With the end of 2015 fast approaching, we thought we would try a different tact to the standard ‘Game of the Year’ awards we do. Instead of the team picking the ‘best’ game and award just one award we’re going to run through the team and see what we all liked – our favourites.
There’s literally no point for a site as small as us giving a game of the year award and no one ever truly agrees – especially when the year contains so many great games. Now, onto the awesome brilliance of the eShop.
Wayne’s eShop Favourite for 2015 – Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars
I was trying to decide if my favourite eShop game should come from the 3DS or the Wii U. Then I thought “Why not both!”. My pick is Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars. How could I not get this game? It’s a two for one! Buy it on one platform and get it for free on the other. It’s great being able to play at home or on the go.
It appeals to me straight off the bat. I’m a sucker for a game where I get to create and Tipping Stars does a great job for creators. Having people give you tips because they liked your stage is good for the ego.
This entry into the series isn’t too different from it’s predecessors. It adds a few new things but keeps the same core gameplay. It’s lemming like appeal keeps me interested, even though some of the stages seem a bit easy or repeated, unless you want the three coins. That can sometimes take precision and timing If you’ve enjoyed any of the other Mario vs. Donkey Kong games and haven’t played Tipping Stars yet I do recommend it. Also don’t be put of by the price tag. Remember it’s two for the price of one.
Runner up: Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack 2
Mario Kart DLC Pack 2 is my runner-up, if not just for the Animal Crossing content! Ribbon Road and Neo Bowser City are two of my favourite tracks.
Michael’s eShop Favourite for 2015 – Fast Racing Neo
Even though this is one of the latest games to be released in 2015, it has made staggeringly big waves and for a very good reason. This is one of the boldest titles to be released on the eShop in terms of content and quality. The future racing genre is rarely attempted and even fewer deliver in any significant fashion, the combination of unrelenting speed and dynamic track design is difficult to get right at the best of times. And yet Fast Racing Neo is near perfection in these regards.
Being compared as a spiritual successor to F-Zero would normally be a death sentence to almost any title but here is a game that can tumble with the big boys. A one of the best demonstrations of the Wii U hardware prowess is just a nice advantage, proof that there is a lot of potential that has rarely been used outside of Nintendo first party.
Being one of the last big titles of 2015 and for the future of Wii U that we know of, this could be the start of the end for Wii U’s eShop releases. If this is the case then this is a great tribute to an amazing system. I hope I am wrong but I it isn’t looking so good in that regards.
Runner up: Affordable Space Adventure
It is rare to find games on Wii U that effectively use the Gamepad to maximum effect, this game did it brilliantly. To explore a planet as a tourist only to have everything go wrong in the first 10 minutes, you are set to have a good time.
With all the exploration charm of a Metroid game but combined with its own stylish flair made this one of the hidden gems of 2015. Having to enhance and balance your ships capabilities while trying to fight your way to freedom is an adventure the likes that rarely come up in games nowadays and one that we haven’t seen in this fashion since the mid 90’s.
Games of this style need to have time put aside and enjoyed in long sessions, it is not a title for short busts but to be immersed in. Here is hoping that lots more games of this calibre come along in future.
Lachlan’s eShop Favourite for 2015 – Box Boy!
Box Boy! felt like it came out of nowhere for me. I don’t remember when I first heard of it, but I suddenly had this strange, Black-and-White Gameboy game sitting on my 3DS, and I LOVED it. There are so many mechanics in the game, but it steps you through each one level by level, and before you know it, you’re performing the complex, multi-layered puzzles that are fast-paced, require quick-thinking, and are truly challenging. Coming from HAL Laboratory, this game feels like an oddity.
The uniqueness of it just doesn’t let up, and it somehow also crams in an emotive story – I mean, they’re all just boxes, for crying out loud, how do you manage that?! But it does, and it attests to the amazing skills on-hand at HAL. If you have any love of the puzzle-platformer, I can’t recommend Box Boy! enough. It has variety, many hours of gameplay, and a wide range of mechanics that mean it never feels stale. Highly, highly recommend.
Runner Up – Fullblox
I have a great, great love of the “-Blox” series (or “-Mo” series for you guys in the US). The inclusion of a “Free to Start” mode has helped the game I feel, allowing new players to get a grip on the mechanics before laying down any cash. This has been the best of the series I feel, and I’m looking forward to whatever happens next with it!
Troy’s eShop Favourite for 2015 – Fast Racing Neo
It’s only a week old, I can’t complete the first difficulty, and I LOVE IT. While I wish to claim that high speed hovercraft racing is one of my favourite genres, I am actually not all that familiar with much outside of Wipeout, having never played much F-Zero. Heresy, I know.
For the price, this game is very well polished, and very unforgiving. And yes, it’s a selling point- this game is not for the weak of heart. I expect real life spaceship-esque super racing to be as difficult as FAST Racing NEO.
And many out there are comparing this game to both Wipeout and F-Zero, but even in my limited experience, this game feels like its own thing. The phase switching means you’re paying attention to more than just the corners, the air-brakes aren’t as helpful as they are in other games, and the track design seems to influence the gimmicks you have to navigate through, sometimes in ways you weren’t quite expecting.
I hope to finish this game by 2017.
Runner Up – Shovel Knight DLC
I didn’t really buy much else on the eShop this year, other than Virtual Console games that’ll just sit in a folder, unused. But Shovel Knight updated recently, adding in a Plague Knight expansion, and I didn’t even have to pay for it! I expect the amiibo sales will more than make up for that!
Josh’s eShop Favourite for 2015 –Pokemon Rumble World
I think the thing I love most about this game is that it’s a Free To Play game that actually stops you from continuing to spend money on it. It’s such a Nintendo thing to do. The game is free to download, allowing you to hop into a hot air balloon, and head off on expeditions and charge through short dungeons while fighting large hordes of Pokemon. Each balloon has a set number of destinations it can take you to, and will require time to recharge after each expedition.
Which, of course, can be sped up with crystals that can be purchased with real money, or earnt in smaller amounts through gameplay. Crystals also allow you to purchase things like new balloons. But what’s interesting is that once you’ve bought a certain amount of crystals, the game actually prevents you from buying anymore, and will instead give you a bunch of free crystals every day. It means that you basically slowly contribute more and more to a full purchase of the game if you enjoy it enough, and if not you get a nice free timewaster you can play for a few minutes every day. It’s a really nice approach to the F2P model that I thought deserved to be rewarded here.
Wii U eShop Runner Up – Metroid Prime Trilogy
Yeah I’ll be honest I don’t think I’ve played much on the Wii U eShop this year, but you get three incredible games readily accessible from your Wii U menu. And it’s not like we have many other options If we’re after a Metroid game right now *nudge nudge*
3DS eShop Runner Up – Gunstar Heroes 3D
I first played this game on the Wii’s Virtual Console after having it recommended to me, and loved it. Awesome retro shooter that I could play with my friends that even my non-gaming friends loved to play. And now you can play it on the go in THREE DEE.
Daniel V’s eShop Favourite for 2015 –Mario Kart 8 DLC
I feel listing this one is kind of a cheat and maybe I am robbing an indie developer of an award right now but honestly, the Mario Karat 8 is the best value for money DLC ever. It’s made the game up to 50% bigger and introduced some great new characters and worlds in the Mario Kart franchise – how can we ever go back to not have this many tracks or characters.t
Daniel W’s eShop Favourite for 2015 –Mario Kart 8 DLC
The first round of Mario Kart 8 DLC was really well done, and for the second batch Nintendo did it again with another amazing 8 tracks to play with. From my all time favourite track in Baby Park, to the season changing Animal Crossing track & the wild twists and turns of the F-Zero themed Big Blue track, there isn’t a single dud in this pack. Plus it added 200cc speed for all of those saddists who thought the original wasn’t fast enough.
Runner up – Terraria
So I know this only just came out,but I’ve played this in the past on both PC and Vita, however this is hands down the best version of the game. You finally have a decent control set up for a 2D platformer with the 3DS Circle pad and face buttons, then the touch screen controls for manually building that are so precise and intuitive and makes quickly building stuff a breeze. For those who haven’t played Terraria before, you’re in for a treat, for those that have get ready for the definitive version of the game.
Steven’s eShop Favourite for 2015 –3D
the Hedgehog 2
I absolutely love the work M2 does for re-releasing older games. Nintendo’s Virtual Console was one of the first services to majorly popularise re-releases of games from older platforms to play on current machines, but their efforts have always felt a bit bare bones. For the most part they felt like just straight up emulations. They would run perfectly, and usually that is enough to be fair, but it was rare that new features would be added, or that any part of the game would be changed. M2’s 3D Classics on the other hand are a Sega fan’s dream.
Where Nintendo’s Virtual Console releases can feel bare bones, the 3D Classics series gives nostalgic fans a great amount of options so that they can play old Sega games just how they want to. Adding 3D options, including the choice of fall-in or pop-out 3D, save states which come in particularly useful for games that never had built in save functionality, all the way to allowing a choice of which Sega Mega Drive to use for emulated sound. Different Mega Drive/Genesis models often used different sound chips which could result in a subtly different sound. It is a subtle difference, but it feels like a wonderfully thoughtful inclusion that lets players hear their games exactly as they remember them. These comments hold pretty well true for the entire Sega 3D Classics series, but I love Sonic 2, so that’s my pick of the bunch.
eShop Runner up – Wii U – Never Alone
I’ve played a lot of indie puzzle platformers in the last few years, but Never Alone used the genre as a vehicle to let me experience parts of a culture that I had never known much about beforehand. It was enjoyable mechanically, but the feeling of an ever so tiny connection to a new culture and its history conveyed through a video game just made me all warm and fuzzy inside.
eShop Runner up – 3DS – Gunman Clive 2
A striking visual style and vaguely Mega Man-esque gameplay mechanics helped Gunman Clive 2 stand out for me this year. It wasn’t lengthy enough to outstay it’s welcome and managed to remain enjoyable from start to finish.
