Video Game Blog 031: The 2023 Video Game Year in Review

Welcome to my Game Year in Review post, that wonderful time of year where I sit back and reflect on my year in gaming. As I do every year, I had a list of games I wanted to get through. Later in the post I will share that list and review how I did at it.

I love self-referential humor. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

Normally my video game posts are somewhat short, but I reserve the right to expand them when it’s called for. This is one of those times. I have two reasons to make this a longer post. One, this is my last post of the year and since I have all the other planned posts out of the way, I had longer to focus on this post and make it what I want it to be. Secondly, and most importantly, I have really slacked off when it comes to producing content this year. I’ll talk more about why in an upcoming update post, but partly it was my latest surgery and partly the bigger projects I did on my main posts. That’s why I rushed out three video game posts in the past couple of weeks after nothing since January.

I really feel bad about neglecting this category of my blog so much. There were several other posts I wanted to do but I just didn’t get them done. In addition to the posts I managed to do: Yoshi’s Crafted World, West of Loathing, and Super Mario Bros Wonder, there were several more planned. I wanted to do posts about Pokémon Violet, Pokémon Shining Pearl, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, PictoQuest, and Final Fantasy VIII. Since I didn’t get around to them and rather than dash off half-assed posts covering those games, I decided instead to give them each a section in this post. That way I still get to talk about them and get them off my To-Do list before the year ends.

Along with that I’ll talk about the other games I played, check in on Buntown, and review the progress I made on this year’s Game List. There’s a lot to get through, so let’s get going!

I did it! (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

Focus: I was pretty distracted overall this year but I did manage to maintain attention on Mario Kart 8 and Pokémon Scarlet/Violet. More on those later. Puzzle games and platforming ruled this year, and I did keep plugging away enough to finish Final Fantasy VIII.

Pengies are chillin’. (Credit: Nintendo)

Distraction: As I mentioned in my first post of the year, I started this year off with zero focus and just playing whatever grabbed my attention. This pretty much continued through the year with the exceptions of the games mentioned above.

Healing up my team. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

Pokémon Violet: As I like to do, I played both versions of the latest Pokémon Generation. This helps me to get the version-exclusive Pokémon and have a bit more fun with one of my favorite franchises. What I typically do in my second version playthrough is focus on all the new Pokémon that I didn’t have time for in the other version. That includes the two other starters, so I usually start the game, transfer the starter, then restart to get the third.

Fist that bull. No wait. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

One of the Pokémon I had on my list for Violet was the new evolution of Primeape, Infernape. I desperately wanted a shiny Mankey for this task, but no matter how much searching I did, I could not find one. I also evolved up a Tinkaton and a Farigiraf. I was able to get the alternate evolution for Charcadet also. Since I did Armarouge in Scarlet, this time I evolved into a Ceruledge.

Look at my Zilla. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

Possibly my favorite addition to my team was Baxcalibur. Not only was he a strong Ice/Dragon type, but he looks like a little Godzilla. What’s not to love?

Ooo, treasure. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

Since I took my time working through Scarlet, I was able to get through Violet much more quickly. Sadly, though, since there appears to be a glitch with the DLC, I found myself locked out of the post-game rematches with the Gym Leaders on both versions. That’s sad because I wanted to face them again. I didn’t bother with much of the post-game in Violet since I did it all in Scarlet, but I did play through The Teal Mask DLC episode.

So shiny! But not like that. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

One of my favorite aspects of the new games are the Paradox Pokémon. I really appreciated that there was a different set in each version. It made it much more worth my while to play through again. I especially liked the future form of Delibird since I love penguins so much.

He a bunny. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

Although I never did find my shiny Mankey, I did manage to get a shiny Marill, so I used him a bit in my playthrough too. I don’t know why he goes from green to yellow, but whatever.

Not much else to say. I loved Scarlet, so I also loved Violet. It was worth it to me to play through both times and finish getting the new Pokémon that I couldn’t get in Scarlet, along with spending time with Pokémon I didn’t get to play with before.

Solid games. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

I loved Scarlet and Violet, flaws and all and I really look forward to jumping back in and playing the Indigo Disk DLC episode. Once I do, I plan to put out a post for both episodes of the Secrets of Area Zero. (I really liked the Teal Mask.)

I’m proud of myself. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

Pokédex: Along with playing through Violet and the first DLC chapter of both games, I finally finished the Pokédex in Scarlet. This is a feat that I have not accomplished since way back in Pokémon Emerald. Before that it was Pokémon Red, Silver, and then Crystal. After Emerald I decided it wasn’t worth the time and hassle to finish the full National Pokédex. But I enjoyed Scarlet so much I decided to complete not only the Paldea Pokédex, but also the ones for the DLC areas. I needed my brother’s help to evolve my Palafin and the handful of Pokémon that had to be evolved by trade in the Teal Mask. But other than that it wasn’t too difficult a feat. Once I play Indigo Disk I will also complete that ‘Dex.

Pokémon Shining Pearl: This game was a Christmas present from my mom last Christmas. This is the latest in the series of enhanced and updated rereleases of previous mainline Pokémon games. This one was Gen 4. (For reference, Scarlet/Violet is Gen 9.) I wanted to play Shining Pearl because I like Dialga and I remember enjoying Pearl more than Diamond. (Although Platinum was superior to both.)

Finally. After years of waiting I finally have my own Jirachi. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

The biggest surprise in the game came early on when I was gifted a free Jirachi and Mew. These were gifted because I had save data for Sword/Shield and Let’s Go Eevee respectively. I have been trying to get Jirachi ever since Gen 3 and never managed to get one. I managed to miss out on every promotion that offered him. So it was great to play though with him on my team. He turned out to be a little badass.

Look at the baby. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

I have had Mews in the past. I don’t recall exactly how I got them, but I guarantee it was through legitimate means. (Hehe.) I used Mew and Jirachi to cover the weaknesses on my team. Jirachi learned Thunderbolt and Psychic. Mew learned Ice Beam, Dark Pulse, and False Swipe.

This is the one and only time I made a Poffin in the game. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

This game had some downsides. Like I mentioned before, they went with a weird chibi art style for the overworld characters. Since I had recently played through the original games in Gen 4, I didn’t spend a lot of time with this one. I did a lot of exploration and trained my ‘mons up a bunch, but I didn’t bother with a lot of the side stuff in the game. I only made one Poffin. I only did one Super Contest Show. I only went into the Underground one time. I’m sure I missed some watch apps. I was locked out of most of the Battle Frontier because I wasn’t interested in finishing the Pokédex. And I only fought the first ten or so battles in Battle Tower. While Gen 4 had some solid ideas, I felt it was overstuffed with uninteresting features and didn’t really make it worth the time it would take to do everything. It didn’t bring enough new stuff to the table like Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire did. After the main game ended and I caught my Legendary lake fairies, I didn’t feel much like continuing.

An unsolvable mystery. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

Sinnoh is not my favorite region, as you have to continually cross the mountain to continue. And the hunts for Mesprit and Cresselia were such a pain. (They run when encountered and you need a Pokétch app to track them down. After one turn they run again to another random spot. It’s really chance and luck to get them to appear in the same route as you.) It took me hours to catch Mesprit and I didn’t bother with Cresselia this time. After spending a couple of hours getting Mesprit down to one HP and missing with several Ultra Balls, I realized Bronzong could learn Mean Look, which stopped him from running away. It still took twenty more Ultra Balls to get him. Bleh.

I am the Machampion. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

So, yeah, although I wasn’t entirely a fan of the chibi art and I feel like there were a distinct lack of innovations, I did enjoy my time playing Pokémon Shining Pearl. Because I’ve been binging on Pokemon games the past few years, I played through the original versions of Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum not too long ago. It was around 2018-2019 if I remember correctly. So this one was still pretty fresh in my mind. While not my favorite installment in the franchise, it was a fun game and it was nice to revisit it. Having two super-rare Mythical Pokémon on my team really enhanced the experience for me. With Mew, Jirachi, and Dialga on my team, I annihilated the Elite Four with no extra training and zero problems.

I used my Masterball on the spare Miraidon. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

So that ends the Pokémon section of the post. I really do love this franchise and I’ve blared through several of the games in the last four years. All I have left is some finishing stuff on Scarlet, Violet, and Sword. Then I can delve into the copy of Pokémon Legends: Arceus I got for Christmas this year! Of course there will be a corresponding post for that one. Oh, and New Pokémon Snap. Almost forgot about that one! And Pokken and all the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games. Even though I’m pretty much done with the mainline installments, I still have years worth of Pokémon to play.

Mario Kart: Again as mentioned in an earlier post, I started off 2023 playing a lot of Mario Kart. This continued throughout the year, with most of my attention going to Super Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch with all the DLC Booster Packs. It quickly became my favorite game of the series and the only one I’ve managed to excel at on the higher speeds. (50cc is a snail pace to me now.) I have gotten gold and three stars on all the cups of 50cc and 100cc. I’ve gotten gold on all of 150cc and (so far) half of the cups on Mirror Mode. For the higher speeds I did give on trying to get three stars but maybe I’ll go back someday to get the ones I missed. I have earned the Gold Pipe Frame Kart. I’ve played as every character and even every color of Shyguy, Yoshi, Birdo, and Squidling. Once I finish Mirror Mode in all gold, I will move on to 200cc and see how I do at that.

I’m having so much fun playing all the various installments of Mario Kart and I hope I have even half as much fun when I move on to the Super Smash Bros series in 2024.

Final Fantasy VIII: This is a part of my replay of the Final Fantasy series. I have yet to play the more recent titles, but I’ll get there. I discussed FF8 quite a bit in my last Year End post, so I won’t repeat myself much here.

I had fun replaying this game… I last played it shortly after my son was born and there was a lot of it that I’d forgotten. The ending especially was misremembered over the years. I played the Switch port, as I really didn’t want to have to dust off my PS3 for this.

Hey, come back here with that cow. (Credit: SquareEnix)

Final Fantasy VIII used a unique stat-growth mechanic called the Junction system, where you equip magic to raise certain stats and inflict or resist status damage. You could also equip the Summons, level them up, and teach them new abilities.

Like with all Final Fantasy titles there were a ton of side quests. My favorite was tracking down the alien, which is absolutely something that happens in this game. You have to witness alien abductions, crash the alien ship, and then feed Elixers to the injured alien. It’s great.

I did everything in this game. I did use a walkthrough since I’d already played through it without one years ago and I didn’t want to miss anything as I re-experienced it. The one thing I wasn’t able to do in my first play-through was collect all the cards. I ended up missing the Laguna card way back then and that always bothered me. (The trick was that while the Lunar Base is melting down and about to explode, you have to ignore the alarms and play cards.) This time I got all the cards, finished all the side quests, got all the Blue Magic and ultimate weapons, everything.

Oooh. That can’t be good. (Credit: SquareEnix)

While not my favorite Final Fantasy title, this game always stuck with me due to its creative mechanics, its smaller and more personal story, and the depth of gameplay. Plus I liked the card-collecting and dueling minigame of Triple Triad. The leveling and learning mechanics on the summons were always a plus too.

Final Fantasy VIII was a fun, involving, and challenging installment of a fantastic series. I’m glad I replayed it and managed to complete it again. It was nice to revisit that world and its characters and to see that the story had a happier ending than I remembered it having.

I found that pesky alien. (Credit: SquareEnix)

Someday I hope to do a Final Fantasy post going over all the installments and ranking them by my preference. We’ll see. It was a lot of fun revisiting this installment and I know I’ll have just as much fun with Part 9 next year.

PictoQuest: Another game I wanted to cover in a post was Pictoquest. In the past few years I’ve really developed a fondness for chilling out with picross games. When I was cruising the eShop for more of them I latched onto this game which had RPG elements.

The RPG angle is done very well in the game, with hit points, consumable items, and even turn-based battles built into the puzzles. The game itself is very easy if you’re proficient in picross, and the cute characters and simple story kept me playing to see how it would all turn out. I liked earning gold and visiting the shops for items and health increases. While there are many more challenging RPGs out there, adding those aspects to what would have otherwise been a generic puzzle game elevated it beyond what it would have been.

Yup. That sure is a frog. (Credit: NanoPiko)

Pictoquest was a fun, short game that combined elements of role-playing games with picross puzzles. I had a lot of fun with it and someday I’m sure I’ll revisit and play it through again. Hopefully they develop a sequel for it. I feel like there’s so much more they can do with the concept.

Yes, that 300 means there were 300 puzzles. (Credit: Nintendo)

And the rest: Some other games that I played during the year deserve an honorable mention. I stumbled upon the Final Fantasy Theatrhythm series and played through the first game. I replayed Devious Dungeon. After an extended break I went back to one of my favorite iOS series Criminal Case, finishing up the fifth season, The Conspiracy. I also made it most of the way through the (much shorter) sixth season, Travel in Time. I restarted Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and got pretty far before getting distracted. And, finally, at long last I finished Kingdom Hearts Dark Road so I could write my post about it. I also finally finished Bugsnax, catching all the different Snax. I also did all the side quests, the DLC and got the best ending.

I dipped into several other games but either didn’t log significant time into them or didn’t complete them: the first Phoenix Wright game, Bunny Park, Devious Dungeon 2, Final Fantasy XIV, Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land, Super Smash Bros Melee, and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

I played a bunch of Picross too. I mentioned before about finding the 8 game Picross E series for 3DS, and I finished the first one and am pretty close to completing the second one. I also found that there was a series for the Switch consisting of nine games and three side games, so I snagged all those. I finished the Sega version and am well on my way through the first Picross S. I also finished up Mario Picross, Super Mario Picross, and my replay of Zelda Picross. I am now working my way back through Pokémon Picross since my old save file was fried. And I never did complete any of the Mega puzzles the first time through.

You and me both cardboard robot. (Credit: Nintendo)

This game is just the best. (Credit: Nintendo)

I also was distracted by three new games that I ended up writing posts about. I had so much fun with West of Loathing that I played it through three times straight. I discovered Yoshi’s Crafted World and went back to it several times over the course of the year. (I’m nearly done with it.) And shortly into my latest surgery Super Mario Bros Wonder was released. Playing that helped keep my mind off my recovery pain.

My last few weeks of the year have been spent playing Mario, Yoshi, and a new game one of my brothers got me for Christmas called The Quarry. Cocoa watched me play and I managed to win my first playthrough this weekend. (Although most everyone died. Oops.) I’m going to play it several more times to try and discover everything. There will be a post for it when I’m done.

He is, he really is. This is a true statement. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

A couple of other side notes: this is the year I finally actually learned how to play the Pokémon Card Game. I discovered that they added a port to Switch Online of the original Gameboy game, so I’ve tinkered with that a bit. I haven’t gotten very far, and it’s a bit of a slog, but it’s fun and I do plan on winning it.

One of my goals for 2023 was to finally complete my playthrough of Dragon Quest V. As mentioned previously, the game slowed way down for me as I was playing the gambling portion to afford the Metal King Swords and Gringham Whip. (Both very powerful weapons that help make a portion of the game easier.) While I didn’t manage to complete the game, or even make much progress on it, I did get past the gambling part with some dedication and a couple of lucky spins. Hopefully I will find the time to devote to it in 2024. It’s been on my annual lists far too long.

I miss Admiral. Before I moved him away, I built him a vacation home. (Credit: Nintendo)

Buntown Corner: As always, I continued my unbroken streak of playing Animal Cross New Horizons every single day. And like the last two years, I wanted to spend some time in this post checking in on Buntown, the island utopia filled with bunnies, penguins, and home away from home for me and my wife. I am mostly just trying to finish my Nook Miles stamps at this point, and so I don’t have any huge highlights to share. It’s been a lot of fishing, bug catching, diving, and crafting. Not interesting enough for an update. So instead here are a few of the houses I built for critters in the Happy Home Paradise DLC.

The latest decorating masterpieces. (Credit: Nintendo)

And before we check out of Buntown, here is a Greatest Hits montage of our weird-ass villagers who we love so much.

Our villagers are the best. (Credit: Nintendo)

Buntown continues to be a source of fun for me, even though Cocoa doesn’t visit nearly as much as she used to. I still miss the smaller Buntown that was lost when my 3DS crashed. Maybe someday I will feel compelled to start a new village on New Leaf. We’ll see.

And now let’s look at my game list and what progress I managed to make on it.

Game List 2023

1. Bugsnax (PS5)

2. Peggle Nights (PC)

3. Kingdom Hearts III re:Mind (PS5)

4. Pokémon Violet (Switch)

5. Pokémon Shining Pearl (Switch)

6. Assassin's Creed 2 (PS5)

7. Dragon Quest V (iOS)

8. Final Fantasy VIII (Switch)

9. Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road (iOS)

10. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii U)

11. Luigi's Mansion (3DS)

12. South Park Let's Go Tower Defense (XBox 360)

13. Sonic and Knuckles (XBox 360)

14. PictoQuest (Switch)

15. Mario Picross (3DS)

16. Super Mario Picross (Switch)

17. Super Smash Bros 64 (Wii U)

18. Mario Kart 64 (Wii U)

19. Picross E (3DS)

20. Just Dance 2023 (Switch)

21. Wario Land: Mario Land 3 (3DS)

22. Wario Land 2 (3DS)

23. Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland (PS4)

24. Criminal Case: The Conspiracy (iOS)

25. Criminal Case: Travel In Time (iOS)

26. Bunny Park (Switch)

27. Final Fantasy: Theaterhythm (3DS)

I completed 14 out of 27 games. Which is way, way better than I did last year. It is also way better than I thought I did. Especially considering how distracted I got by unrelated games. I also finished: Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario Kart DS, West of Loathing, Spyro the Dragon Reignited (Part 1), Silent Hill 4, Zelda Picross, Picross S Genesis & Master System Edition, and the Quarry. So that’s another ten games there.

I could have done better but I kept losing my list and, as always, got distracted by newer and shinier games. Playing West of Loathing three times in a row, having to play Silent Hill 4 for my Halloween post, and all my binging on the various Mario Kart games didn’t help either. Trying to complete everything on BugSnax and finishing the Pokédex on Scarlet also slowed me down.

Oh yeah, I replayed Devious Dungeon too. (Credit: Ratalaika Games)

That aside, I’m proud of my progress. Twenty-four games in one year is pretty good and it makes me feel accomplished. So far my game list for 2024 has 20 games on it, but I’m still compiling it. I’m going to try to keep it at 20 if possible. This year I am determined to finish some of the games that have been hanging around for far too long.

Some of the games from this year are sticking around for 2024, but won’t make the list. Like the Quarry, which I plan to do at least three more playthroughs and a post about. I still have the latest DLC chapter of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Someday I want to go back and get all the Gigantamax Pokémon on Sword, but that will take a lot of mushroom hunting. And, of course, I’ll continue chipping away at the stamps on Animal Crossing.

I started this year following my whims in what games I play and I continued that for the most part throughout 2023. As a result, I had a productive gaming year and had a lot of fun. I am ready to pare down my list and really cross some games off of it in the coming year. I also resolve to put out more of these posts so I won’t have to play catch up in the last couple weeks like I did this year.

Yessss, cheer for me. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

All in all, my gaming year was about collecting things, whether it be Pokémon or Bugsnax. It was about finally immersing myself in Mario Kart and getting good at it. It was about chilling with puzzle games and platformers. Above all, it was about not stressing too much about my list (because I couldn’t remember everything that was on it) and just playing.

Walk into the sunset. (Credit: Nintendo, Game Freak)

Thank you for reading this year’s Video Game Year in Review! I always have fun talking about video games and going over my past year’s gaming accomplishments. Since this is the last post I will upload in 2023, I want to take a moment to thank you all for reading the past year. I appreciate you all, and I promise I will be better about updating in 2024. See you then!

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Dec 31 Video Game Blog 031: The 2023 Video Game Year in Review

Hi.

Dec 31 Video Game Blog 031: The 2023 Video Game Year in Review

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