This year is MonsterVine’s 11th anniversary, and I’m taking a look at 11 of my favorite games from the past 11 years. To make things more interesting, I decided to pick a single game from each year, which turned out to be more challenging than I expected. (When it came to games with multiple release dates, I went with the first North American release.)
So here we go, my top game from each of the past 11 years.
2009 – Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
I’ve been a fan of Mario RPGs ever since I first picked up a copy of Paper Mario as a kid, and one of my favorites is Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story. The third entry in the Mario & Luigi series brought back Fawful, a comedic villain from Superstar Saga, and made him the main antagonist with just as many entertaining lines as before. Falling victim to Fawful’s plot, Bowser accidentally inhales Mario and co., leading to a bizarre adventure in which you switch between controlling Bowser in the overworld and Mario and Luigi inside Bowser. The Mario & Luigi series peaked with this entry, and it still stands out as one of the best today.
2010 – Bayonetta
I didn’t play Bayonetta until many years after its initial release, but 2010 is the year when the gun-wielding, demon-summoning witch made her first appearance in English. Filled with fast-paced stylish action combat, Bayonetta was over-the-top in just about every aspect. Between a strange and convoluted story that I actually enjoyed quite a bit and fantastic gameplay that kept me having fun even when I was dying to Gracious and Glorious over and over, Bayonetta is a game I happily recommend to everyone–as long as they know what they’re getting into.
2011 – Pokémon Black and White
The year was 2011. I’d recently gotten back into the Pokémon series after a long hiatus (during which I considered myself “too old” for Pokémon) with SoulSilver and then Platinum, and I was excited to play the first new generation since my return. My copy of Pokémon White arrived. I started it up, the intro began, and I immediately checked the box to make sure I really had ordered a Pokémon game and not a fantasy JRPG. That was the start of my journey through the fifth generation of Pokémon, which I still consider to be the best Pokémon game, the peak of the series’ storytelling, and the first time Pokémon made me excited to talk about the story with other players.
2012 – Xenoblade Chronicles
In 2012, I’d heard of the Operation Rainfall campaign and was eager to pick up the three games localized through its efforts, the first of these being Xenoblade Chronicles. It was a beautiful game that featured vast areas to explore, a lovable cast of characters, and an epic story filled with twists and turns I never saw coming. It was the first Monolith Soft game I played, and it left me a fan of both them and the Xenoblade series ever since. I’m torn about whether or not I’ll get its upcoming remaster, since playing Xenoblade Chronicles again will be quite a time commitment… but if it has extra content as speculated, I doubt I’ll be able to resist its call.
2013 – Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies
I love the Ace Attorney series, so I couldn’t wait to play the fifth main entry, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies. While opinions on it are somewhat divisive, it ended up becoming one of my favorite Ace Attorney games. The plot was exciting, the writing was hilarious, and it introduced one of the absolute best characters in the series, Prosecutor Simon Blackquill. Some aspects of gameplay were a step down from previous entries, such as the more linear/guided approach to investigations, but it made up for it with everything else.
2014 – Bayonetta 2
Playing the Bayonetta 2 demo on a whim is what made me a fan of these two games, and it lived up to all my expectations when I played it. Everything I described above about Bayonetta applies to the sequel as well, and in some cases Bayonetta 2 was even better. It might be a little easier than the original–although I played them back to back and was therefore much better at Bayonetta gameplay in general by then–but everything else was perfect. Story-wise, Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 are best experienced as a set, leading to what might be my favorite post-credits scene of any video game. I’ve been eagerly awaiting Bayonetta 3 news ever since it was announced, so here’s hoping we hear something soon.
2015 – Undertale
I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started up Undertale for the first time. I went into it completely blind, only aware that it was getting so many good reviews I couldn’t pass it up. It turned out to be not only a heartfelt game, but one of the funniest games I’ve ever played. The soundtrack is memorable, too, with some really excellent songs. I had to play most of the game twice to get the pacifist ending, but I didn’t regret a single second of the time I spend playing Undertale. (No, I never had the heart to play the genocide route. I cared about the characters too much for that.)
2016 – Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice
Yes, another series is getting two entries on this list. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice was the next Ace Attorney game released after Dual Destinies. Unlike most fans, I actually enjoyed Dual Destinies more–in part because Spirit of Justice introduced possibly the worst prosecutor in the series–but Spirit of Justice was still the best game I played that year. It came through with story and humor as usual, and best of all, it found the perfect middle-ground between the old games’ pixel-hunting investigations and the streamlined approach of Dual Destinies. Now, when is the seventh game going to be announced…?
2017 – Yakuza 0
On rare occasions, a game comes around that makes you say, “Wow. I need to play every single one of these.” For me, Yakuza 0 was one of those games. After years of ignoring the Yakuza series due to misconceptions about what it was (yes, I was one of the misguided souls who thought it was “Japanese GTA”), I learned it was actually a heavily story-driven series with wacky side content and a truly noble main character. After hearing that, I took a chance on Yakuza 0 and spent the next 100 hours dividing my time between the exciting main story, the hilarious and often heartwarming substories, and the various other side activities. Can playing a single game give you a new favorite series? Yes. Yes it can.
2018 – God of War
I had never played a single God of War game before 2018, but when the new game was released to such high praise, I decided to change that. I marathoned through the entire series (except Ascension) and then moved on to 2018’s God of War. It was phenomenal. It took nearly everything I loved from the originals and added even more of it, with a heavier focus on storytelling, lore, and exploration. The result was a game that felt similar to its predecessors but still noticeably different, in a wonderful way. The emotional payoff after playing the others was fantastic, and it was an incredible game all on its own. I’m definitely a fan now, and I can’t wait to see where they go with the next game in this series.
2019 – Kingdom Hearts III
While Kingdom Hearts III has proven to be a bit divisive among fans, I have only praise for it. I went into it with certain hopes for the story, and it did almost everything I wanted–even giving my least popular favorite character his time in the spotlight, which was more than I could have possibly hoped for. It was a satisfying conclusion to the Dark Seeker Saga and left several intriguing hooks for the next saga. Beyond the story alone, Kingdom Hearts III is at the top of my list for 2019 simply because I had fun every time I played it. The Disney worlds were beautiful and expansive, the Gummi Ship sections were better than ever (the first time I’ve ever enjoyed them, in fact), and every minute I spent with Kingdom Hearts III was pure joy.
Conclusion
Honorable mentions go to Persona 5 (which would be on this list if it wasn’t up against Yakuza 0) and Judgment (which would be on this list if the Keihin Gang wasn’t so annoying), as well as the games from 2015 in particular glaring at me from my backlog to question why I haven’t played them yet. For now, these are my favorite 11 games from each of the past 11 years, but who knows what the future will bring?
