2001, Game of the Year (Runoff)

[Kyuu]

Jaicee said:

Cultural Impact: Grand Theft Auto III both for its long-term impact on gaming culture by popularizing 3D open-world adventures and also for really setting the tone for the decade in gaming thematically with its obvious emphasis on edgier, heavily male-oriented content. It's not really one of my favorites of the year though. It's actually a great example of my own tastes starting to really diverge from what was becoming the most popular. (Full disclosure: I played it at a friend's house. Never actually bought it.)

Personal Favorites: I like Ico. It was my overall favorite game from '01. Call me backward-looking here, but it felt like a refreshing throwback to simpler adventure games that were driven by their atmosphere and the straightforward thrill of discovery; games like the original Tomb Raider and such. Something I had missed and would thankfully get to see more of again in the noughties. Ico started a mini-trend that way. The distinctive appeal of Ico for me within that was the trust-based relationship between Ico and Yorda. Traditionally, companion characters would've been invulnerable and accordingly easy to almost forget about. By making Yorda anything but, she becomes the entire focus of the game, by contrast. That relationship emphasis really made Ico stand out. It became an unforgettable emotional rollercoaster for me, affecting me more than any other game released that year.

I've got a good list of runners-up though, including...

2. Golden Sun
3. Final Fantasy X
4. Conker's Bad Fur Day
5. Animal Crossing
6. Twisted Metal: Black
7. Super Smash Bros. Melee
8. Luigi's Mansion
9. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec

...though of course I can only cite games that I actually played. It may be worth noting here though that Animal Crossing wasn't released in the U.S. until 2002. That'll be something more noteworthy when we get to the '02 thread.

Other Thoughts: The year Microsoft became the last major player to enter the gaming console market and I have no Xbox titles here to list. Sorry about that. Don't worry, that will change on the next of these threads! (I didn't get it until the next year, as I'd prioritized the GameCube.) Anyway, it's been my observation that the Xbox seemed to become kind of the main landing pad for the Sega gamers displaced by the loss of the Dreamcast. Very apt in a way. I think you could say that both of those brands have ever mainly appealed to American gamers specifically.

Also the GameCube's launch year. One of Nintendo's least popular systems ever and yet oddly the one that features the bulk of my favorite first-party Nintendo games, as will soon become clear. I suppose in a way you couldn't blame gamers for underrating the GameCube. After all, it was designed to be small, cutesy-looking, and easily transported by handle, almost like a purse, in a way that fed into Nintendo's image/stigma of being the family brand, which wasn't really in style during the early "naughties". But that outward image belied a much more complex software substance that too many people missed out on.

Ico is definitely up there even though I played it quite late on PS3. It was also one of the most influential games despite not reaching a single million copies sold with the original release. I'd argue it's responsible for the "Souls-like" genre, because it's what got Miyazaki into the business.

Quite a few top directors, even outside gaming (Guillermo del Toro), took heavy inspiration from Ueda's work.