Twelfth GOTW finished for 2024. Cool concept of mixing SHMUPS with a competitive match-puzzle game like Kirby's Avalanche. I got the basic idea behind the gameplay and the controls, but I beat the entire game and I'm STILL not sure I actually knew what I was doing. Pure chaos in the later levels, and that final boss was a massive difficulty spike that I feel like I only somehow scraped through. Neat idea, cute sprites and characters, just didn't gel with this one. Maybe it's better in multiplayer.

Eleventh GOTW finished for 2024. This one absolutely clicked with me. There is no "story" in the Story Mode, which is a shame given the source material, but the gameplay alone still held up really well. The controls are relatively simple on the surface - A to dodge, B to punch, and R for special. However, the way you utilize distance and direction using the D-Pad in this game offers a lot of variety (if very poorly explained) and makes for lots of options in how you fight your opponents. Pressing opponents without a game plan can often put your ass on the mat, so identifying opponent's patterns and taking opportunities with your openings and blocking/dodging made for some surprisingly intense moments in the game. Great looking sprites as well. Great all around boxing game, very much enjoyed this one!

First GOTM finished for April 2024. Branching narrative paths and player choice sound compelling and interesting, but the short run time and somewhat aimlessness of the story beats leaves this one ultimately feeling uninteresting and without any meaningful depth. Lots of replayability, and spending time wandering around and finding different dialogue and story options would've tickled my fancy as a one-game-a-year kiddo, but as an adult with much better games around the lack of compelling narrative drivers and the short run time ultimately left this one feeling like an ambitious idea dragged down by poor execution.