by mocbucket62
Yep, once again I'm a year late to posting my top video games from last year. This time around I got pretty side tracked with other things such as work and playing plenty different games from this year that were both 2024 releases and non 2024 releases. Well I'll make this intro quick and say that 2023 will probably go down as one of my favorite years in games in that there were plenty of great Nintendo Games that I adored and collectively made Nintendo's 2024 output look bad. Plus I got experience many other amazing games ranging from Microsoft to 3rd party. Though 2023 might be the lightest year for indies for me personally as only 2 Indies made my top ten. But they were still very much worth my time. So without further ado, here are my top 10 games of 2023 that I'm posting on the final day of 2024 lol. Plus I'll edit this list as I go providing quick descriptions on why I love each game.
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I never beat any Zelda game until last year. In fact, I beat 2 Zeldas in 2023. The Minish Cap and Tears of the Kingdom. Minish Cap was a nice 2D Zelda to beat where it took advantage of the shrinking gimmick from Ezlo and I liked the Capcom design on Zelda. But man Tears of the Kingdom was something on a whole other level. I liked my time with Breath of the Wild but never finished it as I was not entirely in love with Link's abilities and the ways of traveling. TOTK fixes that with a new moveset ranging from Ultrahand with let's Link make the craziest contraptions and vehicles possible (I built so many Pod Racers) and Fuse which can let em atach Meat to arrows now. Plus there's so much great content in this game side and mainline that with the Ways Link can access to or even break the game in doing so, there wasn't a single game that gave me more joy to play than TOTK in 2023. Also, I made the Cheesy Omelette from this game in real life and now Link is Hyrule local Pizza Chef.
This game is my runner up as its not quite my favorite game of 2023. But in some ways its the most important game. What I mean is that at the start of 2023 I beat Pentiment and while I adore that game I had little to no motivation to play anything. Kinda was feeling a little fatigued with gaming and took a break. Then Hi Fi Rush gets shadow dropped and it definitely caught my eye. This Rhythm Based Character Action game stars this Wannabe Rockstar Himbo Chai as he wails his magnetically constructed guitar on Robots to the beat of Rock music and a Jet Set Radio looking aesthetic. FROM THE DEVELOPER BEHIND THE EVIL WITHIN AND GHOSTWIRE TOKYO OF ALL DEVELOPERS?! And man this was the game I needed. What a great fusion of genres blending rhythm gameplay with DMC style combat and it has now become my favorite game I ever played on Game Pass. Not to mention the music is amazing listening to tracks that are mostly different variations of Rock but with some Big Band Music throw in there at a certain level. Plus I ended up loving the characters way more than expected. From Peppermint being the perfect foil to Chai's doofus behavior and being the real heart of the plot to Macaron who used to work for Vandeley Technologies and resents fighting despite being his muscular body. I love this game so much that I was heartbroken seeing the news that Microsoft Shut down Tango Gameworks as well as 3 other developers earlier this year. Such a baffling decision in my mind after all the praise and Awards Tango Got for Hi Fi. But now Tango is at least back when Krafton bought and revived Tango Gameworks as well as got the IP. So I'm happy to see that both Tango and Hi Fi Rush have a future. Anyways if you haven't played Hi Fi Already and/or love both action and rhythm games, go play this gem!
I never played a Pikmin game until 4 and man I'm so happy I dove into the Pikmin train this year. 4 is one of the most satisfying games as I gather my Pikmin and think about which Pikmin to use to either fight specific creatures or collect resources. Gotta need Red Pikmin to fight fire-based creatures since they are resistant to Fire. But I'll need Blue Pikmin to go underwater and collect Treasure that on the bottom of the pond. It feels so good to look out for Treasure and bring it back to the base and see all the funny names these aliens give these ordinary Earth items. A Game Boy Advance SP is a Stone of Advancement to these little guys! Also Oatchi is the MVP being this Dog buddy that can have all the Pikmin and your character ride on his back as well as Ram into enemies and then your Pikmin Raid onto the Target and take em out. Plus Oachi can also gather treasure and can get really nice upgrades. He's the best. Plus without spoiling anything, Pikmin 4 has some of the best side content I've played in any game. I stayed up to 2:35am in the morning to beat that part of the game. Pikmin 4 is an incredible Real Time Strategy/Platformer hybrid and looking forward to Pikmin 5 when it (hopefully) comes to Switch 2.
From Software is the back to back champions of providing my favorite PS5 game of the year in 2022 and 2023. 2022 was Elden Ring obviously and 2023 was Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. Much like Pikmin 4 being my first dive into the Pikmin series this is my first ever Armored Core. I wasn't sure if was gonna play AC6 since I don't play many Mech games unless they're turn based like Into the Breach. But after seeing Dan Ryckert rave about and also see my brother get super into it, I bought AC6 and man what a game. A game where after failing certain missions you can adjust your mech in the sortie and give it different mech parts and weapons and experiment to see if the loadout is best for this part of the mission. The Mechs feel so much fun to control flying around and even boosting through different maps. Plus so much fun weaponary to use to blast through enemy Mechs and Bosses. My personal favorites were the Gatling Guns and the Plasma Shoulder Cannons. Its also a game I should revisit since it has multiple endings and I've heard new missions unlock in the middle of the story during a new playing. From Software is definitely busy now that they're gonna release Elden Ring NightReign next year, but I'm hoping we get Armored Core 7 sometime in the future since 6 was such a great time.
I'm not much of a horror game person but I have played some Resident Evils as of late. And Funny enough they've all been the recent Remakes. Beat RE3 Remake in 2020 (my first RE) then RE2 Remake in 2021 and RE4 Remake last year. I know that Resident Evil 4 is one of the most beloved video games ever but this was my real intro to the game. At first I got frustrated in spots with the game to the point that the game offered to put it on beginner mode in one spot and I accepted not knowing that I couldn't go back to standard difficulty. While that was a bummer, the game itself is so much fun to play. Eventually I got good at parrying and the gunplay is so satisfying. The boss fights were incredibly memorable and all had their own quirks to figure out from Mendez to Krauser. Honestly between RE2 and RE4, Leon is my guy. Seems like I like RE best when he's the star. Though what really propelled this game into my top 5 was the Separate Ways DLC which was a fantastic short campaign where you see the events of the plot thru the lens of Ada Wong. Got to play this when my Brother was in town and honestly playing that with him and I talking about the plot of RE4 and RE lore in general was pretty awesome. I should check out the original at some point but RE4 remake was great as is and its Separate Ways DLC is super worth it.
Venba is a game where its so short I really wanted to learn more about its characters. Its a game that I wish there were 1 or 2 more chapters where Venba is cooking a dish for her husband Paavalan and her son Kavin. And yet, Venba was far and away the best Narrative I experienced with any game in 2023. Its a beautiful short game where you play as a Mother of an Indian Family who moved to Canada in the 1980's in hope for a better life and opportunity for her family. In most chapters the family is going through something crucial in their lives but in between Venba herself is cooking all sorts of authentic Southern Indian Dishes to provide for her family. In one chapter Venba convinces her son Kavin to have Puttu for his Birthday rather than pizza because Puttu is cooked in a way where it looks like a Rocket Ship blasts off and underneath is a delicious Cylinder of Steamed Ground Rice with layers of coconut. The cooking itself is pretty enjoyable and forgiving as they're organized as puzzles where you have steps from the cookbook of Venba's Mother but some of the steps are blurry and you need to figure out thru trial and error how the dish is made. If you mess up you can retry it. Plus the food itself is so good I made actual Biryani for the first time thanks to this game. Venba's short length and me wanting to know these characters more and cook more doesn't put it quite in my top 5 but its easily my favorite Indie of 2024. It also has in my mind the best soundtrack of 2023. I mean, listen to this banger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEyPQ8Xb35k&list=PL1aefs7lqH86kVEBmrkfVFGeEy3wxr0U3&index=4
My brother was a huge Advance War fan when we had the GBA and DS. He swears by this series being some of Nintendo's absolute best. I only dabbled in Advance Wars: Dual Strike in 2005 but didn't get too deep into the series until 1+2 Re-Boot Camp released last year. And man I'm so happy I finally sunk my teeth into this series. I know that Re-Boot Camp has been criticized for its 3D art direction being charmless compared to the sprite work of the originals. While I think the art direction isn't as memorable it didn't bother me all that much and I got used to it. The core gameplay of these 2 games was so much fun as I got through the campaigns and dug what they had to offer. AW1 is more focused on fighting various Commanding officers and adopting to their fight style w/ most missions being based on either eliminating every enemy unit or conquering their HQ. I perferred AW2 myself since while it lacks opposing CO officer variety, you get to play as various CO's from every nation and the missions have way more variety to them. One mission might have you rout the HQ within 7 in game days while another will have you destroy 8 mini cannons or take over HQ. I got really addicted to the campaigns of this game and was really happy to see Advance Wars get a release of some kind all these years later. I thought these were really solid remakes and definitely worth your time if you love turn based strategy games.
What a good MAINLINE Mario Game. Finally we got a new 2D Mario with a fresh new art style and taking some crazy risks with the formula. The Wonder Flower adds so much to change things up in traditional 2D Mario level design. The opening level has Pipes becoming sentient and going up and down and even acting like worms scooting across the level. Another level might have you walk on the background of the level and all the sudden it becomes an overhead game. Not to mention this game has some great power ups with the Elephant being the most iconic one, but for me Drill Suit was my favorite drilling into the ground and ceiling and scrolling around the level under ground or ceiling to collect coins or avoid goombas. Plus the Badge system give Mario a more rebust approach to completing levels. You can use a grappling Hook in Mario now with a Grapple Piranha Plant! I also beat Super Mario World again in 2023 and overall I still think World is the undisputed king of 2D Mario, but Wonder was still a breath of fresh air and worth your time. Also beat the game as Daisy so I can say Daisy was the real hero who beat Bowser.
Besides a few Battle Royale games like Tetris 99 and Rumbleverse, I don't often get into Battle ROyale style games. I've also been wanting to play a new F-Zero game or a Remaster of F-Zero GX that when F-Zero 99 was announced, I was a tad disappointed it wasn't exactly what I initially hoped for. However after getting this on Switch I had a hard time putting it down. Turns out F-Zero 99 was the game I needed at the moment and it's become my favorite Battle Royale Style game. F-Zero 99 takes the original courses of the first F-Zero and 99 total F-Zero Machines gather at a starting position and then launch into it. Its a racing loop that I find super enjoyable where you hit other machines and collect yellow orbs. If you get enough enough charge from the Yellow Orbs you can jump onto the Skyway and can skip parts of the original course and get a speed boost. Of course the core F-Zero experience is there where you still need to manage your lifebar and boost where you feel good about but not at your detriment. If you blow up early or are so far back that you can't meet the quota being being one of the 85 racers on the 4th lap, you're done. Like the original you can compete in Grand Prixs as well and survive (or if lucky win) on the race tracks to advance and rank. Loved doing the Mini Prix just doing 3 tracks at a time. Though this is definitely my favorite Battle Royale because it's the only Battle Royale I've won at haha. Only won 2 races but it was so exhilarating to win both those races. Glad F-Zero is back with 99 and I need to check in on the new updates this game has gotten in 2024.
This game snuck into my top 10 last year. I LOVE Wario Land 3 and 4 and when I heard this game combines elements of both with Peppino Spaghetti being invincible in the levels a la WL3 while having those "Hurry UP!" rush segments at the end of the level a la WL4, I was sold. Admiteddly I feel like I need to play this on something that isn't on the XBOX One controller on PC. Not sure what it was but felt like the controls on that controller felt too squirrely for my liking to feel like it was perfect. That said, still beat this game last year and it was a blast. Goes all in on the buckwild 90's animation art style its got and the moveset Peppino's got is really fun. It can also get anxiety inducing too if I'm stuck on one level where I need to get going before time runs out or if I'm still going the time runs out and Pizza Face will Try to Super Mario Bros 2 Mask attack me to end the run. Definitely appreciate the level variety too as it often introduces a new mechanic in each level. Freaking Mort the Chicken, star of the obscure PS1 game serves as a Power Up in one level. Personally speaking I don't think Pizza Tower tops the Wario Lands for this style of platformer (especially Wario Land 3 but that's one of my favorite games ever). But its still a great platformer that carries its franctic nature on its sleeve.