The 2023 Game Awards nominations were announced last week, and it feels pretty stacked for fighting games this round. And rightfully so!
The 2023 Game Awards is noted to be one of the highlights of each year of electronic entertainment. For many, it’s Christmas ahead of Christmas because of the trailer forecast and reveals for later years. Of course, the Summer Game Fest is usually the more thorough run for what’s coming up. Both events are spearheaded by video game journalist Geoff Keighley. For instance, Tekken 8 was announced at the 2022 show.
Speaking of the Namco Bandai franchise, Tekken 8 is being nominated for Most Anticipated Game. It goes up against Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Hades II, Like A Dragon(formally Yakuza): Infinite Wealth, and Star Wars Outlaws, all releasing next year. Street Fighter 6 is redeemed as a potential shoo-in for Best Multiplayer Game against Diablo 4, Party Animals, Super Mario Wonder, and Baldur’s Gate 3.
The supposed wrong, from The Golden Joystick Awards Mortal Kombat 1 win, feels like it’s made right. The rest of the nominees are as follows:
– Rhythm fighter God of Rock
– Mortal Kombat 1
– Street Fighter 6
– Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
– Neo Geo Pocket Color’s serious spiritual cousin Pocket Bravery
These titles round out the nominations for Best Fighting Game. Street Fighter’s last appearance was back in 2018 for this category with Street Fighter V. This is the second year in a row to see a Smash-Like make the cut, for The Game Awards, in the form of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2. Warner Bros’ attempt at duplicating Nintendo’s success – Multiversus – who was the victor for Best Fighting Game in this space, defeated Arc Systems Works’ Guilty Gear Strive. Multversus was a beta product with high ambitions to connect several Warner Bros and Hanna Barbera IPs in a 4 man fisticuffs.
You had Batman vs LeBron(because Space Jam). Scooby Doo’s Shaggy taking on Wonder Woman. And, the likes of Rick and Morty. Most of their best voice actors reprised their roles, including the greatest Batman of all time: the late Kevin Conroy.
Multiversus brought about several fascinating ideas to the genre. For instance, revealing character archetypes, attribute modifiers that could differ even a mirror match with attack, armor boosts, smash stability gains, and more. MultiVersus was shut down earlier this year. All-Star Brawl 2 attempts to fill the void left by Multiversus.
Evo 2023 has been nominated for Best Esports Event for The 2023 Game Awards. Formally known as “Battle of the Bay”, back in 1996. with only Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo as the mains, the Evolution Tournament had expanded.
It has grown its majors roster to 8 games, from Guilty Gear to King of Fighters. Home of the infamous Daigo Umehara(Ken) vs Justin Wong(Chun-Li) Street Fighter 3 Third Strike upset( Evo Moment 37 for short), Evo seems to remain the solo fighting game representative in this category.
Breaking its’ The Game Awards nomination streak is Arc System Works with no games in the category of Best Fighting Game this year. The company gave us back-to-back nominations for 3 years starting in 2020 with Granblue Fantasy Versus and UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r] (say that 5 times fast). Arc Systems Works has mastered the art of cel-shaded fighting games since its’ latest and best conception of the popular Akira Toriyama franchise yet, Dragonball FighterZ, and Guilty Gear Xrd, and hasn’t stopped finding ways to push things further. The game Guilty Gear Strive was the last time Arc System Works flexed this muscle. Guilty Gear Strive has new seasons forthcoming.
Break out that tux and tie either there at the Peacock Theatre, or at home, and tune in on December 7th, 2023. There’s still time to vote, by the way.
Let us know who you got!
