I wasn’t sure at first if I was going to do a ‘best games of the decade’ blog since I wasn’t clear if the decade ends at 2019 or 2020.  But then I looked at the last time I wrote a ‘best games of the decade’ blog and it was at the beginning of 2010, and it went from 2000 to 2009, so I figured I’d do one now after all.  I provided a link to my last ‘best games of the decade’ blog because I thought it was interesting to read something I wrote ten years ago.  So we’re doing it again, although it’s pretty much the games that won my “Game of the Year” award for the past ten years.

2010: WarioWare: D.I.Y. (DS)

Aside from a few events, the first half of the past decade was pretty uneventful for me, which was nice in a way.  Anyway, I love the WarioWare games.  The first one was even my Game of the Year back in 2003 when it was released.  This one won in 2010 for two reasons.  One, it was just a fun game.  You used a Mario Paint setup to make your own WarioWare style microgames, and it even had a robust music program.  It could be considered slightly educational as it taught basic programming skills like ‘if, then’ statements and such.  The other reason why it won my Game of the Year is because I won a contest with it. Near after the release, Nintendo held contests where you could make a game based on a theme, and then upload it to them and they’d feature it on their own site that anyone could download and play it.  And one of my games won!  I wrote an article about it so click on the link up at the top of the paragraph header.  I know I’ve bragged about this many times before, but it is one of the top feathers in my gaming cap.

2011: Okamiden (DS)

The original Okami was my Game of the Year in 2006.  It just amazed me they were able to squeeze a sequel on the DS and have it look and play almost just as good!  Plus it starred a puppy, who wouldn’t like that?  I also got to run a contest where people could win plushes and things, so that was cool.

2012: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy (3DS)

I love music games and Final Fantasy music, so if you put them both together you’d have a winner.  I love the chibi art style and I had so much fun playing this with friends.  I’m glad I got to play the arcade version at Round One arcade a couple of years ago.

2013: Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)

This year had some bad spots for me, as it was the year that 1up.com went under.  But even worse, it was the year my grandmother passed away.  But luckily we got Animal Crossing: New Leaf this year.  As you might know, I love the Animal Crossing games and the first one on GameCube is still one of my top five favorite games of all time.  New Leaf was the first in the series to offer any significant improvements and changes.  Another reason why I like Animal Crossing games is that I can enjoy them with friends and family.  New Leaf came out near Mother’s Day, so I got my mom a pink 3DS and a copy of the game.  She loves Animal Crossing games, too.  And when I went to Alabama for my grandmother’s funeral, after that, the family gathered at her house to eat, and my cousin and her kids and I all played New Leaf together.  It was a bittersweet moment because it remined me how I’d play with my cousins when visiting Alabama when I was little, but it also made me sad as we were playing because it made me think that this may be one of the last times we’d be able to do that.

2014: Super Smash Bros for Wii U

This was a better year, as I was making enough money at my job that I could afford a trip to Disney World with my family that year.  We also got a pretty good game in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS.  Of course, the best part was that Pac-Man and Mega Man were in it!

2015: Splatoon (Wii U)

This was probably the best year for the Wii U.  Smash Bros. was still going strong, and we got great new games like Super Mario Maker and Splatoon.  Splatoon particularly impressed me because it was an online 3-D shooter, which I don’t normally get into.  But it was easy to figure out and play, and even family members of mine who don’t play games at all were able to jump right in and play and even win a few matches.  So that really impressed me with this new IP.

2016: World of Final Fantasy (PS4)

This was probably the worst year for me this past decade.  Late the year before, I had just lost my job so I spent the first half of 2016 finding a new one.  And once I did, it was a part time job that paid MUCH less.  So that sucked.  There were some other sucky things in my life that I won’t go into here, but it was also a bad year for games as well.  The Wii U was basically dead by this point and wasn’t getting any good games at all.  In fact, this was the year that Star Fox Zero was released, one of Nintendo’s worst games ever made in my opinion.  So my Game of the Year broke the Nintendo console streak and was a PS4 game.  And even then, it wasn’t the best game either.  World of Final Fantasy was basically Final Fantasy Pokémon, but I did like the cute characters and references to classic Final Fantasy titles.

2017: SNES Classic Edition

So this was a much better year, especially for gaming.  The Switch was released and we got great games like Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey.  But neither of those won my award that year!  Yeah sometimes I go out on left field and pick an unusual one.  This year I kind of broke the rules, since the SNES Mini isn’t technically a game, but boy I sure did like getting it for my birthday that year, and the SNES is my favorite game console.  It didn’t have ALL the games I wanted on it, but it sure came close.  Heck, two of my top five favorite games of all time were on it: Super Mario Kart and Final Fantasy 6!

2018: Nintendo Labo (Switch)

Speaking of going out to left field, even though we got Super Smash Bros. Ultimate this year, I gave the award to Nintendo Labo.  It was just such a weird concept and I had so much fun building the cardboard sets with my brother Jeff.  Plus I didn’t want to give a Smash game the award twice in a decade, and I had such good memories playing and building the Labo sets.

2019: The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch)

And finally, this past year I gave the award to the Switch remake of Link’s Awakening.  But then, Link’s Awakening is my number one favorite Zelda game, so why not?  But I almost gave the award to two other games: either Luigi’s Mansion or Kingdom Hearts 3.  Both were great games, and Link’s Awakening was full price, even though I didn’t think it should’ve been.  And I still would have just as much fun with the Game Boy version.  But I still gave it the award because I wanted to.

Conclusions

And that’s all for now!  Hope you enjoyed my look at the past decade.  Let me know what you think of my picks, and tell me your favorite games of the past decade!  Later!  –Cary

Tags: Misc