LogFAQs > #949088377

I think your count for 2014 is a bit off, using the NA release dates which the contest used:

2014:

Bravely Default
Danganronpa 2
Shovel Knight
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze
Dragon Age: Inquisition
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Destiny
The Binding of Isaac Rebirth
The Talos Principle
Mario Kart 8
Hearthstone
Bayonetta 2

12 games in total.

You were right for 2016 though - incidentally 2014 has a lot of games that got NA releases that year but had their original release that year (and Hearthstone, which came out of early access), while the opposite was true for 2016 - if you went by original release dates 2014 would have fewer and 2016 would have more. And to that point I think it was Minecraft that tripped me up regarding 2011. So 2011 is second least. I also forgot another significant snub, Mortal Kombat, which many would have preferred over MK11.

On the snubs, I don't think Skyward Sword is the OoT or the LttP of its generation. I think ALBW is the bigger deal. I think FFXIV is a much bigger deal than FFXIII and indeed FFXV. But I also wouldn't compare FFXIII to Skyward Sword - Skyward Sword gets dunked on these days but it got an average score of 93 and a bunch of game of the year awards, not so for FFXIII. I think if there is no franchise limit (which was never confirmed IIRC), FFXIII does not necessarily make it in. I actually think one of the stories of this decade has been some of those previously guaranteed smash hits falling shorts while the smaller games rise.

But there are also franchises with only one game that you might expect to see more from - Pokemon most notably, but also Uncharted (I don't even like Uncharted 3, but it probably should have got in), Mortal Kombat (definitely a case of nomination splitting), and so on. I think whatever rules were at play were probably fairly flexible.

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