Top Games I Played in 2016

It's the end of the year and I played a lot of games this year. There's probably too many to list, and some I haven't played enough of to make it on my list, like I'm enjoying Shin Megami Tensei IV FINAL, but I'm still pretty early, (about level 25 and on my way to Shinjuku.) So I won't include it even though I really wanna, but  I'd rather dedicate a whole post to the game. Other games like Valkyrie Drive and other games, I just haven't spent time playing. Now onto the actual list.

Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne / 真・女神転生III NOCTURNE 

(PS2, Developer/Publisher ATLUS. 2003/2004)

This game took me a long time to beat. Nocturne is pretty tough but not like super hard where you can't beat the game. You know, you start off as a normal guy, your teacher tells you to visit the hospital for something with your 3 friends and then you find out there's a satanic ritual going on and BAM the world blew up and everyone except for whoever was in the hospital died. Pretty fun being in a post apocalyptic wasteland. Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne is a turn based RPG like most of the Megami Tensei games are. You fight demons, talk to them to add them to your team and fuse them to get better demons. All about demons! Speaking of demons, Kazuma Kaneko's art style and design for the demons look really good thanks to the cell shaded graphics that ATLUS used, so everything actually LOOKS like his artwork, which I appreciate. 

Like I said earlier, the game is hard. You can get attacked by demons in towns just trying to buy items, you can get jumped from behind randomly, and the enemy AI can be really smart or annoying and spam stat buffs or exploit your weaknesses. Exploiting weaknesses or getting critical hits is key to victory in thanks to the Press Turn System which grants you an extra turn when you do either of those 2 things. The bosses have tons of HP and usually have specific patterns that they use or certain moves they love spamming (Mot with his fucking Beast's Eye + Makakaja & Megido spam) and you gotta figure how to either overpower the bosses, outsmart them or just survive and win by luck. So try your best to get extra turns. Nocturne also has great music by Shoji Meguro with a lot of rock songs for the battle themes and they even have different rifts that play. There's also good atmospherics tracks for the environments. The Town Battle theme is my favorite because of the piano and guitar combination with the demon yelling thrown in. Nocturne is just awesome and I need to continue my new game+ and best the Labyrinth of Amala so I can get Dante in my party and maybe it won't take 80 hours to do things this time.

Shin Megami Tensei  / 真・女神転生

(Super Famicom, Developer/Publisher ATLUS. 1992)

I still need to beat the game, but I'm still gonna talk about it. Shin Megami Tensei 1 obviously is the first in the main SMT series, since this is the first time ATLUS made their own original story and everything. The first Megami Tensei game on Famicom was based on the original novel by Aya Nishitani and the second was kinda of its own thing. So far the game is pretty good. It's a first person Dungeon RPG fan obviously it's grid based so everything is in squares. The game has an interest beginning when you compare it to Nocturne. You start off in a dream and you meet 3 characters who probably seem pointless at first. You have to give yourself stats and then give stats to the 3 characters. Later you actually end up meeting these guys but before that, you just go about your day when you get an email with the demon summoning program and you get your COMP. Apparently the city is blocked off due to serial murders going on and also demons, can't forget those. Pretty interesting start.

The combat is the same as most of the Megami Tensei games made before Nocturne, a group of 6 people in the active party with demons in reserve, but in SMT it wasn't displayed in an obvious way. It shows the names vertically and the first 3 guys are in front. The other 3 names in the active party are behind the main 3. This was fixed in SMT2 so it's a more obvious 3x2 set up. No extra turns in SMT1 and there doesn't seem to be a way to check for enemy weaknesses so you just have to figure it out, (or look it up on the wiki...) SMT1 has one enemy on screen usually but has little icons above it telling you how many of that enemy there is like old PC RPGs. The music is pretty interesting because it really doesn't sound like typical Super Nintendo/Super Famicom music. It has a more techno or electronic style to it compared to other series like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy which are usually more orchestral. Just listen to the theme of Pascal and the battle themes and you'll see what I mean. I still gotta get through Shin Megami Tensei 1 but I'm having a lot of fun figuring out where to go and just playing in general. I've beaten a few SMT games but playing the first one in the main series is fun.

Kirby Planet Robobot / 星のカービィ ロボボプラネット

(3DS, Developer HAL Laboratory, Publisher Nintendo. 2016)

The funny thing is that this game surprised me with how good it is, no joke. Kirby games have always been good but HAL Laboratory went all out with Robobot. Kirby Planet Robobot improves on what Triple Deluxe had done earlier on 3DS but amplified it to 100% to make essentially one big the best if not THE best Kirby game (I might like it more than Super Star Ultra.) The Hyoernova mechanic in Triple Deluxe was a nice gimmick but that's what it felt like, a gimmick, certain areas were just to show off the new gimmick to inhale giant things and blow up obstacles. But in Robobot, the actual Robobot you can use actually feels like an extension of Kirby since it can absorb and use abilities just like Kirby himself. They even use these abilities in puzzles too like using the Robobot's ice power to create a snowman head and then you have to carry it to complete the snowman and get a collectible. The level design and aesthetics are also really good. They're all normal Kirby levels but because of the Robobot invasion, everything is mechanical. The grasslands have oil drums and metal pipes all over and there's more robotic enemies too. There's even levels not usually seen in Kirby like a city at night, train stages and even casino levels. 

The music also managed to surprise me, it's probably one of the best things about the game. There's a lot of upbeat tracks like the main theme, and soothing tracks like the amazing underwater theme (Sea City.) Some boss theme are from older games but the Meta Knight remix is really well done with the baseline. Speaking of Meta Knight, besides the music and everything else, Robobot really is the full package with the return of Meta Knightmare mode where you play as him instead of Kirby. There's even exclusive boss fights that Meta Knight gets (although Kirby later can battle them.) The True Arena comes back ad well and includes the bosses from Meta Knightmare mode too. So prepare so super hard fights specifically in the last 5 or so rounds.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked / デビルサバイバー オーバークロック

(3DS. Developer/Publisher ATLUS, 2011)

Another Shin Megami Tensei game on my list, but this one kind of gets overlooked by a lot of people. Devil Survivor Overclocked is basically a port of Devil Survivor on the original DS but with extra demons more endings and even an extra chapter after you get any of the endings. Like the other SMT games, you start off as a high school student in Tokyo and then everything goes to shit. Instead of a world blowing up, Tokyo is in a government lockdown and now there's demons. Unlike the main SMT games and some spinoffs, Devil Survivor is a turn based strategy RPG. You take turns moving in diagonal grids to reach enemies and battle them usually in one turn attacks, and battles are like a mini SMT battle as you only get 3 chances in that encounter to fight (unless you get an extra turn by exploiting weaknesses and getting critical hits.) You have a certain range on how far you can walk, attack and heal, but using certain skills you can give yourself the ability to attack from 2-3 spaces away, walk about 8 spaces or even heal from almost anywhere. Speaking of abilities, you earn skills via Skill Cracks, which is you choosing a skill an enemy has and killing the enemy with the character who you want to get the skill. Due to the game's difficulty, skill cracks can be very tricky due to how tough the enemy's tactics can be and overall brutality in battle. They can either be walls, plow through your team or just spam healing moves like a dick. With Skill Cracks, you can essentially make your team exactly how you want them because you can crack a skill and then give it to whoever you want. This applies to both attacks/spells and passive abilities. Some abilities even allow you to resist almost everything. Once you find the perfect combinations, you could destroy enemies.

The game's music is kind of minimal and a lot of tracks repeat but what is in the game is very good. The music helps add to a lot of the heavy scenes in the game such as tough decisions, character deaths and more. The tone and story of the game is also heavy. It starts of pretty normal then everything goes to shit, and some of the really heavy parts of the story show how good the writing and story of this game actually is. The story is good, the characters have good depth and have some clear motivations on what they wanna do. I got so invested in the story, near endgame I kind of forgot to grind and was a bit under leveled and not being prepared is something you wanna avoid in Devil Survivor as stated earlier, the game is brutal. To get demons to join you have to just buy them at the demon auction and either pay outright or bid to get them for a cheaper price. Fusion is still here and stat increases can even be passed over so a physical demon can actually be good at magic too, or make a slow demon fast with the right fusions. Devil Survivor is really good and I hope more people can play it!

Sin & Punishment: Star Successor / 罪と罰 ~ 宇宙の後継者

(Wii. Developer Treasure, Publisher Nintendo. 2009-2010)

Damn this game is awesome. It can also be pretty brutal too, especially in the last few stages. Lasers and bullets flying everywhere, tense action and dodging pretty much everything.The cool thing about this unlike something like Star Fox, you can actually move and shoot in individual directions. So you can move right while shooting left for example. This comes in handy when you need to shoot at a guy or a spot you gotta destroy, it helps that you can safely shoot in an area that doesn't make you an easy target. When shooting you can hold down the button normally and shoot or power up charge shots that can do massive damage or kill a group of enemies. Another thing that is helpful is the melee attack that lets you slap away and destroy projectiles. The boss in stage 1 specifically has an attack where rocks come from the top of the screen, and you gotta use the melee combo to get rid of them and not take damage. So it's nice that everything has a use.

I mentioned the boss of stage 1 because I gotta talk about how crazy these boss battles are and how some of REALLY really hard ones are just fucking brutal. The minibosses are usually a damn cakewalk, but then the main bosses can be crazy. There's a boss (I forgot what stage it was in) and this giant flying beast took me several retries to beat, like it took me 2 days of playing to finally get good enough to beat him. They have either clever (or cheap) tactics and moves that they use to attack and you really gotta know what you're doing. The music fits the game perfectly. The energetic techno music fits the futuristic setting and arcade feel Treasure is known for,and reminds me of their previous games like Ikaruga (well, more in difficulty than music) and even CAVE games like Mushihimesama. This game is so good, I highly recommend it.

Bayonetta 2 / ベヨネッタ2

(Wii U. Developer PlatinumGames, Publisher Nintendo. 2014)

Nintendo and Platinum did a really good job. I beat Bayonetta 1 a long while ago, so I went ahead and went straight to Hard mode on my first playthrough (which was a really rough start with the first 5 chapters.) The combat is very good, the combos you can pull of pretty stylish and rewarding. With the right moves, you can keep an enemy in the air and basically juggle them endlessly. Almost all the weapons are good, my personal favorites were the dual blades and using the fire/ice weapons on Bayonetta's feet, because you could freeze them and extend your combos and get out of tough situations. Witch Time is still good in this game and combining it with the max power Umbra Climax can completely punish and destroy enemies. If you're not prepared, the game will kick your ass (kind of a running theme of this list,) so you better get good with the combat, buy all the dodges and other useful evasion techniques.

Working with Nintendo helped Platinum actually get the game done and gave us the cool Nintendo Costumes. They mostly are just costumes that don't do much, but some have useful abilities. Link's outfit give you the Master Sword (skin for the katana) and automatically gives you access to the parry move, which is one of the best moves. Fox and Samus give you charge shots with their guns, but Fox turns the jet in one level into an Arwing and basically turns one level into fucking Star Fox with Witch Time, and that is the best Easter egg. The music is still super fun and kind of jazzy like the first game, and some bosses are really flashy, like the serpent boss where you surf sideways. But the actual 1 on 1 bosses are super brutal (Lumen Sage...) Get a Wii U and go buy Bayonetta 2.

F-ZERO GX

(Gamecube. Developer Amusement Vison, Publisher Nintendo. 2003)

Before getting into the nitty gritty, I'll just say that F-Zero GX is fucking great. At the moment, I need to get better at the game, and I haven't been able to dedicate time to playing and mastering it (would probably take years, but who cares) but this is one of the best games ever. Like most of the list, GX is brutally hard and requires you to master the track layouts and have near perfect reflexes. With basic skills you can get buy and beat the first 3 cups on normal mode, but beating the 4th Grand Prix on either normal or hard takes a lot of dedication. The game rewards you for being good with it's super fast speed and crazy track designs. When you get your ass kicked on even the FIRST lap on the first race on any cup, it kills you inside. The game is very hard on you, but if you practice and learn the courses, the feeling you get when winning is amazing. The game has a lot of mechanics that it doesn't teach you which are also hard to learn, but learning them is key to victory. Choosing the right racer, car, handling/top speed settings, all these can factor into winning.

The music is really fantastic too. The super techno and rock soundtrack fits the races perfectly since you go at fucking 2000mph and are zigzagging, making big jumps and going through crazy turns. Some standout songs are Outer Space, Green Plant, the arranged versions of Big Blue and Red Canyon and Biorex's theme. Like I said, Grand Prix is brutal, but the story mode is also really hard. I still haven't beaten it. This basically means the game has 2 titans you must conquer; the Grand Prix and Story Mode and I gladly accept the challenge... Once I'm able to get better at the game. SEGA and Nintendo did a fantastic job with F-Zero GX and I hope the series can come back and be just as good if not better than GX.

Donkey Kong (Game Boy) / ドンキーコング

(Game Boy. Developer/Publisher Nintendo. 1994)

I still need to finish this game, but damn is it good. GB Donkey Kong is basically the origin of one of my favorite Mario spinoffs, which are the Mario vs Donkey Kong games. I really like how the game starts as regular arcade Donkey Kong, but after the final stage, you realize that the game is now REALLY beginning. The game goes from basic Donkey Kong to a puzzle game with platforming. A lot of Mario's moves comes from this game, including the sideflip jump which is in all of the main 3D games and the ability to swing on ropes which has only been in Super Mario Sunshine. The puzzles in the game aren't super hard, but you need to think on your feet and figure out exactly how to get the key, and how to get the key to the door without losing it, or dying. Getting to the door or key is one thing, but actually getting the key to the door is another. When Mario picks up the key, he can only do the basic jump, so you're more limited in how you get there, which helps add to the puzzles. Because that can be a puzzle too.

The boss fights are pretty simple and involve either throwing barrels at DK or getting to the top of the stage like regular Donkey Kong. The game has a lot of cool ideas that I think would be cool in other Mario games, like having to touch blocks to make ladders, blocks, springs or to create something to land on for a few seconds. And giving Mario the slideflip and handstand jump in the 2D games would seriously come in handy. Overall, GB Donkey Kong is really good and reminds me of when Mario was really creative. I recommend it.

Mysterious Murasame Castle / 謎の村雨城

(Famicom Disk System. Developer/Publisher Nintendo. 1986)

Really happy that this game came out in the west in some form. And it's even nicer that it's out on 3DS too, so playing it on and off is pretty convenient for me. As one of Nintendo's original big 3 new franchises on the Famicom Disk System, (including Zelda, Kid Icarus & Metroid), it's a shame that Takamaru only has one game. But on the upside, the game is very good. Murasame Castle has the same top down layout as the original Zelda, but instead of being an adventure game, it's a straight up action game, kind of reminds me of a Danmaku (bullet hell) game in a way. And what I mean is this game is hard, and not only that, but ninjas will throw shuriken or kunai at you all the time, so while you go through the level trying to get to the goal, these dudes will just throw fucking everything at you until you die. And you only get 3 hits. Thankfully, there's good power ups that you can use to make sure you survive. The sandals make you walk faster, the samurai helmet makes you invincible and you can get fire or bows to shoot stronger projectiles and shoot in multiple directions to help you survive.

Besides the enemies being hard to deal with some times, the minibosses can be hard too. Typically they throw something in one direction, but if it's a bomb, the explosion has huge range so you have to move really far away and it's hard to land hits and it takes a good 5-8 hits to beat them at times, depending on the weapon. The levels themselves can be hard too due to the level layout and enemy placement, there's a chance you could get ambushed so be careful. Luckily the game has moves like the lightning strike that clears all enemies on screen and the invisibility that lets you sneak past enemies undetected you don't take damage. Another thing is if you save if you get game over, so you can always start on the stage you're stuck on. And getting to the actual castles count as separate stages, so if you save and quit and then play again, you start at the castle. 

Yoshi's Woolly World / ヨッシーウールワールド

(Wii U. Developer Good Feel, Publisher Nintendo. 2015)

When I first played the game, I just had a big smile on my face because it was so colorful and fun. The game is a sequel to Yoshi's Island DS and one of the improvements Good Feel added to Yoshi is the lack of Baby Mario, (I know he wasn't in Yoshi's Story but I haven't played it yet.) Another thing that was good was how they fixed the completion bonus for the levels. In the original Yoshi's Island you had to get all the flowers AND red coins to 100% a level and you gotta do both at once. Where as in Woolly World, you only need the flowers and the Yarn costumes (which replace the red coins) are mainly optional. Yoshi games are usually just really good. Platforming goodness, some puzzles (especially in the big castle levels) and a lot of egg throwing.

The game uses the yarn visuals for more than just looks. In a lot of levels, you need to use eggs and throw them at empty platforms to make them solid so you can use them. Even your eggs are yarn balls and Yoshi's feet turns into yarn wheels, his feet become yarn propellers while fluttering. Hidden areas and boxes have to be opened by using Yoshi's tongue to open them up. Two great things the game features are the 2 player mode and the amiibo costumes. I mentioned the Yarn costumes you get from levels as optional. The amiibo costumes are optional too, but add more fun to the game. You can see Nintendo character skins like Ganondorf and Captain Falcon on Yoshi and then combine that with the 2 player, and you can mix and match characters or themes to have some coordination. It's nice touches like this that add more charm to the game. And in multiplayer, you can eat  each other and use your partner as ammo or have them thrown to a higher place and then you turn yourself into a bubble.

Earth Defense Force 4.1 / 地球防衛軍 4.1

(PS4. Developer Sandlot, Publisher D3 Publisher/XSEED Games. 2015)

"EDF!!!!!" was basically what shouted in my head when I destroyed bazillions of giant space bugs. EDF 4.1 is a really fun third person shooter where all you have to do is destroy all enemies! There's a bit more to it than just that. although it seems like every mission is just destroy your enemies until you win. And I'm fine with that because EDF is just simple and fun. You choose from 4 classes; Ranger, Wing Diver, Fencer and Air Raider. Wing Diver is easily the most fun class to use because you can fly around and kill enemies from above, and flying is pretty good when you need to get away. Ranger is just the regular guy and all you do is run, jump and dodge roll while shooting everything. Ranger feels the most simple, but I like them. Fencer is really fun because even though they are slow, you can use chargeable hammers to destroy bugs instantly. They also get shields and start with the most HP. Air Raider is really good too because they can use vehicles and robots. The only downside is that the Air raider is a support units, so they are hard to use in 1 player mode.

But that's not really a problem thanks to 2 player mode! You and a buddy can both be the same class or 2 separate ones. 2 player is one of the highlights of the game since it's more fun (and easier) to kill the enemies with some back up. If one player has enough HP left over, they can revive the other one. Speaking of HP. you can get HP and weapon upgrades from enemies you kill by just running to the item boxes and getting them. It can be a hassle to try and get as many red armor boxes as possible, but if you wanna survive in later levels (and harder modes) grinding is necessary. It's a fun game that can help kill time, so I think it's worth playing.

Pokémon Moon / ポケットモンスター ムーン
(3DS. Developer GAME FREAK, Publisher Nintendo/The Pokémon Company. 2016)
Pokémon Moon is basically the game I've been spending the most time on, almost at like 200 hours I think. And there's a good reason for it. Pokémon Moon is an improvement from the Gen 6 games and changed things in Pokémon to make it better to play. The game isn't grid based anymore and is not just a regular 3D environment, removing gyms at first sounded bad, but the island challenges and quests you do in the game are really cool and memorable. Island challenges have boss battles on each of the 4 islands and those replace gym battles. It's 1 big boss Pokémon vs your whole team, but their strategies can be hard to counter. They can also SOS and summon other Pokémon to defeat you. The story in Moon is pretty good and I love Team Skull, it had some good surprises that all link up to each other. You can customize your trainer again so that is welcome and There's some good and annoying gameplay changes. Pokémon like Gengar lose their abilities (Levitate) for new ones (Cursed Body.) Meanwhile some Pokémon from Gen 1 have new Alola forms like Persian. These are actually pretty cool and give new types and move options to old Pokémon might have needed them, and can make them be used in different ways than their original forms.

The one big flaw in Sun & Moon is that Super Training got removed. It was the easiest way to train Pokémon and give them max stats so you can use them properly in battle. SOS chaining makes up for it, but it takes a lot longer, even though I got used to it. The Battle Tree replaces the Battle Tower from the old games and it's mainly the same, however the CPU's are ridiculous with their strategies and will kick your ass. Old trainers like Red and Blue/Green show up in the Battle Tree and they have really good teams. Compared to X & Y, Sun & Moon feels like a real evolution of Pokémon and helped get rid of some the boring things we got used to because it was the same formula, and GAME FREAK did a good job making things feel fresh and fun again.

Dungeon Travelers 2 / ダンジョントラベラーズ 2
(Vita. Developer Sting, Publisher Aquaplus/ATLUS. 2013-2015)
Thanks to this game and Soul Hackers, I've become a fan of Dungeon RPGs. At first, the game was a bit hard to get into because I was still unfamiliar with DRPGs, but after beating the game and investing over 80 hours, I think it's a really great RPG. The fact that all the monsters you fight are almost naked girls might turn people off, but I like how creative the designs can be. You almost forget that it's supposed to be the monster. The game like I said is a first person Dungeon RPG and the main character doesn't fight, but you basically control your team and make sure you don't die. You start off with only 2 party members, but eventually you get over 9 characters but with a team of 5. Every party member has a unique passive skill that can level up to be stronger, and all their skill sets can be fully customized They have 3 class levels and in each class, there are skills they can learn and you can choose what skills you want because you get skill points when they level up. And when you go to an advanced class you can even level down to a lower class.

One of the highlights of Dungeon Travelers 2 are the actual dungeons themselves. These dungeons are basically labyrinths and either have multiple floors like the towers or are just super long mazes like the dungeon with the hot springs or the town with the animal people. This game taught me all about one way doors, teleport puzzles and of course, trap doors with forced fights. This game at times can kick your ass, especially the bosses but I was always motivated to keep trying to win. And I'm happy I beat the game.Eventually I need to continue with the post game content but that will take a lot of time. This game had staying up for hours and playing it constantly in bed, on the train and even while using the bathroom. It has a lot of depth and ecchi images that are worth unlocking through the story and other methods. And I hope Dungeon Travelers 2-2 actually comes out.

Those were all the games I enjoyed this year. Of course there was a lot more, but these I wanted to highlight these games specifically and I'd recommend them all. These games are all good, and obviously I'm excited to play more games next year too! And now I need to sleep because I'm really tired of going to bed at 5am.