Finding My Favorite Year of Games of the Year PART 2: A Ranked List of Lists
If you haven’t peeped my nonsense that this is a follow-up to then I suggest you at least pull it up for reference. Not often do writers require you to have two articles up at once so you can have any context for what the heck is being said. Some would call this bad.
With that said, here are the past 35 years organized by how bad to good they were for video games!
35) 2023
Recency bias is a huge factor here. For one thing, do you realize how long video games are? The really good ones aren’t playable for me anymore because I just don’t have the free time or the patience. It is also a factor that playing games that are 1st Person camera angles or a lot of ones that are 3rd Person on my TV isn’t doable since it makes my wife sick. I’d stick to 2D games anyway, but I’m limited these days unless I hide away to play it on my PC. The “really good” games I did play this year I haven’t even finished and may never. Void Stranger is really cool but I’m absolutely stuck with no hope of figuring out these puzzles! Last place purely by being the last year.
34) 2022
Again, recency bias and time are factors here, but there is also the specter of the pandemic. The big games that came out didn’t really appeal to me and I simply didn’t get to the hit indies like Neon White and Cult of the Lamb. I was really reaching with games I admired but didn’t play significantly as well as Cuphead DLC (but it was very good DLC).
33) 2003
Every year has good games, but as time has gone by I don’t have the same reverence for the Nintendo racers of this year. None of these really crack any top 100 list for me. Disgaea, XIII, and Aria of Sorrow are very cool games, but there is no urgency for me to play them again.
32) 1989
While there were a lot of strong NES games and the rise of arcade games that will eventually hit the Sega Genesis, there wasn’t anything that really moved the needle on the year.
31) 1990
It feels wrong to put the year that brought us Super Mario World this low, but the rest of the year had games that didn’t really do anything big for me. Mega Man 3 fans are right to not like that comment, but the backhalf of that game is more frustrating than good and I stand by it being worse than Mega Man 2, 4, 6, 9, and 10. Solid #6th best classic Mega Man.
29) 2021
I had to make the decision that Deltarune: Chapter 2 stands on its own because otherwise it’s a relatively weak year in my opinion. Everything involving Spamton is a guilty pleasure. Unpacking made me cry multiple times.
29) 1995
While I think Yoshi’s Island and Donkey Kong Country 2 are some of the greatest platformers, the rest of the year doesn’t inspire me as much. Really, though: I love Donkey Kong Country 2 very much.
28) 1999
Massive year for Pokémon with the release of games featuring pinball, photography, and mini-games. You can even FIGHT with Pikachu and Jigglypuff, wowie zowie! The real sleeper great from this year was Worms Armageddon and if you haven’t played it then you missed out. I wish it was easier to stream!
27) 2012
It is almost like this was the year that Sony realized indie games were kinda cool and then dropped multiple hits. A couple of them have escaped to other platforms, but Tokyo Jungle really needs a port, sequel, or something. I am also absurdedly into Nintendo Land, but instead of another thing like that we get 1–2 Switch. 😒
26) 1992
I distinctly remember Sonic 2 being ordered out of a magazine for me to play and using a mouse on the SNES at a friend’s house to play Mario Paint. I’m that old.
25) 2013
While I truthfully played the PS4 port of Tearaway, it was still an amazing experience to be able to interact with my game in such an innovative way that I haven’t seen anyone else attempt to do again yet. Games should let me mess around inside of them more!
24) 2000
This feels more like a year of games I’m supposed to care about than ones I actually do. There are still the ones I adore that put this year higher up, but I don’t have the reverence for Majora’s Mask, MvC 2, and Tony Hawk that others might.
23) 2014
This might officially be the year where I began to heavily lean towards indie games and the games industry has been better for people being more interested in them. 1001 Spikes is such a strong recommend for me.
22) 2002
Wind Waker remains my favorite Zelda game tightly contested with Breath of the Wild. It feels almost silly to put Space Channel 5: Part 2 on a pedastal above things like GTA and Kingdom Hearts, but this was a very big reason for putting 2002 this high. I love the Battle of the Bands section.
21) 2011
Remember that massive hack on the PlayStation Network that effectively shut down all online services for the PS3 this year? It happened around the same time Mortal Kombat and Portal 2 released meaning both of those games had major functionality inaccessible when they first dropped. What a wild time. They’re both cool.
20) 2004
To this day I think about Vivian from Paper Mario 2 at least once a week. I love her. Also whenever I discovered Cave Story I think I replayed it like 7 times in one month.
19) 1993
This is a year that I’ll call very strong, but not for the reasons a regular person would think. Secret of Mana, Sonic CD, Rondo of Blood, Kirby’s Adventure, Mega Man X, and Mortal Kombat are cool for sure. However, I’m actually high on this year because of Tiny Toons, Rocket Knight, and ZAMN!
18) 2019
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch? Yes.
17) 2010
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair is one of those core memory things to me where I will always cherish hanging around Chapter 3 trying to grind out Chaos Rings so that we could get massive magic damage going on Dracula’s minions. I never managed to get one to drop, sadly. So many hours wasted, zero regrets (ok, 1 regret: I still want the Chaos Ring).
16) 2006
This was a big transitional year in many ways as consoles ended and began with big hits while I myself was preparing to move on from high school. This is how I get 140 hours in Pokémon and what felt like as much time in Tetris DS. This was also my first experience with guitar-gaming and I was addicted.
15) 2007
and as high school ended, college began with a lot more of the same kind of stuff. More guitars, more Mario, and more games that became an obsession for me (Portal).
14) 1997
This is an extremely strong year no matter who you are. Some of these don’t age as well given the nature of the PS1 and N64, but video games were still at a strong place in this time.
13) 2020
If the COVID-19 pandemic happened at any other time I can’t guarantee I would have given myself over to Animal Crossing the same way. Nonetheless, it is an experience I’ll forever remember. I’ll also never forget being obsessed with Blaseball and the literal boss fight that happened while I was trying to have my wedding reception. I tuned in once or twice during a free moment and was very confused and continued on, but that was the true nature of Blaseball.
12) 1994
Big respect for the games of this year as they really were the games I was obsessed with for so many years. I could play a round of Get Blue Spheres right now!
11) 2001
I realize the 2001 is not in “the nineties,” but the games in this year oozing with style like Sonic, Gitaroo Man, and SSX Tricky really did give the 90s one last farewell. Maybe one of the most radical years which makes sense since one of the Sonic Adventure 2 levels is named Radical Highway.
10) 2005
Did you know you could play video games online against other people? Mario Kart was never the same. Also was a good time in my life to hear Hideki Naganuma’s music as I’m still humming along to the Sonic Rush soundtrack.
9) 2016
I definitely have cried before when playing a video game prior to this year, but I think that it was a big year for me to get sentimental over weird little friends. Yarny… had a hard life…
8) 1991
My life was forever changed in the Christmas season of 1991 when a blue hedgehog showed up of all places. If I linked Link to the Past and Final Fantasy IV more? This would be a contender for even higher up.
7) 1998
A lot of people rank this year as one of the greats, but probably not because of OverBlood 2. I’ve never seen a more ambitious game from so long ago. It literally didn’t work out, but I appreciate the big risk the developers took on such a massive game. It is the secret best game ever and the world needs to know it.
6) 2008
It is easy to see how my young adult life really was impacted by these games. I didn’t really explore the PS3 until later, but when I did these were the games I immediately went towards. Also I think Street Fighter IV might be my favorite in the series which means a lot to me.
5) 2015
I am obligated to tell you here that Bloodborne is the best game of all time. Not my favorite game, but hey I don’t make the rules. I feel the same can be applied to Yakuza, Tekken, and Metal Gear Solid. These are all impressive games, and that is why this year rates so highly, but those are more things I know through watching than feel are good through playing. I think Undertale permanently changed my brain and I have no regrets about this.
4) 1996
I literally cried when I finished the new Super Mario RPG. It is easy to say that this is credit to be given to the 2023 game, but the reason I teared up is because it really made me feel how important that game has been to me for the past 25+ years. Seeing those characters shoulder to shoulder together at the end just made me so grateful to have experienced something I love so much and have been able to love for so long. The same is true of Mario 64, the original Pokémon games, Mario Kart 64, Kirby Super Star, all games that are very important to me. It’s not just nostalgia, all of these hold up very well. Remakes will keep happening for classic games such as these, but those can’t replace the thankfulness I have for them.
3) 2009
Left 4 Dead 2 was the game that made me want to learn how to play FPS games on a computer. Once I did, I played it for so many hours, through so many nights, and will still gladly play it any time (even if I sometimes hit my teammates with molotovs). The same can be said for Resident Evil 5: a game that I know isn’t that good but I still really want to play co-op with every person I am friends with. It’s such a fun experience that I played through about 20+ times. It was a strong year for unique experiences too with the advent of Minecraft and a game that was willing to literally just be about flowers blowing around. It was a truly special year.
2) 2018
It is wild to me that this time period produced so many games that I adore so much. Enough can’t be said about how impressive Smash Ultimate is, how engaging Spider-Man is, how powerful God of War is, and how beautiful Tetris Effect is. However, I’m going to once again gush about Celeste. When it first released I felt a little burnt out on “retro-indies” (this was a mistake) and passed it over. However, when I did finally give it a chance I immediately knew this was an important game. It feels almost silly to say that I discovered mental health wellness because of Celeste, but I still visualize a feather when I need to breathe. It is also a game that in its final chapter, Farewell, helped me to better process a complicated grief that I was feeling in my life. Of course, in 2024 as I sit here somewhat less confused, but in a way more confused, about gender and Celeste acts as a guide for me there as well. That mountain has really given me a lot to think about. I’m eternally grateful for that.
1) 2017
If I said to you that a game that came out in 2017 had a profound and very long lasting impact on me, you would have trouble picking which one. Cuphead is one of my favorite games to replay at any time. Breath of the Wild is one of my favorite Zelda experiences and memories of just truly feeling lost and free in a world. Snipperclips was one of the first games I ever played co-op with my wife and stands on its own as a hilarious and adorable puzzle game. Sonic Mania is the reigning queen of all Sonic games as the most golden standard the series can live up to by celebrating its past and embracing its future; the ultimate love letter to my favorite game franchise. Nier: Automata will forever haunt me and uplift me as what can be cruel and also beautiful about life. There was so much for this year in gaming to say and so much to be said about it. It is no question to me that 2017 was the greatest year for excellent video game releases.
