Welp, it's that time of the year again. This last year was super busy, and there was very little rhyme or reason to the list of games I played other than a lot of them were pretty mindless and short. By far the most-played platform was Switch, in particular the eShop games, and quite a few of them were free-to-play. As usual, there are a few dance games in there, and also a few Nintendo Switch Online games, but otherwise it's a pretty random assortment. There were a decent number of games that made it onto my list of favorite games of all time, three of which were short but sweet indie titles.

In terms of other things I blogged about this past year, the Ask Iwata book was a quick read and a nice tribute to a great man, and at the very beginning of last year I'd sat down and watched the three Pikmin short films. I continued to play a roster of mobile games daily, including the still enjoyable Fire Emblem Heroes, but those generally didn't make it onto my blog as there wasn't really much new to say about them. Included amongst those was Dr. Mario World, and although I didn't mark its end, it will be very fondly remembered as by far my favorite game of the series.

As usual, here's the summary of what my 2021 looked like gaming-wise (games listed in approximate descending order) with links to each game’s corresponding blog review:

HIGH
- Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)
- Picross 3D Round 2 (3DSWare)
- Towerfall (Switch eShop)
- Gris (Switch eShop)
- The Gardens Between (Switch eShop)

MEDIUM
- Ninjala (Switch eShop)
- Picross 3D (DS)
- Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (NSW)
- Knockout City (Switch eShop)
- Pokemon Trading Card Game Online (PC)
- Pokemon Cafe ReMix (Android) (replay; previous 2020)
- Puyo Puyo Tetris (Switch)
- PAC-MAN 99 (Switch eShop)
- The Black Eyed Peas Experience: Special Edition (Wii)
- Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (3DS) (replay; previous 2017)
- Pikmin Bloom (Android)
- Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition (Switch eShop)
- Mario's Super Picross (SNES)
- Genshin Impact (PC)
- Mighty Switch Force! 2 (3DSWare)
- Super Mario Bros. 35 (Switch eShop)
- S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team (NES, Switch online)
- Rubik's World (DS)
- Mechstermination Force (Switch eShop)
- Vs. Excitebike (NES)
- Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova (PS2)
- Train Conductor World (Android)
- Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure (3DS)
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)
- Super Kirby Clash (Switch eShop)
- Streetpass Mii Plaza games: set 4 (3DSware)
- Pokemon Quest (Switch eShop)
- PAC-MAN (2020) (Android)
- Dance on Broadway (Wii)
- Puzzle Retreat (Android)
- Pokemon Sun (3DS)
- Flip Wars (Switch eShop)

LOW
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (SNES)

In terms of trends, it looks like I played more handheld games than in the previous year and slightly more non-first-party games, although the number of sequels I played was a little higher. Otherwise no huge differences, other than that I didn't really get through many "serious" games or all-time classics and such.

Well, that's it for another year in review! As always, thanks as always to anyone who’s stumbled across my little patch of cyberspace and found it even mildly diverting, and welcome to another full year of video games at the Intergalactic Video Game Academy! ;)


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