2016 was kind of a crazy year. The general consensus from just about everyone I know is that they wish they could forget it ever happened. Thank Nepgear for video games then!
Whether you were a mainstream gamer, a JRPG addict, or an aficionado of Visual Novels and Eroge, there was something for everyone this year. That, of course, means there were a lot of worthy games to consider for our end of the year awards. Over 240 titles (not including remakes and ports) qualified for consideration. From there it was nominations, two rounds of voting, and tie-breakers for fifteen different categories. Of course, after that, we still had to decide what the “Game of the Year” for 2016 was. Which brings us to this week.
All this week we celebrate the best the of the best. The characters, elements, and games that helped us through a trying year. While not every game can make it to the final round of each award, and of course there will be some that feel like they’re in every list, it was still a pretty diverse field. Last year we had Visual Novels winning five different categories, Kasturagi from Senran Kagura claiming the crown of “Hottest Girl”, a Lovecraftian god proved to be the biggest threat to the planet, and the sequel to one of the games that helped found this site taking the crown for “Game of the Year”. What’s in store for us this time?
For starters, we’ll be adding a category to celebrate to the “Best Heroine” of the year. While previously female protagonists were considered under the”Best Hero” award, there were so many great female character’s this year that we had to add the category. We’ll also be adding a “Best Indie” category to try and highlight what we thought were some of the most creative games of the year. The 3DS and Wii U will duke it out in order to see which of their games was truly the greatest in our “Best Nintendo Exclusive”, while the PlayStation family of the PS3, PS4, PS TV, and PS Vita will get together and try to decide which out of the mountain of titles they had was the “Best PlayStation Exclusive” game. And of course, we still have to decide what title reached across the borders of platform ecosystems and spread joy to all in our “Best Multiplatform” game.
Katsuragi will return in an attempt to reclaim her crown as the “Hottest Girl”, while a new batch of sexy gentlemen will vie for the honor of “Hottest Guy” for 2016. A “Pirate Maid Magical Catgirl” will attempt to take over the world as “Best Villain”, while Godslayers, pilots, shinobi, and goddesses will stand to oppose her and others to win the titles of “Best Hero” and “Best Heroine”. We’ll see what game was the best to play with friends this year in out “Best Multiplayer” game award, and of course, we’ll declare what game we thought had the “Best Music”, “Best Story”, and the “Best Design” of them all. All of this, of course, leads to the biggest award of the all as we crown our “Game of the Year” for 2016!
So join us this week as we celebrate our favorite parts of last year and put on a “pedal stool” what we thought was the very best in a very trying year.
Posting Schedule (All times in Pacific):
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Monday
- Best Hero – 9 AM
- Best Heroine – 12 PM
- Best Villain – 3 PM
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Tuesday
- Hottest Guy – 8 AM
- Hottest Girl – 10 AM
- Best Music – 12 PM
- Best Song – 2 PM
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Wednesday
- Best Story – 8 AM
- Best Design – 10 AM
- Best Gameplay – 12 PM
- Best Multiplayer – 2 PM
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Thursday
- Best Nintendo Exclusive – 8 AM
- Best PlayStation Exclusive – 10 AM
- Best Multiplatform – 12 PM
- Best Indie – 2 PM
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Friday
- Game of the Year – 9 AM
Finally, I’d like to thank our entire staff of volunteers and every writer who contributed to this massive project. We could not do this without them. So please, join us in this celebration and be sure to let us and your favorite companies know what your favorite games and characters were from last year!
