Infendo’s 2017 GOTY Awards

Infendo’s 2017 GOTY Awards

On this week’s show, we gave our Game of the Year awards out to 14 different categories. In case you missed the fun, but can’t wait for the produced show (or the Early Birdo Special to our patrons), you can find all of our selections here! What do you think, do you agree with our choices? Did we miss a truly amazing game you want to get recognition? Let us know in the comments below!

 

Biggest Surprise of 2017

Bayonetta 3 surprise announcement

 

 

Runners Up:

How fast the Switch hit 10 million sales

DOOM/Skyrim/Wolfenstein on Switch

 

Despite the myriad of surprise announcements this year, the surprise reveal of Bayonetta 3 ended up stealing the show for Biggest Surprise. We were similarly shocked by how popular the Switch has been, and by the amazing 3rd party support we’ve seen.

 

Best 3rd Party Game of 2017

Sonic Mania

 

Runners Up:

Minecraft

Rocket League

Monster Hunter XX

In a moment that surprised us all, Sonic Mania won out as our favorite 3rd party title, beating out some of our personal favorites such as Minecraft and Monster Hunter. This was largely due to the more unique aspects Mania provided as opposed to these others titles, which were ports of already existing games.

 

Best New Character

Kass (Breath of the Wild)

 

Runners Up:

Pearl & Marina (Splatoon 2)

The Cast of Arms

The Four Champions

There were a lot of amazing characters who made their appearance in 2017, but the enigmatic Kass from Breath of the Wild proved to be the team’s favourite. As we were unable to have too many nominees, certain ones, like the four champions and the entire ARMS cast, had to be lumped together.

 

Best New IP

ARMS

 

Runners Up:

Vroom in the Night Sky

Stardew Valley

Ever Oasis

This one was a clear choice. A number of other games emerged for the first time this year, but none of them hold a candle to ARMS. That said, two of us got a lot of joy out of Vroom in The Night Sky, Stardew Valley topped some people’s selections, and we felt Ever Oasis deserved a nod.

 

 

Best Indie of 2017

Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment

 

Runner Up:

Golf Story

We were very limited on this one, as most of us haven’t played many indies this year. That said, the new campaign in Shovel Knight won out. Interestingly, Golf Story got second place through word of mouth; even though only one of us had physically played it, what we saw and heard was enough to give it runner up status.

 

Worst Tasting Nintendo Product of 2017

Switch Game Cartridge

Do we even have to say anything? It tastes like a combination of Raid bug spray, lethal plastic by-product and whatever the Pokémon Garbodor is made of. And if we ever hit $250 on Patreon, we’ll be licking one each week on Infendo Radio.

 

Best New Amiibo

Bayonetta

 

Runners Up:

Super Mario Cereal

Poochy

“Squidgy” Metroid

A working cereal box, a Poochy made of string and a squishable Metroid were all top choices for their originality, but in the end Bayonetta won because of its sharp, well-made design and the fact that 3rd Party amiibo just feel more special. Also, there was probably some Bayonetta 3 hype behind this one as well.

 

Biggest Disappointment of the Year

Monster Hunter support dropped from Nintendo consoles

 

Runners Up:

Scalpers… scalpers everywhere

Yooka Laylee Delaylee

Scalpers have made this year a tough one for collectors, and the 8 month Yooka Laylee delay killed some hype, but the soul-crushing blow Capcom dealt by not localizing Monster Hunter XX or porting Monster Hunter World to the Switch really hit home personally for more than half of us. Though we’ve largely recovered from the news, the wounds still hurt.

 

Most Improved Game of the Year

ARMS

 

Runners Up:

Splatoon 2

Bomberman

This was a tough one because we really didn’t feel ARMS had much to improve upon from its initial launch. That said, the myriad of new content that has been added month after month aloung with a new mode in Party Crash, all for free, really made this decision a lot easier. Splatoon 2 and Bomberman each received a nod for doing the same, although not to quite the same effect as ARMS.

 

Worst Game of the Year

NBA Playgrounds

 

Runner Up:

Minecraft New 3DS Edition

If you listen to the show, it’s no surprise that these games made the list. Minecraft 3DS felt to us like an unnecessary port of a game. It’s already portable on Switch, it lacks 3D functionality, and nearly any other version is of better quality. NBA Playgrounds won this one though, by being broken at launch, having poor developer support for the Switch version, and ultimately taking up an immense amount of space via its bug-fixing patch.

 

Best New Ultra Beast in Pokémon UltraSun/UltraMoon

Poipole

 

Runners Up:

Stakataka

Ultra Necrozma

Only 3 of our 5 Infendo Radio hosts participated in this decision, since the other two have never seen an Ultra Beast. Lukas actually keeps a Stakataka on his team, and Mike just liked the name. But all three of us gave Poipole a spot on the list, in part because of how adorable the little critter is, and in part because, again, it’s a fun word to say.

 

Soundtrack of the Year

Super Mario Odyssey

 

Runners Up:

Sonic Forces

Breath of the Wild

The runners up should surprise no one. Memes have been made about Sonic Force’s Fist Bump battling it out with Super Mario Odyssey’s Jump Up Super Star. And Breath of the Wild’s soundtrack, while admittedly shallower, contains some really great orchestrated tracks. But in the end, the love was just stronger for team Mario, giving the portly plumber top spot for Best Soundtrack of the Year.

 

Best DLC of the Year

Breath of the Wild

 

Runner Up:

ARMS Support

We merged both DLC packs for Breath of the Wild together for this category, as you can’t actually buy them separately. The constant ARMS updates were a close second, but in the end Breath of the Wild won out. While we couldn’t all agree on whether The Master Trials or The Champion’s Ballad was more enjoyable, many of us had a clear favorite in this category.

 

Game of the Year 2017

Super Mario Odyssey

 

Runners Up:

Breath of the Wild

ARMS

This one was tough: Most of us love Breath of the Wild, and most of us love Odyssey. While many of us liked ARMS, none of us were willing to give it the top spot. After some heavy debating, the Game of the Year title went to Super Mario Odyssey, for both delivering on something nostalgic and providing something entirely new.

Gamer by day, game designer by night - Lukas studied Digital Arts in school, and grew up in the age of the N64 and Gamecube. He's the youngster of the bunch, but that doesn't keep him from shouting out at every available opportunity on Infendo Radio. He often finds himself at the edge of counter-culture (hates Metroid Prime, loves Other M), but isn't afraid to dive into the next big budget AAA title with the best of 'em. Favorite game: Sonic Adventure 2 Battle/Skyward Sword/Ocarina of Time/Zero Escape 2/You get the idea