The RH 2023 Game Awards dazzled audiences on New Year’s Eve with an electrifying live-stream event. The cast was an ensemble of Rapid, sporting sophistication in a dapper blazer, Stubbs igniting the stage with boundless energy, Axryn engaging the audience with trivia, Zu, the maestro behind the magical wheel, and Ban orchestrating the video stream from the attic. This promised a night destined for legend. Laughter, tears, and above all, a celebration of outstanding games were in store.
#not pictured: Ban in the attic
Fresh from a Kroger Brawl, Zu unveiled a wheel to determine winners throughout the evening. Stubbs’s daughter crafted handheld boxes, harboring a trove of prizes for the lucky recipients. Anbernic generously contributed RG35XX units, enticing viewers to conquer Axryn’s challenging questions.
This year we had a variety of categories for our GotX games to be nominated for by RH users. The categories included Best Soundtrack/Sound Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Story/Narrative, Best Action Game, Best Action-Adventure Game, Best RPG/ARPG, Best Platformer/Action Platformer, Game of the Week of the Year, and the highly anticipated Game of the Year.
GotY Category Winners
Best Soundtrack/Sound Direction was first off the boards. No one was surprised to see that R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 had won the category with its head-bobbing soundtrack that plays as you race. Best Art Direction was tackled by the whimsical cute ‘em up, Harmful Park. The fun and colorful aesthetic of the game was just too much for the other nominees to overcome. Going into the night, many thought Vagrant Story was going to be taking Best Story/Narrative, especially because it has Story right in the name. Solid Snake had something to say about that, and using his stealth, like he does, snatched the award for Metal Gear Solid.Â
GotY Category Winners
The awards were coming, the trivia kept coming, and the wheel continued spinning leading into the next category of Best Action-Adventure game. Fueled by beans, Ban hit that tasty B-roll, and Solid Snake stole another victory for Metal Gear Solid. Best Platformer/Action-Platformer had to go to Super Mario Bros. 3, right? Wrong! Metroid Zero Mission stole it right out of the plumber’s gloved hands. Game of the Week of the Year was taken by the ominous Game Boy homebrew game, Deadeus.Â
GotY Final Four
GotY Overall Winner
The final award was upon the viewers. Anticipation was thick in the air like the tantalizing fog from a rom gnome. At the climax of the moment, Samus shine-sparked her way to the stage with the most prestigious award of the night, Game of the Year. Metroid Zero Mission had just become the new crown winner of the RH Game Awards!
Zero Mission: GotY Winner
Game of the Year Appreciation
First of all, a huge kudos to Rapid for continuing to stay sane while running the beast that is GotX. Thank you to Stubbs for all his time involved with the selfless act of giving handhelds and smiles, and of course his daughter for packaging them. A big thanks to Axryn and Zu for helping that show run so smoothly, and to Ban (here’s your beans) for all his help as well. Shout-out to Anbernic for donating some new 35XXs for the stream, they were a most welcome addition.
Most importantly, thank all of you, the users of RH. Without you, this place would not be this amazing community to nerd out about video games and niche hardware that it is currently. Hope you had a great New Year and stay tuned for what Game of the Year 2024 will bring!
If you would like to discuss these games, GotM, or anything else retro gaming related, be sure to stop by our Discord or check out some RH YouTube videos. As always, thanks for dropping in! Watch the full stream here!