The end of 2024 is nigh, but before we get there it's time to look back on what has been a surprisingly chonky year for Switch, software-wise, in the eighth year since we first got our hands on the thing.
We've listed our personal Switch GOTYs, you've ranked yours - now it's time to round up the stragglers with a light-hearted celebration of the year's highs (and a handful of lows). Yes, it's time for this year's round of NL's Alternative Game Awards.
We've got 12 awards across two pages, starting with the game title which raised the most eyebrows at Nintendo Life Towers...
Most Long-Winded Switch Game Title 2024
Winner: The Hokkaido Serial Murder Case: The Okhotsk Disappearance ~Memories in Ice, Tearful Figurine~
Putting all the keyword-filled crap to one side, here we're honouring the Switch game with the most needlessly convoluted name. We were delighted to see Yuji Horii's curio come to the West for the first time, we applaud everyone who made it happen, and we were surprised to see a cheeky original easter egg still in there. But couldn't they have come up with a better title?
We get it, it's a niche game and it was never going to sell loads, but 13 words is too many words. As if the $45 price tag wasn't enough to put you off. And if for some reason you're dead set on an enormous title, let's not just play Thesaurus roulette and stick whatever comes up between some tildes! We can all throw some thematically evocative words in a blender (Crystal Oenology: Transom of Bloodlust ~Legs down Glass, Fruit Finish~) but it doesn't make them good.
Runners-up: Yeah! You Want "those Games," Right? So Here You Go! Now, Let's See You Clear Them! 2, Hashihime of the Old Book Town append fullscreen
Best 'Game We Wish We Liked More' 2024
Winner: The Plucky Squire
It looked so promising — so fittingly plucky — and admirable work has been done since launch to improve the game. It's a classic case of expectations being impossibly high and the end result not being quite there. Even discounting the various performance hiccups on Switch, we wanted to like this a lot more than we did.
Runners-up: Europa, Endless Ocean: Luminous
Best 'End-Of-Year Arrival That Dropped Too Late To Make Our GOTY List' 2024
Winner: Antonblast
This one seemed to have a rocky launch, with pre-launch Switch codes unavailable and performance not being where it could/should have been when the game dropped on 13th December. Hey, 'performance not being where it should have been' describes 85% of cross-platform releases on Switch these days.
When we were able to catch up, we were pleased to find that it held up well despite the dips. A patch went live just before Christmas, too. We just wish more of the team had had time to play it.
Best Retro Remake / Remaster / Re-Release 2024
Winner: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Wheel reinvention really wasn't needed, and the long-awaited TTYD remake delivered an extremely faithful reworking of the GameCube classic. Looking and sounding better than ever, there's no need to hunt down a pricey copy of the original any longer.
Runners-up: El Shaddai, Wizardry
Most 'Oh Crap, That Came Out This Year?' Game 2024
Winner: Luigi's Mansion 2 HD
An award for a game we're interested in but which got lost for whatever reason. Luigi was trending like crazy this year, just not for the wholesome, game-related reasons Nintendo might have hoped.
Luigi's Mansion 2 HD was good but also the most known quantity of any HD remaster this year. It came and it went. This year, apparently.
Runners-up: Monster Hunter Stories, Endless Ocean: Luminous
Best Switch DLC 2024
Winner: Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania
As if the base game wasn't addictive enough, Poncle injected the thing with liquid homage that glamoured its way into our hearts and minds before sinking its teeth in once more.
If you only pick up one DLC this year... well, you should probably play Shadow of the Erdtree. But why limit yourself to just one DLC? Why would you do that? What kind of sicko would even suggest such a thing solely to amuse themselves while writing entries in end-of-year articles? Some people!
Anyway, you should play this. Alternatively...
Runners-up: Splatoon 3: Side Order, Atari 50: The First Console War / The Wider World of Atari
Six down! Turn the page for six more alt awards that didn't fit nicely into their own ranked 2024 lists...
Comments 33
I'll be real. I don't think Plucky Squire was "almost there" at all. It was just plain...bad. That game is the epitome of style over substance and it legitimately makes me sad. Such a good concept, great artstyle, dreadful game design. It feels like baby's first Zelda (with a unique twist) in the worst way to me.
As a lover of hilariously long game titles, thank you for putting that category in the lead where it belongs. I got more out of this listicle than out of The Game Awards.
The 'publisher with total rubbish' category was sadly very competitive this year.
I'm glad Zelda won something in this article. It deserves more awards, even if silly ones.
I think it would be good if we could turn off publishers from the available search list, but I bet part of the deal from Nintendo is they have to be made available to find. Publishers would probably lose their mind if we could just hit a button and hide them
I love everything about this list
Luigi's Mansion 2: HD was absolutely the deserved winner of the 'Most 'Oh Crap, That Came Out This Year?' Game 2024'. Good call, NL.
Everyone should play Luigi mansion 2, either version.
Definitely ready to move on from this year as far as gaming goes. Maybe there will be a few hidden gems down the line from it, but majorly it held no promise for me as far as new releases went.
...What, no game announcements? Laaaaaaaaame.
Great and funny list, agree about all the winners (except for the "Most Prolific eShop Publisher Of Total Rubbish" as I luckily didn't know it) and also the runners-up (again, except for that category for the same reason)!
Threw Can of Wormholes on my wishlist. Look like a fun combination of Baba is You and The Witness. Thanks for the fun article!
„What's that? Zelda's Adventure, you say? You're absolutely right, of course - this is technically Zelda's second starring role.“ That’s incorrect. You forgot Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon. So Echoes of Wisdom is the THIRD outing of Zelda as the main protagonist!
Nintendo Music should’ve won the “About Bloody Time” category. Not even close.
I’m glad to see Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door win Best Remake though.
Side Order gets my vote for "Most 'HUH?!?!' Game of 2024"
Best game awards ceremony of 2024 and they didn't even need a single Muppet. Eat your heart out, GEOFF.
"What's that? Zelda's Adventure, you say? You're absolutely right, of course - this is technically Zelda's second starring role. Well done. Now let's never speak of it again."
Third starring role. We just gonna forget Wand of Gamelon?
@dartmonkey I'd like to nominate Xenoblade X being rescued from the wreckage of the Wii U's library and Nintendo Music giving us a legitimate way to listen to their soundtracks for the 'It's About Bloody Time' Award.
Great article! Fun to read!
@CaleBoi25 HUH is definitely my reaction listening to the side order soundtrack
A few minutes of reading worth more than watching the entire TGA right here.
I need some more categories, like "The Most WTF Game", "The 'But Why??' Game", and "The Most 'Not A Game' Game."
Great article guys!! Clap clap!!
I would so play Crystal Oenology: Transom of Bloodlust ~Legs down Glass, Fruit Finish~
I'm shocked the new Mario & Luigi isn't at least a runner up for biggest suprise
I’m glad you guys feel the same about Plucky Squire. It reviewed well enough where, even with it coming to PS+, I was contemplating preordering. I am so glad I did not. I’ve been disappointed by a lot of games, but Plucky Squire hurt because all the signs were so positive until that moment of actual playtime.
What was the game where it was a book and you had to turn pages or something?
@MeloMan seconded!
I thought Echoes was a huge surprize, was it not?
@Spider-Kev that was the Plucky Squire
How did the NSO Playtest not come up anywhere on this list? It's one of the most bizarre things Nintendo's done in ages, especially given how the actual game seems to be a massive undertaking for them. And they just...let in 10,000 people to try it out blindly for 2 weeks before shutting it down.
@CaleBoi25
Ha!
Thanks!
Best remake and best DLC should be mainstream awards.
I love that the decision to make Zelda the playable character in Echoes of Wisdom came from a gameplay perspective and not a "right a wrong" one. You can still see remnants of when this was a regular Link game (especially during boss fights), but the big change comes from a desire to make a good game, not an "important" one.
Awesome read, thanks NL team!!
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