Celine's Gameblogging Award Nominees 2017
Dec. 2nd, 2017 06:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kjorteoSince stealing xyzzysqrl's gameblogging idea and actually keeping track, in 2017 I completed 24 games, though 3 of them bend the rules a bit to count. (AM2R and Mega Man Unlimited are counted twice each for their alt character/hard mode runs, and I actually finished playing A Bird Story last year but this was the year I finally got around to editing and posting that YouTube Let's Play footage.) Also, 5 more games were officially abandoned.
That's... a very firm solid Last Place for basically everyone on Dreamwidth right now, but by Celine standards that's a pretty productive year.
With a cutoff point where the gameblogging year ends on Dec. 1 (anything I beat now counts toward the 2018 figures,) I wanted to do something fun with these figures now that they're final. Let's have an AWARD SHOW.
I have a spreadsheet to keep track of all of these throughout the year, so I won't forget something I beat in January by the time I need to include it here. It even has the 2018 rows already, and if you're curious enough to keep track and check in on it, I should be updating it with things I beat throughout the year. But now that we're at the end, let's go through these a little more in depth, shall we?
Since this is the inaugural award post, I'm also going to give special honors to the founders of each category. There was one game in each category that captured the spirit of that category so well that they gave me the idea to have an award for it in the first place. That doesn't necessarily mean they're going to win; it's entirely possible that even better examples came along later. In some cases, the founder didn't even end up making the cut for the final nominees. That's kind of why I wanted to cover founders in this post as well. They still deserve credit for getting the whole thing started, after all.
The final decisions and awards will be made in a few weeks. Some of these are, if not locks/mere formalities, at least lopsided contests with very clear favorites going in. Others, I honestly can't decide. Feel free to speculate or cheer for your favorites--it's not final yet!
So, let's go through some nominees, shall we?
Rita Repulsa award for Achievements in Backlog Liberation
Some games are long, some are hard, some have just been in the backlog forever. Whatever the reason, this award honors the games whose eventual completion made me say, "Finally! After ten thousand years, I'm free! It's time to conquer Earth!"
Nominees:
Adventures of Lolo 3
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers
Solar 2
TIS-100
Honorable Mentions:
Hanano Puzzle 2
Kirby: Squeak Squad
Mega Man Unlimited
Zen Puzzle Garden
This is probably the closest thing my awards have to a "negative" category, but it's not necessarily a declaration that I hated going through the game. After all, if that was the case, I could have just stopped playing and picked up something I liked instead. Besides, one of the nominees and one of the honorable mentions are also up for best game this year. No, this is more about the feeling of accomplishment of completing these ones, which could come from any number of factors.
Lolo 3 was my first start-to-finish new game project I completed since I started gameblogging, and was an immense relief for being a proof of concept that I can actually finish things. 999... was a bit of a slog when you had to suffer through its long-winded writing for the third New Game Plus in a row just to see the true ending, yes, but it was still at its core a fantastic story that was worth what it made you go through to experience it. Also,davidn had been recommending it for years, to the point that I felt guilty I hadn't played it for him yet, and the sense of alleviation of that guilt alone was enough to put 999 here. (This is the same reason Virtue's Last Reward is almost guaranteed to be up for this one if/when I ever beat it, as well, and I haven't even touched that one to judge its quality yet.) PMD was great but like six thousand hours long, Solar 2 felt like it was because the missions were impossibly hard and the endgame was a grind, and TIS-100, well, speaking of impossibly hard....
The name of this category came from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, because I thought Rita's "After ten thousand years I'm free" speech was fitting. The original idea to have it, and the special award for being its founder, go to Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.
Crying Bulbasaur award for Achievements in Emotional Devastation
Whether it makes me cry, warms my heart, makes me think about my life, or otherwise makes me feel things, this award is to honor the games that took me on a journey through the strongest emotions.
Nominees:
A Bird Story
Night in the Woods
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers
Star Billions Season 3
Honorable Mentions:
Labyrinthine Dreams
Metroid: Samus Returns
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Because obviously Celine awards are going to have a feel trip category. The only surprise here is that the nominees managed to find different approaches and angles to plead their case. If it were just a question of "which game had a scene that made me cry the hardest," that would be PMD, easily and by far. It is definitely a strong contender, if not the favorite, for that alone.
But not so fast! A Bird Story is also feelsy (because it's Freebird Games) but uniquely simple yet abstract and surreal in its feelsiness. NITW doesn't hit quite as hard in the crying sense, but it has this aura of pensive somber... just making you think about your life. Ori hits hard in ways that made me question my own quest at several points. Not quite Shadow of the Colossus levels "You know what, I don't think I want to successfully do this *quits forever*" but there was definitely a minor crisis of faith in the middle there. Star Billions hit me with some decisions that I still think about to this day. It's easy to cry because this character is sad, but Star Billions has a feeling of "I made that choice and I'm not sure what that says about me the player that I actually would think and choose that" that I don't think I've ever experienced before.
This category is named after my own crying Bulbasaur LiveJournal/Dreamwidth icon, which itself came from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red/Blue Rescue Team. It was kind of always inevitable that I was going to have the category itself, but credit for solidifying it, and thus the special founder award, go to A Bird Story.
Hint Coin award for Most Puzzling Puzzler
This award celebrates the headaches, confusion, and eventual triumph and/or shame in using a walkthrough that come with the best puzzle games and puzzles in games.
Nominees:
Adventures of Lolo 3
Hanano Puzzle 2
Splice
TIS-100
Zen Puzzle Garden
Honorable Mentions:
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Labyrinthine Dreams
More than almost any other category, this one all comes down to how one defines the category itself. What quality deserves an award when recognizing a puzzle game? Difficulty? The hardest single puzzle here would be the sequence sorter one in TIS-100, but that one was such bullshit that I just skipped it, copying a solution from a walkthrough (and not even understanding the solution after I'd entered it.) Or is it enjoyability? Lolo 3 is a game I played (but not finished) in my youth, and I was delighted to avenge myself on it now. Hanano and Zen Puzzle Garden are both lovely and sadistic, though in different ways, ZPG being more open-ended and thus (to me) harder but in the not-fun, less enjoyable way than Hanano. Splice is hard, and gets into the ZPG level nonsense in the final act, but it has an amazing soundtrack and was fun to play throughout.
I guess the question is, if a puzzle is so absurd that I have to give up and use a walkthrough, does that increase or decrease its chances of winning this award? Is there a such thing as too much puzzle? (Yes to that last one, or I'd have finished and nominated Chromatron.)
This is another category that was kind of inevitable with the games I play. The name comes from the Professor Layton series. The final "yeah I should make this official" catalyst and founder credit go to Hanano Puzzle 2.
Wing of Wyvern award for Most Retro Nostalgia Trip
Whether it is an actual classic game or a modern pixel-fest reminiscent of one, this award honors the games that really take you back to Tantagel Castle.
Nominees:
Adventures of Lolo 3
AM2R
Mega Man Unlimited
Stair Quest SE
Zeux 2: Caverns of Zeux
Honorable Mentions:
Metroid: Samus Returns
TIS-100
I'm a retro gamer at heart, and I love callbacks to that. This year's nominees are a varied mix of actual retro games and retro-styled games, and of what eras they reference. Lolo 3 is a real NES game, and playing it on my modified NES Classic was a particularly special feeling to me. AM2R turns a Game Boy game into a Super Metroid-styled one, and deserves all the credit in the world for pulling off that authentic SNES feel while also fending off Nintendo's lawyers. Mega Man Unlimited had an easier time of it because Capcom doesn't care about fangames, but it's still an amazing near-flawless Mega Man game that could have been part of the official canon and I wouldn't have known the difference. MaGMML has taught me that making a Mega Man engine that works and isn't buggy is apparently really hard, so the fact that I didn't notice anything wrong with MMU is a minor miracle and also worth a lot of points for them. (Nothing unintentionally wrong, anyway; the checkpoint starvation is still way too cruel but shh.) Stair Quest SE is the most brilliant parody of EGA King's Quest games since Peasant's Quest, and captures that experience far too well for its own good. And Caverns is an all-time ZZT/MegaZeux classic which I honestly should have played through years ago.
This is another "of course Celine had to have an award for this one" category. The name comes from the original Dragon Warrior, and the official founder credit goes to Adventures of Lolo 3.
Little Cup award for Achievements in Fluff
Not every game needs to be a long and serious epic. This award honors the light and/or little palate cleansers, because games are fun.
Nominees:
A Bird Story
Kirby: Squeak Squad
Marvin's Mittens
Stair Quest SE
Thomas Was Alone
Honorable Mentions:
Hanano Puzzle 2
Labyrinthine Dreams
Zen Puzzle Garden
This award is primarily for "light and fluffy" type games, as I realized that there were littler ones that I really liked and wanted to honor, but that probably wouldn't win in an even match against the big full-sized serious efforts. The thought was basically, "if I ever actually beat a Rhythm Heaven game and want to give it an award, where would it fit?"
That being said, it has already morphed into something for games that are at least one of short/light and/or fluffy, which is why the inaugural nominees include A Bird Story (short, surreal dreamlike walking sim, but also kind of glum and feelsy) and Kirby Squeak Squad (few things are fluffier than a Kirby game but this one feels long.) Marvin's Mittens is an even mix of both, Stair Quest SE is definitely a "for fun" game that captures the spirit of the award along those lines, and Thomas Was Alone is short and light but with a bit more gravitas.
The name comes from the Little Cup style battle rules in Pokemon. For the founder credit, the game that inspired this category (again, because I wanted to nominate it for something and didn't want it overshadowed by the full-sized giants) was Thomas Was Alone.
Piece of Heart award for Warmest Fuzzy
Whether it's a short indie romp or a long epic, and whether heartwarming moments are in the plot directly or just as a project that feels like it was made with love, this award honors games that make players feel good inside.
Nominees:
Marvin's Mittens
Night in the Woods
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers
Star Billions Season 3
Honorable Mentions:
A Bird Story
Kirby: Squeak Squad
Thomas Was Alone
Zen Puzzle Garden
We live in a cold, cynical world, and I wanted to award the games that bring some warmth to it. As with the Little Cup award, this seems to have mutated into two possible roads: either the game has the kind of feel-good moments that make the 90s canned studio audience go "Awwww... *applause*" or the game itself was obviously made with love. This is for passion projects, something where the developers' hearts shone through, and for heartwarming feels.
Marvin's Mittens is adorable, capturing a wintery feel with tender love that reminds me of hot cocoa and a hug on a snowy day. Night in the Woods has a lot of "wow this town is a shithole" cynicism built in on the surface, but when characters open up and have moments with each other, they have moments with each other. Ori is such a strong story about love and forgiveness that I swear the "Ori is a light-elemental critter zapping dark shadow things with light" is some kind of metaphor. PMD has the "It's just not possible for either of you to be unwanted in this world" speech. Star Billions is an entire series about keeping an open heart and faith in humanity even in trying times, and how that is absolutely not to be confused with naivete.
The category's name comes from the collectibles in the Legend of Zelda series. The biggest "Awwww" moment that inspired this, and the founder award and credit, go to Marvin's Mittens.
Furry Little Body award for Achievements in Anthropomorphic Appeal
Because sometimes you just need a silly little award to acknowledge that one character you want to bang.
Nominees:
Kirby: Squeak Squad
Night in the Woods
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers
Star Billions Season 3
Honorable Mentions:
Metroid: Samus Returns
Zeux 2: Caverns of Zeux
Okay, this is clearly a for-fun one, but come on, I had to have a Best Furbait award. The question at this point is: are we talking about the game with the most furries (NITW, Star Billions,) or a mostly furless game whose one furry kicked me the hardest toward e621 (Squeak Squad, Ori,) or something in between (PMD?)
This category is named after a mangled line from Werewolf: The Last Warrior ("You furry little body is no match for my strength.") Inspiration for this category and founder credit go to Night in the Woods.
Golden Pheasant award for Artistic Achievement
Regardless of what the game actually does with them and whether it works overall, this award celebrates the truly outstanding and impressive feats in a game's assets, be the graphics, music, voice acting, game engine, or anything else.
Nominees:
A Bird Story
Marvin's Mittens
Metroid: Samus Returns
Mega Man Unlimited
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
Honorable Mentions:
AM2R
Labyrinthine Dreams
Splice
Thomas Was Alone
Zen Puzzle Garden
I mentioned in my review of Labyrinthine Dreams that the actual game itself ended up not being to my tastes--it's very solidly in the "mopey indie game about death" genre--but that the visuals were gorgeous, both the graphics assets themselves and the clever use/arrangement of them top notch, and even the voice acting was phenomenal. The fact that they were all used to make Labyrinthine Dreams is an unfortunate drawback that will prevent it from winning anything, but that disparity got me thinking that I needed a category just for the assets, without the execution holding me down. I've played tons of games with such great graphics, music, engine, etc. that they really deserve their own mention.
A Bird Story managed to more or less make What Dreams May Come in RPG Maker, which is a feat in itself, and of course has stunning custom graphic assets and a beautiful soundtrack because it's Freebird Games. Marvin's Mittens has cute aesthetics and such a great peaceful soundtrack that it's literally my "in case of panic/anxiety issues break glass and play this" go-to. Samus Returns brings Metroid 2 to fully realized and beautiful 2.5D, enabling both breathtaking ambient rooms and like Metal Gear Rising-level metal boss cutscenes. Mega Man Unlimited is (as mentioned above) a pretty much perfect rendition of the Mega Man Classic series both visually and engine-wise, complete with some of the best NES chiptune music I have ever heard, and that is seriously saying something. Ori has the "every frame is a painting" look and a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack to accompany its excellent controls and tight gameplay.
This category is named after Tohri "Rainbowbeaks" Nishikikouji, the illustrious and artistic golden pheasant from Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star. As mentioned above, its inspiration came from Labyrinthine Dreams, even though it only managed an Honorable Mention. Thus, Labyrinthine Dreams earns not only founder credit for this category, but also credit for founding the idea of honoring the founders, after it fell out of contention for not only this but any category but I still wanted to give it "Yeah but the assets were nice" points. Not bad honors for a game I wasn't even all that into.
Stan S. Stanman award for If You Only Buy One Game from This List....
Whether it's an overlooked indie gem or a well known game that deserves its reputation, this award honors the one game each year that everyone reading this really owes it to themselves to check out.
Nominees:
A Bird Story
Hanano Puzzle 2
Marvin's Mittens
Metroid: Samus Returns
Star Billions Season 3
Honorable Mentions:
AM2R
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
This is sort of an overall best game category, but with a lean more toward recommendations. This is the "this is really good; you should play it" award. Therefore, my personal tastes are tempered somewhat by the considerations of others ("I liked this, but would anyone else?") There's also some weighting when it comes to the game's popularity, because I really want to promote overlooked gems and don't want the recommendation award to turn into "HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT UNDERTALE????" (Which is a fantastic game that everyone should play, by the way, but like, you knew that already.)
A Bird Story is a short, trippy, dreamlike RPG Maker walking sim with gorgeous assets and a severe feel trip. Hanano Puzzle 2 is a pure puzzle game, with simple rules and cutesy aesthetic barely concealing some brutally hard levels. Marvin's Mittens is a cute Seiklus/Knytt-alike conflict-free wander game with a lot of love and heart. Samus Returns is the best classic Metroid style game to come out since... well, AM2R, but officially at least since Zero Mission. Star Billions is a visual novel, if even that (more like a multiple choice "These four characters want to do these four things, which one do you agree with" sim) but the simple formula tells a compelling story, hits you with some truly harrowing choices that make you think about your own self, and keeps you hooked throughout.
The category is named after the overenthusiastic salesman from the Monkey Island series. The "No one has heard of this game and that's a crime" desire to form this category, and the founder award and credit, go to Star Billions Season 3.
Celine's Choice award for Best Game Overall
The grand prize as well as the most personal one. After all the other categories, after honoring every game for whatever it does best and whatever other demographics that might appeal to, this is the one that I, Celine Kalante, found to be my personal favorite.
Nominees:
AM2R
Mega Man Unlimited
Metroid: Samus Returns
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers
Honorable Mentions:
A Bird Story
Marvin's Mittens
Night in the Woods
Star Billions Season 3
So if the Stan S. Stanman award is for the overall best game I think you should play, this is the overall best game I played this year. This is it. No tempering my weird tastes with what normal people would think, no apologies, excuses, or defenses, just "This was my favorite game of 2017 because I liked it shut up."
Between the fawning reviews behind all those links and the fact that all of these were up for other awards and thus already got recaps in this very post, I'm not sure what more there is to say about any of them. They're all great, and I played some great games this year.
For the founder award, I guess you'd have to count the moment when I decided to have an end-of-the-year award post in general, because of course it was going to have an overall Best Game category. That would mean founder credit goes to Star Billions Season 3, making it the only game to have founded two categories, and the second game to have lost out on being a nominee in a category it founded.
And there you have it! I know that was a lot of reading, but I'm kind of excited about all of these. I really hope you are, too. I will announce the winners in a couple weeks, and please feel free to leave your thoughts on the nominees until then. Remember, while some categories are more of a toss-up than others, there's still room to change my mind.
Good luck!
xyzzysqrl's gameblogging idea and actually keeping track, in 2017 I completed 24 games, though 3 of them bend the rules a bit to count. (AM2R and Mega Man Unlimited are counted twice each for their alt character/hard mode runs, and I actually finished playing A Bird Story last year but this was the year I finally got around to editing and posting that YouTube Let's Play footage.) Also, 5 more games were officially abandoned.That's... a very firm solid Last Place for basically everyone on Dreamwidth right now, but by Celine standards that's a pretty productive year.
With a cutoff point where the gameblogging year ends on Dec. 1 (anything I beat now counts toward the 2018 figures,) I wanted to do something fun with these figures now that they're final. Let's have an AWARD SHOW.
I have a spreadsheet to keep track of all of these throughout the year, so I won't forget something I beat in January by the time I need to include it here. It even has the 2018 rows already, and if you're curious enough to keep track and check in on it, I should be updating it with things I beat throughout the year. But now that we're at the end, let's go through these a little more in depth, shall we?
Since this is the inaugural award post, I'm also going to give special honors to the founders of each category. There was one game in each category that captured the spirit of that category so well that they gave me the idea to have an award for it in the first place. That doesn't necessarily mean they're going to win; it's entirely possible that even better examples came along later. In some cases, the founder didn't even end up making the cut for the final nominees. That's kind of why I wanted to cover founders in this post as well. They still deserve credit for getting the whole thing started, after all.
The final decisions and awards will be made in a few weeks. Some of these are, if not locks/mere formalities, at least lopsided contests with very clear favorites going in. Others, I honestly can't decide. Feel free to speculate or cheer for your favorites--it's not final yet!
So, let's go through some nominees, shall we?
Rita Repulsa award for Achievements in Backlog Liberation
Some games are long, some are hard, some have just been in the backlog forever. Whatever the reason, this award honors the games whose eventual completion made me say, "Finally! After ten thousand years, I'm free! It's time to conquer Earth!"
Nominees:
Adventures of Lolo 3
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers
Solar 2
TIS-100
Honorable Mentions:
Hanano Puzzle 2
Kirby: Squeak Squad
Mega Man Unlimited
Zen Puzzle Garden
This is probably the closest thing my awards have to a "negative" category, but it's not necessarily a declaration that I hated going through the game. After all, if that was the case, I could have just stopped playing and picked up something I liked instead. Besides, one of the nominees and one of the honorable mentions are also up for best game this year. No, this is more about the feeling of accomplishment of completing these ones, which could come from any number of factors.
Lolo 3 was my first start-to-finish new game project I completed since I started gameblogging, and was an immense relief for being a proof of concept that I can actually finish things. 999... was a bit of a slog when you had to suffer through its long-winded writing for the third New Game Plus in a row just to see the true ending, yes, but it was still at its core a fantastic story that was worth what it made you go through to experience it. Also,
davidn had been recommending it for years, to the point that I felt guilty I hadn't played it for him yet, and the sense of alleviation of that guilt alone was enough to put 999 here. (This is the same reason Virtue's Last Reward is almost guaranteed to be up for this one if/when I ever beat it, as well, and I haven't even touched that one to judge its quality yet.) PMD was great but like six thousand hours long, Solar 2 felt like it was because the missions were impossibly hard and the endgame was a grind, and TIS-100, well, speaking of impossibly hard....The name of this category came from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, because I thought Rita's "After ten thousand years I'm free" speech was fitting. The original idea to have it, and the special award for being its founder, go to Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.
Crying Bulbasaur award for Achievements in Emotional Devastation
Whether it makes me cry, warms my heart, makes me think about my life, or otherwise makes me feel things, this award is to honor the games that took me on a journey through the strongest emotions.
Nominees:
A Bird Story
Night in the Woods
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers
Star Billions Season 3
Honorable Mentions:
Labyrinthine Dreams
Metroid: Samus Returns
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Because obviously Celine awards are going to have a feel trip category. The only surprise here is that the nominees managed to find different approaches and angles to plead their case. If it were just a question of "which game had a scene that made me cry the hardest," that would be PMD, easily and by far. It is definitely a strong contender, if not the favorite, for that alone.
But not so fast! A Bird Story is also feelsy (because it's Freebird Games) but uniquely simple yet abstract and surreal in its feelsiness. NITW doesn't hit quite as hard in the crying sense, but it has this aura of pensive somber... just making you think about your life. Ori hits hard in ways that made me question my own quest at several points. Not quite Shadow of the Colossus levels "You know what, I don't think I want to successfully do this *quits forever*" but there was definitely a minor crisis of faith in the middle there. Star Billions hit me with some decisions that I still think about to this day. It's easy to cry because this character is sad, but Star Billions has a feeling of "I made that choice and I'm not sure what that says about me the player that I actually would think and choose that" that I don't think I've ever experienced before.
This category is named after my own crying Bulbasaur LiveJournal/Dreamwidth icon, which itself came from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red/Blue Rescue Team. It was kind of always inevitable that I was going to have the category itself, but credit for solidifying it, and thus the special founder award, go to A Bird Story.
Hint Coin award for Most Puzzling Puzzler
This award celebrates the headaches, confusion, and eventual triumph and/or shame in using a walkthrough that come with the best puzzle games and puzzles in games.
Nominees:
Adventures of Lolo 3
Hanano Puzzle 2
Splice
TIS-100
Zen Puzzle Garden
Honorable Mentions:
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Labyrinthine Dreams
More than almost any other category, this one all comes down to how one defines the category itself. What quality deserves an award when recognizing a puzzle game? Difficulty? The hardest single puzzle here would be the sequence sorter one in TIS-100, but that one was such bullshit that I just skipped it, copying a solution from a walkthrough (and not even understanding the solution after I'd entered it.) Or is it enjoyability? Lolo 3 is a game I played (but not finished) in my youth, and I was delighted to avenge myself on it now. Hanano and Zen Puzzle Garden are both lovely and sadistic, though in different ways, ZPG being more open-ended and thus (to me) harder but in the not-fun, less enjoyable way than Hanano. Splice is hard, and gets into the ZPG level nonsense in the final act, but it has an amazing soundtrack and was fun to play throughout.
I guess the question is, if a puzzle is so absurd that I have to give up and use a walkthrough, does that increase or decrease its chances of winning this award? Is there a such thing as too much puzzle? (Yes to that last one, or I'd have finished and nominated Chromatron.)
This is another category that was kind of inevitable with the games I play. The name comes from the Professor Layton series. The final "yeah I should make this official" catalyst and founder credit go to Hanano Puzzle 2.
Wing of Wyvern award for Most Retro Nostalgia Trip
Whether it is an actual classic game or a modern pixel-fest reminiscent of one, this award honors the games that really take you back to Tantagel Castle.
Nominees:
Adventures of Lolo 3
AM2R
Mega Man Unlimited
Stair Quest SE
Zeux 2: Caverns of Zeux
Honorable Mentions:
Metroid: Samus Returns
TIS-100
I'm a retro gamer at heart, and I love callbacks to that. This year's nominees are a varied mix of actual retro games and retro-styled games, and of what eras they reference. Lolo 3 is a real NES game, and playing it on my modified NES Classic was a particularly special feeling to me. AM2R turns a Game Boy game into a Super Metroid-styled one, and deserves all the credit in the world for pulling off that authentic SNES feel while also fending off Nintendo's lawyers. Mega Man Unlimited had an easier time of it because Capcom doesn't care about fangames, but it's still an amazing near-flawless Mega Man game that could have been part of the official canon and I wouldn't have known the difference. MaGMML has taught me that making a Mega Man engine that works and isn't buggy is apparently really hard, so the fact that I didn't notice anything wrong with MMU is a minor miracle and also worth a lot of points for them. (Nothing unintentionally wrong, anyway; the checkpoint starvation is still way too cruel but shh.) Stair Quest SE is the most brilliant parody of EGA King's Quest games since Peasant's Quest, and captures that experience far too well for its own good. And Caverns is an all-time ZZT/MegaZeux classic which I honestly should have played through years ago.
This is another "of course Celine had to have an award for this one" category. The name comes from the original Dragon Warrior, and the official founder credit goes to Adventures of Lolo 3.
Little Cup award for Achievements in Fluff
Not every game needs to be a long and serious epic. This award honors the light and/or little palate cleansers, because games are fun.
Nominees:
A Bird Story
Kirby: Squeak Squad
Marvin's Mittens
Stair Quest SE
Thomas Was Alone
Honorable Mentions:
Hanano Puzzle 2
Labyrinthine Dreams
Zen Puzzle Garden
This award is primarily for "light and fluffy" type games, as I realized that there were littler ones that I really liked and wanted to honor, but that probably wouldn't win in an even match against the big full-sized serious efforts. The thought was basically, "if I ever actually beat a Rhythm Heaven game and want to give it an award, where would it fit?"
That being said, it has already morphed into something for games that are at least one of short/light and/or fluffy, which is why the inaugural nominees include A Bird Story (short, surreal dreamlike walking sim, but also kind of glum and feelsy) and Kirby Squeak Squad (few things are fluffier than a Kirby game but this one feels long.) Marvin's Mittens is an even mix of both, Stair Quest SE is definitely a "for fun" game that captures the spirit of the award along those lines, and Thomas Was Alone is short and light but with a bit more gravitas.
The name comes from the Little Cup style battle rules in Pokemon. For the founder credit, the game that inspired this category (again, because I wanted to nominate it for something and didn't want it overshadowed by the full-sized giants) was Thomas Was Alone.
Piece of Heart award for Warmest Fuzzy
Whether it's a short indie romp or a long epic, and whether heartwarming moments are in the plot directly or just as a project that feels like it was made with love, this award honors games that make players feel good inside.
Nominees:
Marvin's Mittens
Night in the Woods
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers
Star Billions Season 3
Honorable Mentions:
A Bird Story
Kirby: Squeak Squad
Thomas Was Alone
Zen Puzzle Garden
We live in a cold, cynical world, and I wanted to award the games that bring some warmth to it. As with the Little Cup award, this seems to have mutated into two possible roads: either the game has the kind of feel-good moments that make the 90s canned studio audience go "Awwww... *applause*" or the game itself was obviously made with love. This is for passion projects, something where the developers' hearts shone through, and for heartwarming feels.
Marvin's Mittens is adorable, capturing a wintery feel with tender love that reminds me of hot cocoa and a hug on a snowy day. Night in the Woods has a lot of "wow this town is a shithole" cynicism built in on the surface, but when characters open up and have moments with each other, they have moments with each other. Ori is such a strong story about love and forgiveness that I swear the "Ori is a light-elemental critter zapping dark shadow things with light" is some kind of metaphor. PMD has the "It's just not possible for either of you to be unwanted in this world" speech. Star Billions is an entire series about keeping an open heart and faith in humanity even in trying times, and how that is absolutely not to be confused with naivete.
The category's name comes from the collectibles in the Legend of Zelda series. The biggest "Awwww" moment that inspired this, and the founder award and credit, go to Marvin's Mittens.
Furry Little Body award for Achievements in Anthropomorphic Appeal
Because sometimes you just need a silly little award to acknowledge that one character you want to bang.
Nominees:
Kirby: Squeak Squad
Night in the Woods
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers
Star Billions Season 3
Honorable Mentions:
Metroid: Samus Returns
Zeux 2: Caverns of Zeux
Okay, this is clearly a for-fun one, but come on, I had to have a Best Furbait award. The question at this point is: are we talking about the game with the most furries (NITW, Star Billions,) or a mostly furless game whose one furry kicked me the hardest toward e621 (Squeak Squad, Ori,) or something in between (PMD?)
This category is named after a mangled line from Werewolf: The Last Warrior ("You furry little body is no match for my strength.") Inspiration for this category and founder credit go to Night in the Woods.
Golden Pheasant award for Artistic Achievement
Regardless of what the game actually does with them and whether it works overall, this award celebrates the truly outstanding and impressive feats in a game's assets, be the graphics, music, voice acting, game engine, or anything else.
Nominees:
A Bird Story
Marvin's Mittens
Metroid: Samus Returns
Mega Man Unlimited
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
Honorable Mentions:
AM2R
Labyrinthine Dreams
Splice
Thomas Was Alone
Zen Puzzle Garden
I mentioned in my review of Labyrinthine Dreams that the actual game itself ended up not being to my tastes--it's very solidly in the "mopey indie game about death" genre--but that the visuals were gorgeous, both the graphics assets themselves and the clever use/arrangement of them top notch, and even the voice acting was phenomenal. The fact that they were all used to make Labyrinthine Dreams is an unfortunate drawback that will prevent it from winning anything, but that disparity got me thinking that I needed a category just for the assets, without the execution holding me down. I've played tons of games with such great graphics, music, engine, etc. that they really deserve their own mention.
A Bird Story managed to more or less make What Dreams May Come in RPG Maker, which is a feat in itself, and of course has stunning custom graphic assets and a beautiful soundtrack because it's Freebird Games. Marvin's Mittens has cute aesthetics and such a great peaceful soundtrack that it's literally my "in case of panic/anxiety issues break glass and play this" go-to. Samus Returns brings Metroid 2 to fully realized and beautiful 2.5D, enabling both breathtaking ambient rooms and like Metal Gear Rising-level metal boss cutscenes. Mega Man Unlimited is (as mentioned above) a pretty much perfect rendition of the Mega Man Classic series both visually and engine-wise, complete with some of the best NES chiptune music I have ever heard, and that is seriously saying something. Ori has the "every frame is a painting" look and a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack to accompany its excellent controls and tight gameplay.
This category is named after Tohri "Rainbowbeaks" Nishikikouji, the illustrious and artistic golden pheasant from Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star. As mentioned above, its inspiration came from Labyrinthine Dreams, even though it only managed an Honorable Mention. Thus, Labyrinthine Dreams earns not only founder credit for this category, but also credit for founding the idea of honoring the founders, after it fell out of contention for not only this but any category but I still wanted to give it "Yeah but the assets were nice" points. Not bad honors for a game I wasn't even all that into.
Stan S. Stanman award for If You Only Buy One Game from This List....
Whether it's an overlooked indie gem or a well known game that deserves its reputation, this award honors the one game each year that everyone reading this really owes it to themselves to check out.
Nominees:
A Bird Story
Hanano Puzzle 2
Marvin's Mittens
Metroid: Samus Returns
Star Billions Season 3
Honorable Mentions:
AM2R
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
This is sort of an overall best game category, but with a lean more toward recommendations. This is the "this is really good; you should play it" award. Therefore, my personal tastes are tempered somewhat by the considerations of others ("I liked this, but would anyone else?") There's also some weighting when it comes to the game's popularity, because I really want to promote overlooked gems and don't want the recommendation award to turn into "HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT UNDERTALE????" (Which is a fantastic game that everyone should play, by the way, but like, you knew that already.)
A Bird Story is a short, trippy, dreamlike RPG Maker walking sim with gorgeous assets and a severe feel trip. Hanano Puzzle 2 is a pure puzzle game, with simple rules and cutesy aesthetic barely concealing some brutally hard levels. Marvin's Mittens is a cute Seiklus/Knytt-alike conflict-free wander game with a lot of love and heart. Samus Returns is the best classic Metroid style game to come out since... well, AM2R, but officially at least since Zero Mission. Star Billions is a visual novel, if even that (more like a multiple choice "These four characters want to do these four things, which one do you agree with" sim) but the simple formula tells a compelling story, hits you with some truly harrowing choices that make you think about your own self, and keeps you hooked throughout.
The category is named after the overenthusiastic salesman from the Monkey Island series. The "No one has heard of this game and that's a crime" desire to form this category, and the founder award and credit, go to Star Billions Season 3.
Celine's Choice award for Best Game Overall
The grand prize as well as the most personal one. After all the other categories, after honoring every game for whatever it does best and whatever other demographics that might appeal to, this is the one that I, Celine Kalante, found to be my personal favorite.
Nominees:
AM2R
Mega Man Unlimited
Metroid: Samus Returns
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers
Honorable Mentions:
A Bird Story
Marvin's Mittens
Night in the Woods
Star Billions Season 3
So if the Stan S. Stanman award is for the overall best game I think you should play, this is the overall best game I played this year. This is it. No tempering my weird tastes with what normal people would think, no apologies, excuses, or defenses, just "This was my favorite game of 2017 because I liked it shut up."
Between the fawning reviews behind all those links and the fact that all of these were up for other awards and thus already got recaps in this very post, I'm not sure what more there is to say about any of them. They're all great, and I played some great games this year.
For the founder award, I guess you'd have to count the moment when I decided to have an end-of-the-year award post in general, because of course it was going to have an overall Best Game category. That would mean founder credit goes to Star Billions Season 3, making it the only game to have founded two categories, and the second game to have lost out on being a nominee in a category it founded.
And there you have it! I know that was a lot of reading, but I'm kind of excited about all of these. I really hope you are, too. I will announce the winners in a couple weeks, and please feel free to leave your thoughts on the nominees until then. Remember, while some categories are more of a toss-up than others, there's still room to change my mind.
Good luck!
no subject
Date: 2017-12-07 08:38 pm (UTC)Rita Repulsa
I was here to witness your suffering and end please end reaction to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, but since I didn't have a problem with it I blithely ignore that one~. Solar 2 does admittedly sound like a space bastard, and I know you had issue with 999's everything ever but...
In my head this is between Lolo and TIS-100, and I'm pretty sure mentally I would give it to Lolo 3, an anchor from actual childhood you chipped at all this time.
Crying Bulbasaur
Exactly two of these choices got the actual Crying Bulbasaur icon broken out for use. It's either Ori or PMD. (Boy, isn't it weird how BOTH of our lists have Ori vs. PMD areas of direct conflict it's almost like those were FANTASTIC GAMES or something.) Uhh. Anyway, Ori seemed to directly HIT you less impactfully than it did me, so I'm gonna guess PMD: Explorers for this one. You crying Bulbasaur you.
Hint Coin
I'm sorry, I seem to have astrally projected back in time to the Ritas again-- no, wait, there's Splice and Zen Puzzle Garden here. And oh look, it's that Qrostar VS Zachtronics showdown! Obviously the answer here is... Zen Puzzle Garden because rather than either of those, ZPG actually made you post a frustrated mini-essay about what an ass the final few puzzles were, and a dissection of your ENTIRE PUZZLE SOLVING METHODOLOGY along with SELF-DOUBT ABOUT YOUR COMPENTENCY IN THE GENRE. You don't get that kinda service from games that don't demand a hint coin!
Wing of Wyvern
Zeux 2 is a game -I- might end up playing here at some point, so I'm curious about that, but I don't know if it wins based on "ooh I'm interested in this." Also I beat Stair Quest but NOT the SE. Gotta go for that one too. Out of this list though... mmmm I'm gonna guueeesss... Mega Man Unlimited. Your delight for that one was palpable ... if not on first playthrough, then in REVENGER OF VENGENCE mode.
Little Cup
Good call on this one, by the way. I don't know where else Thomas Was Alone would even fit. Not really a puzzler, not an adventure, not exactly retro... it's the perfect fit for this kind of award. Unfortunately it's going to lose out to Kirby Squeak Squad because nothing's more fluff than a round pink puff.
Piece of Heart
I really want to say Ori here. Everything in me goes "It's totally Ori." But I didn't even land Ori ON my PoH chart and I feel weird about that. And... you make a really good case for Star Billions. What I think of when I think of that game now is Ka-King defying his entire species in the name of art, and what's more heartful than that?
Furry Little Body
I still have a Pixiv bookmark for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon thanks to you.
Golden Pheasant
This one has SO MANY runner ups! I missed that we were ALLOWED to have this many runner ups! Oh man I should've had more honorable mentions I limited myself to three strictly. Uh what was I saying? Oh right art gratis art. Uh...
Again, Ori is my first reaction here. But if I sit down and really look at the entries... my heart may say Ori, but my head says Metroid: Samus Returns just for the free-aim and counter moves alone. Genuine important steps forward in the Metroid formula. I have to give that the respect it's due, in an age when they seemed content to otherwise coast.
Stan S. Stanman
YOU bought me Marvin's Mittens, I bought Bird Story for myself, we both bought Star Billions the second it came out, and there ain't no way I'm buying Hanano Puzzle anything. Leaves me with the obvious clear choice of Metroid: Samus Returns again.
Celine's Choice
If I were you, and you were me...
...we'd be really distracted by ears and tail, respectively.
BUT if I were you and I were trying to pick a game I loved most this year... PMD frustrated you with length, AM2R and Metroid might steal points from each other, but knowing you I think Mega Man Unlimited is gonna take home gold this year.
It's the only game I talked to you about where you were never like "It's time to load this up I guess" but instead you'd go silent for like three hours and surface proudly having beaten a boss or two. So that's my pick if I were you.
*remove Time Mage hat* Lookin' forward to the show! I hope those replica trophies I had cast for mine are convincing. Doing the Evil Thieving Villain routine is fun.