Now, this may seem fucked up, but despite Tunic probably being the best game I've played this year, and easily my favorite game to come out this year, I did not finish it. From what I can tell, made it to about the half-way point. If I had to blame one thing for this, it would be the foolish decision to play this on XBOX Game Pass, where my save is now held hostage by Microsoft, whom I must now pay 10 dollars every month if I want to continue playing this game. After months of paying for it despite not coming back to this game or playing anything else on the service, I simply cancelled my subscription and vowed to come back some other day (or better yet, start all over on something that isn't a subscription service).

I should not have let myself get distracted from finishing this game, because it's honestly been a pure delight this whole time. Wonderfully captures the best feelings evoked from Zelda 1, has a genius way of teaching the player while never necessarily tutorializing them. Not to mention the world presented is beautiful and constantly revealing new things about itself. And there's a really cute fox you play as. I want to explore every part of this, and never once looked at a walkthrough because this is the kind of game that makes you want to figure everything out on your own. Got stuck on a kind of hard part and simply got distracted, and that on top of paying for a subscription I wasn't using outside of this game, I just have to put it down for now and come back to it when I truly feel ready. I'll also probably have a better review for it than what I have right now.

I simply could not say it better myself.

There are a lot of really bad 2D platformers from this era of consoles, to the point where it feels easy to right off anything that isn't an established big name. But here's Ristar, offering an experience that's on par with the best of Sega at the time, showing off the company's unique strengths and spirit. Considering how late this is in the Genesis, it's like a swan song to that era of Sega in general, before things get A Little Weird. This game deserves it's Sonic-Mania, the fact that I don't see people screaming their heads off for a Ristar follow-up seems crazy to me now.

Exercise: it's tough! If there's one thing I'm proud of myself for it's sticking to this game all the way to the end of it's campaign, and even now still using it for daily exercise routines. It draws you in by gamifying the act of exercise, until eventually you play it without really caring about your progress in the game, and it's just something to pull out if you wanna do some squats while a robot cheers you on. It's Nintendo's take on those exercise machines that show you running through a grassy field while using it, even down to the style of music, and it totally worked for me. Ultimately, it's not this one grand solution to weight or health problems, but the game also constantly encourages you to take care of yourself in other ways. That's something I appreciate, it's a thoughtful game in terms of how it approaches betterment and health.

For a while now, I've thought of Crash Bandicoot fans as delusional. Sure, you got some good games on PS1, but everything on the PS2 up to this game has been so pathetic I think it's laughable the way Crash fans constantly try to insert him alongside Mario. I'm sorry, your series has the same amount of prestige as Tak and the Power of Juju, stop trying to come in here and act like you're hot shit. The remakes of the classic trilogy looking as ugly as they did only reinforced this. But still, Crash fans persisted, and I felt insane watching them convinced everyone that Crash has ALWAYS been hot shit and never fell off.

Then I played this game, now I'm a believer. This is unreasonably good for Crash, it's the most well-realized the series mechanics have ever been. Not only that, but it's the best utilization, writing, and designs for the cast yet. I get why someone would like Neo Cortex, I understand the random guys who base their entire internet persona around Dingodile, Coco Bandicoot is cool! I get it! Everything from the series has finally been put into it's right place. Some people try to get at this game for it's honestly insane 100% requirements and secret hunting, but I don't know man if I dont' wanna do something I just don't do it, and I'm genuinely sorry if you don't have that ability. When I encounter the most ridiculous, bullshit hiding spot for the single box I missed in a level, don't get mad, you simply have to laugh.

Team Ladybug (I know this is technically another studio but its literally the same people/person) continue to never let me down. Has the format of a stage-by-stage 2D platformer but each stage being a mini-metroidvania dungeon, which really helps keep things fresh and avoid the frustrations that players run into often with the genre. The cast is also incredibly fun and the game's jokes are genuinely funny, I would love it if they revisited these characters in some way. I get their whole thing for a while has been making games for different franchises but there's really something special in this cast specifically. They don't even need to be doing Indiana Jones stuff anymore, put them in space or in medieval times or whatever, who cares, I just want 'em.

Heather has become a huge inspiration through both her work in games and game criticism, and the combination of storytelling and arcade gameplay shown here is unlike anything I've ever seen. Expands my understanding of how games can work and what games are allowed to do.

Turns out Splatoon is pretty fun! I bought this game with my Switch and didn't start playing it until Splatoon 3 was announced, which was definitely foolish of me but to me the main attraction is the music and single player campaign, and neither disappointed. Still haven't cracked into the Octo Expansion DLC, and don't have any interest in buying 3 until they release a big single player thing, so hopefully 2022 will have more Solo Splatooning for me.

Don't let the narrative around this game "fixing the mistake" that Wind Waker did fool you into thinking this game is some boring Retvrn to Tradition bullshit for the Zelda series or an attempt to inject edginess into it. Like Wind Waker, it's a follow-up to the themes of Ocarina of Time, introducing new layers, casting the whole world of Zelda in a different light. It also revels in the surreal aspects of Ocarina and Majora's Mask. It also has Midna, and Midna is cool.

THIS IS OUR TIME
WITHOUT A DOUBT
TIME TO IGNITE
WE'RE NOT GOING DOWN

THIS IS OUR TIME
GET UP OFF THE GROUND
TAKE WHAT IS MINE
WE'RE NOT GOING DOWN
WITHOUT A FIGHT!

An incredibly well considered follow-up to Pac-Man, a game that has had many follow-ups of inconsistent quality. Manages to capture the original's essence in a new, thrilling way. The somewhat mediocre Pac-Man collection that came out this year was worth it just to have this on Switch whenever I want it.

One of the best utlization's of low-poly graphics I've seen, and also one of the few games to capture the feeling of Sonic Adventure 1, a game that tends to get ignored in favor of 2's gamefeel. It has that just right amount of acceleration that is still controllable enough to satisfyingly do more precise platforming. Another example of a game that really fires me up to one day make my own.

It's nice when an NES 2D platformer is good, isn't it? There are a lot of good NES games, but youtube in the 2000s kind of poisoned my brain by convincing me it was all Shitty Games That Suck Ass, so it's good to remind myself that it's fun to play a good old game. Kid Dracula is also just very cute, this era of chibi art never gets old for me.

My first foray in the world of Mr. Driller, and damn there's a lot to love here. The music is insanely good, to the point where you wonder why they went so hard for just Mr. Driller, except Mr. Driller is definitely worth it. Art style is great, and the game itself is fun and also incredibly challenging. I think I've seen people in the past unfairly characterize the gameplay as simple, but I feel like this game is constantly asking you to balance 3 or 4 different things while also moving quickly, and it feels great to pull off successfully. The Tower of Druaga parody mode especially deserves a shout out, they could've made that the entire game.

A very different thinking from Championship Edition, but still captures the Pac Man essence in a new exciting way that doesn't abandon the spirit of the series. Maybe kind of outstays its welcome considering how many different stages and mission there are, but its another great thing to pick up and play whenever.

My body only really craves one Pokemon game every year or so, so I played this and missed out on Scarlet/Violet. The way people talk about that game, maybe I made the wrong call, but I still had a good time here. This game is all about elaborating on the catching aspect of Pokemon, taking cues from Pokemon Go, and I love the way it turned out. The whole process of following and catching Pokemon is exactly what I've wanted for a while now, it's what appeals to me the most about the series to begin with. That being said, the lack of interesting battles, as the game is mostly reduced to fighting wild Pokemon, leave me feeling like this could have turned out better. Still, I think the setting is good, and while the story has some aspects I find kind of brain dead, I enjoyed parts of it. Good game to get lost in for a bit.

Something that I wasn't fully aware of when I played this for the first time, despite knowing so much about the game already, was how ambitious the game is in its cinematics. Cutscenes are constantly using different kinds of zooms, cuts, and framings, in a way that suggests an excitement over being able to tell a bigger story than ever with the new technology available. I also appreciated this a whole lot more once I was more aware of the themes surrounding growing up and the dividing lines between childhood and adulthood. It's easy to understand how some people played this game and simply never let it go.

For uhh one reason or another, I've had to tell myself to use Twitter a whole lot less. One of my solutions to this is to get on the ol' Apple Arcade and try to find games I can use to waste time in a less soul-crushing way. Grindstone was the perfect candidate for this. A simple central mechanic for a puzzle game, elaborated on further and further for hundreds of levels, with genuinely great music and visuals alongside it. Sort of falls into the Candy Crush problem of later levels becoming needlessly punishing, but the pick up and play nature means you can put it down when it gets too bullshit and come back to it with a more clear head and find a way to solve it, Or, just craft your way through the level, which is its own kind of problem but at least there's no real life money involved. I know its a great puzzle game because I started seeing lines of colors to grind though in everything, I would look at a grid of something and be like "I could pull off a 10 chain combo here."

Pitches itself as a Pikmin-like, but is ultimately a 3D platformer collect-a-thon in disguise. I like both, so I don't mind being tricked! I also love it when a game is about exploring a big space as a small character, and having an entire world being built from a house is especially evocative of the kinds of stuff I did with my toys as a kid. Even with the questionable humor and story, this was an incredibly pleasant time.

Pilotwings is cool. Maybe don't like it as much as the N64 sequel but it's cool and I like it. Shout out to GigaBoots using every other song from this game in their podcasts.

Honorable Mention
Ludo with the boys goes hard ngl.

Best Redemption Arc
Never has a game so precisely addressed what went wrong in the previous entry like Neon Splash does. The flying has been totally removed, and combat no longer exists, two of my biggest complaints with the original. While the levels are now more linear and speed focused, and while time trials in platformers never interested me that much, I'm just so happy to see a vision of a Demon Turf game that could actually redeem itself and live up to its full potential.

2021 Game I Still Haven't Gotten To This Year
Sad, so so sad for Blue Fire. My promise to play it last year was a complete fabrication it seems. But this year, this is the year of Blue Fire Fever! Just you watch! Everyone's gonna be sooooo jealous of how much I'm playing Blue Fire, I'll be talk of the town!

Best Replay
Game still goes hard! One of the best 2D platformers ever made, no question, every piece of it is so well considered. I reject the idea that the Country games are now dated in their look and were only impressive in their time, these games carved out their own aesthetic that's still incredibly strong, and its something lost in the leap to the Returns games.

Most Anticipated Game
I know everything is going to be better when the Snufkin games comes out I just fucking know it.

Biggest Lie I Was Told
"So you know how Wrath of Cortex isn't good, and Crash of the Titans also isn't good? Well turns out, there's this secret good Crash game that was released between those two games, really, I promise!" Beware lies such as these. The Crash series becomes a poisonous swamp as soon as it leaves the PS1!

This is one of the most aggressively unfinished games I've ever played. I had softlocks, I had baffling deaths that sent me back through entire levels, the cutscenes are unskippable, the enemies sometimes fall under the floor, and the main story is only barely coherent. Oh and you don't have a shadow under you when you jump, so every jump over a pit feels terrifying. The intention here is good, I would be so down for a more open Crash game, but this is just aggressively undercooked. I think the premise of this game is so exciting to Crash fans they just tolerate all this other shit, especially since it came out during such a rough time for the franchise. Sad, really.

The Sonic R Award
This award goes to the Sonic R of the year. Looks like it's Sonic R this year.

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