Feature: Game Of The Year 2022 - Nintendo Life Staff Awards

My new GOTY would probably be Legends Arceus but if we were talking about games that aren't new but released on switch this year then my GOTY would be Portal Companion Collection

I personally don't have GOTY 2022 for Nintendo Switch as my GOTY 2022 is Epic Chef on PS4.
This year I felt disappointed with Nintendo Switch for some bad decisions such as incomplete game from Switch Sports, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC that I don't get all the stuffs until next year, uninteresting 1st party games announcement, uninteresting 3rd party for Switch announcement from Game Award 2022, etc.
And because of that, I made some changes in term of picking the games for my Switch and my PS4.

XC3 is hands down my GotY. The staff outlined my feelings well in the article, plus the soundtrack is sublime. Runners-up for me would be 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (on Switch) and Live A Live.

A very strong year for the Switch. Great first party exclusives, a nice selection of indies, some very strong third party ports, and a good selection of retro collections. I did play more Xbox this year because of Elden Ring, but overall I thought it was a great year for the Switch.

All of my picks made it into the list. Both Pokémon releases (although, Arceus is the better game), Bayonetta 3, Splatoon 3, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. This was a special year for Nintendo Threequels.

Switch GOTY for me goes to XC3. Easily.

Hard to say I have a top game I would say but I do have standouts and they are not all on the switch.

Pokémon legends of arceus
Vampire survivors
Arcade paradise

What an odd year for the Switch. I did like Arceus though.

Glad to see at least one place giving Xenoblade 3 the love it deserves. I still really need to check out Tunic and Neon White.

Rogue Legacy 2 for me. Its replaced Hades as my favourite rogue lite.

I suspect this is an unpopular view but I was really disappointed by Bayonetta 3. Felt bland and unfinished to me compared to the awesome B2. Guess my favourite Switch game would be XC3 even though, again, I found the other 2 (or 3) entries better.

If we’re allowing ports Automata should have been on the list- in place of Bayo 3 if anything.

Neon White, Xenoblade 3 and Arceus definitely in my top 3.

@sketchturner I wonder how long it’s going to take for someone to get upset at that picture

@nessisonett I'm curious what you mean about it being an odd year. For me it was weird because I'm a big Switch fan and it felt like a year full of "big" retail titles... that I just didn't care about: Splatoon, Mario Soccer, Kirby, Pokemon, more Pokemon, Xenoblade, Bayonetta, Switch Sports.

There were some great eshop titles I enjoyed though: Tinykin, Elechead, Portal Collection, Cuphead DLC, Toodee & Topdee.

Ultimately, the Switch having a year that didn't appeal to me got me to do something I never imagined I'd do: purchase a Steamdeck. However, I'm excited about next year thanks to Tears of the Kingdom and especially Pikmin 4.

Although Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak is technically an expansion, I feel it deserves praise as one of the years best releases.

No Sparks of Hope on the list but instead the unpolished mess that was Scarlet and Violet? what a bizarre pick honestly.
Other than that, my personal goty on the Switch was Triangle Strategy, was everything I expected from it and more. Have not played some stuff like Xenoblade or Persona 5 The Royale yet though.

@larryisaman Haha, yeah, I don't mean any offense. I love my Switch, but this gaming year was defined by the Steamdeck for me (and I've only had it a few months).

@sketchturner It felt like a year of big releases that I instantly forgot about.

For me it's Triangle Strategy by a mile.

I'm missing Mario & Rabbids 2, Nier Automata and Tactics Ogre. Good list overall, though!
What a fantastic year this has been.

Portal and all 3 Pokemon games for me (Arceus and SV)

@Warioware I feel the same way you do. I like Bayonetta 3 gameplay wise except for the performance issues. but the ending and stuff is disappointing. Although I heard about that for a while lol. I do especially agree with Xenoblade 3. I like the game of course and while it is my favorite game of the year that’s on switch specifically, I didn’t get to play a lot of other switch games this year because I am backlogged on other games. Also I agree that the other Xenoblade games are overall better. I love Xenoblade 1. Still my favorite Xenoblade and one of my favorite games of all time. I liked 2 as well. I haven’t played through all of X yet. Xenoblade 3 is good but it’s story and characters weren’t as good as Xenoblade 1 to me. I know it’s an unpopular opinion but I don’t care. Xenoblade 3 did not look good at times. It was still a blurry mess in portable mode. Not as much as 2 but still. It didn’t help that Xenoblade 3 kept crashing on me more compared to 2

My GotY is a tie between Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Return to Monkey Island.

I barely played any switch games this year thanks to my Game Pass backlog, but I definitely played the heck out of PLA

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is my GOTY with Bayonetta 3 close second.

My game of the year is definitely Pokémon scarlet and violet. 80hrs into it and still going strong! Loving the post game support with the Tera raids, gives sort of a monster hunter vibe. Working my way to getting back into competitive Pokémon too and they made it easier than it has in a long time to actually build your own team.

Top 5 Switch games of 2022 for me:

Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Splatoon 3
Pokemon Violet
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Bayonetta 3

Bayonetta 3. It was so good that I stopped playing Xenoblade 3 for a month despite being in the final dungeon. The story might be missing some more sass in the dialogue, but the combat and music were bliss. Excited for Origins.

Xenoblade 3 was a great game, but I hope they wrap up the overarching plot soon because ever since Xenoblade 2 the series has been having an identity crisis jumping from mature steampunk fantasy to edgy slapstick anime with 3 trying to awkwardly balance out the two. Hoping for a Xenoblade X sequel soon.

I stand by with my earlier choice, Triangle Strategy for games released this year and Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter out of all the new games I experienced this year.

In general this year was quite fantastic, I played tons of great games.

It's a toss-up between Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Shredder's Revenge. Not really a "game," but my next favorite thing this year was the new MK8 tracks.

@Riku3456 I actually haven't got round to finishing B3 yet, think I am near tge end but got bored and distracred by other things. Story wise it seems to be lacking the banter that the other ganes had and a worthwhile villain too. However my issues were gameplay too. The camera is awful, I didn't like the removal of the mix n' match weapons equipping and the Jeanne levels were just annoying to me. However, something that really stood out to me were some really slapdash elemrnts - some alternate gsmeplay sections seemed loose and unpolished and there were some PS2 quality textures at times. But what got me most was in the France levels - try standing next to one of the police cars, either Bayonetta went to Lilliput or has massibely sprouted after an all you can eat binge - they are tiny! I just have to wonder how things like that slipped through QC.

With XC3 I still enjoyed the gameplay but the story was quite repetitive and the world a bit bland compared to the previous entries. Optimistic that the story DLC might shed a bit more light on the villain's motivations and the world background though. And maybe some more light on Future Connected's mysteries.

Sorry, long post.

Rogue Legacy 2 is my GOTY. So amazing and addictive.

Absolutely Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Nobody Saves the World and Live a Live are also amazing.

It didn't come out this year, and I've been playing it since it came out on Wii U, but this has probably been my biggest Mario Kart 8 year with the new tracks. If possible I would vote it my GOTY. Boo Lake. Boo Lake. I will say it again. Boo Lake.

Solid year again for the Switch.

I played old games all year until Tactics Ogre dropped, and I've been playing it since. Is it the absolute best game released on Switch this year? I don't know, but when any game is this good, who cares?

My top 3 of the year:
1 - Xenoblade 3
2 - Return to Monkey Island
3 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Still have to play others I know I'll love, such as Mario & Rabbids 2, Bayonetta 3, Live a Live and Triangle Strategy (so many great games, I don't have enough time!), but I don't know if they'll enter the top 3, honestly.

Kirby and The Forgotten Land was my GOTY but Arceus and the TMNT beat em up was great too.

Live A Live's about the only game I've actually played this year. It's good, though! Play it!
I've joked about it really being a 1994 game, which makes it even being up for 2022 game lists great. But I think the ending here, which wasn't fully present in the original, would make it a true GOTY contender on its own.

I’ve still got to round out playing the stuff that came out in the holidays, but right now, my money’s on Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Such a great adaptation of what made the series great, and the abilities, level gimmicks, and bosses gave me a constant smile. It wasn’t trying to be a masterpiece, but it was just a fun game all around.

I know it's subjective, but one of you got it completely right. I won't say which one.

no nier or no mans sky too mazing ports for the switch and great games

This is the year I fell in love with 2 new franchises.
The Legend of heroes series, and the persona series.
Its so hard to pick just one favourite game for me this year, but my top 5 are:

Trails from Zero
Triangle strategy
(These two stayed with me long after I played them)

Rune Factory 5, yeah graphically it looks like butt, but it was my most played game this year, and it was sooo addictive.

Monster Hunter Sunbreak (I only started playing MH Rise this year, but the DLC makes it a 2022 game right?)
God how the hours skyrocket on that game and I swear I only play it inbetween other games.

And finally Arceus. Was it perfect? hell no but it was the most fun I had in a Pokemon game for as long as I can remember. And just the writing of it felt so much more mature, y'know as dark as they can make it and all.

Shadowverse champions battle was on my most played this year too, but that was a 2021 release so it doesn't count. Best card game on switch, hands down. I only stopped playing cause there was no-one online to play against.

What's really shocking is how many games are on this list that I own that I just haven't had a chance to play this year, but I'll get there...right?

Here's to 2023, I can't wait!

Portal or No Mans Sky for me, I loved both Pokémon games but they weren't even in the same ballpark as Portal or NMS

So the nintendolife game of the year award goes to every game released on the switch in 2022?

My personal was, Crisis Core Reunion. I bet no one will agree with me!

It's still Infernax for me.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was the stand out for me. A wonderful game with a sincere, positive life message. The final third is somewhat under-developed and there are some plot details that are clearly being saved for the expansion but even with those minor critiques given it's easily, in my eyes, the best in the series and one of the best JRPGs ever made.

I also love Three Hopes a lot more than other people, I think. It's undercooked but if you take it as a coda to the storyline of Three Houses that expands on the themes and narrative elements (not always to a satisfying degree, admittedly) it's a great time in its own right and Shez really upstages Byleth as a player character.

Only games I played this year that were worth my time were the two Pokemon games and Kirby and the Forgotten Land. They win the top 3 by default. GoTY would be SV, but the other two aren't far behind. I was really disappointed in how this year played out and expected more, but those three are good enough games to keep this year from being terrible.

Sonic Frontiers or Nier automata for me. I thought Xenoblade 3 was going to take the crown easily but man, a good game but just such a disappointment to what came before. So the other two definitely gave me way more meaningful experiences, along with some good indie games.

I adore Prodeus...on my PS5. The Switch version has no excuse running so badly, and the lack of gyro just sealed it for me. I'm sure I'll get back to it at some point, but I went to that from being hyped out of my mind. Oh well.

My top games go to retroarch series x, where I get a true Nintendo experience on xbox!
Honestly, if the switch had back compat of nintendos older games to buy and not just to rent, wouldve been greatest console for me.
As of now, switch is dead until new zelda

My top three have to be Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Xenoblade 3, and Pokemon Violet. If you count DLC, the Booster Course pass and MHR Sunbreak definitely are up there too.

My top 3 games are Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3, and Pokemon 3 err... I mean Pokemon Legends Arceus.

My favorite visual novel of 2022 is Persona 5 Royal.

I love this style of staff picks because I can see different kinds of games as your favourites, instead of the obvious huge first party titles as GOTY (it was always going to be Xenoblade or Pokémon). Lots of visual novel-like, non-traditional RPGs and puzzley games. Going to check out Citizen Sleeper and Steve Jackson's Sorcery! Thanks for the recommendations!

I haven't played Monkey Island yet but when I do I feel like it would be my 2022 GOTY. Strange Horticulture was a lot of fun but I didn't finish it, sadly. Only because I got too busy with work after and going a few weeks not playing it I was worried I'd forgotten everything.

Olli Olli World is my 2022 GOTY though. I picked it up when it was on sale because it looked like some quick fun. It's not usually my type of game. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Really satisfying game play, stylish, great music and a strange and cool world I love the idea of inhabiting.

All these games deserves to be on this list except one or two and it’s Pokémon scarlet and violet, even if the gameplay is good and it’s a Pokémon game it doesn’t deserve to be on any best of list, it is not good for anyone to reward mediocrity, it only encourages developers to continue making broken games.

I don't care if Pokemon Violet/Scarlet aren't the best games because of the glitches for a lot of people. I get it trust me but for me they were my game of the year. They were the only games to get me to put down ACNH for a bit. I get that a lot of people aren't happy with them but for me they were loads of fun that I didn't want to end. I love the tera raid style and love the new Pokemon. I can't wait to try my hand at the Cinderace tera raid coming at the end of this month. Kirby also makes it to the top of my list too. My youngest misplaced the game card so I haven't played it as much as I'd like.

Poor year let’s be honest, Zelda next year though so that will be a special year!

Why no love for Alex on this list?? His opinions are certainly relevant in this case.

My goty personally on the Switch would be Wreckfest, closely followed by Legends Arceus.

XC3 - loved as much as first one and even X. XC2 didn't give that vibe....
Triangle Strategy
KIrby

Suuuuurreeee Splatoon 3 is great too.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 all the way for me. What a game. Persona 5 Royal a close second.

@Warioware no worries. I completely agree with you. I think what you said was valid. Shame though since they are series that I enjoy a lot. More so then some other series. As for dlc story for Xenoblade 3, I have a few good guesses on what it’s going to be about. POSSIBLE SPOILERS: A story about the seven heroes/founders, or what characters like the queens were up to leading up to Xenoblade 3, the future after Xenoblade 3 ended, or something entirely different that links to the next game in the series, Whether it be Xenoblade 4 or a spin-off or a whole new xeno something. There is a lot they can do. Hopefully that will be better although I don’t care for some of the Xenoblade 3 characters that much so I don’t want them to return 😂. I know that sounds mean but I like the characters from the other games better.

@Riku3456 yeah I better put a SPOILERS FOR XC3 warning here but I immediately suspected the story would be about the first 6 Ouroborosas soon as I saw the room with their statues. I am hoping that some of the online speculation about Riku and Melia's connection might be addressed though. I think in the pre release guff though that they said this entry was the conclusion of this story. Personally hope they move on to a new story next.

With Bayonetta 3 it just felt rushed and unfinished in many ways, ironic given the lengthy development time. Perhaps my expectations were too high after B2 but I don't remember either the technical or story issues I have noticed in B3 being so prevalent in the other 2. Won't be abandonning the series though!

@Warioware lol. Yeah. Since this is SPOILERS, I will say that I agree with the 6 ouroboros statement since I remember a scene in Xenoblade 3 where one of the characters was looking at the statues of the founders funny. Did you notice that one of the founders looks exactly like one of the main characters from Xenogears(if you ever played it) 🧐? Also I forgot about the Riku and Melia thing. Yeah I want some explanation for that too along with some other stuff. Also yes. As you you said. They said Xenoblade 3 will conclude klaus’s experiment which lead to these worlds/universes being created. So we should see an all brand new story next game. Don’t know if that includes the dlc story for 3. That could even be about Noah and mio’s child in that one parallel universe or about another parallel universe entirely that Noah saw in that one scene. One thing I did hear though is that this dlc story will be about as long as the torna dlc from Xenoblade 2. Gotta get my backlog down before I play that 😂

Agreed about Bayonetta 3. It’s normal to have high expectations after 2. I loved Bayonetta 2. It was my favorite one in the series. I won’t give up on the series either but the next one better be good lol. Also I don’t know how I feel about that Bayonetta origins side game. It doesn’t look like my kind of game at all but I might give it a chance since it’s Bayonetta still 🤷‍♀️

Sorry for the long rant. Lol

Just thinking of all the many Switch games I've bought this year, and I've still got 5 major physical releases to pick up at some point. FML.

I've not played XC3 or Bayo3 yet, but it's interesting to see how split the opinion is on these.

Haven't finished any of the 2022 releases yet, but I've enjoyed what I've played of Arceus, Kirby, Triangle Strategy and Shredder's Revenge. If I had to pick a GOTY from those, I'd guess Triangle Strategy, but I really need to finish them all to judge better.

Very happy to see AI Somnium Files here, one of the most criminally overlooked series on the Switch, and a perfect introduction to the world of Visual Novels.

What a snub on Olli Olli World, how did that get overlooked! A funky, genius, transcendent sequel and a flawless port. Get out of here with your pokemans and your roguelikes!

@Riku3456 with XC3 (SPOILERS) I did like that they (hopefully) gave a Nopon animportant role, not just comic relief. But there are a lot of things in the story that need addressing. Not least of these is the whole rebirth thing, which would include Noah and Mio's kid. Why didn't he try anf speak out about the rebirth cycle? Why do the Nopon not say anything when they are involved physically and emotionally but not on the limited repeated life cycle? Hopefully there will be some answrs that improve the overall story.

I will try the Bayonetta Origins game if it reviews well. I think I played Xenogears if that is the PS1 game but if so I didn't finish it and it was ages ago.

@Warioware SPOILERS yeah. I forgot about that which had nopon play an important role in this time around. Don’t get why the nopon didn’t speak up about all that either like you said. Surely they would have told some people about this. I think that is a huge hole in this story and another reason why I didn’t like Xenoblade 3’s story all that much. Would like some answers too. Also I hated how they don’t give much into the true queens story. Like how the heck did nia become a queen. There is nothing Royal about her at the end of Xenoblade 2 😂. Melia is understandable.

Yup. Xenogears is playstation 1. I didn’t finish it either. I hope I will get to it once I get my backlog down more 😬. I am the same on Bayonetta origins. If people like it then I will give it a try.

fail.. the GOTY for 2022 is: Lil Gator

My GOTY would definitely be a close tie between Pokemon Legend Arceus and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredders Revenge.