The GNamer Forum Awards 2020 (THANKS FOR PLAYING!)

= Among Us (12 points, 4 votes, 0 firsts)



You say:
"The year's surprise hit is a really fun little game with a bunch of mates. Semi-regular 6-to-8-man GNamer sessions have been top notch."

"A very late contender this. I wasn't a big fan of watching any youtube or twitch streams when this was gathering crazy amounts of hype & in fact I thought it looked quite boring but after actually trying it out with various GNamer folks before the new year I was gladly proven wrong. Simple in concept but so much fun at all the shenanigans that goes on."

"Much like AC:NH, Among Us really thrived thanks to the locked down world we find ourselves living in. Hopping on Discord and murdering you all in cold blood has proved to be an utter delight and has made for some hilarious moments. Whilst I'm not sure how well this game would hold up with randoms, playing it with you bunch has been a treat."

"Amongst Us is a wonderfully accessible game of intrigue."


= Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (12 points, 4 votes, 0 firsts)



"I don't think trying this out on 3DS was a wise decision. The sprawling greens of Gaur Plains or the frozen peaks of Valak Mountain really deserve a TV as opposed to a dinky little 3DS screen. I'm glad I got to experience Xenoblade Chronicles at last as it was meant to be experienced. The quality of life improvements made in the Definitive Edition seem to have ironed out some of the frustrations and seeing the characters emote allowed the story to hit home with even more impact than it already did. With all those improvements, it was so easy to lose myself in the great story and characters of the Bionis and Mechonis and experience a JRPG classic."

"Another remaster..... another one i haven't finished... But the 15 hours or so i've played are great. Having played the 3DS and Wii versions abit in the past this version fixes alot. It's biggest problem is its biggest strength - Its Massive, Like intimidatingly so, but so very rewarding."

"A fab redo of a game I never finished first time round. The Future Connected addition was average, but it was nice to have a bit of extra content all the same."

"This was the only 2020 game on Switch that I played and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t stay the course. Stick it in the middle (third out of five places). I know Pikmin 3 is something I'd have enjoyed more if I had picked it up."


I say: So far I think I've been pretty justified. One's a port and the other's a remake.  But let's be fair: one's a port of only one of the biggest games of the year, that only really hit its stride in 2020 across the board, even if most people didn’t actually play it on Switch.  I'd love to play it with y'all if social deduction games didn't stress me out no end.   Meanwhile the other's a remake of an incredible game, with a fair amount of love put into sprucing it up (no Wii U rehash here) and new content besides.  By all accounts, how to do a remake right.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars (13 points, 5 votes, 0 firsts)



You say:
"If it counts. That's about it really. Could've put more effort into the upgrades: now with fresh eyes you can all realise Mario Sunshine is routinely not actually fun."

"So look, i know its not as Remastered as much as we'd like and the whole "take down in March" stuff is stupid.... It's still a collection of three of the best 3D platformers in the plumbers history. Mario Galaxy on its own is probably worth £50 13 years later and i have loved returning to these classics."

"It wasn't the slickest presentation of the three games it contained, but I had loads of fun with it all the same."

"Jumpy!"

I say: And here we have how to do a remake wrong.  I'm disappointed this placed and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.  Yes, they are incredible games, even today I'd imagine (especially Galaxy); and if this was 'Nintendo Game of 1996/2002/2007' then this would be right up there.  As it is, that these lazy low-effort time-restricted ports with additional bugs that don't even bother to include Galaxy 2 (stops for breath) have no business being above some of the gold that's come out on the eShop this year.

Paper Mario: The Origami King (13 points, 4 votes, 1 first)



You say:
"I wasn't a big fan of the combat system but this was a funny game with great characters, a compelling adventure and story, fantastic colourful graphics and a wide variety of locations."

"I've only got about half way through this but i love it. The humour, World Design and Beautiful art are some of the best on the system. Sure the battle system is basically more of a puzzle game than RPG but it doesn't detract from the game too much for me. Probably the most underrated game of the year for me as well!"

"A joy to play from start to finish, combat grew a little tedious towards the end causing it to fall a few places."

"This probably benefitted from releasing in 2020 as I don't know if I'd have given it a shot otherwise. I'm glad I did however, sure the battle system is gimmicky once again but it's still fun to play, especially the boss battles. Story wise they did a great job of making me care about characters I never expected to with some genuinely great relationships between them."

I say: So this was apparently pretty good!  My scepticism that the story and characters were going to be non-existent sounds like it was ill-founded.  My scepticism about the combat system... less so, and Nintendo does need to go back to having you gain something from battles that you can't just shake out of the environment or buy.  That said, I'm happy that this landed well for so many of you.  I'll stay here crossing my fingers for TTY(H)D.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (15 points, 6 votes, 0 firsts)



You say:
"Takes the last Hyrule Warriors and gives it some purpose. Linking it to BotW meant was always going to be risky but I think they do it justice by integrating some of its mechanics to make this the most engaging Warriors game yet. I also really enjoyed seeing some of Hyrule and it's characters back before the great calamity. Just a shame there's no weapon durability."

"It made me nostalgic for Breath of the Wild, weirdly. But honestly, integrating Breath of the Wild’s highly imaginative world, characters, plotline and runes into a bread and butter Dynasty Warriors game worked much better than I thought it was going to."

"The gameplay, mechanics and the design of this were a million miles beyond the original, which now feels kinda half-assed. It was great to get a glimpse of the world and characters before Breath of the Wild. Unfortunately, the story does go a bit lame and fan-fiction in the second half."

"It's a beefy Warriors game and I've had (and am still having!) a lot of fun playing it. I know the ending didn't tickle everyone's pickle, and I haven't gotten to that yet, but... so far, it's worthy of being on the list."

"A banging game if not a little lacking in end-game. The character variety is great, the warriors gameplay was fun, I just wish there were a few more interesting modes."

"Bashy!"

I say: I was going to buy this.  I was going to play it in split screen co-op and have a smashing time.  Then it emerged that the frame rate went all slideshow in co-op, meaning I couldn't get into what to me seems like the most exciting big Nintendo release of the year.

Hades (30 points, 6 votes, 6(!) firsts)



You say:
"It's the best game of the year and it's nearest competition does not appear on a Nintendo platform. Banger"

"I never expected to enjoy this so much, heard a lot of good things about it but never got on hugely with the genre. This had me hooked straight away with it brilliantly tuned combat, deep variety to potential approaches and a really enjoyable story full of great characters."

"I didn't realise how frustrating dying in roguelites could be until I played Hades. That's not a knock on Hades - that's praise for how it handles dying. Each death opens up the opportunity for more story elements and dying never feels like a waste. It's thanks to that brilliant bit of game design that I've sunk countless hours into this game already. The beautiful art style and music that you'd come to expect from Supergiant Games has only been enhanced by what might be their best game yet from a gameplay perspective. The combat and weapons in Hades are a delight to get to grips with and some 60 odd runs later, I'm still learning new little nuances of the game. I honestly have nothing bad to say about this game. It's not only my 2020 Nintendo GOTY, but easily my overall GOTY."

"Do I need to gush about this more than I already have on the forum? It's not only easily the best game on Switch in 2020 but it's so far ahead of everything else that was put out on all others formats as well.  A truly special get that sets a new benchmark for Rogue-lites."

"Everyone on the forum and on my gaming podcasts was banging on about this. It sounded pretty cool but I did think people were overdoing it. It turns out it was pretty bloody excellent, even if the final boss is a bastard."

"Easily the best game of the year, everybody should try this game."

I say: Nope, sorry, not me.  I'll continue to appreciate it from afar.  It's pretty clear from those votes that if you like Hades, you love Hades, and I can well believe that it's set a new benchmark for the genre (if rogue-lites are a genre?  Please don't answer that).  In fact, this is exactly what last year's winner got pointswise!  Sadly for Hades, this isn't last year...

Animal Crossing: New Horizon (36 points, 9 votes, 4 firsts)



You say:
"This game has basically got me through 2020 - or at least the middle bit. I've trailed off a bit now, but I played this religiously, and a family member still plays every day. They basically made it the best game ever, somehow by making it more realistic! Great efforts by the team also to add updates that address potential issues (more ethnically diverse hairstyles etc.). It can't be underestimated how much work has gone into this thing."

"This game single handedly got me (and most of us tbh) through the start of the pandemic and i'll hold it up for it that alone. The crafting mechanic actually added quite alot to keep coming back to for me. My partner has played 400 hours and counting so thats basically the best endorsement i could give!"

"I'm sure everyone will say this but exactly what we needed this year. It was unusual to get so much time with and Animal Crossing game but I've managed to enjoy every minute, still has some frustrations with some odd decisions and missed opportunities but I can't help but come back to this nearly every day."

"I'm not even sure if it's my favourite AC game, and I only go back to it semi-regularly now, but I've put in over 200 hours and it was exactly what I needed when lockdown started last year. And it's still an amazing game which has improved on many aspects of the series in many ways."

"The first month or so of AC:NH was an absolute delight. Building up my island, seeing who's visited and jumping across to visit your homes away from home was a treat. I'm glad I can say I've been involved with an Animal Crossing whilst it was truly in the zeitgeist. I don't think the game has the legs it needs for me to stick with it, but I thoroughly enjoyed the time I did spend with the game."

"This is a charming, beautiful game and it kinda saved the world. Ultimately it is a bit disappointing either as a game-as-a-service or a traditional Animal Crossing, but I'm still dipping in a couple of times a week and enjoying my time on my island."

"A perfectly pleasant Animal Crossing game and a lockdown godsend. I ran out of steam fairly quickly, but it was nice while it lasted."

"It’s a nicer place to live than Great Britain."  (Low bar. - Balla)

I say: Was there any doubt?  Well, at one point Hades had edged in front by the virtue of having more first places, but... no, not really.  Almost everybody played ACNH this year, and most of us adored it.  Heck, I was sour on previous entries in the series, and even I liked it.  (Just less than everyone else who played it, apparently.)  I'd say that Nintendo had maybe one big exclusive this year, but it was so big it'll keep them rolling in money for a while to come.

I know Jas was somewhat surprised at how triple-A the Nontendo vote was, with one exception: well, here we are again!

Multiple Votes:
A Short Hike (8 / 4 / 0)
"Surprisingly emotional, perfectly paced, beautifully realised and totally captivating."
"Aww.  From the nostalgia-inducing graphics to the lovely flight controls to the really cute dialogue, this was the best island exploration and discovery game of 2020 and it’s not even close."
"Lovely little game. It's short, there's a hike, it had atmosphere, it was cheap and sweet and fun (like me, am I right lads)."

Murder by Numbers (4 / 2 / 0)
"Charming and funny writing mixed with a bit of Phoenix Wright style investigations and Pircross (the best type of puzzle game). I think it was always gonna be tough to dislike this, it ended up really hooking me with its story to the point I actively despised the bad guys."
"Really channeled the spirit of Ace Attorney.  That’s all I wanted from a game this year.  Also apparently picross was in there too."


One Vote Each: (starting with 5 points/first place and with each sub-section dropping a point)

What The Golf?: "Made me laugh.  Made my family laugh.  A properly solid game resides behind some laugh-out-loud comedy.  Forget Trump, COVID lockdowns, and your sports team doing badly: this not getting enough attention was the real tragedy of 2020.*  *May be untrue."

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin: "In the brief time I’ve had to play this it’s won me over completely.  There’s an indescribable quality to it: something between nostalgia and transporting me properly into another culture that thawed my frosty heart this Yule.  The farming may be tedious but it has its own charm, the combat’s great, and it’s got the best atmosphere of any game I’ve played this year.  Solidly in the running for my game of 2020."
Streets of Rage 4: "An admirably comprehensive and stylish side-scrolling beat ‘em up that’s definitely the best of it’s sort this millennium."
Super Mario Bros. 35: "The endgame was a bit shonky, but what a good idea it was to shake up a game that loads of people know by heart."
If Found...

Stories Untold: "A very well put together story driven adventure game that had me hooked from start to finish. "
The Last Campfire

51 Worldwide Games: "We played it once I think."
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and The Blade of Light: "If you cant already tell i still haven't got to most of the games that came out this year (My backlog is crazy at this point) but i still think this odd little release deserves it's spot. Fire Emblem's NES debut is a brutal game, It kicks your arse without mercy, but the added save state features of this version certainly makes it more pallatable. If you're a fan of the series it's a pretty cool piece of history."
Spiritfarer: "I appear to be the only person who fell in love with this game but I just could not put it down. Sailing from location to location, farming, cooking and fulfilling my friends requests to prepare them for their journey to the other side. Wonderful."

Mr. Driller DrillLand: "It’s an addictive, joyous, beautifully designed belter - I’m just sad that I didn’t get to play it sooner."
Rune Factory 4 Special: "It's Rune Factory 4, it's still great. Play it."
Sam & Max Save the World:"I played this point-and-click classic for the first time this year on Switch.  It’s possibly my favourite “traditional” adventure game I’ve played.  It’s genuinely hilarious and as non-frustrating as the genre can get.  Lower down the list since it previously released on Wii, and by all accounts not much has changed."
Jet Lancer
Takeshi and Hiroshi


And finally:

Nothing (7 / 3 / 1)
"This is what being an old person does. You don't have time, only a backlog."
"I’m not an Animal Crossing guy and would have probably enjoyed Paper Mario, but it was a quiet year for me, Nintendo-wise."


I say: It was a quiet year for a lot of us Nintendo-wise I think.  That said, we had 23 games here too!  So it's not like they're not out there if you look.  Most of them were ports, or remakes, or just smaller eShop games that therefore weren't seen as must-buys (a testament to Hades' quality that it broke that mould), and that's where the real quietness of the year came from - that and the perfectly understandable COVID reason, of course.

As for me personally, none of my games came in the top 5, and nobody else voted for my first or second places, meaning that I was officially the nichest Nintendo gamer on here.  That probably didn't help my view of 2020!  And as for the rest of you, you should all be busy scrubbing out your GNew Year's Resolutions and replacing them with, 'Play What The Golf?'  (Apart from Rum Mas and Buska, who should be replacing them with, 'Play Sakuna.')

Dusty Knackers’ triumphant return: "Great to see him back!  2020 saw a lot of welcome returnees, but Dusty gets the mention due to the sheer length of time he’s been away."

GJones: "Made the podium for my Contributor of the Year award, due to his Super Play guide thread, some laugh-out-loud posts, and (now that he has a Switch) his always-welcome game discussion contributions.  I know he’s not had the easiest festive season, but I hope that he had a great year.  He deserves it."

masofdas: "In terms of sheer content and news, you can't really beat mas. He has his finger on the pulse!"

Balladeer: "For being so understanding and supportive of me in a year where I struggled a lot. Means more than you'd know."

Buskalilly’s words and numbers post: "“Words are almost as bad as numbers. If I could, I’d ditch them too and just communicate through vibes and dance. “ For some reason this stuck in my head, not just for the sheer lunacy of the suggestion, but having visions of Maths teachers trying to teach a lesson."  (I couldn’t find this post, but the forum search functionality is useless so that means nothing.  Nice one Buska! - Balla)

Jackbox Party Pack Fallout: "I love this thread.  It’s not been picked up and run with quite as much as I’d like, but I love the idea and what content it’s had.  A couple more Champ’d Up posts and it would have been one of my three of 2020."

Among Us:
"I viewed this from the outside for a while and whilst I got it I couldn't understand why people would play it as much as they have. After now playing it I see why it can become so addictive, no two games feel the same aside from the fact there'll be some laughs."
"For bringing Dusty back to the forum!"

Super Mario 3D All-Stars:
"Didn't make my Switch vote purely down to it being straight ports but it was amazing to revisit some stellar classics which for my money still hold up incredibly well."
"Lazy as all fuck and not at all an appropriate celebration of the 35th anniversary of gaming’s greatest series, but 64, Sunshine and Galaxy are still three of the best and timeless platformers of all time."
(Another user also mentioned that they enjoyed this, along with the Pokémon DLC, but excluded it from their votes.)

51 Worldwide Games: "Not only a nice way to play loads of familiar classics, but a great introduction to tons of new ones too. This’ll last me ages, this’ll be something I’ll be playing until 52 Worldwide Games."

Hades: "It's darn good but I've not played enough of it to make any of my votes but can see it winning Nintendo"   (Nearly! - Balla)

Jackbox Party Pack 7: "Didn’t make my five games simply because it doesn’t feel like a massive step up from 3, but this is I’d say the best Jackbox I’ve played.  Quiplash is Quiplash, but Champ’d Up is where the real quality lies.  Sublime."

Murder by Numbers: "I had a lot of fun with it but it didn't quite make my top 5. It was a close call though!"


The eShop: "In a year where the big releases let me personally down, four of my top five games of 2020 were all eShop-only purchases.  It may not be very functional, or very aesthetic, but it has the games."

The Nintendo 64: "Those unexpected months that I spent at home and the limitations on doing basically anything I enjoy away from gaming meant that I spent hours upon hours getting reacquainted with the greatest console of all time. Twenty-three years on, it’s still a magical machine."

Final Fantasy XIV: "For allowing me to lose myself in a world and surround myself with another great community when I needed it. Also for being bloody brilliant too."

Tony Hawk's Remastered: "Felt exactly like I remember it, proved that there is place for this in the year 2020."


PC Engine CoreGrafx Mini: "It’s arguably the best mini console yet, with a mixture of game types from a range of developers that you just didn’t see represented on Nintendo, Sony and SEGA’s equivalents. The price keeps falling too, it’s a bargain for the £70ish quid it’s selling for these days."

Evercade: "I’ve not always been kind towards the Evercade, but fair fucks to them for getting this out during the middle of a pandemic. They’re listening to their supporters too, responding to  all sorts of feedback on their social media pages and actioning them by releasing better firmware and better software. I overall like that I’ve got an Evercade and I hope there’s good things to come."

Game Pass: "Like always and this year EA was added to the service giving more value"

Games from prior years: "I played quite a few games in 2020 that I’d like to shout out. Boom Blox and Super Paper Mario got me through the start of lockdown back in April/May, and then by the end of the year I’d discovered a love for Yakuza. I had a Switch for a few months and 100%-ed Luigi’s Mansion 3, played a fair bit of Hollow Knight and then also dipped into the Xbox 360’s early years with the launch line-up. These are all honourable mentions, as games across Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft systems got me through what has been a shiter of a year."

Vaccines: "Finally, some optimism in this, the Year of Luigi COVID!"
Dumping Trump: "Finally, some optimism in this, the Year of Luigi COVID!"

FIFA 21 Legacy Edition:
"This for forty quid, or literally any FIFA game on the XBox 360 for 50p down at Shelter. There’s only one winner there. They’re also the same thing."
"I’ve not played it, but I’m going out on a limb to say it’s the worst game of 2020 on premise alone."

Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training For Nintendo Switch: "I bought this because I felt that some brain age training could help sharpen my mental focus during lockdown. Looking back, I don’t think it had any actual cognitive effectiveness or long-term benefit. It’s an awkward game on Switch and in the year 2020."

Hotshot Racing: "So much effort was put into mastering the graphics, handling and speed, but the developers forgot to put the gameplay in. A bafflingly dull game that doesn’t connect in any meaningful way, this should have been so much better than it was."

Pokémon Sword/Shield: The Crown Tundra: "Properly disappointing, this.  They focussed on the most luck-dependant and annoying part of the franchise (catching legendaries), and the writing felt subpar too.  The worst Pokemon “game” I’ve played since at least Diamond/Pearl."

SEGA AGES: "Unexciting 2020 releases like Sonic 2, Puyo Puyo 2 and Fantasy Zone looks to have killed this off for good. It’s crazy to put forward games of that calibre for a dishonourable mention, but it’s honestly getting to the point where we never need to see them again."  (Side note - I've only just noticed that 'SEGA AGES' is a palindrome. )

Superliminal: "If you’re going to ape one of the most revered games of all time in Portal, you’re going to need more than cheap trickery and throwaway ideas."

Super Mario 3D All-Stars: "For being a straight port, Mario deserves better and should be celebrated, this package didn't feel like it did that."

WWE 2K Battlegrounds: "An okayish wrestling game that’s brought down by inexcusable glitches, unvaried combat and an aggressive microtransactions system. I don’t know how 2K keep arsing these WWE games up, this must be close to their tenth attempt."


The announcer for Champ’d Up: "He made me appreciate Schmitty, amazingly."
The announcer for Blather Round: "She made me appreciate Schmitty, amazingly."

eShop sales: "For always tempting to buy something else I don't have the time for and for being so frequent they've lost a lot of their excitement."

Limited time releases from Nintendo: "Artificial scarcity at its worst. I hate hate hate this business model they've adopted so much."

Nintendo reverting to their old DMCA/lack of understanding the Internet ways: "Taking down Smash tournaments, taking down fan projects, taking down YouTube videos... Nintendo have regressed in their handling of the Internet."

Candy Crush Saga: "A game that I downloaded to my new phone for old time's sake, but found the game itself is a right pain to play. They have filled it with too much nonsense and things to collect that ultimately have no bearing on the game. "

Psychonauts 2: "For still not being out!"


Crunch: "Naughty Dog, CDPR, and probably loads of others have put their staff through hell to kowtow to their shareholders. It's almost amusing seeing it blow up in their face in the case of CDPR."

UbiSoft: "I’d call them “cunts”, but they seem too fond of that body part and might take it as a compliment."

Scalpers: "I hope they all get a venereal disease."

Sony’s customer support: "Utterly useless"

COVID: "It’s not cool and it’s not original to hate on the pandemic, but from a gaming perspective, there’s little doubt that it screwed up Nintendo’s output.  I don’t have the words or the sensitivity to describe its many impacts from a broader perspective.  Stay safe everyone."

Muss (3 votes)



You say:
"There's nothing like a big meaty Muss post to get your teeth stuck into. I think his longform posts are really bloody good and are a great example of why this place still existing in its current format on a forum still makes sense. A big tweet chain doesn't work and long Discord posts can get easily lost amongst the general babble. You know when Muss posts here, he's got something worth saying."

"He's a good boy innit"

"It’s been a good year for the big man."

I say: One of the masters of the text wall, Muss is always good for a solid contribution.  Thoroughly agreed with comment one.

= Balladeer (4 votes)



You say:
"Can't really argue with the commitment to engaging in conversation in almost every thread in the forum, and keeping the forum going, and chatting away to every forumite regularly. And for years!"

"been rather active year with trying to keep threads alive"

"Consistently puts great work into the forum and organises alot of it (Don't let this go to your head mind haha)"

"ABSOLUTE UNIT!!!"


= masofdas (4 votes)



You say:
"Not necessarily because of the thought-provoking nature of his responses (I'd like to read more), but the sheer energy and passion for gaming in 2020. He’s my glimpse into next-gen and the way he hoovers up games and generates the conversation around them, has to be admired."

"It’s been another quiet year for Nintendo.  No surprise, then, that Mas’ presence is welcomed: he logs on almost every day and churns out the good stuff, even despite the many veiled jabs at the Switch.  He started my top topic of 2020 as well.  It’s been a good year for the big man - relatively speaking at least."

"I might not always agree with his views but he's very committed to the forum and always tries to keep the discussion going."

"This lad's a superhero in his hometown, but he still finds the time to make those monthly release threads."


I say: Well deserved Mas!  It's nice to see commitment count for something, and the big man (is that still funny?) has provided the big chats this year.  We may have had fewer Nintendo games this year (and if there are two people who'll let you know it, it's these two), but Mas hasn't let that stop him delivering conversation in spades!  As for me, I officially dub myself the King of Second Place (three years on the trot now).  Thanks you four!

The Cappuccino Kid (6 votes)



You say:
"been rather active year with retro"

"Very funny, always on the ball with bargains for the forum and the undisputed king of retro."

"The man's retro reviews and thread ideas truly are top notch. He's got a really NGamerian writing style that makes reading his baw-bootings a proper treat."

"His N64 reviews were good shit and he's always up to chat."

"I think Cappa is the forumite most consistently contributing to millions of threads, sharing the bargains he's stumbled across, old memories of games for almost every system, and regular references to Still Game."

"The resident Del Boy of GNamer for his willingness to wade through buckets of old turds for our entertainment. I like the idea of picking up cheap games I’ll never play, and I sometimes partake in such sorcery, but wanting to not just play some dated, polygonal jank, and then write about it in an entertaining manner too? The bloke’s either going down in GNamer folklore as a hero, or being carted off to the nearest mental institution a quivering wreck, brandishing Nagano ‘98 cartridges as he hurls expletives."

I say: It's truly been Cappa's awards.  Two out of three podium places for his topics (effectively), joint-funniest forumite, and contributor of the year by a distance.  And why not?  In a year when it's been mince to look outside, Cappa's been there with an in-depth, interesting, and funny look into the past; while also joining in with almost everything going on in the present.  That he's done it all while working in a sector that's been absolutely ravaged by COVID is to his immense credit.  Bravo Cappa, and don't let the bastards/Nagano '98 grind you down!

All of these fine fellows got the one vote each:

Buskalilly: "It’s been a good year for the big man."

Dusty Knackers:

image:

Rum: "There’s a wholesome vibe to Rum’s posts that is much welcomed in a time of distress.  He’s been here a fair bit, it feels, posting about his JRPGs and taking part in many forum projects; but it’s a quality over quantity vote from me here.  It’s been a delight to read his posts."

The_Jaster: "The Monster Hunter Rise excitement and content.... I LOVE IT"

Treesmurf: "An ever present good boy"


I say: A wide variety of forumites getting votes for this award is a sign of a healthy community, even in times of crisis.  That's what I love to see.  Good boys one and all.

I T 'S   T H E   N U M B E R S

It's actually not, I much prefer compiling and reading the comments; but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that seeing the numbers go up and some numbers squeezing past other numbers didn't give me just a little tingle of pleasure.