This was a fun topic last year, and was actually about what people played in the year instead of "what were the 2 or 3 games everyone bought regardless of whether they were the best games" since not everyone can afford a ton of games y'know. So if you played a game for the first time in 2012 (or if you had only played it for a ridiculously short amount of time before 2012), it counts regardless of when the game was actually released. Also, HD ports and stuff like them don't count if you've already played the game before, actual remakes do though.

Luckily despite not really being able to get more than a few new retail games, I personally played a lot of cool games this year, so it at least continues the trend of the last 3 years despite the apparent lower quality of AAA releases.

1. Xenoblade Chronicles (yeah, no surprise here)
2. Mass Effect 2
3. Assassin's Creed 3
4. Kid Icarus: Uprising
5. Little Inferno (I literally played this on the last day of 2012)
6. Rhythm Heaven Fever
7. Rayman Origins
8. PushMo
9. La Mulana
10. Super Castlevania IV

1.Xenoblade
2.Nintendo Land
3.Batman Arkham City(Armored edition)
4.No More Heroes 2
5. Kid Icarus Uprising
6.New Super Mario Bros U
7.Paper Mario Sticker Star
8.New Super Mario Bros 2
9.Cave Story 3d+
10.Kirby's Dreamland (I rediscovered this one)

Still holding out on getting a few games from yester-year, but I guess you mean games you played last year, not games that were release last year, looking at your list.
Heres my list, in no order.
Skyrim (I know its two years old game, but it took two years to beat, its a long and detail game, and an enjoyble one at that. If you haven't played this game, then it''s your duity as a gamer to do so.)
Resident Evil: Revelations (The only 3DS game that made me forget I was playing a handheld game, with an epic story,gameplay, and most importantly, amzing graphics. This game is a must have for anyone who wants a console-like game, on their handheld.)
Punch-Out!! Wii (Pick it up new on a sale early 2012, just wanted to try something new on the Wii, seeing how its close to its end. Little to my surprise that I been missing out on this little gem of a game. This game alone is the most fun I had with the Wii's montion control that made me felt that I was really in the action, with its colorful characters and a Rocky-like story of a underdog making his way to the top. the game had enough charm and sillyness to crack a smile on the most serious of faces.

1. The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword
2. Kid Icarus Uprising
3. New Super Mario Bros. U
4. Batman Arkham City-Armored Edition
5. Little Inferno
6. Pushmo
7. Nintendo Land
8. VVVVVV
9. New Play Control! Pikmin 2
10. Nano Assault Neo

Skyrim, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Civ 5, Arkhum City and Nights HD are the games that instantly spring to mind but there where quite a few others.

um where do i start
Tales of graces F
sonic and sega allstar racing transformed
xenoblade
the last story
pkm b2/w2
kid icuris uprising
assasin creed 3
halo 4

Kid Icarus Uprising is my favorite game this year.

In no particaular order, here or some other favs.
Crimson Shroud
Nintendo Land
The Legend of Zelda Skyward Skword
Dillon's Rolling Western
New Super Mario Bros. U

Skyward Sword was definitely the best, but Xenoblade was pretty close behind.

The Last Story, however, which was the game I looked forward to more than any other this past generation, REALLY disappointed. Oh well.

I quite liked last story but it was definitely a few places behind xenoblade, the only real complaint I had was the the complete lack of any surprises or plot twists the story just seemed way too predictable.

I guess I'll organize them by this year and past years. In no particular order:

2012:
Xenoblade Chronicles
Devil Survivor 2
Pokemon Black 2
Kid Icarus Uprising
Halo 4
Dead or Alive 5
Dishonored
The Last Story
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
Resident Evil Revelations
COD: Black Ops 2
Darksiders 2
Little Inferno
And I plan on playing Far Cry 3 when my dad gives me access to his PC. I also want to try out XCOM.
Also, as a big Mass Effect fan, ME3 dissapointed me. And it isn't about the ending. That game just wasn't as good for me as the first two games were.

Years Past:
Sakura Wars: So Long My Love
No More Heroes 2
Ninja Gaiden 2
Bayonetta
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (got it for Christmas last year and just played it for about a month)
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Eternal Darkness
Viva Pinata

And those are only the ones that stood out. I guess I buy a lot of games.

I'll keep it to any game I played a sizable portion of in 2012 to keep it fair:

1. Gravity Rush - 8 hrs.
2. Ys Seven - 27 hrs.
3. Final Fantasy: Anniversary Edition - 20 hrs.
4. Dragon Quest IV - 39 hrs.
5. Dragon Warrior III - ~30 hrs.
6. Dragon Quest IX - ~30 hrs.
7. Rune Factory Frontier - 20 hrs.
8. Dragon Warrior I - ~10 hrs.
9. Breath of Fire 3 - 25 hrs.
10. Monster Hunter Tri - 40+ hrs.

I played a little of a lot of games, but these soaked up the most of my time, while being greatly enjoyable most of the time.

1. Little Inferno (It may just be my favorite game ever, not just that I played in 2012!)
2. Rayman Origins (just started in December, but it's still a favorite for 2012!)
3. Saints Row the Third (me and my buddy played a lot of this game, but never seriously. So, we had a lot of fun with it, but I don't actually know how good of a game it actually is!)
4. LoZ OoT 3D
5. TrackMania United Forever

@Gioku Saints Row as a series isn't meant to be taken seriously. So you played it the way it was meant to be played.

The story was average at its best and bland overall. But it was the story telling that killed it for me. The writing was pretty awful, the voice acting was worse, the pacing was all over the board and the narrator... GOD HELP ME, the narrator. It just came across very amateurish to me.

The music was wonderful in spots, but looped too quickly and the track list was too short. By the end of the game, the music was just repetitive and I found myself lowering the volume.

The action was very good. It was visceral, it was different, it was engaging and felt like I was actually fighting someone rather than just selecting commands. It let me down on the broader applications, though. There were spots when you could destroy parts of the environment to take out enemies, but that feature was a bit underplayed. It should have had consequences (blowing a high bridge means those enemies die easier and more quickly, but it also blocks your path and you have to take a longer route to the end of the area, for example). The lack of strategy was a let down, too, as it only really came into effect in a few small spots, like where having Lowell use ice magic against the water-goblin-things only heals them, but because you couldn't give any general commands to your allies' AI tactics, it really just felt like babysitting Lowell and constantly commanding him to use Berserk instead of anything else.

The side quests in large part were boring and mindless and I skipped many. Some were OK (the "one-on-one" challenge on the cliff was fun the first time, but by the time I even realized it was there, let alone that it could be done repeatedly, I was too high a level for me to even take any noticeable damage and the fact that it didn't increase in difficulty no matter how many times I did it was lame), but others (catching frogs) felt like a waste of time.

Don't get me wrong. I didn't dislike the game at all. I enjoyed my experience pretty thoroughly and I played it all the way through to the end (something I can't even say for Xenoblade, which I stopped playing while inside the Mechonis capital). I had let myself get some insanely high expectations for the game, though. I was more excited for The Last Story than for Twilight Princess, Super Smash Bros. Brawl or Skyward Sword all of which I followed from announcement to release. My expectations were too lofty, so my disappointment is my own fault, not the game's. On NL's rating system, I'd give it a 7. Good game. Even a very good game for many. But by no means all it could have been.

But I digress. That was rather far off subject. We now return to your regularly scheduled Nintendo Life forum programming.

These are all the games I played for the first time this year and thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish:

1.) La Mulana (Wiiware)
2.) Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
3.) Xenoblade Chronicles
4.) Batman Arkham City (PS3)
5.) Deus Ex Human Revolutions (PC)
6.) Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
7.) Kid Icarus: Uprising
8.) Aquaria (PC)
9.) Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
10.) Infinite Space (DS)

1. Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance (3DS)
2. Tales of the Abyss (3DS)
3. Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D (3DS)
4. Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS)
5. the Denpa Men: they Came by Wave (3DS eShop)
6. Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword (3DS eShop)
7. Cave Story (3DS eShop)
8. Liberation Maiden (3DS eShop)
9. NightSky (3DS eShop)
10. Mutant Mudds (3DS eShop)

Note: this was the first time I've played any version of any ports/remakes on my list.

Kid Icarus: Uprising (my favourite game)
Heroes of Ruin
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina lf Time 3D
Super Pokemon Rumble
Nintendogs+Cats
Rabbids 3D
The Sims 3
Combat of Giants Dinosaurs 3D

1. Batman Arkham City GOTY — Xbox 360
2. Borderlands — Xbox 360 (havent finished this one yet but I am enjoying this game alot)
3. NSMB2 — 3DS (The best Mario game I have played since SMW)
4. The Walking Dead — XBLA
5. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin — DS