Nintendo is in the unique and rather enviable position of fighting itself for the best-reviewed game of the year. Super Mario Odyssey is out in the wild, and the reviews have been uniformly positive. It’s biggest rival in terms of positive coverage? Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Here are the top five best-reviewed games for 2017 to date, according to Metacritic:
- Super Mario Odyssey with a 97
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Switch with a 97
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Wii U with a 96
- Divinity: Original Sin 2 with a 93
- Persona 5 with a 93
The review scores for Odyssey look pretty impressive when you line them all up.
Nintendo is on a bit of a hot streak this year with the Switch continuing to sell out, a new Zelda title, a new Mario title, a new Metroid title, the sequel to Splatoon, the SNES Classic selling out instantly and … well, amiibo are still a thing I guess.
Watching the game of the year awards is going to be interesting this year, with so many outlets raining love on Nintendo’s offerings. Nintendo is often conservative with its releases, trying to make sure there’s always that one game you’re looking forward to getting next, but 2017 was absolutely stacked with great games and hardware from the gaming giant.
When Nintendo comes out swinging, it comes out swinging.