Previewing Nintendo’s night at The Game Awards 2025

The Nintendo Switch 2 makes its Game Awards debut when next week’s show airs live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, and it’s arriving with a contender for the biggest prize of the night.

Donkey Kong Bananza is up for the prestigious Game of the Year honor, aiming to be just the second time Nintendo has taken home the award following Breath of the Wild’s win in 2017. It’s a very well-earned nomination after the game enjoyed overwhelming acclaim by both media and fans, and it’s surely not going to be the last GOTY nod that Bananza receives. In fact, Donkey Kong’s latest adventure already nabbed the Critics’ Choice Award from the Golden Joysticks.

Bananza stands alongside Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hades II, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, as the six titles up for Game of the Year. The starpower might not be there like in year’s past, but make no mistake, this is one seriously stacked lineup of contenders. No one nominee is the clear cut favorite, making it one of the most unpredictable selections for GOTY in many years.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the single most nominated title in the history of The Game Awards with 12 different nominations, but Hollow Knight: Silksong developed something of a legendary reputation during the long wait for its release, and to its credit, the indie sidescroller is as good as it gets in that genre. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach has Hideo Kojima’s name to it, but Hades II was another smash hit from Supergiant, and comfortably enjoyed the highest Metacritic score among all brand new releases this year (95).

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II might have the least brand recognition in the category, but we’ve seen dark horse candidates come out in previous years, like when Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice won in 2019. Donkey Kong Bananza might be a colorful, family-friendly platformer, but that didn’t stop the wildly successful Astrobot from taking home the GOTY prize last year.

Another category where Donkey Kong Bananza is in contention is the Best Family Game award. While Bananza has decent odds to win Game of the Year, it feels safe to say that it has great odds to win Best Family Game. When a game is regarded so highly that it is nominated for the top honor of the whole show, it inherently becomes the favorite in a secondary category, especially when no other game in said secondary category is up for GOTY. Lego Party, Lego Voyagers, and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds are all longshots here. Split Fiction, and to a lesser extent, Mario Kart World, feel viable, but they’re still up against what is truly one of the greatest 3D platformers this century in Donkey Kong Bananza.

It’s also a category where Nintendo has seen plenty of success over the years. They have claimed Best Family Game at seven of the eleven Game Awards shows, although last year they were bested by Astrobot. Nintendo will look to get back on track in the category this year, and with Bananza leading the way, they have a more-than-excellent chance at doing so.

At the time of this piece’s publishing, Bananza is also one of the 10 remaining games that are in contention for the fully fan-voted Players’ Voice award.

Mario Kart World stands a far better chance to come out on top in Best Sports/Racing — a category that Nintendo has rarely found its name in over the years. Their lone win came at the very first Game Awards presentation in 2014 with Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U. Otherwise, the only other time they have been nominated was with Mario Tennis Aces in 2018. Although some design elements in Mario Kart World received a polarizing response from fans, Mario Kart is Mario Kart. World has still sold like crazy, and it reviewed better than every other nominee in the category (Rematch, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, F1 25, and EA Sports FC 26). The recent update to the game also seems to be assuaging some of the lingering concerns that more critical fans had.

Despite what the name of the award may suggest, the winners have not exactly been split evenly by the two different genres. Out of 11 Game Awards events, a sports game has only won the Best Sports/Racing award twice (three at most if you were to count Rocket League in 2015). With racing games historically dominating the category, that puts odds that this year will come down to Mario Kart World and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, with F1 25 having an outside chance.

It’s a little surprising that Mario Kart World didn’t make the cut for either Best Multiplayer or Best Score and Music, but those aren’t necessarily egregious snubs. What’s outright baffling is how Donkey Kong Bananza was deemed great enough to be in contention for Game of the Year, but then be shut out across all other categories aside from [the arguably infantilizing] Best Family Game. If a game is held in such high regard that it has the chance to win the single biggest award of the night, it should be a leading contender in a couple other categories.

The precedent was set last year for a platformer like Astrobot to be nominated in Best Action/Adventure Game. Bananza’s omission from the category is nothing short of absurd while games like Ghost of Yotei, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Split Fiction are nominated, despite none of them being in contention for Game of the Year.

Those frustrations aside, Nintendo is in good shape to get back in the winner’s circle at this year’s event after coming away empty handed in 2024. The Game Awards 2025 airs live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California next Thursday, December 11th. 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.