These are Nintendo's nominees for The Game Awards 2015

The nominees have been announced for The Game Awards 2015.

Debuting just last December, The Game Awards– hosted by games media all-star Geoff Keighley– have already become a year-end fixture for gamers. The games nominated have been selected by a panel of 32 judges from media publications around the world. Anticipated for its world premiere game reveals and announcements, this year’s show will take place on Thursday, December 3rd at 6:00 p.m. PST, live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Nintendo is no stranger to the new show, as last year Mario composer Koji Kondo, NOA President Reggie Fils-Aime, and Shigeru Miyamoto took the stage to give an early glimpse at Super Mario Maker. It also provided the show’s grand finale, an extended gameplay debut of The Legend of Zelda for Wii U by Shigeru Miyamoto and producer Eiji Aonuma.

The big contenders from Nintendo at this year’s show are Super Mario Maker and Splatoon, both netting three nominations across all categories. Both games are up for Best Family Game, a category otherwise dominated by toys-to-life titles. While Splatoon secured nominations in both the Best Shooter and Best Multiplayer categories. Expectedly, Super Mario Maker is in the running for the coveted Game of the Year award.

Super Mario Maker’s other nomination is actually a result of its creative nature. In the Best Fan Creation category, two players have been nominated for their Mario creation skills. Baddboy78 and theycallmeshaky are up for the award thanks to their recreations of the rare eReader levels from Super Mario Advance 4.

In the third party department, the 3DS is represented for Best Handheld/Mobile Game by Capcom’s Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Considering the best 3DS games of 2015 were all remakes, its lack of contenders in this category actually makes sense. Next year should be a different story for the handheld, with all the big releases on the horizon.

As a company, Nintendo is once again in the running for the Developer of the Year award, an honor that it brought home last year, thanks largely to Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

While it’s great to see Nintendo’s biggest releases of the year getting the recognition they deserve at the show, a few omissions stand out to me. First, Yoshi’s Woolly World didn’t make the cut for Best Art Direction, a category dominated by real-world inspired open world games. Second, there’s a fan-voted award for Most Anticipated Game, and The Legend of Zelda for Wii U (which completely stole the show last year) is nowhere to be found. Oh well, it’s a lock for Game of the Year next year, I suppose.

Here’s the full list of awards and nominees for The Game Awards 2015:

Game of the Year

Developer of the Year

Best Independent Game

Best Mobile/Handheld Game

Best Narrative

Best Art Direction

Best Score/Soundtrack

Best Performance

Games for Change Award

Best Shooter

Best Action/Adventure Game

Best Role-Playing Game

Best Fighting Game

Best Family Game

Best Sports/Racing Game

Best Multiplayer

Most Anticipated Game

eSports Player of the Year

eSports Team of the Year

eSports Game of the Year

Trending Gamer

Best Fan Creation

Written by Brittin Shauers

Brittin literally grew up with Link, Mario and Samus. These three characters and their worlds collectively capture everything that he loves about video games.