We may not have gotten more Animal Crossing: New Horizons information from last night’s (December 12th, 2019) The Game Awards, however Nintendo is still teasing us with social media posts letting us know that something is in the works. Nintendo also seemed to have already shown us the bulk of their games coming next year (2020) with the Indie World Showcase from last Tuesday. That’s not to say there weren’t any amusing highlights during the 3-hour long live-streamed event!

The Game Awards was the biggest we’ve ever seen with live orchestra performances and an appearance from the band Green Day. Even though there weren’t any World Premieres of wholesome ‘potato games’, I’ve listed my favorite moments of the show below. Potato Highlights, if you will.

Muppets and Untitled Goose Game Moment

Thanks to Geoff Keighley’s hard work of putting together The Game Awards, we all got an early Christmas gift that was Untitled Goose Game and The Muppets Show crossover. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker came on the stage to announce the winner of the Games for Impact, which GRIS took the award for. Not only were the Muppets live on stage, we also got a hilarious video, Untitled Beaker Game, which made my whole night. I only wish that the developers House House could make this game a reality. I’d pay good money for that DLC.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Smash Bros Ultimate Win Awards

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice ended up taking the big award home (Game of the Year) during last night’s The Game Awards 2019, however a couple of Nintendo games also won in different categories! Most notably, Super Smash Bros Ultimate won Best Fighting Game and Luigi’s Mansion 3 won Best Family Game! I’m so happy for Luigi’s Mansion 3 because it was one of the best games I’ve played this year and Polterpup is a good boy.

Reggie’s Speech on Indie Games

Ex-CEO of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aime, was present at The Game Awards 2019 and announced the award for Best Independent Game. Before the winner was named, he gave a very passionate speech about the importance of indie games and how every game developer starts out as “indie”. These games are the future and I have definitely found quite a few gems over these past few months! I’m not crying, you’re crying!

Biggest Surprise: Bravely Default II on Switch

This exclusive Nintendo Switch game announcement came quite out of nowhere with very little details. Bravely Default and its direct sequel Bravely Second: End Layer were amazing 3DS games by Square Enix. Bravely Default II seems to be an entirely stand-alone game with different characters but in a familiar world where there are “Heroes of Light”. My guess is they might be starting to create a numbered series like Final Fantasy. We can expect Bravely Default II to release sometime in 2020.

Xbox Series X Holiday 2020

The Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, came on the stage to show us the new Xbox console coming next Holiday Season (2020). We have known for quite some time that Microsoft has been working on their next generation console code-named Project Scarlett, but now we have the real name; Xbox Series X. The specs are as follows: 4K visuals at 60FPS, with possibility of up to 120FPS, including support for Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and 8K capability. For more information on the Xbox Series X, you can go to Xbox’s official website here.

Game Festival Favorites

If you haven’t had the chance to try out the dozens of free demos available on Steam thanks to a new project by The Game Awards called The Game Festival, you should head over there now! The Game Festival allows you to try out demos that you normally would only see at conventions and events that you may not get the chance to attend in-person. Now, for only 48 hours (which started early December 12th, 2019), you can try out quite the wholesome list.

My first game on the list was SkateBIRD and can say that this tiny hawk is poised to replace the champ of skateboarding themed video games. However, what really surprised me was how much I enjoyed playing the demo for Roki. Finding items and figuring out how to use them to move on to the next puzzle was truly a fun experience. I also want to know more about the story and what’s with the creepy vibe I’m getting. Another game worth mentioning is Spiritfarer. The gameplay footage we got to see at Gamescom 2019 is the same but what I didn’t know was how a second player can play your cat companion Daffodil! Both of you can also go around hugging everyone and its so wholesome.

Finally, I also really enjoyed Moving Out and its physics-based mechanics, and Chicory for its clever use of the paintbrush for platforming puzzles and the nostalgic feeling I got of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Both games are also local co-op games!