VIDEO GAME FAVS

i've been an Animal Crossing fan since the OG gamecube game, but i think that, overall, New Horizons is my favorite installment in the series. i do miss how much personality and Unique Dialogue the villagers had in New Leaf, but i've had a LOT of fun with all the customization options and obsessively decorating my house in this game. it takes a lot of what made the older games good while being a fresh, distinct entry into a series that had some previous issues with being kinda stale (City Folk was the worst offender)

Can You Tell That I Grew Up With The N64
banjo-kazooie is THE Nostalgic Childhood Game for me, i've replayed it more times that i can count. i grew up playing a Few 3D platformers, but this game was the one that i religiously came back to above all else. i love its cheeky personality! the worlds have so much charm to them! my brain gives me serotonin when i collect things! i also really like Banjo-Tooie, but i'll admit that the world designs in this game are more finely crafted than the huge giant monstrosities in Tooie

you may look at screenshots of this and think "wow that's a crusty N64/PS1 tank battle game" but it's actually aged surprisingly well! i played this game a ton growing up and it's still super fun to boot up the campaign mode every once in a while and blow up every tank and building in sight. i also managed to find some fun glitches as a kid, there's ways to launch yourself out into The Void and take a leisurely drive thru it

okay so i haven't actually played this game myself, but i recognize art when i see it. Mr. SWERY watched the entirety of Twin Peaks and told himself "i am going to make the most legally distinct video game of all time." the gameplay looks miserable, the graphics suck shit, the audio mixing is a nightmare, but whenever i see York whip out his inhuman shark smile i can't help but dreamily sigh and think to myself Yes.... This Is What Gaming Should Be

gaming is an experience, and this game is certainly the experience of all time

biggest crime of the century that this game is so underrated, and NO i don't care that the G*me Gr*mps played it. i am a big fan of aquatic aminals so having a whole game where you can swim around with fishies was a dream come true as a kid. and this game genuinely improved upon the formula of the first game! it added so much more Actual Gameplay and Environment Variety to the Scuba Experience, and actually the first game is so much funnier in retrospect bc like, while this game will have dangerous animals actually be a threat to you, the first game would let you swim right up to a great white shark and pet it like it was your beloved family dog. anyways this game rocks please play it

first Fire Emblem game i ever played babey!! i am an RPG Enjoyer and this game sure enables me to overthink every single move i make bc hey stop dying stop dying why is everyone dying UGGGHHH i have to restart this map AGAIN. i think this and Three Houses are the only TRPGs i've played?? i do really like how important Positional Movement is in this game, adds a hellish amount of methodical planning to the RPG formula
also making this game half dating sim is what saved this franchise you cannot change my mind

most succinct way to describe this game is Amogus Time Loop Visual Novel
honestly this is a hard game to recommend bc i can easily see it being way too boring and frustrating for some people. you're stuck in a time loop where you have to do these Among Us/Werewolf-style debates with NPCs over and over and there's not exactly too much to the plot. the focus of the game is more on learning about these different interesting Sci-Fi Characters--i had fun with the core gameplay and i liked the characters, so that's what made the game good for me!

LOVE THIS GAME LOVE THIS GAME LOVE THIS GAME RIPS OFF MY SHIRT AND YELLS!!!!
the gameplay speaks to me on a such a primal level, i am a Huge Fan of fast-paced melee combat and Hades gives me exactly what i crave (adamant rail fans do NOT interact i am in a committed relationship with the fists). i haven't played too many rougelikes in my time but like, the formula in this game Works for me. there's so much room to experiment with different builds and you can get some really busted/funny combos. plus it's fun chatting with the fifty billion different characters!

also Jen Zee is an art goddess im perpetually in awe of her power

hamha!!! it's Hamtaro Time!!! i loved Hamtaro as a kid, too bad his series flopped super mega hard in the west 😔 but! we got one of the most adorable games ever created before that! that stinker Spat is going around ruining the love of ham-hams all over the ham-ham world, so Hamtaro and Bijou are off to save the day! i believe in them!!

the main gameplay focus is running around and learning random new ham-chats to later utilize in various ham-situations, which is a mechanic that all good video games should have

i cannot emphasize enough just how much i unironically adore this game. sure, yes, this is the funny pigeon dating sim where you woo actual birds, but it's a parody that takes itself quite seriously when it needs to. the character writing is surprisingly nuanced, lowering your guard with its kooky concept and birdie shenanigans, but then you're growing genuinely attached to these birds and holy shit that route actually made me really sad and oh my god there's a story mode? and it's making me cry?? im crying over a bird dating game???

can't believe it took me five whole years to finally get around to this game bc Holy Shit y'all weren't lying, That Game Sure Can Good. it's like!! super fun!!!! just like Breath of the Wild, it activates the part of my brain that loves to poke my schnoz into every single corner of the map, but then i gotta eventually look up a guide and be like "wait that was also hiding there??"

also LOVE the combat, fast-paced melee is one of my great true loves. and i never got salty from a boss battle :^) or any of the platforming :^) plus this is all wrapped together in such an aesthetically melancholy bug world... an old sadness saturates the very ground you walk upon

haven't actually played this game myself (yet), but i really liked what i saw! you basically walk around these PS1-style dream worlds, all of which have their own distinct vibes and various dream citizens you can interact with. some worlds are peaceful and calming, others unsettling, and there's one world in particular that sticks out in my mind bc it had maybe one of the best horror atmospheres i've seen in a game in a while (I Was Spooked)

Ib my beloved...... this is one of the games that came out during the heyday of RPG Maker Horror Games™ and also happens to be one of my favorites! it's got the lovely setting of a spooky haunted art gallery and some of the best atmosphere i've experienced in a game. pixel games leave more up to your imagination so it's like, spookier and stuff y'know? also i love Garry and Ib they have such a cute brother/sister type relationship 😭

who woulda thought that a Horror Deckbuilder Roguelike would work so well but hey! it does! this game gets up to some Shenanigans (can't say more without spoiling the fun), but i had a lot of fun with the actual card gameplay! i also got my ass stomped more times than i can count but that's like, part of the experience babey!! sometimes the RNG goes right for your jugular and other times you stumble into the most busted deck of your lifetime and you feel like you can kill god

it took me TOO LONG to play Katamari!! 😩 love to be just a little guy rolling up a big ball of Stuff and definitely Not being a menace to humanity. there's such a simple joy in scampering around and finding bigger and bigger stuff to add to your ever-growing katamari. and by simple joy i mean the pure rush of unhinged power going to my head as i amass an Unstoppable All-Consuming Giant Abomination To Surpass Metal Gear

watch out!! they gave kirby a car!!
another multiplayer game i played a TON growing up, loved playing the city trial over and over and over again. there's something addicting about having just a few minutes to scramble together as many power ups as possible while thinking to yourself "well that Stadium Hint was CLEARLY alluding to that one racetrack so i'll grab THIS car and THESE power ups" and then you get to the stadium event and it's actually a demolition derby

every kirby game i've played is fun but this one has always been my favorite 😤 it introduced THE best kirby mechanic of all time: combining abilities, but APPARENTLY no other kirby game since has truly embraced this super fun and exciting and awesome mechanic bc??? the devs are bullying me personally i guess. just let me be a fridge again this is all i want in life

i didn't grow up playing Zelda games, so im really glad that im finally getting to some as an adult. and hoowee wowie zowie this sure is a stellar game to have as one of my first Zeldo Experiences (my very first Zelda game was Spirit Tracks so y'know. a bit of a step up). this game aggressively activates the part of my brain that must explore every single corner of the map so you can imagine the lucrative levels of serotonin that were injected directly into my system. i do wish that the combat was more fun long-term (this game really needs more enemy diversity), but that doesn't stop this game from being one of my favorites of all time

this game took everything good about the first Luigi's Mansion and made it even better! i've never played Dark Moon so idk how the transition between that game was, but playing this game made me nostalgic for the first one while also being like "wow this is all the fun and zany personality that the first one was going for!" love that they did whatever the hell they wanted for the designs of each floor of the hotel, it adds some very welcome variety to the Vibes and gameplay
the controls can feel kinda clunky but like, the way the game functions is inherently clunky so they truly did the best that they could with making the core gameplay as enjoyable as possible. everything is elevated by Luigi being a scared little twink of a protagonist

this game's more of an enigma for me than anything bc like, growing up i assumed that Other People knew about this game bc i learned about it from a childhood friend. but no, nobody i know has heard of this game, there's minimal online discussions or videos of it, the only speedrun i can find is a partially documented one that was run during a charity event?? why is this game such a cryptid???

the gameplay was chemically engineered to appeal to my Child Artist brain bc it's like, similar to Pokemon but you draw your own critters!! it's so cool!! why does nobody know about it!!!

oh yeah babey i grew up playing lots of Mario Kart, and you better believe that I'm Using Tilt Controls!!
i also played a bit of Mario Kart 64 and Double Dash growing up, but i played Mario Kart Wii to death (also both older games didn't age the best, please don't yell at me about Double Dash that game feels so slippery now). and now Mario Kart is like, the only game where i have a weird sense of competitive pride lmao, im super not a competitive person normally and im not even That Good at the game but i need to be the best Mario Kart player in the room

you think im above recommending Minecraft? a CLASSIC???
look, we don't talk about N***h but we Can talk about how good of a sandbox this game is. the world is quite literally your oyster to do with as you please, making it both a perfect single player and multiplayer game. playing with friends, you can make a commune where everyone naturally goes off and does whatever silly tasks they enjoy the most. playing alone, i can tell myself i'll finally make a nice house this time and then inevitably spend all my time doing my Favorite Minecraft Activity: clearcutting forests. my friends always bully me for being a menace against nature but i find it relaxing :(((

another member of the RPG Maker Horror Era and one of my top Aesthetic Favs. love the art! love the simple yet atmospheric world designs! love that banger ost! it is a flavor of Surreal Metaphorical Storytelling that my pretentious sensibilites simply cannot resist. definitely a game that you should experience for yourself if you haven't already, the mood is what really sells it for me

i grew up loving the OG Paper Mario, so when i finally got around to playing The Thousand-Year Door in highschool i was so pleasantly surprised by how well it expanded upon the gameplay and concepts in the first game. charming aesthetic, charming characters, really cool world designs, fun battles: it's got it all! both games feel so comfy to replay u,w,u
also the badge system is one of my favorite things in any game, it's such a neat way to strategize what moves and skills you wanna use in specific areas and encounters (Hollow Knight's also got a similar mechanic and when i first saw it i was like :O!!! Just Like Paper Mario!!!!)

so far the Only Ace Attorney game i've played, which is a shame bc i really like this game!
you get to snuffle around for clues to solve Wacky and Zany court cases with a Loveable Cast of Characters! i don't really have much specific to say bc i haven't played this game in a While, but i remember the court cases being fun and goodness gracious someone out there needs to help Edgeworth with his Unnecessary Feelings

im sure that a lot of us who grew up playing Pokemon dreamed of one day getting to run around in the world with our funny little dudes. while Sword and Shield were the first step in that direction, Legends: Arceus is where i first actually felt like i was exploring the world with my guys. sure the graphics Aren't Great, but that never really impeded how much fun i had exploring all the different areas, even if i sometimes paused to be like "haha look at that miserable pop in"

also, while it's a relatively minor change, i appreciated the addition of Strong and Agile moves. Pokemon's battle system has stayed pretty fuckin unchanged all these years, usually only slapping on a random gimmick each generation, but this actually felt like a fundamental shake up to battles

PMD: Red Rescue Team was my (surprisingly kinda grueling) introduction to roguelikes, so my childhood had a decent amount of getting jumped by monster houses and miserably failing to recruit legendaries. i didn't play Explorers of Sky until much later, but i was very excited when i finally got my hands on it since Everyone says it's the best PMD game. and guess what! the game's GOOD. love crawling around those dungeons with my crew and wow! it's a Pokemon game with some actual story! Grovyle we all love and support you *salutes*

first Pokemon game where you could see these little stinkers existing in their natural habitats, it was VERY cool back in the day. very fun to toss an apple directly at a Pokemon's head and quickly snap them being Pretty Cranky. and after playing New Pokemon Snap, i still feel more fondly towards this game--one specific aspect that i love about this game is the sense of exploration and wonderment as you unlock new areas of the map. it's a relatively simple mechanic, but it's completely missing in the new game and that was one of the things i really wanted to see fleshed out and expanded upon 😔

by this point you can probably tell that i popped out of the womb obsessed with Pokemon. the series may be extremely stale but its formula does, in fact, just WORK for me. i love running around a new region and collecting funny little dudes who'll be my best friends forever!! i am simply not immune!!
out of all the generations, i'd say that gen 5 was the most polished and fully realized point in the series. the spritework was charming and lively, it had the closest attempt to an actual story, and the overall gameplay, while not really bringing any new innovations, was Very Solid Pokemon

HOOUUUGGGHHHUUGHGHHHHH <-- me thinking with portals

one of the best puzzle games out there babey!! launching yourself thru portals at mach speeds is one of the simple joys in gamer life. single player campaign rips, multiplayer campaign rips, characters are great, humor still holds up well, we love to see it!!

im sure Portal 3 is just around the corner :'^)

hey why does it feel like nobody ever talks about this game?? people like Rayman but i like NEVER see any discussions or nostalgic reminiscing about this specific game. am i just not in the right circles?? anyways this is another Classic 3D Platformer from my childhood, out of all the platformers i've played i think this one has my favorite atmosphere. the game's like.... Creepy. kinda spooky, kinda depressing. the cave of bad dreams terrified me as a kid, but i was so strong and brave about it. regrettably i played the N64 version so the fuckin banger of a soundtrack was MIDIfied to hell and back

perhaps my favorite game that i've never played myself

this is the only Silent Hill that i've experienced in its entirety (i do plan on watching play thrus of the other games Eventually™) but i easily see why this one specifically is held in such high regard. it's such a finely crafted psychological horror narrative, with an oppressive foggy Silent Hill as the backdrop for James to be a healthy and well-adjusted person who has nothing in particular he needs to work thru. it's great symbolic storytelling! i slurp that shit up!

hands you some blood. hands you some blood. hands you some blood. hands y
join Philip and Leg Horse on a mission thru a land of Many Bleeding Objects and Huge Banger OST.
tbh i haven't played this game in forever so my recollection's a bit fuzzy, but i remember Charming Characters, Fun Aesthetic, Blood. it's a good game okay just trust me on this one

Splatoon is the ONLY shooter that i've ever actively enjoyed. most shooters easily bore me bc the endless cycle of Click Heads And Take Cover gets real repetitive real fast for me, but Splatoon has a big focus on movement and turf control that i find really engaging and fun. you have to focus on more than Just getting kills to have a big impact on the match! what a concept!

my favorite mode is Salmon Run bc i crave fish-spawned anxiety :^)

YES im a girl. YES i play farm sims. we exist :/
honestly the only other farm sim experience i had before this game was Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life which, if you haven't played that game before uh, don't! it kinda sucks!
so Stardew Valley was definitely a huge step up for my Farming Gamer Career, where i could get to know all these romanceable neighbors and customize my farm how i want to and not die of starvation after watering only two crops. it takes that farm sim formula and polishes it into something that's Pretty Dang Fun!

i grew up playing Quite A Bit of Mario, so i sat back and thought over which mainline Mario game was my favorite. im an outspoken Sunshine enjoyer. 3D World was also pretty good. Odyssey was fun, but im not much for tons of post-game content. i played quite a bit of SM64, but that game did Not age well. out of everything, Galaxy has stuck with me the most. playing this game as a kid felt almost magical--orbiting around tiny planets, star bits showering all around, the cosmos endlessly enveloping you, the quiet melancholy of Rosalina... it rests in a comfortable corner of my brain

how many people grew up playing this series?? i don't see people discuss it much, but every once in a while i'll see someone bring it up on social media and then a few other people will chime in like "oh yeah i loved that game as a kid!" there are perhaps dozens of us *googles* WAIT THE FIRST GAME SOLD OVER ONE MILLION COPIES?? WHERE ARE YOU PEOPLE HIDING
okay anyways i've played the first three games (apparently there's a fourth one??) and i remember Enjoying Them! i'll admit this series doesn't stick in my brain as much as other 3D platformers i grew up with, but slinging around sicknasty boomerangs was fun

Toby Fox is honestly such a huge inspiration for me. you can tell he put so much of himself and what he enjoys into this game--it oozes distinct personality. there's all these wildly different charming characters, banger songs, and goofy but genuine writing, all of which can get solemnly serious when it needs to. playing Undertale, awashing myself in Toby's playful enthusiam, it recenters me, reminding me of the humble joy of why i love to create

obscenely potent game for a yoshi-obsessed child. couldn't tell you how well this game aged bc the nostalgia lenses are too strong. every yoshi sound is recorded in my brain, poochy's bark Activates me, I Will Collect Every Single Melon (not really i was terrible at that as a baby child lmao). discovering secret yoshi colors was SO exciting and the terror of trying not to die in order to successfully unlock them was simply too much of an adrenaline rush for my developing brain

i've played the whole Zero Escape series and they're definitely all fun games, but 999 will always be my fav in the trilogy. it builds up such an oppressive horror atmosphere, where you're just waiting for someone to snap and have the whole ship sink around you, and then you're stuck in a freezer with your grade school crush and she's about to launch into an hour long monologue about some pseudoscience bullshit and HELL yeah now THAT'S what the game's about babey!! bewildering rants spiralling into some of the most bonkers plot twists this world has ever seen!!