2024 In Review

1. Super Mario RPG
2. Super Mario 64
3. Klonoa 1
4. Penny's Big Breakaway
5. Mega Man Zero
6. Mega Man Zero 3
7. Pokemon SoulSilver
8. NEW Super Mario Land
9. WarioWare: Touched!
10. NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona
11. LoZ: Oracle of Seasons
12. TES: Skyrim
13. Bioshock Infinite
14. Spider-Man 2
15. MGSV
16. Astro Bot
17. NFS: Most Wanted (2012)
18. Contra: Operation Galuga
19. Paper Mario: TTYD
20. Spyro the Dragon 1
21. Dragon's Dogma 2
22. Mario Party Jamboree
23. Balatro
    
24. GTA: SA
25. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
26. Alan Wake 2

25 games last year, 26 this year. Probably a LOT less next year. 

Favorite game overall (not just from 2024) would still probably be Astro Bot but I really loved Spider-Man 2, too, also, as well.

Completed: Alan Wake 2

• Gorgeous game, cool setting, interesting story. Actual gameplay a little tedious at times
• The Alan Wake sequences could become frustrating and aimless at least for me since me not so smart or think good
• The plot board was a cool mechanic that got pretty old over time, especially in the above mentioned Alan Wake parts
• I gobble all that FBC/Control crossover shit like a hungry hippo. I really enjoy Remedy's world building and writing 
• Stupid jump scares
  

 

Completed: Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

• Having played Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi this year I can now say the M&L games are my favorite flavor of Mario RPGs
• Not crazy about switching between Bowser and the brothers. I would rather just be the Bros but I do appreciate them trying something different
• All the special attacks are so fun
• Funny dialogue. Laughed quite a bit more at this than TTYD
• Toads with the Blorbs and fat goombas with the lollipops are my favorite things from this game
• Cute ending

 

The viagra4free 2024 GOTY Award

 

 

Astro Bot begs the question: Why can't every game be like Astro Bot? Everything about this game is a complete joy. I've gobbled up all the additional speed run levels as well as the special holiday level they added post-launch and I cannot get enough. Amazing controls and the use of the Dualshock's haptic feedback bullshit cannot be understated. No game has ever felt this good to play.

 

Honorable Mention: Penny's Big Breakaway. This was the game I had the second most fun with this year. It's not as polished as Astro Bot is of course (not many games are) especially being from an independent team but it's still a great game in its own right. Amazing OST as well - incredibly fitting music for a Sega-inspired platformer. Forever excited to see what Christian Whitehead and his team do next.

Completed: GTA: San Andreas

• Only GTA (since GTA3) that I haven't beaten. Trilogy remaster was on sale and its visuals were fixed so I finally righted that wrong
• Still a good game but it's hard for anything to seem that great post-GTA4
  
• A few too many minigame-like missions

 

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Completed: Balatro

• I "completed" a roguelike which means I fully completed a run so it counts
• It's poker with power ups. As they said in every single 90's gaming publication: 'Nuff said
• After playing like an idiot for awhile I finally realized to just go after one or two types of hands, eventually only going for flushes
• I thought this was called "Baltaro" for a month. #gamer
  
• Bed time, Balatro, reading, sleep, in that order

 

Completed: Mario Party Jamboree

• Counting this since I "platinumed" the game and got to max rank which unlocks the credits. Fuck the haters if they have a problem with that
• Really fun Mario Party. I'm no connoisseur but definitely one of my favorites I've played
• The Pro mode and the amount of customization is nice. But that also makes it more frustrating you can't just customize every option
• Needs more variety for the god damn 1v3/3v1 games god damnit
  
• Rhythm Kitchen side game is great albeit a little simple

 

Completed: Dragon's Dogma 2

• Really enjoyed this game despite some head scratching over design choices like a really dumb, punishing saving system and no combat lock-on being the two more confusing decisions that come to mind. Not game breaking by any means but just...odd
• Pawn system is awesome. Had so much fun just running to places with my bros
• Favorite part of the game is picking up enemies, or innocent people/pawns, and hurling them over a cliff. Every game needs this ability.
• Second favorite part is the pawns in my party who see me do said cliff hurling and exclaim they've never seen their own master (real person) do that and will inform them of such a strategy. How are these people not throwing everyone off a cliff?

 

Completed: Spyro the Dragon (PS1)

• Always impressed with Insomniac's games, especially technically. No exception here
  
• Very polished for a first game in the series. Excited to see what's really good in 2
  
• Some levels can be a bit linear
  
• Will never get over the fact that Officer Garcia from Reno 911 voices Spyro in this one

Completed: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (remake)

• Good game. Love the visual style. Really fun battle system.
• Plenty of funny moments and dialogue. Too much of said dialogue though - very long winded
• Most backtracking I've done in a game (I'm constantly backtracking in real life - often confused as to why I entered a room) in recent memory. This sort of thing ain't my bag, baby
  
  
  

Completed: Contra Operation GALUUUUUGA!!!

• Cool title because it sounds like the AWOOOOGA!!! noise from Looney Tunes
  
• A lot better than I expected. Not because WayForward doesn't make good games but more of a budget thing (despite the credits showing about 50 billion people who worked on this game)
• Should not be 40 dollars. Bought it on sale for 23.99 which seems more like a correct price
  
• Playing Contra with a health bar feels like cheating sometimes but I don't have the time or patience to play the one-hit death style anymore
• The weapon upgrade system is really cool and I found myself actually using more weapons than just the homing and spread gun
• Perk system was cool too
  
• Classic Contra shit but made in 2024, what more do you really want?
  
   
  

  
  
   
  

Completed: Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012)

• Rented this back in 2012 but didn't care for the open world aspect. Much more forgiving of that now and really enjoyed my time with it
  
• Nearly every race is exciting. Loved the most wanted list idea
• Tons of cars to unlock so I found myself switching them up quite a bit
• Loved the intro movies for the races and the most wanted cars. Some of the pre-race ones are pretty hilarious

                            

 

Completed: Astro Bot

• In the words of Mark Cerny describing Astro Bot: Now this is a video game
• One of the best platformers I've ever played therefore it's one of my favorite games I've ever played
• Best looking platformer of all time
  
   
  

Completed: Metal Gear Solid V

• Fire ass game. I was dumb for not getting into it when it came out
• Astounding amount of depth, an unending breadth of options. Loaves, even
• DDog is my best friend

Completed: Spider-Man 2 (PS5)

• Pure video game goodness
  
• Loved traversing the open world. One of the few games I've played where it's a total joy to get around a giant city
• First game I've ever deliberately platinum'd. I liked it that much

 

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Completed: Bioshock Infinite

• Fun game and most importantly great loading screen music (which I just learned was a Scott Joplin song so that makes sense why it's so good)
  
• Skyhook is dope
• Incredible setting. We need more floating cities. In real life but also in games too, I guess
• Combat wasn't a high point so I wish there was some variation in how you could handle it
• Good story, good ending
  

Completed: TES: Skyrim

• Tempted to put Completed in quotes because does anyone really complete Skyrim? I beat the main quest which was good enough for me since I never thought I would actually do that
  
• I'm a kitty cat with Nightingale armor who kills ANYONE and steals from EVERYONE
• The scope of the game and the amount of content really is staggering 
• Time to return to do more side quests, chop some people's fucking heads off and steal every item I'm allowed to steal

 

 

 

Completed: The Legend of Zelda - Oracle of Seasons

• Finally beat a game I first got when it came out in Summer 2001 (thank you, Grandma!)
• Needed a copy of Expert Gamer to help me finish this one off (wherever Nicole Kirk and Frank Provo are, thank you)
• Really awesome game, fully deserves the Link's Awakening remaster treatment
• Loved the animal friends (Moosh!) and a lot of really fun boss fights
  

 

Completed: NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona

• Can you beat a racing game that can technically go on forever?
• Won championships in all 4 levels of racing in the game so I'm counting it
• Really fun career mode and the driving physics are great

 

Completed: WarioWare: Touched!

• I love any game that has an exclamation point in its title
• I also love pretty much all WarioWare games and this was no exception
• Games and especially the boss fights are a little simple
• Fun unlockables as always
• Here's a review from EGM Issue 189 because I think that's fun I don't have to explain myself to you
  
  (Click to enlarge)
  

Completed: NEW Super Mario Land

• Late to the party but found this awesome homebrew of Super Mario Land remade on SNES using New Super Mario Bros DS artwork. Good luck explaining that to your grandparents when you ask them for this for Christmas
• Played in co-op mode with MY WIFE. Playing a Gameboy game in co-op is almost surreal at first
  
• Retains the unique feel and control of SML really well while expanding upon everything else
• So many cool ideas in the levels and gimmicks keep the (very short) play through interesting
  
• The SHMUP sections are so much fun
  

Completed: Pokemon SoulSilver

• I had never played Gen 2 and the remakes are highly regarded - I can see why
• Overflowing with content and things to do, if you want to do them (I did not)
  
• Excluding my starter (the water one) 4/5 of my Pokemans were from Gen 1
• Alakazam is my MVP as always
• Pokemon games are eternally cozy. Love how the DS games look too, just like a slightly improved GBA game
• Pokemon games are eternally grind-y too. But that's ok
  

Completed: Mega Man Zero 3

• Another fun, solid, 8/10 Mega Man Zero game. What more can you want?
• Again, some really challenging bosses, some not so much
• The largest amount of text I've ever seen in a Mega Man game. Zzzzzzzzzzzz
• Pointless hub world
  

  
  
  

Completed: Mega Man Zero

• Really fun, I'm obviously late to the party but Mega Man games + a sword and I'm all in
• Fun and surprisingly hard boss fights. Most of the levels were easy though
• I'm an idiot and forgot to use elements for the first 5~ boss fights to exploit their weaknesses
• This is the entire gimmick of Mega Man series - I'm dumb 

• Felt a little validated when I re-read the EGM review (see below) from back in the day about how hard the game was. Without the save points in the Legacy collection I would have definitely gotten annoyed fast of having to replay the whole level each time I died at a boss