I replayed a lot of 2D Mario games this year and went through an amazing romhack called Newer Super Mario Bros. Wii that is very much an honorable mention, but this wasn't a hard choice for me. I absolutely adored Super Mario Bros. Wonder and it's easily my favorite game from this year. The visuals are incredibe, with some of the most vibrant colors I've seen on Switch. The levels are some of the most creative Mario stages to ever be conceived, and the perfect controls and wide selection of badges make them incredibly fun to traverse. The online is also a genuinely awesome inclusion even if it reduces the already low level of difficulty. While I wish it was harder and that the camera in local multiplayer wasn't so atrocious, those are minor compared to the absolute blast that is this game.

Ever since I first watched Chuggaconroy's Let's Plays on these two games as a kid I've had a desire to try them, but I never ended up doing so. And after getting Pikmin 3 at launch and being absolutely awful at it (I was not good at games as a kid lol), it's probably for the best that it took so long for me to finally play these. The Switch release finally gave me the perfect excuse to and I absolutely fell in love with them, so much so that I 100% completed both TWICE IN A ROW (I never ever do that). The core gameplay of growing this cute little army to both fight ferrocious bugs and collect objects is incredibly satisfying in a way that's difficult to describe, and it's super addicting trying to become more efficent and clear the games faster. The first game benefits from being short enough to be super replayable, but having just one captain is quite limiting and the Pikmin AI can be annoying. Meanwhile Pikmin 2 ups the challenge to an at times absurd degree and could certainly ease up on the tutorials but is an otherwise universal improvement, and I loved the extra challenge tbh. I could go on a good bit longer but this is already getting pretty wordy so I'll finish by saying that these games are bonafide Nintendo classics that everyone should give a try!

Cuphead was one of my favorites from 2017, and I finally went and tackled the DLC released for it last year in addition to 100%ing the base game. The DLC is more of what made the original game so fantastic, the same great controls paired with even grander and more elaborate bosses that offer an immense but rewarding challenge, in addition to an awesome new playable character that mixes things up. Cuphead and it's DLC are an absolute must play in my eyes for anyone with even a remote interest in run and gun platformers.

So having played every single DKC game this year, choosing one for this list was extremely difficult for me as I'm honestly not sure which is my favorite (this game and DKC2 mainly), but I went with Tropical Freeze. Fun story, the Wii U version of this was the last thing I ever got from Toys R Us back when it came out. (Yet I didn't finish it until now, I have sinned I know). This game is truly great, with an impeccable soundtrack, beautiful visuals, and truly great level design. The game is let down a bit by it's controls (The classic games definitely control better imo), bosses, and very occasional bouts of odd collision. However I find that the game's quality is more consistent than DKC2 which is why I ended up picking Tropical Freeze. Play the whole series though, they are all great games.

TRG introduced me to the game years ago, but due to it's insane price I had to resort to "other" means to play it for years until it finally got rereleased this year! (Seriosuly we need more rereleases of rare games!) and I finally beat the game. It's an incredibly fun party-RPG hybrid that, while quite long, is a blast if you can get into it (unfortunately the game doesn't do the best job of teaching you, the wiki is a must). I wish some of the game's issues (how much of a slog getting back to the castle is, and how frequently the dark whisper shows up) were addressed in the rerelease but I still had a great time finally playing through it.

I've very briefly played GX before but otherwise this is my first time truly playing an F-Zero game, and it was lot of fun! While there isn't too much to it, this is a super fun racer that works perfectly with the 99 formula.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land was a great game and one that I wouldn't have expected to get remade, but it was a great excuse to replay the game. While the theming is a bit basic, this is easily one of the best 2D Kirby games and the added epilogue was a lot of fun to go through. Also an underrated soundtrack.

Played through the first two Max Payne games this year and 2 was easily the better game imo, better feeling gunplay and better missions (and not having the awful MP1 dream sequences). I haven't played many third person shooters but this sets a high bar for them, it's a lot of fun and Remedy crammed a lot of weird charm and personality into the world.

This is pretty easily the best version of argubaly the greatest puzzle game ever made, it had to be included. It turns the already addicting Tetris into an audiovisual feast that is deeply immersive, even if you aren't playing in VR.

Now I've only gotten about halfway through this game but I had to include it, it's a super fun platformer from Konami that's very difficult (as is basically anything they released during this era). Definitely hoping to get back to this one soon!