We made it past the worst! Now to get ready to end the year off, we’ll look at the best of 2023! And wow, there’s a ton of options. So much so that honorable mentions contains a lot of games I wanted to give shoutouts to because I had no idea where to place them. Like always, these games are a mix of stuff released this year that I reviewed or haven’t covered for the site, so there’ll be some surprises here, and I do apologize for this being a little later than I’d like it to be; some picks were literally placed on the list mere hours from this article being finalized!
Let’s jump in right away with…
10: Vengeful Guardian Moonrider (Steam)- Poor Moonrider. Launching at the very start of the year, it feels like it got buried by other games very quickly, and I even forgot about it for a bit until refreshing my memory on the fact it did indeed launch in 2023.
But as I noted in my review, this game is the perfect definition of short and sweet. It has a few bumpy stages, but this action platformer is just super polished and really fun to speed around in, realizing a mix of Mega Man Zero and Shinobi that work oh so well together. It has great combat, outstanding music, and a fun ranking system that you’ll want to try and master. I just wish it had a bit more replay value to it outside of said ranking system, since once you’re all done with it, the only thing left to do… Is play it all over again. And honestly? I might just do that a year or so from now, since it really is another great game from the folks at Joymasher. Ninja Spirit or Ninja Gaiden II didn’t have bonus modes, but they’re still worth a replay off and on, and I can easily see Moonrider being the same way.
9: Bit Trip RERUNNER (Steam)- You know, this really was a game that came outta nowhere for me until a request to cover it landed in my email. But I’m glad I did, as this is just a wonderful return to form for one of the first Wiiware indie hits. You get the original campaign redone in a great new presentation, along with a bunch of excellent new levels and an online level editor that is still gaining new features to this day!
As a Runner 2 fan who felt the first one was a bit too tough, and the third one just had bad design, I am absolutely thrilled to see that Rerunner brought me the Runner experience I had always wanted, and more. It is a shame to see that this one didn’t seem to do too well, but it really is a new Bit Trip Runner game in 2023, and an incredible one I cannot recommend enough, especially for those who may have been bummed by Runner3 like I was.
8: The Making of Karateka (Steam)- Atari 50 won my Game of the Year award last year, and now the devs of that set made their own docu-style compilation covering Karateka. While a great tale with tons of cool historical info, the real highlights for me here are the new remastered games included here; both a wonderful, beginner friendly remake of Karateka with restored cut content added back to it, and a finalized version of Jordan’s addictive scorechaser idea, Deathbounce, this is a wonderful collection with a ton of great historical info, and even if Karateka itself may not click for you, the story behind it and Deathbounce absolutely will.
7: Theatrhythm Final Bar Line (Nintendo Switch)- A sequel to one of my favorite 3DS games, that already felt pretty definitive as is?!? You bet! Offering button controls over my beloved stylus gameplay from the 3DS ones, this game has sooooooo much content that I can’t even begin to get into it all, and a ton of outstanding DLC music as well. I really enjoyed my time with this one and find it to be an outstanding rhythm game, but I sadly feel with the quest modes that Curtain Call offered being absent here, this doesn’t feel as definitive of an installment as I’d like it to be.
Still, Final Bar Line has so much songs to play with great controls that I can’t help but still enjoy the core game, and with so much content there’s definitely no shortage of music to enjoy. If you’re a FF fan and haven’t picked this up yet, this is absolutely essential. Even my beloved Final Fantasy II got plenty of love here!
6: ZERO FIRE (Nintendo Switch)- The only JP Exclusive on the list, but this is easily my favorite retro compilation of the year bar none. What happens when you take a set of two shooters, add in good home versions and tons of the M2 magic? You get an awesome collection! Hellfire by itself is an outstanding game, but M2 went and added so much QOL and polish to that original Arcade version that it continues the excellence of the Toaplan Arcade Garage. Add in other arcade versions, and even the rough Zero Wing getting some decent QOL and a surprisingly enjoyable set of gameplay options, and you have yourselves a decent pair of games.
But what really makes Zero Fire sing are the DLC add-ons, which are pretty much bundled into physical releases anyhow, so I think it’s fair to judge them as part of the main set. With this DLC, you get ALL the console versions of the two games, plus Horror Story and its PCE CD version. Considering a lot of these home ports are even better than the great arcade originals, this is an outstanding deal, and a wonderful way to see all the differences. The godly PC Engine CD version of Hellfire is here with the wonderful OST, as well as the memed to death Genesis Zero Wing, the obscure PC Engine CD port of it, and the Masaya-made Genesis Hellfire that had a super beam. All of it is here, and while they may not have as much extra options as the Arcade stuff, they’re still presented here in a perfect fashion. Add in the returning Arcade Challenge mode and online leaderboards, and this is yet another of M2’s great must-own shmup sets, and things can only go up from here. Here’s hoping this gets an official western release soon!
5: Quantum Recharged (Steam)- Atari is back on another GOTY list?!? Yep! The Recharged line are a fun solid set of scorechaser throwbacks bringing back old Atari IP with a new twist on them, and somehow Quantum, one of Atari’s most obscure Arcade games, manages to be the very best in the entire line.
The concept is absurdly simple; draw circles, suck enemies into them for points. But it’s so addicting and the multiplier aspect really makes going after points a quick and fun thing to do, and throw in a bunch of challenging single player missions, and you have yourselves one excellent pick up and play experience. Seriously, even now I play it for a few minutes from time to time to climb up higher and higher on those leaderboards, and I can’t think of any other Recharged idea that could top this one, the gameplay loop is just that good.
4: Duke Nukem 1 + 2 Remastered (Evercade)- “Wait, the Evercade has a game on this list? How?!?” Well, recently Evercade has been putting out a few games that run natively on the hardware, and they’ve been pretty decent to solid Indie titles, though they still typically were better with emulated stuff as a whole.
…Until this release, which takes two fun DOS platformers and absolutely perfects the ever living crap outta them. Seriously, when the alternative could have been a basic DOS port, this is just an outstanding release, and it has it all for newcomers like me! Both DOS games included, every single stage, and the ability to switch between the 4:3 view and a new 16:9 60fps mode with a select button press.
The remasters are so snappy, recreate the originals very, very well, and the amount of bonuses and customization options really make it clear here that the makers of this remaster were obsessed with the original duology, and I am thrilled to say that this has been one of my favorite things from Evercade ever since I picked one up for the Renovation Collection two years ago.
Seriously, this has more polish, love and care put into it than a lot of modern retro reissues on mainline systems, and considering I cover a ton of them, that should indicate a lot to you with how well these two games were treated here. When the only bummer I can think of is Duke Nukem II’s music getting completely replaced due to legal issues, I think that’s a great sign of how strong these remasters are, and these two made me an absolute fan of the games as a whole. Hell, I even played in the original mode first for the retro experience, and then replayed stages in the modern mode to see the changes, and boy did they blow my mind. For newcomers like me, this is an incredible duology, and for Duke Nukem or DOS fans… What are you waiting for?!? Here’s hoping we get more outstanding license rescues like this in the future from Blaze, and I am absolutely excited to see where the Evercade goes next.
3: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo Switch)- How did they do it.
How did they make a sequel to a game I felt shifted a series I loved in a direction for the worse… And pretty much fix my major gripes with the formula while making it so much fun. For those unaware, I’ve been a pretty big Zelda fan most of my life and have generally enjoyed a lot of zelda likes I’ve covered for the site. But since A Link Between Worlds in 2013, I felt like the Zelda franchise jumped the shark to chase the boring open world trend of modern AAA gaming, shifting up so much staples and throwing them away for seemingly no reason other than they just felt like it.
A lot of Breath of the Wild showed some promise and I had fun finding stuff like the waypoint towers or certain shrines, but ultimately at the end of the day it really didn’t feel like Zelda to me. Gone was the unique items and cool things you could unlock or discover in dungeons or side areas, and instead you got a bunch of boring items at the start of the game, and a bunch of weapons that break easily. Gone were said dungeons or anything remotely akin to ones from games like Skyward Sword or Majora’s Mask, and instead there were four divine beasts that were very boring, uninspired and only had a great boss fight to salvage the experience. Gone were cool holes in the ground that you could find a fun chest in, and instead you had boring shrines that would eventually repeat the same gimmick after a while, and some of them were never great to begin with. The few times I had fun with a shrine, was when I had to actually reveal it or when getting to it was a challenge.
Still, all of it ended in one of the best endgame areas in a Zelda game, and the best boss rush in any entry in the franchise if you were like me and put off the main guardian beasts until later, and then tried the final area to see if you could beat it. The glimmers of fun I had in these parts along with some of the charm to hearing voiced scenes for the first time in the series, really made me hope if they made another 3D zelda, they’d either cut back the open world and make the ideas from it work better in the classic 3D style, or they’d go all out and put more interesting things in the open world, and maybe bring back dungeons. It was one of my 2017 disappointments for a reason, but not a bad game by any means.
Well, Tears of the Kingdom somehow managed to fix most of my gripes with this formula, and while it isn’t perfect by any means, it definitely feels like the ultimate realization of the formula, so much to the point I can’t even boot up Breath of the Wild anymore without feeling like something is wrong. Now you have three big areas to explore, and this time all of them have more to do. Your abilities in this game are no longer lame copies of old Zelda items, but actually creative techniques that can be used on tons of things, or be experimented with to get to places in unorthodox ways. The ascend ability alone basically gave me dozens of hours worth of goof off potential, and may be one of my favorite things in any Zelda ever.
There are tons of optional secrets to find, NPCs to meet, and cool things you may see that lead to a well to go down or a rare creature for your compendium, or a material that would come in handy later. A lot of BOTW had hidden stuff too such as koroks or said compendium, but this time the extra items feel like they have more meaning to them, and more creative ways of getting to them. Finding a korok randomly is actually cool now instead of it being a very predictable and boring “oh I know where this is going” ordeal, and some of them actually need your help to get their reward.
By far the best improvements here though come from the weapons. Yeah they still break, but I actually enjoyed using a bunch of weapons because of the fusing mechanic, which pretty much revives and makes any weapon you pick up useful in some way. Now they may have a special attribute to them, or be elemental or increase damage in a certain situation. Sometimes in the heat of battle, you can break the fusion and refuse something else to it to really clinch a win, and that feels so satisfying.
Speaking of satisfying… The dungeons! They aren’t classical still, but they’re far better and more creative than the beasts of the last game, and feel like a good fit for this style of Zelda. They feel like proper areas with enemies to deal with, spots you need to use your brain to open up the rest of the place, and actual areas you can get stumped on, each having their own cool boss at the end of it. Getting to them is a whole lot of fun, too! For once I actually want to go to all of them, and the same goes for the shrines, which refine and polish the idea from the last game but make the puzzles far, far more interesting, and have your on-hand abilities really put to the test.
So much about this game just feels better than what Breath of the Wild tried to do, and while a lot of people really liked that game, fans like me felt a bit left out at the sudden shift in direction. But Tears of the Kingdom? No, this feels like Zelda, and the perfect evolution of the 3D formula everyone else felt Breath of the Wild was. Add to that the crazy amount of stuff you can do in the new underworld and sky islands, along with more shrine discovery quests and some inventive options to completing those quests, and you can have a damn good time in this game even if you’re like me and have zero interest in using the abilities to build a vehicle. I’ll just stick with throwing rockets on a cube or rewinding time from a falling boulder to go up high, thank you very much. Definitely one of Nintendo’s best games of the entire Switch era, if not their entire first party lineage. Still behind some of my favorite Zelda games, but not by much!
2: Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 (Steam)- Holy frick. This was the last game placed on the list and it was a very, very tough one. As you read this, I’m in the endgame of my review process for this title and it should hit the site shortly in the new year. But I played it long enough, compared it with the other titles on the list and internally debated for several days what game I liked more, even if I haven’t settled on a score for the review yet, and I think in the end Fuga 2 beats out Zelda for me due to the strong narrative and the gameplay being vastly improved from the first game, which already had an outstanding battle system!
The original Fuga won 2021’s GOTY, but that felt a bit easier to do as while Blaster Master Zero 3 had a lot of potential to topple it, the lack of replay value for that game led it to being a tad less than as excellent as I hoped it would be, and Fuga just was more fresh and had a lot of fun ideas. From a surprisingly dark story with a few good twists, a satisfying turn-based combat system, and just a fun, exciting adventure I couldn’t put down from beginning to end. The problem with a sequel to me was how it felt like Fuga 1 ended on such a high note that it would be really hard to top, and continuing the narrative without pulling something stupid out of thin air was a legitimate concern I had.
Thankfully, I am more than confident with my current time spent in Fuga 2 to say that it succeeds at being a sequel that succeeds with what the original did, but more refined. The story feels like a natural continuation of the first and offers even more nail-biting moments, and isn’t afraid to get even crazier than it did last time. The gameplay has some excellent QOL additions, along with cool new mechanics that makes fights even more fun to play, to the point I just can’t put this game down. Still, the big holdout stopping this from being my absolute favorite game I played during 2023 isn’t the fact that the game does anything bad or feels weaker in some ways than the first, but rather because even though Fuga 2 is a more exciting, fun game to play than the original, It still is a direct sequel to that excellent, original game, and thus is best played continuing off from that first game instead of jumping in with this second entry.
Sure, there’s a handy recap available that covers the first game pretty well for those who get this game over the first one for some reason, (or can only play this one via Xbox Game Pass before it leaves in May) but as with a lot of games that continue an ongoing story this game is best played with that original entry under your belt, and since a lot of the great quality of life choices from this sequel got backported into Fuga 2, this game isn’t as easy of a recommendation as that original game, or even the game I found to be more fresh, more exciting, and more newcomer friendly… But before I reveal that game, let’s talk about some honorable mentions that didn’t make it, but I wanted to gush on.
Honorable Mentions
Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp (Nintendo Switch)- Last year I lamented the very, very stupid fact this game got shot into space over unfortunate timing with a real world conflict that as of this article going live, still is nowhere close to ending for either side, and how murky it was that the game would even be coming out at all.
Thankfully, sanity prevailed and the game did make it out in April of this year, albeit in the most hushed, quieted fashion imaginable, and then forgotten about and never promoted since. To be expected from such actions and the fact this series is niche as a whole, it hasn’t shown up in Nintendo’s best seller list and has already been outsold by other games that came out after it.
But damn it, for a likely series finale, Reboot Camp is a great one to go out on, though there are several bummers that prevented it from making the list. For starters, the game looks pretty good, even if the art style isn’t for everyone, but the online features are very limited, moreso than even the DS era of the series. Sharing maps or battling online? Only possible with friends, and not even in an elegant way. I wondered if this aspect was cut down due to the world conflict which delayed the game to begin with, but upon learning the build date for the game was virtually untouched since the delay it suffered to begin with, no, this aspect would have been this disappointing even if no conflict in the world happened whatsoever. As someone who was hyped to battle people all over the world or at least share maps with my friends, I was bummed to only trade maps with a single person as a result of these limitations.
But when it comes to the presentation, gameplay polish, local play, and content available? That’s where Reboot Camp really shines and makes me overjoyed, and I really enjoyed my time revisiting the first Advance Wars game before I had to backlog it to play after my queue is clear. The characters are super expressive and voiced, albeit in limited fashion, but hearing Veronica Taylor (the original Ash Ketchum Dub Actor) voicing Andy brought a huge smile to my face. The local multiplayer still rocks as it always has, and with four player battle maps being available, this is a far better way to play with your friends compared to passing a Game Boy Advance around and taking turns. The games feel a bit more connected as a whole now too, and offer a tiny bit of extra replay value for those seeking to really maximize their time here.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the performance baffles me with how low it can get during combat animations, along with the aforementioned Online issues, I could easily label this entry as the most definitive in the series by far, and a great comeback. Still, this is a wonderful starting point, a great local multiplayer gem, and a wonderful strategy RPG I’m happy Wayforward got to put out after all. And with them making a cool looking Contra in the near future, my wish of them reviving other IPs seems to have come true as well, so even if Reboot Camp ends up being the last AW, it is definitely not the last Wayforward revival, and that excites me.
The two new Double Dragon ports (Nintendo Switch)- I covered these a bit recently, of Super Double Dragon and Double Dragon Advance, and almost put DDA in the main list, but decided against it due to these ultimately being pretty general, piecemeal reissues. But wow, did they add some fun QOL to these games that make em both worth picking up. Super adds extra game speed options to remove that awful slowdown infamous for making the original game a pain to play, and Double Dragon Advance emulates the GBA link cable by letting you buddy up with a friend on the same system. Not even Nintendo’s own GBA emulator lets you play locally that way!
Good thing too, since these are both excellent belt scrolling gems that I’m very happy to see reissued, and the amount of work put into making those bonuses turn out as well as they did cannot be understated. Definitely worth a play if you like the series.
Puzzle Bobble Everybubble (Nintendo Switch)- I wanted to throw a more casual game up on this list, but none of them really fit, with Quantum being the closest to anything of that nature. Still, this was a puzzler I really dug earlier in the year, and while it largely has left my memory in terms of the main campaign, that score attack tower is still a blast to go back to and test your skills on.
While it would have been a much more exciting game for me if it had a VS COM focus, this is definitely an outstanding time for fans of the puzzle stages, which this game has plenty of. Just don’t bother buying the Strictly Limited version, as that one seems doomed to never leave the production lines.
1: Gravity Circuit (Steam)– This game didn’t come out of nowhere for me, even though I chose to not cover it for the site. Rather, I took it at my own pace, and bought it on launch day to enjoy over the year.
Why? Because I wishlisted this aaaaalllll the way back in 2018, back when early images of it were being shown on social media and they caught my eye.
And every year, I’d see little bits of info from it, with a release date not even mentioned at all. It just took time. Lots and lots of time, before getting dated for this July and finally coming out after I first saw a glimpse of it five years ago. Now and then I’d see it in my steam wishlist after a long period of not hearing a word on it, but would still see proof it was trucking away until that fateful moment.
Seeing the development cycle from afar, I knew there was something special here, and I am very, very glad I dove in and fully absorbed this game at my own pace, as Gravity Circuit is easily the best platformer I have played during the entirety of 2023, bar none.
Hell, as I went to 100% and nab everything missing from my first playthrough, I felt that Gravity Circuit just be my favorite game from the entire year, despite not being perfect by any means. The story is very safe and predictable, the music is solid, but not as great as it should be for a Mega Man inspired game, (which Moonrider nailed very well in that regard) and some of the abilities you can acquire or purchase feel rather useless.
But oh my god, everything else about Gravity Circuit feels like it’s been polished with the highest quality imaginable. The main mechanic of melee combat and a grapple hook to throw objects with, or swing ceilings around Bionic Commando style? Outstanding, feeling more satisfying than even some modern belt scrollers.
The stages being so much fun to sprint through, digging around for secret robots to rescue or hidden upgrades or cool things to play with, and great boss battles to fight? Outstanding, with not a dull moment as I replayed them several times for completion.
Stage gimmicks that actually are fun to mess around with and challenge, some of which ended up being more fun than their original Mega Man X counterparts? You bet!
Control that feels so perfect by default, and getting even better with some of the upgrades you can nab, that any mistake made in the game feels all on you as the player, and not as the result of any jank or weirdness? Surprising for any sort of game, and one I struggle to find gripes with. Kai just feels that good to play.
And ultimately, an endgame that while not too special narratively, really amps up the fun factor and throws a delightful challenge at you that feels like the ultimate test of your skills in a natural way, rather than shoving a bunch of spikes and a generic boss rush at you and calling it a day, where conquering the final area without dying makes you feel like you mastered the game on that difficulty? Just a perfect ending, and a near perfect game.
Hell, if this engine was used to sandbox around and goof off in some sort of user created content, I could honestly see myself getting lost in this game for dozens and dozens of hours, solely because the action feels perfect and the game never ceased to engage me or feel sluggish. It manages to be easy to get into, even if you’ve never seen a Mega Man game in your life, and Gravity Circuit even feels like it wants to be its own thing despite being proud about its inspirations.
Honest to god, part of me is kicking myself for not giving it a review, but since I was so focused on the queue this year I really tried to cut back on anything that would just be a big undertaking to write about. Still, that’s where this end of year list comes into play, as I can gush about the game now, and can tell you that it’s an absolute must-own and worth playing if you like action platformers in any way. Once it clicks, it really clicks, and considering the fact some of the other gripes I had with the game got patched out in recent months, this team is one that’s definitely paying attention to feedback and proud to improve on it. I cannot wait to see what this team cooks up next if their first game is this outstanding.
Whew. That was a long list, and this is being published a bit near 1AM where I am, despite the article going up a bit before midnight here due to when I started finishing it. Time paradoxes are weird. Still, I hope you enjoyed my end of roundups, and what a win for Gravity Circuit! All of these games are pretty great to be honest, and I am pretty happy to say that this year had much more fun games to play than last year. Almost too many.
With Shiren the Wanderer 6 launching in 2024, I already have a feeling that will be my GOTY for 2024, but who knows what else could be lurking to surprise me next year. Some new IP could come outta nowhere and win me over, or some silly puzzle game or scorechaser could make me so addicted I can’t focus. Who knows! See you later today for an article discussing the future of SFG, and what post-queue life will be like for me…
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