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Site Event (The WINNERS are here, check threadmark!) The Famiboards Game of the Year 2023 Celebration

Reader mode
VolcanicDynamo said:
Best Platformer
Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Come on, you all knew this was expected. But it's well earned! Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a fresh, exciting spin on a classic franchise, one where subtle changes and fun levels mash together for the best 2D Mario in decades.

The controls are spot on, some of the best the series has seen yet. While the NSMB games had solid movement, sluggish turning and some bland 3D animations decreased the good game feel. Wonder addresses these thanks to those gorgeous keyframes and better ground turning. Everything is clear and feels good to perform.

The power up diversity is, once again, some of the best the 2D series has seen, with four powers that are all useful and interesting for platforming and enemy combat. No situational powers like the Mini or Mega Mushrooms, no kinda awkward to control powers like the Koopa Shell, no powers that aide only in movement like the Propellor or the Flying Squirrel, no redundant powers like the Ice Flower/Penguin Suit combo. We got pure goodness instead. Some great original concepts like Elephant Mario playing with size and extra power like a juiced up Super Mushroom, and other powers reinventing older concepts like Bubble being a better Bubble Baby Yoshi. Can't forget the Drill, a brilliant power that focuses on great interactions with the environment and close ranged combat/protection. No stinkers, all fun to use, polished to a fine degree.

Then we got the badges, a seemingly minor addition that does a lot to help tailor difficulty or give you fun moves to play around with. Who needs a floating power when you have your cap to do it? Anyone can be Luigi with the Floating high jump badge! How about the crouching jump from Mario 2? Maybe you want to make the game easier with Exclamation Blocks like World. Or maybe you want to make the game more challenging with invisibility or Jet running. So many options to make the experience yours, so many ways to play and replay levels.

And we gotta talk about those levels! The focus may not be on difficulty, but we have surprise after surprise, finely tuned enemy after enemy making for fun setpiece after fun setpiece, all at whatever pace you want since we no longer have to worry about timers. And then you add in Wonder Flowers, and then everything in a level gets turned on its head. Enemies charge after you or flood the level. Levels follow music or rhythm. Maybe you become one of those clever enemies and you get to use their mechanics! It's the wild energy and variety of the modern 3D Mario in 2D, one that constantly had me smiling across both single and multiplayer adventures.

Hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby, coming right up!
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I was waiting all night for your post, I could not swoop it from you and I hoped no one else would haha.
 
Doesn't look like Mario Wonder needs any help here, so I will just submit:

Best Area
Rubicon 3 from Armored Core VI
AC VI is not an open world game. But through its stunning art direction, freeing three-dimensional movement and mysterious storytelling Rubicon 3 becomes a fully realized place. Through playing and getting a sense for how the various interests on the planet work with and against each other, the endless industrial landscapes become more than just (extremely cool) window dressing. The levels themselves are great too, filled with opportunities to make use of your mobility and pull off some daring stratagem.
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Best Platformer

Disney Illusion Island

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We all know who will win in this category (Sonic Superstars ofc), but I think Disney Illusion Island deserves some shoutout. It's not the greatest platformer nor Metroidvania out there, but it plays very weel and oozes from love for the genre. It might be one of the best introductions to Metroidvanias for kids, and the platforming part is honestly quite impressive at times. A lot of non-Nintendo platformers don't really get the physics of the characters right, but this one does. The characters are both weighty enough and very precise, and it feels just right.


Best Level/Area/World

Hero's Hideaway (Pikmin 4)

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This one is gonna be deeply personal, but I'm just a sucker for exploring a house from the perspective of a very small character. Might come from childhood love for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids or the Micro-machines games, I don't know. Regardless, it's a great level, one of the best in the game, with a lot of verticality and secrets to find.
 
Best Level/Area/World: Serene Shores (Pikmin 4)

I'm not gonna lie, up to this point in the game, I was feeling kind of let down with Pikmin 4's areas. Sure, the sneak peak of Hero's Hideaway was novel but Sun-Speckled Terrace and Blossoming Arcadia didn't really feel like anything I hadn't already gotten plenty of in prior Pikmin games; felt kinda like when you start a Sonic game and the first level is yet another "I can't believe it's not Green Hill Zone". Serviceable, but not particularly interesting and not really pushing the series' locales forward like I'd hoped.

Then I got to Serene Shores and I think that's when Pikmin 4 went from good to great for me. For starters, it's a beach, which hasn't really been done in a Pikmin game before (to my recollection), and that provides opportunity for some really unique set pieces; a huge sandcastle, tidal pools, that cave that looks to take place in an aquarium, etc. It's at the point of the game where you've really started to fill out your assortment of Pikmin and the game starts throwing slightly more involved challenges at you, and right when you feel like you're getting a good sense of what the level's "deal" is on your first day there, something really unexpected happens: The tide goes out at midday.

I'll admit, I do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of every Pikmin level, but as far as I can remember no other Pikmin level does anything like that and I kinda wish more of them did. In a game that presents itself as being all about time management, a level that can completely change its layout while you're in the middle of something is an absolute curveball. Now there's things you need to make sure you get done before the halfway point, and also things you can only begin to address once half your day is already gone. IMO this was probably the high point for Pikmin 4's levels, because it was a great combination of "unconventional biome for the series" and "unexpected mechanical change-up".
 
Best Level/Area/World

I'm not sure if this entirely counts, but can I nominate Tears of the Kingdom for the Wind Temple Approach leadup into the Wind Temple? I loved it, and it was the highlight of the game for me. Everything from the ascension up the chain of boats and floating ruins, to the dive down into the storm, to the temple itself and the cool Ghibli-esque feel of it all was really special. Oh, and the boss with one of the best music tracks of the year, too!

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Irene said:
My nomination for best level is Super Mario Bros. Wonder's The Final-Final Test Badge Marathon.

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So, this is Famiboard's Game of the Year celebration, where we celebrate what has been good this year, what we have loved and cherished. So I'm gonna be a bit contrary to that and nominate something that we all hate and something that absolutely no-one will vote for - traits that are a true hallmark of a great final level of a platformer, where your skills and perseverance will be tested to the max. Where you through your demonstration and expertise of the game's physics and mechanics can push through the impossible, and emerge on the other side victorious and triumphant.

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Irene, I refuse to put that monstrosity on the ballot!
 
Best Level/Area/World

Booster's Tower/Marrymore (Super Mario RPG)

For as fun as it is to take on the likes of Bowser, Birdo, and other nefarious inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom in Super Mario RPG, nothing beats combatting the absolutely unhinged weirdos created by Square. Chief among said weirdos is Booster, arguably the strangest character ever to appear in a game with "Mario" somewhere in the title. Booster's Tower starts off innocuously enough: Peach has been kidnapped again, and this time she is being held hostage by some guy who kind of looks like Wario. As you climb the tower, you learn a little too much about Booster: You learn about how Princess Peach basically fell into his lap and became his de facto fiance, how he is a descendant of a long line of period appropriate lookalikes, how he rides a tiny train around his abode to keep a watchful eye on goings on in his home, how he plays with dolls based around characters in your party, etc etc.

Tl;dr: Booster is fucked.

For as ridiculous as the climb up Booster's Tower is, it pales in comparison to what comes next. Mario and his crew arrive at Marrymore to put a stop to the wedding of Booster and Peach. While there, they have to sneak into a chapel and fell a sentient cake, a boss that Booster subsequently devours in one bite before sauntering back to his tower without even seeing his own wedding through. If you're lucky enough, you might even get a lovingly rendered cutscene of Booster and Bowser giving Mario a good ol' smoocharooni.

And don't forget to rent a suite while you're in Marrymore! I heard the accommodations are to die for.
 
if I had more resolve, I’d figure out something to throw in here from Cocoon or Chants of Sennaar

maybe when i’m more awake…
 
ngpdrew said:
And don't forget to rent a suite while you're in Marrymore! I heard the accommodations are to die for.
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am I missing something special about the suite? I’ve rented it twice now and had a profoundly basic time
 
Suswave said:
am I missing something special about the suite? I’ve rented it twice now and had a profoundly basic time
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It has a shower! You also can order room service from Toad. If you overspend you have to work to pay off the bill which is amusing.
 
Best Multiplayer Experience
Super Mario Bros. Wonder

So, if you know my 2D Mario preferences, you will know that I prefer to play them in single player. I was never a fan of how the New Super Mario Bros. games handled their multiplayer campaigns. Much of the focus was on the chaos - getting in the way of people's jumps, being able to grab your friends, everyone having an equal control of the camera, all of that. While that presents a certain level of fun, I found that it got in the way of what I enjoyed about Mario, especially when you have players of uneven skill levels.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder does a lot with its local multiplayer to alleviate these problems. Removing the timer means my friends and I get to set the pace and not feel rushed if we want to take things slow. Removing collision with other players (besides things like items and Bubbles) means that we're not messing up each other's jumps. Having just one person controlling the camera makes it clear when the camera will move, making it easier to not lose yourself or your friends, especially when you can change who controls the camera by becoming ghosts. All of these seem like small changes, but where my two player NSMBWii playthrough a few years back felt like a miserable slog, my three player SMBW playthrough felt much smoother and much more enjoyable.

But on top of that, we gotta talk about that online play! Pop into a one or two player game, and you can have either random players or friends join your game. Everyone is on their own adventure, with their own progression and such, but you can interact with them by giving power ups or saving their ghosts when they die. Maybe you can be the player that shows someone else a secret item or exit. Maybe you'll build a kinship through a difficult challenge. Or perhaps the journey will just be made a little less lonely by seeing other players in the same space as you are. It certainly felt that way for me, and it made going through the Flower Kingdom just that much more special.

After multiplayer being a very hit or miss experience in 2D Mario, they finally nailed it, and I could not be happier.
 
VolcanicDynamo said:
Best Multiplayer Experience
Super Mario Bros. Wonder

So, if you know my 2D Mario preferences, you will know that I prefer to play them in single player. I was never a fan of how the New Super Mario Bros. games handled their multiplayer campaigns. Much of the focus was on the chaos - getting in the way of people's jumps, being able to grab your friends, everyone having an equal control of the camera, all of that. While that presents a certain level of fun, I found that it got in the way of what I enjoyed about Mario, especially when you have players of uneven skill levels.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder does a lot with its local multiplayer to alleviate these problems. Removing the timer means my friends and I get to set the pace and not feel rushed if we want to take things slow. Removing collision with other players (besides things like items and Bubbles) means that we're not messing up each other's jumps. Having just one person controlling the camera makes it clear when the camera will move, making it easier to not lose yourself or your friends, especially when you can change who controls the camera by becoming ghosts. All of these seem like small changes, but where my two player NSMBWii playthrough a few years back felt like a miserable slog, my three player SMBW playthrough felt much smoother and much more enjoyable.

But on top of that, we gotta talk about that online play! Pop into a one or two player game, and you can have either random players or friends join your game. Everyone is on their own adventure, with their own progression and such, but you can interact with them by giving power ups or saving their ghosts when they die. Maybe you can be the player that shows someone else a secret item or exit. Maybe you'll build a kinship through a difficult challenge. Or perhaps the journey will just be made a little less lonely by seeing other players in the same space as you are. It certainly felt that way for me, and it made going through the Flower Kingdom just that much more special.

After multiplayer being a very hit or miss experience in 2D Mario, they finally nailed it, and I could not be happier.
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I never play multiplayer stuff so I couldn't think of anything to nominate but you reminded me of how much the ghosts and signs of Wonder helped me with several levels and I kept thinking during those times "okay this is the type of online multiplayer I can get behind."

Wonder really knocked it out of the park here.
 
Best RTS/Strategy game
Pikmin 4

After a decade away, Pikmin finally returned with perhaps its finest campaign to date in large part by integrating the challenge mode from prior games into the main campaign with the Dandori Challenges. The main maps are wonderful and basically only get more interesting as they go, but it’s the challenges where its strategy gameplay shines brightest. When you are under the clock to get Platinum medals, the order you take on tasks to maximize efficiency becomes a puzzle to solve with both experience and skill. You’ll need to remember where everyone is and what they are doing and know when you need to bring everyone together to take on a big monster (of which there is a lovely variety) or grab that big treasure.

The new features here are interesting as well and add to the gameplay depth. Oatchi is basically a hero unit and can tackle many tasks alone, so he is vital to your strategy. The new Pikmin types, Ice and to a lesser extent Glow Pikmin, each have interesting uses as well. Finally, the new night missions are great fun as they pit you against hordes of ever more ferocious monsters. There are some disappointments to be had, lack of co-op and the rigid / simplified controls, but Pikmin 4 still stands strong as one of the finest in the series and is easily a contender for the best strategy game of the year. It’s definitely my pick :)

Also it has a disco robot spider. What more do you need?
 
Best Multiplayer Experience
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Waves 4-6

There can be no question after this year, thanks to the Booster Course Pass, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is now the ultimate Mario Kart experience and thanks to the addition of new tracks, characters, and feature updates it offers more fun than ever before with its local and online play. This year we got 24 new tracks to bring the total up to a massive 96 courses. Fan favorites like Koopa Cape and Rainbow Road Wii are back and are joined by awesome new experiences too like Yoshi’s Island, Singapore Speedway, Squeaky Clean Sprint (a whimsical bathroom!), and Los Angeles Laps. The new characters, including Wiggler, Pauline, and Funky Kong, add needed variety and personality to the roster that has been static for years. Finally, thanks to the new Room Code update, you can more easily set up games with groups online which is huge!

Thanks to the Booster Course Pass and all its updates, I’ve had more fun than ever with family and friends and managed to sink in another 225+ hours with the game and cross the 700 hour mark overall. As the biggest and best Mario Kart to date, I’ll be happily playing this regularly all the way up to the next game. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is my favorite multiplayer experience of the year easily so that’s why I’m nominating it here.
 
Best RTS/Strategy Game
Jagged Alliance 3: I had never played this series before JA3, but I loved it. Felt like a very interesting setting for the genre, and the game was quite polished and fully complete from the start on PC.

Best Multiplayer Experience
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line: Surprised? I was too. I had loads of fun playing this with friends who love FF music as well. It worked nice even on Switch which surprised me for an online game that would require a lot of precision in this genre. Bar Line is probably the best celebration of FF since FFXIV.


Also I missed the last vote. Is there any chance I can still vote for it? I'd love to be notified of new voting events here if that's possible.

Edited in the following:

Best platformer
Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Nintendo's best game of 2023 by far, and the best 2D Mario in decades. Magical experience from start to finish that only suffered because many of the bosses were boring. I loved the online implementation as well.

Best level/area/world
Like a Dragon Gaiden's Sotenbori: I aways liked this location in the series. Going back with Kiryu after all these years was a great nostalgic experience. I saw no low resolution jackets though, but it felt like meeting an old friend again.

Thanks @Irene
 
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Best RTS/Strategy game-
Advance Wars: Reboot Camp

AW was always an incredibly tight strategy game. Without any rpg elements that let you focus on units becoming overpowered, AW instead focuses on an intricately balanced set of units, built through resources based on the amount of critical objectives (factories and cities) you hold. This leads to an incredibly addictive game of reinforcement supply. You build a recon unit as it’s just efficient, fast, cheap and strong enough to kill their initial infantry units? They build a tank. They spam helicopters? You spam anti-air batteries. It’s got so much going on but all the information is available to you, every tile explaining what it does (mountains are defensible for infantry but impassable to vehicles etc). It’s addictive and all makes a lot of sense to new players very quickly as you’re gently led through the early battles.

This package though, consisting of the first two games and what feels like a near endless set of one-off maps to master that you are constantly unlocking with points gained through winning battles, feels definitive. The art style takes a bit from the gorgeous pixel art of the originals, giving them more of a ‘shiny toy soldier’ look, as if it’s all being played in a sandbox. But you soon stop noticing that (if you even notice it at all) and get lost in the campaigns. Just incredibly addictive, I couldn’t put it down for weeks.
 
Yamanoi said:
Also I missed the last vote. Is there any chance I can still vote for it? I'd love to be notified of new voting events here if that's possible.
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It’s all fine, it’s a day late but we can let it slide.

Every category rolls for 3 days and the title of the thread stays updated with whatever category is being nominated at the moment.
 
Best Multiplayer Experience

F-Zero 99
Ever since Tetris 99 and Super Mario 35, I've seen the premise of this game batted around on Nintendo communities. Until this year, I always found it perplexing: Would a ultra fast-paced race with 99 entrants actually be any fun? Wouldn't it just be a gigantic mess? Would it even feel like you have any control over your fate? Obviously, the answer to all of those questions is a resounding yes.

F-Zero 99 was only in my rotation for two weeks. But what a two weeks! I'm usually pretty good at putting down games when I need to do something else, and yet F-Zero 99 had me frantically queueing again and again until I finally won a race. There was even one night that saw me play the game for four hours straight, a fact that bewildered me when it happened and still bewilders me now. I don't even think I moved!

Even though I've moved on from the game, I still fondly reminisce on the one time when I finally won a race. I hadn't gotten that feeling from a game since...the 90's? Honestly, I'm not sure I've ever had a feeling like that. F-Zero 99 deserves honor for that moment alone, along with the many other moments of joy and frustration it has inspired in the community that keeps it alive to this day.

Please don't pull the plug on this one, Nintendo! F-Zero 99 deserves to race indefinitely.
 
0
Best Multiplayer Experience

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Street Fighter 6

SF6 builds upon all the lessons learned from the earlier games in the series and more besides. Online play has never been better, and offline is as good as it’s ever been as well. Player expression in combat is back, and the roster is impressively balanced.

 
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nice I can vote again

Best RTS/Strategy Game
Pikmin 4
I will say the only flaw here is we got a full featured game that espouses efficiency resource management through dandori but it lacks the game over time limit aspect the first Pikmin game had. would have been a real you better get gud or else experience. shout out to Fire Emblem Engage though. thought we'd never get another FE that can match Fire Emblem Conquest but we got one.

Best Multiplayer Experience
idk Mario Kart DLC waves 4-6 I guess
 
em said:
Best Multiplayer Experience

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Street Fighter 6

SF6 builds upon all the lessons learned from the earlier games in the series and more besides. Online play has never been better, and offline is as good as it’s ever been as well. Player expression in combat is back, and the roster is impressively balanced.

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Even as someone who doesn't play Street Fighter, or most fighting games, I'm surprised it took a bit for this one to be nominated. A well deserved potential winner, for sure.

EDIT: Won't be nominating it myself since I also haven't played it, but people seemed to adore the Baldur's Gate 3 multiplayer, at least enough for it to win awards and coverage. Wonder if anyone will vouch for it here.
 
Hmm I’m not sure I can be much help here. Didn’t play many strategy titles last year and generally I play my games
  • Alone
  • In the dark
  • Devoid of human contact
 
I'm going to nominate FE Engage in strategy.
I'm probably one of the few who enjoyed it more than 3 Houses. dont get me wrong I loved 3H a ton but Engage had many things it did better, (music, graphics. color, animations etc) And also the tactical gameplay which I thought 3H was greatly lacking.
 
Best Puzzle: Cocoon
What a cool surprise this was. I'm not a huge fan of Inside so my expectations were pretty low for this, but Cocoon's puzzle design blew me away with how good it was. Haven't played a game that's made me say "fuck me, that's clever" as much as this one. I guess it could've been a bit longer, and it only feels like they scratched the surface of what they could've done, but for what it is, Cocoon is still a treat.

Best Rerelease: Ghost Trick
Was debating putting Resident Evil 4 here, but that seems to straddle the line between rerelease and "new thing", so I'm gonna go with Ghost Trick instead. Never played the original, a pretty glaring omission for me considering how much I love Ace Attorney, and this rerelease was a great way to experience it. Excellent spritework is brought to life in HD, and the remastered soundtrack is excellent. A great way to play one of the best adventure VNs out there.
 
Best Rerelease
Advance Wars Reboot Camp

There’s very tough competition this year for best rerelease as games like Metroid Prime Remastered, Super Mario RPG Switch, and Trails To Azure Switch are all near and dear to my heart, but even so the one that stands above the rest for me is Advance Wars Reboot Camp. It has been an incredibly long time since the first two Advance Wars games (plus Dual Strike) and while they have seen rereleases on Wii U they never felt quite as back home as they do on Switch. While I have a degree of mixed feelings on the new art style / board game presentation, overall the new style captures the spirit of the old games and adds fun new personality as well especially with the CO animations. The new soundtrack in particular rules as well, but what it of course comes down to most is the addicting strategy gameplay that kept me coming back until I had cleared both campaigns and every War Room map. It’s just feels so snappy and satisfying to see your plans come together and react to new enemy units and special attacks.

I think what gives this release a slight edge above the rest of the rereleases as well is the new online gameplay. I’m not sure why it is unfortunately limited the way it is to a small number of 1v1 maps with only a handful being traditionally worthwhile, but even so being able to play Advance Wars online with friends was one of my favorite memories of last year. With online especially, I’ll be revisiting Advance Wars Reboot Camp for years to come and that makes this rerelease to me even more special and why I’m giving it my nomination for Best Rerelease of 2023.
 
Best rerelease: Metroid Prime Remastered

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Bringing a game as revered as Metroid Prime up to modern visual standards while remaining faithful to the original seemed like an impossible task, yet Retro Studios and company have succeeded beyond all but the wildest hopes.
Not only is it arguably the most beautiful game ever to grace the Switch, but its unparalleled atmosphere is entirely intact, and the overall experience remains as awe inspiring and unforgettable now as it was in 2002.
 
Best Puzzle Game:

Void Stranger -

This is a weird one to describe because a lot of the magic is going into it knowing as little as possible. It is a puzzle game by the developers of Zero Ranger (one of the best shmups on Steam) that will blow your mind and constantly make you rethink things. If this ever comes to Switch, I'll buy it for two members here.

Best Rerelease:

Star Ocean The Second Story R -

A superb remake of a game I never played before. Great visuals, surprisingly good performance even on Switch, fantastic gameplay, and amazing music come together really well. I urge you to try the demo.
 
Best Rerelease:

Super Mario RPG
The fact that this happened was a very welcome surprise. To watch that intro be remade and hear the OST by Yoko Shimomura was like a dream. Most characters got a facelift and even got more recognizable due to the HD. The gameplay got a little easier imo (and to top that it has a even easier mode). The extra content is not so substantial but welcome. All in all, a really enjoyable experience that has been enhanced and hopefully this game's existence mean a sequel is on the cards.
 
Best puzzle game:

Chants of Sennaar



Puzzling out what each alien pictograph means is a joy, and the environmental design evokes the best of games like Out of this World/Another World and Monument Valley.
 
Best Rerelease
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Since Super Mario RPG has already been mentioned, I want to throw another excellent title into the ring. If Kirby Super Star Ultra is the start of the modern Kirby formula, Kirby's Return to Dream Land is the game to solidify it as the direction of the franchise. But while it was a good game, it had some issues - and that's where the Switch release comes into play.

Super Abilities too slow in the original? Okay, let's speed them up, making the pace in single and multiplayer smoother. A small change that adds up.

Need more abilities? Okay. Let's throw in two brand new ones. And let's add moves and tweaks we made to Kirby and his abilities in later games, and let's also add some extra moves to Kirby's friends.

Only two sub-games? Okay, let's expand on that. Now there's a whopping ten sub-games, sacrificing one from the original but adding in two brand new ones and seven classics. The sub-games now have their own dedicated mode, complete with a mode for playing a series of sub-games, missions to complete in each game, and a reward system for cosmetics and items that can be used in the main game.

The original game's extra mode wasn't enough for ya? Well, on top of making some minor tweaks to that to make it more challenging, let's add on another new mode starring Magolor. Completely new levels, tougher boss remixes, a cool as heck final boss, and an engaging twist on the typical Kirby formula focusing on chaining the highest combos you can, what a pleasant surprise! And all those extra bosses, well, get ready for them to show up in the traditional Kirby boss rush!

While I always liked Kirby's Return to Dream Land, I always preferred its immediate follow-ups on the 3DS. With tweaks big and small alongside a boatload of new content, this Deluxe version takes a good Kirby game and makes it a contender among the upper echelons of the franchise.
 
Best puzzle game: Chants of Sennaar

While I played multiple puzzle games throughout the year, not one could actually come close to this - this game features an absolutely fantastic game and puzzle design, with a compelling narrative as well.
 
Best Rerelease:

Metroid Prime Remastered

Metroid Prime is already one of the best games ever made, and Prime Remastered is an incredible visual upgrade that leaves it mostly untouched from a gameplay perspective. Why change what doesn't need changing? It does add some nice options for different control schemes which is welcome, but mostly you're getting to play an amazing game with maybe the best visuals on Switch:

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Best Indie Game
Tevi

Tevi is the follow up game to Rabi-Ribi and like that game is a bullet hell Metroidvania. The main thing it needed to do was clean up the character designs and tone down the fan service which it did and then it went on to make an even more amazing Metroidvania than Rabi-Ribi was. Tevi is a massive 30+ hour adventure with awesome Devil May Cry inspired 2D melee combat on top of the bullet hell flavoring from the prior game. The combat and movement options feel so finely tuned and remain exciting throughout the whole game. In addition to standard stat boosting items and new abilities to find hidden around the maps, Tevi introduces a massive badge system as well as a crafting system. For the former, imagine Paper Mario, but you can eventually equip up to 50 some badges easily. Not every badge then is terribly dramatic, but through this system and the crafting/upgrades systems you can create a character that feels more distinctly yours. The most spectacular element of the game are the awesome boss battles that really put your skills to the test. There are more than just character duels this time (which are better than ever) as many are multiple phase battles against giant monsters. The rush and satisfaction that comes from successful fights is amazing and some of the most spectacular I’m still thinking about fondly. If you love Metroidvanias, Tevi is absolutely worth checking out and is easily my favorite Indie game this year. It’s incredible!
 
Best Indie Game:

Tevi:

Tbh there's nothing more I could add to what @xghost777 said above. Tevi is my choice as well. I expected it to be good after Rabi Ribi, but it was insanely good. Might be one of the best indies in years with how it blends from different genres.

Best Protagonist:

Clive Rosfield (Final Fantasy XVI):

Clive is the best FF protagonist since FFIV. Yes I said what I said. Incredible performance alongside a cast of greats. Ben Starr immediately is one of my favorite voice actors ever after just 1 game. His journey is unforgettable and I'm looking forward to playing FF16 again on PC this year. What a massive turnaround after the absolute trashfire of the previous mainline entry cast and protagonist.
 
Best Indie Game: Cocoon
Same reasoning that I had the first time. Excellent game that blew away my expectations. Can't wait to see what they do next.

Best Protagonist: Matthew (Future Redeemed)
In a cast stacked with two former protagonists, their two children, the children of two other fan favorite characters, and two more fan favorite characters on top of that. it's really impressive how the only new character managed to be the best. Matthew may very well be the dumbest protagonist in any Nintendo game, but my god do I love the stupid bastard. May he forever be full of beans.
 
Best Protagonist
Kazuma Kiryu - Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (and sort of in Like A Dragon Ishin lol)

We have had almost two decades of adventures with Kiryu at this point and yet he is arguably more cooler and lovable than ever in his latest game, Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Kiryu is working as an agent for the Daidoji group as he must remain “dead” to protect his family and the orphanage in Okinawa. This game, like Yakuza 6 before it, sort of feels like one last ride with Kiryu as it runs through many of his greatest hits like Pocket Circuit racing, brawler / arena combat, etc. while also giving him new friends and enemies to encounter and clash with. There’s just so much fun to be had here and Kiryu is always right at the heart of it (the sequence in particular where Kiryu parties across town is just incredible). I won’t go into details here, but it was the emotional ending that works as well as it does with the full weight of the series behind it as well as a stellar performance by Kiryu’s Japanese voice actor that absolutely sealed the deal with how effective it was. When I think of all that together, I couldn’t pick anyone else, but Kiryu for Best Protagonist of the year.
 
Best indie game: Nuclear Blaze

I had an amazing evening playing this. It’s a 2D firefighting game where you proceed deeper into a blazing facility, your abilities to project water expanding at the same time as the puzzles. Using water as a shield to protect yourself from backdrafts was a fun one. The further in you go, the weirder the reason for the blaze and the facility, as told through documents and environmental storytelling, gets, before finishing up in something akin to a SCP tale. It’s not a long game- I played through in a couple of hours on normal difficulty- but it does add replayability to find and save the cats hidden in the facility, and also a second new game+ run opens up new areas and challenges you couldn’t access first time around. Controls are tight and pixel art and music are also top notch. It’s just… a really solid little game that excels at absolutely everything it’s trying to do. I couldn’t really find a fault with it, which is presumably why reviews focused on length. But if you’re looking for a great 2D action game you can play start to finish in an evening and is engaging all the way through, that’s exactly what Nuclear Blaze is.
 
Best Indie Game
Sea of Stars
I have written a lot about my love of this game here, so rather than cut-and-pasting from previous posts I'll try to speak to why this game impresses me specifically as an indie:

I'm aware this is something of a nostalgia game but the way it takes 90s RPG artstyles and concepts and builds on them, elevates them, deepens them, it ends up seeming like a "what-if" scenario. What if Square and the others kept going with the SNES style of art and gameplay as hardware got stronger, instead of going with 3D? Sea of Stars seems built to answer that. It's like an alternate-universe modern Square game, rather than a nostalgia-fueled indie. The attention to detail, the production quality, it's incredible for being a small indie studio.

Sabotage Studio seems to be leading the charge in this wave of indie devs punching above their weight and Sea of Stars is an accomplishment even in a time that's full of incredible competition. It's the type of game that makes me feel like I could completely ignore the AAA market without feeling I'm missing anything.
 
Best Indie Game:

Chants of Sennaar

This is a tough category this year, between Venba and Pizza Tower, as well as A Space for the Unbound, Cassette Beasts, Dredge, Cobalt Core, Goodbye Volcano High, The Case of the Golden Idol's DLC, and Gloomhaven. But some of those I haven't gotten around to yet and others I can appreciate while acknowledging that they don't quite land as strongly for me as Chants of Sennaar.

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Chants of Sennaar is a great logic/puzzle game, and one that also has fantastic presentation. It's most similar, I suppose, to Return of the Obra Dinn, Outer Wilds, or Heaven's Vault in that you're using contextual clues to figure out exactly what's going on (specifically, to decipher language(s)). However, Chants of Sennaar also has you interacting with people (NPCs), which cleverly adds, rather than detracts, from the storytelling. It's really cool to be able to learn language and communicate in real life, of course, but Chants of Sennaar makes it easy and rewarding, as a game should.

Best Protagonist/Antagonist:

Kratos (God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla)

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While Kratos didn't have much to work with in Ragnarok proper (especially compared to GoW 2018), Valhalla is all about him dealing with his past actions and trauma. And Kratos comes out as a deeper, better developed character. It's not just that he's decided to be a better person than in the original series (that was 2018), but that he has real doubts and regrets that he has to live with, without forgiveness or atonement. All he can do is understand who he was and who he is, taking on the responsibility of the God of Hope.

Edit: Changed Valhalla image to cover art to minimize spoilers.
 
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