2023 was a year that happened and I played games during it, sometimes. Let's talk about it! 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—Death Mark (Switch)

February—Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Switch)

March—Blaster Master Zero 3 (Switch)

April—DuckTales Remastered (WiiU)

May—Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch); Picross S Genesis & Master System Edition (Switch)

June—Spider-Man (PS4)

July—Shadowrun Returns (Switch); Hades (Switch)

August—Strikers 1945 II (Switch)

September—

October—Luigi's Mansion (GCN)

November—Rayman Legends (WiiU)

December—The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)

Total Beaten: 13

Wow. I don't have lofty goals for finishing a certain number of games in a year but this is the lowest in quite a while. But I had fun playing them! And I guess that's the important thing.

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—2 (PS+: 1)

February—10 (PS+: 4)

March—4 (PS+: 1)

April—3 (PS+: 2)

May—2

June—3 (PS+: 1)

July—3 (PS+: 3)

August—5 (PS+: 1)

September—1

October—7 (PS+: 2)

November—2 (PS+: 2)

December—11 (PS+: 2)

Total Bought/Acquired: 53 (PS+: 19)

As you can see, 2023 saw steady growth of the backlog but not at an unreasonable rate...unless you're one of those people that thinks one ought to play each game one buys when one buys it! And really! Who does that??

Addendum of Sorrow: 

Games I spent time with in 2023 but didn't finish

-Neo Contra (PS2)

This game was quite fun, I thought, but the later levels were locked away behind getting excellent grades on the earlier levels and I don't have time to sink into perfecting this game.

-It Takes Two (PS5)

My wife and I enjoyed playing this game together but after a while it felt like it was just sort of dragging on. Plus the characters are not very likable.

* * *

The Golden Hippo Awards

And now it's time for the Golden Hippo Awards! These awards are based solely on the actual games I played in 2023, regardless of whether or not they came out in 2023.

For Not Disappointing on Yet Another Playthrough: Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)

I'm not sure how many times I've played this game. I think this might have been number six. But you know what? It's still a great game. The graphics, the gameplay, that moment when you see Samus's eyes reflect in the visor—it's all still great.

Best Co-op: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Switch)

It's not often my entire family can play a game together at the same time, but the six-player co-op of Shredder's Revenge made that possible, all the way down to the youngest among us (a preschooler, for the record). It was a lot of fun!

Best Music: DuckTales Remastered (WiiU)

A worthy update of the moon theme!

Most Hugest Adventure, Ever: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)

The amount of content in this game is mind-boggling, particularly because so little of it is checklist/fetch quest BS. It's a monumental achievement.

Game of the Year: Hades (Switch)

The dreaded bone hydra...which you will get really good at killing after a while.

Hades is the only game I played in 2023 that totally consumed my thoughts and put my real life responsibilities in jeopardy. I don't normally like run-based games much because having to start over after defeat can be so crushing but Hades manages to sidestep that issue entirely. The gameplay is rock solid and the varied weapons and upgrades (plus the permanent upgrades!) can make each run feel so different. Plus the constant new dialogue with a plethora of interesting characters keeps the story feeling fresh and interesting throughout. It was definitely my favorite gaming experience of 2023.