raccoons4444
2020
A phenomenal Fire Red romhack which simultaneously modernizes Pokémon's formula with countless quality of life/engine improvements & brutal difficulty for veterans, yet parodies the formula with 4chan's brand of irreverent, referential meme humor. It's not for everybody, but the people who are interested will appreciate the unmistakable passion that went into designing the 350+ mons, outstanding OST in the FRLG soundfont (with countless original compositions), 100+ hrs of hours of total playtime, and surprisingly profound story.
Dunkin' Donuts is what you get if you mixed the combat and dungeon crawling of Darkest Dungeons with the visual aesthetic/story/characters of Persona 5, as well as a prostitution tycoon simulator with copious h-scenes. The gameplay loop is fun & addictive, the story is lighthearted & entertaining, the CGs are stylish, and the soundtrack bangs as hard as your clientele.
2003
2010
2009
Addictive arcade rhythm game which, while simple on the surface, demands speed and precision once you move from easy/normal difficulties to hard/oni. The standalone package is solid at 74 songs available + a decent online mode + a bunch of rhythm heaven-style multiplayer minigames, but there's about $200 worth of DLC with all manner of songs, from anime music, to remixed classical pieces, to touhou music, to songs from the taiko series' past on offer, and many more (although be aware there's a number of songs only available in the Japanese version).
2005
A fantastic portable Mario Kart entry with dozens of memorable tracks, DS download play that let your friends play without a copy, and an amazing mission mode with novel challenges and even boss fights. However, the sweatiest Nintendo kids remember this game's competitive online; where you sacrificed your left thumb to do a back and forth drifting technique called "snaking" to chain mini-turbos together (which even let you dodge blue shells if you were godlike).
2008
Extremely simple arcade game where you move the d-pad left and right to control a paper airplane's falling angle/speed to avoid crashing into walls. There's a handful of levels to beat and lower your time on, an endless mode to see how far you can get, and my personal favorite, a head-to-head multiplayer mode that me and my brother used to play the shit out of on long car rides.
2010
Classic indie puzzle-platformer about flipping gravity to explore outer space, beat challenging levels and find your crewmates (plus 20 hidden collectibles!). The game is simple and short, but that brevity as well as its tight controls and various intermissions, make VVVVVV into a well paced and highly replayable gem you should play at least once in your life.
2019
A short metroidvania based on the Touhou Project (no prior knowledge required) with tight controls, phenomenal remixes of iconic series songs, and Team Ladybug's signature pixel-art style that might be the best in the business. Luna Nights' central mechanic, Sakuya's time stop ability, gets thoroughly explored while you're exploring the Scarlet Devil Mansion's many puzzle-platforming and combat rooms, where you'll challenge some really great boss fights, and maybe recycle some aluminum cans along the way.
2011
Expands the best minigame in Wii Sports Resort (Island Flyover) into a fully fledged launch title for the 3DS. There's not a whole lot of content, but the missions on offer have surprising variety/challenge and are a blast to master, and flying around Wuhu Island in various different aircraft is entertaining as ever.
2018
Therapeutic little katamari-like featuring nature's best animal, with an interesting premise, light puzzle-solving elements, great humor, and a clean artstyle. That said, Donut County is only about 2 hours and has no replay value (get it on sale or on your phone), but that makes it an excellent game if you're ever babysitting, since it's kid friendly, easy as cake, and tells a silly and lighthearted story about friendship, garbage and forgiveness.
2013
A silly game where you become God, watching over an island populated with your miis go about their daily lives and influencing them in as benevolent or hostile way as you prefer. It's fun seeing the interpersonal struggles the miis undergo (or making them sing swears in the song editor mode), but the game suffers from "once you've seen all of the cutscenes and events once, you don't really have incentive to keep playing" syndrome and also "I can watch somebody play it on Youtube and pretty much get the whole experience" syndrome (shout outs to Vinny Vinesauce btw).