Two of Nintendo’s biggest games of 2013 have received accolades from New York Video Game Critics Circle. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds was awarded Best Handheld Console game from the panel consisting of judges from Mashable, Kotaku, Tom’s Guide, Game Informer, the New York Times, and CNET. Super Mario 3D World was similarly appraised, being given the title of Best Kids Game of 2013.
The awards for its first-party titles may be of some comfort to Nintendo, in the midst of bad news about its sales figures and profitability. Fans, too, will presumably take some heart from the fact that despite the company’s recent difficulties, there still exists great potential for excellent games.
The third annual show was hosted by Daniel Radosh, a writer for The Daily Show, and held in the Pfizer Auditorium of New York University, in Brooklyn.
Source: Nintendo Life
Best kids game for 3D World? We’re talking the same stunning piece of game design that I played back in December? Outrageous. I mean, kids can play it, sure, but it’s almost insulting to relegate the game to that category. It stood shoulder to shoulder with The Last of Us and every other AAA game that came out last year, as far as I’m concerned.
You pretty much took the words out of my mouth. I agree that while we know Mario is a kid-friendly title, I think classifying it as the Best Kids Game creates the connotation that it’s not worthy of greater consideration as anything more sophisticated. Maybe I’m alone in this, but I really don’t hear people calling the classic Mario titles on the NES, SNES, etc. “kids” games, so I’m not sure why the newer Mario titles get labeled as such.
I actually find the Mario as a “kids game” thing insulting. Can Nintendo respectfully decline the nomination just to make a statement about its software? Probably not, but I think it would be a good piece of thought-provoking and conversation-starting publicity.
Maybe they can request they change the name of the category from “Best Kids Game of 2013” to “Family Friendly Game of 2013” Again, just trying to make a point. This game is an incredible example of superior level design, creativity, and CHALLENGE.
I’m currently on paternity leave until mid-march and am playing through a backlog of games including Far Cry 3 (half way through it.), The Last Of Us (beat it!) Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (beat it!) Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (beat it!) Ducktales Remastered (which I won from Nintendojo! Woo-Hoo!) and Super Mario 3D World.
I can plainly see the differences in tone, subject matter, and violence that would lead “non-gamers” to superficially see Mario 3D world as a “kids game.” But really? The panel of judges includes people from Kotaku and Gameinformer. Shame on them. They should know better. I can see some of my non-gaming colleagues taking a look at Mario and calling it a “kids game”, but gaming journalists?
By the way: The Last of Us is a fantastic game, one of my favorites from the last few years. HOWEVER, in my opinion, Mario 3D world is much more challenging. “Kids game” yeah right!
Nobody can argue: Mario is a great game for kids! But the label does feel sorely limiting.
Some games are designed for children and don’t carry over well to an expanded audience, others should be enjoyed by everyone. Super Mario 3D Wrold is a prime example of the latter – a fantastic game that is enjoyable by gamers of all ages.
It’s funny how our culture draws lines though. Pixar makes kids movies, but rarely takes criticism for that because the movies are consistently great. There are many examples of literature that are widely respected – from older classics like The Little Prince to modern pulp like Harry Potter. But in video game culture, “kiddy” is considered an insult. Maybe the medium just hasn’t become widely accepted enough to recognize true quality regardless of what the target market might be?