Most Innovative Game – Nintendo Land (Wii U)

Nintendo Land gets our award for Most Innovative use of the Wii U GamePad. The game has an amazing variety of uses for the touch screen controller including launching throwing stars at the TV screen, using it to move precisely through a daunting puzzle course, and even using the controller to view 360° in the game world.

Nominees
• Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition
• Trine 2: Director’s Cut

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Best Artistic Design – Rayman Legends (Wii U)

One of the best looking games of 2011 was Rayman Origins and its sequel, Rayman Legends, is no different. With its beautifully rendered, HD graphics and constant 60 frames per second, Rayman Legends excels visually. Out of all the games we played at E3 2012, none of them played better and had more artistic beauty than Rayman Legends.

Nominees
• Trine 2: Director’s Cut
• Pikmin 3

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Best Wii U Game – Pikmin 3 (Wii U)

There was no better game on the Wii U at E3 2012 than Pikmin 3. It’s the sequel to a beloved franchise and features beautiful HD graphics that no other 1st party game could touch. With New Super Mario Bros. U adopting a style very similar to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Pikmin 3 excels graphically and makes the HD transition for the franchise in style.

Nominees
• Assassin’s Creed III
• ZombiU

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Best Wii U Graphics – Trine 2: Director’s Cut (Wii U)

Trine 2, while already released for a number of platforms, is getting a ‘Director’s Cut’ on the Wii U and it looks absolutely stunning. The lighting effects, reflections, and detail really impressed us at E3 2012. The game ran really well and it makes very good use of the Wii U Gamepad to create platforms/objects.

Nominees
• Assassin’s Creed III
• Rayman Origins

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Best 3DS Game – Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)

We saw Luigi’s Mansion 2 last year and it won our award for ‘Best Overall Design’, and this year it is our vote for Best 3DS Game. While we loved seeing Paper Mario Sticker Star at Nintendo’s Roundtable, we didn’t get a chance to play the game at E3 since it wasn’t on the show floor. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon looks/plays great.

Nominees
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate
• New Super Mario Bros. 2

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Best 3DS Graphics – Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance was by far the most impressive 3DS game at E3 2012. The game has beautifully rendered cutscenes and has amazing 3D graphics/depth. With all the particle effects and numerous enemies on screen, the game still keeps up a very smooth frame rate. Dream Drop Distance should be on everyone’s 3DS wish list.

Nominees
• Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate

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Best Adventure Game – Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate

It’s been a long time since we received a handheld Castlevania game, and believe me, it’s been worth the wait. Castlevania Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate keeps the typical Castlevania gameplay in tact while adding a new rendering engine and new gameplay elements such as finishing moves. Boss battles are also epic like previous Castlevania’s.

Nominees
• Assassin’s Creed III
• Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion

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Best Shooter – ZombiU (Wii U)

Previously known as ‘Killer Freaks from Outer Space’, ZombiU impressed us with its interesting premise and multiplayer modes. One mode involves the player with the Wii U Gamepad controlling the ‘infected’ while the other player fends them off in a capture the flag like mode. The game has impressive visuals and its use of the Wii U Gamepad is very well developed. All in all, ZombiU is very promising and won our best pick for shooter games at E3 2012.

Nominees
• Aliens: Colonial Marines

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Best RPG – Heroes of Ruin (3DS)

For the second year running, Heroes of Ruin gets our Best RPG for E3. The game continued to impress this year with its impressive multiplayer options including full voice chat, drop-in/out multiplayer both local and online, and graphics that go well beyond the usual 3DS game. It’s ambition and depth is unparalleled on the 3DS.

Nominees
• Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
• Mass Effect 3

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Best Multiplayer Game – Rayman Legends (Wii U)

Rayman Legends, like its predecessor Rayman Origins, has some of the best multiplayer mostly attributed to the great level design. Legends continues with the addition of up to 5-player multiplayer utilizing the Wii U Gamepad. The player can interact with many objects/enemies even more so than Nintendo’s own implementations of the controller.

Nominees
• New Super Mario Bros. U
• Nintendo Land

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Best Platformer – Trine 2: Director’s Cut (Wii U)

There were many different platformers at E3 this year and Trine 2 really stood out over the rest. The game uses the Wii U Gamepad tremendously, has the best graphics of all of the Wii U launch titles, and also has very ingenious puzzles to solve throughout the game.

Nominees
• New Super Mario Bros. U
• Rayman Legends

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Most Anticipated Game – Aliens: Colonial Marines (Wii U)

Aliens: Colonial Marines wasn’t playable for the Wii U on the show floor this year but our anticipation couldn’t be higher. There was some new footage shown at E3 and some of the multiplayer was also playable. With the game moving to a February release, it just means we have to wait that much longer but, trust us, it’ll be worth the wait.

Nominees
• Heroes of Ruin
• Pikmin 3

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Best Surprise – Project P-100 (Wii U)

Project P-100 wasn’t even shown at Nintendo’s press conference on Tuesday, but it certainly was a favorite of ours on the show floor. The game employs some unique gameplay by using multiple heroes to form swords, fists, and other weapons to progress through the game. Think of it as Pikmin meets Viewtiful Joe and you’ll have the basic idea.

Nominees
• Lego City Undercover
• ZombiU

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Best in Show – Assassin’s Creed III (Wii U)

By far the most impressive game at E3 for Nintendo platforms was Assassin’s Creed III. The game shows tremendous depth with its combat, effortless environment traversal, beautiful HD graphics, great setting, and truly ambitious gameplay. No other game on the show floor could match the detail and freedom of play you have in ACIII.

Nominees
• Pikmin 3
• ZombiU

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