This is a post I wrote a while ago on Medium. I'm reposting it here in full.
I finished 64 games in 2024. This is a lot, but then, gaming is my main hobby. There’s also precedent, as I have finished more or less the same in recent years. As is my want, I have ranked them and applied my own arbitrary definition of ‘finished’.
There’s no UFO 50 or Baldur’s Gate 3 in this list. I’m not sure when I’ll be finished with UFO 50, but it hasn’t happened yet as I haven’t even dusted off all of its virtual cartridges. As for Baldur’s Gate 3, well, I did finish Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition last year and was hyped for 3, but 3 is real long! Maybe I’ll see its end in 2025.
Here we go. Read on for my ranked list of games I finished in 2024, flavour text included. If you want just the rankings, skip way down to the bottom.
64. Dead2y Premonition: A Blessing in Disguise, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2022, Developer: Toybox
You can’t use a 2 as an L Swery. I think he knows. This was originally released on the Switch by White Owls although I think this port is basically a faithful recreation. I’m sure I don’t have anything to add that hasn’t already been said. Deadly Premonition 2 is an open-world game that takes place in a town in the Deep South and there’s nothing to do there. In-game time passes slowly. It could literally pass 10 or 20 times faster and that might still be too slow. The game actively disrespects your time, forcing you to complete long fetch quests or slowly traverse across the map in some cases. The writing is pretty damn interesting, and as eccentric as you can find it. If you play this, it’s for the characters and the writing.
63. Ys Chronicles I, Platform: Android, Release Year: 2015, Developer: Dotemu
I played the re-imagining of a JRPG classic on a mobile phone. I do not recommend you do this. My phone’s always there right? So I often have a game on retainer for times when I’m not likely to access a console or such. The thing is, Ys is obtuse, which was the style at the time. This version is less obtuse than the original, but still. Playing it in small bits adds to the confusion. The touch controls feel sloppy, but at least they work, right? Well they do until you get to a boss that demands precision. This was mostly a bad experience.
62. Slay the Princess, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Black Tabby Games
The first few minutes gave me pause. Several dialog choices waited for me on the right side of my screen offering questions I could pose to the narrator to better understand anything about what was going on. The narrator refused to answer anything and I plodded along making uninformed and therefore meaningless choices that resulted in outcomes I could not predict based on my actions. Later, this pattern became familiar, but worse in a way as my pool of uninformed choices to pick from became smaller, even singular. There was no choice at all. Slay the Princess seemingly wants me to care about my choices, but it demands I roll the dice without explaining the rules. I didn’t care, not throughout and not during the ending explanation.
61. Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom, Platform: Vita, Release Year: 2014, Developer: WayForward
WayForward was not shy about ripping off a Link to the Past. You have the same gameplay, a very similar over world with a castle in the center, and very similar puzzles. That’s fine I guess. It doesn’t play as well Link to the Past of course, but that should make it pretty enjoyable nonetheless, shouldn’t it? Maybe, but what another, better game would say is an optional secret, Adventure Time makes mandatory. I got stuck and tried and tried to get unstuck, but I had to consult a walk-through and you know when you look at a walk-through and you think they expected me to know to do that? That happened here. It’s a short game, so perhaps the developers chose to artificially make it longer and worse as a result.
60. Super Crazy Rhythm Castle, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Second Impact Games
It’s not terrible and I was delighted initially at the idea of a cooperative multiplayer rhythm game. The thing is, playing music cooperatively is basically the same as playing it alone. You don’t do anything different as a result of having friends and you all play the same notes. What actually requires cooperation are the mini-games that interrupt otherwise pretty enjoyable songs. The mini-games are terrible and largely because they’re interrupting songs. Switching between two game modes every fifteen seconds is not actually fun.
59. Wargroove 2, Platform: Xbox Series X, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Chucklefish
Empire is bad. Colonialism is bad. Here’s some budding gay romance. I can get behind these things, but Wargroove 2’s campaigns felt like a social justice power trip. Issues were viewed through the lens of a young-adult novel or some such, where the nuance amounted to people had bad lives once and now are bad, but actually it’s super clear who is right and who is wrong. More annoyingly, the campaign over-served the story with each level crafted to further the narrative and not crafted to let players get acquainted with the core gameplay loop of expanding territory, building armies, and engaging on fronts. There were other modes that maybe I would have liked more, but after that campaign, I was done.
58. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan, Platform: Gameboy, Release Year: 1990, Developer: Konami
Gameboy Turtles is a simplistic left-to-right action game with enemies spawning constantly and way too large sprites. There’s no ambition here. The game is short and basic and yet, Konami wisely made it easy so it’s actually still fun. Ultimately this is a somewhat enjoyable time killer that is superficially identifiable to the show.
57. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Platform: Arcade, Release Year: 1989, Developer: Konami
It’s a year for picking up collected works. I’m deeply nostalgic in general and the Turtles are emblematic of my youth, so here I am. Being basic and picking up the Turtles collection. The pastel, cartoon characters are truly wonderful and sold the game well enough in 89', but in these early days of beat em’ ups, the feels weren’t good yet. Hitting enemies registers little impact and hit detection is poor in general. Pump some quarters in with friends and you may not notice its faults, but playing on my Steam Deck? I noticed.
56. Bonk’s Revenge, Platform: TurboGrafx 16, Release Year: 1991, Developer: Red Entertainment
The probably-marketable Bonk and his cartoony environs really do delight in a Saturday morning cartoon kind of way. Aesthetically, I really like Bonk. I like his basic attack, which is bonking enemies with his head. He can do this by jumping up and hitting them from below, bashing them head-on while standing or jumping in the air and slamming his head down for the kill. I even like the meat-eating gimmick which makes Bonk’s head look sort of like an exploding volcano and allows him to breath fire at enemies. What I don’t like is the hit detection, particularly for bosses. There’s quite a few of them where you have to bonk while at the peak of your jump and it sucks.
55. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, Platform: Xbox Series X, Release Year: 2022, Developer: Monkey Craft
This is the Phantasy Reverie Series version. I didn’t have a PlayStation growing up. I didn’t play FF7, Spyro and others at the time and while I’ve caught up on some games, there are many I’ll never play unless they get a remake. I’m not sure if this is a bad remake or Door to Phantomile is just an okay game. The platforming is floaty, which really drags the game down. There are interesting things happening in the level design at least. Stages physically rotate and feature various paths. Your main attack is a grab-and-throw-the-enemy mechanic that almost works well, but feels off. Unfortunately the core gameplay just isn’t there.
54. Foregone, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2021, Developer: Big Blue Bubble
Sometimes you try a game that’s not well known and you’re not surprised to find that it’s just alright. Foregone goes for a satisfying combat system with melee and ranged attacks, combos, dodges, special moves, but unfortunately it just turns out okay. Encounters are seeded with many enemies, so it’s difficult to avoid everything and the player is encouraged to get through enemies quickly. Battles get repetitive even as the weapon variety does help keep the game fresh.
53. Nekotako, Platform: SNES, Release Year: 2019, Developer: PA Games
It aims for charm and succeeds. Half cat, half octopus, all light platforming puzzley action. Nekotako is very short, knows what it wants to be, and does a pretty good job of it. The fact it’s a SNES game is just novelty of course.
52. Monster Monpiece, Platform: Vita, Release Year: 2014, Developer: Compile Heart
My skeazy game for the year? Cards of monster girls battle on a grid not unlike Mega Man Battle Network, but at the end of each player’s turn, that player’s cards advance forward one space. When a card reaches the end of an opponent’s play field, that card is destroyed and the opponent takes a point of damage. Usually three damage ends the match. The embarrassing part is that cards are upgraded by rubbing them suggestively, with successful rubbing producing less clothed monster girls. Battles are quite fun, but I wanted more depth to the tactics of these battles, which I think could have been achieved by a larger variety of card abilities.
51. Jumping Flash!, Platform: PS1, Release Year: 1995, Developer: Exact
It’s a weirdo experimental FPS that has a big focus on jumping. And it’s an early PS1 title, so you control like a tank. But you’re a rabbit. A robot rabbit. I think. The thing is, the developers made good use of the limitations, building a game around fairly slow paced movement and platforming and still managing to make it feel dynamic. In particular, the camera angles down as you jump so you can shoot targets beneath you and also know where you’re going to land. I can’t say I love Jumping Flash, but I do appreciate its weirdness. There’s nothing else like it.
50. Mega Man ZX, Platform: DS, Release Year: 2006, Developer: Inti Creates
This should be a winning formula. I love the idea of a Mega Man game asking me to explore interconnected spaces, with safe city zones in between. Imagine picking up missions, unlocking areas, finding power-ups. Good stuff! That’s not quite how it goes unfortunately. ZX is hampered by some awful design decisions. You must accept missions at a terminal, which often involve finding a new map area by trial and error. Exiting prematurely erases the progress you gained since the beginning of the mission. Missions often require you talk to a specific person somewhere, but who and where that is, is almost inscrutable. This should have been really good. Unfortunately, it’s just middling.
49. The Pathless, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2020, Developer: Giant Squid
Yes I’ll often describe a game in terms of other games it copies. The reference point here is Journey. You know Journey, right? Acclaimed thatgamecompany game that elicits feels and bondship with internet strangers? The Pathless has a similar look and feel of movement. Indeed, moving is fun. You can run fast, with wind lines flying by on the screen. You can jump real high and glide around. And all this movement is in service of finding towers. There’s some combat and some puzzle solving, but mainly just get to those towers. The formula gets boring pretty quickly, so it’s fortunate at least that The Pathless is not too long.
48. Remnant: From the Ashes, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2019, Developer: Gunfire Games
Remnant is pretty generic feeling except that it’s three players. Few games are three players. I played this in full party co-op with friends and it was fun, shooting lots of enemies, getting insignificant upgrades like +1% to vaulting over short walls, and hearing about some lore that I can’t remember. The gameplay was actually quite good, just repetitive. The bosses tended to be unique and also unbalanced. Suddenly, you need to learn to dodge despite basically never having to when fighting regular enemies. I’m surprised the sequel was so hyped. Is it much better?
47. Back 4 Blood, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2021, Developer: Turtle Rock
I’ve been through this before with Vermintides. You make a game like Left 4 Dead and predictably it’s fun playing that with three friends. Also predictably, it’s worse than Left 4 Dead 2. Much worse. So it goes. Here we have Back 4 Blood with fun, uninspired campaigns, and a confusing card system. You must build decks and equip cards to get minor stats and abilities and also to get longevity out of the game by adding gacha I guess.
46. World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Platform: Sega Genesis, Release Year: 1992, Developer: Sega
I didn’t get to experience co-op and I hear it has different levels which is cool. What I did experience was a pretty good platformer with quite a few problems. Mickey has a melee attack using a cloak in this one and it has a lot of range. But if enemies get hit by the far twinkly bit of the cloak they seem to just get stunned or maybe take less damage. When an enemy takes damage, they freeze and flash for a bit and either transform into something harmless like a butterfly or they’re not defeated. This is a bad bit of design that resulted in me continually attacking most enemies while they were flashing to ensure they were defeated. This prompted me to constantly stop in my tracks, ruining the pacing. There were other problems, but also beautiful, varied levels and sometimes genuinely good platforming sequences.
45. Magical Pop’n, Platform: SNES, Release Year: 1995, Developer: Polestar
Magical Pop’n is something of a relic in 1995. It plays like a good, but not great NES game or TurboGrafx game. There’s a bit of Popful Mail in here. Basically, it’s an action platformer starring an adorable scamp of a princess who traverses the usual locales (dungeons, fire, and ice, oh my!), collecting a new spell in each level that she tends to need for boss fights. The moment to moment action is pretty good, except for the grappling hook. It sucks. Umihara Kawase this is not. Still, it’s a lively and mostly fun action game when you’re looking for the simple thrills.
44. Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, Platform: Sega Genesis, Release Year: 1990, Developer: Sega
A good, not great platformer that would have impressed indeed back in 1990. I do have gripes. The pace is a bit pokey, but hey you’re Mickey, not Sonic. For some reason you have to press the C button twice to attack. Once to jump and a second time to move your butt into attack position. And the final stage has some outright unfair bits. Still, these are small gripes. Because the platforming feels good, the visuals are well done and charming, and there’s a lot of variety in this short game. It doesn’t try to lengthen the experience by being difficult. Personally I don’t care for Mickey Mouse or most Disney characters, but I try not to hold that against Castle of Illusion.
43. Shining Force: Sword of Hajya, Platform: Game Gear, Release Year: 1993, Developer: Camelot
It’s simple by modern standards, but it feels just right for the Game Gear. Sword of Hajya is very easy to pick up and continue playing and indeed, playing it is fun. Grid-based strategy RPG battles take place over various terrains with many character and enemy archetypes on display. You have fighters, mages, archers and healers as well as centaurs and a birdman. Some classes have excellent mobility on most terrain and the birdman can fly on any tile. Mages are broken unfortunately, with the highest level spells dealing so much damage that I can’t imagine the developers intended it that way. The visuals are worth noting. They look good and the character portraits sport the usual charm found in Shining Force titles.
42. Mega Man Zero 4, Platform: GBA, Release Year: 2005, Developer: Inti Creates
The Mega Man Zero games all play similarly. By my measure. this is the worst of them, but they all fit in the same pool. The level designs are as good — never quite great — as ever and there’s a new system for powering up and obtaining abilities. Enemies drop chips which can be crafted and the crafting system is entirely opaque. There’s no reasonable chance of guessing correct combinations or finding recipes. It also encourages grinding through the same areas again and again to find chips, which sucks. The elf upgrade system is simple and effective enough this time around. Finally, there’s a seemingly cool new mechanic where Zero can use his hand as an attack that takes an enemy’s weapon away for Zero’s own use. This grants access to many varied, limited use weapons depending on the nearby enemies. I wanted to like this system, but in practice, Zero’s sword is better than every single enemy weapon I found.
41. Mega Man Zero, Platform: GBA, Release Year: 2002, Developer: Inti Creates
It’s Mega Man, sort of. And that’s how it plays. Yes I’m playing this in the collection, but still noted its original release platform and year. There are quality of life changes, but it’s basically the same game. The story here is edgier than base Mega Man and the Zero series gets some notice from this, but really the story is badly told. The script is particularly weak and those damn cut scenes play over and over right before you retry a boss battle. I kind of wish they played it straight and ignored the story. Anyways, the combat is pretty great and I like how games featuring Zero add melee attacks. Those feel particularly good on a screen cramped by its low resolution.
40. Mega Man Zero 2, Platform: GBA, Release Year: 2003, Developer: Inti Creates
Like Mega Man Zero 1, 2 plays well, but has faults in its story telling, script and some bad design choices. This iteration attempts changes to the elf power up system, thankfully adding some clarity to how it works, but not quite making it compelling. It still feels like a work-in-progress system that needed to find the right design or be scrapped. Bosses and levels are memorable here and that counts for a lot.
39. Mega Man Zero 3, Platform: GBA, Release Year: 2004, Developer: Inti Creates
Oh no. The Mega Man Zero games are blending together for me. I think this is the one I like the most, or was it just the easiest, because enemies dropped copious health pick-ups? No I’m sure this is the best one. Probably. In this one, Zero acquires various armors which display as palette swaps and each provide unique abilities. Elf upgrades are pretty sensible, with some upgrade paths leading to permanent upgrades and the rest being forgettable. The action is as good as always and has the usual problem of limited screen real estate leading to easy collisions. And the story… it was anime nonsense from the start. I think I say that a lot. I like anime, but what I mean is that a lot of animes rely on tropes that I just can’t get behind. They’re boring, forgettable. In Mega Man Zero 3, the world continues to be ending and there continues to be a glimmer of hope. Sure, why not? Zero gets to fight other reploids and that’s good enough for me.
38. Choplifter III: Rescue Survive, Platform: SNES, Release Year: 1994, Developer: Beam Software
A fairly fast paced and action packed Choplifter benefits from the variety of enemies, weapons, and locales as compared to earlier entries in the series. The basic pattern is pretty fun. Explore to find what appear to be POWs. Rescue them by landing and waiting for them to board. Return to base when you have a number of rescues. And shoot enemies. A lot. The zoomed in perspective hurts Choplifter quite a bit, since enemies can easily be just barely off screen. Also, moving backwards to get away from enemy fire results in the camera panning back so you can’t see anything useful. There are also bosses, which are nice for added variety, but dying against them should really result in restarting with your spent items.
37. Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Grafitti, Platform: NES, Release Year: 1989, Developer: Namco
Before Kid Dracula, Wanpaku Grafitti de-fanged the Splatterhouse series by mocking it in the form of a pretty good and very silly Splatterhouse game. Knowing how serious and gory Splatterhouse games are makes this version a lot of fun. It’s still got horror, but it’s also very goofy. Aside from its shtick, it’s a fun action platformer, with interesting and varied levels, but hardly something unique in the NES library.
36. Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2023, Developer: FrozenByte
I’m not entirely sure if I was more enamored with the idea of Trine in its earlier iterations and have just grown tired of the formula, or if this one is a bit too long. While I enjoyed it, it did wear on me. In Trine games, there are three characters that have different abilities and you must utilize those abilities — often in tandem — to solve puzzles. And sometimes fight. There’s always jank with the physics engine, but it mostly holds together. Trine 5 is probably three times longer than Trine 1, meaning it’s too long even if it is a good time until you get to a boss that demands utilizing your skills in a way the game has not taught you.
35. Run Saber, Platform: SNES, Release Year: 1993, Developer: Hori
Atlus published Run Saber is a fairly fast paced action platform that takes obvious inspiration from Strider. There’s something of Contra in here too, given there’s a sequence where you hang from a plane and the enemies become more alien as you progress. Overall, this plays pretty well and the levels are interesting. It’s kind of breezy actually. I do wish slashing enemies gave a feeling of impact. It feels like you’re just slashing the space in front of you and if there’s an enemy in that space, it’s their own fault.
34. Chained Together, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2024, Developer: Anegar Games
Most made for streaming, made with a gimmick games are actually bad. Chained Together is good despite very much being based around a gimmick. You and three friends are chained together and must platform up and up to escape hell or something. As with other silly co-op games, the fun is in failing and indeed Chained Together is hard enough that there will be many failures, many of which are comedic.
33. Dolphin Blue, Platform: Arcade, Release Year: 2003, Developer: Sammy
I came for the dolphins and stayed for the run n’ gun. And the dolphins. Dolphin Blue channels a whole lot of Metal Slug. Mostly, it’s great. The enemy soldiers in particular run around frantically, comically in the background, entering the fray usually only to be killed immediately. It’s super satisfying to mow down a line of enemy troops parachuting in from above or in some other silly, ineffective formation. The game however, suffers from some of the frustrations also found in Metal Slug. Getting down to your pea shooter while fighting a tank or being killed by an untelegraphed enemy attack you’ve never seen before? These things do not feel good. Cheap tactics often come for your credits in Dolphin Blue.
32. Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, Platform: Vita, Release Year: 2018, Developer: Atlus
All Persona spin-off games feel inessential, because they don’t progress any meaningful story. Sure, they do have stories, but not good ones. And there ain’t much character progression either. I actually appreciate Dancing in Moonlight’s relative lack of story. We’re in a dream where time doesn’t matter and we suddenly know how to dance? Sure, let’s dance. And it’s pretty fun. Stylish too. The only reason I played in the first place is because I like the characters, so that’s an obvious plus as well.
31. Tokimeki Memorial: Beneath the Tree of Legend, Platform: Super Famicom, Release Year: 1996, Developer Konami
Insert dating simulator template here. Yet it’s shockingly modern and even tasteful, featuring beautiful presentation and charming sincerity. It’s not particularly my kind of game. I mean, high-school girls can be annoying (I am an old), so do I really want to pretend court one? Yeah kind of, it turns out. I can’t say I got to know all of the girls, but the game got me to feel undeserving of Shiori’s perfection, amused by Yuina’s mad science, and annoyed by Ayako’s habit of quoting English catchphrases. None of the girls’ stories are deep and the pacing is slow, yet Tokimeki Memorial still makes an impressive foray into the genre.
30. Super Hydorah, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2017, Developer: Abylight
I played the original Hydorah years ago and this improved version is great. It looks like Gradius, plays similarly (although with a better upgrade system) and has branching paths. There are great set pieces too. The later levels are rather difficult, but this version lets you continue as much as you’d like. What I haven’t experienced yet is co-op, but I imagine it’s delightful.
29. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice, Platform: 3DS, Release Year: 2016, Developer: Capcom
Let’s start at the end, which culminates to great impact probably more than any other Ace Attorney game. If you make it to the end, Spirit of Justice is a remarkable journey for the fictional country of Kur’ain and for one of our heroes, Apollo Justice. It’s worth it to make it to the end. Yet I won’t deny I took many breaks from playing Spirit of Justice due to its relatively weak earlier scenarios, less than clear logic required to solve some murder mysteries, and a stressful court system in the country of Kur’ain where you will be murdered for failure. The prosecutor even openly mocks your impending murder over and over. The Ace Attorney series is known for its courtroom ribbing, but it doesn’t feel right when Phoenix Wright will literally be killed if you lose.
28. Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2022, Developer: Dancing Dragon Games
Prep the armies and send them to do battle, but maybe spend a bit more time prepping, because that’s the hook. Symphony of War is a story driven tactical RPG that’s lukewarm in so many aspects. The story? Meh. Characters? Meh. Battle mechanics? Meh. Those things are fine I guess, but upgrading and customizing squads between battles? Equipping individual units and assigning them abilities? That’s what I’m here for. Those adorable sprites of fighters, mages, and dragons upgrade into better versions, can be re-positioned in your party grid and even become golden when you upgrade them past their final tier.
27. Citizen Sleeper, Platform: Xbox Series X, Release Year: 2022, Developer: Jump Over the Age
The low hum of a spacecraft you hear in science fiction shows has become something of a fixture, at least in my head if not yours. I hear it when the setting is right, medium be damned. Citizen Sleeper invoked the hum, with its minimalist take on post-apocalyptic space station life. I suppose there wasn’t an apocalypse really, but you know this setting. The future is here, corporations are so rich they own lives and planets, ethics are diminished. Citizen Sleeper feels like a choose your own adventure and plays like a board game when you have a few resources to manage, limited actions per turn, and places where you can spend those actions.
26. Kirby: Planet Robobot, Platform: 3DS, Release Year: 2016, Developer: HAL
Most of the time, Kirby does his Kirby thing. You know how it goes. It’s pretty good. Then sometimes he enters a mecha and it’s a power trip. This is hardly the first instance in the Kirby series where a transformation lets you steamroll enemies, but this is the best one. Kirby-in-a-mecha (not an actual mecha Kirby) can absorb and use various powers. These are all OP, but they have the dual function of being required to solve stage puzzles that lead to collectibles. The level design is thoughtfully built around the use of the mecha and its powers. Planet Robobot also heavily features background and foreground parts of a stage, in order to flex its 3D. This is okay, but sometimes feels like a novelty.
25. We Love Katamari: Royal Reverie, Platform: Xbox Series X, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Monkeycraft
Katamari is still fun, but I liked this a lot less than Reroll. The added scope and variety unfortunately works against Royal Reverie with some levels ending when you touch water or a specific item. There are quite a few gimmick levels and I think all of these were bad. Still, there are plenty of regular levels, with the same amazing music and the same absurdity. I enjoyed these levels a lot, just not the things in between, like the overly long dialogue, or the map screen I can’t make sense of.
24. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2020, Developer: Inti Creates
Well, I didn’t like this as much as the first, so that was disappointing. But I did still like Curse of the Moon 2 a lot for much the same reasons. It’s a modern take on Castlevania 3 that features highly curated level design with branching paths. You play as up to 4 party members that you can switch between at will. Each member has very different abilities that are useful not only against select enemies, but to access alternate paths in levels. My lower evaluation in this case was due to more gripes with being knocked into pits in levels and some bosses being incredibly difficult to dodge in a way that did not feel at home with the rest of the precision platforming.
23. The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2018, Developer: White Owls
Kweooo. Yes it’s intentionally weird and not wholly original in its weirdness, borrowing the odd bits from Twin Peaks. Still, the weirdness charms and I’ll take weirdness over boring any day. Macfield has the appearance of a model. She’s thin, tall, pale, has long blonde hair. And she is killed repeatedly, horrifically, often being dismembered. Her corpse or dismembered parts are animate and the central mechanic in this puzzle platformer is using Macfield’s dead or dismembered form to solve puzzles. Honestly, it works pretty well and makes for an interesting puzzler, that unfortunately has bad check-pointing and uneven platforming. It also feels like this is maybe Swery’s fetish. The last hour or so reveals many story elements that pay off wonderfully both narratively and in justifying the metaphor.
22. Planet of Lana, Platform: Xbox Series X, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Wishfully
Quite a beautiful game, this Planet of Lana. It’s something of a modern Out of this World (AKA Another World) and so you have to move about left and right, climbing, crawling, puzzle-solving. You know how it goes. It gets pretty clever too and I rather like games articulating a story without using dialogue.
21. Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, Platform: Switch, Release Year: 2024, Developer: Next Level Games
This is the third game I’ve played in the series, first having played the Luigi’s Mansion 1 on 3DS and then Luigi’s Mansion 3 on Switch. It’s remarkable how much improved 3 is over its predecessors, but even so, 2 is a fun puzzle-y action game. They could have cut down on the inter-level dialogue sequences I think. The fun is in exploring the mansion and other spaces, poking around, finding secrets, interactables, and of course, many many ghosts.
20. Sea of Stars, Platform: Xbox Series X, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Sabotage Studio
It starts slow and almost lost me, but it was clearly world-building and the world was proving to be interesting even if the introduction was too slow. Sea of Stars is a game I grew to like more the farther I got. Intriguing characters grew into characters I cared about, as did the history and plight of this world. The combat mechanics are great for bosses, but make common encounters take too long and I found myself not wanting to use certain abilities just because they’re slow. Still, the combat system shines overall. Often encounters feel like little puzzles. The graphics are fantastic and I found myself stopping to appreciate the scenery several times. The game also has a positive vibe that holds a certain appeal. In that regard, it’s more Chrono Trigger than Final Fantasy VI.
19. Princess Peach: Showtime! Platform: Switch, Release Year: 2024, Developer: GoodFeel
Yes, it’s for kids. Like Kirby’s Epic Yarn and other GoodFeel games were for kids. I’m glad kids are getting nice things. The difficulty is not satisfying for me personally, but the charm and variety make up for that. I did enjoy Showtime! quite a lot. Aesthetically, it’s a triumph. The plays Peach stars in tend to be beautiful set pieces, worthy of their places as theatrical presentations in the story. The ninja plays I found had great — if easy — stealth mechanics and Patissiere Peach makes utterly gorgeous cakes as to make me a glutton in real life. No play was disappointing, but some were definitely lesser.
18. I Am Your Beast, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2024, Developer: Strange Scaffold
This was a games club game. Often when I beat a game I don’t much like, it’s because of games club. Fortunately, I Am Your Beast is a game I liked. It’s very good. This is not the premise at all, but it feels like a superhero game. Your character is much faster and more powerful than any single enemy. The abilities you wield — climbing, melee kills, auto-aimed accuracy — feel like super powers. This game is very much about feeling powerful and the cut-scenes go a long way to setting that tone. They’re stylish and funny, you get to trash talk, and they escalate the tension as the game and its challenge ramps up.
17. Batman, Platform: NES, Release Year: 1989, Developer: Sunsoft
I really like this kind of game. The controls are precise. There’s just enough variety to enemies, weapons, and abilities. The levels are crafted with escalating challenge, intended for children getting good at such games in the eighties. And the music is awesome. It’s not that Batman-y if that matters to you and the end is pretty darn difficult. On the plus side, the wall jump is kind of amazing considering how poorly games of this era normally handled those.
16. This Way Madness Lies, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2022, Developer: Zeboyd Games
The creators know that magical girls are delightful, with their fashion show transformation sequences and their power of love as actual destructive magic. In This Way Madness Lies, a Shakespeare drama club of high-school girls enters alternate realities based on Shakespeare’s plays to magically transform, battle monsters and save the day. Damn, Zeboyd got way better at their craft since I played Breath of Death back in the day. The combat system is interesting too with each character having a themed set of moves that can be used once each until that character spends a turn resting. In practice, battles got tedious. It’s a short game so that can be forgiven and I had a great time overall.
15. Gravity Circuit, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Domesticated Ant Games
There’s a lot to love in Gravity Circuit. Clearly inspired by Mega Man, the game has you select from eight stages, each featuring a unique boss called a Circuit. The level layouts and robotic enemies are right out of Mega Man and yet Gravity Circuit changes it up a lot too. Notably, your main weapon is a short range punch. You also have a grappling hook and a run button. Movement is much faster here and it feels pretty damn good. Except for that grappling hook. It can be finicky trying to repeatedly grapple across a ceiling. The other downside is an imbalance due to the way you power up. The game starts off reasonably difficult, then becomes easy as you pick up health upgrades and various abilities. There are a lot of abilities. Then it gets hard again right at the end. Progression does not feel particularly good. These problems are minor though. Gravity Circuit controls well and is a blast to play.
14. Cocoon, Platform: Xbox Series X, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Geometric Interactive
Cocoon is beautiful in presentation and form. Its visuals are glistening, insect-infused, and ethereal. How does it play? It’s an overhead puzzler where you move around a little insect guy and the objective is abstract, but I like think my insect guy is on a quest to become king of this world. The gameplay is smooth indeed, with no possible death outside of boss fights (the boss fights themselves play out like puzzles) and the game limiting the areas you can backtrack to as you progress. Honestly, despite their excellent design and pacing, the puzzles were not always my thing. Some were annoying. The inception style puzzles that show up later in the game were great though, requiring you to think about spaces physically fitting inside of other spaces, perhaps a few layers deep. It broke my brain, but I liked it.
13. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Reptile Games
A spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio that hews pretty close to the source material and I don’t mind that at all. Hideki Naganuma even did some songs for this game. Cyberfunk looks and sounds great, oozing style and exhibiting a bold, sometimes abrasive soundtrack, the likes of which most games are too timid to choose. There’s more combat here than there probably should be and some of those sequences are rough, but any time you’re challenged to grind perpetually, dangerously, without losing your combo? That’s pure joy.
12. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2004, Developer: Nihon Falcom
Trails in the Sky is a slow burn, punctuated by chapter ending highlights and a big finale. This works in its favor if you give the game and its cast they time they need. Estelle and Joshua are the leading characters as well as newbie members of the Bracers guild. Basically they’re helpful mercenaries. As the two figure themselves out, so does the player. Their stories and personalities unfold as if taking place in a good novel. The world too, feels alive, exhibiting residents who comment on recent events, domestic and foreign politics, and many people you come across who are working regular jobs. I liked Trails in the Sky a lot. It’s hardly my favourite RPG, but it is special and deserves its reputation.
11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project, Platform: NES, Release Year: 1992, Developer: Konami
The home-console TMNT brawlers are better than most arcade brawlers. The difference is in the balance and we all get why arcade games demand death tribute. TMNT III is whimsical and repetitive, sometimes frustrating, but mostly not. Holding down on the d-pad to perform a throw attack is a bit awkward, but I prefer having that additional move. Mainly, it feels damn good to play and handles the license incredibly well. I love soaking in the visuals and audio, and relaxing into the repetitive combat.
10. Diablo IV, Platform: Xbox Series X, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Activision Blizzard
In a significant way, this is the best Diablo game. The basic gameplay of exploring while killing mobs, collecting loot, tackling missions, and managing your damn backpack, well they sorted that out. It is buttery smooth and that counts for a lot. I really enjoyed my time spent doing all of these things. I played a Necromancer and the skills were somewhat interesting, but on console, three of my buttons ended being mapped to summons. Those are not skills you actively use however, unless a summon falls in battle. So I used few skills actively, which was disappointing. And then there were the menus. Would you like to buy cosmetics or a seasons pass? Would you like your immersion ruined? Would you like to be annoyed every time you press Start? My answer was always no, but the questions would not relent.
9. Metal Slug Tactics, Platform: Xbox Series X, Release year: 2024, Developer: Leiker Studio
Perhaps it’s a kind of fan service, but I rather like it when characters I like from one series are placed in a different genre. And this may be ‘borrowing’ a lot of ideas from Into the Breach, but might as well borrow from one of the best. The art direction is a lot of fun, with goofy, well drawn sprites stabbing and blowing each other up. The sprites constantly animate. The vehicular enemies in particular look like they’re breathing. Metal Slug Tactics is a lot of fun for the same reasons as Into the Breach and other rogue-likes are. Progress little by little, opening up new characters and weapons. Each requires you to learn and strategize around their powers and limitations. Unfortunately, there are copious bugs. Characters will teleport around. The game will crash (but load right where you were before the crash). The camera moves up by itself for no reason. Hopefully they fix those things. It would certainly elevate the game.
8. Volcano Princess, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Egg Catcher
The true successor to Princess Maker is Volcano Princess. Fundamentally, Volcano Princess gets what works with Princess Maker 2, featuring varied jobs and interactions that tell the story of your daughter and the ending she receives after she leaves the nest. Yet it adds another layer that fits in perfectly well, allowing her to build relationships with NPCs in a way that’s woven into the rest of the gameplay. Some of these friends serve as battle party members. Others interact with her on festival days. Those she spent a lot of time with might appear in her ending. It’s great stuff, although I admit it slows down the pacing which is particularly noticeable on replays. The art is gorgeous as well, featuring a soft aesthetic that makes the experience blissfully peaceful. The worst part is an incomplete translation that is serviceable (and sometimes charming and sincere), but really needs work.
7. Just a To The Moon Series Beach Episode, Platform: PC, Release Year: 2024, Developer: Freebird Games
I’m a big fan of To The Moon. There are a few games that have left a strong impression on me through characters and story alone and To The Moon is at the top of that list, so at worst I expected to enjoy some time spent with old digital friends. It turned out to be much better than that. Despite the name, Beach Episode is a funny, heartfelt story in its own right and is told with the same charms and reveals of its predecessor.
6. Pikmin 4, Platform: Switch, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Nintendo
Nintendo magic and charm abound in Pikmin 4. Yes, I would call Pikmin games RTS’s, but there’s nothing else like them and any gripes I had with earlier Pikmin titles are smoothed over perfectly in this one. The world and characters are charming just up to the limit of being too cute. The levels are incredibly fun to explore and collect items in. There’s constant discovery and wonder to be found. Poke around and you’ll find treasures. Look in the bestiary or item list and find genuinely funny descriptions of your explorers’ interpretations of objects. And there’s a lot of content too! I was surprised by the length of it, but did not get fatigued with the gameplay loop.
5. Contra Hard Corps, Platform: Sega Genesis, Release Year: 1994, Developer: Konami
The word is cool. Pick from action man, action lady, tiny robot, or werewolf with sunglasses and traverse absurdly difficult short levels that feature some of the best set pieces of the era. I like the run and gun action. I can sort of tolerate the difficulty. And I love those set pieces. From vehicles crashing in the background to screen-filling bosses to running on a highway with the boss moving into and out of the foreground, Hard Corps varies it up. The pace of gameplay is real fast, frenetic even and there’s really no way to be good without memorizing levels. The rub here is this is Konami still busting our chops, because of the rental market. That’s right. They decided it was okay to make children cry so long as they couldn’t beat the game in a rental. After finding this out, I played the Japanese version, which gives you three hit points instead of one, making the game actually balanced and considerably more fun.
4. Contra III: The Alien Wars, Platform: SNES, Release Year: 1992, Developer: Konami
The best Contra game (not by a lot) is one that mixes set pieces with more straight forward segments and just really balanced and engaging gameplay. I’ve played enough run and gun games to know that balance is rarely achieved, difficulty spikes rarely avoided and this one feels just right. And lest I take it for granted, it really does have super cool set pieces and levels inspired by the best action movies of its time. It’s not quite as cool as Hard Corps, but it is more fun to play.
3. Persona 3: Reload, Platform: Xbox Series X, Release Year: 2024, Developer: Atlus
It’s difficult to ascertain which Persona cast I like most. I’ve played the games over a course of decades now, but I think Reload has confirmed that my favorite cast is from 3. I wish this cast did not so frequently and unduly praise the voiceless protagonist. It’s clear Mitsuru is the real leader. It’s the supporting cast that grow as the story develops. The robot girl Aigis looks for purpose. Mitsuru contends with her powerful family’s dark history and the weight of expectations. Junpei goes through a whole journey I can’t easily summarize here. The protagonist — he’s just a shell. And while I love the cast, Reload is a particular delight to play, because of its style, excellent combat, and how days are split between dungeon exploration and school life. Later entries would do a better job of adding variety to dungeons. In the late game, I was finding dungeon excursions repetitive.
2. Dark Souls 3, Platform: Xbox One, Release Year: 2016, Developer: FromSoftware
Dark Souls 3 and its DLC, played on my Series X. Before my first son was born, I played Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin as a last hurrah to big games for some time. I missed Dark Souls 3 in 2016. I was busy. But I’ve found time again and I’m delighted I came back. Dark Souls and Elden Ring get the fanfare, but Dark Souls 3 really is exceptional. It probably has the best boss battles in all the SoulsBorne games. The enemies, their arrangement into combat scenarios, is exceptional, honed from previous iterations. Elden Ring was my game of 2022, primarily because I delighted in the frightful, interesting locales that made up its world. Dark Souls 3 isn’t quite at Elden Ring’s level there, but it still features incredible areas ranging from gothic cathedrals infested with blight to a sky island, home of dragons.
1. Super Mario RPG, Platform: Switch, Release Year: 2023, Developer: Arte Piazza
Of the wholesome stock of games, Super Mario RPG may just be the funniest. There’s some cheekiness admittedly, but most of the time I’m just laughing at Mario and friends pantomiming retells of story beats. I played this in 96' and loved it. It turns out I love it still, spruced up as it is. I’m counting this game again since this version feels substantial in its improvements. The combat system of timed attacks works for me. It’s perhaps a bit easy this time around, but I’ll take easy over not knowing why I’m messing up. The locales and characters are incredible really. I’m surprised the likes of Booster, the Axem Rangers and many others don’t get more attention. Super Mario RPG even caused me to change my Switch profile icon for the first time in a long time. It’s Boshi the bad Yoshi’s time to shine.
Just the Rankings
64. Dead2y Premonition: A Blessing in Disguise
63. Ys Chronicles I
62. Slay the Princess
61. Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom
60. Super Crazy Rhythm Castle
59. Wargroove 2
58. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan
57. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
56. Bonk’s Revenge
55. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile
54. Foregone
53. Nekotako
52. Monster Monpiece
51. Jumping Flash!
50. Mega Man ZX
49. The Pathless
48. Remnant: From the Ashes
47. Back 4 Blood
46. World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
45. Magical Pop’n
44. Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
43. Shining Force: Sword of Hajya
42. Mega Man Zero 4
41. Mega Man Zero
40. Mega Man Zero 2
39. Mega Man Zero 3
38. Choplifter III: Rescue Survive
37. Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Grafitti
36. Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy
35. Run Saber
34. Chained Together
33. Dolphin Blue
32. Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight
31. Tokimeki Memorial: Beneath the Tree of Legend
30. Super Hydorah
29. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice
28. Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga
27. Citizen Sleeper
26. Kirby: Planet Robobot
24. We Love Katamari: Royal Reverie
25. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2
23. The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories
22. Planet of Lana
21. Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD
20. Sea of Stars
19. Princess Peach: Showtime!
18. I Am Your Beast
17. Batman
16. This Way Madness Lies
15. Gravity Circuit
14. Cocoon
13. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
12. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project
10. Diablo IV
9. Metal Slug Tactics
8. Volcano Princess
7. Just a To The Moon Series Beach Episode
6. Pikmin 4
5. Contra Hard Corps
4. Contra III: The Alien Wars
3. Persona 3: Reload
2. Dark Souls 3
1. Super Mario RPG