I struggled to pick the next category for the worst list. “Most disappointing”? I had quite a bit of mild disappointment, but I don’t think my expectations were that high. Yoshi’s New Island, Final Fantasy 3, Lego Lord of the Rings (iOS), Super Metroid. All were slightly disappointing, but not life-ruiningly so.

Speaking of ruination, I considered the category of “Most Franchise-Ruining Game”. This year I played Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and Metroid Other M, two of the worst games in two of the best series Nintendo has. They had catastrophic effects on their respective fanbases, and adversely affected the reputation of the series for, say, half a decade each. It wasn’t as personally affecting to me though as I try to maintain mindfulness of the good games that still exist, and both have hopes for the future, so I didn’t want to do an award about it.

“Worst Free-to-Play Mechanics” was a strong contender. Angry Birds Star Wars 2 and Trials Frontier had updates that drove me away, but couldn’t kill my overall goodwill for them completely. Star Trek Trexels pulled me in but kept pushing me back simultaneously, until I had to break ties. I played a few other little games too that gave me the impression of an ever-greater App Store movement towards ads and microtransactions. But I don’t want to disparage the platform too much, there’s still lots of great stuff happening there. Besides, I already gave up Rockman Xover (which is shutting down soon apparently; good riddance).

Basically I wanted to dish out lots of small bits of negativity so as not to get too bogged down. This is a season of joy, reflecting on things we’re thankful for, and celebration. So let’s give some more good awards. Er, tomorrow, anyway, because that’s how my queue works.