2020: The Year We'd Rather Forget

Animal Crossing
Don't pretend like you weren't doing EXACTLY this for the entirety of 2020.

Most of us probably don’t have great memories of 2020, for… reasons, but it was still an exciting year to be in video games. While Sony and Microsoft were releasing their next-gen consoles, Nintendo continued to chug away with the excellent additions of Hades, the Xenoblade Chronicles remaster, Spiritfarer, and a new Paper Mario game.

But let’s be honest: 2020 belonged to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which ended up accidentally defining those first few weeks of the pandemic thanks to a serendipitous release date. Will it be part of our five picks, though?

Ollie

This game is already dead and buried, but I DON’T CARE. It’s got to be Super Mario 3D All Stars, mainly for the criminally underrated Super Mario Sunshine. I still maintain that it’s my favourite out of the 3D Mario games, although I absolutely acknowledge that nostalgia might be playing a big part here.

Obviously, Super Mario Galaxy is as wonderful as it’s always been, and although Super Mario 64 can be accessed via Nintendo Switch Online now, this is nevertheless a collection that fans of Mario games deserve to play… even though you can’t anymore. Shame.

Alana

I trust everyone to pick the game I put the most amount of time into in 2020, but there’s one other game that helped keep me sane during the pandemic; Hades.

Supergiant Games have improved with every single game, and Hades is an example of getting every single facet of a roguelike just right. It’s accessible and adjustable, difficult yet addictive, and it sucks you in with it’s wonderful writing and beautiful artstyle. Hades is one of the only games I can think of where I don’t dislike a single thing about it, and it taught me that dying and failing over and over again is okay. It got me into a genre I’d previously been terrified to try out, and now I can’t stop picking up roguelikes.

(Kate - I love that we're all dancing around That One Game.)

Gav

I thought about Streets of Rage 4, as similar to Sonic Mania it was a brilliant example of a revival done right.

However, it would be disingenuous of me not to go with Animal Crossing. As it did for millions of us, it absolutely helped me get through a lockdown or two (or three? I don’t remember at this point!) and kept me sane with its lowkey, slow-life way of doing things. Not much else to say that hasn’t been said, really. A good video game, it is.

(Ollie - Yeah, again this one is a game that simply can’t be excluded purely for the impact it had during such difficult times. A good pick, indeed!)

Tom

Well done Gavin, you did what needed to be done and, fear not! I will save Streets of Rage 4.

As someone who was obsessed with Streets of Rage 2 back in the days when TVs weighed more than a baby elephant, it was lovely to experience a new series entry that was so accomplished and fun. I love playing through it solo and in co-op with my brother just like in the old days. It’s just marvellous.

Kate

I shall be saving the utterly charming A Short Hike from the bin, because it’s one of those games that’s just so naturally at home on the Switch, even though it's on other platforms.

I thought about saving Paper Mario: The Origami King, and I probably should (because it’s only out on the Switch!), but I think A Short Hike wins because of its sheer joy-to-minute ratio. The Origami King had its moments, but they were in-between that bloody annoying battle system; A Short Hike was just lovely to play through with how freeing and pretty it was. I am sorry. (I am not sorry.)

Important 2020 games that are now in the bin:

Paper Mario: The Origami King, Paradise Killer, Xenoblade Chronicles: DE, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Clubhouse Games, Ikenfell, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, Spiritfarer, Part Time UFO, Among Us

Thoughts: 2020 was a weird year. A little quiet for obvious reasons, but then at the same time, really busy. It was 2020 that brought us that whole Among Us/Fall Guys craze, remember that? Sadly, neither of them made it into our picks – the latter because it’s STILL not out on Switch – and instead we have all defaulted to the games that gave us the Warm And Fuzzies during the whole “unprecedented times” thing.