Image: Nintendo
In case you missed it, Gamescom gives out awards every year, and while Nintendo didn’t even feature last year, it’s back in 2025 with a few wins. These awards call on a “panel of expert gaming jurors” and the community to decide the winners.
The recent Switch 2 release Donkey Kong Bananza has taken out “best gameplay” of the show, placing it ahead of other titles like Resident Evil Requiem and Mario Kart World. Although Mario Kart World missed out on the gameplay award, it did win “best Nintendo Switch 2 game” of the event, beating not only Donkey Kong Bananza but also upcoming releases like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Apart from this, Pokémon was the winner of the “best booth”, Capcom won the award for the “best lineup”, and the anticipated indie title Hollow Knight: Silksong won the best trailer.
You can see the rest of the award winners along with the assessment procedure and criteria on the Gamescom website. To be eligible for an award at Gamescom, a game needs to be present at the event, and developers need to “submit their games for the different categories of the Gamescom award” (there are submission fees, too).
These are some of the first awards for Nintendo’s Switch 2 exclusives, and we’re still waiting to get our hands on Kirby Air Riders, Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Metroid Prime 4.
How are you finding the new Mario Kart and Donkey Kong games on Switch 2? Let us know in the comments.
[source gamescom.global]
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Liam is a news writer and reviewer across Hookshot Media. He’s been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of many iconic video game characters.