Best Gameplay. The sense of exploration and discovery, the cool details of how completing one stage changes things in other stages, the feeling of powering up, and of course the moment-to-moment gameplay... this is an absolute joy.

Best Soundtrack. There were many strong candidates, but RKA just barely rocket-boosts above the competition with a versatile soundtrack that oozes imagination and joy. My personal highlight

Best narrative. I was pretty positive that this would go to a JRPG, but Shadowrun's unique blend of cyberpunk-noir and fantasy elements combined with its cool narrative hook mean that it takes the top spot here.

Best art direction. It turned out to be a straight two-way dogfight between Star Fox for its effective minimalist designs and this game for its anime aesthetic and the way it used that to create very dynamic and compelling comic-book-styled cutscenes. Phantasy Star IV juuust about edges it!

Best Multiplayer. Really could only be this game - as far as I know, the first four-player game on the SNES, and loads of fun in multiplayer mode!

Overall GOTY. 1993 may well be my favorite year for gaming; so many games like Shining Force 2 and Gunstar Heroes just barely missed out on getting a place in this list. And amazingly there wasn't a single repeat game in the list - I didn't plan it this way!

DOOM is revolutionary, seminal, and unlike many other games that can be described as such, also extremely refined. It hit on a winning formula and caught lightning in a bottle, and the gaming world was forever changed.