Top 10: Games of 2023

[@CriticalGamesDev]

Troy, thank you so much for including 8-Bit Adventures 2 on your list! I just clicked on the video to see what your Top 10 games were, so it took me completely by surprise to see our game on here haha. That's sincerely flattering. I'm sorry to hear you've had a lot of challenges going on this year, but it means a LOT to know that what you played in early 2023 has stuck with you. I absolutely love how you articulated your points in this video too =) Hope you have a wonderful end of 2023!

[@SoloWingFury]

You made a very well polished and interesting experience, you don't need to thank me, you earned it! Things are going to get a lot worse here at the start of the new year, and it's genuinely scary but I'm going to do my best. I hope you have a good new year and get that Overwhelmingly positive rating, you deserve it.

[@CriticalGamesDev]

@@SoloWingFury Well you deserve a lot of thanks for all of the wonderful work you do as well Troy - so thank you =) Your words mean a lot to me! I'm really sorry to hear that, but I also have no doubt that your best is good enough. Despite the challenges, I hope that 2024 ultimately turns into a good year for you. You deserve that too!

[@Alianger]

Thanks for the list! I'll be checking out Pulsating Mass and Gravity Circuit I think. Was disappointed in some games I expected to be great this year but otoh, there were some unexpected delights. The best games out of the 59 that I beat Soul Blade (PS1, 1996) - 8.5 (edge master mode and arcade mode on Normal) Jamestown (PC, 2011) - 8 (1p)(very hard/legendary - required to fully beat it) Dungeon Keeper (PC, 1997)(KeeperFX ver.) - 8 (SP campaign, beat 3/5 secret levels) Streets of Rage 4 (PC, 2020)(v1.08) - 7.5 1p/8 2p (normal & hard as axel, normal as blaze and adam) Lionheart (AMI, 1992) - 7.5 (normal) Ace Combat 2 (PS1, 1997) - 7.5 (normal difficulty (and normal/non-extra game), took the alpha operation path in the late game and got the good ending) NAM 1975 (ARC, 1990) - 7.5 (on difficulty level 3; 6.5 on default/5, 1p) Sin & Punishment (N64, 2000) - 7.5 (easy/default, 1p/1 controller, used about 4-5 credits) Adventures of Lolo 2 (NES, 1990) - 7.5 (had to look a few things up) Yoku's Island Express (PC, 2018) - 7.5 (normal mode w/ about 70% completion, tried randomized on normal for a bit) Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (GG, 1994) - 7.5 (normal, story mode) Mega Man: The Sequel Wars (MD, 2023)(Homebrew) - Mega Man 4 - 7.5 (normal as MM) Kyatto Ninden Teyandee/Samurai Pizza Cats (NES, 1991) - 7.5 (normal and hard) 1941: Counter Attack (SGX, 1991) - 7.5 (on difficulty level 2 and 4 starting HP, closer to 7 on default settings (level 3, 3 HP) but focusing on the side missiles weapon made more of a difference than lowering the difficulty one step, 1-player) - try 2-player Dust: An Elysian Tail (PC, 2013) - 7.5 (normal and hard, 93% completion on normal) Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (SNES, 1991)(w/ Super Arthur+Restoration hacks) - 7.5 (Beginner) Dungeon Magic/Light Bringer (ARC, 1994) - 7.5 (normal, 1-player as Ash and Gren) Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii, 2010) - 7.5 (normal/non-mirror mode, didn't get the orbs; mostly 1-player)

[@Ronsilk-pu5hr]

Baldur's Gate 3 is over hyped. I give it a 7.5 out of 10

[@kakhome1]

Have you played Pizza Tower, Mario Wonder, or Sonic Superstars?

[@SoloWingFury]

Pizza Tower looks like a great game, and I totally see why people love it, but it doesn't strike me as a game that would hit hard for me, so I'm waiting to see it at a price point I'm more comfortable paying before I grab it. Mario Wonder was a decent, focused experience, which makes it substantially better than Odyssey which felt like an unfocused mess primarily defined by filler content, a similar issue the new Zelda games have. While I like Wonder, and I fully expected to, it didn't really do anything beyond being a well made game, which is fine, but it's not something I would personally award. I've not bothered with Superstars at all, nor do I have much interest in it, at a laughably high price point, I have still yet to see SEGA earn that kind of money for a Sonic title, and I still say they need to relinquish the blue guy to the fans which have a much clearer, focused idea of what should be done about him, just look at Mania, or Spark, or to a lesser extent Comit to see better polished Sonic games than Sega has been capable of for a long time.

[@ryanc6682]

Dope video, can’t believe this only has 500 views. Subscribed

[@SoloWingFury]

That's actually really high for me, but thank you I really appreciate it!

[@13Carrey1]

I finished Sayonara Wild Hearts too it wasn't easy but it is kinda short but i liked it :) I played it on my switch :) About EDF: Did u play the SNES Version? About No. 9: I would like to see it in the Stream (also no. 2)!!! And i'm too bad for the shooting one :/ But the music is awesome To Number 4: it looks like that this one hasn't the first Person view in the dungeons which is really great!! I didn't like that in the previous games because i always got lost...

[@Oedlander]

Very pleased to see the awesome Phantasy Star IV in this list. Definitely one of the best JRPGs of the fourth console-generation. 8-bit Adventures 2 was good, but not as good as the first one. Its a huge problem, that you can't skip through the text. But its a good game otherwise. Landstalker is too hard for its own good, if you ask me. And the isometric perspective doesn't help either. Didn't played any of the other games in your list, but they all look great and fun. Hope I get a chance to try them out in the future. As for my list: 1.: Final Fantasy VII: Remake: I went in with low expectations, and was positively surprised. Awesome presentation and a cool butterfly-effect-idea to spice things up for the story. I don't like the HP-sponge bosses and the Kingdom Hearts-style-bullshit they pull off in the showdown. But all in all it was an awesome experience. 2.: Broken Sword: Absolute classic among Point & Click-Adventures. The writing and humor is just fantastic and the audiovisual presentation is timeless. 3.: Exit Fate: A RPG-Maker Suikoden-clone for free. What else is there to say? Play it, its really good! 4.: Ni No Kuni II: A clever crossbreed between a Tales of-Action-RPG and a Suikoden-game. Its a lot of fun and much better then the actual Tales of-games. Shame that the story and characters are a bit on the shallow side. 5.: Secret of Evermore: Forgotten classic, which gets a lot of shit nowadays. I personally like it a lot. Fantastic audiovisual presentation, interesting and cool maze-dungeons and a creative alchemy-system make this game stand out. 6.: Shadowrun (SNES): A CRPG-Adventure hybrid for the Super Nintendo!? Its bizarre, that the game works at all instead of being a broken mess. And its even more surprising, that its very engaging and fun. Probably the most unique RPG for the System. 7.: Battle Circuit: The last Capcom-Arcade-Brawler. Super-colorful and surprisingly fair in difficulty compared to the other Capcom-Brawlers. I was surprised to find out, that there is a hidden Stage 8. But this Stage only comes with a huge Bullshit-Boss. Aside from that an awesome Brawler. 8.: Kirby's Dream Land 2: One of the best GB-platformers and a huuuge upgrade from the previous two Kirby-platformers. The sidequest for the true final-boss and the good ending is a bitch though. 9.: Dark Fear: Cool blend of DOS-style adventure with RPG-elements. Its a lot of fun. I never thought, that you can make such intense jumpscares with old DOS-style graphics 10.: Final Fantasy VI (Old ver.): If a game is still a lot of fun, even if you play it in an inferior, ugly mobile-version which was portet to Steam, thats the best proof, that you play a true classic. Luckily Square replaced the shitty mobile-version with the Pixel-Remaster nowadays.

[@SoloWingFury]

You definitely need to play Jimmy ASAP. I've never liked FF VII myself, i still see it as the embodiment of everything wrong with the series, but maybe I'll give it another go sometime. I got Shadow of the Templars for free a few times, but gave them all away, it didn't seem like my kind of game, but I might have to give it a go if i fall into another copy. I've not heard of it but if it's free I'm definitely going to grab it! I actually bought Ni No Kuni II at launch and still haven't tried it, and I really should I loved the original dearly, it's just a shame the series is basically exploiting and preying on kids now. Evermore is great! I didn't like the alchemy system much but it was a really interesting game, plus it was square's first and I think only western made game. Shadowrun SNES is rough around the edges but it was a really special RPG, with a fantastic start, just stay away from the genesis version, which starts with grinding radiant quests for no reason and didn't have much of a story. I talked about battle circuit a few years ago, and if you can ignore the difficulty spike and the egregious flashing, it was probably one of if no the best beat em up capcom ever made, and its weird they don't see it beyond one collection. I've actually never played Dream Land 2, it's the only one I've missed and I really out to get a copy sometime. I've never heard of Dark Fear, but it looks good I'm throwing it on my ever growing list! Yeah those mobile games looked godawful and cheap[, as did like every remaster they've made since the ds (with the exception of live a live) but FFVI is the last good one for a reason, it still strikes me as the game with there deepest characters and mechanics and I'm glad people can still enjoy it!

[@rollin-kimblecroskey9110]

The story for RPG Maker 2 is taken from . hack🎮