Happy New Year, everyone!  At this time of year I like to take a look at games I’m looking forward to playing and reviewing in the coming year.  I know that as the year goes on, there will be other announcements and things.  But here are some that I’m looking forward to right now that I know of.

I do apologize if my list seems a little Nintendo-centric.  The only new consoles I have right now are the 3DS and Wii U.  There just isn’t anything on the PS4 or Xbox One right now that would cause me to want to buy one of those systems.  But that’s actually one of the things I’m looking forward to in 2015.  I’m keeping my eyes and ears open for any game announcements on those systems that I would like.  Maybe more info on Kingdom Hearts 3, or how about releasing Loco Roco 3, Sony?  And Microsoft, care to have Rare make a TRUE Banjo-Kazooie sequel? (Although I did like Nuts & Bolts)  We’ll just have to see.  I really did like the PS3 and 360, though, so I have nothing against the newer consoles.  Just doesn’t make sense to get them if there are no games I want to play on them, right?  But here are some games that will be on consoles I do have that I’m looking forward to, so let’s take a look.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse

The world always seems a little happier when you know that a new Kirby game is coming out.  This Wii U title is a sequel to Kirby Canvas Curse on the DS.  I actually didn’t like Canvas Curse as much as a lot of other people did.  I still had fun with it; it just wasn’t one of my favorites.  But I’m still willing to give the sequel a try!  I do like the clay animation graphics, and the four player modes and Amiibo support looks like fun.  Best of all, it’ll be out fairly soon.  Right now it’s slated for release in February.  That could always change, but here’s hoping we’ll get it then!

Yoshi’s Woolly World

Yoshi’s Island is one of my favorite Mario platformers ever.  Yoshi’s New Island was fun, too, but way too similar to the original game.  The good thing about Yoshi’s Woolly World is that it looks like the took the yarn and fabric graphics and implemented them into the gameplay so much that it’ll breathe some new life and ideas into the franchise.  And it’s made by the same folks who did Kirby’s Epic Yarn, which was also a fantastic game.  I don’t know when Yoshi’s Woolly World will come out, but hopefully it’ll be soon.  They already have a Woolly World stage in Super Smash Bros. on Wii U, for crying out loud!

Wii U Zelda and 3DS Majora’s Mask

Everyone goes ga-ga over the new Wii U Zelda footage we’ve seen over the past year.  I’ll admit, it does look good, but I’d rather have another Wind Waker style Zelda or maybe a top-down classic one myself.  But you know, it’s still a Zelda game and it’ll be fun, so I’m still looking forward to it.  I don’t know if I’ll get the 3DS Majora’s Mask port, as I haven’t even gotten the 3DS Ocarina of Time port yet.  But if they make enough changes to make Majora’s Mask more playable on a portable system, I may consider it.

Mario Maker

I’ve never really been able to get into create-your-own-level type of games.  Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re a great idea; I just don’t have time for them.  I have enough trouble as it is playing games that someone else made, let alone ones I’ve made!  Now, if I were a kid with more time on my hands, then heck yeah, I’d be all over games like Minecraft and LittleBigPlanet.  However, a few years ago I did get into a creation game called WarioWare: D.I.Y., and it actually made my GOTY that year because it was short and easy to make those microgames, and I won a contest and got my game featured by Nintendo.  Not only that, but WarioWare D.I.Y. used the same motif as it did for Mario Paint on the SNES, and I LOVED Mario Paint back then.  And that’s one of the reasons why I’m looking forward to Mario Maker, because it kind of uses that same motif.  I also liked the most recent video that shows that you can make levels based on not only NES and Wii U Mario Bros., but also Mario 3 and Mario World as well!

Shantae: Half Genie Hero

I’ve enjoyed the Shantae series ever since the Game Boy Color (still have that cartridge, too).  The most recent game, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, I’ve been playing lately on Wii U and just about to wrap it up.  It’s the perfect example of the kinds of games I like to play.  Half Genie Hero is the next in the series.  It started out as a Kickstarter.  Normally I don’t do those, but this would’ve been one I would’ve participated in, had I known about it before they reached their goal.  It’ll be available for lots of different systems, too.  I don’t really know for sure if it’ll be out this year or not, but here’s hoping it will be.  I’m a sucker for games with cute characters in them!

Splatoon

I’m kind of on the fence about Splatoon.  I’m not really into multiplayer shooters, but this one looks really colorful and different, and the single player mode that they showed off recently looks kind of interesting, too.  I still may not get it, but I will definitely keep my eye out on it.  At least Nintendo is trying a new IP.

Mario Kart 8 Animal Crossing DLC

This really isn’t a new game, but the next batch of DLC for Mario Kart 8 comes out sometime this year (I think around March), and it features Animal Crossing, one of my most favorite games of all time.  The tracks on the last DLC like the Excitebike, F-Zero, and Zelda tracks were great, so I can’t wait to see what they come up with for this one.  I wish Nintendo would just ditch the DLC and just make a Super Smash Kart game, though.

Tales of Zestria

I wish I had time for RPGs like I used to in high school.  Today’s RPGs are just too long and meandering, and the Tales games are culprits of this, too (although Graces wasn’t SO bad).  I never did play Tales of Xillia and its sequel.  So why am I interested in Zestria?  Well, because I read that they’re not using the usual Tales music composer this time, but instead the music is being done by Go Shiina, my favorite video game music composer.  He also did the music for games like Mr. Driller, Gods Eater Burst, and Tales of Legendia (my favorite Tales game), as well as some of the music in Tekken and Ace Combat games.  I wish I could meet him someday.  Anyway, I’m hoping that Zestria will have the same charm that Legendia had, and I think having Go Shiina on board will help.  Anyone besides me think that Zestria sounds like a new brand of artificial sweetener?

Farm Story: Story of Seasons

Most Harvest Moon fans know the story by now.  Natsume lost the developer of the Harvest Moon games, Marvelous, to XSEED in the US, as XSEED is a part of Marvelous now.  But Natsume still owns the rights to the Harvest Moon name!  Last year, Natsume released their own Harvest Moon game by a different developer.  Sadly, I never did get to review it.  But now XSEED’s game is coming out this year.  It’s still a Harvest Moon game; they just can’t call it that anymore.  I hope I at least get to review this one.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse

This is a good example of a game that I don’t really want to buy, but I’d enjoy reviewing it.  If that makes any sense.  I never got into the DBZ fighting games, but I hear they’re a bit like the Dissidia Final Fantasy fighters, which I loved.  Also, while I’m not a big fan of DBZ, the original Dragon Ball is one of my all-time favorite anime cartoons, so I’m hoping Xenoverse will have a lot of that in it (probably not, but who knows).  I just think it would be fun to review and Namco Bandai is publishing it and I’m pretty good about getting review copies of games from them.  Speaking of Namco Bandai, they’re also releasing another anime fighting game this year called J-Stars Victory Vs.  It looks like the DBZ fighter, just with other anime characters.  I think that might be fun to review, too, and it would give me a chance to learn about other anime characters as well.

Godzilla

You know what’s weird is that I’m a pretty big fan of the Godzilla movies, but I’ve never once played a Godzilla video game.  Well, Namco Bandai is publishing a new Godzilla game this year, and I’d like to review that one, too.

Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters

Aksys is publishing this visual novel game in March for PS3.  It may be a little bit too anime-ish for me, but it’s about a group of ghost hunters fighting ghosts!  One of my guilty pleasures is watching those TV shows where investigators look for ghosts in spooky places.  Yeah I know those shows are dumb and most of it isn’t real or greatly exaggerated.  But I like ghosts and like I said, it’s a guilty pleasure.  We all have those.  Anyway, I think it would be fun to review this game.  Aksys is another pretty supportive company so maybe I will!

Conclusions

And that’s all for now.  Let me know what you think of my list in the comments section, and if there are any other 2015 games that you know of that I might’ve missed that you think I would like.  And tell me your own list of games in 2015 that you’re looking forward to as well!  Later!

Tags: Misc