Mario Kart World And Donkey Kong Bananza Shortlisted For 'Console Game Of The Year'

Can we get the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller to win because of how hilarious it'd be if it beat the console itself!

Why is a controller listed as gaming hardware it's just a controller it's not a game system. Better yet why not just add a best controller category or something like that.

Insane Pokemon Go will celebrate a decade next year.

Switch 2 nominated as Best Gaming Hardware?!

Spitting Out My Drinks

Excuse Me?! 🤨

That AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D though.. such a powerful gaming console. Also a face cam or an SSD is gaming hardware now?

Donkey Kong Banaza is game of the year for me. And the Switch 2 is the best console released this year.

Not hard, since it's also the only console released this year.

Also, I'm sorry but I think PS5 controller design looks way much better than Nintendo Pro Controller in term of command button position & symmetrical analog buttons placement.

This is the beauty.

Bit premature… release some more games for the console and then we will talk.

And for The Best Game 2025 nomination, it should be Fantasy Life I on the list, both PS5 & Switch 2 version.

@Anti-Matter Funny. To me the GameCube controller is still the best controller ever. The PS5 controller looks like a frisbee.

Looks like an interesting competition. I don't care about whole lot about gaming reward shows, but I'm interested in seeing the results!

@ShadLink
I personally do not like GameCube controller style as the button placement especially the analog button placement looks out of of place to me compared with PlayStation style controller with symmetrical analog buttons placement.
It fits for playing DDR for PS2 & PS1 version.

Nothing this year's topping Hundred Line for me.

@Anti-Matter Switch 2 is a great portable device and I don't see why it shouldn't be recognized. Once people get tired of parroting things and following the Nintendo hate trend, more people will realize that. No company is your ally, it's just business and all of them will get less consumer friendly simply because demand allows them to.

@roy130390
But if I compared Switch 2 with PS5 in term of their Backward Compatibility, PS4 games are 99% compatible with PS5 machine and some of them get native performance boost to 60 fps for Free without further update or free update patch. It boosted from the PS5 power.
But when I see Switch 2 Backward Compatibility, I saw some of Switch 1 games have some issue on Switch 2, even some of them cannot be played on Switch 2 like Overcooked games. The Backward Compatibility of Switch 2 looks half baked than PS5.
I still think Switch OLED is better than Switch 2 in term it's battery life and the usage of normal micro SD card that cheaper than micro SD card Express.
And not to mention the infamous Game Key card situation for Switch 2.
It made me sour with Switch 2 for the 3rd party games on Switch 2.

Bananza arguably deserves it.

Bananza deserves the accolades. MKW does not.

@Anti-Matter I understand, but the PS5 isn't all great either. It's not portable, the sleep/suspend mode on it or even the other portables isn't nearly as good, it doesn't have a mouse integrated on the device (just as an accessory) and it barely has any exclusive games and a lot of them are ending up on PC after some time. Also, the great majority of Switch games work on Switch 2 and some of them also run better even without a dedicated update. I agree that Nintendo could have handled retrocompatibility more efficiently tho.

Besides, PS5 isn't even competing now. Switch 2 made it's debut recently, hence why it's a contender. Personally PS5 has been my least played Playstation console and I have been with them since the PS1. This might be my last console from them.

No Metroid Prime 4 on most anticipated games. Not to mention it's got games in that list I've never heard of.
:I

@Anti-Matter Honestly I feel the opposite. I always liked the large A button, since it's the one you use the most. And I don't have any issues with the analog triggers. Only downside the GC pad has, for me, is that it doesn't have a select button and that the sticks don't 'click'. Which means they are not really usuable in modern games.

The PlayStation controllers are decent as well, but I hate the stick placement on those. And I much rather have the XBOX / Nintendo GameCube/Switch/Switch 2 placement of the sticks.

@roy130390
Well, my PS5 machine is literally only for playing 3rd party KIDS games by 99.99% like BLUEY, Barbie, Paw Patrol, BRATZ, etc when the 3rd party games on Switch 1 have worse performance than PS5 version or the Switch 2 version is Game key card so it will be 100% I will pick the PS5 version instead.
Also, I don't care with PS5 games on PC.
I don't play like typical adult male gamers which only care for AAA Adult games.
I don't play games like that so my PS5 machine is only for playing KIDS games.
I only have one 1st party PS5 game, it's Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart.
It's the only 1st party kids games I accept.

Also, after pandemic I don't really care that much about portability if Switch 1 or Switch 2 version have worse performance than PS4 / PS5 version.
I have a lot of NON Portable gaming device in my gaming room like PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5, Wii, Wii U and I'm fine with them being NON Portable.
I don't have to bring all my games outside and show off to other people.

@ShadLink
I personally still prefer PlayStation style controller since I grew up by Dance Dance Revolution games on PS1 & PS2 which have button placement of D-Pad and Action commands exactly like DDR panel position.
Maybe Nintendo controller style are good for playing different games but NOT good for playing DDR games
Even XBOX controller style with asymmetrical analog button placement is same worse as Nintendo style controller and I felt quite difficult to play DDR UNIVERSE 1 game on XBOX 360 with XBOX 360 controller as the D- Pad buttons for XBOX is placed lower and I quite struggled to press the D-Pad on XBOX 360 controller with asymmetrical analog button position.

Again, it's depend on people gaming experience to tell which controller is the best.

Why are we arguing about the PS5 in the comments y'all. It's not even one of the contenders.

I've been repeatedly surprised by what the Switch 2 is capable of, so on its own I think it's worthy of best hardware. Though taking the expensive and too slow regular game carts and the conceptually terrible key cards into account drops its score a good bit. I still haven't played Bananza, so hopefully it deserves all the praise its received and gets showered with an appropriate number of awards. Mario Kart on the other hand has had a more mixed reception, and while they've gotten it to a decent state now, there's still plenty of room for improvement. Outside of the soundtrack, I'll be mostly attributing any awards it wins to its sheer popularity.

I just couldn't get into Donkey Kong. The leves went by too fast and it kinds controlled weird. Mario Kart World was a lot of fun but lack of a story hurt it for me. I can't wait for Age of Imprisonment and Prime 4.

@Anti-Matter just because you don’t like something, that doesn’t mean the quality of said thing is poor.

@charliecarrot anti-matter is known for not following conversations like these in the past, sadly.

it’s a bit strange behavior I’ve noticed on his part…

@Anti-Matter I'm aware of your preferences, but these categories aren't thought to appeal to you, it's to the general public. Personally, I don't use portability to "show of to other people" and I doubt that's the appeal for the vast majority, it's simply practical to a lot of us that have partners and families that might be using the tv and when traveling. As for the Switch 2, it has less power than the PS5 but it has more than a PS4. Right now, the device is fairly new, but I'm sure that games will keep improving as devs get used to it.

Donkey kong yes, Mario Kart i dont know.

@roy130390
I still give one more chance for Switch 2 to get improved 3 years later.
If I don't see something better after 3 years later, maybe Switch 2 is not for me.

Whoever put MKW on this list needs a new job.

@FishyS Yeah I guess that makes sense it just kinda strikes me as werid when I 1st saw the categories though.

Yikes, no other tech hardware came out worthy of being nominated over the Switch 2 Pro controller. From a design and repair point it's way below average. Nintendolife even put out that iFixit review of it.

The Switch 2 losing the best gaming hardware category would be too funny, but as long as something other than Mario Kart World wins multiplayer, I will be content.

I tend to think these awards aren’t for gaming as a whole, they’re done to reinforce a certain taste in gaming that prefers gritty cinematic storytelling.

Guessing Ghost Of Yotei wins because it’s that game that adults can pretend is art and not just time wasting stabbing bad guys.

The year has not finished yet. Metroid is still to come.

Bananza is worthy of a nomination, and it is my favorite game in a long time. MKW is straight up trash and should only be nominated in the “worst AAA game of the year” category. Haven’t played it since DK came out, but I’ll still boot up MK8…

Says a lot about the current state of popular gaming. I’ll stick with indies and older games, these two games were both designed by committee and symbolic of why I don’t want to spend money on the AAA industry anymore.

Switch 2 is an incredible gaming hardware, it deserves to win. Bananza is my personal GOTY but I doubt it will win, some game gathered up way more hype.

DKB or MKW could take it for me, but since people have been waiting longer for those other games (especially Ghost) I'd expect one of them one to win.

DK and expedition 33 are my GOTY’s so far.

DK is miles ahead of MK in my opinion.

Wow never thought I would see a Sonic game nominated for a GOTY award.

Dk is my goty so far. But I'm having an absolute blast with Sonic Crossworlds too.

Mario Kart World belongs nowhere near any ‘Console Game Of The Year’ list.

Hopefully metroid is a system seller cause these two, pokemon ZA, and anything else coming out...are not.

Nominated or not

Mario Kart World is fun, but not GOTY worth. DK Bananza on the other hand? Absolutely would deserve the win.

What a weird list overall.

Not a fan of awards for creative endeavors in general, though. Pure circlejerk events.

Best NEW gaming hardware should be the NS2 obviously Games wise it has to prove itself, only time will tell, but otherwise it is good hardware.

That being said I would love to see the pro controller win over the console itself that would be hilarious.

I imagine Yotei will win this because of novelty. For me neither DKB nor MKW are GOTY contender although they are both good games.

From what I observe of the industry though the clear GOTY is Clair Obscure. It took everyone by surprise, it's extremely well made, it's clearly a labour of love, it's a success story from underdogs who left a AAA giant, it's an absolute indie darling. All of these makes it a clear deserving GOTY much more than AAA open world number 3 billion or a multi million dollar blockbuster platformer as good as they are.

Mario Kart World? Um.... No. It's good, but it's not finished yet. And they better not charge for DLC. $80 game?

of course Hundred Line doesn't even get mentioned.

these awards are a joke.

My game of the year all year since its release was DK. But I am a little confused on why Expedition 33 is not on the console list.

Strange that Clair Obscure Isn't mentioned, that has clearly had the most buzz this year, only heard good things, same happened last year with Black Myth Wukong, clearly it had the most attention from gamers, with Metaphor the only real competitor for goty in 2024, strange times we live in.

There are 3 months left. This is crazy. 🤦‍♂️

As much as I love Donkey Kong, it's not gonna win. It's not a serious game for serious gamers, you see. Which I'm sure is what they're thinking.

I’ll be shocked if any game other than Clair Obscur wins GOTY. It will probably — and should — win best OST, too. Regardless of what game wins, it’s a nice reminder that there are a lot of great games released this year.

Bananza over Silksong but I haven’t played Clair Obscure nor Hundred Line but if those are RPGs I would by default stick with Bananza. I don’t really like point and click games.

Lots of great games this year. I think its down to Expedition 33 and Bananza.

Of those listed, I've only actually played Bananza. I plan on playing Silksong and Hades II eventually. That said, I'm not going to sit around and pretend for a second that DK stands a chance against E33---which I would play if I had any device capable of running it---given the current state of gaming discourse.

MKW is trash. Should get a raspberry award for the worst AAA game of the year and the worst launch title since Atari 2600 Tank Battle.

Bananza deserves all of the accolades.

Looks like the Game Awards are here to....monkey around. Get it?

Donkey Kong Bananza is legitimately my game of the year.

@Liam_Doolan I think maybe you meant Split Fiction rather than Split Second.

I ADORE DK Bananza, but unfortunately it doesn't really have a chance this year. Still a great honor for it to be a nominee!

Expedition 33 has the most hearts and minds. I wouldn't be upset if it lost to DK Bananza, but I'd be pretty sad if it lost to Ghost of Yotei or something

@raymond23 Nah Banana sucked, they could of done so much more with it, at least Mario Kart World shows off what the Switch 2 can do and unlike passed Mario Kart games tried something different.

DK and MK:W are the only games on that list I’ve actually played, but I wouldn’t give either of them the award, personally. Both good, but not GOTY good, IMO.

It will be a tough one.

Best multiplayer for me is battlefield 6.

Goty is DK that game hit the right buttons.

Go Clair Obscur!

expedition has goty in the bag..

seems like the golden joysticks award is a popularity contest last year winner was wukong so you can tell this award is a joke...

I love both MK and DK. But Clair is GOTY in my eyes.

What's the difference between console game of the year and ultimate game of the year? From what I can see all those nominated for ultimate are on consoles.

Hopefully Donkey Kong wins, I had two games that were above it personally but they haven't been nominated. Can't say Mario Kart deserves to win over those other nominees.

I don't personally think Bananza is GOTY material. It's good, but not great.

Anyway, I think this year has been great indie year. Blue Prince, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Absolum... So many amazing indies. Haven't even played Hades 2 yet, and Mina the Hollower hasn't been released yet.

DK:B is my game of the year (right now; without having played Kirby Air Riders or Metroid Prime 4: Beyond), so this is deserved.

But honestly I think Silksong is going to win it, it's the most popular from that list.

Yep DK would win it if I had to choose!

Hades II better win.

They really should do these "of the year" things in January, when the year is properly finished. Metroid Prime 4, Kirby Air Riders and Hyrule Warriors are still to be released. A lot of late releases will be left outside of this award. And that's why I don't care about any of these awards in the first place. Especially since most of them are pretty much just a circle jerk.

I threw DK Bananza a vote, but my actual game of the year is The Hundred Line: Last Defence Academy. Nothing has had me as absorbed and obsessed as that game this year. An absolute master work.

clair is clearly going to win goty their is no debating this..

DKB was smashing fun (get it?) but I’m a Silksong boy.

I feel one of these two is somewhat more deserving than the other

@johnedwin1969 nonesense, you can debate literally anything!
Doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be right, but you can debate it!

@Anti-Matter I actually often wonder if ps5 games or ps4 games have much of the game on the disc. May as well be a game key card with those ps5 discs with the amount needed to download. Be interesting to see how much of the game is actually on those discs

I've only currently played 2 of the 12 (Silksong/Hades2) but am genuinely interested in every nomination this year which is pretty rare.

Clair Obscure is not on the list, wtf. Probably game of the decade.

Edit: sorry, didn't see "ultimate" tier.

@ShadLink With all respect, I disagree. The Gamecube controller to me always looked as if someone placed a DualShock inside a microwave, turned it on at full blast, and painted the resulting mess purple.

@The_Top_Loader
My PS4 & PS5 games collection are 99% kids games with game data inside the disc since I saw the installation process from disc and most of my kids games are between 5 - 10 GB.
Even I have some of PS4 & PS5 kids games with size under 1 GB like BLUEY, Untitled Goose Game, DreamWorks Dragons, etc and they have game data inside.
I also have Spyro Trilogy PS4 the 2019 version which contain ALL three Spyro games inside the disc with size 36.24 GB after installation.

Don't think either game is going to win it, MKW might win 'multiplayer'? Switch 2 has a chance in the 'hardware' category I'd say.

DK Bananza 100% deserves it (except cutting part of the game out and charging is extra as DLC…). MK World shouldn’t even be listed, it’s a terrible game.

Definitely don't think MKW deserves GOTY honestly, I mean it's fine but nothing of that caliber. DK Bananza maybe? Idk it's definitely a fantastic game but I'm not quite sure it's gonna contend with the other nominees.

@Anti-Matter "PS4 games are 99% compatible with PS5 machine and some of them get native performance boost to 60 fps for Free without further update or free update patch. It boosted from the PS5 power."

Are you sure you're not talking about Switch 2? because that's exactly what it does. Patches aren't necessary, games get boosted from the Switch 2 power. Play some struggling Switch 1 games on Switch 2 and you'll see the difference.

@Anti-Matter most games I install are 50gb -100. The new doom game was a massive install. I would honestly say just by the amount downloaded for games that are not kids games like the ones you mentioned would have to be mostly download. I dont own every game but the ones I do have been huge

That’s cool. Shame no one cares about the “Golden Joystick awards”.