As I mentioned this morning, I would begin writing up my “of the Year” articles which I intend on continuing to do over the next couple of days until New Years Eve where the big announcements such as my Game of the Year will be made. Unlike last year things have been pretty hectic for me this month and I haven’t had the luxury of time to do more to promote the games that have been considered, so these posts will be just about naming the recipients of these titles.
The purpose of Game of the Year is to generally list ones preference of being the “Best Game” released that year. While I will be conforming to this trend I would also like to take the time to list the games from previous generations of consoles (That I own) that I have spent time playing this year and give them a special mention. Some of these titles will have been reviewed on The Otaku’s Study while others given their age or acquirability until this year have not been reviewed. Either way I hope this showcases some of the older games I have played this year, gauge interest in potential HD collection releases and give older games a chance to shine if but for a moment.
Old consoles I have which I have played older games on this last year: Nintendo 64, Nintendo Gamecube, Gameboy, Playstation 1, Playstation 2. Other consoles I either do not own or have not played enough games on this year to warrant giving out an award. Unlike releases from 2012 which as you may have seen last year have slightly stricter criteria, these come down to the requirement that I must have played them during the year and are solely based on personal preference.
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Nintendo 64
Snowboard Kids 2
While the first Snowboard Kids game was pretty lackluster and the DS remake of the game something I would like to forget – Snowboard Kids 2 by the teams at Racdym and ATLUS (USA) has proven since released to be one of the most memorable Nintendo 64 games. There was a period of time which I thought I had lost my copy of this title – but earlier in the year was able to recover and subsequently spent many hours replaying it. While it wasn’t a AAA title and its popularity fell behind games of that status such as Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, it offered one of the more challenging and enjoyable racing experiences of its time.
This game wins the award for its multiplayer potential, short but satisfactory storyline mode, additional gameplay modes, customization and perhaps the most frustrating aspect of any racing game I have played yet…. the fights to get on the chairlift.
For more on my thoughts of this game, read my July 2012 article “Sam’s Top 5 Games on the Nintendo 64 – Thoughts, Reminiscence and Hopes For Future Development (1 / 5) – Snowboard Kids 1 / Snowboard Kids 2“.
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Nintendo Gamecube
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
While I have mentioned it a couple of times over the years, including in an article titled “Opinion: Let’s Talk Wii U and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles“, amongst a short-lived console with many other great games Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles stands out from the mix. Not part of the numbered installments in the Final Fantasy franchise but instead a Nintendo-exclusive side series, Crystal Chronicles provides up to four players with some challenging action RPG gameplay limited only by the number of Gameboy controllers and “link cables” you had. The game is however fun as a single player campaign with considerable replay value and has spawned several more games in the series set in the same world.
This game wins the award for interesting (albeit costly) multiplayer functional, some of the best visuals and sound for a game on the Gamecube and for the number of hours it has convinced me to put into over the last few years including this one. Other titles considered for this award which receive second and third place respectively were Tales of Symphonia which I only recently got my hands on and Animal Crossing (Gamecube) which I returned to my village (Full of weeds mind you) only a couple of months back.
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Gameboy
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
While I have mentioned a few times that my first ever video game was Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, it was infact its “sort of” sequel Super Mario Land 3 which had me come back to it this year. The first game Wario served as a playable character and an inaugural game for the Wario Land series, it sees you once again in a side-scrolling platformer with a new array of moves and power-ups. The goal was not to defeat some villain who kidnapped a princess or stole their castle but instead to build up as much money and treasure as possible in order to purchase the greatest castle possible and make Mario jealous.
This game won the award for solid visuals and music for its time as well as a great platforming experience.
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Sony Playstation (1)
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
In the second half of 2011 ATLUS USA released Persona 2: Innocent Sin on the Playstation Portable. The game was originally released on the Playstation One in Japan, however due to content issues they decided to give its original release a miss internationally. The games sequel on the other hand did receive an international release and in Japan has since received a PSP port in Japan made this year…. however many months down the road and ATLUS USA has yet to announce if they will be releasing it.
Eternal Punishment takes place in a parallel world to Innocent Sin after the events of the games ending. Changing the trend of all other Persona games you take control of named character Maya Amano (Who was a party member in the first) with the main character from IS, three new characters and two guest characters from Persona 1 joining your party. It is much of the same you would have come to expect from Innocent Sin but it was a fun installment with more Persona-quality gameplay on offer.
This game won the award for its gameplay quality.
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Playstation 2
Game: Shining Force EXA
Series: .hack//G.U
Out of all of the previous gen consoles, the one I most probably got through the biggest backlog was the Playstation 2 (Most of which was dedicated to some form of procrastination caused by thesis writing over the first half of the year). Therefore as I has unable to differ between my thoughts on the two I have split the PS2 recipients into a Series and Standalone game.
Shining Force EXA developed by Neverland and published by Sega was one of the last installments in the long running series to receive an English localized release. Despite some heavy slow-down issues and average at best voice acting, the game came with solid visuals and music, a good degree of character customization and combat that was simple to pick up but always kept me on my toes.
Over here in Australia, all installments in the .hack anime series have been released from .hack//Sign to .hack//Quantum. However despite the prequel anime series .hack//Roots seeing a release, its relative game series .hack//G.U never saw a release here. Earlier in the year I was able to pick up all three installments in the series, and while the gameplay limitations are as clear as they were in the first four games, the setting (and integration into the pseudo-online game world) was well developed and the storyline / character development was interesting despite the large character cast.
