Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the best game of 2014

2014
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U  (Wii U)	92

It appears that gaming's transition year has turned into transition years . The first full calendar year for next-generation consoles PS4 and Xbox One failed to spur the release of more than a handful of great games—and most of those high-scoring releases were merely re-releases of older titles for the new platforms.

For the second straight year, just 11 console games (representing 9 unique titles) scored 90 or higher. Of those, only three were new games rather than ports of previously released titles. Overall, there were just 1490+ releases in 2014 (see list at the bottom of this page), the lowest such total since 2006.

Even this year's highest-scoring new release—Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. for Wii U—had a significantly lower Metascore than previous Metacritic Game of the Year winners. Three other products actually surpassed Smash Bros.'s 92, but all three (including XB1 and PS4 versions of 2013's best game,Grand Theft Auto V, as well as a PS4 release of 2013's The Last of Us) were remastered ports of older titles, leaving Smash Bros. as the year's highest-scoringnew game.

Over the following pages, we'll reveal 2014's best-reviewed games for each individual platform. Before that, here's a quick look at how the various game platforms compared this year:

http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#1	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#2	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#3	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#4	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#5
92	91	88	83	82
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Nintendo	Bayonetta 2 Nintendo	Mario Kart 8 Nintendo	Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Nintendo	Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones Curve Digital

http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#1	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#2	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#3	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#4	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#5
95	86	80	80	73
The Last of Us Remastered Sony	Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- Aksys	inFamous: Second Son Sony	LittleBigPlanet 3 Sony	inFamous: First Light Sony

http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#1	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#2	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#3	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#4	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#5
86	85	81	77	77
Forza Horizon 2 Microsoft	Halo: The Master Chief Collection Microsoft	Sunset Overdrive Microsoft	Fantasia: Music Evolved Microsoft	D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die Microsoft

http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#1	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#2	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#3	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#4	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#5
89	87	87	87	86
Out of the Park Baseball 15 Out of the Park Developments	World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Blizzard	The Talos Principle Devolver Digital	Divinity: Original Sin Larian Studios	Astebreed

More: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/best-video-games-of-2014

HANDHELD:

http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#1	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#2	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#3	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#4	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#5
85	85	85	83	83
Bravely Default Nintendo	Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS Nintendo	Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Atlus	Pokemon Omega Ruby Nintendo	Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call Square Enix

http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#1	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#2	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#3	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#4	http://static.metacritic.com/images/features/_styles/module_head.gif) 0% 0% repeat-x #333333;" width="114">#5
84	82	77	76	75
TxK Llamasoft	Soul Sacrifice Delta  Sony	Surge Deluxe FuturLab	Tales of Hearts R Bandai Namco	Gravity Crash Ultra Just Add Water

Do you not have Titanfall added to the best Xbox exclusives, because it's on PC as well? Because it had, I think, an 86 meta.

I just copy/pasted from Metacritic. It seems to be like you said though, Titanfall was not considered a exclusive.

7 games in the Top 14 on the PS family. Nice.

Ah, Metacritic.

Not really sure what the "transition years" thing meant, though. If nothing good comes out next year, then I think we can start talking about "years".

Nintendo really did upstage everyone when it came to critically acclaimed games this year. As far as "new" titles are concerned, aside from Dark Souls II every 90+ game was Nintendo-exclusive.

I hadn't noticed LBP3 actually managed to go back up to 80! Thought it would settle at 79. Now nobody can call it an average game (LOL)

List fail? So they count super smash as exclusive on 2 platforms, but they don't allow velocity 2x into the list for either of its platforms?

I suppose first light qualifies for consideration as it got a retail release. But it is a bit depressing that without it there would be no 5th game for PS4's top 5.

cool lists! I hope that we won't see as many re-mastered versions next year, at least not of just 1 year old games. That's just... I don't like it. Give it a FEW years before releasing remastered versions of a game