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Nintendo World Report's 2019 Game Awards

Best NES / SNES Online Game

by John Rairdin and Neal Ronaghan - January 5, 2020, 7:58 am EST

Virtual Console may be dead, but we still give awards out to its successor.

Winner: Star Fox 2

Star Fox 2 went from being a lost work of art, to a game available only on very limited console, to a game every Nintendo Switch Online subscriber now has. That is a gaming fairy tale the likes of which are almost never seen, and that alone makes it one of the most important games of the decade. But on top of that, not only is it an amazing story in gaming history, its also a fantastic game!

Star Fox 2 blends action and strategy in a way rarely seen again to this day. While the Star Fox series would ultimately go on without it, Star Fox 2 is in many ways, the most ambitious and expansive game in the entire series.

~ John Rairdin


Runner Up: Joy Mech Fight

Technically this didn't even come to America or Europe, but with the aid of making a Japanese account on your Switch, you can check out this 1993 Famicom fighting game. It stars Sukapon - aka that annoying weird-limbed Assist Trophy from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - as he fights various robots in the single-player mode or takes on friends or the computer in the versus mode. The gameplay is rough and the graphics tax the Famicom as you might expect in an ambitious game for the system in 1993. Still, the fact that this game is now relatively easy for those outside of Japan to play is super cool. Enjoy a piece of Nintendo history that likely wouldn't actually make it over any other way.

~ Neal Ronaghan


Runner Up: Stunt Race FX

While Star Fox and its sequel often get the spotlight for Super FX games. Stunt Race FX easily holds its ground against its counterparts. In an era of pseudo 3D racers full of Mode 7, flat environments, Stunt Race FX sports fully 3D racetracks and vehicles. While the frame rate isn't ideal by modern standards, the creativity and charm shine through and result in a remarkably solid racing experience. The original release's split screen multiplayer also gets an update thanks to the Switch Online service allowing you to play with friends near and far.

~ John Rairdin

Images

Talkback

OedoJanuary 05, 2020

I started playing through Genealogy of the Holy War last year (after finally catching up with most of the Fire Emblem games released in North America; the only ones I haven't finished now are Shadow Dragon and two routes of Three Houses, the latter of which I'm planning to start soon). The game really is super intriguing from a story and character standpoint, but yeah, it needs a full on remake from a gameplay perspective. There are a lot of interesting ideas with the large maps and mission structure, and how the romance and timeskip is implemented, but the game is hard to play in a lot of respects. I would love to see it remade, and with Koei Tecmo apparently taking a larger role on Three Houses than we initially thought, it makes a certain amount of sense that a remake is something other people at Intelligent Systems would have been working in the meanwhile.

I wouldn't hold my breathe for Thracia 776 as DLC though. I know people have speculated on that, or even both games being remade into a single package, but I don't think either scenario is feasible when you consider Intelligent Systems turned Gaiden into such a fleshed out, robust game with Shadows of Valentia due to the care and attention they approached the remake with. I think Thracia 776 would have to be its own remake.

Overall, it was interesting to read through this feature as always!

NemoJanuary 07, 2020

Dragon Quest XI is #1 in my heart.

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