Pokémon Legends: Arceus Crowned Nintendo Game Of The Year At Golden Joystick Awards

Even though Legends Arceus is basically the only modern mainline Pokemon to be well-received across the board...should've been Kirby

I think Legends Arceus should pave the way for new Pokemon games going into the future.

@JayJ Same it certainly feels fresh while still familiar enough

I'd especially love to see this style of pokemon game on future Nintendo hardware that can have increased draw distance

Certainly a great game that I can see myself coming back to for a few minutes to a few hours at a time. I intend to complete a perfect Pokédex, but I'm not in any hurry, and I'm not compulsive enough to grind for hundreds of hours. By and large, I've really, really enjoyed the game, and it's been the best Pokémon experience since the Gen V games.

A remake of the Gen II games followed by the Gen II Legends treatment similar to what has been done with Gen IV would be a dream come true.

I was disappointed that some of Legends Arceus's best mechanics didn't make it into Scarlet/Violet, but the franchise will always walk a fine line with respect to what they could feasibly pull off within such tight deadlines, especially as the developers/designers are treading new ground for the franchise along the way.

But I'm sure many will argue that Kirby or Xenoblade Chronicles 3 should have taken home the crown, and they're certainly worthy candidates.

I had a great time with Arceus, but it shouldn't be winning any kind of award. It's unpolished and unbalanced with a poor story, limited features, rough visuals, and repetitive gameplay. None of that stops it from being fun, but an award-winning game should be an example for others to aspire to, and this one is definitely not.

eyeroll
Xenoblade 3 should've won at least
Best music
Best narrative
Actually, how the heck didn't it?! Pretty much everyone who actually played the game seems to be agreeing with this. I guess the series is cursed somehow.

I mean I really enjoyed it, I’m not sure award winning, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad or even ok, it’s just other Nintendo games did better.

Sonic frontiers is amazing but the only thing ai think that game should get an award for is music. But what sonic game isn’t lol.

Neat but Xenoblade 3 easily clears it, pokemon right now is getting better but not award winning material, meanwhile Xenoblade is always putting out masterpieces.

If it weren't for Xenoblade this year, I'd say that Pokemon Scarlet is probably my Game of the Year, but eh. Legends isn't a bad pokemon game, but it isn't my favorite, and I don't really get much of the hype surrounding it. Xenoblade 3 should've won over this.

@Cia aren't these awards voted on by the general public? Unfortunately that means they amount to nothing more than a popularity contest and with Xenoblade -masterpiece though it is- being a fairly niche property it was never going to win.

Next time, space out Street Fighter 6 and Final Fantasy because my mind read Final Fantasy 6 and I nearly lost it and then realization came... sadface

Haha.

Legends is what I want from the franchise and I hope a secondary studio able to support the next one. Unfortunately S/V spoiled my end of year, but I'm still playing PLA.

I can't help but feel like PLA gets overpraised due to people's dislike of Sword and Shield. The game is a glorified tech demo and all the good stuff it brought to the table doesn't make up for all the stuff we lost in the process.
This also feels like a slap in the face of Monolith who created such an amazing game with Xenoblade Chronicles 3

@MajinSoul Agree. Legend Arceus brought some interesting new things to the Pokemon Table, but in the end it was a very repetitive and boring game I burned out on real quick.

Especially after Scarlet/Violet, I hope people see how much better Sword/Shield games were.

I’m legitimately surprised that Ragnarok didn’t get anything! Not my cup of tea, but there’s no denying it did a lot right!

While Arceus was a nice change, a good game for sure. Nintendo GotY is between Xenoblade 3 & Bayonetta 3 for me.

And guess GoW Ragnarok didn’t make the cut, which is just weird being an early Nov release.

Wow. Horizon Forbidden West had great visuals and some neat ideas, but I specifically quit playin because of what I thought was abysmal storytelling and characters. The story was bad! The characters were embarrassing! I feel so out of touch.

It's a sad time when GOTY for each console is Arceus, Stray and Grounded. They're not terrible games, but it just goes to show the lack of games for each console.

I played PLA and enjoyed it and didn't play Xenoblade Chronicles 3 but watched streams and feel it should have won over PLA. I'm also saying that as someone who pretty much only plays Pokémon to shiny hunt and PLA is a great shiny hunting game.

I definitely enjoyed it but I'd in no way put it over Xenoblade 3 on pretty much any front.

@PikaPhantom I don't disagree but wow Kirby does not feel like it was this year

I don't know how anyone that played Pokemon and Xenoblade or Kirby could say Pokemon was better. I actually played all three and side by side you can see that Pokemon just looks and feels lazy when comparing story, visuals, gameplay, music, etc. But saying Pokemon was a bad game, just saying Xenoblade and Kirby are on a whole different level.

...It just got super boring for me after a bit, didn't even bother trying to finish the game.

Steam Deck being the best hardware of the year is totally legit. Ever since I got one it is now my most play home system this past few months over my last 5 most play hardware this year: Nintendo Switch, Super NES, Sega Dreamcast, PS Vita, and the GPD Win 3. The only reason the Steam Deck isn't going to be replacing my Nintendo Switch and GPD Win 3 any time soon is that it lacks a physical keyboard to take on the go which the GPD Win 3 had and it can't play in TATE mode alternatively which the Nintendo Switch could do otherwise in terms of games, powers, and better graphics it did its job. It's also not as portable friendly compare to those two, with GPD Win 3 and Nintendo Switch I could still put those in my pocket but I really can't with the Steam Deck.

Have no problem with Arceus winning, even if I haven’t played it myself. But a bit sad that Triangle Strategy wasn’t even nominated, and surprised Bayo 3 and Spark of Hope weren’t in the mix. Guess that means it’s actually been a pretty strong year for the Switch. Despite Switch Sports making the shortlist.

I really, really loved Legends Arceus, but no that should have been XC3

Everybody saying Xenoblade 3 should have won, so I reckon late game the combat isn't dull anymore?

I would have voted for Kirby.

Edit: But since I completed my Pokedex in Pokemon Legends Arceus, it still is an earned award.

@Cheez Well I played Kirby, PLA and XC3 and I'd definitely say that PLA was better than Kirby. Kirby is a good game but imo very overrated, it's not that good as some make it out to be

Shows how bad the line up this year has been. PLA to me got stale very quick and left me with no desire to catch them all... Or buy any other Pokémon games going forward.

I would have voted for Kirby too as that was 'fun'.

As someone who played Arceus, yes it was good. But GOTY material? Xenoblade 3 and Kirby deserved it more

Heck yeah, well deserved. It's the only legitimately good Pokemon game since Black and White 2 in my personal opinion though I'm sure plenty might disagree.

Anyways, to those saying Xenoblade or Kirby should have won instead, you're probably right, but keep in mind this sends a message to GameFreak to look more to Arceus for where to take Pokemon in the future instead of building on the wretched ScarVi, which should have just been Arceus with towns and gyms (maybe? I was okay with no gyms for once) instead of the huge step back we got. Kirby and Xenoblade don't need this incentive because they already get plenty of praise and their future is fine. Of course, sales speak louder than any award, so I guess we'll see.

@SpaceboyScreams And Gamefreak has a really good track record of actually reading all those "messages", right? RIGHT?

@Preposterous Sadly no, hence my final statement. I don't remember them ever winning any GotY in the past though so maaaybe it'll be a bigger nudge than fan outcry? Probably not. I'm just trying to be hopeful.

@Cia I will humbly disagree on best narrative, didn't deserve that one at all in my eyes, but I do genuinely wonder which soundtrack won over xenoblade 3... even if that's just more of a taste thing. The XC3 music didn't blow me away personally, but you can't argue that it wasn't well done.

Even if I rolled my eyes at legends arceus winning that spot (Even if I loved the game!) XC3 was definitely never a serious contender for it in my eyes.
I'm in the minority, clearly, but opinions be opinions : P

@mariomaster96 Agreed…it was a good game but didn’t leave a lasting impression- in fact I didn’t even finish it. Enjoyed Arceus more and Xenoblade 3 much more than either of them

@NinjaNicky only that they were not lack. At least, not Sony with Horizon and Ragnarock both better than Stray, and definitely not Nintendo with Kirby, Xenoblade 3, Splatoon 3, Mario Rabbids, Bayonetta 3, Triangle Strategy and Sunbreak all better than Arceus (wich I still liked a lot).

I don't me to be harsh but I found this game painfully dull and very unfinished. I felt it still cut so many corners, blackout transitions on building entries, cut to black on character lead cut scenes. I also guess I'm not a fan of the idea of Pokemon being so disposable.

Catch 16 heavy Pikachus
Catch 12 small Pikachus
Catch 150 male Pikachus
Catch 21 slightly bigger tailed Pikachus.

After about 12 hours of play I felt like some maniac poacher and stopped playing.

pokemon arceus winning nintendo game of the year is a joke. it just shows you the nuttiness when pokemon games are involved..so many more nintendo games deserved the game of the year over arceus..

PLA is great but XC3 is far better. Not sure what happened there.

Knew Elden Ring would win. Only the second From Software gane I have ever completed.

@mariomaster96 yes gameplay is subjective and some people could say snake or Superman 64 are better games to play. But as far as overall quality I think clearly the other two have better graphics, writing, music, etc. My wife likes pla better than Kirby as far as gameplay but says it seems like they were lazy with it as there are glitches she ran into, poor graphics in areas etc.

Nintendo can only win awards for Nintendo-specific categories, sounds about right lol the dudebro mature gamerz crowd is strong.

@Cia
Because there is this level of bias that comes around whenever gameplay ends up becoming a barrier to them. They choose not to experience the rest of the game and end up missing all of the good stuff.

What does the 'Ultimate' GOTY even mean? The nominees included Switch-exclusive titles that weren't even in the running for Nintendo GOTY, which makes precisely zero sense.

I always hear that Pokemon Legends is a great game. I think I will get that one now, and wait for a definitive edition of Scarlet next year, which will hopefully have all the tech issues fixed + a lot more content.

um. No God of War? What?

Easily my GOTY

I enjoyed the game, but I think Kirby was made with a lot more heart and deserved it instead

to think this was the best Switch game this year is laughable pokemon won it not because its the best but because its the more popular game

May be an unpopular take, but why even have a "most wanted game" award?

Hype and anticipation for unreleased games is all driven by marketing and PR, is this a PR award? If so, what about indie companies that can't afford to plaster their game all over the intenet to get people hyped?

Just seems stupid to me and not really related to actual gaming experience, especially with how many games flopped in the last few years specifically because of over-hype.

I totally hated PLA. Tried to like it, but just couldn’t. Reading these comments makes me wonder if this is the same game..

Arceus open world style made Pokémon gaming all the better now. You not limited to travels but free flowing open word where one can explore and not have to follow story lines til they want to. The more choice gamers gets to do they longer they play. Take NMS you can do the quest but also just romp around the globe or jump to another closer planet and still not start the quest.

Rn I'm glad to not be a Pokémon fan. I'm just going to buy Arceus, play it, and move on. I don't need to worry about trading or interacting with other (shiver) people. I don't need to worry about the sequels being lazy cash grabs cause they're back to selling two of the same rushed games at the same time. I always said if they released a one off game that was single-player focused, I'd buy it. So I will.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was so much better than Arceus. But like all these awards they really boil down to what the most amount of judges have actually played. Just look at best Multiplayer game...Elden Ring...the actual multiplayer on any From Souls games has never been good and has always been a laggy buggy mess built on ancient net code.

@Sisilly_G I too am disappointed that some of the gameplay mechanics and UI didn't make it into S/V. I thought they really had a few things nailed in Arceus and typically they've gone backwards.
I enjoyed Arceus, especially completing the Pokédex and all the research tasks. It made it much more challenging and engaging.

@Diogmites Elden ring isn't only single player , actually alot of times having another player help is almost needed. Also quite few items in game only exist to help players find each other and enter each other's worlds.

I don't see how PAL best out Xeno 3 other then fact it's Pokemon. I've gotten so many great games for my switch though that I can't complain about anything

The awards Elden Ring took home really clash with each other. That’s just ridiculous. Arceus was mind blowing so I’m glad it got Nintendos award but holy hell.

Slight correction, it should be "Final Fantasy VII Remake", Rebirth is the name of the next part