NintendObs Thinks: NintendObs Dailies' first Game of the Year.
From a podium of three titles I have each finished 100%.
Neo The World Ends with You, Metroid Dread, Shin Megami Tensei V. In order of completion, here are the three titles I have selected as eligible for the first ever Game of the Year award attributed by NintendObs Dailies in this year 2021. These are games I have purchased with my own money, meaning that I had to take a financial risk instead of being provided with review copies for free, and games I beat with my own time, meaning that I could have fairly well been playing anything else without any pressure but did not and chose not to. Additionally, just as I stated, I have indeed finished each of these titles 100%. I dare pretend at this time I don’t think anyone else in videogame media can claim to have achieved this feat within these three titles combined.
In Neo The World Ends with You I literally have that 100% on my save file. In Metroid Dread I have completed the game in default difficulty with 100% of all items (Energy and Missiles) retrieved. And in Shin Megami Tensei V it’s a little trickier since the data isn’t tracked as accurately, but I have accomplished every single sidequest available given the decisions I had taken, including of course defeating the superboss Shiva. 2021 saw a plethora of other great games on Nintendo Switch that could (and even should) have qualified which I wasn’t fortunate enough to be able to play. In order of releases, Bravely Default II, Monster Hunter Rise, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, No More Heroes III. Though also Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury which I did play and love, but I consider it more of a port (something its main and longer portion effectively is) and as outstanding as Bowser’s Fury is, it doesn’t really count as a full game.
Eventually, what ultimately drove my decision for Game of the Year more than anything else is how it felt to play the games from start to finish. How convenient it was to play whether in TV mode or handheld mode, how infrequent were the occasional slowdowns, basically how much the game and the developers made it so you wouldn’t be reminded that you are playing a software rendering its orders through the hardware in real-time. This to me is the most important aspect of making a videogame, not so much its technical prowess but rather its technical reliability, which is simply making it run well at all times or objectively in the quasi-totality of its circumstances, a staple I believe of Nintendo titles. Another criteria comes right after, but mentioning it now would spoil the third choice of my decision so, without further ado… here is the podium of Nintendo Switch videogames this year 2021 according to NintendObs Dailies.