For the completionists among us, trophy/achievement lists and other in-game checklists are basically the steps of a bizarre ritual to escape a curse.

It’s like, “Oh, you wish to be free of the grip of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? First, you must clear all 615 spaces in adventure mode, collect all 1302 unique spirits, and defeat all 124 challenges! Only then will you release its hold over your mind!”

Just eighteen challenges to go until I can move on to Marvel’s Spider-Man…

Based on how much joy they brought me, not on objective greatness.

10. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017)
9. West of Loathing (2017)
8. Dust: An Elysian Tail (2012)
7. Stories: The Path of Destinies (2016)
6. Iconoclasts (2018)
5. Golf Story (2017)
4. Night in the Woods (2017)
3. I Am Setsuna (2016)
2. Fire Emblem Warriors (2017)
1. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)

Honorable mentions to Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Finding Paradise, and Subsurface Circular.

Games that came out in 2018 that I haven’t played yet but suspect would have made the list if I had:

1. Dragon Quest XI
2. Marvel’s Spider-Man
3. Detroit: Become Human
4. Celeste

Most anticipated game for 2019:

Dragon Quest Builders 2

I want a game where you control one hero in 3D and one in 2D. The 3D hero’s motto is “Onward and upward!” while the 2D hero’s motto is “Up and to the right!”

The worst part of finally getting around to writing articles that I’ve wanted to write for several years are all the reference links I saved that have since broken - especially the ones that aren’t on the Wayback Machine. I am haunted by ghosts of knowledge.

Explorers never receive ironic comeuppance! …except for sometimes!

SPOILER WARNING: Shows one solution to a late-game platforming challenge.

An explorer never gives up! An explorer finds a way!

Every review I read of Miitopia makes me think - why on earth is this not a mobile title that integrates with Miitomo? Missed opportunity.

A good actor finds a way to make the scene work.

What it says on the tin.

A cop tries to make an arrest, but the code has other plans.