Re: Kiir's Gaming Topic (Reply #563 on: April 7, 2025, 02:33:28 am)

RANKING ALL THE VIDEO GAMES I PLAYED IN 2024

when i made a list in 2024 for 2023 games it reset my brain to make me believe i made a list for 2024 games so that's why i'm four months late on this one. anyways.

Rules of this list:

1. Only games I've never beaten before 2024 are included
2. Games that were already on the 2023 list are excluded UNLESS I beat them in 2024, in which I'll allow it back on the table for re-evaluation

I didn't buy many games in 2024 so I don't think a single 2024-released game is actually on here? lol. lmao even.

17. Detective Pikachu Returns

Man this game was a disappointment. As someone whose biggest anticipated game for five years was the original Detective Pikachu (and I liked it when it came out!), this game made me feel almost nothing. The new Pokemon partner gimmicks are cute and I can see the vision, but it feels like this game was given to a B-team. I'm certainly not one to complain how Pokemon games look because I think it's awesome when games look like they're from 6th-7th gen, but this just looks rushed without the whimsy of amibitious game design that modern Pokemon has been trying to push forward despite their unqualified working conditions. Super unfortunate considering how long this game took to come out and how much money the movie would have made the company. Hope it's not the last we see of this spin-off though.

16. Sonic Superstars

Narrowly escaping last place due to being such an entertaining mess of a game. I honestly don't think this game is as bad as people say - though TBH I had someone else carry me through the game so who knows what my opinion would be if I played it solo? Any Sonic game that lets you play as Amy is giving itself a huge W in my eyes. I genuinely think it's insane that SEGA made them release this game before it was finished and didn't see it worth patching in completed BGMs or anything. I honestly think if they let the sound team spend another month on the music to patch in post-release, people would not be so harsh on this game.

15. Snake Rattle 'n' Roll

This game is awesome but MAN it's tough... I'd say I never would have been this game without rewind, but I didn't even beat it! I had to look up the ending because I think the NSO version's framerate is too high and potentially makes the final boss impossible?? Still a more worthy addition to the service than Mother 3.

14. Joestar Struck

I... played a shocking amount of Jojo games in 2024? There are three on this list and I did more runs of 7th Stand User as well... how did that happen

Anyways, this is a fan game I remember following pre-release but never got around to playing it when it came out. Now that I'm into dating sims again thanks to Tokimeki Memorial, I finally decided to give it a try! It's a cute game (even if as an avid fanfiction writer & Jojos fan, sometimes the writing drives me a little batty) and has some very fun and silly routes, making use of popular tropes for a good time. Raise a flour sack child with Jotaro Kujo! Sneak into the school with Josuke to edit his grades! The main four (there are also two secret endings featuring Dio and Kira) each have two or three endings, ranging from "Good/Romantic", "Neutral/Platonic", and "Bad". The only one I don't think I managed to get a third ending was Jonathan, which was very sad because I personally would have like a platonic ending with the game's teacher option. Getting CGs added to the gallery is a little glitchy and there are a couple I never found even after multiple playthroughs, but that's a footnote. Fun game :)

13. Ride Kamens

oh hey this is the only 2024 game on this list! I've actually played so little of this game that I haven't even met all the boys in the story yet... I think this is my first dedicated gacha game? Definitely the first time I've played a talent-management sim game. The gameplay loop is a little bit addicting and a lot of the boys are pretty endearing. This game got a lot of flak from tokubros when it was announced for slimming down the Rider suits to better expose the ikemen freaks underneath, but it's got a fun world I'd like to explore more of. It's really fun to see parallels between the existing Rider characters and their counterparts in this game! And while they aren't what I like Kamen Rider for, I do think some of these suits are suuuuper sick. The energy scarves are sooooo cool.

12. Sonic Pinball Party

This was one of those Sonic games I never thought I would beat since I simply wasn't interested in it. I got this GBA cart for Sonic Advance, so all Pinball Party was good for to me was having a second Tiny Chao Garden to play in. Even though I had to use cheats and save states to beat it (the time limit on the last level is BRUTAL, you have to be perfect!), I didn't dislike my time with the game. It's honestly crazy how much sense it makes to put Sonic through pinball, and yet every iteration of Sonic in a pinball machine usually plays like garbage... Sega REALLY needs to hire a pinball expert next time they try doing Sonic pinball tricks again.

11. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon

I honestly don't feel like I've played enough of this game to say much about it. The game is very pretty and relaxing, though I wish the pacing was just a teeny bit faster. I'm honestly not sure why I stopped playing this one, but I'm hoping to finish it in 2025.

10. Princess Peach: Showtime!

I think Nintendo could have done a lot better on this game. It's certainly not bad, but even for the age bracket I think they could have injected a little more pizzazz into it. But seeing Princess Peach in so many cute outfits... I can't dislike this game!! The baking and figure-skating levels are also unfathomably fun. Maybe having some later levels that combined multiple gimmicks into one level would have been the shake-up this game needed? Either way, Peach is the strongest character in the Mario universe and I hope Nintendo lets her flex that more in the future.

9. Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp

Sorry I made a mistake in the Ride Kamens section, apparently I played this gacha slop game first. It makes me SO MAD to care about Danganronpa in the current year, but this game is literally everything I wanted to see. Take the kids out of the killing game and let them hang out and have fun! A lot of the writing in this game is rushed slop but I don't care, I get to see cross-class interaction and everyone is happy yaaaaay! The gacha in this game honestly isn't too bad once you're a few playthroughs in, I ended up collecting everything by the time I was strong enough to complete the Tower of Despair and I was certainly never hurting for options to train up. My biggest complaint is (DANGANRONPA V3 SPOILERS IF YOU CARE:) that they drop the idea of the V3 cast all having manufactured personalities and backstories, which is a huge shame for... certain characters. I would have liked to that cast have a few changes as a nod to that.

Even though I partially bought this game to see my beautiful little boy Kokichi Ouma again, believe it or not I still haven't played as him in this game. I wanted to save his playthrough for when I unlocked all his upgrades and UR card (or whatever the rare cards are called) but he was one of the last characters I got all the upgrades for lol... now I guess I'm saving him for last to force me to play as all the other characters first.

8. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R

I think I technically started this game in 2022 but I only beat one level then stopped playing soooo I'm considering 2024 my first venture into it. This game is the first time I've ever tried to put serious effort into a traditional fighting game, and it's so rough but it's all worth it when I get to see my blorbos do their gay little reference attacks. My hands aren't really made to play more than an hour of this at a time, so it's nice to turn it on, complete a panel battle or a run of the arcade-like mode, and then shut it off. They should have added Jodio as DLC and based him off one chapter like they did with Part 8 Josuke.

7. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links

I downloaded this game for two reasons: 1) to get the rush of opening and collecting card packs without spending money and 2) to play Rush Duels. Once I found out this game has plot that continues from the ending of some of the shows, I knew it was over for me. I'll never play online; I'll never play Master Duel. I'm just here to see Yuya, Yusaku, and all their friends get happier endings.

6. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force

This game is Tokimeki Memorial but for Yu-Gi-Oh fans and I think that's awesome.

5. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

This is one of two games that were on the 2023 list that are making a return now that I've finished them. Honestly my opinion hasn't really changed since writing the other list! It's great but BOTW definitely hooked me more, but I'm not sure if that has to do with the game or if the way I play games has changed. Maybe when the Switch 2 comes out and this game becomes 60FPS you'll catch me playing this until 6am again hunting for Korok seeds. If I was Zelda I simply would have enjoyed being a dragon.

4. Tokimeki Memorial Pocket

It's more Tokimeki Memorial but now with beautiful Gameboy Colour sprite work! These demakes are honestly incredible and I wish the three exclusive girls could have made a comeback in Emotional. In 2024 I played the Culture version which frankly has all of my favourite girls from Tokimemo 1, but the exclusive girl Kyoko doesn't live up to the rest of their greatness. If the two games were one package this would be closer to the number 1 spot, but it's probably for the best it's not since we all know that Tokimeki Memorial is the greatest game of all time. Let's let other games have the spotlight.

3. Diavolo no Daibouken (AKA Diavolo's Great Adventure)

I played this game on a whim at the very end of 2024 and became briefly obsessed with it. This is a Jojo fangame where you play as Diavolo post-Part 5, who finds himself trapped in mystery dungeon hell during the GER death loops. This game is so difficult that I haven't even managed to beat the first dungeon on the latest version (each version likes to make the game harder because mystery dungeon fans are sickos), but it's really charming featuring all original sprite work and endless references from the Jojo series. You can equip Stand discs to change your abilities, and many enemies sport crazy quirks to reference the series (such as being unable to descend stairs if a Part 3 DIO enemy is in the same room as you). Oh yeah, and every song in this game is a Midi of a song reference that Jojo uses. I've honestly never had so much fun dying over and over in a game.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

There's honestly nothing else I could say about this game that hasn't been said before, whether by me or by everyone else on the planet. It's just a great game. Perfectly constructed and a marvel to look at, they simply don't make games like this anymore. I want to study this game under a microscope so that maybe one day I can make something on the same level as it.

1. Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side: 1st Love

Even though Tokimemo is great and got me back into dating sims, I wasn't convinced I could still like otome games. Turns out Tokimemo is good no matter what gender you're pursuing! While overall I prefer TM1's cast, I get the impression that this game invented Weird Otome Boys and the world is certainly a better place for it. I had no idea how many mechanics were first in TM2 and TM3, but jumping from TM1 to this felt like learning the game all over again. There's so much more content too, including more CG opportunities and even multiple endings - even PLATONIC endings!! - which makes me hesitate to move on to later games even after doing most of the routes at least once. I want to see as much content as I can! Will I ever come back to this game once I've moved on? It's not uncommon for me to be reluctant to end my time with a game, but feeling reluctant to start the next one is a new feeling. The vicegrip this franchise has on me - and on my future game ranking lists - will certainly make itself known for years to come...