jademonkey's GOTYs Since Birth
I was born in '88. That's a lot of games! I'll leave notes with why I chose each game and notable runner ups. I'm obviously only including games I've played and most likely beaten. If well loved games are conspicuously missing, there's a 50/50 chance I didn't play it or I just didn't like it all that much. Feel free to yell at me for my bad tastes.
I'll update this list over time if I play a game that I end up liking better than my current selection for a year.
I'll update this list over time if I play a game that I end up liking better than my current selection for a year.
37 Games
1988. Still my favorite Mario platformer to this day. Great mix of difficulty and fun.
Runners-Up: Mega Man 2, Final Fantasy 2
Runners-Up: Mega Man 2, Final Fantasy 2
1989 (going by Moby Games/Wikipedia/IMDB). Very ahead of its time mix of beat 'em up, open world, and RPG elements.
Runners-Up: Tetris, Final Fantasy Legend
Runners-Up: Tetris, Final Fantasy Legend
1990. One of the early high points of the SaGa series. Holds up to this day imho.
Runners-Up: Super Mario World
Runners-Up: Super Mario World
1991. Absolutely mindblowing at the time, and still a favorite of mine to this day.
Runners-Up: SaGa 3
Runners-Up: SaGa 3
1992. I had way too much fun playing this with friends and family growing up to choose anything else.
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy 5
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy 5
1993. Hard choice here, but the empire building and generational system was way ahead of its time.
Runners-Up: Megaman X, Link's Awakening, Kirby's Adventure
Runners-Up: Megaman X, Link's Awakening, Kirby's Adventure
1994. The premier audio-visual experience of its time, and a darn fun platformer. One of the first games I ever beat -- I can only remember beating Super Mario World earlier.
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy 6
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy 6
1995. I loved kitting out my mech and blowing stuff up. Still do. The base game is great, but I loved Ghost Bear's Legacy and especially the Mercenaries expansion.
Runners-Up: Donkey Kong Country 2, Dark Forces
Runners-Up: Donkey Kong Country 2, Dark Forces
1996. Tough choice again, but SMRPG got me into JRPGs and is such a fun and memorable experience. Excellent sound track, and shockingly good visuals for the time.
Runners-Up: Master of Orion 2, Kirby Superstar
Runners-Up: Master of Orion 2, Kirby Superstar
1997. The toughest year. Final Fantasy Tactics is an all time favorite. It has a great story and crystallized my favorite style of tactical RPG. I've played it so many times over the years, vanilla and with romhacks.
Symphony of the Night was also in contention for my favorite game of all time for much of my life. The 'vania side of Castlevania is still one of my favorite types of game to this day.
Runners-Up: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy 7, Megaman Legends
Symphony of the Night was also in contention for my favorite game of all time for much of my life. The 'vania side of Castlevania is still one of my favorite types of game to this day.
Runners-Up: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy 7, Megaman Legends
1998. I was far too young when I played this, and the story absolutely blew my my mind. Still love giant mechs.
Runners-Up: Starcraft, Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
Runners-Up: Starcraft, Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
1999. Such a cool fusion of strategy and RPG. I played countless hours both with friends and alone.
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy 8, Super Smash Brothers, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy 8, Super Smash Brothers, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
2000. The freedom, dark story, and character customization were amazing back in the day. Still fun with mods these days.
Very stacked year.
Runners-Up: Diablo 2, Deus Ex, Sacrifice, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Very stacked year.
Runners-Up: Diablo 2, Deus Ex, Sacrifice, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
2001. The first FPS I really loved since Dark Forces in the mid 90s. Cool story, great gunplay. Fun co-op and versus.
Runners-Up: Wizardry 8, Golden Sun
Runners-Up: Wizardry 8, Golden Sun
2002. An absolute classic of world building and freedom. I don't think the gameplay holds up well, but it was beyond cool at the time.
Runners-Up: Freedom Force, Dance Dance Revolution
Runners-Up: Freedom Force, Dance Dance Revolution
2003. Another tough year. Aria of Sorrow is an extremely mechanically solid follow up to Symphony of the Night. Collecting enemies' souls for power is an all time favorite system.
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
2004. The only MMORPG I've ever really enjoyed. The character customization is unparalleled, and the community is generally quite friendly.
Runners-Up: Baten Kaitos, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
Runners-Up: Baten Kaitos, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
2005. Very amusing silver age comic real time strategy roleplaying game. I would love to see a modern continuation of the series with better quality of life!
Runners-Up: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Guild Wars
Runners-Up: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Guild Wars
2006. One of my favorite ARPGs, still fun to this day.
Runners-Up: Space Rangers 2
Runners-Up: Space Rangers 2
2007. The ultimate college experience for me, and what I still consider the peak of the series.
Runners-Up: Megaman ZX Advent
Runners-Up: Megaman ZX Advent
2008. I was still living in the dorms, so I wasn't playing too many games on my own. Castle Crashers was another dorm room classic.
Runners-Up: Saints Row 2
Runners-Up: Saints Row 2
2009. Another great fusion of RPG and RTS. The campaign mode is a favorite of mine to this day, and I had countless hours of fun playing Last Stand with friends.
Runners-Up: Borderlands
Runners-Up: Borderlands
2010. Bethesda didn't even make the best Bethesda style game. My first Josh Sawyer.
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy XIII, Ys: The Oath in Felghana
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy XIII, Ys: The Oath in Felghana
2011. A solid game in its own right, but stands out as being one of the best modding platforms ever.
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy XIII-2, The Binding of Isaac, Terraria
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy XIII-2, The Binding of Isaac, Terraria
2012. My favorite action RPG gameplay of all time. Hopefully I have to revisit this statement soon!
Tough year, since Tales of Maj'Eyal is the game I've put the most hours into of all time.
Runners-Up: Tales of Maj'Eyal, Borderlands 2
Tough year, since Tales of Maj'Eyal is the game I've put the most hours into of all time.
Runners-Up: Tales of Maj'Eyal, Borderlands 2
2013. Great puzzles, great atmosphere, and great concepts in the plot. Very high up on the All Time Favorites list.
Runners-Up: Lightning Returns,
Runners-Up: Lightning Returns,
2014. A very emotional ending to a favorite series of mine. Beautiful game, with excellent art and music.
Runners-Up: Choice of Robots, The Binding of Isaac Rebirth
Runners-Up: Choice of Robots, The Binding of Isaac Rebirth
2015. My favorite CRPG. I love the lore, themes, characters, and gameplay.
Runners-Up: Stasis, Fallout 4
Runners-Up: Stasis, Fallout 4
2016. Grim Dawn. Far and away my favorite Diablo-style action RPG. Great character building, lore, world, etc. There's a lot of very cool mods for it too!
Runners-Up: Recursed, Final Fantasy 15
Runners-Up: Recursed, Final Fantasy 15
2017. What damn good game. Great gameplay, but the story, characters, music, and themes are among my favorite of all time.
Runners-Up: Neofeud, Tyranny
Runners-Up: Neofeud, Tyranny
2018. Easily my favorite JRPG combat of all time. The mechanics here got me wanting to make my own game, so that gives it a leg up in a strong year. The story and characters weren't mind-blowing, but they were enjoyable.
Runners-Up: Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire, Unavowed
Runners-Up: Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire, Unavowed
2019. One of the most creative games I've ever played. An amazingly well designed puzzler.
Very hard choice here, since Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark is also an absolute favorite. I even spent hundreds of hours making a mod for it!
Runners-Up: Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark, Hat World: New Testament
Very hard choice here, since Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark is also an absolute favorite. I even spent hundreds of hours making a mod for it!
Runners-Up: Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark, Hat World: New Testament
2020. Very fun open world tactical RPG with an excellent modding scene.
While I love this game, I have a bunch of heavy hitters from 2020 sitting at very high positions in my backlog, so this will likely change in the next few months.
Runners-Up: Star Renegades
While I love this game, I have a bunch of heavy hitters from 2020 sitting at very high positions in my backlog, so this will likely change in the next few months.
Runners-Up: Star Renegades
2021. Creepy, thought provoking, and absolutely bizarre. Wormwood Studios consistently delivers some of the best writing in the business.
Runners-Up: Grotto, Wildermyth
Runners-Up: Grotto, Wildermyth
2022. An absolutely crazy game that just keeps escalating in both plot and gameplay. There's nothing quite like it, and I love it.
Stacked year again.
Runners-Up: Immortality, The Excavation of Hob's Barrow
Stacked year again.
Runners-Up: Immortality, The Excavation of Hob's Barrow
2023. My favorite horror game and my favorite adventure game. Creepy, unsettling, and disgusting, yet insightful and heartbreaking. It's a contender for favorite of all time.
Runners-Up: Casette Beasts, Paranormasight, Starfield
Runners-Up: Casette Beasts, Paranormasight, Starfield
2024. A more dynamic approach to Scarlet Grace's battle system, with the crazy science fantasy kitchen sink approach of SaGa Frontier. An easy all time favorite.
Runners Up: Secret of Varonis
Runners Up: Secret of Varonis