Vooks Awards 2016 – The best of the Nintendo 3DS

by Daniel VuckovicDecember 31, 2016

In a year where many expected nothing but Pokémon from the Nintendo 3DS, the little system that could managed to have a massive year from both Nintendo, Nindies and other publishers.

The Nintendo 3DS while old is continuing to churn out hits even into its 6th year and should do so even with it’s non-replacement in the Switch. The Vooks Awards were voted by the entire Vooks team and a team of some of the biggest Nintendo reporters and webmasters on the internet including Serebii’s Joe Merrick, Nintendaan and many more.

In total 14 games were nominated, however the winner with 53% of the vote was…

Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon

Pokémon had a big year between Pokémon Go, Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow finally get a Virtual Console release, all the celebrations around the franchise’s 20th anniversary – it was just massive

All throughout the year as well though was this slow hype building for Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon. Every couple of weeks we’d learn more about the game, learn about new Pokemon and the new mechanics in the game. It was the most we’d ever known about a game before release but it still managed to amaze us.

It might be easy to think that Pokémon Sun and Moon are an easy choice, they’re certainly the biggest releases this year but the games have managed to capture our imagination all over again. Sun and Moon changed tons about the way we play Pokémon games, they evolved them into a more story filled and narrative game and threw away the shackles of twenty years of gameplay mechanics.

From our review;

Pokémon Sun and Moon make terrific changes the twenty-year-old formula, allowing new fans and returning ones back into the series with a wonderful lively and colourful world. It’s just a little too easy for us who have been here from the start – but it’s easy to forgot that when you’re having such a blast.

The top 5 consisted of;

Pokémon Sun and Moon
Kirby: Planet Robobot
Fire Emblem Fates
Rhythm Heaven Megamix / Rhythm Paradise Megamix

Equal 5th was the following games.

Hyrule Warriors Legends
Metroid Prime: Federation Force
SEGA 3D Classics Collection
Yo-kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits & Fleshy Souls

BoxBoxBoy!

There were a LOT of great games on the eShop this year but none captured our attention more than BoxBoxBoy! The minimalist puzzler from HAL Laboratory may look simple but it’s full of charm and character. So much so that Qbby gets his own amiibo. We love BoxBoxBoy and hope to see it continue on the Switch.

The top 5 consisted of;