After an unplanned one-year hiatus, the N-Sider Game of the Year Retrospective is back. The votes are in, and here's what the members of our own N-Sider Forums thought of 2006's offerings.
While 2007 begins to show its potential as a year of innovation,
2006 was a year of transition: an ushering in of a new era and a fond
farewell to an old one. This happened with much fanfare in the home
market and a little more quietly—but with just as much significance—in the hand-held market. We saw the arrival of the revolutionary Wii, which put the final nail into the coffin of the GameCube. We also saw major strides for the Nintendo DS, and the quiet yet significant slow-burn death of the once-mighty Game Boy brand.
Just like every year, 2006 was a year where we played lots of games, we argued about them and we voted on them. When all the dust settled, I tallied up all the votes. Without further ado, let's start by crowning 2006's Nintendo Home Console Game of the Year.
Simultaneously a launch title for the first time in the franchise's history and a swan song for an outgong console, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess almost swept the votes this year. There's no denying it is an amazing game and a wonderful addition to the Zelda franchise—however, receiving over 80% of the votes is a stunning landslide victory. Congratulations to Nintendo are in order for creating a masterpiece of a game.
Baten Kaitos Origins and Wii Sports provided little, however noble, resistance to the winning title. What is most interesting, however, is that out of all the GameCube and Wii games to be released in 2006, only 3 games garnered any votes. This may or may not tell an interesting tale, when you consider the newness of the Wii (available for a maximum of 6 weeks in all of 2006) and the dearth of software for the outgoing GameCube.
With the home arena taken care of, we now turn our attention to the
road. 2006 was a watershed year for Nintendo in the handheld arena. They proved without a doubt that they can generate new avenues to expand the market and drive hardware and software sales. They proved that they are still the undisputed handheld king, trouncing their biggest ever challenger in the PSP. While that war is far from over, Nintendo has certainly won many battles over the not-so-humble Sony.
2006 was also a year in which the death knell began to sound for the
Game Boy brand. We saw fewer and fewer games being released, and in turn less and less attention being paid to Nintendo's golden handheld brand. Nintendo DS took the world by storm and is clearly the vehicle by which Nintendo will continue to dominate and expand the handheld market.
Out of these results, one game is an entirely new franchise only possible on the Nintendo DS, and the other is a reigniting of the greatest platform game series the world has ever known. They are completely different games, but share a few things in common. Between them, they accounted for two-thirds of the votes in this category, with every other game (the wide spread of 3rd place ties) getting a mere one vote each! Both are original games, both make use of DS' unique features, and both won the hearts of our members who voted. One can only imagine the potential of follow-ups to these two gems.
Enough praise and attention has gone to Nintendo's machines that we must now finish off this report by revealing the results of our final category. While we hold Nintendo dear to our hearts, there's no denying that there are times when we go outside these walls and into the worlds offered by other consoles.
With all games published on non-Nintendo platforms in play, there were certainly plenty of games to choose from. In turn, many games
garnered votes, but there was one standout. Here are the results.
There were some among our voters who proclaimed Okami the greatest game of 2006, ranking it higher than other game on any other platform. Critically acclaimed, and almost universally adored, it's no surprise to see it win the race on our forums. Trailing behind, Shadow of the Colossus was another to get rave reviews from various forum members, and Dead Rising proved that the next-generation (or rather, the current generation) had arrived.
Of curious note were the lack of heavy hitters like Gears of War and any PS3 releases. Perhaps gameplay is finally winning over graphics in the hearts and minds of the voting population.
And there you have it. It is time to bring down the curtain on 2006 and look forward to the coming releases in 2007. A new Mario, a new Metroid, a Zelda: Wind Waker follow-up, and countless original franchises are in the works from Nintendo. Major releases from other publishers are also highly anticipated; Okami's Clover Studios, officially dissolved by Capcom, have risen from their ashes in the form of Seeds and are rumoured to bebringing a title to Wii. Also, both Wii and PS3 will be hitting full steam with a full year of 2007 releases, Xbox 360 will roll out its biggest gun in Halo 3. And let's not forget the arrival of the first DirectX 10 releases for the humble PC.
2007 is shaping up to be a major year in gaming. The remaining months will reveal more. See you all next year!
P.S. Thanks to all participating forum members for their votes; without these votes, we wouldn't have the Official N-Forums Game of the Year 2006!
While 2007 begins to show its potential as a year of innovation,
2006 was a year of transition: an ushering in of a new era and a fond
farewell to an old one. This happened with much fanfare in the home
market and a little more quietly—but with just as much significance—in the hand-held market. We saw the arrival of the revolutionary Wii, which put the final nail into the coffin of the GameCube. We also saw major strides for the Nintendo DS, and the quiet yet significant slow-burn death of the once-mighty Game Boy brand.
Just like every year, 2006 was a year where we played lots of games, we argued about them and we voted on them. When all the dust settled, I tallied up all the votes. Without further ado, let's start by crowning 2006's Nintendo Home Console Game of the Year.
| Nintendo Home Console Game | Place |
| The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii/GameCube) | 1st |
| Baten Kaitos Origins | 2nd |
| Wii Sports (Wii) | 3rd |
Simultaneously a launch title for the first time in the franchise's history and a swan song for an outgong console, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess almost swept the votes this year. There's no denying it is an amazing game and a wonderful addition to the Zelda franchise—however, receiving over 80% of the votes is a stunning landslide victory. Congratulations to Nintendo are in order for creating a masterpiece of a game.
Baten Kaitos Origins and Wii Sports provided little, however noble, resistance to the winning title. What is most interesting, however, is that out of all the GameCube and Wii games to be released in 2006, only 3 games garnered any votes. This may or may not tell an interesting tale, when you consider the newness of the Wii (available for a maximum of 6 weeks in all of 2006) and the dearth of software for the outgoing GameCube.
With the home arena taken care of, we now turn our attention to the
road. 2006 was a watershed year for Nintendo in the handheld arena. They proved without a doubt that they can generate new avenues to expand the market and drive hardware and software sales. They proved that they are still the undisputed handheld king, trouncing their biggest ever challenger in the PSP. While that war is far from over, Nintendo has certainly won many battles over the not-so-humble Sony.
2006 was also a year in which the death knell began to sound for the
Game Boy brand. We saw fewer and fewer games being released, and in turn less and less attention being paid to Nintendo's golden handheld brand. Nintendo DS took the world by storm and is clearly the vehicle by which Nintendo will continue to dominate and expand the handheld market.
| Nintendo Handheld Game | Place |
| Elite Beat Agents | 1st (tie) |
| New Super Mario Bros | 1st (tie) |
| Brain Age/Brain Training | 3rd (tie) |
| Castlevania Double Pack | 3rd (tie) |
| Mage Knight | 3rd (tie) |
| Mega Man ZX | 3rd (tie) |
| Metroid Prime Hunters | 3rd (tie) |
| Phoenix Wright | 3rd (tie) |
| Rhythm Tengoku | 3rd (tie) |
Out of these results, one game is an entirely new franchise only possible on the Nintendo DS, and the other is a reigniting of the greatest platform game series the world has ever known. They are completely different games, but share a few things in common. Between them, they accounted for two-thirds of the votes in this category, with every other game (the wide spread of 3rd place ties) getting a mere one vote each! Both are original games, both make use of DS' unique features, and both won the hearts of our members who voted. One can only imagine the potential of follow-ups to these two gems.
Enough praise and attention has gone to Nintendo's machines that we must now finish off this report by revealing the results of our final category. While we hold Nintendo dear to our hearts, there's no denying that there are times when we go outside these walls and into the worlds offered by other consoles.
With all games published on non-Nintendo platforms in play, there were certainly plenty of games to choose from. In turn, many games
garnered votes, but there was one standout. Here are the results.
| Other Game | Place |
| Okami (PS2) | 1st |
| Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) | 2nd |
| Dead Rising (Xbox 360) | 3rd |
There were some among our voters who proclaimed Okami the greatest game of 2006, ranking it higher than other game on any other platform. Critically acclaimed, and almost universally adored, it's no surprise to see it win the race on our forums. Trailing behind, Shadow of the Colossus was another to get rave reviews from various forum members, and Dead Rising proved that the next-generation (or rather, the current generation) had arrived.
Of curious note were the lack of heavy hitters like Gears of War and any PS3 releases. Perhaps gameplay is finally winning over graphics in the hearts and minds of the voting population.
And there you have it. It is time to bring down the curtain on 2006 and look forward to the coming releases in 2007. A new Mario, a new Metroid, a Zelda: Wind Waker follow-up, and countless original franchises are in the works from Nintendo. Major releases from other publishers are also highly anticipated; Okami's Clover Studios, officially dissolved by Capcom, have risen from their ashes in the form of Seeds and are rumoured to bebringing a title to Wii. Also, both Wii and PS3 will be hitting full steam with a full year of 2007 releases, Xbox 360 will roll out its biggest gun in Halo 3. And let's not forget the arrival of the first DirectX 10 releases for the humble PC.
2007 is shaping up to be a major year in gaming. The remaining months will reveal more. See you all next year!
P.S. Thanks to all participating forum members for their votes; without these votes, we wouldn't have the Official N-Forums Game of the Year 2006!