As we find ourselves at the start of a brand new year, we must partake in the most sacred of traditions. Of course, I’m talking about top ten lists of the best video games of the year. If you’re hoping to see what mine were, then you’ve come to the right place.

I’ll be doing the same rules that I do every year, but if you’re new here or just need a reminder, here’s what those rules are. The game needs to have had its first official release in the US in 2024. Remakes are allowed, remasters aren’t, and sometimes I have to make a judgement call on which label a game falls under. And of course, I have to have played the game, but not necessarily have finished it. If there’s any big, glaring absences, there’s a good chance I simply didn’t get to the game. And for the first the ever, I posted a list of what games I did play this year, so feel free to reference that.

And with all that out of the way, let’s award some honorable mentions that ignore all the rules I just outlined.

Honorable Mentions

Princess Peach Showtime!

It’s about time Peach got herself another game. This one’s quite a bit different from her first game, Super Princess Peach on the DS. This one sees Peach trying to save a theater by taking on different lead roles in plays and beating up bad guys. These include things like a cowgirl, a mermaid, a super hero, and many others. The game is very easy, but it’s fun and charming, I really enjoyed my time with it.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

This is easily the hardest game to determine if it’s a remaster or a remake. It has completely redone assets, but at its core, it’s a prettier version of the GameCube game. But it’s also one of the all time best, and whether you’ve played it before or not, it’s absolutely worth checking out.

Mouthwashing

I really didn’t know what I was getting into when I played Mouthwashing. I knew it was a short indie horror game and that people really liked it. It ended up being a really dark story told in a unique way that kept me guessing the whole way through. I didn’t love the actual act of playing the game, but I think it’s well worth your time just to see the story.

Silent Hill 2

I’m honestly pretty surprised with myself for not putting this on the list proper. Maybe if I had played more of it, I would have, I ended up leaving off at the hospital. But this in excellent remake of the only Silent Hill game I’ve ever been particularly attached to. This is one I want to get back to soon.

Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero

I had never played any of the Budokai Tenkaichi games, but I’ve been in a Dragon Ball mood most of this year, so I decided to pick this one up. I’m absolutely terrible at it and ended up getting distracted by other games, but I did have a good time with it.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind

I just wrote a full review of this one not that long ago, so you should go read that. But this is a great beat ‘em up that’s unfortunately dragged down whenever it breaks into a different genre. There’s a patch out now that’s supposed to fix some of my complaints, but I haven’t tried it out yet.

Sea of Thieves

Yep, I’m still playing my 2018 game of the year. This year brought many exciting new features, like new weapons for the first time ever and new stealth options. Sea of Thieves continues to be one of the most fun multiplayer games I’ve ever played,

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Speaking of former games of the year, I’m also still playing my 2020 game of the year. This one hasn’t seen anything new, but I still gotta say hi to all my neighbors and build snowboys and all that. Maybe Nintendo will announce a new one for the Switch 2 that will break New Horizons’ hold on me.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE

I didn’t actually play Tokyo Mirage Sessions this year, but I did think about it. What a good game.

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Another one I didn’t play this year, but I will next year when the Definitive Edition comes out!

And now, my ten favorite games of the year.

10. Pokemon TCG Pocket

Mobile games have a long history of not really holding my attention, but Pokemon TCG Pocket has seemingly done the impossible. Now I’m cracking open packs of cards and battling people online every day. It probably helps that I really enjoy the Pokemon card game, and this is an easy way to play some of that. It’s also just really well made. It also deserves a congratulations, as this is the first mobile game to make it on to my top ten list since Pokemon Go all the way back in 2016!

9. Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition

There’s really not much to Nintendo World Championships. It’s just a bunch of mini speed run challenges in some NES games, and it doesn’t even have a constant friends leader board. Instead, it has weekly leaderboards for five select challenges. But despite the simplicity, I can’t deny the stranglehold this game had on me for a couple months. The few times that I tied for first place in a championship are some of my favorite moments of the year, and that counts for a lot.

8. Mars After Midnight

Now here’s a first, a Playdate game made it on to my top ten list! Mars After Midnight is a game by Lucas Pope, the Papers Please guy. Essentially, it’s a simpler version of the same concept. You are running therapy sessions for martians and have to let only ones that match the criteria of the session in. It’s really charming, has a great visual style, and has the best uses of the Playdate’s crank, especially opening the window to see who’s knocking. My only complaint is that it’s very easy, but it had me glued to my Playdate and kicked off the first year that I really put any substantial time into the little thing.

7. Minishoot’ Adventures

This game really came out of nowhere. If it wasn’t for some podcasts I listen to hyping it up, I probably wouldn’t have even heard of it. I’m glad they did though, because Minishoot’ Adventures is a unique and really fun game. It’s got the combat of a dual-joystick bullet hell shooter, like Geometry Wars, but the progression of a 2D Zelda title. It works so well, that it made me wonder why it hadn’t been done before. It’s also a great Steam Deck game, which is where I played it.

6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

One of this year’s early releases, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown had me thinking that if it had only come out a month earlier, it could have been on my 2023 list. But that’s ok, it can be on this one. This is the first Prince of Persia game to be a Metroidvania, and it’s genuinely one of the best. Great combat, interesting traversal elements, and some cool quality of life features makes it stand out among the rest.

5. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

The first Legend of Zelda game to actually feature Zelda as its main character, at least of the ones made by Nintendo, Echoes of Wisdom had lots to be excited for. It’s a return to classic 2D Zelda, complete with dungeons, but also introduces new concepts. The biggest of which is the echoes, which is Zelda’s ability to make copies of items and enemies. It’s really cool and stayed fun the whole game. I’m hoping this won’t be Zelda’s last starring role.

4. Visions of Mana

I adored the previous Mana game, the Trials of Mana remake, so Visions was one of my most anticipated games this year. It didn’t disappoint. It brought back the real time combat of the remake, but with a clearly larger budget. Include with that some really fun characters and some classic RPG towns and dungeons, and you end up with a game I loved a lot.

3. Emio- The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club

I still can’t believe they made a new Famicom Detective Club. And not only that, but it’s the best one they’ve ever made. Yes, it’s a visual novel, and you’re mostly just bouncing back and forth between locations and talking to people to advance the story. However, it’s an incredible story with some of the most tense moments I experienced in a game this year, and it looks phenomenal. I’m really hoping that it did well enough for more games in this series to be made.

2. Crow Country

Crow Country is a love letter to classic survival horror games. It has a lot of elements of games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, but also has an identity all its own. It features a very fascinating story with some interesting characters, and just nails all the things I’m looking for in this kind of game. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Game of the Year: Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

The second part of the multigame Final Fantasy VII remake, Rebirth takes what Remake did and cranks everything up to 11. Instead of just being in Midgar, you’re now in a massive open world, with tons of side quests and interesting things to see around every corner. It definitely is a little bloated, by the time I was done I was ready for it to be over, but it held my attention the entire time. It’s really nice to be back with these characters that meant so much to me back in high school and to still feel that connection today.

And that’s my list! What am I missing? What were your favorites? Let me know in the comments!