2004 Otto Award: Best Surprise

[digitalpress]

Cast your vote!

[Kamino]

this time i voted for katamari. I took one look at the game and description and said "this shit sucks shit". WRONG. Solid game. horrible soundtrack, kick ass gameplay.(Sorry, i'm not into high pitched japanese pop)

[kainemaxwell]

Katamari hands down.

[slip81]

I bought it on the day of release on a whim not knowing what to expect, and boy was I pleasantly surprised.

[Gunstar_Hero UK]

No Katmari over here, so for me Feel the Magic was shockingly great. It always looked cool but was way better than my expectations.

Joe. :)

[tholly]

I went with Katamari Damacy, but I almost picked Feel The Magic XY / XX (Joe, you have the title spelled wrong) just because of how addicting it is.....both are great games, and either one was a surprise that deserves to win

[TheRedEye]

Just wanted to pipe in and say that this is a wonderful list of nominees (with the exception of Mario vs. Donkey Kong, what's the surprise there? that it's not as good as the original?).

I love most of these games, and even though it's going to win anyway...I've got to go with Katamari Damacy.

[-hellvin-]

Katamari. Weird as hell. I remember pulling it out of a box while I was in receiving in work and everyone stopped what they were doing and checked out this weird looking game.

[LeGIt]

Would have to be Chronicles of Riddick. Usually movie license means the game = sux0r, though amazingly this turned out to be something rather special X_x

[YoshiM]

I agree with LeGIt. I heard about Chronicles and decided to give it a rent. One of the most immersive games I've played this generation. Great graphics, a very verstile FPS (the ability to climb or swing on a pole hand-over-hand adds some new dimensions of play), great character acting and a story that's even better than the movie license it's based on. I was compelled to finish this sucker-short but one helluva ride.

[NintendoMan]

Mario Vs. DK was a nice treat for me!

[mikeetler]

I had to go with Feel the Magic only because I had no intentions of getting it until Target dropped it to $23 last week. Definitely a lot more enjoyable then I had been expecting.

-Mike

[tholly]

I had to go with Feel the Magic only because I had no intentions of getting it until Target dropped it to $23 last week. Definitely a lot more enjoyable then I had been expecting.

-Mike


thats when i got my copy also....i had no intention of getting it until i could find it really cheap, but i figured for 23, what the hell.....and im glad i did...its a great game...

[Crush Crawfish]

Katamari damacy!!! And there's not much I can say about it that hasn't been said already. It's just brilliance on a shiny disc.

[fergojisan]

Katamari. When I finally heard what it was about, I couldn't believe it, it didn't make any sense. But it turned out to be a lot of fun! w00t!

[Sotenga]

Despite my current sig and the utter awesomeness of Alien Hominid, I gotta go with Katamari Damacy.

[Jasoco]

I picked Four Swords, but it was a real toss-up between Katamari and Four Swords with M vs. DK in third. I remember I had a LOT of fun in single player mode of Zelda.

[jerkov]

I'm going with Four Swords as well. I wasn't sure how well this one would play with 4 players, but it quickly convinced me that this was the best 4 player game that I've ever played. OK, so sometimes the quest does get a bit bogged down when all 4 of us can't figure out what to do (we just want more monsters to kill, dammit!), but all is forgiven when a new minigame is unlocked. Sometimes, we just spend a couple of hours playing the damn minigames. There is just so much awesome 4 player stuff to do in this game, and it definitely far exceeded all of my expectations.

[DigitalSpace]

My vote went to Katamari Damacy. The only fall release I was looking forward to was San Andreas. In October, I started hearing a lot of stuff about some game where you rolled stuff up into a ball, read more into it, and decided it was worth checking out for the $20 it was going for. It kept me hooked for quite a while. That was sure a nice surprise.

Runner-up: Astro Boy: Omega Factor, because it wasn't released for the GBA as an afterthought to its current-gen console version.

[SegaAges]

i love burnout 3, but it was no surprise for me. i knew it was going to be a stellar game.

katamari damacy completely through me by surprise. the little guy controls like an old school rc car, which is fun. i got this game simply because some of the board members said it had some decent gameplay and it might possibly be a future rarity. i picked it up and was blown away by the game. the quirky soundtrack i did not enjoy, but it fit the game extremely well

[soniko_karuto]

am i the only one who liked astroboy?

[spoon]

I actually picked katamari this time.

I was sure this game was complete crap by looking at the box. A friend describing the game just made me scratch my head. One viewing of the opening and a few test runs, I was hooked.

Here's to a new Monkey Ball game.

[fahrvergnugen]

Katamari for sure, but Riddick was really really excellent, and deserves its spot on the FPS nominees list.

[NE146]

I did NOT vote for Katamari in this case (although I did vote for it in several categories). Katamari got a lot of buzz.. so when I got it, I got what I expected.

Zelda 4 Swords on the other hand.. it was met with somewhat run of the mill "good" reviews.. or people thought it was 4 player only, or got it confused with the GBA version. I mean, expectations were high (it is Zelda after all), but it kind of came and went with a whimper.

So when I picked it up and felt all the old school goodness in it.. I was surprised! It's a great experience single player. My vote goes to Zelda 4 Swords for the Gamecube as best surprise.

[Gapporin]

Lupin The 3rd, just for the simple fact that I thought it would be a cold day in hell before I ever saw a game based on it.

[Psycho Mantis]

Riddick all the way. i never expected this game to be so brilliant. i also got it for cheap on ebay! :)

[Jasoco]

So when I picked it up and felt all the old school goodness in it.. I was surprised! It's a great experience single player.Ditto. I am glad I was talked into buying this. I had a lot of fun in just single player. (Mainly because I only have one GBA.)

[katchoo]

ROYAL RAINBOW!!!
/me vomits a rainbow

katamari all the way

[PapaStu]

I love Quirky Japanese, but most of them either never make it stateside, or dont translate for shit.

Katamari you are a little ball of happiness.

[Lady Jaye]

Katamari Damacy. Here's a game that, technically, should have made absolutely no ripple in the gaming world because of its weirdness. This is the kind of Japanese game that rarely makes its way into North America and for this, I thank you, Namco.

[EnemyZero]

katamari all the way, i picked it up popped it in and was very suprised...this game doesnt leave my ps2