PixlBit

2020. Gosh. Remember when we looked forward to it, hopefully, being a good year? We had no idea. And while there were big profile delays and disappointments in the game space, there were still a ton of fun games to play. First we'll take a look at the games I beat and bought and then we'll move onto the Golden Hippo Awards!

Games Beaten

January—Super Mario Party (Switch)

February—Blazing Chrome (Switch); Dead Cells (Switch); Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS)

March—Sonic Mania Plus (Switch)

April—Cosmic Star Heroine (PS4); Mega Man Zero (Switch); Mega Man Zero 2 (Switch)

May—Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut (PS4); Pokémon Shield (Switch); BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (Switch)

June—River City Girls (Switch); Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Switch); God Eater 3 (PS4)

July—Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved (XBO)

August—Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Wii U); Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (Wii U)

September—Carrion (Xbox Game Pass); New Super Luigi U (Wii U); Strikers 1945 (Switch); Astral Chain (Switch)

October—

November—Panzer Dragoon (Switch)

December—Blaster Master Zero (Switch)

Total Beaten: 23

Last year I finished only 11 games, so 2020 was a big step up on that front and more in line with the other years I've tracked. The Switch, obviously, saw the most use this last year, largely thanks to our Switch Lite and the kids not being allowed to use it most of the time.

Games Bought

or somehow acquired

Note: Click on a month to go to that month's recap and see what these games are. The PS+ games in parentheses are part of the total but I wanted to make special note of them since I didn't have to pay for them beyond the subscription fee.

January—6 (PS+: 1)

February—0

March—5

April—6

May—18 (PS+: 1)

June—3 (PS+: 1)

July—3 (PS+: 2)

August—4 (PS+: 2)

September—2 (PS+: 2)

October—3 (PS+: 2)

November—3 (PS+: 2)

December—11 (PS+: 1)

Total Bought/Acquired: 64  (PS+: 14)

I'm always amazed by the number of games I gather during a calendar year. Granted, very few of these are full-priced, day one purchases but a game's a game, right? Even if you pull out PS+, that's still 50 new games. My consolation is that this is counting games not just for me but my wife and kids also.

Addendum of Sorrow: Games I spent time with in 2020 but didn't finish:

-Picross 3D (3DS)

I definitely like traditional 2D Picross over its 3D cousin. In normal picross you always know all the numbers for the whole puzzle, but a big thing that bothered me in Picross 3D was they give you only a fraction of the numbers. I didn't finish it because there are just SO MANY PUZZLES. Too many for me to go through without enjoying it more than I did.

-Overcooked 2 (Switch)

We got this to play online with friends and really had fun that one time we played!

-Star Fox (SNES)

There are three routes through this game and I played the easiest one, always intending to go back and play the others. I just didn't get around to it.

The Golden Hippo Awards

And now it's time for the Golden Hippo Awards! These awards are based just on the actual games I played in 2020, so no Last of Us Part 2 or FFVIIR here, folks. But they're still very prestigious, uh, in my head.

Game of the Year: Dead Cells (Switch)

I never saw this guy. Maybe he was in one of the DLCs. Maybe I should go back and play some more...

My pick for Game of the Year in any given year is usually that game that most intently holds my interest while I play it regardless of whether it is objectively the "best" game I played. In 2020 that game was definitely Dead Cells. I always enjoy a good 2D action game and the combat and traversal in Dead Cells just feels so dang good. It feels right. While I'm always wary of roguelikes, Dead Cells handled it well and I was happy to keep making one more run.

Runner Up: Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Switch)

Pirate's Curse is my favorite of the Shantae games so far. It looks and sounds great, though it can be a little too vague on what to do next. Looking forward to continuing the series this year.

Best Secretly Not Retro Game: Blazing Chrome (Switch)

Blazing Chrome was like a long-lost Sega Genesis Contra and I was there for it, man! Brought back all my warm fuzzies for that kind of game.

Best Music: Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Switch)

Let me just say here that I didn't pick Theatrhythm 'cause that's just not fair. Nigh on cheating lol

Jake Kaufman delivered another great score with Pirate's Curse, best yet for the Shantae series in my opinion. Good stuff.

Biggest Surprise Family Game: Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved (XBO)

While I was definitely the biggest fan of the white knuckle action of GW3, we had a surprisingly good time with the four-player campaign and actually managed to beat it...or, perhaps, I managed to beat it with several handicaps lol.

The "Why don't more games look like this?" Award: Kirby and Rainbow Curse (Wii U)

The claymation aesthetic of Rainbow Curse is so charming, I wish more games would do something interesting with their art style like it. The only company that is really doing that at all is Nintendo. The last two Yoshi games and, of course, the Paper Mario series have taken realistic approaches to a new level of, ahem, craft. But I hope we get more claymation-esque games.

And that's the final word on 2020! (Let us never speak of it again.) Here's to staying home and playing more games in 2021!