Last year, the Nintendo Power Awards were all about Twilight Princess. This year, Super Mario Galaxy is sure to sweep. Since Nintendo Power was handed over to new owners, I'm not sure if I will renew my subscription. As of yet, the magazine is entirely unchanged under the new management... but the renewal process completely sucks compared to the FREE GIFT heaven that Nintendo ran. In the Nintendo days, I could choose from a pile of free strategy guides, t-shirts, or occasionally other collectibles like the Wii Remote keychain or the GBASP headphones. The new guys have exactly one renewal bonus, a mini-guide to Phantom Hourglass. Suck that.

Although here's an upgrade: the Awards voting is now done online, on a freakin' Wordpress URL. Really? You losers couldn't spring for a custom domain name for this? Couldn't get the form under the nintendopower.com URL that you already own? Poor show, New Guys. Way to look bush.

I guess this means that ANYBODY can vote in the Awards this year; previous voting was always down via postcard inserts in the magazine. Maybe, once the word gets out, this year we'll see a far greater spread in the results than the fanboy insta-vote for whatever was Nintendo's biggest first-party game. I kinda doubt it.

So here's Part One of my picks:

Game of the Year - Wii
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
OK, NiGHTS is barely out, so there's no chance there. Nobody bought Fire Emblem or Zack & Wiki, so scratch them off as well. Super Paper Mario was not even as good as the previous Paper Mario games, so no. That leaves Metroid 3 and Galaxy. This is a very tough call for me, because I thought Metroid 3 had just the right length and difficulty, while Galaxy drags on to 240 stars and punishes you with too much of a perfection requirement. And on the other hand, Metroid 3 lives off of shunting you around to the same locations over and over while Galaxy is constantly dumping you inside something completely new and fresh. In the end, I have to vote for Metroid 3. Perhaps mainly because I still preferred Sunshine to Galaxy. There is no way in hell that Galaxy won't win this, however.

Game of the Year - DS
Contra 4, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, Sonic Rush Adventure
Pokemon. Complete blowout all around.

Best Wii Graphics
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
That's cute how they keep putting in games that nobody played. This one goes to Galaxy, and deservedly so. The fans will agree with me.

Best DS Graphics
Brothers in Arms DS, Contra 4, Dementium: The Ward, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
One thing that this list should be noted for, is the wild diversity of games listed. WWII shooter, horror FPS, 2D sidescroller, point-and-click adventure, blue sky 3D adventure, and a Final Fantasy game. It's pretty amazing how the DS has leapt to serve. I go for Phantom Hourglass, and I think the voters will do the same based on brand name alone. Although the adherence to the world of the Gamecube's excellent Wind Waker is why I'm there.

Best Music
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS), Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii), The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS), Luminous Arc (DS), NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii), Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
You know, I'm sure Mario Galaxy had great music, but I'll be damned if I can remember any of it. Again, thanks to the inspiration of Wind Waker, I vote for Phantom Hourglass. But I call this another category swept by Galaxy anyway.

Best Sound/Voice Acting
The Godfather: Blackhand Edition (Wii), The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (Wii), Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii), Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (Wii), The Simpsons Game (Wii), Transformers: The Game (Wii)
Here's the category where Nintendo pretends to give a shit about third parties. This one goes to The Simpsons Game, in the only conceivable category that game could win, unless NP would create an award for Worst Adherence To License And Also Terrible Camera. I could see Godfather sneaking this one, simply due to the "Oscar-caliber" actors involved, but I bet Simpsons wins it anyway. Sequel confirmed!

Best Adventure Game
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS), The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS), Lunar Knights (DS), Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All (DS), Super Paper Mario (Wii), Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Wii)
Funny story: In the blurb for this award, the editors suggest voting for something besides Phantom Hourglass since you've most likely "already voted for Link's latest as game of the year for the DS." How's that for delicate. As for me, if I played Zack & Wiki, I probably would have voted for it rather than my choice, Super Paper Mario. And despite the magazine's pleas, Zelda is going to carry this one.

Best RPG/Strategy Game
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (DS), Final Fantasy VI Advance (GBA), Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS), Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii), Luminous Arc (DS), Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (DS)
Interesting to note: in the artwork that accompanies this spread in the mag, there is NO Pokemon related art, aside from a single screenshot back under DS Game of the Year. Meanwhile, clip art abounds of Mario, Samus, Link, even the docs from Trauma Center. So the game that has sold more copies than every other game on all categories combined, gets treated like some third party pity nom. What the hell. Pokemon smokes every game in this category. You might get some support for Final Fantasy, but the GBA and DS editions will split the vote... and Pokemon will trounce.

Best Platformer
Dewy's Adventure (Wii), DK Jungle Climber (DS), Drawn to Life (DS), Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii), Sonic Rush Adventure (DS), Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
Ha ha, Drawn to Life. Good one. They could have slipped Manhunt 2 into this category and no one would have noticed. Galaxy has my vote and will win hands down. Another mark on Mario's belt.

Best Shooter/Action Game
Bleach: The Blade of Fate (DS), Contra 4 (DS), Mega Man ZX Advent (DS), Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii), NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii), Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii)
Gah, quit with the NiGHTS already! No one even has it yet! This one is between Metroid and Resident Evil, and I'm siding with Samus. I'm going to count on N fanboyism to agree with me, although a win for Umbrella Chronicles sure would be nice for the third parties.

I'll cut it off there. Feel free to go vote for your favorites, and then meet me back here to Part Two in a few days, when we get to the really meaty stuff, like Best Puzzle Game.