The Best Nintendo Game of 2016

Honorable Mention: Paper Mario: Color Splash

It’s award season here at Twinfinite! Starting with a few runner ups, let’s look back at the best Nintendo games from this year and our 2016 winner! 

The adorable world of Paper Mario returned for yet another outing in 2016, and Color Splash manages to be every bit as charming as the titles before it. It changes up a few things about combat, but has a big focus on exploration. It perfectly matches the humor of previous titles as well, as it’s filled with jokes, puns, and very good writing.

One day Mario and Peach receive a letter from Prisma Island, which actually turns out to be a folded up Toad completely drained of his color.  They promptly set out for Port Prisma, only to find the island, much like the folded up Toad, is completely colorless. In the city, Mario finds a paint bucket named Huey, who gives Mario the unique ability to splash color with his hammer. Now, in a traditional Mario fashion, the hero sets out to find Big Paint Stars and restore color to the island.

Color Splash’s shining quality is its playful world and brilliant writing. Whether it’s Toads existentially questioning their existence or Shy Guys telling Mario why he’d be a terrible Shy Guy, the game is consistently funny and witty. Each level has its own unique design and aesthetic, and there’s a huge emphasis on exploration and puzzle solving, as well as using Mario’s new color splash ability to return color to parts of the world. You never know what ridiculous use of color or paper is waiting ahead, and that’s part of what keeps Color Splash so exciting.

Combat is a little different this time around. It’s still turn-based but uses attack cards. Mario has a ton of different abilities like jumping and hammer strikes assigned to these cards, and even gets some crazy powerful attacks with “Thing” cards. These cards come from items he finds in the world that resemble real world things, which Mario then squeezes the paint out of. These are usually mundane items like a Piggy Bank, Plunger, or Fan that unleash lavishly animated devastating attacks in battle.

The combat in Color Splash is slower and easier than past entries in the series, but the fun story and colorful world are more than enough to make up for it. The hilarious characters and writing create a vibrant experience that’ll have you smiling the whole time.

Honorable Mention: Pokken Tournament

Pokken Tournament took the Pokemon series in a direction we haven’t ever seen, pitting two Pokemon against each other in combat styled more like a fighting game. Although the title is quite a bit different, the closest comparison for its gameplay would be the Tekken series. This is due in no small part to the fact that it’s co-developed by Nintendo and Bandai Namco, the makers of Tekken. The title originally debuted in arcades in Japan, and finally made its way to Wii U back during spring.

Pokken has a smaller, more focused roster of Pokemon like Pikachu, Lucario, Garchomp, and Charizard that all duke it out in 3D battles. Even with a smaller cast each Pokemon is incredibly well developed, with unique movesets, animations, and tactics. They all play very differently, so finding the one you’re most comfortable with is key.

The frantic fighter lets you attack with a combination of close range and ranged strikes, as well as special moves and assist Pokemon. There’s a short story mode that introduces Shadow Mewtwo, but the main draw of Pokken Tournament is the combat and multiplayer. There is, of course, local competitive play as well as online, which runs pretty seamlessly. Matches are quick and hectic, just as a real Pokemon battle would be.

Pokemon has never been a fighting game quite like Pokken, one that requires careful timing and planning of attacks, as well as knowing when to block and dodge. Fighting arenas and the Pokemon themselves are all gorgeously rendered in HD, even to the point where you can see some of their fur, and the game runs at a brisk pace all the time.

Pokken Tournament may have been a bit light on content, but it was a welcome addition and change for the Pokemon series.

Runner Up #2: Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE started its life as the crazy crossover project of Shin Megami Tensie x Fire Emblem. The final game wasn’t quite what anyone was expecting, but it’s a wholly unique JRPG that wears its themes and ideas on its sleeve.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions focuses on a young group of heroes who all have aspirations to join the entertainment industry in Tokyo, Japan. They inadvertently find out about evil beings known as Mirages that want to suck the energy out of all humanity. The group befriend friendly Mirages, who are actually characters from the Fire Emblem universe, and harness their power to combat the forces of evil.

The game has a huge emphasis on J-Pop and the Japanese entertainment industry, even letting players visit real locations around Tokyo like Shibuya and Harajuku. Each of the party members get their own Mirage, similar to Personas, and they’re all members of Fortuna Entertainment, a talent agency created as a front.

While Tokyo is certainly a setting we’ve seen before, Tokyo Mirage Sessions presents itself in a fun and colorful way. There’s a certain vibrancy to the world both in look and feel, that you don’t see in a lot of RPGs. The cast each has their own hangups and problems they have to work through during the story, and the main character can help them with that along the way. You’ll also get to communicate with each one via text message, adding even more development.

Battles are themed almost as performances themselves, combining elements of both SMT and Fire Emblem. The weapon triangle of Fire Emblem is present, while the elemental weaknesses of SMT games also are a factor. Using each of these weaknesses to exploit enemies is key, allowing your party to chain powerful “Session Attacks” together. It’s a fun and challenging system, that has you adapting to the different enemies you face.

When you aren’t exploring dungeons, you have the option of running around Tokyo, talking to your party members and other NPCs, and creating bonds with them. Tokyo Mirage Sessions’ inspirations from other JRPGs and the Japanese entertainment industry are quite clear, but the game embraces them wholeheartedly. It’s a charming title that plays very similarly to Persona, but still has its own distinct flair.

First Runner Up: Fire Emblem Fates

Fire Emblem Awakening took the series in a brand new direction, making the game far more accessible to newcomers. Fire Emblem Fates continues that tradition while still providing a significant challenge to longtime players, by splitting the game into two different versions. While this idea may seem strange initially, it’s something that works incredibly well in Fates’ favor. Even though the titles release early on in 2016, they still stand out one of the very best handheld experiences of the year.

You play as Corrin, a member of the Hoshido royal family that was stolen away at birth by the Nohrian Empire. These two factions have been locked in war for years, and after the first few missions of the game you have to choose which family you want to side with, birth or adopted. Birthright is the easier version that follows the Hoshido, while Conquest is the more difficult and follows Nohr.

Each version tells a different view of the story but is easily able to stand on its own, with each clocking in around 40 hours as well. Despite being split into the two different versions, Birthright and Conquest are quite different. Most of the characters you recruit and the maps you play will be entirely different, and Birthright gives you the option of training on extra challenge maps whereas Conquest doesn’t. The presentation of Fates has really improved since Awakening, with character models looking crisper and seamless transitions between the overhead map and battle.

Both versions tell their own self-contained story so you don’t have to play the other one. At the same time though, you basically have two engaging Fire Emblem adventures to go on, not to mention the third DLC campaign called Revelation.

Fire Emblem Fates only doubles down on everything Awakening did so well. Bonding with your different allies is a huge focus, and building relationships between different characters  leads to stat boosts in battle as well as some fascinating support conversations. Eventually you can have two units marry, and certain key characters can have children. Similarly to the last game, Fates has an option where these children grow up quickly through other dimensions and can be recruited in their own side missions.

Both Birthright and Conquest tell fascinating stories that tie into a larger narrative, while having wholly unique characters and challenges. Fire Emblem Fates definitely showed Nintendo that maybe Pokemon isn’t the only series that can release in two different versions

Best Nintendo Game of the Year: Pokemon Sun and Moon

Pokemon Sun and Moon are the perfect fusion of appealing to player’s nostalgia of the series, while also adding in some necessary changes and updates. The new Nintendo titles are an engrossing experience that take you to a gorgeous tropical setting, introducing a colorful cast of new Pokemon in the meantime.

Sun and Moon take you to the new region of Alola, a series of islands not unlike Hawaii. Here humans and Pokemon live in harmony working together, which results in you seeing much more of the creatures inhabiting cities and other areas. Some of the new Pokemon introduced are the most memorable we’ve seen in a while, like the crazy Alolan Exeggutor with it’s building tall neck, or the adorable Mimikyu that wears a Pikachu disguise. Not every new Pokemon is a home run, but most of the new Alolan creatures are colorful and fun, perfectly matching the game’s setting.

The new games make some big changes to Pokemon’s formula, with the removal of Gyms being the biggest change. They’ve now been replace with the Island Challenge, which has trainers traveling to the four different islands of Alola, meeting the Trial Captains, and undertaking their Island Trial. These often do involve battling trainers or other Pokemon, but also consist of other varied objectives.

For example one has you taking pictures of Ghost Pokemon in a haunted supermarket, while another has you spotting the differences in two different tribal dances. The Trials add some much needed variety into your journey, keeping things different and exciting, while still retaining that classic Pokemon feel.

The new games also remove HMs, instead replacing them with a Poke Ride system that you can use at any time. This means you don’t have to worry about having a Pokemon with a certain move in your party, or replacing one of your Pokemon’s coveted move spots with an HM. This change alone cuts down on much of the frustration of past games, letting you build your ideal Pokemon party more easily.

Pokemon Sun and Moon are really bursting with content, and are crammed with side activities and things to do including online features. Nintendo and Game Freak really went all out for the series’ 20th anniversary, and not since the days of Gold and Silver has a Pokemon game done such a great job of making things feel like your own unique adventure. Sun and Moon are some of the best Pokemon games we’ve gotten from Nintendo in years, if not the best.

Congratulations to Pokemon Sun and Moon, the winner of our Best Nintendo Game category for 2016! Be sure to visit back this week more award announcements including the big one, our game of the year for 2016! For the full list of award categories for 2016, visit our nomination page here.