Award #5 - THE 5 BEST GAMES OF THEIR RESPECTFUL GENRES
There are SO MANY different varieties of games that in the past half-a-decade, it's become quite hard to taxonomize all of them! Not to mention, twice as hard to pick your fav of each type. I've taken it upon myself to do just that; here are 5 (well, really... 6) awards that go out to the very very best #1 of 5 (well, really... 6) different types of games. And once we are finished with this, we'll be going into "lightning round", where the best come head-to-head to prove their worth as the greatest games of all time...
a - BEST PUZZLE GAME - Tetris Attack
Tetris Attack had the GREATEST music, the most ingenious mechanics, a nice use of the Yoshi's Island characters, and yet... with a label like "Tetris", this game lost a lot of popularity. You wouldn't think so, would you? But with so many puzzle games like Tetris 2, Tetrisphere, The New Tetris, 3D Tetris, and Tetris Challenge, it's really easy to ignore a game called "Tetris Attack". I mean, I did for 2 years! But this one far surpasses other awesome puzzle games like Yoshi's Cookie and Mario and Yoshi just because of its individuality in game mechanics, graphics and sound, and sheer replay value.
b - BEST RACING GAME - Star Wars: Episode 1: Racer
Wow. I was suddenly in 12th place and now I'm in first- I mean, eighth. WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?! You, my friend, are playing the fastest and most furious racing game there is; Episode 1 Racer! There's nothing like these twists, turns, jumps, hills, and real-esque alien world terrains. And zooming across them in a near-customized pod at over a thousand KM an hour is even better! What seperates this from other racing titles is the wide array of vehicles and racers to choose from. And in here, also unlike other racers (**cough-cough, Mario Kart, cough**), it actually makes a BIG difference which pod you take a seat in! Add a tournament chain that's to crash and burn for, and you've got yourself the best racing game around!
c - BEST TOURNAMENT FIGHTER GAME - Super Street Fighter II
I can't imagine a single player in the country who hasn't played any of the Street Fighter games and has lived more than 7 years. Come on! They're instant classics! And with simple mechanics, yet not insanely simple, a nice, wide, and varied array of characters and their moves, but not too wide, plus on-par graphics and music, players of all types and ages and... races (?) can have fun bashing their friends' brains in with this little pak (on-screen, of course... not in real life, heh). All in all, not a button-masher like many tournies, and not a-hop-and-a-skip like some, Super Street Fighter 2 deserves to be recognized as an extremely well-balanced tournament fighter and the best one there is.
d - BEST PLATFORMER GAME - Super Mario All-Stars
Three American Top-20 video games of all time, on any system, AND a previously un-released Japan-only game with the same heros we know and love, Mario and Luigi? Come on, all this on one pak PLUS a re-designed visual all together? ...you've got to be kidding me, this is just on ONE LITTLE SNES PAK?! WOW! The games by themselves, Super Mario Bros, 2, 3, and Lost Levels, are some of THE GREATEST games ever (not to mention the greatest platformers), but all of 'em on one pak... there are no words to describe it. It's simply... the best platformer game ever.
e - BEST MULTIPLAYER GAME - Turtles in Time
Oh how much fun it is to party on a Summer afternoon/morning/night and play Turtles in Time with your best friends. "Ooh! I pick Raphael!" "No way man! I called Raph an hour ago!" "Well, I'll tell you guys who I pick when it's MY turn: Donatello, all the way." "Yeah, he can jump, but can he grab the controller FIRST! NYAHAHAHA!" More adventurous, more exciting, more challenging and furthermore rewarding when completed than any simple game of Goldeneye or even Perfect Dark. The side-scrolling action/adventure pak that follows in the footsteps of the Final Fight series, but ends up running circles around it once a second! All ye who own a Super NES; dig this game out and play it with a friend... NOW!
f - BEST RPG - EarthBound
As an RPG, EarthBound stands in-front of the crowd, sporting an AMAZING battle system (you actually see the enemies approaching you, they actually back away when they think you're too strong, turn-based and off-screen battles based on thinking rather than action action action), funny plot twists and characters, fun graphics and sound, GREAT music, heart-felt moments, and an awesome storyline, this game totally deserves the title of "greatest RPG", and perhaps...
Honorable Mentions - I expect to get a thousand arguements against these awards given out, and a thousand more to come for the next 5 awards that are equally as strong as these. So, please, send me an e-mail if you have ANYTHING to say about the Award Show. Any disagreement, any support; anything. If you want your opinions heard, do it now; don't wait 'till the 2001 edition! :-D
