Super Smash Bros Ultimate Up For Game Of The Year

This article was originally written for TheNintendoVillage.com, a website I founded and ran from 2018 to 2021.


The nominees for this year’s Game Awards has been announced and there’s a fair few nods for Nintendo titles among the bunch.

Leading the pack in the Game of the Year category is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which is up against Death Stranding (a game that received 10 nominations in total), Control, Resident Evil 2 Remake, The Outer Worlds and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Elsewhere, Smash was also nominated for Best Fighting Game, while The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is up for both Best Art Direction and Best Action/Adventure Game. There’s a nod for Cadence of Hyrule on the Zelda front for Best Score/Music too.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is in the running for Best Strategy Game, where it’s competing with Wargroove amongst others. Astral Chain is also up for Best Action Game.

Nintendo totally dominated the Best Family Game category, receiving all five nominations. The titles in question are the recently released Luigi’s Mansion 3, Ring Fit Adventure, Yoshi’s Crafted World, Super Mario Maker 2 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It’s nice to know Nintendo will be taking home at least one award!

Tetris 99 also got a nomination for Best Multiplayer Game, though we have to say we’re a little surprised there wasn’t a fourth nomination for Smash in that category too.

There’s also plenty of love for some of Switch’s indie titles, with Gris, Untitled Goose Game, My Friend Pedro, Baba Is You and Katana Zero all up for gongs as well.

The event itself takes place on 12 December, so there’s only a few weeks to wait until we find out the winners. You can see a full list of nominees below:

Game of the Year
Control (Remedy/505 Games)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai-Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
Resident Evil 2 Remake (Capcom/Capcom)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoftware/Activision)
The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

Best Game Direction
Control (Remedy/505 Games)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Resident Evil 2 (Capcom/Capcom)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoftware/Activision)
Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna)

Best Narrative
A Plague Tale: Innocence (Asobo/Focus Home)
Control (Remedy/505)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

Best Art Direction
Control (Remedy/505)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoftware/Activision)
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)

Best Score/Music
Cadence of Hyrule (Brace Yourself Games/Nintendo)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom)
Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)

Best Audio Design
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
Control (Remedy/505)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoftware/Activision)

Best Performance
Ashly Burch as Parvati Holcomb, The Outer Worlds
Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden, Control
Laura Bailey as Kait Diaz, Gears 5
Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff, Death Stranding
Matthew Porretta as Dr. Casper Darling, Control
Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges, Death Stranding

Games for Impact
Concrete Genie (Pixelopus/SIE)
Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
Kind Words (Popcannibal)
Life Is Strange 2 (Dontnod/Square Enix)
Sea of Solitude (Jo-Mei Games/EA)

Best Ongoing Game
Apex Legends (Respawn)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Independent Game
Baba Is You (Hempuli)
Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
Katana ZERO (Askiisoft/Devoler)
Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna)
Untitled Goose Game (House House/Panic)

Best Mobile Game
Call of Duty: Mobile (TiMi Studios/Activision)
GRINDSTONE (Capybara Games)
Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
Sky: Children of Light (Thatgamecompany)
What the Golf? (Tribland)

Best Community Support
Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best VR/AR Game
Asgard's Wrath (Sanzaru Games/Oculus Studios)
Blood & Truth (SIE London Studio/SIE)
Beat Saber (Beat Games)
No Man's Sky (Hello Games)
Trover Saves the Universe (Squanch Games)

Best Action Game
Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Astral Chain (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom/Capcom)
Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
Metro Exodus (4A Games/Deep Silver)

Best Action/Adventure Game
Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
Control (Remedy/505 Games)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Resident Evil 2 Remake (Capcom)
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoftware/Activision)

Best RPG
Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (Capcom)
The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

Best Fighting Game
Dead or Alive 6 (Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo)
Jump Force (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai Namco)
Mortal Kombat 11 (NetherRealm/WBIE)
Samurai Showdown (SNK/Athlon)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora/Nintendo)

Best Family Game
Luigi's Mansion 3 (Next Level Games/Nintendo)
Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Super Mario Maker 2 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
Yoshi's Crafted World (Good-Feel/Nintendo)

Best Strategy Game
Age of Wonders: Planetfall (Triumph Studios/Paradox)
Anno 1800 (Blue Byte/Ubisoft)
Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Intelligent Systems/Koei Tecmo/Nintendo)
Total War: Three Kingdoms (Creative Assembly/Sega)
Tropico 6 (Limbic Entertainment/Kalypso Media)
Wargroove (Chucklefish)

Best Sports/Racing Game
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (Beenox/Activision)
DiRT Rally 2.0 (Codemasters)
eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 (PES Productions/Konami)
F1 2019 (Codemasters)
FIFA 20 (EA Sports)

Best Multiplayer Game
Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
Tetris 99 (Arika/Nintendo)
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)

Fresh Indie Game Presented by Subway
ZA/UM for Disco Elysium
Nomada Studio for Gris
DeadToast Entertainment for My Friend Pedro
Mobius Digital for Outer Wilds
Mega Crit for Slay the Spire
House House for Untitled Goose Game

Content Creator of the Year
Courage - Jack Dunlop
Dr. Lupo - Benjamin Lupo
Ewok - Soleil Wheeler
Grefg - David Martínez
Shroud - Michael Grzesiek


Source: The Game Awards