Hello, and welcome to the second part in my ranking of the 15 video games I played in 2024. If you've gone through the first part (which can be found here if you haven't) then you know how this is going, so let's just continue on.
To start things off, at number 8 is Persona 5 Royal. I already wrote a massive review for this game (which be found here), but suffice to say, I had a lot of problems with it. The dungeons were incredibly boring and went on for far too long, the writing had issues, and the battle system continues to sit in my mind as one of the most frustrating things I've ever had to deal with in a video game.
And yet, despite my many issues, I ended up putting Persona 5 Royal higher than I thought I would. Because for all my faults with the game, one thing I can say about it, was that it was a unique experience, and had a lot of really strong moments that stuck with me, which is more then I can say about the previous games on this ranking. The writing, for all my issues, was phenomenal, and I would say Persona 5 Royal had the best writing of all games I played this year. It was brutally honest, political, dark, and led to some of the most interesting characters I met in a game this year. For all my issues with the gameplay, I can't deny that the story and overall narrative of Persona 5 was wonderful, a fun trip that left me with much to think about. Even if the overall product isn't for me, and like Final Fantasy I'm not sure I can bring myself to play another Persona for a long time, I can totally understand the appeal of this series and why this game means so much to so many people. There's a lot of heart here, and if you don't mind its dungeon crawling and battle system, you will love this game like no other. Unfortunately, I was not one of those people, so this is as high as the game goes.
It took many many years, far longer than Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and other Nintendo series that went 3D, but finally, in 2023, Kirby went 3D for the first time in my number 7 game: Kirby and the Forgotten Land. You might recall that in 2023 I rediscovered my love for the series after being on a long hiatus. Return to Dreamland Deluxe revived my love for the series (as I explained here), and after finding love, the next game I wanted to play was Forgotten Land. I dreamed of a 3D Kirby game for so long, and at last, I got to play it this year.
Overall, it was awesome. I can see why many longtime Kirby fans consider it one of the best Kirby games. Kirby in 3D works really well, and it was a lot of fun getting to see how the copy abilities, floating, and general aesthetic of Kirby fit in a 3D environment. It took time to adjust to the 3D settings, as all long time fans do when their favorite 2D series becomes 3D, but it didn't take long for me to love what was here. Forgotten Land is an excellent Kirby game with creative levels, copy abilities, and was overall as relaxing and enjoyable as Return to Dreamland Deluxe was. I had a lovely time with this game and would recommend it wholeheartedly to all Kirby fans.
Just as The Forgotten Land was a satisfying long awaited instalment in the Kirby series, so to was my number 6 game: Mario & Luigi: Brothership. After 9 long years in which the series was assumed to be deceased, it has returned with a brand new life, and after a phenomenal year of game releases, the Mario RPG series is back.
I don't want to say too much about Brothership, because 1) I haven't finished it, but also 2) I have had so many thoughts about this game that I am planning to write a long review of it on this blog, so best to save my ramblings for that. But what I will say, is that it is so wonderful to play a new Mario RPG, and especially a new Mario & Luigi game in 2024. Acquire did such a fantastic job at keeping the spirit of these games in tact and maintaining what's so fun about them. The battle system is so satisfying to play, the world and its many islands are a joy to explore, and after spending so much time on Final Fantasy IX and Persona 5 Royal, I'd forgotten how much I love JRPGs when they actually have great varied gameplay full of exciting battles and interesting environments to explore.
That being said, I did have some issues with Brothership. The writing felt weak, especially after replaying Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and the game definitely could have been shorter. Despite that, Brothership was the new game I played this year that I never felt a lack of motivation for. Even during low points, I always wanted to come back to it, and sneak in a couple minutes of playtime when possible. I thought about it frequently when I wasn't playing it, and I cannot wait to write my long review of the game and dissect everything about it. It might not be one of my favorite Mario & Luigi games, but my god does it feel good to have the series back. I adore every game in the series, and Brothership is a welcome addition to it.
I can imagine what you're thinking: what in the world is this game, and why is it this high on my ranking!? Listen, I am a simple man, easily influenced by others, and I blame NeverKnowsBest and his excellent Youtube channel for exposing me to my wonderful number 5 game: Amagami.
In addition to NeverKnowsBest's excellent retrospective of Final Fantasy, which motivated me to play Final Fantasy IX, he released a video that completely captivated me. In it, he explores romance in video games, trying to understand why it is so rare and poorly viewed in video games, compared to movies, books, anime, basically every other medium where romance is a massive genre. It's a really interesting video, maybe my favourite Youtube video of 2024, and I would highly recommend checking it out if you're interested.
The reason I mention this video is that, it got me wanting to play a romance video game, curious of how a games handles the material, and the one I landed on was Amagami. It was the game that interested me the most from his video, and it just so happened that a fan translation of the game recently released, making it easily accessible for English players.
I am basically repeating what was said in the video, but Amagami was an excellent romance visual novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. I have only played a couple romance visual novels before this, those being Katawa Shoujo, which is an excellent game I'd recommend to anyone, and Neko Para Volumes 1, 2, and 3, which I...wouldn't recommend to anyone unless they are marvelled by the art style, characters, and er, "physics" of the game.
But overall, I enjoyed Amagami more than these games. What really stands out about it is that it has gameplay. Most visual novels keep gameplay to a minimum and place you on linear storylines. Not Amagami. Here, it takes what would become the calendar system of the Persona series and Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and makes it the core gameplay. You are constantly having to decide who to spend time with on which day, and it leads to some fun head scratchers on how to navigate each day, in addition to making your story feel more personal, since you actually chose who to hang out with, rather than placing you on a linear storyline. I especially love what is done with the girls you choose not to romance. Rather than leave them in the background, as Katawa Shoujo does, in Amagami you can continue to get to know them and even become good friends with them. However, it is quite difficult and requires mastery of the calendar system to manage the relationship while still pursuing the girl you love. I tried and totally failed to become friends with one of the other girls, which has me wanting to replay it and try again, while seeing what the other routes are like.
The writing also helps, as does the art style. The writing is consistently great, and I'm not sure why, but something about the look of the characters really grabbed me. They look fun and charming in that anime style, but there's an element of realism to them that I appreciate. Finally, having each line of dialogue be voiced goes a long way at making the characters feel real. I enjoyed the route I played, and loved bonding with the girl I fell for. It was a great story overall.
Strangely though, despite all my praise for it, I'm struggling to work up the motivation to play other routes in the game, and I'm not sure why. Perhaps the bit of gameplay in the game isn't enough, and I desire something more engaging. Perhaps I found the dialogue and characters enjoyable, but felt that I had my fill of them in one route and am content to move on. I'm not sure, but it's strange, given that I played through three routes of Katawa Shoujo before I stopped playing it, and played through the first three volumes of Neko Para before ending my time with that series. It has me wondering if I really did enjoy Amagami more than those games. Perhaps I am simply more busy in my life, don't have as much time for video games as I used to, so even if I want to, I am struggling to play other routes when there are brand new games sitting next to me. I would love to play more of this game in 2025, as I've enjoyed my time with it, and it's made me wish romance was a greater feature of video games in general. But, we shall see if I actually get to it. If not, here's to a really cool visual novel that I would recommend to anyone interested in romance video games. Thanks so much NeverKnowsBest for the recommendation.
So, my number 4 game breaks a rule of my game of the year rules list. There was no new remake of Golden Sun released this year, and I had already played it multiple times in the past. However, the game was released on the Nintendo Switch Online in 2024, and its the first rerelease of the game since 2014, when it was released on the Wii U eshop. The Wii U though, sold poorly, and wasn't portable. The release of Golden Sun 1 and 2 on the Switch was significant enough that I saw a lot of new players giving the game a chance. I decided to replay the game for the occasion, and it occupied enough space in my mind that I'm going to allow it on this list. Sure I had already played the game, and there were no new features or anything, but 2024 was an important year for the game, as the Switch release made it a lot more accessible. So, let's talk about Golden Sun.
Golden Sun 1 and 2 are still my favorite traditional turn based JRPGs. It looked amazing for its time, and even today the games still looks great. They have one of my favorite video game soundtracks, the world is still incredibly fun to explore and one of my favorite worlds in a video game, and I just...love this game a lot, nostalgia definitely a part of it.
What I've really come to appreciate about Golden Sun as I've aged though, after playing so many other JRPGs, is how not present the story is. So many JRPGs have stories that require constant engagement, which means a lot of cutscenes and interruption of the gameplay. The JRPG genre has struggled with this emphasis on linear stories for nearly its whole history, and Golden Sun is one of the few games I played that actually places small emphasis on its story. Sure there are lots of cutscenes at the beginning, but after those first couple of hours, cutscenes are far and few in between. This means that Golden Sun has a relatively basic story and cast of characters compared to other JRPGs. But I've grown to love that, because of how few JRPGs do that. It was so fun to once again explore the world of Weyward at my own pace with little interruption.
I still argue that Golden Sun has one of the most fun worlds to engage with and explore in a video game. Unlike newer games, it doesn't hold your hand, and leaves you to find your way around. If you're willing to engage with it, the world is full of interesting dungeons to explore, tons of side quests and smaller stories, and a world with some really cool lore. Every time I revisit Golden Sun, I discover a little extra cutscene or side quest or cave I had missed. It's a world that's brimming with secrets to find wherever you turn, and I love it so much.
Golden Sun 1 and 2 mean a lot to me, and I'm not surprised with how influential they were on me, that I long for JRPGs like them, those with a less present story that lets the player explore a magnificent world however they like. Imagine an RPG, in which special abilities, core abilities that allow you to change classes, require you to properly explore and uncover secrets all over the world, with no hand holding ensuring you find them, or notification when you miss one. This is the Djinn system, and it makes Golden Sun the game it is. With a relatively simple battle system and a simple story, it is a game all about exploring the magical world of Weyward, and finding its many interesting and game changing secrets will always be satisfying to do, and it remains one of my favorite video games.
Funnily enough, just like Amagami, I planned to play through both games and remember my love of them, but after completing the first Golden Sun, I decided to end things there. Again, perhaps I am simply so busy with so many games to play, but the motivation to move on to Golden Sun 2 wasn't there. One day I'd love to properly replay both games back to back, because they mean so much to me, and one day I'd love to write a long post here exploring them more.
At number 3 is a game I never thought would see a remake: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the 7 Stars. It needs to be stated just how significant this game being remade is. Released over 25 years ago, Mario RPG fans like myself always wanted to see some sort of return for this game. The best we'd gotten was ports to the Wii, a sticker in Brawl, but no character in Smash Bros, no sequel, no remake, nothing.
Then, somehow, out of nowhere, Super Mario RPG was remade, for a whole new audience to experience the magic and wonder of this game. Super Mario RPG was one of the first games I got sucked into, and one of my first RPGs, so I have a lot of nostalgia for it. It was such a special game, the first Mario RPG to attempt to give the Mario world some sort of coherent lore, the first single player Mario game to have Bowser be playable, it was such an interesting game for its time with its early 3D aesthetic and unique action command system.
What I really appreciate about Super Mario RPG all these years later, is just how short and fun it is. Like many games of its time, it doesn't take very long to complete, but in such a small world, its packed with tons of fun, interesting and varied level design, memorable bosses and moments, and it's overall such a wonderful package that I always love returning to it. The remake does a fantastic job with it, seeing the world that captivated me as a kid be remade, given beautiful 3D cutscenes, it meant so much to me. It was such a fun journey that when the end credits rolled, and that beautiful piano melody plays as you see how all the fun characters you've met are doing, I cried. I wept much, because gosh this game means a lot to me. I can still vividly remember excitedly going to my friend's house in elementary school, wanting to play his cool Super Nintendo that I didn't have, and playing Super Mario RPG while he gave me all sorts of great tips (all these years later, I've only recently realized some of his tips were not actually good tips lol). It was so fun to see so many new players experience this for the first time, and I loved everything about this game...except for the new secret bosses. I fought the first and nope, they were too frustrating and gimmicky for me.
At number 2 is another Mario RPG remake, the beloved, the legendary, the one and only: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door remake. No series means as much to me as the Mario RPGs, and few hold such special memories for me as this game does. The Thousand Year Door was the first video game sequel I felt genuine excitement for, followed previews and reviews and noted the day of its release. It got me into keeping up with video game news, and that wasn't all. It was the first game with a soundtrack that I loved so much I wanted to download and listen to it, so I searched online for tracks. It got me into video game music, and also led to me joining my very first online forum: one dedicated to the Mario RPGs.
Yet if you were to mention this to some of my friends, they would laugh at the idea of this being a game that means a lot to me. For a long time I despised this game, due to how many of its fans criticized every Mario RPG that released after it. It took a while for me to deal with these feelings of resentment, but as I've gotten older, and I participate less in online discussions, and in general take video game opinions less seriously, I've been able to recover my love for this game, and oh, playing this remake was just the best. Not only does it have everything I loved about the original, but the developers actually made some great changes to improve on the game's flaws. There are more warp pipes to make backtracking a lot easier, Chapter 4 is now so much better that it's my new favorite chapter, and my god, they gave the characters so much more personality by giving them different sprites that express different emotions, and little sounds they now make when they talk. This game was already brimming with personality, it has arguably the most realized and interesting world of any Mario RPG, and they somehow made it even more charming and full of personality.
Getting to revisit this classic and see all these improvements was incredible. Like the Super Mario RPG remake, it meant so much to me to see this game remade and with so much love and heart into making it as great as possible. The soundtrack too, my gosh. I wasn't expecting to like it more than the original soundtrack, given how much nostalgia I have for it, but wow. They really went above and beyond, not only featuring great remixes of all the wonderful tunes, but also adding a whole bunch of new music. Partners now have their own theme songs, little story moments now have little tunes, it's just incredible how much effort went into this remake, and it made for such a wonderful experience. Just like the Mario RPG remake, when that scene happened during the final battle, you know the one, with all the characters, I couldn't help but cry a bunch. The remix is maybe my favorite video game song ever, and seeing all these wonderful newly realized characters just...what a special game this is. While I still do think it is a little overhyped, and I loved seeing newcomers play this for the first time and ask what the big deal was, I cannot deny that there is something special about the game. It creates arguably the strongest interesting and charming world of any Mario game, and I was so happy to revisit it one more time. What a year this was for the Mario RPGs. I got to play three of them this year, three of them! I can't remember the last time that happened, and again, with it being my favorite series, it was such a treat to revisit and remember why I love these games so much.
And yet, none of them are my number 1 game this year, because that honour goes to...
The only thing greater that revisiting games you love and remembering why you love them, is revisiting games you forgot you loved, and rediscovering how much you loved them and how much they meant to you. It is such a magical feeling, especially the older you get, that I could think of no game more deserving of being my favorite this year, than Advance Wars 1+2: Reboot Camp.
I wanted to buy this game since its release last year, and when I knew I was going back to school this year, I decided to pick it up, not to play it seriously, but as something to waste time on when I have a bit of downtime at school. What I was not expecting, was to put over 150 hours into this game and think about it the entire second half of 2024.
It's hard to believe, I still can't believe it, but I forgot just how big of an Advance Wars fan I used to be. Many years ago, I loved these games. There's a reason I own all 4 of its instalments across the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. I used to play these games a ton, and they meant so much to me. They captivated me like few games did. They were the missing piece in a puzzle I had of why I struggled so much to enjoy traditional JRPGs like Final Fantasy IX and Persona 5 Royal, but loved strategy JRPGs like Fire Emblem and Triangle Strategy. It's because I grew up on these games, these strategy games that captured my imagination for over 10 years, that led me to loving strategy RPGs in general.
But then, why did I forget about them? In trying to understand this, I found the answer when talking with my brother, and noticing a curious similarity between us. When Fire Emblem Awakening released for the 3DS, and was a massive success, it just so happened to coincide with the death of Advance Wars, and given that was also a strategy series, I believe most Advance Wars fans happily became Fire Emblem fans. It was hard to see the downsides at the time when Fire Emblem exploded in popularity, but replaying Advance Wars 1 and 2 reminded me just how special these games are.
Where Fire Emblem excels in stories and characters you grow attached to, the strategy gameplay of Advance Wars is unmatched in its fun and depth. I love puzzle games, but their puzzles generally take at most 10 minutes. I also love grand strategy games, like Civilization V and Europa Universalis IV. But those games are massive time commitments that will take 5+ hours for you to complete a single game. Then there's Advance Wars. It falls perfectly in the middle of being a strategy game with units you build and use to battle in a complex map, but a single battle will take at most two hours, and at minimum 30 minutes. They are the perfect way to pass an hour in satisfying strategy combat, and it's so fun that I, again, put over 150 hours into it.
It still blows my mind just how much depth the game has. The different CO characters all have their own unique special abilities to use, while also having unique attributes that affects their units, adding tons of replayability with who you play as and who you fight. The maps can dramatically change how you battle and which units you build based on the terrain, sea, locations of bases, etc. There's just so much depth to the game, and yet it still remains so simple that you can complete a match in an hour, that I could not stop playing and thinking about this game. This was exactly what I needed to get through the difficult days at school, in which I just wanted something fun and easy to do for an hour. It is strategy gameplay at its best, and god was I so happy to rediscover my love for this series, why I was such a big fan, and god does it make me so sad knowing that this series is dead. I feel immensely blessed to have been able to live alongside and experience all four of its great games, and I am so happy that this remake exists. Giving the characters voices adds great personality to them, the new animations are wonderful, and the music, my god. Just like with the Paper Mario remake, the developers added new songs for every character that plays when they use a power up. It makes those power up moments hit that much harder, and I could not get enough of this game. I'd love to say I am done playing it and will keep this new addiction at bay, but I can't promise I won't play at least a couple rounds in 2025. The core Advance Wars gameplay is just so fun and addicting and god I missed these games. It was wonderful to revisit them, and I am more then happy to call this remake my favorite game of 2024.
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That is all the games I played in 2024, the end. As I reflect on this, it's hard not to notice the obvious thing about this ranking. My top 4 games were all remakes or re-releases of games I had already played and had nostalgia for. I really didn't want to list a remake as my favorite game, let alone all of my top 4, but I just couldn't deny it. All of my favorite games this year were games I was already familiar with. If that does not say that I have become an old man, then I do not know what does.
It's tough. I don't want to be that guy that says the old games were better, that new games have lost it. I've often prided myself on being someone that can see the value in new releases, on fighting back against those that insist the old game was better. But now, I can't deny that I can see myself becoming that, and it's very conflicting to deal with. In my 2023 game ranking, I remarked that no game that year wowed me the way my 3 favorite games of 2022 did. And that's also true here, it's been over 2 years since I played a new game I truly loved and fell head over heels for. It sucks, because I don't want that to be the case. I want to be able to love new games. Perhaps this is an inevitable part of growing older, and you too, dear reader, will one day reach a moment like this. But boy, do I miss the feeling of playing something that felt truly new in a way that wowed me. If there's one resolution I have for 2025, it's that I want to go out of my comfort zone, and play video games that I would not normally play, and play something totally unfamiliar for me. This year I played a lot of familiar games, games in genres I have a long history with, etc. and I think if I want to keep loving new games, I need to go out of my comfort zone and play games in genres I'm unfamiliar with, and by new developers. I'm not holding my breath that I'll be able to do that in 2025, but there's my new year's resolution.
Thank you so much for reading this, I continue to be stunned that people actually enjoy reading my writing and reading all of it. 2025 looks to be a busy year, and I'm not sure I'll be able to make many blog posts as a result. But I'm hoping to, I want to write at least 5 posts in 2025. Wish me luck in doing that, as I hinted at throughout this ranking, I already have a couple planned posts in mind. Until then, have a wonderful 2025, and here's to video games, that sweet medium we all love so so much.
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