2016 games in review

[SnowFire]

Let's do it.  What games did you play in 2016?  Did they dull the pain in your soul?

Previous years: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

[superaielman]

I replayed some games- FF1 and FM4 late, played a lot of OMD2 and Civ5 as well. Didn't really play a ton of new games. Only two off the top of my head were Xcom2 and Europa Univeralias 4.

[Cmdr_King]

Well... slightly better than last year anyways.
I also played copious amounts of Record Keeper but I don't feel my final assessment from last year is that different from how I feel now.  So on to the countdown.

With apologies in advance to Ciatos.

8. Persona 4: Dancing All Night (Vita, 2015)

Looking back at the game I definitely feel my initial impression was too positive: I have it lined up with the other games I played this year and it feels cleanly like the one I remember with least fondness, despite the next entry getting a lower score in my post-completion summary.  I think in part playing more of the game sans story mode’s easiness made the inherent flaws more glaring, and partly just that it’s a very popcorn game that didn’t leave a lasting impression.  The overall song selection also left me a bit cold in the end I think.  Nothing especially wrong with the game overall, just… lots of small flaws without major successes to hang your hat on.  6/10.

7. Fire Emblem Fates Conquest (3DS, 2016)

Meanwhile my original assessment of FE14 feels spot on.  I haven’t felt compelled to go on to Birthright or Revelations (although I’m pretty sure I spent the money on them, definitely on Birthright) even after several months away.  The game overcomplicates itself in a way that doesn’t mesh with what I want Fire Emblem to be and the cast just isn’t compelling enough to bring me back in aside the royal family… y’know, the poor suckers you have to kill in the other path.  I think another part of it all is the central conceit ends up weakening the game for me: the big path split doesn’t feel worthwhile because I don’t really have much investment in Corrin as a character, and trying to play with the moral implications of that choice is sorta The Point here.  Basically the whole thing never quite comes together, so you’re left with basic Fire Emblem gameplay which is good and all but isn’t really the best example of that either.  6/10.

6. Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice (3DS, 2016)

It does a lot of the same things as Dual Destinies and almost all the changes make it a teensy bit less good.  Apollo isn’t quite as good as the leading man as Athena.  Simon is a much better prosecutor (although I admit the Final Boss in Spirit of Justice worked for me in a way only AAI’s Alba did previously).  Silly as they were thematically, the Mood Matrix was more fun to play around with that the Séances. 
At the same time I do respect that Spirit of Justice was trying to be a meatier game with stuff to say, and doing something fairly impactful to the overarching narrative finishing off Apollo’s story arc and giving him an exit from the main stories means all the things it did make sense!  It’s just not quite as fun.  Tellingly, my favorite bit was probably Case 4, ie the one that’s a top to bottom throwback to Dual Destinies and probably originally designed as a tutorial level.  Still, y’know, more Ace Attorney is always to the good.  7/10.

5. Pokémon Moon (3DS, 2016)

A lot of what I said about Spirit of Justice applies here.  They made a bunch of changes, I think I overall like XY’s traditionalism better, it clicks more with me.  That said it’s less clear-cut here.  I definitely like the idea of the trials, they just peter out quite a bit by the end in a way I feel like Gym Battles normally don’t.  Having a straight up JRPG villain for the not-technically-final boss was kinda funny, albeit the whole “behold my true form an despair” bit falls utterly flat when oh yeah, you aren’t actually fighting that boss, just their minion Pokémon instead.  And Team Skull are great.  Let nobody take that away from the game.
The Elite Four stepped it up again, but part of that is Z-Moves being functionally guaranteed OHKOs.  Otherwise the game definitely finished weaker than it started, where I felt X/Y kept things pretty steady throughout?  And while the Alolan Pokémon are pretty good there was something to be said for the sheer volume of stuff you could nab in the previous game.
But yeah, nothing inherently against Sun/Moon, it just uses the same engine as its direct predecessor and suffers for the comparison a bit.  7/10

4. Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland (PS3, 2011)

Definitely my favorite Atelier game setting aside the Mana Khemia games.  Like I said at the time, the usual unstructured running around exploring and making stuff and hoping you might stumble into story hooks is actually weaved into the narrative of Totori, so you deflect that nagging sense of “shouldn’t we be doing something about that thing?” that crept into Ayesha while still having an actual narrative at all.  And it’s way better about the Arland setting and characters than Rorona was, like if you haven’t already spent money on Rorona go ahead and skip that in favor of Totori.  It does retain the rude awakenings that all the other classical Atelier games have, which is kinda a bummer, but I think that’s just part of their design philosophy.  Clearly I have not invested enough in getting good at alchemy.  8/10

3. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Vita, 2015)
2. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II (Vita, 2016)

I think it’s best to just address these as a unit.  The main thing separating them is that the first game is a little too rigid; it gives it a feel of artificiality that makes me think it’s just ripping off another game rather than using a few similar mechanics to do its own thing (even though it is).  The impact isn’t as large as that statement makes it sound (they’re both getting the same grade afterall), but it’s the main reason I like the second more.
But yeah it’s a solid RPG largely in the style of the PS2 era.  The cast is a little bit trope-y, and Erebonia isn’t quite as distinct a locale as Liberl, but they work it pretty good and pace things pretty well and it’s very playable and it’s got a great balance between customization and uniqueness.  Gameplay wise it hits a great balance, almost anyone can find a favorite character, etc etc.
Yeah the game is really about hitting all the classic buttons and being fundamentally solid at everything.  8/10x2

1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC (PSP, 2015)

Sky feels a lot more flawed than Cold Steel if I’m being honest.  As noted at the time, the early chapters don’t really speak very much to the endgame.  But…
But.
Sky SC starts from a place of amazing emotional vulnerability and spends the bulk of the narrative following Estelle’s efforts to deal with it.  She goes on a retreat to clear her head.  She buries herself in work.  She reconnects with her friends and they act like real human beings helping someone cope with a traumatic break. 
And it’s okay to cry.  For anyone.  Thinking you can’t will destroy you and devastate anyone who loves you.
So... yeah.  9/10.

[jsh357]

I played fewer new games this year than I have in quite some time, owing to my ramped up school schedule and, to be honest, a lack of titles I was interested in this year. A lot of the "big games" this year were FPS titles and other genres I don't care much about. With that said, I had some good times. Currently, I am playing Final Fantasy XII (third attempt, enjoying it this time) and Bravely Second (okay so far), but I am not far enough along in them to say much. I'll reflect on them at the end of 2017, hopefully!

These are the games I played in 2016, ranked in order from the one I liked least to most.

13. I Am Setsuna
I don't think this is a bad game by any means, and if it had been released ten years ago I might have loved it. Sadly, I have played so many similar RPGs now that none of the good qualities of the game stood out for me. Instead, the things I noticed most were negatives. Anyone who has played Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy X, and various other Square titles will immediately recognize the tropes this game is constantly referencing. (and trying to paint deadly serious) The game almost has no identity of its own. That alone would not have ruined the game for me, but the slow pace combined with a soundtrack entirely composed of soft piano music and a blinding white color palette made I am Setsuna very soporific for me. I think in the final session I played, I was literally starting to fall asleep before deciding to call it quits for good. I'll give this title props for trying to expand on the combo system in CT a little, but the inclusion of many questionable elements common in more recent RPGs dragged things down. Monster loot, cooking, etc. It all felt tacked on and insignificant.

One of the things I loved about Chrono Trigger is how quickly and stylishly it plays and presents itself; one could argue the game was too simplistic, but this simplicity made the experience engaging. In comparison, Setsuna tries to be bleak and moody and misses the appeal of the game it is trying so hard to resemble. In fact, after I dropped this game I actually played through Chrono Trigger again to see if I was just dead wrong. After all this time and so many replays, I was still so engaged I finished CT, including all its sidequests, in 2 days. I feel like modern imitation-classic RPGs want to have their cake and eat it too: they try to appeal to our nostalgia for a simpler time, but also want to seem deep and edgy like modern indie games. It's actually a mistake I made in designing my last game (Motrya). There's a tough balance here that is hard to hit.

At any rate, I'm rambling. The short version is some people might dig this game, but I was bored.

12. The Witcher

This was my third attempt to play this game. The previous two times, I was held back by hardware issues. Despite being an older game at this point, The Witcher requires a relatively expensive graphics card and processor to run. Anyway, once I finally did get this game working, I found it wasn't worth the trouble for me. While I respect a lot of what this game is doing, in particular trying to make a believable fantasy setting, I don't find it enjoyable to play at all. The quests are typical things you see in western RPGs and the combat is essentially just... clicking the mouse rhythmically. I'm not sure how else to describe it. It's hilarious to me how WRPG purists say turn-based combat is so bad when these modern action RPGs are more dull than Seiken Densetsu and Tales of Phantasia were 20 years ago. There are a lot of extra systems you have to keep track of like Potion making, sorting your inventory, and whatnot. It's all needlessly complicated and I lost interest fast.

Putting gameplay aside, I can't say the story is anything I was interested in either. I was not enamored with Geralt as a character, though I guess he is fine. Some of the NPCs seemed interesting, but I didn't play far enough to find out more about them, if they re-emerged at all. There is also a lot of gratuitous sexual innuendo and vulgarity in this game that made me cringe at several points, not just because it was gross, but because it felt so hamfistedly inserted to try and appeal to people who think swear words are funny. (I'm not a Game of Thrones fan either, for the record...) On that note, if you like Game of Thrones, you might like this game.

Overall, The Witcher seems like a fairly typical western RPG. It's rare they hold my attention, owing in part to the fact that I didn't grow up playing them.


11. Pokemon GO
I hope placing this above the last two games didn't trigger anyone... In all fairness, I think Pokemon GO is the worst game on this list, but the truth is it held my interest longer.

This game's concept is dynamite. You go out in the world, you catch Pokemon, you meet people who also like Pokemon, you even get some exercise doing it. Well, the concept was about the extent of its appeal. After a few weeks, it became clear to me this game was just a repetitive grind designed to entice you into buying virtual backpacks. Several mechanics were also poorly thought out; in particular, evolution requiring repeated captures of the same monsters. Another problem I had was that Gym battles are nearly impossible to play unless you are one of the few people in an area with the time/accessibility to get high level monsters.

Additionally, it's just way too hard to find Pokemon in some regions. I live in Columbia, SC, which is not a huge city, but one of decent size. Even though there are plenty of population centers here, the variety of Pokemon around was very slim, and I even found Pokestops to be rarer than I would have liked.

The basic mechanic of the game, throwing Pokeballs, is dirt simple but engaging. I think Niantic had something amazing here, but they will never capitalize and make something great like they could have. Overall, I was just as happy to quit playing this game as I was to play it for the first couple of weeks.

10. The Wolf Among Us
This will probably be the last TellTale game I play unless they venture into an IP I care a lot about. I bought this thinking it was actually an original TellTale IP, then found out while playing it was based on a graphic novel series called Fables. I wasn't really motivated to check it out afterward, but if you like messed-up, gritty fairy tales it's worth a shot. Gameplay-wise, it's like The Walking Dead, but with even fewer puzzles and more QTEs in their place. Your choices matter even less than in previous titles, too. I feel like Telltale is gradually devolving into a company that makes mediocre animated films instead of games.

Bigby (the Big Bad Wolf) is your typical gruff anti-heroish cop investigating murders in sleazy parts of the city. He's surrounded by the archetypal characters you see in fiction parodying crime drama. Deadbeats, prostitutes, that one female detective with a heart of gold... name it and it's in this story. Take away the fact they are from various fables, and there are literally no interesting characters in the game. I was disappointed that the game did not delve much into the fantasy world the characters were from, actually.

There's not much to see here. It's an entertaining enough cop drama if you can play the game for cheap, but I wouldn't go out of your way for it. Maybe if you're a fan of the source material.

9. Plants vs. Zombies Heroes

This is a Hearthstone clone. That's honestly all I have to say about it because there isn't anything else to say. It's pretty fun, but I felt empty inside because there were so many random factors at play. Well, okay, I'll say that you can get quite a lot of play time out of this game for free, so that's something, but why this is a standard we should be hoping for in gaming is beyond me.

Here's my recommendation: instead of bothering, play Dominion online instead. Or any number of other engaging tabletop games.

8. Mother
It always ashamed me that I had not finished the original Mother, being a big fan of Mother 2 and 3. I had attempted to finish the game several times, but was put off by its slow battles and directionless map design. This time, I played with maps of the areas open and just tried to be patient and it all worked out.

With that said, I still think Mother is not a good game. It has some elements I liked, but the complete package is frustrating and overly slow-paced. As far as I know, Mother was one of the first RPGs to have a hub world (Magicant) and I liked that in this game. It was also conceptually interesting; Ninten enters a dream world somebody created that helps him get around the physical world. Not much was done with this, but it is a Famicom game so I can look the other way a little. There are a lot of moments in the game that are meant to be funny story beats like the ones in future Mother games, but are too brief to hit the mark, again owing to the antiquity of the hardware and gaming as a medium. Mother feels like a demo for Mother 2 as a result; tons of its music and designs are recycled in the sequel.

I have often heard hip Mother fans say this one has the "best story," but I have to respectfully disagree. The story in this game is very bare-bones and does not have much to do with its main characters. We get small portraits of Giygas and some of Ninten's ancestors, but it's all presented in little chunks that are easily forgotten over the long stretches of exploration in between events, and all it actually amounts to is "a woman took an alien in one time and that was a mistake." If you're looking for the wit and B-movie sensibility of Mother 2, you won't find it here.

Regardless, the game has its strong points. It is remarkably bug free, a rarity in Famicom RPGs. Status magic is actually very effective, and there are truly challenging areas in the game that had me liberally using the run and defend commands. If the game had a better built-in map, I would even venture to say exploring the vast overworld might be pretty fun. Also, the soundtrack is really nice, though the CD version is of much better quality.

The game is worth checking out if you already liked Mother 2 and 3, but I hesitate to believe people who say they liked this one more than those. It is a mediocre RPG of its era, not even close to as playable as Dragon Quest III or Final Fantasy III.


7. Salt and Sanctuary
A decent Souls-inspired platformer. Salt and Sanctuary has many of the good aspects of the Souls franchise, most notably its twisty, interconnected map design. It also borrows a similar leveling system, the bloodstain concept, and a general philosophy toward weapon movesets. While it borrows a lot of things, I never felt the game was as successful as From Software's games. It feels very much like an indie platformer, and some techniques (such as rolling) simply don't work as well in 2D as they did in Souls.

The game has an odd difficulty level. Most of the time it's quite easy, but there are three or four areas that are excruciating to get through, especially the ones that require precision platforming. Boss combat has the same feeling; I only struggled with a few bosses, but the tough ones are very tough, one in particular feeling downright unfair.

Aesthetically, the game is very drab and gray. This works in its favor sometimes, but clashes poorly with the 2000s flash-animation looking sprites. Lighting was a major issue for me in a few areas, and while the developers might have intended it to make traversal more challenging, I merely found it annoying in the super-dark areas.

There's probably more I could say about this game, but my overall feeling is "not as good as a Souls game, but pretty good considering the price." I played through the game once and enjoyed most of my time, but probably won't revisit it.

6. Final Fantasy XV
FFXV starts out brilliantly. After a brief introduction telling us our hero is going on a journey to wed his beloved and the clear implication that all is not right with his father's kingdom, the car immediately breaks down, the heroes push it up a hill, "Stand By Me" plays in the background and we pan up to the Final Fantasy logo. I got chills watching this scene and thought maybe this title could successfully move Final Fantasy in a direction I didn't hate. I spent the first 40 hours of the game on the first 3 chapters, driving around the overworld, fishing, scrapbooking, fighting monsters for quests, and training my chocobos. I was having a good time in spite of a few hangups (the load times, ugh) and sure that people complaining about the story online were missing the point.

The problem with this game is that it is two games. The camping and driving simulator in which Noctis bonds with his bros before heading off to get hitched is fun and engaging. Unfortunately, once the plot actually starts moving, everything that made the game fun is stripped away. At this point, FFXV actually becomes the dreaded hallway simulator everyone said FFXIII was. To illustrate, there are two chapters in the second half of the game that end with you being dropped in a train map and told to walk around until the chapter ends. The only way you can go back to the game that was actually fun is to use a convoluted time travel feature. This was so obviously rushed into the game at the last minute I don't even know what to say.

Let me be clear, and there are SPOILERS at this point. I don't have anything against characters being hurt and damaged, or significant changes to the world happening in order for the plot to have high stakes. However, FFXV does this way too quickly. Luna dies, the original purpose for being on the adventure at all is gone before we even got to know her. After this point, the game is just on rails and has so similarity to the game you might have enjoyed before this. Ignis being blinded is much more effective because at this point you (at least I was) are attached to him and hate to see him damaged. But FFXV didn't bother to set up a story in which we would care about the other characters affected by its events. It also becomes abundantly clear that huge sections of the game are missing and characters' storylines were abandoned in development.

FFXV makes clear references to FFVI and wants to be like it. Because it does this, I think it's fair to compare the two of them. When Kefka destroys the world in VI and we're left the pick up the pieces, it's actually an effective shift in the dynamic of the story. We know the villain well at this point (whereas Ardyn is a mystery from beginning to end), we have grown attached to the heroes, and the game invites us to explore and recuperate before taking on Kefka. FFXV does a time skip after Ardyn wrecks things, but it denies you the moments to even gather the characters you cared about. It would have been so easy too! Why not have Gladiolus lose faith and need to be pulled out of a slump by Noctis? Why not have Prompto think Noctis abandoned him and join the Magitek soldiers, then have Noctis face him and convince him he still cares? (which would have been set up perfectly by the revelation in Chapter 13) Why not have Ignis get lost in a cave or something and need you to help him? I came up with this stuff in about 2 minutes. In the actual game, you just ride a trailer to a truck stop and all three of your buddies are hanging out there twiddling their thumbs.

The sad thing is I can go on. There is so much wrong with this game's script and pacing that it would be an endless well of criticism. Other people have already done this, and frankly I don't want to because it makes me sad knowing how great this game should have been.

Gameplay is a mixed bag, but I can't say I hated it. The battle system in FFXV is also broken, though it fares better than the story. Essentially, as long as you are carrying Potions and Phoenix Downs, you can't really die in this game. You can also just have Noctis hold Square and dodge everything while your teammates slowly kill everything. Very few encounters offer a real challenge, and the ones that do (Couerls) feel cheap and obnoxious.

The game shines most in its exploration, whether it's driving around the world map or walking around dungeons. Unfortunately, not many of the dungeons are required to finish the game, so I didn't even see all of them. (I was not motivated to go back and complete the game after finishing the story) Little things like how happy cooking makes Ignis and looking at photos from your journey along the way are great, and I wish the developers had made these parts of the game the focus in the second half.

I don't know how this game could have been fixed. Maybe it needed more development time. Maybe it never had a chance. It isn't the worst game ever, and I did enjoy that first 40 hours a lot, so I give it a hesitant pass. Still, I can only dream of how awesome this game might have been if the developers understood what a solid concept they had.

5. Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice
It's another Ace Attorney game, and I'd rank it somewhere in the middle of the pack. Some great cases with Apollo here, but Athena gets the short end of the stick (and gets treated like she's never run a case during her one trial). I think these games are starting to get a little stale for me, but even so I felt like this was a worthy addition to the series. The new divination seance segments are an interesting method of looking at a case, but I hope they don't return. I feel these games are more fun when they have only sparing use of their mystic elements in trials. The new side characters are mostly lame and forgettable. But getting back to Apollo, I felt this was the first title in which we really learned what makes him tick as a lawyer. I was satisfied with his character arc here, as well as his sendoff. I suppose they could bring him back in spin-offs, but I doubt the fans are clamoring for it.

I would only recommend this game to folks who have played the other games, but I doubt anyone would jump in on this one anyway.

4. Super Mario Maker
In this game, you make Mario stages and then play bad stages people posted online. It's a hoot. Do I need to say more about this? I will give Nintendo major credit for making essentially the product I wanted here. Awesome game to share with a friend or SO who likes being creative so you can play their stages.

3. Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
So I think it's almost impossible to review this game without spoiling things, and frankly the only people who should bother with this game are people who played the first two. I would assume if you were going to check it out, you already have and I don't need to convince anyone. I'll be brief then. I think this is the worst of the Zero Escape games, but even with that said it's a worthy entry to the series. The same stuff you liked about the previous games is in this one, and it deepens the lore a bit. I was not a big fan of the plot twists near the end and despised one of the characters with a passion, but it's small potatoes. The game kept me hooked just like the previous ones. Solid VA, hilarious overuse of dutch angles, weird puzzles.


2. Dark Souls 3
The (supposedly) final Souls game is, to everyone's surprise, a great game. it's also the fifth game and starting to get tired, so I do hope this is truly the end. This game has fantastic map design, maybe the best combat mechanics in the series, and it looks/sounds great. It's packed to the brim with references to all four of the past games, and honestly, this made me smile. Several of the bosses were very challenging to me, but the game was nowhere near as hard as Bloodborne on the whole. I look forward to playing it more in the future.

On the negative side, apart from the superlatives I mentioned, everything else is "mediocre" compared to Demon's Souls/Dark Souls/Bloodborne. I did enjoy the game a lot more than Dark Souls 2, though. This is the only Souls game I only played twice the year it was released, and while I was busy in 2016, I have to think Souls burnout is the culprit.

Not much to say here other than "if you liked Dark Souls, you'll probably like this game too." It's awesome!

1. Another Metroid 2 Remake: Return of Samus
AM2R is my choice for the best game of 2016. I get extra cool points since it's illegal now. Politics aside, I think AM2R's quality is nothing short of incredible. The Metroid series has been screwed by its owners right and left for practically a decade now, and I love that a dedicated fan took the initiative and made a fantastic game that truly captures the feeling of Metroid that people loved. This project is a true labor of love; no money was made for all I understand--all that got exchanged here is a great game.

The original Metroid II was always an underrated title. It had an unsettling, cold atmosphere that was only possible to capture (probably partially by accident) at the time on its system (the original Game Boy). It wasn't a brilliantly designed game, but contributed to the series both mechanically and aesthetically, and these contributions played a large part in the creation of Super Metroid, still remembered by many (myself included) as one of the greatest Super Famicom games. AM2R is an adaptation that makes liberal changes to the original, adding in techniques seen in all of the games that proceeded Metroid II as well as some original ones. While it doesn't have quite the same feeling, the graphics are nonetheless spooky and effectively depict the environment of SR388 on a modern PC.

One of the things I always loved about the Metroid series is the creators' dedication to physics. So many platformers feel terrible to me compared to Metroid, and I was skeptical than an indie developer would be able to match the controls I expected. Color me surprised that AM2R might just have the best movement and control in any Metroid game, official or not. Samus controls quickly and smoothly, and even has a shortcut button for morphing now, which was something I never knew I wanted. The game has plenty of hidden sequence breaking tricks to facilitate speed runs, some of them quite cleverly designed. While not all of the combat in the game is perfect, the enemies presented here do provide a significant challenge even for a Metroid veteran. Fans of the original will not just get a 1:1 remake--there are lots of new areas and bosses to discover here, and lore-wise they fit nicely into the series we already know.

I understand why Nintendo had to shut this game down, but I am very happy it was able to spread onto the internet before that happened. The odds that Nintendo will ever release another 2D Metroid game are looking slimmer by the year, and with the failure of Federation Force and Other M one can't blame them. However, AM2R perfectly demonstrates how the Metroid fanbase is still out there and still cares deeply about this series. If you are a Metroid fan and have given this game a blind eye, I urge you to sail the dark corners of the internet and give it a try for yourself.

[SnowFire]

Pleasantly, I didn't play any bad or even "meh" games this year.  Just a lot of 7/10s.


Good

9. Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (Steam)
Yup, this is an oooold game, made in 1992.  I know some company made a Star Trek game based off the new movies recently, and it was just a cover shooter.  This is really wrong; Star Trek games, to really be Star Trek, should be a graphic adventure game.  Yeah, that's right, we're gonna go solve some puzzles and fix some problems and listen to dialogue.  Combat is easy when you've got phasers and they've got Primitive Planet X weapons, but fixing problems is hard.
The Good: The writing and the voice acting.  Each short scenario is interesting and has tons of dialogue options voice-acted by the original cast, in ways that sell it - which is nice, since Kirk can be either a by-the-book good guy or a bit of an egotist dick in the TV show too, and now you get to pick.  This is one of those games where you can reasonably do either a 0% playthrough or a 100% playthrough - if you want to be Captain Zapp Brannigan, infuriating everyone and phasering your way through problems, you CAN, you'll just get a crap rating.  Special bonus: the "security officers" in crimson uniforms that come along for each away mission are voice-acted too and have names, so you can feel bad if you screw up and get 'em killed.
The Bad: Pixel-hunting.  Obtuseness of the puzzles to a lesser degree, but the vignettes are short enough that you can usually force your way through.
The Ugly: Starship combat.  Whhhhhhhhhhhhy.  They decided to include the world's most simplistic starship simulator which feels more like a WWI dogfight with radar than Star Trek combat, and it sucks.  More specifically, I suck at it; I couldn't clear a fight with two ships at the same time, which stopped me from proceeding to the away missions, the part of the game that is actually GOOD.  Sigh.  Hence the low score, it's incomplete!


8. The Royal Trap: The Confines Of The Crown (Steam)
From the person who did Long Live The Queen, more fantasy medievalism with smart writing and highly distinct gender mores.  This is a true visual novel - there isn't really any gameplay aside from choices, and even intentionally making perverse ones will get you an ending, just an unpleasant one.  It's quite short too if you don't feel the need to completionist everything, although I suspect most people will at least want to do an Oliver run & a Callum run.

Anyway, I mostly liked it, although the big twist revealed in Callum or Nazagi takes away a different plot point I really liked, alas.  Also, the morality of what's involved is a little squicky in a way the narrative doesn't acknowledge, which is admittedly true of a crapton of real-world stories set in the past as well that people hand-wave by, but oh well.


7. Pokemon Y (3DS)
I'm not really a Pokemon player by default, but this was pretty fun.  Challenge is definitely on the easy side, even with the XP Share mostly turned off, but that's what silly challenges are for.  There was something *approaching* an interesting plot, too, though not really.  The Pokemon were really cute.  I'll call it mission accomplished.


6. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (Steam)
Short, fun 2D Metroidvania with a dash of Dark Souls.  NotMiki has good taste after all.

Something I like about Momodora 4 is that you start with a lot of the suite of power-ups you get in many Metroidvanias; you already have ranged attacks that power up, you already have double jump, etc.  And you don't really directly upgrade your weapons or level up.  Keeps the power level a bit more flat, which makes it easier to balance, and also lets the designer give you much more freedom to pick the order you do the main collect-4 quest in without getting your face caved in by doing it in the 'wrong' order.

Sadly, the plot is pretty threadbare.  The start is okay, but falls off the wagon, and doesn't even milk any good melodrama out of the twists it has.  (Example: At one point you 'die', then wake up... changed, in a prison of sorts.  You eventually escape and turn this into more a blessing than a curse.  There is zero dialogue for any of this, either the capture, the change, the escape, or the reversal.)  I'm not really a fan of the art style either.  Oh well, gameplay >>> plot in these kind of games anyway.


5. I Am Setsuna (PS4)
Yup, Chrono Trigger ripoff ahoy.  But Chrono Trigger is one of the best games ever, so.  Good taste.

Setsuna's an odd sorta game.  It is "big budget indie" if that makes any sense?  Unlike true indie games, it's not cheap sprites, but rather has a full fancy 3D rendering engine for its characters who can equip different weapons and look different, etc.  But it's obvious the budget had limits, since while the rendering engine was sufficiently complicated, a large number of the dungeons are highly simple affairs of wandering around a forest, or walking on nice simple floating blocks.  In the same kind of way, the plot & dialogue has moments of lots of love & care, and moments of "WTF".  Notably, I'm not really a fan of some of the ideas in the final Act & the ending.  But oh well.

I've whined about this before in WGAYP, but the mute main character whom everyone loves doesn't work in general, and really doesn't work here.  His plot arc is, at best, the germ of a good idea that nobody bothered to flesh out properly.

Anyway, there's a lot to whine about in IAS, but it does a lot of things well, too.  Combat is still fun, some of the scenarios are good, and I like some of the characters even if they are blatantly stolen from other games.

The item that I'm the most conflicted about is that the writers decided to intentionally tell a very somber story in IAS.  Tragic things happen all over the place, people are only barely scratching out a living in the snow, the sins of the past echo forward to today, etc. etc.  This isn't "badass horror" either where things are hypothetically bad but it's because the townspeople all became raving ultra-monsters with chainsaws and you get to punch them out, this is actual bad things.   It's certainly brave, there's a reason why most games shy away from this.  But ultimately, while it works in some of the smaller side stories, it doesn't really work in the main overarching plot.  It's weird, because the mistake most game plots make is not being dark enough, but IAS actually errs too dark and still doesn't quite sell it right.  Alas.


4. Adventures of Mana (Vita)
Who knew a remake of an old game would be this high up.  If you're not familiar, this is the update to Final Fantasy Adventure (="Seiken Densetsu 1" on the GameBoy), with better graphics & a new script, but almost no gameplay changes whatsoever.  I'm gonna talk about this one a little more than the others, because I didn't talk about it at all in WGAYP for whatever reason.

Anyway, I went in expecting something like Secret of Mana, but actually it's more like Legend of Zelda I.  Tiny screens of monsters who all respawn if you leave and wander around mostly randomly hoping to bump into you.  And like Zelda I, this is game that can be willfully obtuse about its puzzles, and does not have certain quality-of-life elements we've come to expect from modern games.  You forgot to buy enough keys or ran out of magic points?  Screw you, leave the dungeon and come back.  (And yes, magic is required to solve some puzzles, sometimes with trial & error!  Although you can also level-up to get it all back if you are truly desperate.)  Additionally, its sincerity to the original meant not even expanding the loop times of the music remixes, so there's a few pieces of dungeon music that wear with their 30-second loops.

So why is it comparatively high up of the 7/10s?  Because dang if the game isn't fun, at least as long as you're willing to FAQ up a dungeon map if you get stuck.  And while the game would be a disappointment if it was just running away from randoms, the boss fights are actually good, which saves the gameplay.  The original FFA had a bit of a reputation for putting your companions through the meatgrinder, but unlike Setsuna's grimdarkness, it feels appropriate here, something to signify your enemy is not one to be trifled with.  They don't mess around with excuses to leave the party here.  Your party members' fates include (order slightly randomized):

* Dead (but basically 2 seconds after the start of the game, so you might want to chalk this up to tragic backstory)
* Mind-controlled to work for the villain
* Perfectly healthy!  Except they're actually a villain.
* Dead, in extremely horrible fashion
* Crippled, will never move again
* Crippled, would never move again, except became a cyborg and got their feet replaced with metal ones which are better?  That SORTA qualifies as cool if you don't think too hard about it, so maybe give this a pass.
* Dead.
* Dead.
* Okay and two others are healthy, fine.  Except for missing the occasional family member.

And while comparing this to previous games in the list, the script is short here, but effective, unlike Momodora.  It's very direct - don't expect to learn about the Dark Lord's family or his followers or what he plans on doing with his empire - but it's enough.  Even includes little lines off to the side to help explain away odd parts of the game, like mentioning that the town in the desert was once an insignificant outpost of the fallen Vandole Empire, to explain why they know about the Empire's secret tower and the like.

Lastly.  While as noted, I wish they'd entirely tossed some of the weaker pieces, or at least made them longer, for the most part, the music is *amazing*.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKU2tJufQE4&list=PLDJoQvN7sex4bvqLe0HU4Ml5r9OUvzEX7&index=19  (Plot boss theme)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8jHkgzQbEc&index=2&list=PLDJoQvN7sex4bvqLe0HU4Ml5r9OUvzEX7 (Overworld 1 theme)

Fantastic stuff.  ANYWAY, don't get me wrong, a Zelda I-alike only goes so far with modern sensibilities, but I was still pleasantly surprised.

3. Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice
Well, it's more Phoenix Wright.  Except there's less endless lying that the judge ignores (ignoring Case 3 Day 1), Seances are a cool addition, the main characters are all pretty cool (except maybe Maya), and some of the witnesses are pretty rad too.  Obviously it should at least equal Dual Destinies, right?

...well, no.  Spirit of Justice needs more.  Give me more!  More witnesses, more presents, more meat on a few of the plot elements' bones.  The game is just a tad threadbare, with too much visual novel and not enough interactivity.  Its decisions to involve high politics was certainly bold, but didn't entirely work out either.  The game also suffers from some really dopey, stupid key plot twists in case 3 & case 5.  Like, sure, case 2 has some wackiness if you closely examine it, but it's enough that I can mostly hand-wave through it with some minor docking of points.  Some of the villain plans in case 3 or case 5 are just incomprehensibly stupid, or at best under-explained.  They both suffer a bit from a too-small cast size.

On the bright side, the DLC case has some good fanservice, case 4 is a great "funny" case, and case 2 is mostly solid.  This game also gets credit for having one of the best "serious" character plot twists in a PW in Case 5.  In general, the good will outlive the bad, so I'll take it.


Great
Nobody home!

Excellent

2. Fire Emblem Fates
It's more Fire Emblem, with some great mechanics upgrades.  No more weapon durability!  Class changing is easy to access but highly limited!  Bows & Magic join the weapon triangle, and shurikens are a cool addition!  Unfortunately, the writing is in general not as sharp, and Corrin is a less interesting & fun Mary Sue than Robin was, yet somehow worshipped even more.  Additionally, the characters are just plain weaker - not merely weaker than Awakening, which would be no shame, but probably beneath Path of Radiance characters as well.  Kind of a worrying sign when the Awakening holdovers are all easily top tier characters in the game.

Route-specific thoughts:
Conquest: THE BEST MAP DESIGN IN A FIRE EMBLEM EVER.  That is high praise, and this is important!  On the downside, the plot varies between stupid and horrible, which is a goddamn shame, because I would love both a FE about a villain protagonist, or an FE about a hero who is stuck in a morally compromising position by circumstances.  About the most I can say is that the core melodrama of family vs. family shines through, and all of the final missions remain suitably dramatic, complete with a thematically good choice for a final boss.
Birthright: Pretty good, actually!  I was expecting it to be worse than CQ, what with darker stories being more to my taste, but Birthright is actually fine, and the BR cast was less bland than I'd been warned.  Free grinding makes it much easier to play Anime Soap Opera, too, and makes it easy to guilt-free use a huge team.  And while some maps were simplistic, there was enough interest that I didn't feel the gameplay was a huge letdown or anything.  Final boss was a tad lame, but oh well.
Revelation: Well this is the worst route, by a lot.  And of course, perversely the one to spend the most time on, since it's where you can do the most potential support grinding, having access to all of CQ's, BR's, and RV-specific supports (& equipment!).  It's got the worst map design and the least melodramatic plot, since it's "everyone teams up to hunt zombies" basically.  And the map design is a combination of the WORST gimmicks from older Fire Emblems, yet still having easily cheezed bosses if you can deal with the annoyance. 

Anyway, don't get me wrong, Fates is a low 9, and more like an 8.6 rounding up.  I'm being nice  (And certainly something like, say, Revelation taken alone would be 7/10.).  That said, any game that eats 300 hours clearly can't be all bad (or if it was, I'd be admitting I had no taste), so sure, err on the side of 9/10.


1. Ori and the Blind Forest
A platformer Metroidvania that has hands-down some of the most epic, memorable, and fun sequences I've ever experienced in gaming.  It also has a fantastic soundtrack and utterly beautiful art to admire while you jump into spikes again, then respawn.  Every little segment of the map is hand-crafted with care, no cut & paste empty corridors here.

I only hope that more games come out that mimic Ori's approach - the difficulty level of the individual platforming is fairly high, but respawning is cheap and harmless, so it's never frustrating.  The only potentially frustrating parts are the closest equivalent to 'boss battles' where you have to git gud or else start from the beginning, but those are completely awesome, so it's cool.

If I had to complain, the ending includes one of those heartwarming twists that is nice, but that also robs the narrative of some power?  There's a bad thing that happened, and either it never REALLY happened or else was undone somehow, which is nice, but sometimes bad things don't go away like that, so it loses some power.  Oh well.

Definitive Edition adds two new areas and lets you warp wherever you want from save points, which is cool, but the start screen is less cool.  Tradeoffs.  The extra 'plot' barely matters, but it doesn't get in the way, so sure whatever.





Stuff that doesn't exactly count / is hard to rank:

TowerFall Ascension: This is a total blast in local multiplayer, and it's highly recommended, but it's also difficult to discuss.  You run around as an archer shooting the guy on the couch next to you, one-hit one-kill, so rounds fly by fast.  Competitive also has some light rubber-banding mechanics that still feel 'fair', which is impressive. 

Started, didn't finish:

Undertale - Why must the game famous for auto-saving lose track of its save files so easily?  Precisely because it saves to the user folder and not a vanilla Steam folder, I lost my progress when I upgraded to Win10.  Alas.

Grim Fandango Remastered - The dialogue & art is absolutely amazing.  The puzzles in Rubacava (= Act 2) are, however, absolutely amazingly insanely difficult.  We're talking "trouble if you sit with a walkthrough in your lap" level stuff.  Maybe modern gamers ARE coddled by big flashing arrows saying "GO HERE" but dang if there isn't a reason for this, sometimes.  Pretty cool director commentary you can listen to about the making-of for nearly every scene, though.

Trails of Cold Steel - I'm sure I'll like it.

Ace Attorney Investigations 2 - I am still stalled out in this one.  The eventual ranking of the game can be swayed *highly* by revelations at the end that may or may not make Justine an interesting character, so hard to say, but normally I have trouble putting PWs down and have to force myself to pace through them, and this one I have to force myself to play.


Finished but ranked in 2015:

Trails in the Sky Second Chapter: Yup, still an amazing 9/10 game (my ranking last year was somewhat provisional on the final act not being shenanigans).  Final confrontation was mostly pretty good, although I still have a few qualms about the villainy.  If anything, this is FC's fault for showing how much havoc merely 2 agents could wreck, so it's kinda hard to live up to expectations when you bring in bad guy reinforcements.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I only hope that more games come out that mimic Ori's approach - the difficulty level of the individual platforming is fairly high, but respawning is cheap and harmless, so it's never frustrating.

I have some good news for you, then, because Ori is in fact mimicking a slew of other recent platformers with this exact approach, such as Rayman Origins/Legends and VVVVVV. I dunno if you'll enjoy them as much as Ori since they're not Metroidvanias but given your comments I'd certainly say they are worth a look.


11. Super Mario Maker (Wii U, Nintendo, 2015)

I feel like I should have enjoyed this more than I did. I probably would have loved it 20 years ago. It's certainly a good idea and I'm glad it exists, and I would never call it a bad game. But at the end of the day there were enough nagging things to pull the game down some for me.

From a design standpoint there are too many things you can't replicate from existing Mario games (vertical scrolling for an obvious one), and the fact that you can't create a connected "world" (where coins and powerups, etc., would carry over, and there could be warp/secret exits connecting different levels) was a huge downer for me.

From a community standpoint I was shocked at (a) how bad most levels available for the game were, and (b) how hard it was to find good ones. I had really hoped that this would be a source of endless decent content but I don't think Nintendo gave a good way for this to happen.

It still held my attention for a decent while and yeah I am certainly glad it exists, as I said. It's not a bad game at all! Probably the best game I've ever started off one of these lists with.

Rating: 5.5/10


10. Shantae: Risky's Revenge (Nintendo DSi/Wii U, WayForward, 2010)

It's more Shantae. I really liked Pirate's Curse, so hey playing more sounds good! This game is worse in every way though. It is slower, has worse writing, a much worse map, and kinda feels incomplete. In fact, Pirate's Curse is really needed to complete what story this game has, and makes it better.

That said it's still a fine game in its own right, since it's not like I expect writing from platformers so I shouldn't hold that against Risky's Revenge. Decent enough actiony Metroidvania for sure, and while the powerups weren't quite as fun as its sequels they were still pretty neat. It has nice spritework and pretty good music too.

Difficulty curve was a bit wack though. Most of the game would be way too easy if you use healing items, but then the final boss is super-amazingly brutal if you don't. Pirate's Curse has this problem a bit too but it's not as extreme and finds a better sweet spot generally.

Wow I really have a hard time talking about this game without comparing it to its sequel constantly. Play that instead.

Rating: 5.5/10


9. Breath of Death VII (Xbox 360, Zeboyd, 2010)

Oh look, another game which can be summed up as "decent; play its superior sequel".

Breath of Death VII is the formative game of the battle system which Zeboyd improved in Cthulhu Saves the World. It's a standard traditional JRPG battle system with non-random speed, non-random damage, enemies whose offence improves by 10% with each passing round to punish turtling, and interesting moment-to-moment decisions. The battle system is certainly solid stuff and I was happy to dive in for more. Challenge is in a good place overall, which is nice.

On writing it uhhh barely exists. Cthulhu was quite funny when it was on its game (which admittedly it wasn't always) and had a decent idea for its story. BoD7 is really boring, generally unfunny, has a silent main, and its gimmick of playing as undead isn't anything special. The plot is so sparse that the heroes don't actually learn why they are on their quest until the final battle sequence, at which point we get a plotless final boss anyway.

Aesthetically it's not much but it has a good regular battle theme, and that's important because it's the track you hear by far the most! (Like FF1 or XS1 it doesn't even have a boss theme.)

Fun battle system is always enough for a decent score from me, though.

Rating: 6/10


8. Ori and the Blind Forest (PC, Moon Studios, 2015)

Ori is a pretty fun Metroidvania. You explore a world and get new powers that let you explore further. Not much to say, it's good at this. If you like Metroidvanias this one is worth checking out. There's also a reasonably enjoyable skill system where you go down one of three skill paths (kinda like FF13 or Child of Light I guess) and get skills that way which is pretty fun, though it's tainted a bit by some of the skills being useless if you're like me and miss the secret areas added by Definitive Edition, but still being prerequisites for other skills. Alas.

It is a pretty game, though in a way that sometimes interferes with its gameplay since it is sometimes hard to tell where a platform or spike begins/ends (Ori being freaking tiny doesn't help this part, either). Its music varies from "stunning" to "barely existent/boring", really a mixed bag.

The biggest strike against it compared to other Metroidvanias is that its combat sucks. You don't aim, you just move vaguely near enemies and mash a button until they die. The game seems to realise its combat isn't much because it doesn't really bother with boss fights, which is another strike against because if I'm going to compare this to Metroid or Castlevania, with their amazing boss fights, this game is going to come up lacking due to not having them. As I mentioned previously I could respect this if it was a decision to make the game not about combat, but there is certainly no lack of it (including many times when it is forced to open the doors of a room).

In place of bosses you get "boss-like" escape sequences, similar to Rayman's tricky treasures and races, which are quite solid though a bit more rubber-bandy than they should be. They are certainly tough and occasionally a bit frustrating due to exacerbating the game's flaws and being a bit memorisation-based but overall still satisfying to get through.

In the end I enjoyed this game, it is Metroid meets Rayman and obviously those are both great, but I think it's measurably worse than both, mostly due to its weak combat.

Rating: 6/10

[Cotigo]

I only hope that more games come out that mimic Ori's approach - the difficulty level of the individual platforming is fairly high, but respawning is cheap and harmless, so it's never frustrating.

I have some good news for you, then, because Ori is in fact mimicking a slew of other recent platformers with this exact approach, such as Rayman Origins/Legends and VVVVVV. I dunno if you'll enjoy them as much as Ori since they're not Metroidvanias but given your comments I'd certainly say they are worth a look.

Super Meat Boy's another good one, though probably the hardest of them.

So I don't really remember a whole lot from the beginning of the year because the world was literally figuratively and emotionally crumbling down around me for months and I probably just played FFRK and nothing else. That sounds right?

so basically that means the only games I played this year (aside from RK) in alphabetical AND chronological order:

Bloodbourne - Holy shit this game is amazing and sorely tempted me to get a PS4 just to get it.
Dark Souls 3 - Souls, plays like 1 with 2's mechanics plus more polish, very good, etc.
Overwatch - I was playing this like a job until grefter gifted me
Stardew Valley - not actually better than any of them else but I have a problem and the only problem is to farm some fucking Sweet Gem Berries so I can run them through my kegmaze to make them into wine so I can make numbers go up so I can farm MORE GODDAMN BERRIES while biding my time until my greenhouse is fixed

fuck guys i have a problem

[Grefter]

Start of the year I threw my life away playing FFRK while Grefter swore at my constantly about it.   End of the year Grefter gifted me a copy of heroin.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Thanks for reminding me I need to play Super Meat Boy, despite its aesthetics.


7. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (Wii U, Nintendo/Atlus, 2016)

For neither the first time nor the last time this list, I will talk about an RPG with serious writing issues but pretty fun gameplay.

TMS uses the SMT battle system, but improves upon it compared to Digital Devil Saga (the only SMT games I'd played in full) or Persona 3, for instance. Hitting weaknesses is still important, as it you can form chains of attacks with your allies if you do. You're no longer punished for missing or rewarded for getting a critical hit, though, so the RNG elements of the system are reduced. Your own PCs elemental affinities are hugely important to the battle system, and you can switch PCs in battle to take advantage of the element system, both on offence and defence. It's neat!

The game also carries over SMT's strength of having pretty well-designed battles. Randoms are rocket tag but fun enough, but the game really shines in its boss design, which are pleasantly challenging but reasonably fair, and often involve multiple enemies in ways which are actually varied instead of a simple "kill support first", e.g. using covering or summoning mechanics.

The game is ludicrously campy. One of the game's defining moments is when, right before the final boss, the cast breaks out into a big operatic rendition of the Fire Emblem theme. Most of the character quests involve outfits or TV shows which are patently ridiculous. I don't even know what to make of this score-wise, but it's there.

When the game's writing gets serious it is bad, mostly because Itsuki is a lame character whom the game worships (right down to forcing him in battle in a character-switching system which sucks), and also because the game is, outside of its crazy pop idol setting, basically reconstructing Shadow Dragon's no good, terrible, very bad plot.

Overall recommended if you like SMT; if you like references to FIre Emblem that certainly helps (though they're all to Shadow Dragon/Awakening pretty much) but isn't necessary.

Rating: 6/10


6. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U, Nintendo, 2014)

Time for adventure!

This game is adorable. And actually pretty good! You play as Captain Toad, the lovably incompetent treasure hunter from the 3D Mario games. Actually in about half the stages you play as Lieutenant Toadette instead, as they take turns rescuing each other in the plot (which is rather sweet and a welcome evolution from the Mario norm).

It controls like a 3D Mario except you can't jump, but plays more like a puzzle platformer game. There are some actiony elements certainly (evading certain enemies or moving quickly to stay ahead of the trademark Mario rising lava). The levels are short and sweet but quite varied and with loads of secondary objectives, either in the form of tracking down macguffins or doing levels fast, Tide-style.

It's not an exceptional game by any means. It's not super-challenging or break any new ground gameplaywise, doesn't have much plot, etc. It was never a game that was going to threaten to be an all-time great, even among Mario games. But I still had a lot of fun with it. I don't ultimately have too much to say about it, but it was a good time for sure.

Rating: 6.5/10


5. Splatoon (Wii U, Nintendo, 2015)

I guess this qualifies as a team shooter? I never had much interest in those (largely due to my laundry list of ways that me and modern shooter games don't get along) but you can usually trust Nintendo to put a good spin on things. My single biggest objection to shooters is that they are too graphically violent for me. Nintendo responds by making the game a paintgun turf war. We're off to a good start.

Actually the "painting turf" idea is neat and forms the core of the game. In the game's major multiplayer mode, you play on teams of four, trying to paint more than of the arena's ground than your opponents. Weapons thus need to be considered not just for their combat but also their painting ability, and they're a solid, and varied set. Defeating opponents still matters because they explode into a bunch of paint of your team's colour, and of course you also send them back to the start and take them off the field for a few valuable seconds.

The playable characters can switch between kid form, which is where you move, fire your paintgun, and generally behave in the standard shooter way, and a squid form, which can swim through ink... but only your team's ink. Swimming in ink has a number of neat uses, like recharging your ammo (only way to do it, though it happens quite quickly) and also making you almost invisible to the other team, allowing sneak attacks, and also allowing you to climb walls. All of this requires good use of paint, of course, and these gameplay elements come together in a very fun way.

I mostly played this multiplayer but I did do the singleplayer campaign too. Overall the singleplayer isn't great, kind of a mediocre action game overall, though it does have its moments, like a good final boss fight. It still held my attention well for the few hours it lasted and I certainly think it's considerably better than nothing. But this is definitely a multiplayer game first.

There's not much plot or anything but that's okay. Game is fun. Not even really my style of game necessarily (and notably not the type of thing I could play near-endlessly like Mario Kart) but I'm glad I played it and it is definitely a good game.

Rating: 6.5/10


4. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice (Nintendo 3DS, Capcom, 2016)

To be perfectly honest this is probably one of the weaker Ace Attorney games, but I haven't played too many truly amazing games this year (they ramp up after this), so hey, #4, sure!

That said it's certainly a worthy entry to the Ace Attorney canon. The polish improvements from Dual Destinies return, and they remain welcome (holy crap the game respects me enough to choose my own text speed). The game's new mechanic, seances, are a lot of fun because they integrate story, mystery-solving, and gameplay. There's probably a shelf life for how much you can use them, but they were used pretty well in this game.

The new cases are... decent? But don't really pin your ears back. Case 2 and Case 4 are both quite solid midgame cases but not in the league of the best. Case 5 does a lot to salvage the game since it is quite great, but doesn't really displace any other great cases, although it does have one of the all-time great moments/"twists" in the series. I'm less of a fan of the first, third, or DLC cases, with DLC deserving a special note for being so disappointing compared to Dual Destinies'. I've long since gathered that people have more nostalgia for Phoniex/Edgeworth/Maya in their AA1 configuration than I do but even setting that aside yeah this one was bland.

If I had to label a weak point for this game it would certainly be characters. Many returning characters, mainly Phoenix and Athena, take steps back in this game, being oddly written at points. Edgeworth returns but is relatively pointless, sadly. I've seen some people who feel that this game improved Apollo but I'd more argue that this was par for him (admittedly he's always been pretty good, even in his highly flawed debut game). The new characters are held back by the prosecutor being a weak character. He's not my least favourite prosecutor only because of how much issue I have with Godot, and he's certainly the least notable. There are some decent villains here but no great ones. Reyfa is probably the shining star of the major new characters, the half-antagonist, half-supporting character who actually gets some decent development. There are a few new cool case-specific characters too, mostly in the final case.

But despite my ragging on it, I do want to emphasise that this is only because of the high standards I hold these games to. It's not the best Ace Attorney game or anywhere close but I still greatly enjoyed it and encourage others to play it, and remain psyched for the future of this series.

Rating: 7/10

[LordDirtyBrit]

I'll go through each game in the order I played them:

Tales of Symphonia: Started this one during the end of 2015. This is my first time with a Tales game and it wasn't all that bad for the most part. The battles were fun and there was enough bonus content on the side to enjoy. Sadly though, the plot has pacing issues in both discs and some characters annoyed the fuck out of me (Colette, Genis and Mithos can all die). Regardless of these issues; I liked the game well enough and I look forward to trying some of the other games in the series, most specifically Vesperia.

Pac-Man: Decided to play about with this using a forum I used to post on regularly. I guess it counts? Either way, I don't think I need to explain what Pac-Man is about.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Another game I started during the end of 2015. Easily the weakest of the original trilogy in my opinion due to the backtrack heavy overworld map and the irritating level themes. I also felt that the soundtrack was lacking in comparison to DKC2. I might want to move on to the Retro Studios Donkey Kong games to see how well they compare to the originals.

New Super Mario Bros Wii: Decided to co-op the game with my brother. The game often became pretty chaotic thanks to the two of us fighting for power-ups, but also having to work together to receive star coins. The game is pretty fun, but its level designs aren't nearly as memorable as the likes of SMB3 and SMW. From what I've heard; if I've played one NSMB game, I've played them all, so I don't feel need to play NSMB2 or NSMBU.

Super Smash Bros for 3DS: I received this game as a Christmas gift at the end of 2015. I didn't have a Wii U when I got this game so I decided to play it to tide me over. It's Smash Bros so of course it's going to be a fun time. I thought that this game was quite good for a first attempt at creating a handheld Smash Bros as the controls work perfectly and I did not notice any frame drops. I've never played the game online so I can't say how it fared on that front. However, this being a handheld Smash Bros obviously means that less content would be available which stings a little. Fortunately though, I now own the Wii U version which sadly means I don't have much reason to return to this one.

Earthbound: One of the weakest games I've played this year. Everyone seems to hype this game up as a classic RPG for the SNES. I don't see the appeal due to the weak characters, dull battle system with little in the way of character growth, generic narrative and the irritating bagspace limit. Final Fantasy VI was able to succeed in every aspect Earthbound failed at and that was out a year earlier. Overall, I'm not a fan of this one and I have no interest in playing Earthbound Beginnings or Mother 3.

Final Fantasy IX: Decided to skip Final Fantasy VIII due to the poor reception the game tend to receive for its battle system. I might try it if I have spare change and free time. I found FFIX enjoyable, but boy was the battle system slow due to the constant camera pans of the opponents before you fight them. What also doesn't help is that the game's encounter rate seems rather high in comparison to other titles in the series. This alone puts me off the idea of replaying the game outside of Steam as it allows you to speed up battles from what I've heard.

Crash Team Racing: I was a huge fan of the Crash Bandicoot games when I was a kid, but I never played this one except for the Spyro 2 demo. I'm not the biggest fan of racing games, but damn was I impressed with this game. The tracks were actually fun to explore, unlike with Mario Kart 64, and there was actual depth to the mechanics. For example; if you pressed R after you jumped from a ramp, you gained a speed boost. This sounds small, yet it's mechanics like these which make the game a ton of fun in comparison to other racers I have played. My main problem with the game was the rather weak boss encounters after completing each area on the world map as they didn't put up much of a challenge asides from the occasional obstacle they would use when they overtake the player.

Super Mario 64: Decided to replay this game using the NTSC version as, while I grew up with the game, I only played the PAL version which is quite a bit slower. I've always had a soft spot for this game and while the graphics look like shit today, the game is still fun and highly replayable. Also, unlike Super Mario Sunshine, the game is actually fun when going for every star which always helps.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: My brother won't shut up about how excellent this game is and because I hadn't played a Castlevania game until then, I thought it would be worth a shot. I felt that the game was pretty damn good and it has aged surprisingly well thanks to the sprite based visuals. The game's map manages to work well for both the regular and inverted castle, the soundtrack is amazing and the voice acting is so cheesy you end up loving it. I wish the game was a little more difficult though, that Shield Rod + Alucard Shield combo broke the game by the end.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (3DS): I had never played Majora's Mask until then and the last 3D Zelda game I played was Skyward Sword, a game I utterly despise, so I was hoping that this would get me back into the series. I found the game to be very enjoyable thanks to the three day system which actually allowed Majora's Mask to stand out from the other 3D Zelda games which don't deviate much from the groundwork laid out by Ocarina of Time. I also love how the Skull Kid isn't a legendary overlord like Ganondorf is, yet he actually comes closer to meeting his goal of destroying Termina for fun. I don't know if I'll play Breath of the Wild, I might actually wait a year to see if it will age well rather than go along with the “NEW ZELDA” hype which was given to Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword.

Pokemon Y (Nuzlocke): Decided try out a nuzlocke run in order to tide me over before Sun and Moon came out. The rules of a nuzlocke are to catch the first Pokemon you see in a location and nothing else in that area and if a team member faints, they can't be used again. The added difficulty to a rather simple Pokemon game was welcome, but the format is too luck based for it to provide a real challenge for me.

Banjo Tooie: One of the weakest games I've played this year. I enjoyed the first game a fair amount, though I don't think it is quite as good as people hype it up to be due to the slow pace of the late game levels. While Banjo Tooie was fine for the first four levels, Witchyworld being my favourite level between the two games, the rest of the game went on forever. Grunty Industries in particular felt like I playing a game within a game. One huge factor as to why the game feels longer than it actually is was due to the amount of backtracking the player has to perform if they wanted to complete the game, especially when Mumbo's magic and Wumba transformations are involved. This game tired me so much that I don't even know if I want to play the spiritual successor Yooka-Laylee when it comes out.

Final Fantasy X: The best game I've played in 2016. Apart from Xenoblade Chronicles, this is probably the best game I've ever played! I love the turn based battle system which is based around swapping your characters around depending on how useful they are against the opponent the player is fighting. I also love the sphere grid as it allows for each party member to grow based on the route you have chosen. For example, you may want Tidus to gain an ability faster at the cost of missing a stat boost. I also loved the world building with Spira, the story was pretty well paced and most of the characters are well developed and likeable, Auron in particular might be my favourite Final Fantasy character of all time. The only ones that didn't do so well for me were 'meh' Lulu and Kimahri. I also loved the game's soundtrack, especially Otherworld, and the visuals have aged pretty well unlike with the PS1 titles. However, I have no plans on touching the sequel. The intro alone has given me a good idea as to what kind of game X-2 is.

Pokemon Moon: If you exclude Final Fantasy X, this is probably my favourite game I've played this year. Pokemon is always great; but I felt that this game took it to the next level thanks to the removal of HMs, the added difficulty with the Totem battles and plot important bosses, and the focus towards the plot and characters. It also returns elements that worked in previous games such as the Festival Plaza, which is a retool of Join Avenue from Black and White 2, and the larger Pokedex selections which the modern Pokemon games are known for. If I can think of one drawback; it's the slowdown that can occur during Double battles, which might be annoying if I want to use the format in the Battle Tree. I'm still playing this one in order to fill out the Pokedex, which should be done by the end of the month depending on when Pokemon Bank will be updated.

Dalmatians 3: This doesn't even qualify as a game, yet it was released on the PS2. Basically; it's a bootleg film revolved around dogs that have been arrested and it was marketed as a 101 Dalmatians game. The film was made by Dingo Pictures, the animation studio which led to this gem. Apart from Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, this is probably the worst “game” I've ever played. The voice acting is laughable, the animation looks like it was drawn by a 4 year old and the plot is just incomprehensible. The whole “game” is available on Youtube if you want to take a look.

Xenoblade Chronicles X: The last game I beaten this year. This was the reason why I bought a Wii U and it didn't disappoint. I don't believe it's as good as the original Xenoblade as I felt that the story and characters were weaker, the soundtrack was forgettable (No.EX01, Noctilum (Day) and maybe The Key We Lost were the few exceptions) and I felt that mechanics should've been introduced more gradually. However; I loved the job class system, piloting Skells and the introduction of Soul Voices. While Chain Attacks from the original game were an excellent mechanic which paid off depending on how the player structured their team, I felt that Overdrives were pretty nifty too as they allowed the character the player is controller to perform lengthy combos based on the arts they chose to use. While it has its flaws, Xenoblade Chronicles X is still an excellent RPG and I don't regret purchasing a Wii U to play it.

[Dark Holy Elf]

3. Bravely Second (Nintendo 3DS, Square Enix, 2016)

The original Bravely Default was a solid game, probably the best job-system game in recent years. It had some flaws, though, mostly the well-known one about the repetitive content in the game's later parts. So Bravely Second just needed to fix that and we'd have a pretty good game!

And yeah, we got it. Bravely Second puts a fun new spin on the Bravely Default job system, managing to integrate a bunch of creative new jobs (special props must be given to Wizard, the black mage class which specialises in modifying existing spells in various interesting ways) in with the classics seen in the original game. Most of the gameplay things that BD does well, this game also does well, and in some cases improves on. The game already has a lot of welcome polish features like encounter control, adjustable difficulty, animation speedup, and so on, and Bravely Second adds in the ability to easily repeat actions 1-4 times and a programmable auto-battle system which speed things along even further. It's great stuff; lovely to see a game with such an old-school battle system smooth things over like this.

To some extent said battle system does feel like the greatest limit on the game's potential; Dragon Quest-style turnbased with significantly randomised turn order has an upper limit for how much I can praise the battle system, and the Bravely games are pretty much at said limit. The game does have some well-designed battles, with randoms certainly putting up a better fight than they did in the first game, and the endgame sidquest bosses deserve note for being quite creative, and in general it's impressive that given how much crazy power setups you can pull off that the game creates things which challenge them.

The game's biggest disappointment is certainly its writing. Despite, as mentioned, avoiding BD's repetition, it still manages to step back in this significantly. It has its moments, but its interesting plot points and character moments are too few and far between, and instead the game wastes pages and pages of dialog on inane subjects (mostly about food).

Still, it's disappointing more people here haven't picked this game up since it's very solid. I understand that Bravely Default tended to end with some burnout for many players, and certainly Second could do with some faster pacing itself too, but yeah, it's good stuff for sure.

Rating: 8/10


2. Undertale (PC, Toby Fox, 2015)

Yeah everyone raved about this one last year, and I am late to the party. It's every bit as good as hyped, often in unexpected ways.

The gameplay is something that could easily be bad. It's not, you might think, what the game is "about", and in truth it's not why this game will be remembered. But it's shockingly solid anyway. At base it's a strange hybrid between solo RPG and a decent bullet hell shooter. That's fine, but where the game really shines is some of the incredibly creative twists it puts on the system, particularly in its boss fights, which are outstanding.

But yeah ultimately that's not why you play the game. You play it because its writing is incredibly sharp, be it at humour or more serious stuff. You play it because it creates a stunning memorable cast of characters and draws you into their world. You play it because it makes you think about video games as a medium and the role of violence in them in ways you may not have thought about before.

To be perfectly honest I think it's one of the only games in recent years which I'd recommend to almost anyone; it's one of the few truly IMPORTANT games that have come out in an era where vapid violence simulators reign supreme. It's not even my own absolute favourite game personally due to where my own biases lie but it's a game I can easily get behind any and all hype for. Play it!

Rating: 9.5/10


1. Fire Emblem Fates (Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo/Intelligent Systems, 2016)

Yeah this shouldn't come as a surprise. I love Undertale but Fates took the Fire Emblem formula, of which I'm already a big fan, and improved it.

Let's not mince words here, Fire Emblem Fates is, gameplaywise, almost unquestionably the best game in the series, at least on Conquest route. Its map design is superb, with loads of creative ideas, generally executed very well. Clear thought goes into enemy positioning, AI, and skill loadouts, which is great to see.

But I'm even more impressed by the mechanical changes. Reinforcements who act the turn they appear are gone entirely for the first time since Radiant Dawn. Weapon durability is gone, replaced with a weapon system where every weapon has its advantages and disadvantages. Pair Up returns, but it's not a purely defensive maneuver which competes with attack stance, in which you use adjacent allies to strike for an extra half-damage hit (and also boost the primary attacker's accuracy). The new reclassing system makes it more practical to get fancy skill builds in no-grind situation if that's your thing.

In general it's very obvious that a lot of love went into the all elements of the gameplay, in a way that I increasingly appreciate from the games I play. As I grow older I also find that I increasingly elevant strategy RPGs above other RPGs (and indeed above most other genres), and Fates is one of the very best there is.

The game has three routes; Conquest feels like the obvious route for Fire Emblem fans looking for a great mechanical time. The other two routes are decent enough; Birthright would certainly be my #3 game this year if I scored it separately, and Revelation wouldn't be too far behind. Birthright is just a solid, generic Fire Emblem that improves on Awakening's mechanics but in general is highly reminiscent of it. Revelation tries some crazier map design ideas, some of which click and some of which don't.

The game's biggest flaw is certainly writing. It's not devoid of worth: there are quite a few neat characters (and the wide array of supports gives them ample chance for development), Conquest certainly has some cool ideas, and Birthright has one core arc/twist which is pretty great. But overall Fire Emblem is still gonna Fire Emblem and the plot has its fair share of frustrating moments. At least it actually got me to care unlike the DS remakes.

An outstanding strategy RPG is a joy to play, and this game is no exception. It's definitely a game you'll want to play for the gameplay of it (though hey its soundtrack is great too) but for me at least, with a SRPG this good, it's enough. I logged 250 hours on it this year alone which is insane by my own standards. I'm very happy to have played two games as amazing as this and Undertale this year, but with my preferences, this one edges out the top spot for this year... and probably the top spot since we started doing these lists, if I'm being honest.

Rating: 10/10

[Twilkitri]

Games ordered alphabetically within categories.

Terrible/10
Hocus Pocus - why do I ever pay any heed to nostalgia

Uninspiring/10
Chronus Arc - feels like it had microtransactions which were shoddily stripped out.
JiPS - do actual jigsaws instead.
PONCHO - designers haphazardly threw a bunch of secondary elements around the central gimmick in a failed attempt to create gameplay. final level also a ludicrous difficulty spike.

Underwhelming/10
Adventure In The Tower Of Flight - designed to be replayed but isn't fun enough to warrant it.
Dragon Quest - final battle was too reliant on turn order rng, for all that apparently that's not supposed to happen.
Fairune - the final boss being a completely different game genre is a bizarre and terrible decision. the game proper is pleasant enough. albeit extremely simple.
Half-Life: Blue Shift - don't remember whether the shotgun in this was any good or not (or if it even had one, but one assumes it would.)
Picross 3D - construction puzzles are much better than the micross puzzles from picross 2D at least.
World Of Goo - was never really able to get the hang of this, finally got around to looking up a guide to the puzzle I got stuck on way back when to get it off my half-played list.

Serviceable/10
Gray Matter - magic tricks were conceptually interesting but not really all that great in practice. some issues with progression flags being obscure.
Koudelka - drags a bit too much for a game of its length.
My Nintendo Picross: Twilight Princess - twilight princess-themed picross which requires collection of nintendo coins to acquire.
Picross Touch - somewhat janky picross.
Pony Island - drags a bit too much for a game of its length.
Zenge - doesn't wear out its welcome.

Entertaining/10
Bravely Second: End Layer - vastly improved over Default, as long as you don't miss the switch (or at least hear about it soon afterwards). otherwise, arguably worse. also goes to some dumb places plot-wise.
D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die - will probably never be followed up.
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments Of The Forgotten Past - a little too long.
Epistory - Typing Chronicles - my typing skills have gone more downhill than preferable. story kind of flat.
Fire Emblem Fates: All - series is not exactly trending in a good direction but still generally enjoyable.
Fortix 2 - some of the later maps can lead to infuriation, but generally a pleasantly fun time.
Highrise Heroes: Word Challenge - word-building challenges/scrabble/etc. are not my strong suit, but this was still enjoyable most of the time. except when you had to do a heap of words under a timer. (as I understand things you can now disable the timers in exchange for your score not being considerable for the high score table or something, but this wasn't possible at the time.)
The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - enjoyable with some terrible minigames.
Pokémon Picross - pokémon-themed picross. probably needed some large bonus puzzles that were of pokémon-related things other than pokémon themselves.
Primordia - competent adventure game.
Princess Remedy In A Heap Of Trouble - postgame boss fires too many bullets.
Princess Remedy In A World Of Hurt - is free. apparently you can get back to saturn during the postgame after all so I've gotta look into that at some point?
Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE - endgame sessions take far too long. why is the full soundtrack not out yet??
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma - not as good as VLR but better than 999. fragment system was ultimately fairly pointless.

Fantastic/10
Ace Attorney: Spirit Of Justice - fantastic.
Ori And The Blind Forest - fantastic.


Unfinished/10
Another Century's Episode 2 Special Vocal Version - going to have forgotten how to play this by the time I get back to it.


Replayed/10
Death Rally (Classic)

[Nitori]

Good

Yakuza 5 (PS3): Plans everywhere, people getting beat up, i am destined to be Shinada.
If you want an accurate Haruka chapter playing experience, click the link and set it on infinite repeat

Overwatch (PC): Reaper is the deepest character
Final Fantasy XIII (PC): I spent most of the time dying to flying motorcycles
Final Fantasy XV (PS4): Paid for by Cup Noodles
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice (3DS): The gradual trend of making Apollo relevant is nice
Phoenix Wright: Conflict of Interest (PC): So is alt-history where he never shows up, there are some...interesting ideas here. Makoto Fey best Fey
Spec Ops: The Line (PC): Kappa life decisions the game
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (PC): Well I guess this is an alright game to make three times
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (3DS): On hard mode, the dream is not getting one-shot

Average

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC): I shot the mans, and they shot me back
NiGHTS into Dreams... (PC): I'm not fever pitchish enough for this
Mortal Kombat 9 (PC): I'm pretty sure I could do a better job than Raiden, also became uppercut simulator at the end
Rogue Legacy (PC): I picked nothing but Assassin because I like going fast, this kinda hurt later

Kappa

Katawa Shoujo (PC): I'm sure everything about physical disabilities in here is entirely accurate
The Fruit of Grisaia (PC): Winner of most offensive line I've ever seen (super NSFW)
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action (PC): I'm already subscribed to Streaming-Chan
Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai! (PC): This is just Persona 4 again, but with less Persona and more ribs being broken

Terrible

HunieCam Studios (PC): terrible at everything, not even Mr. VSM-worthy

[NotMiki]

The Fruit of Grisaia (PC): Winner of most offensive line I've ever seen (super NSFW)

Here I figured it'd be the "don't pluck the flowers" line, but I suppose that wasn't horrific enough...

[MasterLemon]

Incoming Wall of Text!

15. Dalmatians 3 (PS2)
Please don't ask me why I decided to get involved with this predicament of a game. If you want to know this is about then view Caddicarus' excellent review of it. If you want to know why it exists then keep on looking.

To even call this a game would be stretching things, it's just a 45 minute series of events regarding some stupid dogs who get themselves put into a dog-pound because they don't know what an economy is. It also needs to waste its time towards a bloated flashback for a previous work by Dingo Pictures (the ones who initially made the movie before Phoenix Games put them on to a PS2 disc). The gameplay comes from occasional puzzles such as card matching and colouring. Most of which can be done on a tabletop without having to view a broken cartoon where everything is done first-take, e.g. “That's supposed to be a secret code? It's just a simple mathematics.”

This still isn't as bad as Plumbers Don't Wear Ties though, at least the terrible cartoon characters can animate. Although it's still in the most limited way possible. And at least there is something going on than just being on a DVD menu.

E-Tier

14. Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (PS2)
The most disappointing which I've ever played. I remember playing this when I was 7 and hoping that it would be as good as the first three games. I had to endure loading screens, game freezes, and constant game deletion. After many years, I decided to come back to it and I still couldn't tolerate the broken gameplay and the amount of noise which goes on during a level. I almost felt like I had a headache during my sitting.

Thankfully though, the game doesn't even want to be played and the portal to the final boss can easily be clipped through. It's not even like the final boss is all that climactic, it's just flaming through some bubbles. This piece of shit can be beaten in 4-5 minutes with little difficulty. Super Mario Bros. for the NES can be beaten in under 10 minutes thanks to the Warp Zone, even though that's in deliberately to award curious players and they still have to get through World 8. This game is being shown up by a product released in 1985 in terms of fundamental design, and that's really sad.     

This still stands as one of the worst games which I have played, although it doesn't ignore as many core basics as Dalmatians 3.

E-Tier

13. Banjo Tooie (N64)
I think I was drunk when I decided that 100%ing this game would be a good idea. Or perhaps I was just stupid, the game goes on long enough for me to become sober. The game isn't terrible, even though it isn't all that good either. It starts out fine, Witchyworld was a highlight, even though the later parts just don't know when to quit.

The original game was good but it started to drag by the time you got to Rusty Bucket Bay. Tooie starts to outstay its welcome by Terrydactylland. Every level starting from there managed to annoy me in some way or form. That fetch-quest involving the Stegosaurus mother was particularly egregious. Perhaps the fact that I never grew up with these two games has caused me to have bias which I don't have against the Spyro and Crash games for the original PlayStation. Granted, I've never played Donkey Kong 64. Meaning I'm still unaware as to how out-of-hand a “collectathon” can get.

Also, playing as Mumbo sucked and it slowed down the pacing of a level.

C-Tier

12. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (What do you think?)
I played this one with my brother and went for 100%. I didn't think this game was anything special, and multiplayer is the main thing going for it. This is also the first NSMB game which I've played and I have a feeling that I don't need to play any of the others as they'll give me the same experience.

This is probably the most clichéd look on a NSMB game but I felt that it was very safe and doesn't provide experimental level design like what Mario 3 or World could do. It uses the same level archetypes which a platformer provides to you these days and doesn't do anything with it. It's one of those games which thinks that making some things GIANT makes for a better experience. Star Coins are a pain to get and they seemed more like they were put in as a pace breaker as opposed to something which the players could feel satisfied with when they're able to grab one. Yoshi is good stuff, even though s/he's hardly ever used in the game (starting Galaxy 2 early).

That said though, it doesn't have anything too annoying in it and the multiplayer allows for some laughs if you decide to do it. I've never played the Donkey Kong or Rayman reboots but I've they sound more like what people were hoping for with this game (and the 17 other NSMBs)

B-Tier

11. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
I played this one 2 years ago through a PAL version of Super Mario All Stars. It sucked to the sloppy frame rate. However, replaying this one through means of running it on a NTSC system has allowed me to gain an appreciation for it.

The level design can be archaic and the enemies have dull AI, even though the core gameplay was still fun and the ability to switch between 4 different characters allows for re-playability. I like this one more than the original Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but not as much as some of the other 2D games in the series, such as Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.

B-Tier

10.  Metroid Zero Mission (GBA)
I went on a 2D Metroid binge after playing the Prime games for the first time during 2015. These consisted of Super, Fusion, and Zero Mission. I had already played the original and I doubted that Return of Samus would age well in comparison to these three. Zero Mission was the one I found to be the weakest out of the three which I played.

Don't get me wrong, it's leaps and bounds ahead of the original NES game. Even though 100%ing this game becomes quite dull when you realize that most of it involves you performing Shinespark puzzles. I hear this one gains most of its love through how much cheese you can perform when speedrunning, and I can understand why this would make it a favourite. The way how the bombs work in this game allows for some neat sequence breaking and also lets non-speedrunners consider alternative routes for fighting bosses or advancing through areas.

B-Tier

9.  Final Fantasy IX (PSX)
Apparently, it's cool to consider this (and VIII) as one of the best in the series. Although back during the days when Spoony was still a dignified internet user, these two were considered much weaker entries in comparison to VII. I still haven't played VIII (the Draw system doesn't appeal to me) even though I thought that I might as well give IX a go. Yeah, this one hasn't aged well.

The 9 second loading screens make random encounters a chore, and the battle system is flawed. The characters are built in a way that attempts to make them diverse; it was a cute attempt but other mechanics cause some of them to become very similar. Zidane, Freya, Steiner, and Amarant can all do similar damage due to the Magic Stone system which can allow them to obtain various modifiers to their Physical damage output. Dagger was probably meant to be the more offensive counterpart to Eiko, but the fact that Regen still occurs during the long Summon animations allows the former to be the more reliable healer (having more HP helps as well). You can argue that VII's characters are replaceable even though at least the Materia system was clearly meant to be the focus.

The story is a mixed bag: Kuja is a great villain, if not the best one in the series in my opinion, even though the pacing could be improved, I don't need to explain why Necron is a bad idea, and some of the cast members are underdeveloped (Freya and Amarant are good examples of this). Even though the best part about the game for me is the soundtrack. Dark Messenger, You Are Not Alone, Jesters of the Moon, and Terra are some of my favourites. Easily my favourite of the PlayStation OSTs.
I've criticised the gameplay for the most part, even though a second string Final Fantasy is still a decent ride. This game is a good example of this.

B-Tier

8. Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (Well what do you think?)
I have played both the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game; even though I bought the former first and it's the only one of the two which I have finished. The Wii U one will probably appear next year. What I will say so far though is that the Wii U version is the better one by default.

Don't get me wrong, this game is still a great time (due to being a Smash game), even though it lacks some of the content which some of the other titles had. I'm mainly talking about the lack of an Event Mode, which is something I really enjoy from a Smash game. It prevents this one from being as re-playable as the likes of Melee, and to a lesser extent Brawl (mainly due to how its Event Mode was very easy). Two more issues with this game are the lack of a Gamecube controller (the game is clearly too much for the 3DS' Circle Pad to handle) and how easy the All-Star Mode is, I swear most of the opponents can be beaten by a couple of Smash attacks and the main difficulty comes from the stage hazards.

What I will praise however is the wide array of characters there is to choose from and how much of an improvement the multiplayer is in comparison to Brawl's. It's very sad how a handheld system is able to be more competent at this sort of thing than the Wii. It's also a very impressive feat how they were able to make a Smash game which can be played on the go without making any noticeable technical sacrifices.

B-Tier

7. Metroid Fusion (GBA)   
The middle child of the 2D Metroids which I did a binge on. When I first played the game, I didn't think too much of it. Even though looking back, I really appreciate what this game was trying to do and how difficulty is handled.

The game is linear, even though this was clearly the intention. The gameplay is less about exploration and more about your escape from the clutches of SAX. The level design does a good job at making not want to explore these places and instead be more concerned about trying to do what you need to do and get away as quickly as possible. The game releases the exploration shackles later in and it's at a point when the player feels like they're ready to take on SAX. The game is short but will give you a run for your money just when you're about to say “wait a sec, this is too easy!”

The story is okay, although I saw the cutscenes of Other M (through the retsupurae look) so that's why I'm not so iffy on it as other people were when they first played the game. I don't the concept of giving Samus a voice (she could've sure as hell said something during the hijinks which occurred during Prime 3), just not the monotone wimp which Other M makes her out to be. In this game, she at least has the nerve to call the Galactic Federation out on their bullshit and is willing to sacrifice her job in order to see justice done. The soundtrack isn't special in this game but Metroid title usually don't excel in this department. And it's a GBA game, it obviously won't be able to produce the same kind of quality as the Red Brinstar theme. Then again, Aria of Sorrow was able to have some memorable songs in its OST.

A-Tier

6. Crash Team Racing (PSX)
I'm not all that big on racing games. The main ones which I've tried to get into before this game were the first two Mario Karts, I wasn't a big fan of them (sorry Elfboy). However, one more racing game which I wanted to give a go was Crash Team Racing. I had this genre completely wrong.
 
This game is superb. The mechanics are polished and easy to grasp, the tracks are fun (you don't get muck like Frappe Snowland), and the optional content compliments the main game well. The CTR token and time trial runs allow for players to know the stages better and try out pathways which they would never have thought of on their first time. Going through each again with cheaper AI doesn't make for good replay value and this game thankfully doesn't stoop to that level.

The main issues I had with the game were the underwhelming boss races and the fact that some characters are the same thing as each other. It seems like this is there for the sake of having a specific build for both the good side and the bad side (which seems rather necessary for this game).

A-Tier

5. Super Metroid (SNES) 
I played this game after I decided to binge on some of the Castlevania games using a similar style to the Metroid series (Symphony of the Night to Dawn of Sorrow). Meaning I felt right at home when trying to get into this game. My expectations were also high on this one, although I wasn't expecting anything to trump SOTN or Prime anytime soon. And yeah, this game doesn't disappoint.

The locations are fun to explore and they each leave you with something to explore, backtracking with your overpowered weapons is used just enough not to get annoying (unlike Zero Mission), and the boss fights are memorable and they each stand out from each other (except Spore Spawn). This sounds like a pretty basic description for the game but what's to be said about it which hasn't already been said?

The main issue I had with this game was how Samus suddenly lacked weight when jumping. It isn't anything game breaking but it takes some time getting used to if you've played other Metroidvanias before this one. I'll just say that it's my excuse for saying it isn't as good as Prime or Symphony of the Night.

A-Tier

4. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (3DS)
I played this as the N64 version last year. I wasn't impressed with what I was given; I particularly didn't like having to wait around in order for a certain event to occur. Even though I found that many of my other issues with the game came from Ocarina of Time when I did a playthrough of it for my YouTube channel and I wanted to give it a second chance through the 3DS version. I was actually very impressed and it was the most fun I've had with a 3D Zelda (I'm one of those assholes who prefers the 2D ones).

This version of the game is very polished and ensures that completing quests and exploring Termina isn't a chore for the player. You'll end remembering what you end up doing in the game and not so much how cheap the N64 controls are or how much waiting you were required to do. Traversing the pirate's hideout in particular is much more fun and satisfying in this one because you're not given the Stone Mask to cheat the process. I actually felt like this was a logical step up for a 3D Zelda to make and not have to rely on Ocarina of Time for most of the fundamentals (clichéd point to make about these games but I'm making it anyway). I know some people probably won't like how they added more convenience to how the clock and saving work, mainly because they played the game during an era when that's what mechanics were expected to be like.

The main issues I have with this version are the tacked on fishing mini-game (thankfully it's just a way of getting more rupees and not for a useless upgrade) and the obvious glowing spots they added to some of the boss fights. It doesn't completely ruin the fights (it's pretty difficult to suck the fun out of Goht) but it's bad practice for 3D Zelda bosses and it comes off as them assuming that their players can't find the weak point themselves. I think I'm starting to over-think about this kind of thing.

A-Tier

3. Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)
The reason why I decided to buy a Wii U. The original Xenoblade is my favourite game of all time, so it made sense for me to see what the next time would be like. When I started playing the game, I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of content to the point where I thought that it wasn't for me. Thankfully though, I began to understand what everything was about and took things one step at a time.

The combat system is as fun as it was in the original and it still has the polish which was present (for the most part). The new additions were also very welcome, Skells, Soul Voices, Overdrives, and a job class system for your avatar. Skells made the overworlds fun to explore and gives a new take to the combat, Soul Voices being customizable for your avatar allows for some unique ways for you to turn the tides in a bad situation (kinda like visions in the original game), Overdrives can potentially make a ground character as overpowered as a Skell if you're using the right setup (the way how arts connect depending on their colour reminded me of Chain Attacks in the original), and the job class system allowed for more flexibility in terms of how you build your avatar as well as your party.

The main issues I have with the gameplay are the amount of monsters ambushes which can occur in certain parts of an area (why not just have random encounters while you're there?), and how Chapter 12 is handled. There is point of no return before you fight the final boss (which happens to be a gauntlet), meaning you can't go back and retrieve your Skell if it crashes during the fight. Meaning that you have to plan how you're going to manage your use of a Skell during the gauntlet ahead of time. I'm really not sure if whether or not this was a decision intended to challenge players.

The premise of the story is actually a pretty fun idea, especially the idea of mimeosomes, and I enjoyed how the world and the species were built, except for how they turned Nopons into gypsies. The cast however, could've been improved. Elma was awesome, Lin worked when they weren't making that joke about her cooking Tatsu (who managed to really annoy me), the higher ups of BLADE had class, and Lao had interesting motives for his actions, even though he wasn't subtle as a traitor. The rest of the goodies just seemed like they were pulled out of TV Tropes, and the villains were very bland (although the Wrothian were pretty cool).

The soundtrack was a mixed bag as well. For every NO.EX01 and Noctilum (Day), there was a Black Tar and a NLA (Night). The singer of the later must've had an easy time just belting out “HEYA, HEYA, YEAH, OH, OH, OH!”

A-Tier

2. Pokemon Sun/Moon (3DS)
I usually find that Pokemon games are a good time (except if they're the original Diamond and Pearl). And Pokemon Sun/Moon are no exception. This one reminds me of Gen 5 in a way, the battle system wasn't updated as much in comparison to their previous Generation, even though there were some much needed buffs and nerfs applied to certain Pokemon. While I would use this time to talk about how much time I've spent on the Doubles ladder of Pokemon Showdown, I might hold myself back this time and focus purely on the single player here.

The single player of this game runs circles around the previous games and it feels difficult to ever come back to them. HMs are gone for good and are now replaced with ridable Pokemon which can be accessed at any time (meaning no more having to waste slots on bad moves), and the monotonous Gym Battles have been replaced with Totem Pokemon which actually gave me a challenge. The growth system works similarly to Gen 5, meaning that you get as much Exp if you fight weaker Pokemon at higher levels. This actually makes the Exp. Share an option for you to consider, unlike in Gen 6 where it might as well be a win button. The Elite 4 fights gave me a run for my money this time (thankfully they grew out of that phase where they only gave them 4 Pokemon), and the Champion battle is one of my favourites in the entire series. The fight is everything Diantha wasn't: you gave a damn about who the Champion is, the battle is actually tough, and the music is excellent.

The Pokemon selection is excellent here, then again I liked Gen 6's selection outside of 75% of the Mega Evolution designs, Tapu Koko in particular has a great design and it allowed me to gain and appreciation for Electric-types. Other designs which I really liked include, but are not limited to, the starters, Mimikyu, Solgaleo, Lunala, the Tapus, the Ultra Beasts, Vikavolt, Lycanroc, Araquanid, Mudsdale, Salazzle, and Magearna. I also liked the Alola forms much better than the ones for Mega Evolution; my favourites being Raichu and Marowak.

The story is also a big step in comparison to XY (I'm not setting the bar high here), I even preferred it to BW's one. Lusamine was very creepy and she was a joy to watch anytime she appeared on screen, Lillie was a very likeable character with one of the more detailed arcs in the series, and Hau and Gladion are now my favourite rivals in the series; mainly because they aren't as tropey as Cheren, Bianca, or Hugh and their character development isn't as rushed. The soundtrack was also a real treat. Highlights include the Tapu battle theme, the aforementioned Champion theme, the Battle Tree Master theme, Gladion's battle theme, the Elite Four theme, Vast Poni Canyon, and Mt Lanakila.

My main issues with the game are how SOS Battles are handled, it will sometimes seem like they occur for the sake of padding a battle out, the fact that some Pokemon in the Pokedex can only be caught through said battles, and the fact some fights can become laggy if multiple Pokemon on the battlefield. Thankfully though, this is mainly a thing during Totem fights and Doubles matches which aren't done through Battle Spot or the Battle Tree; and least it isn't a thing for any kind of battle like in Diamond and Pearl.

I'm really getting tired of saying battle right now.

S-Tier

1. Final Fantasy X (PS2)
No game is truly perfect and the ones which come close are subjective. For me, the ones which come close are Xenoblade Chronicles and this game. I finally got round to playing it this year and it was the most fun I had with the series since I played VI a couple of years back.

The growth system of the game was made for me. The Sphere Grid system allows each of your characters to learn moves and gain the stats the way you want them after they've gotten some of their fundamentals, even though they're positioned in a way so that you have to waste your life if you want them all to become the same thing as each other. The battle system is turn-based for good reason since IX was showing that an ATB system was getting old. It's also been made in a way so you know when each player is going to make a move, allowing for strategy as to how you're going to act when an opponent makes a move. I also like how you're allowed to switch characters out whenever you like, it allows them all to be good for their assigned purpose. Many people complain that the overworld of the game is linear, even though you may find that each of the previous Final Fantasy titles suffered from this. The thing with the previous titles was that they had a hub which fooled you into thinking that you had an open world from the get-go. Every game in the series has a point when the sandbox is officially opened up to you, e.g. FFX has the point after you fight Yunalesca and FFVI has the point after you get the Falcon.

The story and cast are also my favourite in the series. Tidus is a protagonist who has flaws which can be related to and a convincing arc, Link is a mute who's only character trait is being popular with the ladies. I'm sorry but the former is the sort of thing I expect from a video game protagonist. Yuna is pretty admirable considering what she has to go through and how her development allows her to deal with things in the best way possible, Wakka's acceptance towards the Al Bhed was believable and natural, and Auron, like Dunban, doesn't conform to most of the “badass mentor” cliches and the motives for his actions were well told. Spira is the most complex world in the series at that point and managed to avoid the pitfalls which Gaia from FFIX fell into. The soundtrack is also one of my favourites in any game, my highlights were Otherworld and A Fleeting Dream.   

The only drawback which I have with the games is the fact that the cutscenes can't be skipped. While I like the game's plot, having to go through the same cutscenes will probably get annoying if one was having trouble on a specific boss. This is particularly an issue when the cutscenes are using higher quality models; meaning that you won't be able to scroll through the text like you can with lower quality models.

S-Tier

I think I went too far in a few places.

Because I'm fickle, this look is outdated. My order now would probably go FFX>Super Metroid>Pokemon SM>CTR>Smash for 3DS>Metroid Fusion>Xenoblade X>Zero Mission>MM3D>Mario 2>FFIX>NSMB Wii>Tooie>Spyro 4>Dalmatians 3.

[Captain K]

Mobile games
==========
FFRK:  Fuck this game.
FFBE:  Alternating between fuck this game/this game is awesome
Pokémon Go:  This made me exercise.  Deleted it for phone space when they took too long to update it.
Heroes Tactics:  Entertained me for a few months, but once you hit max level there's nothing to do.
Devil Breaker:  My current obsession.  Badly translated but solid mechanically and very f2p friendly.

PS4
==========
Bloodborne:  This game sucks, people who like it are stupid.
Dark Souls 3:  This game is great, why did they waste time making Bloodborne when they could have been making this sooner.
Overwatch:  A lot of fun but stay out of competitive unless you want to be called a Mexican nigger and other high quality insults.
Star Ocean 5:  Really weird, because half of the game is extremely well-polished and innovative, and the other half is half-assed like a budget title.

3DS
==========
FE Conquest:  Sucked ass, regretted this purchase.
Pokémon Sun:  Best Pokémon in many years.