Welcome to the 2009 NGal Awards!
2009 was a banner year for Nintendo. We saw the return of the true E3, two new versions of the DS, new entries in the Mario and Zelda franchises, and the Wii continued to ignite the sales charts around the globe. It was a good year for NGal.com too. We saw a huge increase in the amount and variety of our content, thanks in part to three new staff members. But as 2009 draws to a close, we look back on the games that defined the last twelve months.
Similar to last year, we will be posting each individual staff members’ picks for the categories. This way we don’t have to argue over whose opinion is right or wrong, and we can give credit to the deserving games that may otherwise be overlooked. As usual, you can debate our picks in the comments or on the forum. Enjoy!
1. Overall Game of the Year
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
- Radical Edward – The M&L series has always been entertaining, but they really outdid themselves with this one. Between its huge variety of gameplay and zany situations, this game kept me glued to the DSi for hours on end.
- The Sound Defense – There was no shortage of great Nintendo games this year, but this one absolutely took the cake. This series has a brilliant and unique take on traditional RPG conventions, making for a 20-hour game that’s constantly engaging, fresh, funny and charming. If you play only one Nintendo game this year, make it this one.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
- Tithenion – There were several really good games this year, but this game stood out above the rest for me. It did everything right, bringing back the classic Mario feel that we all know and love, while also adding in the awesome multiplayer. Nintendo even gave the game some genuine challenge which is what core gamers have been wanting for a long while now.
- Oogabooha – Do I even have to explain why I’m giving this game GOTY? Its slick graphics, multiplayer and singleplayer modes, and difficult/original levels definitely make this game stand out. There is no game of a higher caliber than this. When you put this game in your Wii, you immediately can tell that this game will provide hours upon hours of fun shared amongst yourself and your friends.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade
- Chad Fleming – Everything about Muramasa was superb. The art style is unrivaled, the combat is deep and rewarding, and the controls are intuitive. It is easily one of the best brawlers I’ve ever played, as it stay fun throughout the 20-25 hour adventure. New Super Mario Bros was a close contender, but at then end of the day Muramasa was just plain more fun for me.
2. Best Wii Game
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
- Radical Edward – Let’s face it – the Wii was meant for multiplayer, and for my money, no other game delivered on this front this year like NSMBW. Gather some friends and be ready to have one hell of a night.
- The Sound Defense – I wish there were more good candidates for this award, but ultimately it came down to only one or two great games, and this one took the cake. Classic Mario platforming is good enough, but by adding in three more players on screen at once, the whole thing becomes completely hectic, energetic and insane. This has to be one of the best multiplayer games on the Wii, for novices and hardcore players alike.
- Oogabooha – NSMB Wii: In addition to being the game of the year, this game is also deserving of my “favorite Wii game of the year” award. Playing through the story by yourself or with friends provides one of the most enthralling and entertaining experiences a Wii game has yet to offer. This game is just too good of an offer to pass up!
- Tithenion – Yep, the Wii has the honor of holding the best game of the year award for me. Whether I was playing alone or with my siblings, I was enjoying every bit of this. I was also quite pleased with the fight against Bowser, which I felt was the best in a good while. Seeing more big 2D titles on the Wii like this would be very welcome.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade
- Chad Fleming – Muramasa: The Demon Blade – Well, it was my overall Game of the Year, and it’s a Wii game, so it only makes sense that it takes Wii Game of the Year honors for me. This is a game that really helped gamers as a whole realize that you don’t need to push trillions of polygons in order to make a game look beautiful. The Wii is the perfect system for Muramasa.
3. Best DS Game
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
- Radical Edward – My game of the year, M&L had everything I could want in a portable title. Variety, humor, colorful graphics… I just wish I didn’t have to look like such a weirdo blowing into my DS in public!
- Chad Fleming – Anyone who knows me knows how much of a sucker I am for quirk. Well, there are few games out there that are quirkier than the Mario and Luigi series. Stack the fantastic characters and dialogue on top of a fun, engaging battle system and you’ve got all the makings of a fantastic DS title.
- The Sound Defense – This RPG managed to brilliantly balance all aspect of the DS system, including the touch screen, the microphone, and pretty much every button the system has. Nothing felt forced or gimmicky, and the touch-screen based games were continually feeling fresh.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
- Tithenion – This was actually my first Fire Emblem game, and also the first time I spent any real length of time with a strategy RPG. So you can blame it a little on bias towards gameplay that was new to me, but I still felt that the game was done very well. It’s the type of game that really makes you think about each move you make since you can lose any of your characters for good. It just shows that there are more games out there that were only released in Japan that need to reach our shores (Mother 3 anyone?).
Scribblenauts
- Oogabooha – Out of all the currently available games for the Nintendo DS or DSi Platform, I am convinced that Scirbblenauts provides one of the most memorable and engaging experience to the player. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the game is having the ability to summon whatever you can type as this ultimately allows unprecedented creativity on the part of the player. The end user is given much more control over features of the game, making it much more interesting to play. You can do what you want, when you want, and do things your own way, which is always a great thing to see in a game. High levels of user customization are often not seen in handheld games due to their difficulty to implement, yet Scribblenauts somehow avoided this barrier and build a great, feature rich game. And have you ever played a game where you could summon God and a Democrat before? This game is, by far, the Best DS Game of the Year.
4. Best WiiWare Game
Bubble Bobble Plus!
- Oogabooha – This game would be the most nostalgic game released this year for me, as I can remember playing the original for hours on end a while back. Not only does BBP contain a remake of the original 100 levels, but it also contains a new story mode, expanding the Bubble Bobble Universe to new heights and giving the average consumer many more hours of gameplay.
Tales Of Monkey Island
- The Sound Defense – I can’t tell you if Telltale’s rendition is faithful to the original, but ToMI is a hilarious and clever gaming series in its own right. It follows the same formula as last year’s SBCG4AP, but brings an epic pirate-related storyline into the mix, with great results.
5. Best DSiWare Game
Rayman
- The Sound Defense – This remake of the original platforming classic snuck in just in time to qualify for this year’s awards. This great title has some of the best level design you’ll find in an old-school platformer, with plenty of humor to boot. The Rabbids may be the stars of today, but we can’t forget who used to be the king.
6. Most Innovative Game
Scribblenauts
- Radical Edward – Although I didn’t enjoy Scribblenauts as much as the rest of the world seemed to, I’m the first to admit that the game is creative. Being able to conjure up almost anything you desire works your imagination in a way that Zelda pushing-block puzzles just can’t accomplish.
- Chad Fleming – The very notion that you could type one of 22,800 words into a game and have that very thing appear before you may have seemed like madness in earlier days. However, that’s exactly what 5th Cell endeavored to do with Scribblenauts. Whether they succeeded is debatable, but the core idea is incredibly innovative.
- Oogabooha – What made this the most innovative game of this year were the wide range of words that you could use to summon various items which provided a very customizable feel in contrast to many games which have a very limited amount of user interaction. I was amazed by the range of different objects that the developers included in the game, letting players enter in 22802 different words (there were only 4105 unique sprites to accompany the words). This “word-summoning” feature caught me off-guard immensely, and definitely pushed this game to the top, giving Scribblenauts its well deserved title of Most Innovative Game of the Year.
DJ Hero
- The Sound Defense – Activision certainly got enough flak for this when it first was announced, but I can’t deny the incredible addictive quality of this music game. It’s difficult to get your head around, but it’s a great new way of interacting with music, even if there are a few bugs in the system.
Wii Sports Resort
- Tithenion – Remember back before the Wii came out and how we thought the controls were going to be? Yeah, we finally got it, and this is the game that introduced it to us. I’m sure we’ll see more impressive uses of the new Wii Motion Plus controls, but this game does a great job of showing what the controls are capable of. I loved playing archery and sword fighting. Here’s hoping that Zelda is able to build off of that and give us an awesome experience.
7. Best Multiplayer
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
- Radical Edward – You know a game has good multiplayer when you want to laugh, cry, and murder your friends – all in one sitting. Now if only it had online play…
- Tithenion – Seriously, this game is even better when you’re playing together. The more people you have, the more hectic it gets. In some games that could be a bad thing, but Nintendo managed to make that hectic gameplay a blast. If you’ve only played this by yourself, get off your butt right now and find some people to play it with. Go on!
- The Sound Defense – If there’s any kind of multiplayer better than co-op multiplayer, it’s gritty competition covered with a veneer of co-op multiplayer. This is what we had in Super Mario Bros. 3, and this is exactly what you get with NSMBWii. Once you get enough players in on the action, it becomes a hilarious free-for-all scramble for items and coins.
The Conduit
- Oogabooha – This game is the closest that the Wii will get to the Halo series, and it truly shows its magnificence in the online multiplayer modes. The game has 13 different online multiplayer modes, each one providing a new way to have fun with the Wii.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex
- Chad Fleming – You know, Call of Duty. Maybe you’ve heard of it? The same fantastically addicting multiplayer that was present in Call of Duty 4 was ported perfectly over to the Wii version. Tight controls, an innovative(at the time) level-up system, and endless customization options mean you could enjoy this game for a long, long time.
8. Best New I.P.
Retro Game Challenge
- Radical Edward – Why didn’t anyone think of this before? Crafting new-yet-oh-so-familiar NES games is a great idea in itself, but when you add in details like faux gaming magazines, the nostalgia really gets kicked up another level. I doubt we’ll ever see the sequel come to our shores, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Little King’s Story
- The Sound Defense – This is the one IP I saw this year that I’d like to see more of. This game just has more charm than almost any other I’ve seen, with the well-made graphical style, to the way townspeople interact. Hopefully this strategy title sold enough copies to warrant a sequel.
9. Best Script
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
- Radical Edward – Once again, the Layton series impresses with its well-crafted dialogue, enigmatic characters, and a script that inspires genuine, heart-felt emotion.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
- Tithenion – Ok, I’m gambling here. I’m still in the middle of playing this game so I don’t know the full story, but so far I’ve been very pleased. The story makes you think and draws you in. You never know what to believe, and even when you think you might have figured it out, you feel like you know that there has to be more to it. Add to all of that the fact that the game changes the way things happen depending on what you do just gives it that much more of a reason to take this spot.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
- The Sound Defense – This was no contest at all. The offbeat Mario RPGs have always had an excellent script, but Bowser’s Inside Story, with its winning combination of Bowser and Fawful, is at the top of the list.
10. Best Graphics
Muramasa: The Demon Blade
- Radical Edward – In an era where most developers try and push 3D to its limits, Vanillaware amazes yet again with their elegant, 2D, hand-drawn graphics. The only flaw here is its lack of hi-def support. Otherwise, it’s like playing a painting.
- Chad Fleming – Flawless. That’s truly the only way to describe the visuals of Muramasa. Beautiful hand painted backgrounds, absolutely incredible character sprites, imaginative bosses, this game has it all. There was scarcely a breathe left in my body each time I finished, so breathtaking were the visuals.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
- Oogabooha – Now I know that some people will read this and think “Wow, its a 2D platformer, can the graphics be really that amazing?” I’ve always been a sucker for updated remakes of older games, as its like getting a great present in even better wrapping than before. NSMBW was exactly that great present, and the graphics win the prize for the best graphics of the year. Nintendo does a great job of improving what we already love, and the visuals never get old.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
- Tithenion – These are some of the more impressive graphics that I’ve seen on the Wii. In a game that tries to immerse you in the game world and play with your mind, every aspect is important for it to succeed. The graphics do their job very well at building atmosphere, with great lighting effects, very nice character models, and details found all throughout that help bring the terror of Silent Hill alive.
MadWorld
- The Sound Defense – Say what you will about the wanton violence, but this game has a very unique and striking visual presentation. The black-and-white drawings are great to look at, and even though a screenshot looks chaotic, the motion is still easy to follow. The sharp red blood splatter everywhere is the hilarious icing on the cake.
11. Best Music
The Beatles: Rock Band
- Chad Fleming – As much as it feels like a cop-out to give Best Music to a music game, dude, it’s the Beatles. Arguably the most iconic band of all time, these guys were the Godfathers of the pop we listen to today. Even though they’re a single band, there’s enough diversity in their style over the years to give The Beatles: Rock Band one of the best soundtracks of all time.
- The Sound Defense – I may be a bit biased, having grown up with the Beatles, but they wrote music that everybody knows and everybody enjoys, which means that getting friends and family together to play this game is always a delight.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
- Tithenion – Yeah, three in a row. Blame the order of the awards, not me. I had to think about this one for awhile. There were several games that I’ve played this year that have had some good music, though nothing that stood out as easily the best. That being said, I think I have to give it to Shattered Memories. There are only a couple of songs that you would care to listen to outside of the game, but that’s not what music in a game like this is about. It’s all about atmosphere, and while I don’t think it’s on par with the original game, it still does it right.
- Oogabooha – The music for this game fits right in with the game, and it can really get you in “the mood” for this type of game. Now I wouldn’t listen to any of these songs on my iPod or computer, but to be able to listen to them alongside the game is a treat.
Rhythm Heaven
- Radical Edward – Not many games this year had me tapping my feet to their tunes, but Rhythm Heaven managed to produce a soundtrack so good, I’ll leave my DS on just to hear it. The best song? Probably Love Lab.
12. Best New Character
Zelda (The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks)
- The Sound Defense – This character may date back to 1987, but Spirit Tracks is the first time we actually get to know the princess as anything more than a princess who needs rescuing. She’s one of my favorite companions in the series so far, and she’s actually got a personality besides having to do her civic duty. For these reasons, I declare Princess Zelda to be my pick for this category.
Henry Hatsworth (Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure)
- Chad Fleming – The guy’s the number one member of the Pompous Adventurer’s Club, what more do you need to know? Oh, also his goal in life is to get his hands on a golden Gentleman’s Suit. Clever sophisticated, and undeniably British, Hatsworth adds personality to game that’s already brimming with it.
13. Best Villain
Anton Herzen (Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box)
- Radical Edward – Is he really a vampire? Why does he live alone in a creepy, abandoned castle? The enigmatic Anton surprises players with one twist after another, right down to the very end. Not to mention his sword fighting skills are epic.
Your Friends and Family
- Chad Fleming – New Super Mario Brothers Wii is a fantastic addition to the Super Mario series, when played in single player mode. In multiplayer mode it provides an excellent opportunity for your villainous friends to do very bad things to you. Those mushroom-stealing, head-jumping, character-throwing jerks are more troublesome than any of the Koopa Kids could ever be.
Fawful (Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story)
- The Sound Defense – Many Nintendo gamers have fond memories of Fawful’s hilarious dialogue from Superstar Saga, and Fawful’s role as the lead villain in Bowser’s Inside Story does not disappoint. He’s evil, selfish, skilled at brainwashing, and he makes annoucements via tiny UFOs that speak through a pair of moving, detached teeth. There can never be enough Fawful.
14. Biggest Disappointment
Scribblenauts
- Radical Edward – When Scribblenauts was announced, the game sounded too good to be true – and alas, it was. Hair-pulling controls, glitches galore, and mediocre level design turned an otherwise creative game into a mess of wasted potential.
- Chad Fleming – As interesting and innovative as the concept of the game was, in practice it was not quite as functional as I would have liked. Stylus controls for everything may seem intuitive on paper, but there were many occasions where the controls directly led to me losing a level. It happened frequently enough to become frustrating. The interaction between items was also hit or miss. All in all, great concept, but it needs some serious work.
- Tithenion – Scribblenauts was one of those games that I became really interested in as its release came closer. I picked it up week one after a friend of mine did, and I really enjoyed it for awhile. The problem was that it wasn’t able to hold my interest all the way through the game. It had so much potential to be a great game with its ability to write tons of items into the game, but it failed to put many of those items to any real use. A classic case of having a great idea but falling short of implementing it just right.
- The Sound Defense – This was one of the rare games that promised the world and, for a long time, looked like it could deliver. It was one of a few games everyone went nuts over at E3 2009. Once you get it in your hands, though, you realize that the game is limited not by your imagination, but by the amount of time the developers had. Though there are an awful lot of nouns in this game, most of them are sadly underdeveloped, leaving you with many duplicates and woefully underwhelming interactions. Add in a control scheme that needed serious fixing, and you’ve got a recipe for disappointment.
Wii Sports Resort
- Oogabooha – I’ve never been a huge fan of minigame packed titles, which is why I have only played Wii Sports once. When I heard about the MotionPlus add-on, I was intrigued enough to buy it and take it for a spin. I’m probably the black sheep here, but I didn’t think that the experience was worth it. You can say that I bought it knowing it was a minigame-fest all you want, but I hyped it up so much it had to win the award for tmy biggest disappointment of 2009.
15. Most Anticipated Event or Title in 2010
Metroid: Other M
- The Sound Defense – When this game was shown off at Nintendo’s press conference, a strong cheer erupted from the audience, and it’s no wonder why. While the Metroid series is known for exploration, backtracking and atmosphere, I’m just as excited for a new take on the series, one with action, backstory, and superb cinematic presentation.
- Tithenion – Since the new Zelda game for the Wii has been pushed back to at least 2011, I’m going to have to say Metroid: Other M by far. This is more like what some of us were expecting before we got the Prime games. Sure, there’s the possibility it could flop, but I’ve learned to keep an open mind when other companies take up the job. I’ll be eagerly awaiting more news when it comes.
Golden Sun DS
- Radical Edward – It’s been a while since we heard from Isaac and company, and I’m sure that most of us had given up hope completely on seeing them return. However, at E3, Nintendo surprised us all. Sure, the game may be overshadowed by more high-profile announcements, but for me, this was the most exciting moment of the show, and I cannot wait to return to Weyard.
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
- Chad Fleming – As I mentioned earlier, I love quirky things. No More Heroes had all the insanity I could ever hope for and more, and now it looks like the sequel is turning everything up to 11. Any problem I had with the first, namely the open-world tomfoolery, had been either refined or scrapped altogether. January can’t come quickly enough.
Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver
- Oogabooha – I’ve grown up with this franchise, and remember being hooked on it my whole life. I will gladly purchase the games and play through the story mode with a smile on my face, as Gold and Silver have always been my favorite games in the series. The new additions to the game only keep me more interested, and make it harder to wait for the release date.
That’s it for this year! Happy new year and thanks for reading!
