Previewing Nintendo’s night at the Game Awards 2023

The 10th edition of the Game Awards will emanate from Los Angeles, California later this week on Thursday, December 7th, and Nintendo fans are poised for a big night of celebration.

Nintendo leads the way among publishers with 15 nominations, including two candidates in the Game of the Year honor. It’s the most nominations Nintendo has received at the Game Awards since 2019, where they also received 15 (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was recognized at those awards rather than in 2018), and the second most they have ever received at the event, only trailing behind their 2017 showing where they netted a whopping 19 nominations, not even including what Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle received on Ubisoft’s behalf.

Both The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder are up for Game of the Year, marking the very rare occurrence where a single publisher has multiple games in contention for the show’s most prestigious honor. Of course, this isn’t the first time it has happened to Nintendo. They accomplished the same back in 2017, the year which saw the releases of an acclaimed 3D Legend of Zelda game (Breath of the Wild), and an equally acclaimed Super Mario platformer (Super Mario Odyssey). It only seems right that Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder would both be up for Game of the Year just six years later.

The Switch’s two biggest releases from 2023 are also in contention for Best Game Direction, Best Art Direction, along with entries in the fan-decided Players’ Voice category. Tears of the Kingdom, then, has been nominated for Best Score and Music and Best Action/Adventure Game, while Super Mario Bros. Wonder has been nominated for Best Family Game and Best Multiplayer.

Fans will want to pay particular attention to how the award for Best Game Direction pans out, as it has historically been a strong indicator for what will go on to be honored with the Game of the Year award. Since the Best Game Direction was introduced at the 2016 event, five of the last seven years have seen the winner also awarded with Game of the Year.

With all due respect to Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which was a fantastic game that everybody should play, it’s Tears of the Kingdom that likely stands as Nintendo’s favorite to clean up. The Legend of Zelda commands a presence like few other franchises do in the video game industry, and Tears of the Kingdom somehow managed to live up to the immeasurable expectations set by its predecessor, which won Game of the Year back in 2017. Best Action/Adventure Game feels like a borderline lock for Tears of the Kingdom, and it certainly is in serious play for Best Game Direction.

Let’s put it like this — if Tears of the Kingdom walks away without either of those, it’s nothing short of a major upset.

With all of that said, however, Legend of Zelda fans should prepare for the very real possibility that Tears of the Kingdom comes up just shy of the biggest award of the night. Direct sequels to current gen games rarely receive the Game of the Year honor. They don’t land the same impact that the ‘original’ entry did, even if they might by all accounts be the bigger, better game. With Tears of the Kingdom reusing so many assets from Breath of the Wild, including the entire overworld, it has an uphill battle against something that was built from the ground up.

Don’t be surprised if it performs similarly to God of War Ragnarok from 2022, which took home multiple awards (including Best Action/Adventure Game), but was ultimately edged out by Elden Ring for Game of the Year. In 2023’s case, the ‘Elden Ring’ of this Game Awards show will probably be Baldur’s Gate 3. Of course, nothing is set in stone, and you won’t find any of us at Zelda Universe complaining if Tears of the Kingdom defies the odds.

While Super Mario Bros. Wonder seems like an even greater longshot to win Game of the Year, it too is in excellent shape to nab a couple of trophies for Nintendo. Being a brand new entry with an art direction all its own, it arguably has much better odds than Tears of the Kingdom for Best Art Direction (although Hi-Fi Rush and Lies of P are formidable competition).

Where Tears of the Kingdom feels like a lock for Best Action/Adventure Game, Super Mario Bros. Wonder feels like a lock to continue Nintendo’s regular success with the Best Family Game category. When a colorful 2D platformer is so well regarded that it’s nominated for Game of the Year, it becomes a massive favorite in a more specialized category, especially in one where the nominees typically aren’t quite AAA blockbusters. If by some strange twist of fate Mario and co. are upset, Pikmin 4 is right there with more than decent odds to still bring the award back to Nintendo.

The award that will be most fun to watch for Super Mario Bros. Wonder is Best Multiplayer. Do not sleep on the possibility that Mario pulls off the unheralded win here. Super Mario Bros. Wonder featured a unique cooperative experience both for local multiplayer, and particularly for online play, the latter of which was an ambitious approach that very few, if any other 2D platformers could boast. As entertaining as the other nominees for Best Multiplayer are, none of their experiences distinguish themselves from the rest of the pack like Mario’s latest romp does.

Another category where Nintendo appears all-but guaranteed to come out on top is in Best Sim/Strategy Game, where they own three of the five nominees: Pikmin 4, Fire Emblem Engage, and Advance Wars 1+2: Re-boot Camp. With the remaining nominees—Company of Heroes 3, and Cities: Skylines II—largely finding their audiences on PC, and Advance Wars 1+2: Re-boot Camp being a remake of Gameboy Advance titles, we project that this race will come down to Pikmin 4 and Fire Emblem Engage. We here at Zelda Universe loved Fire Emblem Engage, and the franchise has history of taking home this award after Fire Emblem: Three Houses won in 2019, but Pikmin 4 was a breakout success for the Pikmin series and enjoyed a bit more acclaim. The power of Dandori is likely earning the trophy there.

Beyond the realm of video game releases, Nintendo is being recognized alongside Illumination and Universal Pictures for The Super Mario Bros. Movie in the Best Adaptation category. This is first year where the award is being presented, and while it would be awesome for Nintendo to take home the inaugural win, it faces stiff competition in the form of the lauded The Last of Us show. As beloved as The Super Mario Bros. Movie was, if we’re being honest with ourselves, The Last of Us probably deserves the honor more than any other nominee.

But that will hardly determine Nintendo’s overall performance. When the show is all said and done, Nintendo is assuredly coming home with multiple awards — it’s just a question of whether they’re adding a handful to the trophy case at their headquarters, or if they’re having their single most successful year ever at the Game Awards.

The Game Awards 2023 streams live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California this coming Thursday, December 7th. The show begins at 7:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, and will stream on YouTube, Twitch, and several other channels. For a complete list of distribution partners, or to cast your votes, visit The Game Awards official website.