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 2022, even those released on other platforms before 2020. Also, awards like the 2021 Second Chance Awards and Most played Games of 2022 awards are not restricted to games released this year at all, because of what these categories represent. Anyway, on to the awards!
- 2021 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
- Top 5 Games That Would Win a Lot More Awards This Week if They Weren’t Disqualified Due to How Old Their Original Release is
- My Top 10 Most-Played Games of 2022
- My Top 10 Most-Anticipated Games of 2023
- Did Last Year’s Top 10 Most-Anticipated Games Meet Expectations?
- Additional Commentary!
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2021 Second Chance Awards
What follows are games that came out in 2021, but I didn’t get around to playing them until 2022, after doing my 2021 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 2021 if I had actually played them that year:
9. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
8. Hextones
7. Dying Light: Definitive Edition
6. Ruined King: A League of Legends Story
3. There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
2. Unpacking
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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. Inscryption
9. Return to Monkey Island
8. Cult of the Lamb
7. Tactics Ogre: Reborn
6. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
5. Sports Story
4. Splatoon 3
3. Chained Echoes
2. Shovel Knight Dig
1. Tunic
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Best Port / Remake
Live A Live – It says something about the quality of a remake when it’s so good that I immediately think about how much I want to see numerous other games get the same sort of remake treatment. Granted, Square Enix’s “HD-2D” style is not new, but this was the first indication we saw that they were willing to use this art style to rejuvenate a classic (and a classic previously never released in the West, as well!). Taking pixel art visuals and giving them wonderful depth, and additional effects breathes new life into the retro-style visuals in a way that’s absolutely gorgeous, and the additional voicework and remastered music is superb as well. Will we be getting multiple other games with the “HD-2D” treatment? Well, Square Enix has already confirmed they’ll be remaking Dragon Quest III in this style, but beyond that we can only wait and hope that other beloved games of yesteryear get the same kind of love that Live A Live got here.
Runners-Up:
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series
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Best Compilation / Collection
Portal Companion Collection – Portal Companion Collection doesn’t really bring much to the table that’s truly new, but it also doesn’t really have to. When you pack together two outstanding ports of two of the greatest games of all time, make them feature-complete, brush up the graphics to make this the best console port either game has ever received, and then sell the whole package for $20, you have created a near-perfect bundle.
Runners-Up:
Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection
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Best Game for Kids and Casual Players
Nintendo Switch Sports – An entire generation of “casual gamers” were sold on the Nintendo Wii because of one game, Wii Sports. As its latest successor, Nintendo Switch Sports isn’t nearly as successful as Wii Sports was, but it does still have much of that same magic. When it comes to games that anyone can play, it’s hard to beat a game that has you picking up a Joy-Con and mimicking tossing a bowling ball or swinging it like a sword, with everything wrapped in cutesy, appealing visuals.
Runners-Up:
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
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Best Multiplayer
It Takes Two – It’s a real gamble building your game around a required co-op component. Making a game that can only be played in pairs really limits your potential target audience. But not only is It Takes Two so good that people will want to pair up to play it, but the co-op is so well-crafted that I couldn’t imagine this game working any other way. However, the most impressive part of this game’s multiplayer is that it is often an asymmetrical co-op game, where each player is doing something different. And yet, the game still remains fun for both players, so neither ever feels like they’re missing out… at least no more than the other player is missing out on what they’re doing. That this game manages this seemingly effortlessly is an extremely impressive feat.
Runners-Up:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition
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Best New Free-To-Play Game
Guardian Tales – Overall I must say I was somewhat disappointed with free-to-play games on Nintendo Switch in 2022, but Guardian Tales managed to come out of nowhere and completely surprised me with its charm, polish, and fun gameplay. I could have done without the wait mechanics, but otherwise this was definitely the free-to-play game that I definitely think Nintendo Switch owners need to try.
Runners-Up:
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Best Value
Portal Companion Collection ($20) – As I stated a moment ago, packing two of the best games of all time into a bundle that only costs $20 is an absolute steal. At such a low price, even if you have these games on another platform, you still might want to get the Nintendo Switch version.
Runners-Up:
Pac-Man Museum+ ($20)
Words With Freds ($1)
Little Noah: Scion of Paradise ($15)
Dungeons of Dreadrock ($10)
Pure Mini Golf ($4)
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Funniest Game
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope – Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope makes a lot of smart choices, but perhaps one of its best decisions is to develop its Rabbid characters into something more than just one-note silly screaming bunnies. As a result, Mario and friends’ Rabbid allies now all feature their own unique silly personalities, with the real star being Rabbid Peach. While everyone else has joined the game’s quest to help others or to prove themselves, Rabbid Peach seems to be tagging along just to generate content for her socials. Just this one character’s oblivious, manic, vapid personality generated more chuckles out of me than virtually every other game this year combined. Oh, and the rest of the game has some funny moments as well.
Runners-Up:
Star Seeker in: the Secret of the Sorcerous Standoff
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Most Underrated
This is the award for the game I feel was most wronged by its Metacritic score.
Splatter – Zombiecalypse Now (57) – First, full disclosure – Splatter is a game I got as a review code from publisher Untold Tales. However, I think it would win this award even if that wasn’t the case. Is Splatter a great game? No. Does it do anything truly great or revolutionary within its genre? No. Can it compete in any significant way with the likes of Enter the Gungeon, Assault Android Cactus, NeuroVoider, or countless other 2-Stick Shooters on the Nintendo Switch? No. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worthwhile in its own right, and I found this game to be decent and reasonably enjoyable, well worth its low $8 price tag. For what this game offers, I would expect a low Metacritic score, but a score in the 50s? That’s absurd. This may not be a great game, but it’s better than that.
Runners-Up:
Kirby’s Dream Buffet (66)
Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection (75)
Soundfall (73)
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Most Overlooked
Guardian Tales – I had heard not a single peep about this game before playing it. It does have a few reviews, but no Metacritic score for either the Nintendo Switch or mobile versions of the game. What’s more odd is that every review I can find of the game is absolutely glowing, so why aren’t more people playing it? Even more bizarre is that there’s no buy-in required to try it, since it’s a free-to-play game. If you’re only just now hearing about this game, do yourself a favor and download it to give it a try. I think you’ll find it well worth taking a look!
Runners-Up:
Star Seeker in: the Secret of the Sorcerous Standoff
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Most Original
Neon White – I don’t know that describing Neon White can ever truly prepare you for the experience of playing it, and I can’t help but feel like attempting to do so would only convey the wrong impression. It’s a First-Person Shooter where the shooting isn’t really the point, it’s usually more about discarding your weapons than about shooting them. It’s a Platformer where every level plays out like a carefully-crafted puzzle designed to challenge players to reach the end as quickly as possible. It’s fast but rarely out of control, you’ll likely find yourself quitting and restarting each level mid-run countless times in your fervor to do everything perfectly, and yet it somehow doesn’t get repetitive or frustrating. I certainly would have expected a game made by the developer of Donut County to be a shoo-in to win this award, but I never would have imagined it would be a game like this. In any case, Neon White is without a doubt the most refreshing game I played all year.
Runners-Up:
Little Noah: Scion of Paradise
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Most Efficient Use of File Storage Space
Super Mario Strikers: Battle League (3 GB) – Given how slick and polished this game looks, the high quality of the visuals, and the style bursting out of every seam of the game, its 3GB file size seems outright tiny. Games that take up twice as much space often don’t look this good.
Runners-Up:
No Man’s Sky (3.12GB)
Nintendo Switch Sports (2.3GB)
Kirby’s Dream Buffet (1.19GB)
Retro Bowl (79MB)
Turbo Shot (397MB)
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The “Wow, this game was way better than I expected!” Award
Guardian Tales – It’s a free-to-play game I had never heard of with a generic-sounding name. I honestly expected this to be disposable, if not outright garbage. Upon firing it up, I was genuinely blown away. This just reinforces my belief that every game deserves a chance.
Runners-Up:
Star Seeker in: The Secret of the Sorcerous Standoff
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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 2022.
Square Enix – Chocobo GP, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, The DioField Chronicle, NieR:Automata The End of YoRHa Edition, Harvestella (Note: Live A Live and Triangle Strategy technically published by Nintendo) – While some of the games noted above ended up being… well, not great… there were still plenty of quality games, and I wasn’t even able to play all of the games Square Enix released this year. I should note that while Nintendo published a lot of the games these third parties headed up this year, it’s hard not to think of them as games made by the publisher in question, so I list them here as well.
Runners-Up:
Sega – Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Sonic Origins, Two Point Campus, Persona 5 Royal (Note: Bayonetta 3 published by Nintendo)
UbiSoft – Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection, Roller Champions, Rabbids: Party of Legends, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
Capcom – Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium, Capcom Fighting Collection (Plus Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, which is technically DLC)
Bandai Namco – Pac-Man Museum+, Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series
Fellow Traveler – Citizen Sleeper, Beacon Pines
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Top 5 Games That Would Win a Lot More Awards This Week if They Weren’t Disqualified Due to How Old Their Original Release is
5. NieR:Automata The End of YoRHa Edition
3. No Man’s Sky
1. Portal Companion Collection
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My Top 10 Most-Played Games of 2022
This is according to Nintendo’s own Year in Review page, which only includes stats through November 30. Here are my top 10:
10. RPG Maker MV Player (8 Hours)
9. Nintendo Switch Sports (8 Hours)
8. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (12 Hours)
7. Pokemon Sword (13 Hours)
6. Game Builder Garage (23 Hours)
5. Pokemon Legends Arceus (34 Hours)
4. Pokemon Violet (71 Hours)
3. Monster Hunter Rise (85 Hours)
2. Turbo Shot (105 Hours)
1. Crush Crush (151 Hours)
Okay, before you decide to take away my “hardcore gamer” card, let me explain. Crush Crush is an idle game, which meant it was easy enough to keep running in the background while I did other things. And Turbo Shot… well, I was really, really good at it, and it was a fun little time waster when I just wanted to spend a few minutes playing something. Neither of these games even come close to my favorite games of 2022, but they were easy enough to turn on for a few minutes without expending too much brain power.
Monster Hunter Rise, on the other hand, needs no explanation. Jenn and I pretty much ran through all of the base game in 2022, and now we’re about ready to start Sunbreak. Yeah, we haven’t started Sunbreak yet, I only have so much time when I review hundreds of games every year, okay?
Pokemon Violet’s high place in this list despite coming so late in the year should be an indication of how much i loved this game, despite the graphics and performance issues. And Pokemon Legends Arceus may have about half Violet’s hours logged, but don’t take that to mean I only liked it half as much! Pokemon Sword even being on this list is a bit head-scratching to me. I was terribly disappointed in that game and only played it long enough to review it.
Game Builder Garage and RPG Maker were games I played through a lot to play others’ creations, but I also poured a lot of time into making my own little game in Game Builder Garage (I’m still proud of you, Dodgy Dave in Canonball Cave!). You can see the ones I tried out on this page, though I may need to update the Project ID codes.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land isn’t a super-long game, but I played it through to completion… and streamed the whole process! And speaking of streaming, Nintendo Switch Sports was another game I streamed quite a bit this year.
Nintendo’s page actually shows my top 90 games played, but I feel like 10 is more than enough.
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My Top 10 Most-Anticipated Games of 2023
10. Pikmin 4
9. Persona 3 Portable & Persona 4 Golden Bundle
8. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
7. Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection
6. Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key
5. Theatrhythm Final Bar Line
4. Sea of Stars
3. Octopath Traveler II
2. Hades 2
1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
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Did Last Year’s Top 10 Most-Anticipated Games Meet Expectations?
10. Sonic Frontiers – I can’t say personally, as I haven’t played it yet.
9. Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp – Delayed, new release TBD.
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge – It’s not exactly what I expected, but it is nevertheless an outstanding game that did not disappoint me.
7. Splatoon 3 – I can’t say personally, as I haven’t played it yet.
6. Triangle Strategy – Mostly it did, yes. The gameplay plays it a bit too safe and the story (while excellent) can take quite a while to get through, but it’s still a delightful game that I thoroughly enjoyed.
5. Bayonetta 3 – While I can’t definitively say it’s the best game in the series (though it’s certainly a strong contender), it’s at least on par with its predecessors, and in that respect I can say it definitely met my expectations.
4. Rune Factory 5 – I can’t say personally, as I haven’t played it yet.
3. Sea of Stars – Delayed into 2023. It’s on this year’s list too!
2. Kirby and the Forgotten Land – While I think many were hoping for a more open-ended game, this was still a joy to play. I would say that it definitely met expectations.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 – Delayed into 2023. It’s on this year’s list too!
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Additional Commentary!
Just going to comment on the categories I feel like I have more to add.
Best Compilation / Collection
This year, the question really came down to “what makes a great bundle?” If we’re looking at bonus content or comprehensiveness, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection definitely deserves the win. If we’re looking at how consumer-friendly the bundle is, there’s definitely something to be said for Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium’s a la carte option. Improved visuals? That would of course go to Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series. And I applaud the Assassin’s Creed Ezio Collection for once again improving on the quality of the port over previous ports in the series. However, when it comes down to it, Portal Companion Collection had a combination of many of these elements – a solid port, feature-complete, improved visuals, a great price… but what pushed it over the top was the high quality of the games themselves.
Best New Free-To-Play Game
I suppose I should note that Overwatch 2 only counts as a “new” free-to-play game if we are extremely flexible about what counts as new, since this game is largely just a rebranded Overwatch 1. However, it is at least new to free-to-play.
Best Value
While I didn’t have to deliberate too much on this one, it wasn’t the obvious choice some of the other awards were this year. Yes, it’s hard to pass up two legendary games for the low price of $20, but for that same price, Pac-Man Museum+ offers three great games (plus a lot of middling ones). If you’re looking at the non-bundles, both Little Noah and Dungeons of Dreadrock offer some top-notch gaming at a bargain price. And if you want to spend as little as possible, both Words With Freds and Pure Mini Golf absolutely deliver value well above their “under $5” price tag. Good options all-around.
Funniest Game
To Be or Not To Be was disqualified from the running in this category because its original release is too old. Otherwise, it would have been a serious contender to win this award.
Most Overlooked
There were some really good contenders in this category this year. Crumble is absolutely one of my favorite Platformers of the year, To Be or Not To Be is one of the funniest games I’ve played this year, Words With Freds is possibly the best $1 I’ve spent on the Nintendo Switch, Star Seeker is an outstanding love letter to the LucasArts Graphic Adventure games of old, and Welcome to Elk is delightfully strange in a really compelling way. All of these games deserve way more love than they got. Do yourself a favor and look them up!
Most Efficient Use of File Storage Space
I should note that No Man’s Sky going from 10-15GB on other platforms to a mere 3.12GB is absolutely astounding, but I couldn’t quite justify giving it this award with the sorts of performance issues it has – perhaps it should have been bigger.
The “Wow, this game was way better than I expected!” Award
This award very nearly went to OlliOlli World, a sequel to two games I hated, but which I ended up thoroughly enjoying. However, even with my unpleasant history with this series, I still had some hope that the third game would change my mind. I can’t say I had any positive expectations for Guardian Tales.
My Top 10 Most-Anticipated Games of 2023
If I’m being perfectly honest with myself, I’m still pretty focused on trying to review all the noteworthy 3DS games by the end of March, so I’m not really thinking that hard about upcoming games right now. After the top 5 most-anticipated, the dropoff is pretty steep. That’s not to say that I’m not looking forward to the rest of the top 10, just that I’m not really thinking about them right now.
Did Last Year’s Top 10 Most-Anticipated Games Meet Expectations?
I should note that while there were a few disappointments of games that got delayed, none of the games I actually played disappointed me. Of course, that may be because I have yet to play Sonic Frontiers or Rune Factory 5, which I hear others were disappointed in.
That’s all for today! to keep up with all of the eShopperReviews 2022 Game Awards, be sure to check back at the Awards’ Start Page, which I’ll be updating throughout the week!
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