2015 may be long gone now, and awards for 2015 games largely behind us- but the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association, which is also responsible for hosting the Tokyo Game Show every year, have concluded their own Game of the Year 2016 awards, handed out to games released in 2015 for excellence in various categories.
Nintendo’s Splatoon, their quirky and imaginative third person shooter released exclusively on the Wii U last year, took away top honors, walking away with the Game of the Year Award. Meanwhile, Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 won Best Foreign Game Award. Other big winners included Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Monster Hunter Generations, Super Mario Maker, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
“Splatoon is a game that excites many players, regardless of their age, with its straightforward rules, in-depth gameplay, unique POP colored graphics and the excitement of the 4-versus-4 multiplayer matches,” CESA said in the press release announcing the winner (via DualShockers). “With equipment and stages added through ongoing updates and in-game events, the fun doubles even after its launch.
“A lot of comments [about Splatoon] included “my family is addicted”, “most interesting”. As a completely new shooting game that brought about a big movement and with overwhelming support from numerous players, this game won the Grand Award of the “Games of the Year Division” of Japan Games Award 2016.”
Personally, Splatoon is one of my favorite games of this generation, so I can’t say I am unhappy about this choice at all. Splatoon is available exclusively on the Wii U.