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 On 01/08/2026 at 08:25 PM by Cary Woodham See More From This User » |
It’s time for my “Best Video Games of 2025 Awards Show!” Keep in mind that this is my list only and no other outside opinions contributed. And if a game isn’t on this list, it either just didn’t appeal to me as much or I haven’t had a chance to play it yet. Ok with that out of the way, let’s begin!
BEST PUZZLE GAME
Picross S Capcom Classics Edition (Switch 2)
I think this is what happened last year. A Picross game with a license that I liked beat out another licensed one! Last year it was Namco vs. Story of Seasons, this year it’s Capcom vs. Rune Factory! Lots of Mega Man pictures (and other Capcom characters) to solve puzzles with, and most of the music is from Mega Man X! It’s the closest thing to Mega Man Picross that I’ll get, so I’ll take it. At the same time that they released this one, they also released a SNK Classics Picross version. I didn’t get that one yet as I’d like to fully enjoy this one first, but I’ll probably get it later. That’s a theme in this list, as I had to prioritize a lot of my gaming purchases and cut things out since prices are rising so much.
Runners Up:
Piczle Cross: Rune Factory (Switch)
The year before last I reviewed a game called Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons. It was a nonogram puzzle game and those types of puzzles in video game form are often called Picross or a variation of that name. But this one had a theme. The pictures you could make were based off of things and characters from the Story of Seasons games. These were farming sims that were around way before Stardew Valley got popular. You might know these games better as Harvest Moon, as that’s what those games were called before the rights changed. Anyway, the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games had a spinoff series called Rune Factory. These were more fantasy based, and they streamlined the farming parts so you’d have more time to go fight monsters in dungeons! I actually like the Rune Factory games more than Story of Seasons, and now there is a Piczle Cross game based on the Rune Factory series as well!
You’ve arrived in a new town to start your very own Pokémon plush toy shop. Kind of like a Build-A-Bear with Pokémon I guess. But while unpacking, your yarn gets all tangled up. So now you have to solve Pokémon themed puzzles to unravel your thoughts, and the yarn in Pokémon Friends. A lot of people panned this game, but I didn’t think it was THAT bad. No GOTY material, but not every game has to be.
BEST ARCADE COLLECTION/REMAKE
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 (PS4)
This was a hard decision this year, but I decided to go with the one with the most bang for your buck. Game maker Capcom is known for lots of things, like Mega Man, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, etc. But probably what they are known best for is their large roster of fighting games, such as Street Fighter. They did a collection of them a few years ago, plus one last year that had all their Marvel games on it. And now they’ve got another one with even more fighters!
Runners Up:
When I was a kid, one of my favorite stores to go into in the mall was Babbages. I don’t think they’re around anymore, but they were kind of like a precursor to GameStop. They sold video games but mostly computer software and stuff. I didn’t really buy too many computer games then, but I still liked to look at the boxes because that’s how we found out about games before the Internet a lot of times. One of the game boxes that caught my eye was Bubble Ghost. It had two things I liked in games: bubbles (like in Bubble Bobble) and ghosts (like in Pac-Man). But I never got around to buying that game. Not sure why. Maybe it was too expensive and I didn’t think it was worth the money. A few years later they made a version of it on the Game Boy, but I never got around to buying it either. There were a few years as a kid that I didn’t buy a whole lot of Game Boy stuff, and I don’t really remember seeing it in a store anyway. So I never got to try Bubble Ghost. So that’s why I’m glad that I got to review this remake. It adds fancy hand drawn graphics and new levels and gameplay ideas. Basic gist is that you are a ghost and try to blow a bubble around obstacles and keep it from popping.
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos (PS4)
Back in the 90s, 3D platformers starring colorful mascot characters were all the rage, even in the early days. One of the first ones out of the gate on the PlayStation was Croc: Legend of the Gobbos. It was made by Argonaut, yes the same folks who helped create the original Star Fox. I remember playing this on a demo disc (remember those) back then and not liking it. Mainly because the controls were awkward. This was back before the PSOne had analog sticks, so Croc had more tankish controls. It took a while before the PlayStation had quality 3D platformers as good as the N64 ones. Me personally, they didn’t catch up until Ape Escape and maybe Spyro. Anyway, because I didn’t like the first Croc game on the demo disc, I skipped out on the other entries in the series. Turns out there was a lot more than I thought. There was a 3D sequel as well as a handful of 2D games on handheld and mobile devices. And I’ve watched a lot of videos with gamers saying they loved Croc as a kid. I’m willing to give games a second chance, so I’m glad I got to review this remaster.
I’m about to show just how old I am. I remember when my dad got our first computer. I was around kindergarten age, and the computer was an Apple ][+. We had it through most of my Elementary School years I think. Anyway, after we got it, sometimes my dad would bring home a case of floppy disks home from work. I would put each one in, not knowing what I’d get. Sometimes it would be a boring application. And sometimes it wouldn’t work at all. But sometimes it would have games that I’d like. That’s how I discovered titles like Snack Attack, Lode Runner, Drol, Hard Hat Mack, Spare Change, Choplifter, Aquatron, and more! Now granted, looking back on it now, I think most of those games were pirated, but I don’t think either me or my dad knew what that was at the time. Anyway, that grab bag of gaming fun is the feeling I get when playing UFO 50, a collection of 50 8-bit styled games.
Boulder Dash 40th Anniversary (Switch)
I’m such a staunch console gamer now that you might be surprised to learn that when I was a kid, I started out playing home games on computer. Our first PC was an Apple ][+, and outside of arcades, that’s where I played most of my games until I got an Atari 5200. One of the games I remember playing on that old computer was Boulder Dash. It was an action puzzle game that was kind of like Dig Dug in that you dug through the earth, collecting gems while trying not to get squished by falling boulders. I can’t believe it’s been 40 years, but here’s Boulder Dash 40th Anniversary.
Pac-Man World 2: Re-Pac (Switch)
You’d think this would win, but I didn’t like this remake as much as you’d think I would. They just made it way too hard! But I still think it was a good value at only 30 bucks, and I still have special memories with the first game. I encourage you to read the article I wrote about it (link in the title) if you haven’t already.
Back in the 90s, there was a series of popular 2D vertically scrolling shooters called Sonic Wings in Japan. When they were brought to the US, they were renamed Aero Fighters, so since that’s what I know them as, that’s what I’m going to be calling them from here on out. Anyway, Aero Fighters had three main arcade games, two of which were on the NEO GEO. They had some home ports on the SNES and PlayStation, and finally a 3D game called Aero Fighters Assault on the N64, which was more like Ace Combat. And now, nearly 30 years later, there’s a brand new game in the series with Sonic Wings Reunion. It returns to its 2D roots, and just like the others, I really like this one, too. It may seem fairly normal, as you pilot real life fighter jets over real world locations. But it has hidden aspects of goofiness, too. For instance, the pilots in these games include characters like a Japanese idol pop singer, a baby, and even a dolphin!
Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons (Switch)
It’s Bubble Bobble mixed with a dungeon crawler. Probably the only way you’ll get me to play one of those. It’s really not that great, but it does come with the classic arcade game Bubble Symphony, which isn’t on very many collections, so I’d say it’s still worth it.
I wanted to get the pack that had Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 on it, but at 70 bucks, it’s going to have to wait!
BEST RACER
This game right here, this is the game that sold me on getting a Switch 2. Not Mario Kart World, not Donkey Kong Bananza, not anything else. I’m so surprised and happy they made a sequel to this GameCube classic. I like the original more than GameCube’s Mario Kart Double Dash, and I like this one more than Mario Kart World. It’s SO GOOD! Amazing graphics and options, too. This would’ve won my Game of the Year award, but one other game beat it out. You’ll just have to read on to find out what that is!
Runners Up:
Even though this didn’t win, it IS a fun game. The open world ‘road trip’ vibe is neat, the tracks are fun (when you can actually race on them), and I appreciate it trying to do something different. But while Mario Kart World is great, it is NOT worth 80 bucks as it is quite a bit light on content and needs more modes. And I’m probably the only person in the world who doesn’t like the trick mechanics of riding on walls and rails. I can never get it to work for me, and I wanted to play Mario Kart, not Mario Hawk’s Pro Skater. There are better Mario Kart games out there than this. I will say that I do like the Yoshi’s Hamburger stands scattered all over the place. I want to eat at one of those!
Sonic Racing Crossworlds (Switch 2)
It’s not really better than Mario Kart, but it is a fun kart racer with neat Sonic characters and stages. Lots of things to do and cool guest characters. I haven’t played it as much as I would like to, but I’ll pick it up again when Pac-Man and Mega Man get added to the roster this year!
BEST 2D ADVENTURE
Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution (Switch)
Game Boy Advance style games really took over this category this year! I’ve always been a big fan of the Shantae series, ever since it started on the Game Boy Color. When its successor, the Game Boy Advance came out, the makers of Shantae (WayForward) made a Shantae GBA sequel but they couldn’t find a publisher so it never came out on that platform. I’ve always thought that the DSiWare Shantae game WAS that reworked GBA title but I guess I was wrong because here comes Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution! WayForward finished the GBA game and even released it on a GBA cartridge a few months ago through Limited Run.
Runner Up:
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yo-Yo (PS4)
The 16-bit Super Nintendo is my favorite home game console, but my favorite handheld is the Game Boy Advance (it was pretty much a souped up SNES, so that’s why). So I was pleasantly surprised to find that this game tries to imitate that GBA style. When you first turn on the game, it even shows a mock GBA handheld system with a cartridge entering it! Anyway. Pipistrello and the Cursed Yo-Yo is a top down viewed action adventure game. You play as Pippit, a bat who lives in the big city and is the nephew of the biggest mafia leader in town. But Pippit has no interest in that. He just wants to enter yo-yo competitions. But one night on the way home, Pippit finds his aunt, the leader of the Pipistrello mafia family, trapped by four other mafia bosses. Turns out they want revenge for her running the city’s power unfairly, so they try to trap her soul into four batteries using a machine. Luckily Pippit appears in time and tosses his yo-yo into the soul stealing beam. Now his aunt is trapped inside the yo-yo and they must work together to get the batteries back. This game is a lot like a 2D Zelda title, except the overworld is the city streets, and the dungeons are sewers, shopping malls, construction sites, and soccer stadiums! And because of the emphasis on top down platforming and yo-yo mechanics, this game also makes me think of Startropics as well! The very definition of a “hidden gem.”
WEIRDEST GAME
Once Upon a Katamari (Switch)
Even though this series has been out for a long time, I still think it’s super weird. At one point, Namco was making TOO many Katamari games, but I think now we were ready for a new one. Not the best game in the world, but the time travel aspect added some much needed variety in the levels.
Runners Up:
Back on the DS, there was a series of games called Tamagotchi Corner Shop, and my brother Jeff and I were weirdly obsessed with them. You used the touch screen to play mini-games to run shops, and Tamagotchi Plaza is the sequel to those games (there were three of them on the DS!). But yeah, it's a weird game for sure!
You walk around a giant Switch 2 game console and learn about each part, as well as play mini-games and view tech demos on the new hardware, as well as answer trivia questions. It’s like exploring a giant museum, and is definitely weird. The only reason why it only gets runner up status is because Nintendo is charging 10 bucks for it. It really should’ve been a free pack in game since it’s just a glorified interactive instruction manual.
Shadow Labyrinth (Switch 2)
Last year Netflix had a mini-series with little shorts based on video games. I didn’t watch all of them, but some I did were the Mega Man one (very cool), and a weird dark take on Pac-Man. I guess if you think about it, Pac-Man can be pretty dark. But then Namco made a game based on that short (or maybe vice versa, I get conflicting stories about that). So this is a dark Pac-Man Metroidvania. Can’t get more weirder than that. I didn’t like this game much because it was way too hard, but I still had to put it on the list anyway. I hear they added an Easy Mode in an update, so maybe I’ll go back to this one someday and give it a second chance.
BEST 3D ADVENTURE
Donkey Kong Bananza (Switch 2)
This was made by the same team who did Mario Odyssey. Actually I like it even better than Odyssey. And it’s the first time we’ve gotten a 3D Donkey Kong game since DK64! It’s really good and polished and fun and I highly recommend it if you have a Switch 2. Also it has one of the best surprising final bosses in video game history! Only thing I didn’t like about the game is how they handled the DLC. Should’ve been part of the game, not something you’d have to pay an extra 20 bucks for.
Runners Up:
Metroid Prime 4 Beyond (Switch 2)
I didn’t mind this game as much as others did. The NPCs didn’t bother me as much. And while the open world and areas didn’t feel very Metroid-ish, I still had fun. My only really big problem is that it doesn’t feel like a game that should’ve taken 8 years to make!
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (Switch 2)
To be honest, I haven’t played this game much yet. I got it for Christmas. But even if I had played it a lot, I know I’d put it here anyway. I know it’s a mindless yet fun hack and slash with a story telling what Zelda did during Tears of the Kingdom, which sounds way more interesting than what Link was doing.
BEST RPG
Pokémon Legends ZA (Switch 2)
I haven’t played this one much either. I got it as a Christmas gift for myself. But it would’ve won by default anyway since it’s the only decent RPG I played this year. I liked the first Pokémon Legends game a lot anyway. There was another Pokémon styled RPG I would’ve liked to have played this past year and put on this list, and that was Digimon Story: Time Stranger. But that was only on PS5 and X/S and I don’t have those consoles, so oh well!
And now for my Game of the Year award! Taiko Drum Roll please…
GAME OF THE YEAR 2025
Hello Kitty Island Adventure (Switch)
This one kind of came out of nowhere, didn’t it? But remember that when the Switch came out and had Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odessey, I gave my GOTY award to the SNES Mini. So this is one of those wild card years! I do that sometimes. This game has been on Apple Arcade for a couple of years now, but they ported it to the Switch since it’s so much like Animal Crossing, and since that is the second best selling game on the Switch, it was wise of them to do that. Recently they did make a version for Switch 2 and PS5 also. It’s no where near as good as Animal Crossing, but it does do some things even better than that series does. For instance, the game actually has a story, and not only can you swim like in Animal Crossing, you can dive down and explore a whole underwater world, too! There’s always stuff to do, even though it’s kind of slow in the end game (but Animal Crossing is like that, too). They really respect your time here, too, and give you a whole month usually to get all the event items, whereas Animal Crossing usually only gives you a day! I hope the makers of the next Animal Crossing game play this one and take note! Know that while my first favorite game of all time is Pac-Man, but my second favorite is the Animal Crossing series, so that should tell you how much I like it. Also, Hello Kitty Island Adventure has DLC. It’s about 15 bucks, but I’ve heard that it’s like a whole new game. I haven’t gotten it myself, as I’ve got a lot of other things to play, but maybe later on I might get it.
Don’t let the “girly” Hello Kitty exterior keep you from playing this one. If you like Animal Crossing at all, you’ll definitely want to play this one. Keep in mind that I’m a 49 year old man saying all this about a Hello Kitty game! I’m having to swallow a lot of my pride here. Actually I’m not, because I don’t care what people think of my taste in games. I just really like Animal Crossing. I spent 300 hours on New Horizons, and 120 on Hello Kitty! I don’t play it as much as I used to, but I’ll still check on it once or twice a week. It just goes to show you that you don’t have to have the latest and greatest technology to have a good game. If it wasn’t for this game, Kirby Air Riders would’ve gotten my GOTY, so consider that one getting second place. Anyway, let me know in the comments section what you think of my list, and tell me YOUR favorite games of 2025! Later! --Cary
i want to play Kirby Air Riders, but I'll play Sonic Crossworlds first because it's on Xbox (when it goes on sale that is).
I should try another Shantae by WayForward again.
I would totally play Hello Kitty. I have no shame. I like life sim games. I'm waiting on Fantasy Life i to go sale though.
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