2017 is almost over, one more day to go before we enjoy eating our customary oliebollen and raise our glass of champaign. Looking at gaming, this was an awesome year. In Handheld Gaming new the big gaming companies entered the mobile gaming market, Nintendo released the perfect device to combine console and handheld gaming.
The Switch brought us some amazing titles in it’s first 10 months. The 3DS still saw good new games, and even the Vita which is totally forgotten by its own parent Sony, had some pretty good releases.
In the past weeks I’ve asked you to vote for your favourite Handheld Game in the various categories. A lot of you did, especially the 3DS category had a good many voters. And now it’s time to look at the results and choose our Best Handheld Games of 2017.
Best 3DS game of 2017
The top 5 of most voted games is:
- Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (21,3%)
- Monster Hunter Stories (17%)
- Ever Oasis (14,9%)
- MiiTopia (12,8%)
- Metroid: Samus Returns (6,4%)
A good result for Fire Emblem, a game that is a remake of the second Fire Emblem game ever released. It was originally known as Fire Emblem Gaiden (1982) and was never released outside of Japan.
Personally, my choice in 3DS games was Monster Hunter Stories. Nice to see the universe of Monster Hunter from another angle, and I always love a good monster collecting game.
Best Mobile games of 2017
Not many readers found it worth it to vote for a mobile game, but the people that did were very clear. There were only two games that got a good many votes, so here we have a top 2:
- Animal Crossing Pocket Camp (72,2%)
- Fire Emblem Heroes (22,2%)
Very, very clear, and totally the same choice as my personal one. Pocket Camp might be a watered down version of a full Animal Crossing game, but it’s a perfect game to pick up and play during coffee break!
Best Vita games of 2017
The votes for Vita games were all over the place. A lot of games got one vote, and only a few got more then one. This is the top:
- Atelier Firis and the Mysterious Journey (22,7%)
- Tokyo Xanadu (13,6%)
- Three games would be in a shared third place with 9,1%: Yomawari: Midnight Shadows, Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana and Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth.
The number one, Atelier Firis, is the same as my choice for Vita Game of the Year. Of course I’m a fan of the Atelier series, but this open world adventure is really one of the best Atelier games.
Best Switch games of 2017
The Switch has amassed a spectacular library already in it’s short time of existence. We got blockbuster games that redefined well known series, so I think the top 3 won’t be a surprise for you all:
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (46,2%)
- Super Mario Odyssey (19,2%)
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (15,4%)
Almost half of the voters agree with me, Breath of the Wild is the best Switch game of 2017! Honestly, if you’d have asked me a year ago if I would ever choose a Zelda game to be my absolute favourite, I would have been sure you were pulling my leg.
Thank you all for voting, and let’s hope 2018 is another great gaming year for us!
I was surprised to see Tokyo Xanadu on the Vita list at all, let alone in second place. Out of curiosity, have you ever played Ys, Yvonne?
No, I haven’t. And when I read about it some time back when I wrote my Handheld Gaming News, I felt like this is a game I might like. But I seriously lack time to game, so I stick to the games I have going already. But it is in the back of my mind!