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[Adam Prime]

The best game that I played all this year that wasn't a 2015 release was by far:

This was a game that I did not think that I would EVER be able to finish the Title Defense mode. But I did!! and beat Donkey Kong! Without being overly dramatic, this was my gaming accomplishment of the year.

Other awesome titles I finally played in 2015:

OOT: This was my first time playing this game EVER. I'm actually an est.1985 child - but I skipped over the N64 generation in favor of PSX. I feel like I finally righted a wrong in my lifetime. It was a great game, I mean... DUH.

Wind Waker HD was my first Zelda 3D game, it was also excellent. It's hard to say which is better than the other (WW vs OOT). I can say I enjoyed the music and art style/graphics better in Wind Waker. I appreciated the "concise" or "tight" design of OoT over WW. There was too much wandering around and checking GameFAQs for what I was supposed to do next in WW.

I'm way more likely to replay Master Quest in OOT over replaying Wind Waker, but for a single experience - I'd recommend Wind Waker.

I also really enjoyed:

GAF sold me on this game while posting in the Xenoblade Chronicles 3D thread. People kept talking up how good it was and I had to check it out. The combat system was fantastic and there were good tracks in the OST, but the story and characters didn't grip me enough to overly impress me. Don't get me wrong: the game starts out fantastic. But by the end I was looking for way more crazier twists and turns (like Xenoblade) and it wasn't there. It was pretty straight forward from its premise and I didn't bother to do all the side stuff for 100%. Still an enjoyable game and I do think the combat system is one the GOAT in a 2D JRPG, it really needs to be utilized in another project.


I also dabbled in...

This is a FUN game. I finished the original Advance Wars this year too on PC. I had to have more. I think I played this around ~12 hours before moving on to something else, I think I had my fix. Ultimately this game becomes a little much trial and error for my likes.


I also played...

This game is whack I played about 12 hours of it on the VC. The combat system is dated and boring, and I did not enjoy most of the music. The WEIRDNESS of this game is definitely the selling point, and the dialog... it's really just, "WTF" in an endearing way. But yeah the grindy combat didn't sell me enough on the game to keep playing. I'm glad that I experienced it, but yeah, it's not for me. I definitely get why its so beloved.


And finally I also played...

I wouldn't recommend it though. I played for about 15 hours, so long enough to get a good feel for it. The characters and dialog is too juvenile for my likes the combat system is boring as there are two instant kill spells that you can easily setup your party with to make every encounter that isn't an FOE or boss trivial.

 

[Ludger Kresnik]

I got really into The Sims 2 the other day. I had never played it before.

 

[Regiruler]

DMC4. Not the SE, but just the vanilla PC version.

 

[BiggNife]

I finally sat down and played through Megaman X4 after years of telling myself I would and then not doing it.

That game is pretty dope! Final boss is bullshit though.

 

[Ultimate_Trainer]

Its tough to decide but RE4 or VLR. I think VLR beats it out in terms of story tho

 

[Shuggananas]

Wolfenstein The New Order

Got an actual gaming PC this year, game's amazing. Very few hiccups but they're acceptable.

 

[An-Det]

Either XCOM Enemy Unknown or Wolfenstein The New Order, both were fucking fantastic. South Park The Stick of Truth and Batman Arkham Origins are also up there.

 

[PanicFreak]

Shovel Knight and Alien Isolation. Between the two, Shovel Knight wins. The game was just so reminiscent of my childhood.

 

[JasoNsider]

For me it is an easy choice - Hohokum. One of the best games I've ever played.

I also completed Shovel Knight, which is really excellent.

Always so many quality games to catch up on!

 

[Ziggy6]

Had a few this year.

Demon Souls
Dark Souls
A link between two worlds
Metal Gear Solid 1,2,3

All which have left lasting impressions on me. Currently making my way through dark souls and absolutely loving it.

 

[BrettWeir]

The Last of Us. Phenomenal game.

 

[Zalman]

The Professor Layton series. I played it early in the year and I loved every game.

 

[Servbot24]

3D World.

 

[Raldoh]

Silent Hill 2 and Ninja Gaiden on the OG Xbox.

 

[Arttemis]

Alien Isolation. Glad I'm not the first to mention it.

 

[Shinigami]

Bought it during the E3 sale on the Eshop, and boy have I loved it so far. I can't wait for Fates.

 

[Magicman103]

Probably 999/Virtue's Last Reward. Although I'm about to start TWEWY soon...

 

[Pomo]

I'm pretty captivated by F-Zero GX. The story mode is so goddamn hard I can't help but bang my head against it.

Also, I finally completed Super Metroid and a Link to the Past this year. Excited to have those off my list.

 

[Sora_N]

Steins Gate basically didn't come out this year (in Japan). I loved the anime but the game is on a different level.

I can't believe I spent 7 hours playing already. Simply amazing.

 

[eot]

I think it's the best of the original series of games.
Had a lot of fun with it.

 

[ultron87]

I played all of Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix this year! It was pretty awesome. I hadn't played a big ole JRPG in quite awhile so I really enjoyed beating that and then attempting to dig into some of the post game content. And then getting brutally rebuffed by all the post-game bosses because they expect sooooo much more of you than anything in the main game. I still might go back to try and learn some of their patterns and stuff to try and beat a few.

That was my first Kingdom Hearts game. Getting into a series so late in the game was actually really cool. There is so much KH content I could consume if I wanted to. I'm playing Dream Drop Distance right now and there are multiple other games I could play after that as well and an infinite amount of writing on the game I could go read if I wanted. It is a very different perspective than playing a game as it comes out, seeing the initial reactions and only coming to it as more stuff is released. (I am playing the series somewhat out of order, but I watched someone else play Birth By Sleep and plot summaries have handled the rest in a decent manner.)

 

[Lapidus' Beard]

This year will go down in history as the year I finally played and completed Persona 4: Golden for the first time.
I never realized I had one of my favourite games of all time just lying on the shelf for two years.

 

[Adam Prime]

Bought it during the E3 sale on the Eshop, and boy have I loved it so far. I can't wait for Fates.

I hope you don't feel too burnt out for Fates. I was doing a replay of Awakening and abandoned it for that reason.

3D World.

Awesome game, still haven't dedicated time to beat Crown World. I think I could if I brought four controllers with items with me. But I don't care enough to put in that effort.

Shovel Knight and Alien Isolation. Between the two, Shovel Knight wins. The game was just so reminiscent of my childhood.

Shovel Knight was my GOTY, the DLC Plague Knight is on my Top 10 list for the year.

Its tough to decide but RE4 or VLR. I think VLR beats it out in terms of story tho

VLR is awesome. Can't wait for part three next year!

I finally sat down and played through Megaman X4 after years of telling myself I would and then not doing it.

That game is pretty dope! Final boss is bullshit though.

I replayed the classic Mega Man series this year, guess what. The boss rush is ALWAYS horse shit. I save state the hell out of Mega Man games, because boss rush is bullshit. Only Shovel Knight was a good boss rush, because you get unlimited retries and its fast paced.

 

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

Probably Gimmick for the NES. One of the best platformers of all time.

I replayed the classic Mega Man series this year, guess what. The boss rush is ALWAYS horse shit. I save state the hell out of Mega Man games, because boss rush is bullshit. Only Shovel Knight was a good boss rush, because you get unlimited retries and its fast paced.

You have unlimited retries in Mega Man boss rushes too.

 

[daxy]

The Wolf Among Us. I heard it was good, but I didn't expect to get into it as much as I did. Honestly, I enjoyed it far more than TWD. Would love to see Telltale expand on that universe, though I can't imagine it was as lucrative for them as TWD, Borderlands or Game of Thrones.

 

[UpperCaseN]

This is how I roll, honestly 90% of the games I played this year were not released in 2015. If I have to pick a top dog, it's Infinite Space on DS.

 

[BouncyFrag]

Grim Fandango. Damn good game.

 

[NoctisVsStar]

Currently playing BB seems my GOTY with MGSV coming second.

 

[Cymbal Head]

Valkyria Chronicles.

I actually made a concerted effort to focus on 2015 releases this year.

 

[JCX]

Persona 4 Golden

Save for the 2 hour intro that should have just been an animated film, the game is a perfect JRPG. Wish I could forget it just to play it again.

 

[Pehesse]

For me, this year's (really) late discoveries were:

- Drill Dozer on GBA

which I found superb on all respects (especially the soundtrack, I'm still playing those three tracks in a loop on a weekly basis). A really satisfying 2D puzzle platformer, I'm kind of surprised it rated so low at release!

- Dragon Ball Adventure, on GBA as well, which as a non-dragon ball fan held little interest for me before I actually played it and found it was an awesome 2D action platformer with stellar spritework and animation

- and Anachronox on PC

which had been in my backlog for several long years before then. Really loved it, even though I could do without the slow late battles and the generally out of whack balance! But seriously, "you wanna see my batteries?" still cracks me up just thinking about it. A poor RPG, but a brilliant point and click/adventure game, and a great cast of characters! (I mean, Democratus alone makes it a win, and that's not even getting into the others...)

...those all count as LTTP, right? I sure hope the party's still going on, they deserve it :-D

 

[Jamix012]

Conker's Bad Fur Day.

Daaaaaamn What a game. I mean okay the gameplay is kinda clunky sometimes and sometimes the humour is offensive but really. It's a fantastically charming game that I'm glad I got the chance to play.

 

[Pankratous]

Okay, so it's not that LTTP, but Assassin's Creed: Rogue was pretty fucking good.

 

[Arcane0ne]

A few examples:

Yakuza 1 - 2

Metroid Prime

Muramasa the demon blade

Dishonored

Virtua Fighter 5 FS

Sonic Generations

Geow 3 - Judgment

Megaman 3 and 9

Cave Story

 

[zoodoo]

This year has been awesome with LTTPs. I bought a gameboy micro and decided to go back and play the games that I missed for that console. Man, I had so much fun.

I LTTPed:

Golden sun 1 & 2
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga
Drill Dozer
Klonoa
Metal slug advance
Gunstar Super Heroes

Out of those Superstar saga was probably the biggest surprise. Loved it

 

[Farks!]

Grim Fandango: Remastered, if it counts.

 

[Dizzy-4U]

I've been looking for this since foreeeeever. Finally got it two months ago.

I love it. Shina became my main instantly.

 

[Daria Morgendorffer]

Famicom Detective Club II, even made a thread about it and played it again around Halloween.

 

[Sagely]

Probably Persona 3 FES. I'm currently playing SMTIV, which feels better mechanically and is more my kind of thing, but I haven't finished it yet. Persona 3 made a huge impact on me emotionally, which puts it in my top ten gaming experiences in spite of its flaws.

 

[daevv]

Played a lot of GTAV on PS4 for the first time while waiting for Fallout. Only did story missions. Was fun and I may go back to it next year.

 

[Adam Blue]

Twilight Princess. Better than OoT for me and I was so surprised to love it so much. Played it on GCN. Can't wait for the remaster.

 

[Mexen]

Sleeping Dogs

 

[Eidjinn]

This is how I roll, honestly 90% of the games I played this year were not released in 2015. If I have to pick a top dog, it's Infinite Space on DS.

Where did you get it??? I'm trying to find it but I can't find it anywhere!!!

On topic, I finally finished Xenogears, Suikoden III, Resident Evil 2 and 3.

Xenogears - fantastic first cd... a few platform parts that I hated and the ending was really... not good.

Suikoden III - to give fast travel almost at the end of the game was ridiculous. Also, I didn't like 2 out of 3 protagonists. To sum it up: one of the weakest Suikodens that I played. Sad.

Resident Evil 2 - No wonder it's a classic. Getting the uber shotgun... what a feeling. Fantastic game.

Resident Evil 3 - I prefer RE2, but the boss battles... gave me nightmares for weeks. I liked it a lot, haha!

 

[Shuggananas]

I've been looking for this since foreeeeever. Finally got it two months ago.

I love it. Shina became my main instantly.

Fun times but terrible balance
The phoenix character and mole character seemed OP as all fuck back then

 

[teeny]

Nice thread I play most things a year or two after the come out due to having a massive backlog and only buying select new releases. So, I have a lot to pick from.

1. Super Metroid - 1994

I have played the Metroid games in a very peculiar order - my first was Other M which I very much enjoyed at the time but really does not compare with my experience of later games. Then came the original Metroid which I finally played as the 3DS Ambassador rerelease. Then Fusion immediately after because of how much I enjoyed the original. This year, I played through Super AND Zero Mission - Super is now one of my favourite games ever and I am so frustrated with myself for not having played it sooner. I can only imagine how it would have been when it released! Now on to the Prime games...

2. Kirby: Power Paintbrush - 2005

I must admit, I have always been more partial to the traditional Kirby experiences and so I overlooked Power Paintbrush at the time and never really thought about it since, despite the praise. As it was, I was gifted Kirby And The Rainbow Paintbrush this year which I absolutely loved and so sought out a copy of this immediately. Bloody fantastic, though I think I am one of the few that prefers the Wii U game.

3. Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins - 2006

Just a great game - I am not familiar with the originals though I have played the NES game once or twice. I spent a long time on this when I was stuck doing long, boring evening shifts at work and, while frustrating at times, the gameplay won through. Kind of like an arcadey, 2D Souls game.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

For me I played:

Super Mario 3D World

Alice Mare

Drill Dozer

Super Metroid

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Earthbound

Adventures of Hourai High

Pokemon Soul Silver

Pokemon Black 2

Out of those Earthbound was the best for me. It made it to my top 10 games of all time. The two Pokemon games were addicting as hell however and Super Mario 2D World competes with Galaxy as the best game in the mainline series. The worst was no doubt Adventures of Hourai High. The game has horrible mini games, vast technical issues like the game crashing if you attempt to revive a KO'd party member while in battle, and an insanely high random encounter rate. Drill Dozer comes in 2nd place for worst. It's not a bad game, just one that doesn't excel in any area. It's riddled with a baffling game design choice and the level design is particularly mundane. I don't why in the hell this was recommended to me, Horai High too given its problems.

 

[weekev]

GTAV for me. Have been exclusively gaming on WiiU until August of this year when I picked up a PS4, never bought it on PS3 as wanted to wait till next gen.

Absolutely incredible game.

 

[dtcm83]

Ys Origin. Figured it was just another jrpg. Actually did some research on why it was so popular and what type of game it was and grabbed it on Steam. Awesome game. Great music, great combat, great bosses...it is not some random turn-based jrpg like I thought it was going to be for some reason. I still need to play through it with the other two characters someday.

 

[iceblade997]

What a great game. Not something I'd ever have played, but I really enjoyed the story, the presentation, the themes, and it felt like it tried something new and different that a lot of other games don't really do. About the only thing I didn't quite enjoy was the puzzles haha.

I got really into The Sims 2 the other day. I had never played it before.

The early Sims games have a certain charm that I don't think has been replicated since. Maybe it was because they were still exploring and hadn't become formulaic and iterative, and a case of "well you can sort of tell what expansions will come along eventually".

 

[Fancy Clown]

Journey