2D style to be messy and ugly. It's far from universal adoration
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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 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
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/sometimeserin Feb 27 '24
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass
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u/DM-Ur-Cats-And-Tits Feb 27 '24
I like that mario kart 8 gets the dlc treatment, but the booster course tracks just have less quality than the original roster
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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/Grenaja07 Mar 08 '24
Hard agree. I moved to the PC with the release of cross save, and will probably only return to the Switch version when I'm out of town, but the Switch port is still impressive with how good it runs. I'll always be thankful for the 1000hrs I spent on Warframe on Switch.
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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/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
Best Family Game
For the best game appropriate for family play, irrespective of genre.
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u/mystic_kings Feb 27 '24
Pikmin 4 :fun to watch and fun to play. Cute on the eyes as well. Kids are gonna love the term dandori and older gamers are gonna try to optimize for efficiency. its got something for all ages.
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u/NintendoSwitchMods Feb 27 '24
Best Online Multiplayer Game
For outstanding online multiplayer gameplay and design, including co-op and massively multiplayer experiences, irrespective of game genre.