These are the results of the 2006 edition of the Best Game of the Year Contest ran by Raven in early 2007. It was notable for several major upsets, as #14 seeded Splinter Cell: Double Agent defeated Brain Age and Resistance, #13 seeded Mortal Kombat: Armageddon defeated Valkyrie Profile 2, #13 seeded SMT: Devil Summoner would defeat Madden NFL 07, #11 seeded Bully would make it to round 3, #8 seeded Half Life 2: Episode One would upset #1 seed New Super Mario Bros, and #12 seeded Shadow Hearts: From the New World would make it as far as round 3. The contest would be won by Okami, marking the first time a #2 seed would win the tournament, and the second time a Capcom game would win the tournament.
Best Game of Each Month in 2006, according to Board 8[]
| Month | Game of the Month |
| January | Wild Arms 4 |
| February | Grandia III |
| March | Kingdom Hearts II |
| April | Brain Age |
| May | New Super Mario Bros. |
| June | Street Fighter Alpha Anthology |
| July | Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth |
| August | Dead Rising |
| September | Okami |
| October | Final Fantasy XII |
| November | Guitar Hero II |
| December | Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin |
| Free Bird Division | Guitar Hero II Twilight Princess |
Guitar Hero II Kingdom Hearts II |
Kingdom Hearts II Okami |
Okami | |||
| (1) Guitar Hero II (16) Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends |
Guitar Hero II Final Fantasy III |
Guitar Hero II SFA Anthology | |||||
| (8) Final Fantasy III (9) Lost Magic | |||||||
| (5) SFA Anthology (12) Excite Truck |
SFA Anthology GTA: Vice City Stories | ||||||
| (4) Fight Night Round 3 (13) Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories | |||||||
| (6) Mega Man X Collection (11) Bully |
Bully VP Lenneth |
Bully Twilight Princess | |||||
| (3) Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (14) Table Tennis | |||||||
| (7) Super Princess Peach (10) Elite Beat Agents |
Elite Beat Agents Twilight Princess | ||||||
| (2) The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (15) Tomb Raider Legend | |||||||
| Hollow Bastion Division | Kingdom Hearts II Elder Scrolls IV | ||||||
| (1) Kingdom Hearts II (16) Mega Man ZX |
Kingdom Hearts II Suikoden V |
Kingdom Hearts II Shadow Hearts 3 | |||||
| (8) Prey (9) Suikoden V | |||||||
| (5) Wild Arms 4 (12) Shadow Hearts: From the New World |
Shadow Hearts 3 Grandia III | ||||||
| (4) Grandia III (13) Viva Pinata | |||||||
| (6) Resistance: Fall of Man (11) Phantasy Star Universe |
Resistance Splinter Cell: DA |
Splinter Cell: DA Elder Scrolls IV | |||||
| (3) Brain Age (14) Splinter Cell: Double Agent | |||||||
| (7) Kirby Squeak Squad (10) Gradius Collection |
Gradius Collection Elder Scrolls IV | ||||||
| (2) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (15) Black | |||||||
| Mushroom Kingdom Division | MGS: Portable Ops Okami |
Okami Portrait of Ruin | |||||
| (1) New Super Mario Bros. (16) Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter |
New Super Mario Bros. HL2: Episode One |
HL2: Episode One MGS: Portable Ops | |||||
| (8) Half-Life 2: Episode One (9) Marvel Ultimate Alliance | |||||||
| (5) Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (12) NCAA Football 07 |
MGS: Portable Ops MK Armageddon | ||||||
| (4) Valkyrie Profile Silmeria (13) Mortal Kombat: Armageddon | |||||||
| (6) Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories (11) Saints Row |
Disgaea 2 Gears of War |
Gears of War Okami | |||||
| (3) Gears of War (14) Daxter | |||||||
| (7) Tales of the Abyss (10) Xenosaga Episode III |
Tales of the Abyss Okami | ||||||
| (2) Okami (15) Baten Kaitos Origins | |||||||
| Ivalice Division | FF5 Advance Portrait of Ruin | ||||||
| (1) Final Fantasy XII (16) Children of Mana |
Final Fantasy XII Mega Man BN6 |
Final Fantasy XII FF5 Advance | |||||
| (8) Summon Night: Swordcraft Story (9) Mega Man Battle Network 6 | |||||||
| (5) Final Fantasy V Advance (12) Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urghan |
FF5 Advance SMT: Devil Summoner | ||||||
| (4) Madden NFL 07 (13) Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner | |||||||
| (6) Yoshi's Island DS (11) Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X |
Yoshi's Island DS Portrait of Ruin |
Portrait of Ruin Second Opinion | |||||
| (3) Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (14) Steambot Chronicles | |||||||
| (7) Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (10) Trauma Center: Second Opinion |
Second Opinion Dead Rising | ||||||
| (2) Dead Rising (15) Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams | |||||||
Interesting Facts[]
- The Ultimate Loser in this contest was Table Tennis
Zero's Final Thoughts[]
The 2006 tournament would be a slight bit of a disappointment; not necessarily because of what won, but because of the low vote totals again. The most votes any match received in round 1 was Resistance: The Fall of Man needing overtime to beat Phantasy Star Universe 12-5. In round 2, only Disgaea 2 vs. Gears of War and Street Fighter Alpha Anthology vs. Vice City Stories would have a combined amount of more than 10 votes. This pretty much continued until the semifinals where Kingdom Hearts II vs. Guitar Hero II netted 34 votes.
The seeding also proved to be worse than 2005 as well (even after getting rid of Monthly Winners = top 3 seeds in each division), with Brain Age getting a #3 seed, only to be shut out by Splinter Cell in round 1. #4 seeds like Fight Night Round 3 and Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria were getting upset by Vice City Stories and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. But no seeds proved to be more unworthy than Dead Rising at #2 and New Super Mario Bros. at #1. Dead Rising would get stunned by Trauma Center: Second Opinion in the second round, and New Super Mario Bros. immediately sputtered right from the beginning, winning by only one vote against #16 seed Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, and then losing by one against Half-Life 2: Episode One in the next round. It was enough to give Okami an easy path to the final four. The Game of the Month winners were falling left and right, and by the time round 3 began, only five of the winners remained.
Okami wasn't the only one with an easy road, as Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin wrecked every game it went up against to get to the semifinals as well, whether it was a PSP remake of Mega Man X, Yoshi's Island DS, or Final Fantasy V (which had just upset Final Fantasy XII a round prior). Square-Enix would get a game in the final four when Kingdom Hearts II beat Oblivion in the quarterfinals. Finally, Guitar Hero II would take advantage of its rising popularity on Board 8 and edge Twilight Princess in the quarterfinals, something we'll probably never see again.
The championship would come down to Kingdom Hearts II and Okami, which would eventually lead to Capcom winning for the second year in a row in a 14-12 finish. I admit the result of the contest inspired me to finally play Okami, despite owning it before said contest (blame Gears of War and Final Fantasy XII for that), and afterwards, it also became my personal choice for Best Game of 2006.
Finally, this would be the first year for the PS3, Wii, and even the 360. PS3 got its first (and only win) this year with Resistance. The Wii netted a few victories with Trauma Center: Second Opinion (and Twilight Princess kinda, though it was also a Gamecube game). Last but not least, the 360 grabbed a few wins thanks to Gears of War and Dead Rising. But in the end, the PS2 still reigned supreme, with the DS being an honorable mention.
The semifinals and championship was enough to convince me to do 2007 (not to mention the stellar lineup of games 2007 had as well).