Another ten on my list to play this year going in order on the Metacritic all-time best list for DS. 

After a brief time with Monster Hunter Stories, I really managed to focus this week on my PS2 stuff and get through a lot. Then I traded a bunch of them, but also picked up some new ones. 

A list of games I'd like to revisit in order of Metacritic score for the years 2004-2006 with some notes.

It’s the end of the year so you know what that means?  It’s time for my “Best Video Games of 2023 Awards Show!”  Keep in mind that this is my list only and no other outside opinions contributed.  And if a game isn’t on this list, it either just didn’t appeal to me as much or I haven’t had a chance to play it yet.  Ok with that out of the way, let’s begin!

Finally, I am Switch exclusive right now. I already have youtube running for meal times, and I'm exploring the story and news apps thoroughly. I'm also just as impatient with every game I'm playing, taking breaks and jumping around like a manic flea from game to game. Well, maybe I've found a game I will stick to for a while in Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince. Details below. 

The 3DS was released this year. Minecraft came out of beta. The highest rated games were Batman: Arkham City, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Portal 2. Here's a list of what I put the most time into that year followed by stuff I played later and then a wish list. 

I remember this year mostly for the being disappointed with the World of Warcaft MMO. I wanted another another strategy WoW. But there was also the release of the DS, which got me back into handheld gaming, and cueing up for my first midnight release for Halo 2. The rest of the world was buying GTA: San Andreas and Pokemon FireRed/Leaf Green, numbers 1 and 2 in sales respectively. Half-Life 2 was a notable winner on Metacritic. Here's some stuff I played and want to play. 

I watched some Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and MSG SEED on youtube. I only found a few episodes dubbed into English, most are with subtitles, which I like to avoid. It's a neat show. I'm constantly reminded of US IPs like Halo and Pacific Rim while watching it. GUNDAM just basically means the neural interface with a robotic battle suit, like with Master Chief and Cortana or the piltos and Jaegers of Pacific Rim. Seems this show, just like the hair styles, like their robots all spikey. Fun stuff, and complex. The stories in MSGW are deep in polical intrigue, Earth vs. Rebels, not unlike the colonial uprisings in the Halo universe. I enjoyed it in between lots of gaming that happened during Labor Day weekend as outlined below. 

2000 was the year of the PS2. Remember the lines as people wanted not just a game system but a DVD player? I got one later. However, Pokemon still ruled home game sales: Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver and Pokemon Stadium all contributed. Microsoft bought Bungie and PopCap was formed. Mad Krammer and I were really into the Dreamcast, and I bought a PC I could finally call my own. Here is a list of stuff I've played or want to play today in 2023 (darn it, that's 23 years ago!).

1995, I remember it well. . . Not so well, actually, so that's why I go through the list of video games on wiki again. The biggest US games of '95 were Daytona USA and Mortal Kombat 3, but I got other ideas, a bunch of them:

I picked up a few games today at Game Junkies along the lines of early 90s (2 Genesis, 2 SNES and 1 NES game) but not any of these listed below which were unavailable or pricey. Good thing many of them are available digitally with subscriptions or relatively cheap. Here's my list for '92.

Around this time of year, I like to make a list of my best games SO FAR, because usually the AAA titles are released later in the year during the holiday season, and the titles that came out earlier tend to be forgotten.  So here’s when those games get their due.  Keep in mind that this is my list only and no other outside opinions contributed.  And if a game isn’t on this list, it either just didn’t appeal to me as much or I haven’t had a chance to play it yet.  Ok with that out of the way, let’s begin!

It's been quite a year! I played a ton of games this year, and there were plenty of games that I wanted to play that I didn't get to (too many games!). Some of those games will roll over into next year. For 2021, I beat a total of 25 games! Instead of talking about all of those, I'll just highlight the ones I really enjoyed this year and after that, I'll tell you my personal Game of the Year. So here are the games I beat this year that I really loved. 

This is a list of the games I played the most in the 90s. There are plenty of ties and a shortlist of games I really want to play still. 

And Game Boy. I put all my current gen consoles away, stopped my subscriptions, and went full on retronaut. I got my Hyperkin 3 and Game Boy Player set up. I'm playing nothing but NES and Game Boy the rest of the month. Here's a pic of my rig now. 

Here's my Top 40 games/series. It's not quite complete but I'm sticking to 40. I also listed the devs where I could because I generally like other games by the same deveoloper. I ditched my other lists for this one. Maybe this will stick. 

As of January 1, 2020, we're entering a new decade in gaming (let's not go into pedantic debates about the.year zero here). It's hard to believe, it just seems like 2010, a time of Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, and Kinect, was just yesterday, and the world of the 2000s was still fresh in my mind.

Last month was a great month for gaming. Seriously. It was better than some years of gaming. I went on a buying spree I haven't been on since I was a young adult buying PS1 games.

The next few weeks are going to be loaded to the gills with games for me. 

August of this year will mark the 20th anniversary since Dragon Quest was introduced in the US. With 10 core sequels and many spin-offs since then, you’d think an RPG fan such as myself would be well-versed in the series by now. But in reality, my Dragon Quest knowledge over the years has only been cursory at best. I got started about eight years ago when I completed Dragon Warrior (the series’ name in the US until 2005), and I’m currently nearly halfway through the massive adventure that is Dragon Quest XI. My depth of familiarity with the series pretty much ends there. Or at least it did until I recently finished Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride- a Nintendo DS remake of the beloved Super Famicom original.

So we're entering another year, with another round of games, another BaD, and another round of GOTY blogs.