NOMINEES:
- Sega Soccer Slam (NGC)
- Super Monkey Ball 2 (NGC)
- Super Mario Sunshine (NGC)
- Star Fox Adventures (NGC)
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2)
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2002 Game of the Year - Super Monkey Ball 2
I'm sure you're all like, "huh? Is this a joke? If it is, I don't get it." about my choice here. SMB2 over games like GTA VC and SMS!? And yet, even though I'm coming back now to this list of winners and nominees that I made months ago, I still agree with the choices I made. I didn't buy SMB2 until the summer of 2003, but I sure did play the ever-loving heck out of it by myself, with my brother, with a friend, with a different friend, with multiple friends plus my brother, etc. This game saw lots of spin-time in the good ol' Gamecube back then. It still does, sometimes.
The premise is simple: You pick a monkey, stick him/her in a very durable ball (that presumably has some kind of internal air supply), and then roll him/her around a course Marble Madness sty1e through a Goal ribbon. Of course, the levels grow more challenging as you progress. What makes the core levels so much fun and replayable is that you're always trying to get faster times on each course and you never know when you're going to inexplicably pull off an impossible feat worth making a saved replay out of. My memory card is full of them, and they're always good for a laugh, even all these years later.
In addition to the Story Mode and Free Play, there are a multitude of minigames you can jump into. Some were around for the first game, but a few were new for this sequel. All of them are a lot of fun, especially with the right people. For example, Baseball is a bonafide home run fest, so it's best not to play that one with someone who hates falling behind really quick or when a baseball game's score looks more like you're playing basketball.
All in all, the game's just plain fun. There's always something you can challenge yourself with, and the fun is even more plentiful when you have others to play with. If only they could make another great SMB game. I haven't seen one come even close since this one.
Runner-up: Super Mario Sunshine
Funny story: a year or so after Super Mario 64 came out but years before SMS was released, I remember having a dream that I (or Mario) was surfing on clear blue ocean waters with a green Koopa shell. When I saw you could do that in SMS and much later in SM64 DS and SMG, I just about died. Clairvoyance, much?
Anyway, for a while, this game would be my go-to game once summer break came around. It just put me in the mood for three months of pool, beach, lemonade, and a whole lotta who knows what else. The FLUDD introduced a new sty1e of platforming for Mario fans, a sty1e that I happened to enjoy quite a bit. Rightfully so, the water effects in this game, especially how the ocean looks, remain some of the best water effects I've ever seen.
Runner-up: Star Fox Adventures
And here's another game with spectacular graphics and water effects. I don't care what the history of this game is, what the controversy was, and why so many people despise or dislike this game. This game, for me, was awesome. It looked great, played great, and it was something entirely different for the Star Fox series. Given that for most fans of the franchise, it was their second Star Fox game, I don't see why people couldn't embrace major change.
My favorite part of the game, besides how hearty and sufficiently lengthy it felt, was the fact that you were always revisiting places to access new areas. Also, switches and targets you needed to hit somehow to proceed were always so well-hidden; I would have such a blast searching every nook and cranny for the path forward. No other game has ever taken me on such a scavenger hunt. Now it could have just been me being a blind spazz, but I like to think of it as an intentional element of the game's design.
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