Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
The 3DS had a rough launch, but over the course of a few years, it bounced back in a big way. At this point if you count digital releases, it’s one of my favorite platforms of all time — and I’m not just talking about the portable arena.
Slowly but surely many franchises have found their home on the 3DS, including the once Sony-led Monster Hunter. This year may have been a light lineup in some gamers’ eyes, but it still had a handful of great Game of the Year contenders and our 2015 winner, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, epitomizes how far the 3DS has come on a both a technical and fundamental level.
Despite the fact that it called Sony home for nearly a decade, the series has transitioned well into Nintendo’s safekeeping. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate caught me in a way that the last iteration never could, with a large number of gameplay adjustments and engaging environments. Capcom also managed to support the game for months on end with free DLC updates, including a ton of classic homages and Nintendo tie-ins.
This train isn’t stopping anytime soon for both publishers either, as Monster Hunter X has smashed records yet again this year in Japan on 3DS.
[Incomplete products like Steam Early Access titles and episodic games that are not fair to assess as stand alone experiences, without a full episode count, were not eligible for this year’s awards. The cutoff for entry into Destructoid’s 2015’s Game of the Year awards is December 4, 2015.]
