2010 and the search for quality continues

well, 2010 has ended, and i’ve finally gotten around to posting the list of my year in video games. it’s nice to periodically stop and take stock of things. in 2009 i had played through a lot of quality games, including entries in all the usual nintendo franchise staples. i played slightly more games in 2010 (partly because i replayed slightly fewer games) and managed to be marginally better about not just playing sequels all the time. overall, though, the percentage of games that made it into my favorites of all time list was notably less.

here’s what my year looked like (games listed in approximate descending order) with links to each game’s corresponding blog review:

HIGHEST
– metroid (NES)
– DK: king of swing (GBA)
– pokemon ruby (GBA)

MIDDLE
– the legend of zelda: twilight princess (wii)
– pokemon pinball (GBC)
– super mario bros. 2 (NES)
– the world ends with you (DS)
– sonic the hedgehog 2 (gen)
– riviera: the promised land (GBA)
– new super mario bros. wii (wii)
– pokemon gold (GBC)
– metroid ii (GB)
– super street fighter 2: the new challengers (SNES)
– doom (PS)
– trauma center (DS)
– rhythm heaven (DS)
– mario kart: double dash!! (GCN)
– super mario galaxy 2 (wii)
– the legend of zelda: minish cap (GBA)
– astro boy: omega factor (GBA)
– puzzle quest (DS)
– kirby super star (SNES)
– mario vs. donkey kong (GBA)
– super mario RPG (SNES)
– feel the magic XY/XX (DS)
– tetris plus (GB)
– super princess peach (DS)
– donkey kong (GB)
– wave race (GB)
– zack and wiki (wii)
– super C (NES)
– galactic pinball (VB)
– dr. mario (NES)
– warioware: touched! (DS)
– guitar hero (PS2)
– jumble madness (DS)
– solar striker (GB)

LOWEST
– mario & sonic at the olympic games (wii)
– qix (GB)
– super paper mario (wii)
– de blob (wii)
– boom blox (wii)
– ghosts ‘n goblins (NES)
– carnival games (wii)

REVISITS
– fire emblem: the sacred stones (GBA)
– super smash bros. brawl (wii) (w/ fox)

among my varied explorations for the year the only game that was a real surprise hit was DK: king of swing for GBA, a franchise spin-off that had a new gameplay mechanic that, although it had a significant learning curve, worked amazingly well once mastered. pokemon pinball for GBC, while not quite entering the hallowed ranks of the best of the best, also proved to be a surprisingly high-quality franchise spin-off. already revered franchise classics dominated the top of my list, although a few one-offs ranked pretty high, namely the much acclaimed the world ends with you for DS and the cult classic riviera: the promised land for GBA. the bottom of the list was dominated by casual wii fare, games i usually don’t have much interest in but that i tried out partly because my local library has them and partly because i have a nephew and i’m often on the lookout for decent games to get him. handhelds continued to get a lot of love (the DS may be my favorite system of all time), although my n64 and dreamcast continued to be neglected.

perhaps the most notable part of the list is actually the middle, which includes a large number of sequels that i enjoyed but felt way too similar to their predecessors. although my love for video games in general continues and my desire to work my way through the rest of the games in favorite franchises is still fairly strong, my attempts to cut down on time spent gaming overall and to curb my mountain of backlogged games may actually succeed, now that i’ve played through a fair number of the all-time nintendo greats and gotten fairly well into some of their most notable franchises. a premature statement? perhaps. there are definitely a ton of great games out there that i haven’t yet played, so perhaps i’ll end up being pleasantly surprised.

anyway, this year also marked 100,000 hits (although i’ve noticed lately i’ve been getting a ton of fake hits from spammers), and two top 10 lists: top 10 game boy and game boy color games … so far and top 10 gamecube games … so far. i continue to have little interest in getting into xbox, playstation, and PC games, although i may try to spend some time checking out games on smartphones. we’ll see.

well, thanks yet again to anyone who’s stumbled across my little patch of cyberspace, and welcome to another full year of rockin’ video games at video games rock!

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