My 2020 in Video Games

It is January 1st, 2021. That means I can no longer beat any more games in 2020, and it’s time to talk about the ones I did beat. The log just below is mostly for my purposes, but I wrote some words about the games I liked a lot below that.

Overview

Beaten:
Jan 11 - Ghosts’n Goblins (PS3 [Arcade])
Feb 05 - Turok (Switch [N64])
Feb 08 - Garou: Mark of the Wolves (PSN [Arcade])
Feb 17 - Makaimura for WonderSwan (WonderSwan)
Mar 03 - Bust-A-Move Pocket (Neo Geo Pocket Color)
Mar 07 - Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Switch)
Mar 10 - Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition (PSN [SEGA CD])
Mar 22 - Marvel’s Spider-Man (PS4)
Mar 23 - Dragon Quest (Switch [NES])
Mar 26 - Panzer Dragoon: Remake (Switch)
Apr 04 - Doom 64 (Switch)
Apr 21 - Tearaway (PS Vita)
Apr 24 - Rocket Knight Adventures (Genesis)
May 01 - Streets of Rage 4 (PSN [PS4])
May 20 - Bare Knuckle III (Steam [Mega Drive])
May 21 - Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GameCube)
May 23 - Forza Horizon 3: Horizon Hot Wheels (Xbone [DLC])
May 26 - Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (Xbone)
Jul 02 - Star Wars Episode I: Racer (PSN [N64])
Jul 05 - Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Switch [Wii])
Jul 11 - Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line (Switch [NES])
Jul 16 - Virtual Boy Wario Land (VB)
Jul 26 - Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation (Switch [NES])
Aug 10 - Gate of Thunder (VC [TGCD])
Aug 26 - Battletoads (Xbone)
Sep 04 - Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater [HD Remaster] (PS4 [PS1])
Sep 04 - Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 [HD Remaster] (PS4 [PS1])
Sep 24 - Yakuza 0 (PS4)
Oct 04 - Maximo: Ghosts to Glory (PS2)
Oct 12 - Super Ghouls’n Ghosts (SNES)
Oct 30 - Goku Makaimura Kai (PSP)
Nov 16 - Super Mario Bros. 2 (G&W [FDS])
Nov 19 - Yakuza Kiwami (PS4 [PS2])
Nov 29 - Yakuza Kiwami 2 (PS4 [PS2])
Dec 08 - Outer Wilds (PS4)
Dec 12 - OutRun 2 (Xbox [Arcade])
Dec 19 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered (PS4 [PS+])
Dec 25 - Astro’s Playroom (PS5)
Dec 29 - Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)

Completed:
Jan 11 - Ghosts’n Goblins (PS3 [Arcade])
Mar 03 - Bust-A-Move Pocket (Neo Geo Pocket Color)
Mar 14 - Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition (PSN [Sega CD])
Mar 22 - Tearaway (PS Vita)
Jul 02 - Star Wars Episode I: Racer (PSN [N64])
Dec 26 - Astro’s Playroom (PS5)

Rebeaten:
Sep 25 - Super Mario 64 (Switch [N64])

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Progress - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019 - 2020
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Finished - 0024 - 0041 - 0034 - 0022 - 0025 - 0014 - 0019 - 0025 - 0038
Complete - 0000 - 0004 - 0005 - 0001 - 0002 - 0001 - 0002 - 0002 - 0006
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

This year saw lots of action across lots of consoles for me. In 2020, I acquired a SwanCrystal, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Virtual Boy, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 5. I got these largely pursuant to playing the corresponding beaten games above, but I intend to keep collecting for them as well.

Some notable series I finally got around to for the first time included Dragon Quest, Xenoblade, Turok, Ori, Call of Duty, and Yakuza. Dragon Quest and Yakuza were particular highlights for me. I finished 3 games in each of those series and have already purchased further entries. Lotta catching up to do! Perhaps it’s fitting that Yakuza: Like a Dragon features the following moment:

Hopefully I get to it in 2021.

Best of 2020

As usual, I didn’t play a ton of games that came out in 2020. But I did play some. Here’s the ones that were great.

Streets of Rage 4 (Multiplatform)

Streets of Rage 4 was my Game of the Year. I’ve written about it at lenght in a soon-to-be published review I’ll link here later. Suffice it to say it was a perfect sequel, and I can’t wait to see what Dotemu has in store for the future.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 (Multiplatform)

If Streets of Rage 4 was a perfect retro revival, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 was a perfect remaster. Exactly as it says on the tin, THPS1+2 contains all of the levels from the original games with beautifully upgraded graphics. It smartly includes key features from THPS3 and beyond such as reverts and expanded tricksets, but other than that, these games are just as we remember them, and they’ve aged brilliantly. To give the games additional legs, Vicarious Visions also threw in an utter smattering of additional challenges to complete, and fortunately they’re actually interesting. To top it off are some competent, fun online multiplayer modes, filling out a very nice $40 package as it initially retailed. Tony Hawk’s games have long languished on old hardware presumably due to licensing difficulties, so a remaster was overdue. That it turned out as good as it did is that much better.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS4/PS5)

I wrote about this in my previous GAME CLEAR post. Normally I’m averse to these kinds of open-world AAA experiences, but the first one was solid, and Miles improves on the combat considerably. That combined with its ~8hr story runtime (at a leisurely pace) made it a really fun game to break in my PS5 with. Highly recommended.

Astro’s Playroom (PS5)

I also wrote about this one very recently. Although certainly not as impactful overall as Wii Sports or Super Mario Bros., Astro’s Playroom is still one of the all-time great pack ins. It demonstrates everything the DualSense controller is capable in a fun, charming 3-4 hour package. If you’ve formed any PlayStation memories at all over the brand’s two and a half decades of existence, there’s probably a cameo in this game that will make you smile too. Don’t neglect this one after booting up your PS5.

Best of Years Past

As always, I played way more games from previous years than I did 2020 games. It is very difficult to cull this list since it is so large. If something from the above list doesn’t appear here, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. On the contrary, nearly every game I beat this year was pretty good. But here’s just a few I wanted to highlight.

Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation (1988, NES*)

This is maybe my favorite game I played in 2020. It’s at least very good. I bought the first Dragon Quest game on a whim because it was $2 on the eShop around the time COVID lockdowns began in Georgia. I adored its charming simplicity, and I immediately went on to import a cartridge copy of the full original trilogy on Switch. It took a couple months to arrive, but once it did, I had a blast working my way through Dragon Quest II as well. But neither game prepared me for the fun I would have with Dragon Quest III. With its customizable party, job system, and Earth-pastiche setting, it was an utterly cozy game to get lost in for 30+ hours. I loved the cute and varied towns, the new monsters and bosses, and the just-interesting-enough leveling and combat system. My favorite thing about Dragon Quest (so far) is how approachable and easy it is. It’s JRPG comfort food. I’ve already bought the fourth and fifth games, and I can’t wait to play them.

* The version I played is the Switch version, which is the same as the Android/iOS port, which contains elements of the GBC and Super Famicom re-releases. What a (beautiful) mess!

Yakuza Kiwami (2016, Multiplatform)

My 2020 in games was as much about Yakuza as it was Dragon Quest, especially if you take recency bias into account. I’ve knocked out 3 of its 20-30 hour entries in the past couple months, and I’ve already gone and bought the whole Kiryu saga. As I write this, Yakuza 3 sits in my PS5’s disk drive. Nothing says “next gen” like playing a PS3 game, eh? So far, I think Kiwami has been my favorite. It’s the one I felt most compelled to dive into deeply, and it benefitted from sharing an engine with Yakuza 0, so I was good at the game right away. To be clear, all of the games I’ve played so far have been great, but some je ne sais quoi about Kiwami puts it over the edge for me. It’s also a remake of the first Yakuza game, so it’s a great place to jump in if you’re interested. If you want a good beat ’em up with a decent organized crime story, give it a shot!

Oh, and I wrote a GAME CLEAR piece about it awhile ago.

Outer Wilds (2019, Multiplatform)

To repeat myself once more, I wrote a GAME CLEAR piece about this a little while back. I still love this Groundhog Day style mystery game. It’s not perfect. It struggles to perform on the PS4, and a puzzle or two may be a tiny bit too obtuse, but overall, it’s a lovely, unique game. Despite what the aforementioned GAME CLEAR piece may suggest, I’d like to avoid saying too much about this game because I went into it almost entirely blind, and I think it was a more enjoyable experience as a result. If you want a game you’ll struggle to put down as you try to unravel its mysteries, give Outer Wilds a look.

Makaimura for WonderSwan (1999, WonderSwan)

Since I already did a GAME CLEAR on Goku Makaimura Kai, the best Ghosts’n Goblins game, I decided to highlight the underappreciated Makaimura for WonderSwan, which was at least the best GnG game at the time of its release. It’s got all the usual trappings of a GnG game, but it also has super interesting bosses, a cool vertical WonderSwan level, and some fun stats and a bestiary. Goku Makaimura Kai would expand on all of those, but pulling that off on the little WonderSwan impressed me. This is also probably the easiest GnG game (although by no means a pushover), so that’s a potential positive for some folks. If you don’t feel like importing a WonderSwan like I did, consider emulating this one. Fun stuff.

Gate of Thunder (1992, TGCD)

This is one that had been on my to-do list for ages. Beating a shmup was always a goal of mine, but most of them proved too tough for me. Ever since I got Gate of Thunder on Wii Virtual Console, though, I knew it was the one I’d eventually knock out. Its difficulty is stout but reasonable, so I always felt I could reach the end if I really sat down and memorized the game. This year, I was inspired to return to it by my 30 Days of Video Game Music entry on the game. After a couple days, I had the game memorized well enough to knock it out with my allotted continues. Very gratifying! Although I still wouldn’t call it “my thing,” I can see the appeal of the genre. I’d like to try to 1cc it one day, but for now, the backlog beckons.

Night Trap (1992, SEGA CD)

By most metrics, Night Trap is pretty dreadful at first glance. It’s a silly FMV state machine that takes about 23 minutes to beat if you know what you’re doing. The acting is rough, the premise is goofy, and the controls are rather unengaging. Yet it was one of the highlights of my 2020 games. The dumb campy horror is amusing, and the pace required to capture every enemy is fairly frenetic. I initially played this game to better appreciate its place in gaming history, but I was pleased to find it actually contained a good time. Because it’s practically a movie anyway, this would also be a good one to play with friends gathered ‘round, I’d imagine. Stubbornly, I went through it like 10 times to get its platinum trophy, so I’m more familiar with it than I ever expected to be. One day, I’ll try to give it another go once I’ve forgotten enough of it for it to be interesting again. Glad this one got remastred.

Multiplayer Highlights of 2020

Super Smash Bros. Melee Netplay via Slippi

While Super Smash Bros. Ultimate remained my most-played Switch game of 2020 and I greatly enjoy it, Slippi is nothing short of a triumph. Made by a single guy, Slippi is a wrapper for the Dolphin GameCube emulator that enables rollback netcode for Super Smash Bros. Melee. Seen as the gold standard by fighting game players, rollback has allowed me to enjoy countless matches with out-of-state friends online in my favorite 19 year old game. Long live Melee.

Super Mega Baseball 3 (Multiplatform)

The world is sorely lacking in arcade sports games since EA bafflingly chooses not to release further installments in its very good NBA Jam revival. The folks at Metalhead Software are looking out for us at least, and Super Mega Baseball 3 is a solid iteration for the series. With no MLB license, it runs on pure fun. The gameplay is simple to learn and hard to master, as a game of its kind should be, but unlike games like NFL Blitz and NBA Jam, it doesn’t seem to feature the rubberbanding that those games had. That kept those games interesting, but it also made them feel like victory was not necessarily in the players’ hands. Super Mega Baseball has none of that and is better for it. Every baseball fan should try it.

Clubhouse Games (Switch)

The phrase “perfect pandemic game” annoys the hell out of me because I would say nearly any game is a perfect pandemic game by virtue of being something you can enjoy inside your house. Nevertheless, I will concede that there are worse times than a pandemic to release a cute, casual collection of familiar and unfamiliar board games. I really loved the original game on DS, so I was happy to get this one and proselytize it to friends. A highlight for me was learning Mini Shogi and (sort of) regular Shogi. This is a game I’ll dig back into many times over the years, I think.

Looking Ahead to 2021

I played a lot of video games in 2020! With the pandemic in full swing, I had lots of time and little social FOMO to keep me away from my games. On the other hand, I also had basically no options to play games locally on my couch! I’m hoping to get a chance to do that again this year. To that end, I’ve purchased Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, which I intend to rope a friend into playing through one Saturday with me once we’re duly inoculated. Playing Streets of Rage 4 beside someone will be a highlight of this year too.

Somewhat related, I also look forward to entering Smash tournaments again! Slippi has allowed me to lab Melee again, and I hope that scene sees a bit of a revival at local events. If not, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate would do as well. The thrill of in person tournaments is something I long for.

In terms of forthcoming games with confirmed 2021 release dates, I’m not sure how many I can even name. I’m definitely looking forward to playing the highly unexpected Ghosts’n Goblins: Resurrection coming this February. I’m also looking forward to Super Meat Boy Forever hitting PlayStation for further platforming masochism. Other than that, I don’t know what the hell’s coming out this year! But I know for sure I’ll keep putting away those Yakuza and Dragon Quest games while I wait for something else to catch my eye.

Above all, I hope I have less time to play games in 2021 because I’ll be able to do anything else.