Can you believe it… we’re somehow just over a week away from the end of the year! Back when The Nintendo Gamer officially launched in January we aimed to provide a friendly space for local Nintendo fans to get news, opinion pieces and reviews. And now after our first 12 months, we’re happy with all we’ve been able to put out and are immensely thankful for all the work our contributors put in and all the support we’ve received from you, our readers, subscribers and followers. We know we’re still a relatively small TNG Community, but we appreciate every article you’ve read, retweet and like you’ve posted and every video you’ve watched. THANK YOU!

And now, to sign off, we thought we’d give you a quick recap of 2022 as well as announce our very first TNG Game Of The Year Winner. And so without further ado…

2022 YEAR IN REVIEW

2022 GAME OF THE YEAR

Despite no big-name Mario or Zelda titles this year, 2022 actually turned out to be a great year for Switch owners with some truly special first-party games from Nintendo’s own studios and a great selection of third-party/indie titles.

Here are our favourites…

BEST THIRD PARTY/INDIE: Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope

Runners-up: Sonic Frontiers, Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

While we had so much fun adventuring and laughing our way through the Skywalker Saga and definitely think Frontiers is a great first step for future Sonic games, Ubisoft’s quirky return to the unlikely partnership between Mario and the Rabbids feels polished and improved in almost every way. And while we didn’t love every moment with the game – any title that manages to effortlessly make strategy games more appealing is a definite win in our books and worthy of this year’s prize.

BEST FIRST PARTY: Splatoon 3

Runners-up: Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Pokémon Legends Arceus

2022 really was a great year for RPG fans with titles like Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Triangle Strategy, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, and even Pokémon Violet. However, three titles (from a variety of genres) stood out amongst the rest: Splatoon 3, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Pokémon Legends Arceus. We simply loved the new direction Arceus’ took the Pokémon franchise in, and Kirby provided us with a surprise hit that really wowed us with some bright, friendly visuals and some clever ability-powered platforming. However, after struggling to truly gel with both Splatoon 1 and 2, Splatoon 3 completely hooked us. And while not much has changed in basic gameplay, Splatoon 3 is a sequel that combined all the best from the first games and provided us with an awesomely fun and challenging single-player adventure and an even more addictive multiplayer experience. We sunk so many joyful hours into this one and continue to do so and therefore it is not a surprise that Splatoon 3 not only takes our title for best Nintendo title this year but also overall Game of the Year here at The Nintendo Gamer!

2022 GAME OF THE YEAR WINNER: Splatoon 3

We’ll be taking a two-week break and that means you won’t be seeing as many posts and videos from us for the next 14 days or so. However, you can be sure that we’ll have even more great content for you early next year. For those that will be travelling, please be safe… Have a great time everyone and, as always, happy gaming!