Heya again! Sorry I’m a bit late; things got a bit tight the past few weeks so these last two parts are coming in hot. Still, I hope you enjoy today’s list of my favorites of 2025. Hopefully like always, this ends up helping you find some pretty neat obscurities to check out! And without further ado…
10: Arcade Archives Super Dimension Fortress MACROSS II (Switch)– Not toooo much on the super engaging ACA front this year; Arcade Archives 2 became a thing finally, but outside of some very early Namco 3D games there hasn’t been much to show off the potential of that upgraded lineup. Thankfully, the normal ACA got a pretty great scorechaser in the form of Macross II, which is based off the OVA series of the same name.
Unlike most shooters, this one is pretty much all about scoring; sure, you can “beat” the game in each difficulty path you take, but the main goal is to just find all the scoring bonuses and score as many points as you can before the time runs out, kinda like a caravan mode! Go through 3 stages like that and that’s your game.
Yet Macross II manages to be so darn addicting and really fun to experiment around with, from the pick up and play style helping with quick play sessions, to scoring secrets and NMK’s magic at work here. There’s even local co-op if you wanna bring a friend along! It isn’t too often an ACA game that’s not a puzzler absolutely hooks me, but I found Macross II to be a great pick up and play.
9: NIGHT STRIKER GEAR (Switch)– Yesterday I expressed disappointment at Salamander III not really nailing the M2 magic. Well, while Night Striker Gear may not be M2’s apex either, this was a delightful surprise considering it came around the same time.
Here you have a modern followup to Night Striker with all new levels, a cool gear mechanic that turns your car into a mecha, and lots of bonus point opportunities and clever secrets; the latter of which being enough to keep this game in my rotation a bit longer than the OG Night Striker. (which is a good thing too, since the collection is bugged!) I was also rather astounded by the outstanding endgame bosses and very clever method of getting the true ending, all of which curbstomp the final stages the original game had to offer.
Add in some online leaderboards, a pacifist mode fully focused on memorization and dodging, and tons of scoring secrets and you have yourselves one excellent super scaling throwback! Thankfully, Night Striker Gear is proof M2 can still put out an excellent throwback game.
8: Street Fighter 6 (Switch 2)– “But Connor, this came out years ago!” Not on Switch 2, and that’s where I played this game for the first time. Back in the early 3DS days, Super Street Fighter IV 3D absorbed me with 100+ hours of figurine collecting, title hunting, and just trying out all the different characters and enjoying the crazy amount of single player content. It was also a great way to get learn the Street Fighter controls as a newcomer such as myself, and I was rather bummed the most we got on the original Switch was Ultra Street Fighter II.
Picking up Street Fighter 5 for my PS4 a year+ after it came out, and I was pretty underwhelmed. Obviously the lack of much single player was known by this point, but I at least hoped the online would be entertaining enough, and it really didn’t do it for me. The solo experience was so content light I barely had much to practice on for the online besides other people that were way more into it than I’d ever be. The first updated edition came out a bit later, that was kinda better, but it wasn’t until Champion Edition that SFV had enough content to have me satisfied with it.
Luckily Street Fighter 6 on Switch 2 is not that, even without the Years 1-2 Fighter Pass Bundle. You have a good selection of characters to start with, a surprisingly robust single player mode taking place in Metro City from Final Fight, the return of the trials mode, lots of unlockables, and most importantly, an online mode that’s actually really darn fun! The Battle Hub was my favorite part of my time in SF6 so far, not just because you can play old Capcom arcade games and scorechase against other people, but because you can do a bunch of things to help you learn the game better or just goof around with stuff like voting for your favorite Street Fighter II Mcdonalds promo item.
I barely scratched the surface of World Tour mode and loved what I played, and I’ve just had plenty of fun with the Battle Hub and Arcade modes; legitimately surprised how solid this one turned out from the start and am more than excited to see the rest of Year 3 finish out.
7: Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut (Switch 2)– Another “wait this was on other systems!” game, and this one I kinda played beforehand, twice. I never finished it, and I’ve not gotten close to finishing this on Switch 2 either, but I’m closer, and this is by far the version of the game I’ve enjoyed the most so far, even if that’s mostly due to the core game VS the Director Cut exclusive features.
Obviously, Yakuza 0 is the prequel to the Yakuza series. Good starting point, showcasing both main characters as they go around town on their own paths tying into a mysterious lot. The combat is still excellent per the series norm, and there’s still some pretty great story moments to witness, even if the new DC stuff I found a little weird and out of place.
But if you know me and how I played around in Yakuza 3/4, you know those minigames and sidequests are where the true joy of Yakuza is at, and Zero doesn’t disappoint. You can literally buy this game just for Super Hang-On and I will not judge you, and I hate to admit that’s been a primary factor for me playing the game. But there’s also a bunch of other minigames on offer, and a bunch of silly, funny sidequests as well.
Also new here is an english dub, which sounds OK enough, but quickly falls apart when trying to play the ordinary game with it. You have important characters speaking english in cutscenes, and then during gameplay they speak english or make english grunts while everyone else speaks Japanese. It really feels offputting and is a case where I respect the effort, but prefer the original JP voices here. I may have Yakuza 5 in Legacy Queue hell for being so big I gotta marathon it when I get back to it, but at least 0 on Switch 2 is a good warmup for me in the meantime while I eventually get to that one…
6: Gradius Origins (Switch)– Easily the best retro compilation by far this year, and that’s despite it including a mid followup to one of the greatest Arcade games. Luckily, a bunch of those greats are here in one set courtesy of M2, with ludicrous amounts of work put into it that feels like it was made by megafans of Gradius for megafans of Gradius.
The first three Arcade games and Life Force got good ACA ports, sure; I even wondered why the heck I’d buy this with those versions already existing. Yet here M2 is, offering pretty much every version of all those games that exist, handy QOL features and gadget displays, secret games like the VS. Gradius Arcade port of the NES version, a gargantuan music museum with a bunch of cool art assets, and top notch emulation for everything, including the magnificent Salamander 2, which quickly jumped to be one of my favorite Arcade games of all time.
I think the most telling aspect of Origins that makes this the real deal and one I’m still proud to have sunk over a dozen hours into, is just how deep cut some of the stuff here is. Most notably you have a prototype of Gradius III made for a trade show back in 1989, with different bosses, level layouts, unfinished areas, and difficulty even more infuriating than the real deal. This is pretty much the equivalent to if Nintendo included the Spaceworld 97 demo of Pokemon Gold in a Pokemon collection, and it’s just incredible to see prototypes resurfaced and given the touchup needed to be included in a collection. Add in some excellent CRT filters and you have yourselves one awesome set, and a great starting point for newcomers.
5: Pokemon Legends: Z-A (Switch 2)– This one is weird. The benefit to being more offline of late is that when weird discourse about a game kicks off for one reason or another, you may end up missing it entirely or only finding out about it weeks later. For Pokemon Legends Z-A, I was genuinely blind to most of the game. I saw the Pokemon day reveal, the Pokemon Day 2025 followup, and that was that outside of Nintendo Directs featuring the game.
I think that made me appreciate Z-A a lot more than most, especially since to me Gen 6 was the generation that got away from greatness. Sure, it had hands down, the best roster of newcomer Pokemon in history with only one dud (Hi Binacle), and some cool ideas like Mega Evolution, but a lot of Pokemon X felt half baked and I spent more of my time in the game using it as a voice chat proxy and farming simulator than a Pokemon game. So to have a new game that was basically going “You know what? Let’s give the Kalos thing another go” and nailing it was incredibly refreshing to me, especially as one who didn’t really get into Arceus or pick it up because it felt too different.
Here in Z-A though? The battling is more in real time, but it still feels like Pokemon; all the typing, all the advantages of status/special moves, etc etc. Normally games with cooldown piss me off, but Z-A really wasn’t that intrusive and I really dug the battle system as a result. Exploring Lumiose and seeing it as more than a boring bland circle and something actually robust and wide was a delight, even if a lot of the areas looked a bit samey. Still, compared to Pokemon Violet and me not remembering any landmarks not in DLC content for that game, I think Z-A was far more memorable and fun to explore around, and to work on the Pokedex.
The factor that really locked the game in as a winner for me though, was the story. Yes, I know, people don’t like no voice acting in these games. Yes, there are a couple of scenes with lip movements and no sound that are very weird and shouldn’t be there. But what’s here is still really darn good and better than I could have honestly expected from a non-Tomie written Pokemon game. It’s not gonna make you cry or anything, but you get some really strong character writing, see some characters learn and grow just like you do over the course of the adventure, and your team at Hotel Z feel like a group of amateur besties keeping an eye out on one another, reminding me an awful lot of how the Digimon Adventure 02 cast would group up in their same Computer Lab all the time with a similar dynamic, and I really dug it here in Z-A.
Ending things off, Z-A’s whole finale felt just impeccable. I was genuinely surprised at how well done it was, and how it felt like not just a bow wrapped on the game’s story, but Kalos’s story as a whole and that of Gen 6. A feeling that, after twelve years, Game Freak went, “I’m sorry” and redeemed the entire generation for me. And that is honestly quite a feat they managed to nail. The best part is this runs just fine on Switch 1 as well, so hey, everyone has the same amount of fun here!
4: Ninja Gaiden Ragebound (Switch)– This one dashed in at the absolute last moment; I just got this a week ago. Yet me as a Ninja Gaiden 2D diehard had to play it at some point, and boy, I’m glad I did. Ninja Gaiden II on the NES is a masterpiece and is easily the best game on the entire console. Ninja Gaiden I is an excellent beginning barred by a horribly unbalanced final level. Ninja Gaiden III, is well, Ninja Gaiden III.
Ragebound on the other hand? It takes aspects from the 2D games and more melee focused 2D action games and combines it into a very nice lovely combo with some outstanding pixel art, phenomenal music and great level design. The controls are fluid and silky smooth, the combat is super satisfying, and the two characters work together in such a good fashion I have plenty of fun regardless of who is currently in play.
I don’t think it’ll surpass NGII for me by the end of the day, but it is really, really, really damn close, and that outstanding OST is so unbelievably good, I might actually have to give it the winner of the best Ninja Gaiden OST, and that’s from a guy who can’t play enough of Ninja Gaiden II’s final stage theme. Easily a game that flew under the radar and by far a must own for series fans, or for anyone who just likes a game with a really good presentation. I have a feeling I might end up playing this one to 100% completion more than once at this rate!
3: Trails in the Sky: 1st Chapter (Switch 2)- Trails Of Cold Steel IV is a breaking point for me and another in the Legacy Queue Review hell. Cold Steel III continued an excellent gameplay system I liked in Cold Steel II, which in turn refined what I enjoyed playing Second Chapter waaaaaaaaay back in my amateur, early days of SFG reviewing.
But the story of CSIII, even as I caught up with the plot of CS and enjoyed the characters in it was increasingly leading to something pretty wild and no doubt a bane for newcomers to the series, (especially poor souls who jumped in with that game as their first due to being the first on Switch) and I knew I’d need some time to prep myself for CSIV (Zero/Ao didn’t exist yet here, and I didn’t feel like playing Sky on my PC). Oops, forgot I had a PS4 backlog queue and that was when I was dumb enough to ask for any RPG that sounded cool.
Anyhow all that rambling is to say for better or worse my Trails experience has been frozen in time since CSIII; I can’t start CSIV without wrapping a few more things up, but I know CSIV is gonna be a headache with a kajillion references to stuff i have no time to currently play. Luckily, 1st Chapter is a way to go back to the beginning without a billion random references to older stuff from Trails of into Cold Sky Azure Dingdongs. This is the original, first part of the Sky Trilogy, remade in the best damn way possible. Holy shit, if I thought the gameplay in SC/CSIII were fun, this one just perfects everything about it. Better combat, faster action, outstanding remixes of the entire Sky OST, and such an engaging, wonderful story and world. This is what made me drawn to reviewing Second Chapter all those years ago, and I got giddy being able to piece together the bits of SC I know with stuff teased in this game.
The cinematic cutscene quality here is off the charts too, with one of them being so damn good with perfect music cues to the point I deadass reloaded a save, repeated the cutscene and watched it in full all over again just for the heck of it. I never, ever do that in a video game without some time passing between plays, but that’s just how great the presentation is in 1st Chapter, and I’ve been happy to see some of my friends really falling in love with this one as well.
1st Chapter is just so much fun all around, and proves that these games don’t need a trillion references chainlinked together to be enjoyable; just a good story leading into another good story is enough, and I cannot wait for 2nd Chapter next year.
2: BRAVELY DEFAULT FLYING FAIRY HD REMASTER (Switch 2)- I had no idea how much this game would feel like a hole in my heart was filled. I played this during the pit of my summer anxiety spiral and it really, really soothed me during that time; especially with how striking the story was to me, moreso now than it was a decade ago. I liked Second a bit more for a while (still want that cliffhanger fixed), but now I’m absolutely preferring the original game here. More than ever, in any time in modern history, is this story needed for people to experience. So much of the conflicts and situations that go on in the world of Luxendarc is shockingly akin to some going on in the current world today, with some strong messaging that holds up after all this time.
Can areas that have been at war for so long ever get along? Can people who just stick together make it through corrupt societies? Can dealing with traumatic loss be the end of you, or just the next leg in the long journey known as life as you use your experience to do good things in their honor? Is the path we choose even the right one and we might be doing something we’ll regret later, and should we disobey it? Is instant gratification really worthwhile, or is holding out for a long game, more permanent plan that’s harder the right call? There’s so, so much to this story to unpack, and I absolutely do not want to spoil it for any of you all. Bravely Default HD is so, so worth playing for the incredible plot alone, but thankfully the gameplay is stellar as well.
RPG mechanics like Final Fantasy? Sure! Job system like FFIII/FFV? Why not, with so many combinations you can mix together for job classes that you can do all sorts of crazy things to either break enemies to pieces or goof around. Dungeons that are based off crystals like those old FF games? Sure, why not, they’re pretty fun and well mapped too. Being able to use special techniques and rename them so the characters use whatever dumb name you come up, or whatever cheesy in your head remark you want them to give after the fact? Go have fun, and customize them to attach all sorts of wild elements or attributes to them. You can even send your moves over to friends so they can summon you and use whatever you did if they’re in a pinch!
I seriously cannot get enough of the combat system, and the incredible music does a great job here, too. The back half of the game might be rather repetitive for that true ending, but trust me, it’s worth every minute and even the more repetitive parts have enough good to it to make you keep having fun. Absolutely the best RPG of the year without question, in my opinion.
Honorable Mentions
Yet again we had several that didn’t quite make the cut for one reason or another. The first in a “this barely missed the top 10” is Fuga 3. I hoped it’d be higher, but since finishing the game and having months passed since doing so, I kinda soured on some parts of it.
Not enough to change my score mind you, as the gameplay is still on point and continues the refinements from the prior two games; the QOL and such make it so much preferable to 2, that I kinda can’t help but feel now that 1 and 3 are the only essential Fuga games you even need to play at this point. So on the gameplay front CC2 nailed it here, and in terms of an ending, this was a good ending to the trilogy.
My main gripes with Fuga 3 in why it didn’t land as strongly as it did with the first game (which if you’ll remember, was my GOTY pick in 2021), was from how the story was handled, or rather, not handled. The teaser from the previous game and the intro chapters of Fuga 3 set things up super duper well for the kind of adventure I want, but then the tone shifts and holds back from the darker nature the earlier chapters tease.
It still ended on a great note to wrap up the trilogy, but I can’t help but feel they planned for something much darker at first, went “oh crap” when multiple wars IRL kicked off during development, and then tweaked some things so the story wouldn’t come off as insensitive. A bummer, since I felt the strength of Fuga 1 was showing the horrors of the in-universe war and the after effects they would have on the people left behind, while Fuga 3 backed away from anything too depressing.
The other gem I wanted to add, and one I couldn’t quite get to review this year, is Gumball in Trick or Treat Land. Cute little GBC RPG that’s more robust than one might give it credit for, and it’s tremendously funny to boot. I’ve been chipping away at it off and on all year, and as it preps to get made into a real physical GBC cart (And for my review to near publication), I might as well give it an extra shoutout here.
Check it out when it launches, you’ll have a good laugh at the charm of it all.
The Game… System of The Year!
1: Nintendo Switch 2 (System)- Yeah, get mad at me for putting a system as my no 1 pick instead of a game, but when it comes to gaming stuff that brought me joy, that made me feel hope I haven’t felt in a long time, and for basically snapping me outta a rut I was in for nearly two years of just only getting enjoyment from games I played for review and not anything for me time? Yeah, the Switch 2 nailed it.
Sure, there are some issues and gripes I have; the plastic on the system scratches more, the storage is smaller than I’d like, (and MicroSD Express cards are stupidly rare) the game key cards are annoying due to the big file size downloads, and some games look horrible in handheld if not updated for Switch 2.
Yet overall? I really like this system. I love this system, even. The Joy-Cons are actually good controllers now. The Pro Controller has a D-Pad that makes me not fall down a cloud in Kid Icarus and want to flush it down the toilet. The UI is still simplistic, but now it’s tweaked in all the right ways to go from an overly dull UI in an era of flashy, fancy ones I’d rather want, to a simple UI I’m preferring much more in an era of enshittified interfaces across everything else. The eShop is still a problem sadly, but even that got a major speed increase and would be outstanding if it were say, 2021 and not post GenAI boom.
The Switch 2 is all I could have dreamed and hoped for, and even more. Years ago I wanted a Switch Pro that just ran Switch 1 games better to not have the rough ports be as bad. Switch 2 does that great, sure, but it manages to be even better than just doing that by boosting select games, taking advantage of uncapped framerates, and just being way more comfy to hold. I’m also pretty pleased that the third party ports, even ones with compromises, are games I prefer playing on my Switch 2 to any compromised port on Switch 1 in the last several years. FF7 Remake at locked 30, super smooth and comfy? Sure! Better than a port of a Tales RPG to Switch 1 that chokes on stuff it really shouldn’t have issues with.
It might not be perfect, it probably isn’t gonna stay consistent and get top notch third party support forever, but man, I just love this thing. It’s the first thing in two years to make me enjoy video games outside of my website and just chill when I get off work, and for that alone, the Switch 2 was a magical experience, and absolutely the highlight of the year.
Conclusion
And there you have it! I’m hyper sleepy and shouldn’t have stayed up this late working on this list, but oh well, that’s what happens when one gets busy and distracted. I hope you enjoyed my GOTY list, and stay tuned for later on this New Years Eve, for my thoughts on the future; plans I have, my predictions, etc.
Until next time!