KalKeg
BACKER
1999
First GOTM finished for November 2022. Really neat little survival game with some replayability due to the multiple endings. The amount of crafting materials (and sometimes useless combinations) and obtuse map would make completing this game without a guide a struggle, but luckily there is little in the way of events rushing the player through. Managing hunger/thirst/fatigue can be annoying as with any survival game, but there's a plethora of items on the island (many of which respawn with each in-game day) that should make it pretty easy to stave these off throughout the game.
Also, you get a monkey companion!
Also, you get a monkey companion!
Twenty-fifth GOTW finished for 2022. An interesting concept for a game (inhabit furniture and items to terrify people) marred by terrible controls, hide-and-seek frustration of finding family members in three different huge houses, and a truly terrible final boss. Loved scaring people out of their clothes, but everything else felt like a drag, dude.
Wow, is this an unpleasant game to play. So the game LOOKS great. Coming from KH1 remix, basically all of the same assets have been used, with some "smoothed over" cutscenes still from the PS2 remaster. However, basically everything else about this game is garbage. The card combat is clunky and abrasive, even scrub enemies can break your cards pretty easily (don't even get me started on Org XIII bosses...), and the story is pretty dumb. I put the time in to finish the first storyline, but I can't say I enjoyed myself. Maybe I'll play the second storyline and see if it changes my feelings at all, but I'd recommend just catching the story bits from this one in a video wrap-up.
Edit: Went back and played the Riku storyline, and it was good enough to raise the overall rating of this game, but not by much. The story was less than half the length of Sora's, with some good explanatory story bits instead of just "Oh noes my memories!". The pre-determined decks for every world took a lot of the tedious work of deck-building out, but could really suck if you were in a world with a bad deck (Wonder Land). The gameplay overall felt much faster and more dynamic, and reloading your cards with a simple button press instead of holding the button really kept the combat moving. Dueling sucked, to the point I just avoided it entirely, and the final boss was cheap, so it wasn't all roses. I would still recommend just catching the story bits in a video, but the Riku storyline is at least worth playing.
Edit: Went back and played the Riku storyline, and it was good enough to raise the overall rating of this game, but not by much. The story was less than half the length of Sora's, with some good explanatory story bits instead of just "Oh noes my memories!". The pre-determined decks for every world took a lot of the tedious work of deck-building out, but could really suck if you were in a world with a bad deck (Wonder Land). The gameplay overall felt much faster and more dynamic, and reloading your cards with a simple button press instead of holding the button really kept the combat moving. Dueling sucked, to the point I just avoided it entirely, and the final boss was cheap, so it wasn't all roses. I would still recommend just catching the story bits in a video, but the Riku storyline is at least worth playing.
This game was an absolute blast. It felt like an improvement over Persona in every facet except for the story, which was unfortunately a bit of a low point. The rumor system was really interesting when you used it to implement certain story points, but the overall story could've been better. That aside, everything else was a banger. The music was great, the shared Persona pool that can be accessed on the fly was great, fusion spells were fun, and the character portraits, sprite work, and environments looked fantastic. Quite a long game, but luckily the gameplay helps carry it all the way through.
Also, as mentioned, painfully easy game, but still way fun!
Also, as mentioned, painfully easy game, but still way fun!
Twenty-fourth GOTW finished for 2022. The music is insanely good in this game, a real high point! I played the GBC version, and the colors looked good. Level design and difficulty were great for the four "main" castles, but everything went off the rails difficulty wise for the last castle. The three bosses are especially annoying, especially Dracula. I'm still really pleased with it overall, especially with the soundtrack, but that last castle needs to be a lot better balanced.
1988
Twenty-third GOTW finished for 2022. Relatively fun side-scrolling beat 'em up with some definite difficulty spikes. Music and environments definitely fit the spooky theme, and the bosses were gross and sometimes infuriating. Can feel cheap with the sluggish movement in some areas.
2001
Third GOTM finished for October 2022. Aside from the slightly wonky aiming/directional controls, this is a fantastically executed game. In a sweet spot of just a handful of hours long, but still packed with tons of content and details to explore and find. Had a blast!
1998
Second GOTM finished for October 2022. Controls are borderline unplayable until remapped through something like emulation, and even then the movement feels and looks janky. The story was mildly interesting at first, but just become more and more nonsensical. Some purposefully obtuse goals and item collecting certainly didn't help. The creepy aesthetic helped prop up an otherwise disappointing game.
1991
Twenty-second GOTW finished for 2022. What a BANGER of a pinball game! The music, the atmosphere, the graphics, the gameplay are all amazing. The bonus dungeons felt super fun and just the right amount of creepy, and the difficulty didn't feel unfair. Had an absolute blast playing this one multiple times, can't recommend enough!
1991
First GOTM finished for October 2022. Interesting little GameBoy platformer, where you play a spirit who has the ability to possess other enemy characters in order to obtain their specific abilities as you progress through the levels. The variety in the enemy abilities was nice, but the game felt clunky in the platforming and the bosses were pretty tough. Neat little game, quick and dirty at less than an hour.
2009
Third GOTM finished for September 2022. Gorgeous PSP remake of a classic game. The bump combat was super fun, and it felt great to just bounce into things to kill them. The music was great, and the boss battles were really fun and memorable (sometimes hauntingly so). Marred a bit by lots of backtracking in both games, less so in the second with the help of some magic. The entire last tower in Book I felt poorly balanced from a character development standpoint (maxed out going in, so no stat growth the WHOLE time). Story was pretty generic, but serviceable. Backtracking aside, I enjoyed my time with this one!
2001
Twenty-first GOTW finished for 2022. I don't have any nostalgia for Digimon, so this one wasn't a favorite. It's essentially a Super Smash Bros.-like platform fighting game, with a selection of Digimon (some locked at the beginning behind progress requirements) that you can fight with. Beat up on your opponent enough throughout the match, and your meter will eventually be high enough to allow you to digivolve for a short period. There are also power ups throughout the levels you can collect, but considering you can just spam the same basic attacks to victory every level, they felt completely unnecessary. Combat also felt a little janky. Extremely short runtime from start to finish, allowing for some replayability with the multiple characters, but didn't capture my attention enough to warrant another playthrough.
1986
First GOTM finished for April 2022. Simple, short, relatively relaxing game with some great music. Varied pathways and options give a lot of replayability, but I didn't really enjoy my time enough with this one to replay it. Solid, if unspectacular.
1999
Third GOTM finished for April 2022. Really fun arena-style robot fighter, with lots of variety in the weapon and armor customization, and a neat art style. Can show some clunk being an N64 game, but still really enjoyable. You compete in tournaments, listen to some silly childish dialogue, and whoop up on other people's robots. Super fun!
1993
Nineteenth GOTW finished for 2022. Felt like yet another Sonic game. The Past and Present changes were neat, and the music was a banger, but still felt like I'd mostly played this one before as the formula didn't change much. Looks great on Sega CD!