With The Game Awards 2021 just around the corner, I thought it’d be fun to look back at some of the biggest/best trailers that have premiered at the ceremony.
Look, I’ve given The Game Awards plenty of flack over the years for how they’ve handled presentations, and actually dealing with the awards themselves. That said, the thing it’s always managed to get right, are the big trailer reveals. Even from its original days as the Spike TV Video Game Awards, gamers had plenty to drool over. Whether they came in the form of brand new announcements, or just impressive looks at games we already knew about, the has delivered the goods.
To that end, as we look ahead to this year’s big show and the many trailers/world premieres they’ve teased, I wanted to look back at some of the biggest, and best, game trailers from the past (including the VGA iteration from Spike TV).
Batman: Arkham City Announcement Trailer (Spike VGAs 2009)
Shortly after Rocksteady blew our collective minds with one of the best comic book video games around, Arkham Asylum, the Video Game Awards offered a glimpse of what was coming next. While we didn’t get any gameplay (that would be a couple years down the road), the teaser absolutely set the tone for something special.
On top of revealing the return of the Joker, showing the damage from where we left him in the previous game, we got a solid understanding of the true scope of the new game. With the previous game still fresh in our minds, it was one hell of a reveal.
Even better, this debut trailer actually kicked off the entire show, setting the stage for a night of excellent reveals that also included our first look at Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2. Fun bit of trivia, this year also marked the only time the show went without a host.
The Last of Us Announcement Trailer (Spike TV Video Game Awards 2011)
To be honest, I almost completely forgot that The Last of Us made its presence known to the world through the Video Game Awards. Having recently wrapped up the Uncharted trilogy that same year, fans were blown away by the opportunity to see what Naughty Dog was working on next.
What we got would set the stage for one of the greatest games of our time, and one of my all time favorites. I knew nothing about this game at the time the trailer hit, but I knew I loved the Uncharted series, and the gritty, post-apocalyptic action on display here had me begging for me.
It’s an impressive announcement trailer. Considering how important this game would become, it’s cool to look back and remember the Game Awards is where we first heard about it.
Mass Effect 3 Announcement Trailer (Spike VGAs 2010)
This may sound silly, but this Mass Effect 3 trailer is still the main trailer that pops into my head any time the Game Awards are mentioned. It’s really stuck with me all these years later, and even watching it now gives me the tingles.
I remember the lead-up to the 2010 VGAs, and the reveal that Bioware was planning on revealing a couple trailers at the event. The teaser image given showed a man in military gear that could have literally been anything. It didn’t look like anything remotely related to Mass Effect so I was a little bummed. Once that cinematic trailer started rolling, however, I felt my hype kicking into gear.
I was already in love with the Mass Effect series, and seeing not just one, but SEVERAL giant Reapers directly attacking Earth blew me away. While the series always seemed “big,” this teaser/announcement made it clear the third game was set to take things to another level. The stakes were immediately clear and that sense of things coming to an end was bittersweet.
No Man’s Sky Announcement Trailer (VGX 2013)
The final Video Game Awards show before it transitioned into the event we know now (with Geoff Keighley) is also where the (insane) hype train for No Man’s Sky began. Honestly, it’s still a great announcement trailer and looking back on it, it’s easy to see why this game generated so much interest.
From the flying/space combat action, planet exploration, and the vast expanse of space just watching this again has my fingers itching to pick up the controller again. It’s kind of funny now to look back at this trailer, if only because we’ve seen how disastrous the original launch of the game turned out to be. Now, however, after a bunch of stellar free updates, No Man’s Sky finally looks like this original game that was promised!
Zelda Wii U Demo (The Game Awards 2014)
The first “official” iteration of The Game Awards as we know them brought about a handful of great world premieres and reveals. One of the most memorable moments, however, was when they delivered the first look at gameplay for The Legend of Zelda Wii U BEFORE it was even known as Breath of the Wild.
Considering Nintendo likes doing their own presentations and such, snagging this gameplay look made it clear that The Game Awards weren’t messing around. Even better we got a chance to listen to these iconic Nintendo developers talk about things while seeing the game in action!
Looking back, it’s hilarious that the big takeaways from this demo for news sites (including us) was the game would be launching the following year (then 2015) AND that the new Star Fox Wii U game that was revealed a few months prior to TGA would launch even before that. None of those things happened. While Star Fox: Zero did beat Breath of the Wild to release, neither came close to hitting in 2015.
Psychonauts 2 (The Game Awards 2015)
Here’s the thing with Psychonauts 2. It’s not the “greatest” of trailers, doesn’t feature any sort of gameplay, nor does it even feature anything from the story we got when the title finally launched earlier this year.
That’s not why it manages to get a spot on my list here. What was so thrilling about this reveal during the 2015 Game Awards was the potential/possibility it promised. By and large, pretty much everyone thought/expected Psychonauts to be a dead property. The original game managed to develop a sort of cult-hit quality, and despite Tim Schafer’s comments about it in the past, there seemed little chance of a sequel ever happening.
And yet…here it was. Yes, it was connected to a crowd-funding campaign to help make it happen (like a couple of Double-Fine’s previous titles), but the idea that a Psychonauts 2 could finally happen made it seem like anything could be possible in terms of franchises that seemed dead.
I forced myself to stick with five picks for this article, but I can’t go without mentioning some of the other stellar reveals. The Next Mass Effect, Dragon Age 4, Halo Wars 2, God of War 3 reveal, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (before it had a title), Bayonetta 3 reveal, Soul Caliber VI, The Outer Worlds…It’s kind of insane to think about all of the amazing games we’ve seen thanks to this show.
Hopefully this year brings even more mind-blowing announcements!
