Zettaflare: I think FF16's main goal was to be as insanely over the top as possible, and if you accept that, the Ifrit vs Bahamut fight is just about the most stupid and brilliant moment in the entire series. It's so dumb, and it's played incredibly straight, and that just makes it feel even more fun. I think once the "bad because popular" wears off of this game it'll be recognized rightly as the sequel to Asura's Wrath we deserved.

Utopia/Dystopia: I think even the most diehard of Talos Principle fans (me) will agree that the puzzles never really integrate into the story very well. They're fun, and they pace out the story, but there's not really much narrative weight behind connecting the lasers and pushing the boxes. Color me surprised when at the end of Talos Principle 2, the game pulls a mindbending dimension hopping puzzle out that illustrates the opposing sides of its central dilemma. It's not exactly subtle which one it wants you to side with, but it's executed so well that I can forgive that.

Hanna Fucking Dies: The entire gimmick of this series is that you can use your characters as fodder for your ultimate weapon, which kills them. Obviously, the way to the best ending is to never use this, so good players will never have to deal with the game's depressing effects of sending a 4 year old to the byford dolphin diving bell room. Fortunately, Fuga 2 has a mandatory gut punch that's treated with the weight it deserves, the death of a character hanging over the cast's head for over half the game. Malt loses his fucking mind for a bit, other characters try to move forward but fall back into depression spirals that have real gameplay effects, all while still having to fight for their lives. It's a good reminder that this game isn't just going to ignore that these are child soldiers in a living hell because it has a cute aesthetic.

Message to Uncle Kaz: I don't think I can say much more about the end of Gaiden than it says for itself. In a series that loves to overtalk and overact its dramatic scenes, Kiryu hearing his adopted kids talking to him with the vague hope he's alive while crying his eyes out hurt. It hurts, and it's a brilliant scene.

The Unfinished Maps: Slayers X is the authentic 15 year old fan doom wad experience. There are a lot of moments from this game I could pick, like the fight against your dickhead stepdad, your super hot girlfriend turning into a werewolf, or the fully playable arcade, but I'm going with the bonus maps because they're so perfectly and intentionally shit. You get to see Zane's first attempt at a doom map and it's exactly like your own, a giant penis map with monsters haphazardly sprinkled everywhere. Other maps include a full recreation of Boise, which is another staple of first doom mods, "im gonna make my house" or "im gonna make the mall".

Piranha Plants on Parade: I kind of wish that Wonder wasn't advertised as being weird at all, that it was just sold as a normal NSMB game and in the second level all the piranha plants just break out into a musical number. It's the first wonder seed not in the trailers and it made a damn good first impression. Some more creative ones come later in the game, but nothing hits quite like this one.

Nael's Real World: Xenoblade 3 teased fans with so many callbacks to Xenosaga and Xenogears that it was really disappointing to find out the game's story was none of that. Future Redeemed set out to take the frankly bad story of XC3 and get some goodwill back from the fans who had paid way too much to play the xeno games that are never getting a rerelease. It does this by tying every Xeno series game together and confirming a lot of fan theories that recontextualizes XC3's ending into something completely different. Bold! I wish the whole game was this.

Moss: Just every time Moss is onscreen

Your First Doohickey: None of Tears of the Kingdom's story beats hit very hard for me compared to the story of progression within its world. The best example of this would be the first time the player makes something completely on their own to take on a challenge that doesn't require it. For me it was building an oversized plane to ram into a boss that was way too tough for me to deal with on my own at that point. That's where TOTK excels, IMO. The King Gleeok still wound up throwing me into a meat grinder, but I had a smile on my face the whole time.

The Noise: I love crusty mascots. Yo Noid 2 is a game I still love to go back to even though it's a game jam game, so it makes sense that The Noise is my favorite boss in this game. I'm admittedly not a huge fan of Pizza Tower overall, but the boss fights go insanely hard, and The Noise is no exception. Come to think of it, Fake Peppino's pretty good too.