If I am playing a game,it needs to at least attempt to tell a good story,and discuss important themes.
If I am playing for mechanics, its either challenging,and deep or a competitive multiplayer.
Nintendo occupies a middle ground that I find hard to appreciate these days. Really cute,cool sometimes smart game design ideas in a cute looking package that almost always ends up being shallow ,and emotionally,intellectually unengaging.
I've tried ,but that company's games and machines aren't for me.
A GOTY should aim at being more than just "fun!" imo.
It goes without saying that this is just my opinion.Mario continues to sell million of games every single year.
With respect, you're entitled to your opinion, and it's a shame you can't enjoy games like this more but
- one might argue that
some titles attempting to be more emotionally or intellectually engaging are actually shallow themselves, and paling in comparison to emotionally and intellectually engaging products in other media
- some might also argue that a lot of such titles also use heavy cinematic emphasis to detract from weak, repetitive or otherwise boring gameplay
At the end of the day games (or interactive entertainment - if you prefer to use industry marketing speak) are a distraction. They're something you exchange money for, in order to receive some sort of reward that eats up hours of your life. They should be satisfying, and that's the bottom line. Whether they're satisfying because they're beautifully designed and engineered to be fun to play, or because they try something bold and envelope pushing in other ways, as I'm sure some of the games you're talking about do, it's all good.
I would still say most of us are in this hobby to have fun though.
