darkSpyro

Title. It doesn’t have to be from 2018, you just have to have first played it in 2018. Also no demos or games I barely played.

Least Favourite:
Fortnite: I played 3 matches and got bored. Its just find guns and wait until you find others and hope you don’t die. I played a bit more recently and it’s still the same.

Octo Expansion: I know this is DLC but screw it, it’s big enough to be it’s own game. A lot of my experiences with this DLC were unpleasant. There were so many levels that just felt unfair, like protecting an orb from loads of Octolings. The story was bad too. Sure, the lore is neat, but I can’t help but be annoyed when everything you do is pointless.

Super Mario RPG: Haha this game has aged. Also why is there platforming in a game with no depth perception.

Specter of Torment: I have stated multiple times that I don’t like this game. The story is bad and combat is repetitive. Jump and spam the attack button. Not to mention the controls feel awkward. HOWEVER. I gave this game another chance today and if you play with a certain set of armour, the game becomes really fun. But I’m placing this at the lower end because you need this one item to make the game playable and you can’t take it off. I’ll still revisit it though.

Incredibles Rise Of The Underminer: Better than the Incredibles game that came before it by far. A friend lent this to me because I was hyped for the second Incredibles movie. I 100%ed it (because of course I did). It’s more fun to play with a friend, probably. Some of the side missions suck though.

Lego Incredibles: The Switch version kept crashing a few times, and the game got kinda repetitive, but you can play as Lightning McQueen after beating the game, so...

Super Mario Bros: I saw a video going over a world record speedrun and thought it was really interesting, so I played through the game on the Switch. Fun game, even if it’s pretty broken.

Doctor Mario: I don’t know why but I had so much fun with this. It’s just moving pills and stuff why is it so fun.

Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu: Aside from the catching controls and bad postgame, this was a very pleasant experience. Shiny hunting is really easy to fail though, so be careful.

Arms: This game is SUPER fun with friends. Single player is fine, but multiplayer is great. Will probably keep playing after I get Smash.

Shovel of Hope: I got Shovel Knight Treasure Trove back in April. It’s now my most played Switch game, with 110+ hours overall. I really enjoyed playing this, and I come back to it frequently. Although I might have enjoyed it more if I didn’t break all the checkpoints on my first run.

Deltarune: My main critique is that it’s only 2-3 hours long. Then again, it’s not finished, so... go play this.

Plague of Shadows: Plague Knight is best Knight, fight me. His controls are so fun and watching speedruns are really entertaining, seeing how fast he can go.

Octopath Traveler: Nobody’s surprised here. I never shut up about this game. It’s got amazing music, graphics, combat, characters, story (yeah I know this is debatable but I really like it.) and side details. I have very minor complaints, such as side quests being “find this guy on the other side of the map maybe and bring him to this other guy” and the main eight don’t interact with eachother much, but other than that, it’s easily my game of the year.

I’ll update this after Christmas or if I remember anything.

Night Trap: I bought the physical version from Limited Run because it's a good piece of gaming history to own. The novelty of that wore kind of thin though, as it's actually brutally difficult and really shows its age. The FMV cutscenes are amusing, and the story behind it is intriguing, but otherwise it was sort of overpriced for not a lot of content.

Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn: I had the choice of getting this or Octopath Traveler on summer vacation. Honestly, I should have gotten Octopath. At times, this game is genuinely funny, and I'll give props to the writing team for taking a less than stellar original game and making it somewhat better. The jokes only land occasionally though, and the "plot" is really a thinly veiled star bashing simulator. It doesn't help that the gameplay is unoriginal and tedious too. What I remember about this game is the sometimes sharp humor, but when it wasn't that, it was underwhelming and forgettable.

Mega Man 11: Listen, I love Mega Man, but Mega Man 11 was just a frustrating slog fest. Certain levels were extremely fun (with my personal favorite being Blast Man's), while others were a bit too difficult for a less than skilled gamer like myself (Torch Man), or frustrating to the point of vein popping (**** YOU BOUNCE MAN, YOU DUMB ASSHOLE).

Pokemon Ultra Moon: I got this last Christmas but didn't play it until this year. Overall, it was a Pokemon game, so it was okay to me. Moon remains my favorite, but Ultra Moon didn't have enough differences to justify buying a whole extra copy.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle: To me, it was a fairly generic 2D fighter, but the addition of RWBY and Persona characters intrigued me enough to buy the game. I enjoyed their stories and how they played, and it opened me up to maybe playing Under Night In-Birth in the future, but other than that, it wasn't my favorite fighting game I played this year.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl: It's hard to believe I didn't play Subspace Emissary until now, right? Probably a super unpopular opinion, but I was VERY underwhelmed. The cutscenes were flawless, I loved every second of those, and I loved the bosses, but the gameplay wasn't fun at all to me. Please keep platforming out of fighting games, I can't stand it. I want to FIGHT things, not jump on platforms, punch some generic enemy, and jump on more platforms. The Maze was probably one of the worst cases of padding I've ever seen in a game too, it really bogged down the rest of the story mode for me.

Sonic Mania Plus: I want to start this off by saying I generally loathe Sonic games other than the originals, but afterhearing the praise laid upon this, I had to try it out. It really felt like a great return to form. Can Sega just hand Sonic Team to these guys please?

Kirby Star Allies: If a Kirby game comes out, it will rank high on my list, plain and simple. I love Kirby to death, and while it still felt a little easy to a bad gamer like me, it was still extremely charming. The DLC content also not only honored past games in a great way, but added a lot more replayability for me!

Super Castlevania IV: After Simon's announcement for Smash, I immediately booted up my SNES Classic and played the only Castlevania game I owned; Super Castlevania IV. I had played Symphony of the Night and Lords of Shadow before but didn't love either, but something about this one just clicked with me. The aesthetic, the gameplay, everything felt tailor made to my retro game tastes.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey: I love Greek mythology. I love buff girls. I love Assassin's Creed. Are you still questioning why it's number 4?

Undertale: It took 3 whole years and a Switch port for me to play this and it was absolutely worth the hype. I can't bring myself to do a genocide run, but I managed a true pacifist by the end. Everything about this game felt natural, and I can totally see why so many people love it. I generally dislike RPGs, but this one was really one I could get behind, with such fascinating characters and an interesting story. Still haven't played Deltarune, but I'll get on it.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: I love Fire Emblem. I love Metal Gear. I love Persona. I love Kirby. I love Splatoon. I love Mega Man. I love Street Fighter. Are you still questioning why this is number 2? The whole "everyone is here" thing really got me excited. I had been wanting Snake's return ever since I got into MGS, but figured he was just a pipe dream, then E3 happened, and not only did I get Snake, but I got Corrin back too. Then I hoped my ballot vote, Chrom, would get in. Sure enough, he was revealed as an Echo Fighter. My ultimate pipe dream was Persona 5's Joker, and now he's coming too. World of Light, at least to me, was a lot more fun than Subspace. I liked the Spirits being little nods to the characters you fought against, and I prefer the multiple fights over platforming and the maze any day. This really couldn't be any more "ultimate" for me, and takes a rightful second place.

Marvel's Spider-Man: This was the pinnacle of gaming for me this year. I've always been a Marvel super fan, with the Spider-Verse characters usually being my primary interest. I had been pumped for this game since they first revealed it all those E3s ago, and it delivered on every hope I had. Every part of the gameplay felt fantastic, from the web swinging, to the combat, and even all the little touches like Avengers Tower or the Spider-Man 2 pizza theme. The boss fights against characters like Electro or Rhino really felt epic, and I enjoyed every minute of them. Every character was portrayed perfectly in here, and I'm so glad this version of Peter Parker is getting featured in comics like Spider-Geddon or even making cameos in movies like Into the Spider-Verse. I'm so glad this is the start of a Marvel gaming universe, because I can't wait to see what's next.

I only played 4 games this year for the first time and liked them all, I'm not too sure what order to rank them but here they are.
Also I tried my best to keep things short but these paragraphs might still be pretty long.

Super Mario Odyssey: This is what I want in a Mario game, huge open levels that all feel like their own little world. I like how adventurous these levels are getting like New Donk City. The games soundtrack had either average background music or really good music that fits the area you're exploring, nothing in the soundtrack is bad. I only do wish you could replay some story scenes like the attack on NDC when you first arrive or the Wooded Kingdom being filled with Piranha Plants and tanks without having to start a new file.

Smash Ultimate: The only other Smash game I've played is 3DS so this was my first big smash game. Everything feels great and the detail wasn't necessary but Sakuri never stops at "average" or "good", he always makes sure everything is as close to the source material as possible. I don't have any friends so I only played the single player stuff. Classic mode is quick and way better than 4's classic. Challenges were actually fun this time around that I beat all of them except the online ones. WOL was good in a few areas but was held back by the main map that was too big. Despite that I've already gotten around 830 spirits and I'm probably going to get them all.

Conker's Bad Fur Day: If it's not already obvious, this game changed my life, Conker has easily become my favorite character in any form of media of all time. The game doesn't stick to anything, it keeps changing itself, it's theme it's sense of humor it's art style and it's music genre. The game has poop jokes which are actually funny (didn't think that was possible), it has move parodies, it constantly breaks the 4th wall and some of it's humor is really offensive, it makes fun of suicide and sexual abuse and it's hilarious.
This game looks so good I'd say it looks better than most; if not all PS1 games and it's on the N64 without the expansion pack!
The gameplay also changes from a 3D platformer for 2/3 of the game, then it turns into a third person shooter mixed with slight platforming for the rest of the game. The only downside is that some parts are repetitive and the controls and camera have significantly dated.

Conker Live and Reloaded: This is a remake of bad fur day which most people hate because a few words were censored. This remake fixes all of my problems with the original and adds on top of that. Remixed music with live instruments, minor combat, fetch quests being shortened, graphics that look like they're in HD on an OG Xbox in 480p, much better gun controls and 360 CAMERA CONTROLSSSSSSS!!!!
If a section wasn't 100% fixed, it was improved to make that section better.
This might be one of, if not my all time favorite video game, I definitely haven't said everything I love about this game because I tried to keep it short.

No particular order because I can't rank them:


Metroid Prime 3: Corruption concluded the series with a great climax. Although the gameplay wasn't at its pinnacle on the franchise (the combat could use some balancing but the structure was great), the overall plot and aesthetics made the entire journey extremely exciting.

Sonic Mania didn't became my favorite of the series (the Boost games up to Generations will always be my preferred style of gameplay) but it's probably an easy second place. Fantastic gameplay, visuals and soundtrack. If the plot was a bit better presented and if there was more original content, it would have been pretty close to perfect.

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time had some problems with padding but it was overall pretty enjoyable. I think it needs a remake more than the other two who got it for the 3DS.

Donkey Kong Country makes me feel like an epic gamer (tm) more than any other. Truly challenging but never frustrating (except for the first mine cart level goddamn). A lot of care for ambiance.

Suoer Metroid gave me a good idea on how 2D Metroid is. Faster pace and visual rather than text-based storytelling. The controls might need some tweaking but that's something I expect to see in sequels. Great game.

Steamworld Dig was a pleasant surprise, very fun and with a lot of style. I'll be playing the sequel whenever possible.

Rhythm Heaven Fever was another great surprise. I'm terrible at rhythm games but this one's stuck with me because of its style, music and humor.

Rayman: Revolution was a great remake of Rayman 2. top-notch platforming and controls, combined with captivating visuals and music, plus a pretty interesting plot.

Cars 2: The Video Game is a gaming masterpiece that makes all of us remember what made us fans of the media. nothing can top such a miraculous pinnacle in quality.

Barely played any new games this year. It was slow and it was a busy year I suppose.

Fire Emblem Awakening: Don’t hate it, but it just doesn’t hold up to the other FE games I’ve played and was rather disappointing. I felt that most of the characters were rather lackluster, I didn’t think the story was as bad as I’ve heard but it just didn’t hook me, and the pair up mechanic feels necessary at times but I really hate using it.

Breath of the Wild: A rather fantastic game in the beginning, but it quickly lost aim and turned into side quests and shrine hunting. Still love it, but feels almost pointless after reaching a certain point in the game, especially considering that the difficulty never scales and the game gets super easy. Of course the exploration is always a joy, the characters feel fresh, and the graphics hit me in a way that other games just haven’t recently.

FE Sacred Stones: First Fire Emblem I did a complete play through of early this year and I loved every minute of it. I connected with the characters, enjoyed the story, and loved the way it handled. The map design was fun and engaging for me, the old gba graphics and sprites are my absolute favorite, and it felt like the perfect intro to the series. I’m currently playing through FE4 and started FE6 but won’t finish until after FE4.

Ocarina of Time: Not finished with it yet, but so far it’s amazing. I don’t have much to say other than the fact that it holds up much better than I expected. The janky controls are oddly satisfying and nostalgic, the dungeons are exciting and let me feel accomplished when I beat them, and the music is absolutely superb.

I honestly forgot half of what I played this year so uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Super Smash Bros Ultimate

Oh yeah, starting off with this one. I don't know, maybe I just really suck at this game, but I kept finding and having issues with the game that I had never had with Smash 4, and I'm not that big a fan of Smash 4. WOL also just feels more like a waste of time rather than a story mode. Not to say I think this game had less effort put into it than a baked ham, the effort is quite obviously there, but I honestly just didn't have a great experience with it

Doki Doki Literature Club

I kind used to have a bit of a craze on this game, but after looking back on it, it isn't the best thing ever. The game had some very realistic characters and depictions of self-harm and depression. Problem is most of the second half has jumpscares, the game glitching out, something that isn't amazingly creepy. And honestly, I kinda find myself not liking this game as much as I did when I first played it

Overwatch

I'm decently surprised how much I enjoyed this game when I had a mic and was able to communicate with my teammates, it was some of the most fun I'd ever had in an online multiplayer game, I won't go over it too much as I've since stopped playing the game, and have lost my interest with it.

Super Mario Party

I don't give a flying **** what the bit block says, or hell, what everyone else says about this game, it's full of fun, I've stayed up until 4 am playing this game, it's just full of that classic mario party fun that reminds me of Mario Party 8, my very first video game

Danganronpa(I'm just including the main 3 games for this)

I love these games, although their gameplay is quite simple, it has this unique charm to it. It has all these characters with unique designs and personalities, it had moments that made you laugh, moments that made you cry, moments that made you question what the developers were on at the time they were making this. But they were fun all around

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Although I'm only at like, chapter 3, this is honestly my favorite game I got last year, it has a unique, yet fast-paced and fun combat system, and engaging story, and it's just very fun all around. I haven't gotten too far into the game, so I can't give it a proper critique yet, but so far it's been a great experience