Written by guest writer and friend of the site Ultima.
Honorable Mention: YuGiOh Master Duel
Considering this game more or less shadowdropped early on in 2022, it’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since this official dueling simulator was released. YuGiOh as a franchise is very dear to me, so having such a polished simulator to enjoy the game in was like a dream come true. For so long dedicated players such as myself had to turn to community made simulators to get a competitive experience from home or turn to Duel Links, which is not a 1:1 recreation of how YuGiOh is played.
While these simulators still are well made and aren’t invalidated by Master Duel’s existence, the presentation of Master Duel is simply on another level. The music is insanely intense, the animations are really cool, and the customization has a lot of fun options. Even in terms of economy as a free to play game, I think Master Duel is one of the more fair online card games out there, even blowing the previously mentioned Duel Links out of the water. Despite the game did taking awhile to catch up with more modern set releases and having a myriad of issues at launch that weren’t immediately addressed, the game is in a much better state now and is updated much more frequently. Ultimately, while it is just another way to play YuGiOh, it was one that allowed me to share so many great memories and moments with friends with a game I truly love and that means the world to me.
5. The King of Fighters XV
To say I was anticipating the next entry in the King of Fighters franchise would be an understatement. While the game did suffer some delays, what SNK was showing fans was nearly everything we could have wanted, especially after the lukewarm reception of the previous entry, KOF XIV. While KOF XIV was a game I did enjoy, I definitely can understand why people were apprehensive of not only the roster, but the visuals as well. SNK abandoned their legendary spritework that KOF XIII was revered for and instead opted for 3D models for XIV that were less than flattering at launch. This is important because while XV continued the use of 3D models, but in a much more stylized way that is a treat for the eyes. Characters are far more expressive and full of life in their animations.
Speaking of characters, the roster saw the return of many fan favorite characters who had been absent from the series for several entries, which really felt like SNK giving back to fans for supporting them through thick and thin. The sheer size of the launch roster was also a huge boon considering how small the rosters have been of KOF XV’s contemporaries. The changes to overall gameplay were also very refreshing, offering so many new options to players while not feeling overwhelming. There is definitely a lot of creativity and freedom players can express during a match, which is something I think is vital to any fighting game. While cross play is on the horizon, the game did launch with rollback netcode, another sign of the developers listening to the playerbase. The only area where KOF XV really struggles and why many fell off from the game is the abysmal matchmaking system. While every so often you do find matches with people of your skill level, sometimes it feels like you run into EVO champions or people who have never touched a fighting game before with no inbetween for many more matches. Despite this, KOF XV hits all the checkmarks of a fantastic King of Fighters title, which is all I could really ask for. I hope this matchmaking issue is resolved so the game can really reach its full potential.
4. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
It’s genuinely impressive how some modern polish and quality of life changes can vastly improve an already great game. The original 2007 release of Crisis Core on the PSP was one of the most enjoyable experiences on the handheld for me back in the day, despite there being some smaller aspects that were definitely annoying. Thankfully, it seems like Square Enix went out of their way to address almost all of these aspects for this remaster, many of which take full advantage of no longer being restricted by the PSP’s limitations. The DMW pausing gameplay and covering the whole screen? Fixed! Awkward camera controls? Also fixed! If I attempted to bring up every single gameplay rework and quality life of change, this segment could drag for a whole essay. All it boils down to is that what was once a great title with some flaws in execution is now a truly fantastic one.
The story beats remain more or less the same but with some updated translations, and the biggest point of contention, a new voice cast that is in line with 2020’s FFVII Remake. As someone who grew up with the original Crisis Core, I totally get it. Rick Gomez’s performance in that original release was iconic, he delivered his lines in a very genuine manner. However, I personally think Caleb Pierce’s performance in this remaster is equally good for different reasons. While some lines definitely do not hit the same highs without Gomez’s voice, Pierce does an amazing job during the more emotional moments of the plot. This is just a preference thing at the end of the day, but I don’t think the new performances hurt this remaster in any way. If you are a new or old fan of the FFVII mythos, I cannot recommend this title enough.
3. Pokémon Legends: Arceus
After the lackluster release of Sword and Shield, it’s no secret I was very burnt out on Pokémon as a franchise. While not some of the worst titles I’ve played, it just felt like death by 1000 paper cuts with the amount of missing features and overall lack of polish. So when Legends: Arceus was first announced, I was extremely hopeful this new spin on the traditional Pokémon would pan out well. The hope paid off in dividends because what I got was one of the most fun and refreshing experiences I have ever had with the franchise in all my time being a fan since the early 2000s. Yes, Legends: Arceus is rough around the edge in some aspects, but the overall experience was something that I had only imagined Pokémon since I was a child. Large open areas with a relative amount of freedom to explore where you want and nothing but pokémon to catch in the open wild as far as the eye can see. If you wanna go into a high level area and get mauled by an Alpha Snorlax, you’re more than welcome to. If you spend your time completing enough tasks to fill in the PokéDex entries for all the Pokémon you catch, you can also do so! The game is structured in such a way that you can enjoy progressing at your own pace.
In addition, there are more action focused boss battles that don’t immediately involve sending out your pokémon. It worked surprisingly well and caught me off-guard in a positive way. The story and characters are all pretty great to boot, with some moments being more emotional than I expected. It’s extremely unfortunate that Scarlet/Violet had to end up performing so awfully because I think if that game had more time to cook, it could have surpassed Legends: Arceus for me. However, due to said performance issues, it made the overall experience such much more of a slog than it needed to be to where it soured a lot of time playing. Legends: Arceus, however, runs very well, even if it is not the most visually stunning game in the Switch’s library. Between the gameplay and the amount of hilariously fun moments myself and many others shared with the game online, I can safely say this was a Pokémon title I would love to experience again for the first time, which is something I have not said about the series since Black and White over a decade ago.
2. Sonic Frontiers
Sonic Frontiers is a flawed game, I have no shame in admitting that. So then, how is it this high up on my list when I have done nothing but praise the polish of every other game on the list? Because even putting aside my own love of Sonic aside, I can appreciate what this game achieved and what it means for the future of the franchise. This was the first Sonic game where I truly felt like I partook in the hype cycle and at least for me, it accomplished enough to warrant that excitement. The open zone gameplay loop this game has set forward can come across as fairly empty at times, but I would be lying if I told you that I didn’t have an absolute blast exploring the large open environments at high speeds with very sharply controlling Sonic. However, there is a large amount of jank, as I alluded to previously. Sometimes you’ll go flying into the air for seemingly no reason, Sonic is fairly magnetized to the ground, and forced 2D segments in these open zones can be frustrating to run into accidentally. Despite all this, it feels nice just to have so much space to run freely and do platforming challenges in any order you desire. Combat is fairly basic but flashy enough to where stringing special moves together is a fun experience, especially for the Guardian battles. And of course, I have to mention the Titan boss battles because these are some of the highest highs I have ever felt in a video game in recent memory. It’s not enough that Super Sonic is back in full force, but the vocal tracks and cinematography of these battles is simply next level. I’d argue the FIRST BOSS is on par with the finale of most Sonic games, it is that insane.
On the story front, the writing is back to having a more serious tone while making attempts to truly unify all of the lore of previous games, which is genuinely something fans such as myself have wanted for ages. Characters go through actual development here as opposed to being flanderized like they have in the past. Although the game does lose steam towards the end, I think it doesn’t overstay its welcome as I was feeling very burnt out after the third island. The game has several free updates coming this year that will add a lot of new features and quality of life changes, culminating in the biggest addition that 3D Sonic games have been missing for years, more playable characters. It will be very exciting to see how Tails, Knuckles, and Amy play when they arrive in the game later this year. Overall, I know Sonic Frontiers is flawed, but I can tell Sonic Team not only was listening to fans on this title, but are actively trying to make the future for Sonic the brightest they can. This ended up being another game I wish I could experience again for the first time.
1. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Kirby games, for the most part, have always been consistent on the level of polish and quality they deliver. What I didn’t not expect was HAL to nail the pink puffballs first EVER 3D outing to such a high degree. A fully 3D Kirby game was always something fans had speculated on and desired for an extremely long time, but one never arrived. We would get teases of what one COULD be like with titles like Kirby’s Blowout Blast and even the final boss of the previous Switch entry, Star Allies. To say the hype was insane when Forgotten Land was first revealed to be this ever so desired 3D platformer would be an understatement. Even more insane was how Forgotten Land managed to deliver one of the potentially best Kirby experiences on its first attempt at transitioning to 3D. I would argue that while Forgotten Land plays it safe for the most part, it does so with such a level of polish that it puts many other games that have always been 3D platformers to shame.
Kirby controls perfectly in a 3D space, even when he is using one of his many Mouthful Mode forms to gain control of a variety of objects. This game heavily features the ability to upgrade copy abilities, of which there has been a large reduction compared to previous Kirby titles. I would argue this is probably the one point of contention I have with the game, as not only are some staples like Beam missing, but some of the upgrades just aren’t anything interesting past simply doing more damage. That being said, the returning ones are still fun to use because of said upgrades. There are only 2 wholly original copy abilities and while Ranger is a lot of fun because it’s Kirby with a gun, Drill felt half-baked and just annoying to use. Regardless, the treasure challenge the game features make amazing use of these abilities and really test your capabilities to utilize their unique aspects to the fullest, something I haven’t felt since Return to Dreamland on the Wii. In terms of story, it’s also pretty interesting as far as Kirby games go, completely with some very dark story beats and lore implications to those who wanna look more into things. There were so many moments in this game that genuinely had me popping off in my chair because of how hype and unexpected they were. Not to mention the soundtrack instantly became one of my favorites in the series, especially Roar of DeDeDe, this game’s rendition of DeDeDe’s iconic theme. Overall, Kirby and the Forgotten Land was an excellent first step into the new 3D future of the Kirby franchise and I can only hope the next attempt goes even more above and beyond.
You can find Ultima on Twitter at @UltimaShadowX, and find their YouTube channel here. They also did the excellent highlights edit of our Mario Party betting stream, which you can find here! Finally, they joined us for our Oops All Anime coverage of the Darkstalkers OVA.
