The Specialty Awards, for lack of a better term for it, are awards for games that excel in a particular way that has nothing to do with their genre or any technical part of the game, but that I still feel deserves to be singled out for doing something above and beyond what most games offer, whether that is a particularly good port or collection, the best game for kids, best multiplayer, or simply the game that made me laugh the most. These are games that put in an extra special effort in places that deserve to be recognized for it.
As mentioned previously, today’s nominees include any games released in 2021, even those released on other platforms before 2019. Also, awards like the 2020 Second Chance Awards and Most played Games of 2021 awards are not restricted to games released this year at all, because of what these categories represent. Anyway, on to the awards!
- 2020 Second Chance Awards
- The Top 10 Games I Wish I could Have Played Before Writing This, But Didn’t Get Around to Doing In Time
- Best Port/Remake
- Best Compilation/Collection
- Best Game for Kids and Casual Players
- Best Multiplayer
- Best New Free-To-Play Game
- Best Value
- Funniest Game
- Most Underrated
- Most Overlooked
- Most Original
- Most Efficient Use of File Storage Space
- The “Wow, this game was way better than I expected!” Award
- Best Third-Party Publisher
- My Top 3 Most-Played Games of 2021
- My Top 10 Most-Anticipated Games of 2022
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2020 Second Chance Awards
What follows are games that came out in 2020, but I didn’t get around to playing them until 2021, after doing my 2020 Game Awards. As such, these games did not win any awards from me, but after coming back to them I felt they still deserved recognition. These are the top 10 games that would have been most likely to have been nominated (or even win!) awards in 2020 if I had actually played them that year:
10. Part Time UFO
9. Jurassic World Evolution: Complete Edition
8. Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics
7. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
6. Batu Ta Batu
4. Pure Pool
3. CrossCode
2. Boomerang Fu
1. Doom Eternal
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The Top 10 Games I Wish I could Have Played Before Writing This, But Didn’t Get Around to Doing In Time
I’m never going to be able to play every game that comes out in a given year, and some of the games I tend to miss tend to be some of the bigger releases, sadly. However, just to show that I’m well aware of the stuff I’m missing, here is my list of the top ten games I wish I could have played in time for this article, but haven’t been able to get around to:
10. Ruined King: A League of Legends Story
9. Unpacking
8. Death’s Door
7. Chicory: A Colorful Tale
6. No More Heroes III
5. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
4. Game Builder Garage
3. There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
2. Mario Party Superstars
1. Shovel Knight: Puzzle Dungeon
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Best Port/Remake
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury – Nintendo could have easily made a sloppy, lazy port of Super Mario 3D World from Wii U to Nintendo Switch, slapped a $60 price tag, and it would still make bank. Heck, that’s pretty much exactly what they did with New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. Surprisingly, Nintendo didn’t take the lazy approach this time – the Nintendo Switch version of the game has improved movement speed, new gyroscopic motion controls, new online multiplayer, new co-op play for the Captain Toad levels, and a boost from 720p resolution to 1080p with smooth 60FPS framerates. As a result, Super Mario 3D World on the Nintendo Switch is about as close to a definitive version of the game as you can hope to get. And that’s before you even look at the other thing this game adds…
Runners-Up:
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!
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Best Compilation/Collection
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury – As if it wasn’t enough that Nintendo surprised everyone with an excellent port of Super Mario 3D World, they created an entirely new game to package in with it, Bowser’s Fury. While fairly short by Mario standards, Bowser’s Fury is still far too substantial a game to be considered a minor bonus, and actually explores the potential of what an Open-World Mario game might look like. Again, Nintendo could have easily gotten away with selling only Super Mario 3D World for a full $60, but instead of making a port that customers would grudgingly hand their money over for, they instead produced a Compilation package that had even those who didn’t like Super Mario 3D World giving this package serious consideration.
Runners-Up:
Castlevania Advance Collection
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania
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Best Game for Kids and Casual Players
Tetris Effect: Connected – There are few games as universal as Tetris, and Tetris Effect: Connected is arguably the best version of Tetris ever made. This version of the game gets bonus points for having a game mode where players literally can’t lose, as well as the new “Zone” mechanic that gives players a chance to take a breather (or rack up a lot of points all at once). If you’re looking to introduce someone to Puzzle games, this is one of the best ways to do it.
Runners-Up:
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
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Best Multiplayer
Fly Together! – This year, the choices for Best Multiplayer include various kinds of multiplayer, but Fly Together is the one game out of all of the finalists that is clearly built around its multiplayer, with some truly great couch co-op and couch competitive gameplay that’s sure to make it a staple when you’re looking to play something with friends in a party setting (we do still have those, right?)
Runners-Up:
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania
Clone Drone in the Danger Zone
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
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Best New Free-To-Play Game
Sky: Children of the Light – Many of the biggest-name free-to-play games this year fell flat, but Sky: Children of the Light is a game that could have easily been sold for $10-$20 and no one would have batted an eyelash (well, if it wasn’t already free-to-play on mobile devices too). While it’s a bit short, this is a beautiful experience that is an absolute delight to play on Nintendo Switch, and its monetization doesn’t hinder the experience.
Runners-Up:
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Best Value
Islanders ($5) – Islanders is a beautiful, calm, relaxed game, and one of my personal favorites of 2021, and for this game to sell for only $5 is absolutely bonkers to me. While this year’s finalists in this category all pack a lot of value into their dollar amount, Islanders is one game where I felt like there must have been a mistake made with the pricing… a mistake I’ll gladly exploit.
Runners-Up:
Castlevania Advance Collection ($20)
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury ($60)
Crysis Remastered Trilogy ($50)
Rush Rally Origins ($7)
Doom Slayers Collection ($50)
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Funniest Game
Astrologaster – There were quite a few very funny games this year, but Astrologaster was the one that probably had me laughing the most, with its absurd pseudo-science, its fussy protagonist, its juxtaposition of pretentious medical terminology and Shakesphearian presentation with its backwards medical practices and the highly unethical conduct of its protagonist. Heck, you even have a chorus introducing the game’s chapters with songs like Fap Not, Forman. Heck, I probably should have led with Fap Not, Forman…
Runners-Up:
Clone Drone in the Danger Zone
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
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Most Underrated
Islanders (75) – This is the award for the game I feel was most wronged by its Metacritic score. Some of the games on this list got terrible scores despite being pretty good, and others got moderate or even good scores despite being outstanding games. This is a case of the latter. While Islanders may be a bit lacking in depth, it is an immensely enjoyable game, and one of the games that brought me the most joy in 2021, and while 75 is a good score on Metacritic, in my eyes, it isn’t nearly as high as what this game deserves.
Runners-Up:
Axiom Verge 2 (76)
New Pokemon Snap (79)
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (76)
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Most Overlooked
Crysis 3 Remastered (1 review) – This award is for a great game that doesn’t even have enough reviews to qualify for a Metacritic score, and I’m honestly stunned that a major release like Crysis 3 didn’t garner any significant media attention, despite this being an absolutely incredible port, and one of the best-looking games on Nintendo Switch. Yes, it’s a port of a game that’s almost a decade old, but it’s still visually stunning and an absolute blast of a First-Person Shooter to play. However, the lack of reviews for this one is especially bothersome here, as one of the big questions regarding this game is how well it runs specifically on Nintendo Switch (the answer is “extremely well”, though of course not as good as other modern gaming platforms or a high-end gaming PC). Other games on this list were somewhat smaller releases that deserved more attention, but this is a major release that for some reason isn’t being treated as one. For shame.
Runners-Up:
Super Cable Boy (1 review)
Hexceed (0 reviews)
Cosmic Express (1 review)
Piczle Puzzle & Watch Collection (2 reviews)
The Solitaire Conspiracy (0 reviews)
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Most Original
Rain on Your Parade – While there were a lot of creative games this year, Rain on Your Parade was truly unlike anything I can think of. This is a Puzzle game that has players playing as a mischievous rain cloud trying to ruin everyone’s day. Yet despite the unusual premise, this is a very accessible, easy-to-play game that both kids and adults should be able to enjoy. This is absolutely a unique game well worth trying out.
Runners-Up:
Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny
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Most Efficient Use of File Storage Space
Islanders (154MB) – All of the other finalists for this award were noteworthy for packing a great presentation into a surprisingly small amount of space. Islanders, meanwhile, packaged a solid presentation in an absolutely tiny amount of space. I can see some of how this game kept its file size down, by keeping textures to a minimum, not including voice and having a simple soundtrack. However, 154MB is smaller than most 2D pixel art games I see on the Nintendo Switch, so it truly feels like there’s some kind of wizardry going on here.
Runners-Up:
Crossbow: Bloodnight (579MB)
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury (2.97GB)
Metroid Dread (4.13GB)
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The “Wow, this game was way better than I expected!” Award
Hexceed – “Free-To-Play” tends to come with a stigma attached to it, and that stigma is that you’ll end up paying for the game through some other form of monetization, and often something that exploits its players and makes the game worse. What’s more, from the outside, Hexceed looks outright boring, as visually-bland a Puzzle game as you can imagine. Yet, the actual game itself is a brilliant evolution of the Minesweeper formula, it’s an absolute delight of a Puzzle game… and the only kind of monetization here is additional puzzles for players to buy after they’re done with the massive number of puzzles already included in the free game. From the outside, I was dubious that this game would be worthwhile, but after playing it, I feel like every Puzzle game fan with a Nintendo Switch should download this game – after all, it costs you nothing.
Runners-Up:
Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville Complete Edition
Piczle Puzzle & Watch Collection
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Best Third-Party Publisher
Just a note – this award is not about the way these companies conduct themselves behind the scenes. Rather, this award only pertains to which companies most consistently brought out great games on the Nintendo Switch in 2021.
Capcom (Monster Hunter Rise, Monster Hunter Stories 2, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection, Capcom Arcade Stadium) – This year, the competition for this award was largely a battle between Capcom and Sega, with each company bringing some excellent heavy-hitters to the table. However, for me the one-two punch of Monster Hunter Rise and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles just barely edged out Sega’s excellent offerings, although this is a fight that really could have gone either way.
Runners-Up:
Sega (Shin Megami Tensei V, Persona 5 Strikers, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne Remaster, Sonic Colors: Ultimate, Valkyria Chronicles + Valkyria Chronicles 4 Bundle)
Koei Tecmo (Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy, Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book DX, Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey DX, Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings DX, Atelier Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack, Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection)
Activision Blizzard (Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, Crash Bandicoot – Crashiversary Bundle, Crash Bandicoot – Quadrilogy Bundle, Blizzard Arcade Collection)
Draknek (Sokobond, A Good Snowman is Hard to Build, Cosmic Express, A Monster’s Expedition, Draknek and Friends Puzzle Bundle)
Devolver Digital (Loop Hero, Boomerang X, Olija)
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My Top 3 Most-Played Games of 2021
This is according to Nintendo’s own Year in Review page, which only includes stats through December 12. Here are my top 3:
#3. Monster Hunter Rise (42 Hours)
#2. Among Us (70 Hours)
#1. Disgaea 5 Complete (150 Hours)
I should note that In the time since, there are only 2 games I’ve played enough that they could possibly move past the #3 game here to make it onto the list: Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny, and Travel Mosaics 4: Adventures in Rio. I should note that Travel Mosaics 3: Tokyo Animated got booted off the list by Monster Hunter Rise, which just barely squeaked past it in time for this article – Travel Mosaics 3 has 39 Hours logged on it.
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My Top 10 Most-Anticipated Games of 2022
#10 Sonic Frontiers
#9 Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp
#8 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
#7 Splatoon 3
#6 Triangle Strategy
#5 Bayonetta 3
#4 Rune Factory 5
#3 Sea of Stars
#2 Kirby and the Forgotten Land
#1 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
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For commentary on today’s awards, please check out the eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards Day 1: Specialty Awards Podcast!
That’s all for today! to keep up with all of the eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards, be sure to check back at the Awards’ Start Page, which I’ll be updating throughout the week!
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