The funny thing about the NPA is that the whole Reader Vote thing is really useless and ends up being totally downplayed. NP knows their fanboy base, so the premise of nominating games is just a front to fill some pages. When the "awards" are printed, the final article is really about what the Nintendo Power editorial team chose. In fact, out of the 21 categories, only one of them features accompanying artwork from the game that the readers chose as the winner. Every other award showcases an image from the game that the editors selected. (This does not affect situations where both the readers and the editors chose the same game, of course.)

Regardless, there's a lot of Zelda imagery in this one.

Wii Game of the Year: I voted Wii Sports. Zelda won, as predicted.

GameCube Game of the Year: I voted Chibi-Robo. Zelda won, as predicted.

DS Game of the Year: I voted EBA, but I guessed New Super Mario Bros would win. The readers went NSMB, but the editors chose EBA.

GBA Game of the Year: I was dead on yet again. I predicted Final Fantasy V would win the vote and it did. I personally voted for Drill Dozer and so did the editors.

Console Best Graphics: I voted for Excite Truck out of process of elimination more than anything else. Zelda won, which is stupid... it's a GameCube game. As predicted.

DS Best Graphics: I said readers would vote Metroid Prime Hunters and I was freaking right again. I voted for EBA out of sheer love, but the editors voted for whatever Castlevania game came out last year. I don't keep up with these things.

Best Music: I called another Zelda win, and the readers did not disappoint. I voted for Rub Rabbits, because as much as I may love EBA, this is a music category, not a soundtrack category. The editors were typically confused on the difference and chose EBA.

Best Sound/Voice Acting: I didn't really specify a prediction on the reader vote for this one, because all the games nominated sucked. The readers chose Call of Duty 3, so I guess this is my first prognostication loss, by default. Both myself and NP chose Rayman Raving Whoops WarioWare Is Out Forget This Rabbids.

Best RPG/Strategy Game: FFIII won, as predicted. I voted for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon because I was afraid that if I didn't, they might give up on the franchise and not make any more games. :(

Best Adventure: Zelda won, as predicted. This was my only Zelda vote, actually.

Best Platformer: I voted Drill Dozer again. New Super Mario Bros won, as predicted.

Best Shooter/Action Game: I must have been high to not name Metroid Hunters as the winner here, because duh. The readers went with Metroid, the editors went with Mega Man Even More Animed Edition, and I hand myself another loss because I stopped caring about this ill-defined category.

Best Sports/Racing Game: Wii Sports sweeps the readers, the editors, the lovers, the dreamers, and me.

Best Alternative Game: I have to chalk this as another Joe-didn't-care loss, since I just chose Elite Beat Agents myself and walked away. The readers voted for Brain Age, if you can believe that, and NP agreed with me.

And don't forget:

Best Multiplayer: Another all-around Wii Sports win.

Best New Character: As predicted, Midna took it. The readers must only have played the first three hours of Twilight Princess, because Midna has, like, only five lines after that point. I hated Midna and thought Twilight Princess's story was lousy. I voted for Chibi-Robo! NP voted for the guys from EBA, which is just weird. 90% of the people they save are more interesting than they are.

Best Story/Writing: From my previous article: "When TP wins, we'll have to endure Nintendo Power's inappropriately gushing hype-ograph."

"As should be obvious by now, pretty much every facet of Twilight Princess is amazing. What ties the whole experience together, though, is the most compelling narrative in the franchise's history. The direct connections to Ocarina of Time sent nostalgic chills down our spines, and the adventure carried more dramatic weight than your typical Zelda thanks to a significantly darker tone..."

Uh-huh.

Best WiFi Functionality: I voted Clubhouse Games. Metroid Hunters won, as predicted.

Best Wii Control: I voted Trauma Center, although that was just so I could enjoy checking a box for Trauma Center. As predicted, Wii Sports won.

Best DS Functionality: I voted EBA. Brain Age won, as predicted.

Game of the Year: I voted for three games that were not Twilight Princess, and Twilight Princess won, as predicted.

So I only missed my predictions on three categories. Zelda won every category in which it was nominated, which is sad and lame, especially in the Character and Writing awards. And did we even get more than four third-party games mentioned? This is like any given year of Nintendo forum talk in one handy article.

Oh, oh, and remember, there was a contest tied to the voting where one lucky winner receives the Games of the Year for Wii, Cube, GBA and DS. Enjoy them TWO extra copies of Twilight Princess, pal. Some local GameStop will be seeing those on trade-in very soon.