The Game Awards named its nominees earlier this week. Many of 2024’s top games are set to receive special awards. But there were a few contestants we noticed that were left out of certain categories. The Shacknews staff had some feelings about some of this year’s snubs. And we felt compelled to broadcast that to our readers this weekend. Check out our picks for who should be nominated for this year’s awards.
Question: What was the biggest snub at The Game Awards 2024?
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Game of the Year) – Ozzie Mejia, Senior Game Awards Watcher
Enough people have asked, “Okay, if you’re really smart. What would you put in the Game of the Year category? If it weren’t for the “Elden Ring” expansion, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is the most imaginative 2D Zelda game I’ve ever played. And that makes it more than deserving of the year’s highest honor. I joined the panel the week the game came out. Watch people come up with clever answers to the game’s mysteries. Or use the echo mechanism to think of new ways. in having fun
In an unexpectedly strong year where the Switch was expected to have a lame period leading up to new hardware, Echoes of Wisdom is Nintendo’s best work yet, and it deserves a lot of the credit.
Victor “Punk” Woodley (Esports Player) – TJ Denzer Witnesses Greatness
I’ll be the first to admit that. There have been times when I’ve been dissatisfied with the things FlyQuest’s Victor “Punk” Woodley rants about. He’s a fiery guy and has done more than his fair share of detractors over the years with his raucous confidence. Still, here it is. Something you’ll never take away from him: Punk is very good at fighting games. Which is one of the best games in the world. And he put it on the table at EVO 2024 without even knowing it was in the game. The awards feel awful and pointless.
Heading into EVO 2024, believe it or not, Punk was quite famous for not finishing in the championship. This guy is almost a permanent favorite among the Top 8 competitors, but he hasn’t been able to capture the big time at EVO up until this point. At EVO 2024, it looks like that will be the case again. He played through the Winners in the Top 6, defeating the likes of Tokido, Nemo, and Momochi on his way there. and even put down the person who would be his final opponent. Ken Adel “Big Bird” Anoush of Red Bull Esports Top Players However, the big bird won’t go down easily. He found incredible momentum and pushed the underdogs for a rematch with Punk.
Their set was legendary: Big Bird defeated Punk in the first set, defeating Punk 3-0 and winning the reset for the Grand Finals Championship of Street Fighter 6. The second set looked like Big Bird could do it all, and Punk would. There is another story of how we got this far. It’s just going to be lacking. But when the second 2-2 to the last second Until the end of life The two of them reached the end. Who knows what Punk found himself that day? But he came back from a 3-0 reset to claim the narrowest victory in the final, 3-2, against Big Bird. And that was after defeating more than 5,700 entrants in 13 games, only to leave the bracket reset with Big Bird.
There’s no reason Punk shouldn’t be in this conversation after a performance like that. When he picked up the trophy at EVO 2024, he became only the second American to win the main Street Fighter championship at the event in 22 years (the first being Jason “AfroCole” Cole, who won Street Fighter 2 Turbo in 2002). Like, he or hate him It might be one of the best fighting game tournaments of all time, and if Geoff Keighley won’t reveal such an incredible feat, then so will I.
F-Zero 99 (Belittle the Game in Progress)- Asif Khan, CEO/EIC/EIEIO – Increased power.
Man holding a briefcase on the cortex
F-Zero 99 was rejected at The Game Awards 2023, so it’s no surprise that the jury overlooked it once again. The game was not nominated for Best Racing Game at last year’s event. And this year it was nominated in the Continuing Games category. F-Zero 99 constantly provides free, high-quality updates. which has increased the excitement of the fan base each time. No silly gimmicks like the Rap God machine gun, just new, really fun songs. Let’s play and express our feelings too!
F-Zero 99 is the best live game Nintendo has ever delivered, and it’s still largely ignored by the gaming press. Shacknews Awards 2024 is another story…
College Football 25 (Best Sports/Racing) – Bill Lavoy, Stalker
Look, I’m not really on Electronic Arts’ side, but I’m not sure how you got to the point where College Football 25 wasn’t nominated for Best Sports/Racing Game. This sells bad copy. Even by EA Sports standards, and by all accounts this is one of the few times EA has delivered an inspired sports game. Geoff, you need to get this shit out of the way and give EA flowers for Mr. Wilson was encouraged to truly invest in his sport. This isn’t just about football. Do it for us hockey fans!
Finals – Sam Chandler Where are the nominees, Scotty?
Geoffy boy showed off a trailer for The Finals at last year’s Game Awards. which is a program that has not been nominated Due to the release time frame This made it impossible to leave last year. That means it will be eligible this year. Still, we’re here. Without getting recognition for a game that should be more popular than it is today. It amazes me that people don’t flock to the finals.
EA Sports College Football 25 – Bowie State University alum Donovan Erskine
It’s not often that EA Sports makes a good American football game. They were able to revive the NCAA franchise (now known as College Football) into a fun modern football simulation game. The focus on the college game day atmosphere and pageantry is a refreshing antidote to Madden’s dull and bleak presentation. It’s a blast to play, and it will be one of the most played game modes. of my year But this game isn’t good enough to beat NBA 2K25. Got it.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore (Best Indie Game) – Steve Tyminski, Modern Retro!
What was the biggest snub at this year’s The Game Awards? Stevetendo wasn’t nominated for Content Creator of the Year Overall, there were a lot of games and companies that felt left out of the Game Awards nominations, most of which I actually liked. Not receiving the love that you deserve And that’s why I chose Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore, which was not nominated for Indie Game of the Year. I feel like I’m the only one talking about Arzette, but this game does some really great things. It requires the formula of the game. Nintendo/Philips CD-I takes something bad and makes it fun.
The developers at Seedy Eye Software know the source and act accordingly. It has animated cutscenes and a really cool art style. Indie games are often remembered for incredible things like gameplay, graphics, or music. Arzette does all that and more, and it deserves at least a nomination for Indie Game of the Year! I played this game for the first time at PAX East and liked it so much, I believe I asked the developers why they went out of their way to make a playable CD-I game. And their answer is that no one has actually tried it. And they did it.
That was the big snub from The Game Awards that caught our eye. What do you feel has been overlooked? We welcome you to join the conversation in the comments below or jump over to Official Shacknews Community Discord–
