4 hours ago
According to Nintendo, I ended up playing 145 hours of Mario Kart World in 2025. It's easily my most played game of the year. On the Switch/Switch 2, second place was Mario Maker 2 at 90 hours, third DK Bananza at 7 hours. Bananza is pretty good, there's no actual reason why I stopped 7 hours in and never went back... I really should finish it.
But anyway, Mario Kart World vs. Mario Maker 2? Well, MM2 is certainly the better game, but... well, I started playing it a LOT less once MKW released. I'm just so addicted to playing some of this game on a regular basis! I mostly play the simplest, but maybe the most frustrating, online mode, online Knockout Tour. It's amazing but so unfair, I lose because of random luck constantly. Of course I shouldn't get TOO frustrated by this because that is the games' design, it is still Mario Kart at its core, but when I get eliminated because of random nonsense several times in a row I usually quit out of the game and do something else, it's too frustrating to stick with... heh.
Perhaps I should try getting better at the regular tracks instead of mostly sticking to the point-to-point-focused Knockout Tour, but I haven't done that at all. I also haven't gone to hunt for more of the primary skill challenge part of the game, the P-Switch missions. I don't know, they are pretty cool, but Knockout is just simple fun, you know? Just drive, play a few tours. see how I do... it's exactly what I want.
And all of that is why Mario Kart World has to be my pick for best new game of 2025. Is it the best game I played in 2025? Of course not, I'm still playing Starcraft of course, never mind Mario Maker 2. But it is a fantastic, addictive, brilliantly -- and irritatingly --designed game which does a lot right, as well as some things wrong. I wish that it had some missing features such as saving replays and adding a lot more knockout tours because for a game with 30 tracks and 202 routes it's just insane that the Knockout Tour mode is locked to eight preset 6-section races and that's all you get, but the game is amazing regardless.
As for the other games I liked the most in 2025, obviously the best game including old games is Starcraft. And yeah I'm still playing. Am I still horrible at it, yes, I still lose like 95% of the time and don't learn as much as I probably should. But I love the game regardless and have no plan on stopping anytime soon. It's simply the best thing.
The other PC game I have played off and on for like five-ish years now is GeoGuessr, which actually in its online multiplayer mode is also incredibly frustratingly random. The problem with the versus mode is that as a match goes into deeper rounds the damage multiplier increases, so if you get a great guess on the first round and they guess horribly you do only a little damage, but if you guess badly on the tenth round and their guess is great that's it, you lose instantly no matter what the point differential is. It's one of the worst game design concepts I have ever seen, seriously, and it's a horrible shame that a multiplier-free ranked mode does not exist; every time I play the game I'd say I quit more because of how much I hate the damage multiplier than anything else. Well, at least the single player 5-locations mode is pretty great. I haven't played this much in a bit but I'm sure I will be back.
On the Switch 2, I already discussed MKW. The other Switch game I play obviously is Mario Maker 2, which, as I said, I've played a lot less of since MKW released last summer. Even so, MM2 is still maybe the best game idea ever and is something I will never entirely stop playing. I only made four levels in '25, I should make more levels... I'm sure I could come up with some ideas.
Other than those four, well, I don't know if any other single game actually reached double digit hours of playtime, but I am still regularly using my 3DS, primarily for what's left of its Picross and other puzzle games that I haven't finished yet. I hate finger touch so Switch 2 Picross or touchscreen stuff doesn't appeal to me much at all, I'd need a good capacitive touch stylus and I tried one of those once and didn't like it much.
For another game, I didn't buy Kirby Air Riders in 2025, but I got it recently and have played it a bit. It's such a weird thing, kind of neat but kind of bizarre in not always good ways. My first impression is that it's good but not great, I'm sorry but I'm putting it below MKW and DK Bananza for sure.
As for Metroid Prime 4, I haven't gotten it yet.
What about my retro collection? As with other recent years I only rarely used most of it, sadly. However, one thing I got in 2025 is something I did end up playing quite a bit of: the Atari Lynx. I don't know if I mentioned here that I got a Lynx midyear this year, but I did, with pretty low expectations. I'd played Lynx games in emulation decades back and wasn't all that interested, and I don't especially like the other handhelds I've gotten in recent decades such as the Wonderswan or Game Gear. The Game Boy line are great, but I don't use them much anymore. Of course I do use the DS and 3DS regularly, but much more for touchscreen games than button ones. I thought the Lynx would be, like, yeah it has great graphics for its time, but modern systems do better, you know? Just something to add to the collection. I got a Lynx II from ebay. I had always planned on getting the Lynx II if I ever got a Lynx.
But... well, two things. First, I ended up getting a discount Lynx flash cart, which unlocked the Lynx's large homebrew library. There are a lot of Lynx homebrew games and some of them are pretty good. And... well, I actually like the system a lot! I like the Lynx so much more than I expected, it's kind of crazy. Of course it helps that I got a refurbished one that works great, but I didn't splurge for one with a replaced screen, I'm pretty sure this has the original screen, and it's really good! Yeah, it blurs a bit, but compared to the other screens of the early '90s this seems by far the best in terms of visibility and blur. It is front-lit also, of course, like the Game Gear, except way more powerful than GG, with impressive sprite scaling 3d effects. But even when games are just 2d, they seem to run better than most GG games do, usually smooth and fast. The vertical resolution of the Lynx is quite low, it's got a widescreen aspect ratio with a vertical resolution far below the GB or GG's resolution, so some games have tiny sprites, but I think the look works for the screen size the Lynx has.
As for the negatives, well, the platformer library is decidedly second rate. You have some very weird Western platformers by second and third rate teams. Too many of these games have no music and iffy framerates; the Lynx is powerful but clearly not ideal for platformer games, it's better at sprite scaling 3d and such. For Japanese platformers, ports of Rygar (the arcade game), Ninja Gaiden III (from the NES), and Toki (arcade). And that's about it from Japan. Fortunately all three ports are pretty good, though. It's neat that this is the arcade version of Toki, the Sega Genesis game is entirely different. Of course now you can play Toki HD on modern systems, but still it's a good port. Rygar... that arcade game always was kind of boring, so that it's a good port isn't saying all that much. Still it's okay I guess.
Of the other official Lynx games, S.T.U.N. Runner and Rampart are probably the ones I've played the most.
From the Lynx homebrew library that I've tried, of stuff I found, I need to buy some of the paid homebrews, from Songbird and AtariAge. A few of them look pretty good, I need to get Odynexus (there's a demo and I played it, it's pretty cool) and some others. Ynxa seems decent, and Red (or Green). Those have paid releases now too, I should get them. For free stuff, there's a little homebrew solitaire card game title that I've been playing, it's well done. There are a lot more free Lynx homebrews, many of which I've been trying on the system; I'd need to look through the list to say more about them. Suffice to say, I like the Lynx now and regardless of having the flashcart will certainly be expanding my collection of physical carts for the thing; it's just so nice to play games on.
Overall ranking for the year!
1. Starcraft: Brood War
2. Super Mario Maker 2
3. Mario Kart World (best new game)
4. The Atari Lynx
5. 3DS Picross Games
6. Donkey Kong Bananza
But anyway, Mario Kart World vs. Mario Maker 2? Well, MM2 is certainly the better game, but... well, I started playing it a LOT less once MKW released. I'm just so addicted to playing some of this game on a regular basis! I mostly play the simplest, but maybe the most frustrating, online mode, online Knockout Tour. It's amazing but so unfair, I lose because of random luck constantly. Of course I shouldn't get TOO frustrated by this because that is the games' design, it is still Mario Kart at its core, but when I get eliminated because of random nonsense several times in a row I usually quit out of the game and do something else, it's too frustrating to stick with... heh.
Perhaps I should try getting better at the regular tracks instead of mostly sticking to the point-to-point-focused Knockout Tour, but I haven't done that at all. I also haven't gone to hunt for more of the primary skill challenge part of the game, the P-Switch missions. I don't know, they are pretty cool, but Knockout is just simple fun, you know? Just drive, play a few tours. see how I do... it's exactly what I want.
And all of that is why Mario Kart World has to be my pick for best new game of 2025. Is it the best game I played in 2025? Of course not, I'm still playing Starcraft of course, never mind Mario Maker 2. But it is a fantastic, addictive, brilliantly -- and irritatingly --designed game which does a lot right, as well as some things wrong. I wish that it had some missing features such as saving replays and adding a lot more knockout tours because for a game with 30 tracks and 202 routes it's just insane that the Knockout Tour mode is locked to eight preset 6-section races and that's all you get, but the game is amazing regardless.
As for the other games I liked the most in 2025, obviously the best game including old games is Starcraft. And yeah I'm still playing. Am I still horrible at it, yes, I still lose like 95% of the time and don't learn as much as I probably should. But I love the game regardless and have no plan on stopping anytime soon. It's simply the best thing.
The other PC game I have played off and on for like five-ish years now is GeoGuessr, which actually in its online multiplayer mode is also incredibly frustratingly random. The problem with the versus mode is that as a match goes into deeper rounds the damage multiplier increases, so if you get a great guess on the first round and they guess horribly you do only a little damage, but if you guess badly on the tenth round and their guess is great that's it, you lose instantly no matter what the point differential is. It's one of the worst game design concepts I have ever seen, seriously, and it's a horrible shame that a multiplier-free ranked mode does not exist; every time I play the game I'd say I quit more because of how much I hate the damage multiplier than anything else. Well, at least the single player 5-locations mode is pretty great. I haven't played this much in a bit but I'm sure I will be back.
On the Switch 2, I already discussed MKW. The other Switch game I play obviously is Mario Maker 2, which, as I said, I've played a lot less of since MKW released last summer. Even so, MM2 is still maybe the best game idea ever and is something I will never entirely stop playing. I only made four levels in '25, I should make more levels... I'm sure I could come up with some ideas.
Other than those four, well, I don't know if any other single game actually reached double digit hours of playtime, but I am still regularly using my 3DS, primarily for what's left of its Picross and other puzzle games that I haven't finished yet. I hate finger touch so Switch 2 Picross or touchscreen stuff doesn't appeal to me much at all, I'd need a good capacitive touch stylus and I tried one of those once and didn't like it much.
For another game, I didn't buy Kirby Air Riders in 2025, but I got it recently and have played it a bit. It's such a weird thing, kind of neat but kind of bizarre in not always good ways. My first impression is that it's good but not great, I'm sorry but I'm putting it below MKW and DK Bananza for sure.
As for Metroid Prime 4, I haven't gotten it yet.
What about my retro collection? As with other recent years I only rarely used most of it, sadly. However, one thing I got in 2025 is something I did end up playing quite a bit of: the Atari Lynx. I don't know if I mentioned here that I got a Lynx midyear this year, but I did, with pretty low expectations. I'd played Lynx games in emulation decades back and wasn't all that interested, and I don't especially like the other handhelds I've gotten in recent decades such as the Wonderswan or Game Gear. The Game Boy line are great, but I don't use them much anymore. Of course I do use the DS and 3DS regularly, but much more for touchscreen games than button ones. I thought the Lynx would be, like, yeah it has great graphics for its time, but modern systems do better, you know? Just something to add to the collection. I got a Lynx II from ebay. I had always planned on getting the Lynx II if I ever got a Lynx.
But... well, two things. First, I ended up getting a discount Lynx flash cart, which unlocked the Lynx's large homebrew library. There are a lot of Lynx homebrew games and some of them are pretty good. And... well, I actually like the system a lot! I like the Lynx so much more than I expected, it's kind of crazy. Of course it helps that I got a refurbished one that works great, but I didn't splurge for one with a replaced screen, I'm pretty sure this has the original screen, and it's really good! Yeah, it blurs a bit, but compared to the other screens of the early '90s this seems by far the best in terms of visibility and blur. It is front-lit also, of course, like the Game Gear, except way more powerful than GG, with impressive sprite scaling 3d effects. But even when games are just 2d, they seem to run better than most GG games do, usually smooth and fast. The vertical resolution of the Lynx is quite low, it's got a widescreen aspect ratio with a vertical resolution far below the GB or GG's resolution, so some games have tiny sprites, but I think the look works for the screen size the Lynx has.
As for the negatives, well, the platformer library is decidedly second rate. You have some very weird Western platformers by second and third rate teams. Too many of these games have no music and iffy framerates; the Lynx is powerful but clearly not ideal for platformer games, it's better at sprite scaling 3d and such. For Japanese platformers, ports of Rygar (the arcade game), Ninja Gaiden III (from the NES), and Toki (arcade). And that's about it from Japan. Fortunately all three ports are pretty good, though. It's neat that this is the arcade version of Toki, the Sega Genesis game is entirely different. Of course now you can play Toki HD on modern systems, but still it's a good port. Rygar... that arcade game always was kind of boring, so that it's a good port isn't saying all that much. Still it's okay I guess.
Of the other official Lynx games, S.T.U.N. Runner and Rampart are probably the ones I've played the most.
From the Lynx homebrew library that I've tried, of stuff I found, I need to buy some of the paid homebrews, from Songbird and AtariAge. A few of them look pretty good, I need to get Odynexus (there's a demo and I played it, it's pretty cool) and some others. Ynxa seems decent, and Red (or Green). Those have paid releases now too, I should get them. For free stuff, there's a little homebrew solitaire card game title that I've been playing, it's well done. There are a lot more free Lynx homebrews, many of which I've been trying on the system; I'd need to look through the list to say more about them. Suffice to say, I like the Lynx now and regardless of having the flashcart will certainly be expanding my collection of physical carts for the thing; it's just so nice to play games on.
Overall ranking for the year!
1. Starcraft: Brood War
2. Super Mario Maker 2
3. Mario Kart World (best new game)
4. The Atari Lynx
5. 3DS Picross Games
6. Donkey Kong Bananza
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