As we say goodbye to the year 2016, the SG Team reminisce on the past 365 days in the world of gaming.
2016 wasn’t really a kind year for me with gaming. I’ve been too busy to really sit down and play. However, one game that was particularly enjoyable was Tadpole Treble. The one button game had a really interesting concept — make the music the stage itself. The game is incredibly accessible and very addictive. The artstyle is adorable, and the story is engaging. The only flaw I can find with the game is that I wish it was longer. I also had the chance to interview the developers of the game here on Source Gaming. I still haven’t managed to get all the F ranks…hopefully sometime in 2017!
GOTY 2016: Kirby: Planet Robobot, what else?
I mean, did you expect something else instead from me?
GOTY 2016, that isn’t Kirby Planet Robobot:
My pick was 100% expected, but what would I have picked, if there was no Kirby-Game this year? Well, that’s actually a tricky question since many good games came out this year (but like Push, I also didn’t had THAT much time to finish any of them except Pokemon Sun).
So it was in my opinion a really great year of gaming. But my pick would have been…
Final Fantasy XV.
I belong to those rare people, who wanted Final Fantasy Versus XIII since the very first reveal. I know everyone’s making fun of how long it takes and how it’s not going to be released ever, but I kept my hope for every year and now, here it is. Of course I don’t think it “really” took 10+ years to make it. But it was still worth the wait, since I’m really enjoying this game. I like the huge but still organic world, I like the combat even with its camera-issues in certain areas and I also like the characters. A game I really got invested for a good amount of time and I can’t wait to revisit this world to fully experience everything. A game, I’m even willing to get the season pass someday and I rarely do that. But first, I have to prepare something else for 2017, hehe…
Honorable mentions: Pokémon Sun/Moon, The Last Guardian, Dragon Quest VII, Ratchet & Clank, Rhythm Paradise MegaMix
I played scant few new games in 2016 as a whole, but my game of the year is Pokémon Moon. Unlike the other 3DS RPG I played this year, Fire Emblem Fates, there’s a lot more stuff to do by the endgame, whereas in Fates you’re stuck with DLC missions and nothing else. I’ve sunk over 140 hours into Moon and see myself adding quite a bit more with the multiplayer plus the ever time consuming breeding. Plus it’s a damn good game overall anyway.
My game certainly is not the best game to grace this underwhelming year. However it was a game that surprised me in how much I ended up actually enjoying it and that was Rhythm Paradise Megamix. For an in-depth look at the quality of this game you should check out my review, but for why it is my game of the year you just need to keep reading. My history with the series is an interesting one. I currently own all four games in the series and have beaten them all but there was a time where they did not interest me as much. I played the DS one for a bit and the Wii one but I never beat either of them. It was not until I had friends to play the Wii title with that I actually began to enjoy it.
When I was in my Rhythm Paradise groove I went to Japan for the first time, got the GBA game and played the Arcade machine. It was during this time that I got to play Rhythm Tengoku The Best+ which is the japanese version of Megamix. And It was ok. It had problems for sure and it also had good points but ultimately it reminded me why I didn’t like the series as much back in the day. When Nintendo offered me the chance to play the localized version a year and a half later I gave it a go and was shocked to see how much I enjoyed it. I pretty much played it exclusively throughout October and have only stopped now to make sure my backlog doesn’t explode. It took me in a way I wasn’t expecting and in a way no other game this year has. That is why it is my best game of 2016.
Honorable mentions: Tokyo Mirage Session #FE, Kirby Planet Robobot, Picross 3D Round 2, BoxBoxBoy!, Paper Mario Color Splash.
I’ve been making an effort as of late to play more of my games, in an attempt to wade through this tremendously large backlog I’ve accumulated. One of my favorite purchases this year was absolutely my Dreamcast, which has allowed me to revisit many of the games I loved in my youth, including Shenmue and Spawn: In The Demon’s Hand.
Earlier this year I posted an article looking at my favorite games of the year, and perhaps presumptuously I picked Star Fox Zero for 2016. With Breath of the Wild, Yooka-Laylee and South Park: The Fractured But Whole being delayed until 2017 I comfortably stand by my pick, though Paper Mario: Color Splash came closer than I expected.
Honorable mentions, new and old: Dead Rising, WWE 2K17, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Paper Mario: Color Splash, Shenmue, Spawn: In The Demon’s Hand, Conker’s Bad Fur Day.
My hobbies include writing about video games and whining about video games, so I’m usually behind with the latest releases. For example, as TheAnvil was enjoying Gears of War 4, I finally started Gears of War 3.
However, I did get to a few of 2016’s releases, and while Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 isn’t the best game of the year, it is undoubtedly the one I will spend the most time with. There’s a timeless joy in trying to surpass your previous high score, and despite Championship Edition 2’s questionable changes, it retains that Pac-Man fundamental. Sadly, these changes amalgamate into a game that’s less fun than its predecessors, which I sort of touch upon in a review I wrote for uInterview, but it’s still fun. Wakka wakka wakka!
Honorable mentions: Gears of War 3, Pokémon Sun and Moon, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice, Corpse Party (3DS)
While SG is mainly a Nintendo-focused site, I honestly didn’t play many of their games this year—most of my favorite experiences came from other developers. As a longtime Team ICO fan, it was cathartic to finally play The Last Guardian. It’s an incredible experience, especially for those who enjoyed the team’s previous games. Also in the camp of “not everyone will like it but those who do will love it,” The Witness was every bit as brilliant a puzzle game as I’d hoped it would be. I don’t play a ton of online multiplayer games, but Overwatch has me hooked. It’s great fun with friends and insanely polished. Speaking of polish, Persona 5 has it in spades. Not just from a visual aspect either—the whole game flows smoothly from beginning to end, and it seems like Atlus has pretty much perfected the formula at this point. Other stuff I enjoyed this year: Inside, Titanfall 2’s campaign, learning to fly in Gravity Rush Remastered, and the Nioh beta demo, which I spent more time with than a lot of full-fledged releases.
What were your favorite games of 2016? Let us know in the comments section!
I agree with Rhythm Heaven Megamix! Even if not the most complex of games, I certainly enjoyed it the most. Pokemon Sun and Moon too, of course, but the above was pretty refreshing.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice is the only game that actually went beyond my expectations, so it gets my 2016 GOTY award by default.
This was pretty much Nintendo’s year off–I suspect Breath of the Wild was supposed to be this year’s runaway pick, but instead it will have to compete in a (hopefully) blowout 2017.
Wow, someone actually likes Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE other than me?
It’s a small world after all.
2016 as a whole…it wasn’t a good year in my watch. But the only good month in that year was April, since that time I went to Japan for a vacation. Even that was a horrifying moment when the Kumamoto earthquake began, since I was actually at Nagasaki (prefecture right next to Kumamoto) that time. But even then, I was able to buy some JRPG games, mostly monster breeding games which is my favorite. I’ve played Moco Moco Friends for the first time since the ratings and the comments were highly positive, and they were right. While the game was too easy since it was mainly for female players, the gameplay was simple and understandable, and the storyline and characters were quite good than expected. However the problem is that every characters were too chatty with needless conversations which made me lose the main focus of the storyline, and capturing monsters were too difficult than Pokemon and Yo-kai Watch. Even evolving the monsters were too difficult with complicated requirements, so I wouldn’t say this game as a best game of the year.
Eventually, this was a big year for Yo-kai Watch too. They’ve released the new Yo-kai Watch 3 in Japan, and I’ve bought both Sushi and Tempura, creating my own party member of my favorite choices. The gameplay was different from the previous version which made things simple this time, but the storyline is what I didn’t like about. Characters are okay, but the story had too many parodies of many things from other anime to movies, and I actually worry too much if this series won’t get sued for copyright issues (which they already accused once in the anime before). Adding too many parodies doesn’t really impress me a lot, but they are trying to make the game more interesting and enjoyable on adding three expansion updates, which 2.0 was already released last December. But even then, I don’t recall this game a best game of a year though.
So, what is my best game of the year? That will definitely be Pokemon Sun/Moon. But since I try to save money, I purchased Sun only. The game was different from the previous series, and this differentiation was something that made me impressive. The gym battles have changed to trials, storyline had many twisted turns (although we pretty much knew what’s behind it in the beginning), HMs have been removed as we now can freely create our own dream team…Game Freak really made a great job on creating this game, and its the best 20th Anniversary ever! While Yo-kai Watch still tried to compete with their rival franchise, I’d rather say this year’s winner is Pokemon.