UPDATE: Corn Kidz 64, Cavern of Dreams and Pizza Tower are all now available on Switch, Pseudoregalia's map update has been released, and Hi-Fi Rush is now available on PS5!
This video is longer than Dumbo, Disney Animation's shortest feature-length film (package films don't count). Congratulations--you have officially released your first film. Also, even though it was disappointing that you spoiled your #1 on the thumbnail, at least you made a light-hearted rib on how obvious it was just before the segment began.
43:46 TBF, the MMOs get more songs mostly because each expansion is effectively treated like its own game with its own unique musical identity so each one gets a track list of about the same size as the rest of the games here. That explains XIV's representation at least. Can't speak for XI.
Makes sense to me. The point was more in that XIV got noticeably more than XI despite both being multi-expansion MMOs, likely because of how big XIV currently is.
@@BenjaMage Looking it up looks like XI only had 3 major expansions while XIV's repped up to Shadowbringers which is technically expansion 4 if you count AAR as an expansion and not the default game (convoluted I know lol). So 5 vs 4 "games" effectively. Still disproportionate but it is what it is.
Apparently UA-cam thinks M&M's Kart Racing was an appropriate game to show in the description. Joking aside, this was an amazing list you've compiled here, I could see myself dabbling into some of these indie titles in the near future.
Hi Fi Rush reminds me a lot of the Phantasy Star games where you have to time your attacks, its my favorite 2023 game alongside Armored Core 6 Also honorable mention to Library of Ruina, despite it not being a 2023 game i absolutely ADORE this beautiful art of a turn based game
19:02 XSEED is behind this, I bet this is a localization thing. They still are farming on farming games after they pretty much lost almost other series they worked on while clinging on their previous work with barely any new ports for them (looking at you, Trails in the Sky Trilogy and most of the Ys games that are still stuck on PC).
Main five 2023 games that stood out for me Super Mario Wonder The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog SpongeBob SquarePants Cosmic Shake Metroid Prime Remastered Sonic Dream Team
2:02 Going through the list of games you haven’t played yet, here are some of my favorites: Disney Illusion Island: A cute Rayman Legends style platformer starring Mickey Mouse and friends. Kirby’s Return To Dreamland Deluxe: The first game in Kirby’s modern era given a fresh coat of paint. Plus getting to play as Magolor as he goes through his own redemption arc was very enjoyable. Sonic Superstars: Seeing Classic Sonic getting a new game with 3D visuals was such a treat. Plus the Lego DLC costumes were so cool. WarioWare Move It: Take WarioWare Smooth Moves and crank it up to eleven and you have this game. As for the official entries on the list, Super Mario Bros Wonder is my favorite, hands down.
Great video you made and I should really play Murder of Sonic & Hi-Fi Rush. :) Myself since I gotten a PS5, I have played other games like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Sonic Frontiers & Superstars, Crash Team Rumble (guilty pleasure at times), the Shantae games, RWBY Arrowfell, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (my fav game of 2023). Did seen other media too.
I straight up have not heard about a lot of these games or just forgot about them. Probably should pay a little more attention to the smaller games that are coming out. Great video Ben! Also happy to help out with the multiplayer Mario Wonder footage!
Really neat Games of 2023 list, with some pretty expected games, and some games I hadn't heard of before. The transitions into each game were also really great to see as usual (and not gonna lie, the Pizza Tower one actually made me jump because I wasn't expecting Peppino's scream). Looking forward to what 2024 brings
I always look forward to your less popular picks for these! Almost nothing on my list of favorite games this year overlaps with yours, so to answer your question...yes you have given me quite a few new things to play!
I knew this list was going to be good and the hour long length is worth and Benjamin as someone who grew up with the original mario RPG via the Wii virtual console you my man are Missing out because it is a Great little game.
So I had to watch this in multiple sittings, but I want to stress that that's not a criticism of the video length at all; nah nah, I thought the length was pretty optimal. Detailed enough to get in the highlights, but snappy enough to flow from segment to segment. 👌 Even with all the exclusions/absences, I'm amazed at how much variety you packed into this list! The honorable mentions at the start was a great inclusion, as well! Definitely keep it in mind going forward. And out of what was shown, I'd say that Pseudoregalia, Gravity Circuit, En Garde!, and Pizza Tower stuck out to me the most.
Mario Wonder was absolutely my favorite of the year. I'd honestly go as far as to say it's my favorite 2D Mario game. On top of everything you mentioned in your video, another thing I love about Wonder is that compared to other 2D Marios, even Mario World, Wonder does a great job making every level feel really distinct from each other. Aside from levels that are designed to be a continuation of another level, none of them ever feel same-y or bleed into one another. And even though I never got to play them myself, I can absolutely see myself enjoying HiFi Rush, Pizza Tower, or the Mario RPG remake. Oh, and if we're gonna include "DLC for an older game that was released this year" like with the Booster Course Pass, then I have to give a shout out to the Dimensional Shellshock DLC for TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. It took what was already my favorite beat-em-up and made it even better
My 2023 GOTY would be Robocop Rouge City. I played it 5 times already and it never got old. It got me to watch the first two Robocop movies. They are some of my favorite movies I've have ever seen. Everything about that game is amazing. NG+ just arrived for that game too. I recommend buying that game.
I haven't played Hi-Fi Rush because my laptop is kinda old but I really want to play it. However I played Gravity circuit when it came out and it is easily one of my favorite games from last year, it's so fun, the gameplay is so dynamic and the soundtrack is amazing.
Octopath Traveler 2 was easily my GotY of 2023. An incredible RPG and an improvement from the first game in literally every way. Even better combat and graphics, better characters, better stories, fun new mechanics, and an actual endgame? Arguably one of the best RPGs ever and with an 80+ hour campaign you'll never get tired of!
I think the thing I loved most about the endgame- *remembers THAT part during final boss* SECOND most- *remembers the OTHER part* ...third most about the endgame is that the challenge still remains even if you're significantly overleveled. I would know cause I grinded to level 90 for the superboss (did b4 endgame) and the final boss still put up a decent fight. I still can recall the sense of dread when I discovered the superboss area. It was a slow decline from "cool a new area" to "hey wasnt this item in the previous game" to "...I dont like the look of those big doors" to entering with a "oh god please no" then seeing THAT prompt with a "nonononono" and finally confirming my worst fears with one simple *"FUCK."*
Octopath Traveler II was SO close to being my GOTY of 2023, then I finished Trails to Azure in December. Yes I'm counting it, as 2023 was the first time Trails to Azure released in English
My highlight when it came to RPGs? Star Ocean The Second Story R. A fantastic remake that not only brings in expected quality of life changes, but also makes the gameplay easier to handle and breaks the tedium the OG versions make. Also, the game as a whole can be made even MORE broken and I love it that way.
Most of the games here that I didn’t already play and love myself are now on my list of games to buy sometime, especially the indies. My personal game of the year was Pizza Tower, I couldn’t ever have imagined that the game I got hooked on at SAGE 2019 would’ve exploded in popularity when it came out. Also Mario Wonder, what a game. I really loved Super Mario Land 2 with the wild and weird themes and enemies and having a Mario game that felt so unique in tone again immediately drew me to the game.
Funny thing about the Harvest Moon/Story of Season franchise, it's what inspired Concerned Ape to create Stardew Valley in the first place because he's an HM fan lol. Most games I play nowadays are from Indie companies too and that's mostly because I am of limited means, plus I find Indie games seem to put more heart into their games now, like you know they not only care about their product, but about gaming in general. 2023 ended up being a year where I had so many games I wanted to play, and I still have a backlog lol. My fav game that I played last year, oooff, that's hard. Honestly despite on how short the game is (like it only took me 4.5 hours to complete lol), it would be the indie Visual Novel, Date with Death. It's romance based where the Grim Reaper (who's totally hot) wants your soul and you end up making a bet with him to keep it. For like 3 or 4 days I was obsessed with it. But yeah it's the shortest game I've played. A very close 2nd would be Coral Island, but the full game isn't out (despite coming out of early access last year), so it wouldn't be fair to rank it number 1. It's a farming sim that's set on an island and has very similar mechanics to Stardew Valley (only with 3d animation) and it includes diving because you're trying to save the local coral reef too hehe. I also played some demos this year. Fav demo for sure is another visual novel indie game with romance in it called Our Life: Now and Forever. It's the 2nd game in the Our Life franchise and the first game I got to play last year (even though it fully came out in 2021), it ended up being my fav game I played in 2022. Main game is free and any DLC though is very affordable. Basic concept of both games is that you create your own MC and grow up with your next door neighbor (or in the sequel's case, neighbors) and you have the choice to fall in love with said neighbor. First game you have Cove, who's the primary LI, but in later DLC two more LIs were added, Derek and Baxter. In Now and Forever, you start off with two LIs, one male and one female. And when I say you do grow up with these chars, you actually do lol. VN is split up into 4 steps, each covering a critical part of your life. Step 1 is as a kid, Step 2 is adolescence (think early teen), Step 3 is young adult (right after HS), and Step 4 is the epilogue when you are an adult (think mid-20s). With the exception of Step 4, Steps 1-3 can have up 10 moments (5 are DLC) each. But yeah I love this franchise and I can't wait for more of the demo to be added on. The game developer, Patch Games, is going to expand the demo a bit. This past fall they did a kickstarter and it was so successful they added extra stretch goals. Like this game is going to be even more customizable than the last one. I don't think the full game will come out this year, but it's easily one of my most anticipated games, along with KH4 lol. Anyway loved your video Ben! I had so much fun watching it, it didn't feel like an hour-long video lol.
This has actually made me be interested in playing some of these games. Especially En Garde and Gravity Circuit Edit: I might just play Cavern of Dreams just because I share the same name as the main character.
Hard to say of the games I myself played that came out in 2023 is my favorite, but its hard for me to pick anything other than Octopath Traveler 2. I will always be a turn based rpg fanatic. Pseudoregalia would've deffo made top 3 tho if I actually played it last year!
Amazing work on this, Ben! I’m amazed how many games came out last year, and I’m honestly amazed that there were so many that you could still make a top 15 even without playing a lot of the heavy hitters. For me personally, some of my favorites were Mario Wonder, Tears of the Kingdom, Kirby’s Return Deluxe (if that counts), etc, and quite unsurprisingly, we have the same top favorite. Again, I thank you for giving me the motivation to get around to playing Hi-Fi. Also I admittedly didn’t start playing Pizza Tower and Cocoon until this year, but I love those ones, too. Hopefully 2024 can measure up to last year, if not in games, then at least the treatment of the industry.
...goddamn I cannot believe half of that list was apart of my top 5. ...that's ABSURD 22:57 i feel like the reason you wanted more was because it shares a surprising amount of rare's n64 blood. I get a lot of banjo tooie's humor, conker's bad furr day special effects, the moveset and overworld like level is literally dk isle, the idea of wanting more to do is most likely due to the fact rare had a big problem _restraining_ themselves
My sleeper hit for 2023 was Make Way. It's a party racing game in the sense of it's Ultimate Chicken Horse meets a top down racer. The players select track pieces, item boxes, or hazards and build up the course over time granting points to players that make it to each checkpoint.. It's got a charming art style and some of the later unlocked pieces are creative. From standard turns and U bends to narrow bridges, spirals, and loop de loops. You can even set four lanes of highway traffic as a part. It's $15 or your regional equivalent on all major platforms supporting both split screen and cross play online multiplayer (although limted to four people for both. Weird because all starts show up to 8 starting locations but hey it runs well on even its Switch port).
My favorite games of this year were TOTK, Pizza Tower, Mario Wonder, and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. I actually got a physical copy of BRC last night! This was really fun to watch
I didn’t play many games that came out in 2023, but I did play the Little Nightmares duology, and holy shit has the internet been sleeping on this series. Not only is the gameplay really fun and satisfying, but the art design is impeccable, the music is simultaneously memorable, eerie, beautiful, and frightening, there are legitimately good scares, and visual storytelling so immersive and compelling that it puts most modern horror games to shame (looking at you FNaF). I can’t recommend them enough.
I didn't play many new games this year so my favourite new game of 2023 for me was definitely Pizza Tower. My favourite game not released in 2023 that I first played in 2023, however? Easily ultrakill. Might be the best game I've ever played, period.
I was so happy to see Gravity Circuit so high on the list. I need to get back into it just so I can play the post launch content. It's really hard for me to choose a specific game I considered my favorite of the year, but I know a few I can think of are: Gravity Circuit, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (definitely recommend giving that one a go), Metroid Prime Remastered, Mario Wonder, and Persona 5 Royal. The last one being a very last minute edition as I got it a week before New Years and loved it that much.
37:39 Okay, I guess Touhou Spell Bubble doesn't exist since it came out before Vacation Odyssey, but I can understand why you didn't count that. With that in mind, you REALLY should play Touhou Spell Bubble, cause it's really fun. It's a combination of Puzzle Bobble/Bust a Move and a rhythm game, and it's great. Literally only problem with it is how much the DLC costs, which is the same problem I have with Groove Coaster and some other rhythm games (mainly GC here cause they're both made by Taito and they follow similar pricing on their packs).
Amazing list! Super Mario Bros Wonder, Pizza Tower, Gravity Circuit and Hi Fi Rush were all amazing 11/10 masterpieces to come out in 2023!!!!!!!! Nice list Benjamin!!!!!!!
Honestly happy to see Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog on this list. One of my favourite things the series has done in recent history. I would love for them to make more of these kind of casual scenarios for the cast
I doubt it will be on this type of list but I really should make a 3D platformer I have ideas I just need to make a character and basics so i can have fun making levels
I haven't played this game myself but Touhou Spell Bubble is a spin off of Puzzle Bobble and Touhou. It apparently has rhythm elements and is supposedly pretty good.
Very unique list as usual and a breath of fresh air to be honest! Do you have plans to play ANY of the most popular games of the last year (like ff16, baldurs gate, zelda etc.) ? Would love to hear your opinions
Honestly in terms of favorite games I played in 2023 I'd say it's a tie between Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 Turbocharged and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. To get the easy one out of the way first, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is just a perfect game if you just want to vibe and mess around in the setting it's in helped by its amazing OST. High recommendation if you enjoy the Jet Set Radio style of game. Now for Unleashed 2, as a fan of both video games and the Hot Wheels brand the duology of Unleashed 1 and 2 are a blessing considering after the mess that was World's Best Driver and the mobile game dark age it was so good that those two games released especially for the Racing Game Genre where personally most AAA racers mainly Forza and Need For Speed have kinda felt bland recently more towards Forza Horizon and the latest Motorsport entry, despite never playing either and only got my taste of Open World racing via Burnout Paradise Remastered a while back, cause I've grown tired of the open world racing style and miss the arcade style that HWU1 and 2 have. Hell HWU2 has a better base Roster of cars than the first, mainly with more 2000s Era diecasts I grew up with. Not to mention getting rid of needlessly abundant Character Cars Unleashed 1 was swarmed with post launch which nearly made up half the final roster of cars.
I haven’t played much. But Octopath Traveler II is easily my favorite of 2023!! The graphics and soundtrack have been retained and are made better, the characters’ interactions are miles better, the writing is much smarter, the stories are still excellent and the villains and bosses still retain their charm and impacts towards the travelers. And what about that endgame? It is somehow awesome and the final boss is just truly amazing! Now I know you didn’t play it. But I might look forward to you reviewing it if you play it.
It's kinda funny, I did end up buying quite a few games that were released in 2023, but I never got around to playing most of them. Though from what I have played I'd definitely say Pseudoregalia was my favorite, at least looking at 2023 games. If anything this year really got me into a lot of great games that came out in earlier years, like Hollow Knight, Ori and the Blind Forest, and ESPECIALLY OneShot. Maybe this year I'll actually get to a lot of these 2023 releases, especially stuff like Pizza Tower and Hi-Fi Rush, been meaning to play those for a bit now.
My winner has to be Baldur's Gate 3. Not just because I fell in love with it, which I did, but because my step father fell in love with it. He's only ever been into action games until now. And yet BG3 is the only thing he's played since he got it for Christmas. We also got him a VR headset with the Horizon game he's been dying to play, but no. The dice call to him.
First off, I saw number 1 coming from a mile away. Secondly, the only thing I played that came out last year was Future Redeemed. At least that was darn good.
Personally, the highlights for me out of the games I've finished (including games that got released in Japan years ago, but didn't release in English until 2023) were: Octopath Traveler II Trails to Azure Mario Wonder (70-80% of the games I played weren't even released in 2023 (90% of the games I finished in 2023 were Trails games, and none of the Trails games I've played were released in 2023 (I played and finished Sky FC in 2022, and I played and finished the rest of Sky, the Crossbell duology, and the first Cold Steel in 2023. I started CS2 in 2023, but didn't finish it until a couple days after New Year's)))
Pikmin 4 was easily my game of the year- I had so much fun playing it that I replayed it three times in short succession after getting it for my birthday. It just has so much to do, so many solid QoL improvements, and feels great to see how fast you can clear it. Otherwise- I’m a big fan of Mario and Kirby, so Mario Wonder and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe were both a great new experience and a wonderful revisit to a game I played that made me fall back in love with the game all over again. I won’t deny, the hype cycle made Wonder not quite live up to my expectations (and I feel it got honeymoon phased hard by fans) but I can’t deny the game’s quality. The gameplay had an amazing flow, it looks beautiful, and it has a ton of fun level concepts and Wonder effects. I’ll freely admit, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land lost its luster for me for some time- not that I thought it was bad or that the later games invalidated it or anything. It just didn’t hold up quite as strong in my mind. But replaying it, hot diggity dang, the game was a joy to play. The updated visuals certainly help from a game that, while it also aged fine in graphics, definitely DID feel inferior to newer stuff. And just in general, I forgot just how fun Return to Dream Land was. And the Magolor side mode is incredibly fun to play, an excellent addition on par with Bowser’s Fury. Sonic Superstars is a solid classic Sonic experience, even if I don’t think it tops Mania. And I can’t deny it, I find Detective Pikachu Returns a charming game that is just a fun Pokémon story. It’s nothing worth writing home about for gameplay, but the story is a fun ride. As a couple honorable mentions.
Holy crap someone actually talked about gravity circuit finally i love gravity circuit and i am sad it did not take off like hollow knight or shovel knight to see someone finally aknowlig it makes me so happy😊
Though I will whole heartedly support Hi Fi Rush as no. 1, given your love for it's predecessor, I was surprised not to see Spider-Man 2 here. So Imma do some gushing of my own! Combining Miles and Peter's gameplay by having them both playable with updates, some really heartfelt side missions (Howard the Pigeon Man especially), and a story that combines probably the best and scariest version of Kraven the Hunter yet with a really unique take on Venom (that is IMO overhated WAY too much), all I'm convinced is Yuri Lowenthal should have won best performance at the Game Awards, or at least it should have won something, because DANG, Insomniac gave it their all here. Their backs are gonna hurt, carrying Sony and the PS5 like that with Miles Morales, Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, this game AND the upcoming Wolverine game...
Here are my favorite games of 2023 : 5) Sonic Superstars (8/10) 4) Super Mario Bros Wonder (8.5/10) 3) Pikmin 4 (9.5/10) 2) The Legend Of Zelda Tears of The Kingdom (10/10) 1) Marvel's Spiderman 2 (10/10)
My favorite game this year is either Dragon Quest Monsters the Dark Prince or Touhou Artificial Dream in Arcadia The latter I have yet to finish but gimme a break it's kinda long
My favorite games I played in 2023: *The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom *Resident Evil 4 Remake -The game that did the impossible. It improved upon near-perfectiom. Even Ashley no longer comes off as whiny or idiotic like she did in the original. *Hi-Fi Rush -Forspoken, sit your B&@$%< A$! down! This is how you do comedy in a video game! *Spider-Man 2 *No Straight Roads -The precursor to Hi-Fi Rush. *Dead Space Remake -No one asked for this, and very few (if not, no one) was expecting it to turn out as good as it ended up. It ended up being better than it had any right to be. *Mortal Kombat 1 *Street Fighter 6 *Splatoon 3 *Hogwarts Legacy *Star Wars Jedi: Survivor *Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope *Lies Of P -Clockpunk Pinocchio is the closest we're gonna get to a Bloodborne sequel. *Kirby's Epic Yarn *Twisted Metal Black -Got this one off the PS4 store and it is BRUTAL! Which reminds me... Hey, Sony! Look at me! Re-release ALL of your first party games as well as several 3rd party games dating as early back as the PS1 for purchase on modern hardware (NOT just restricting them to PS Plus emulation), you will make more money than a YEAR of ANY LIVE-SERVICE GAME REVENUE! Honorable Mentions: *Super Mario Bros Wonder -Had I not picked up Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, it would've gotten a spot. *Super Mario RPG Remake *Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty -Team Ninja's Sekiro-like is EASILY the hardest game of 2023. If you don't believe me, just TRY to beat the game's cruel first boss WITHOUT losing your sanity. *Mega Man Battle Network Series *Starfield -Cue Space Oddity.
Personally my 2 favorite games of 2023 are Turbo Overkill (one of the greatest single player fps games ever made and a great debut for the returning Apogee studios) and Ghostrunner 2 which took the already great and challenging first person parkour and hack and slash gameplay from the first game and massively improved upon it. And I recommend you give both of em a shot. Shame my GOTY wasn’t my most anticipated game (which was Spider-Man 2. It’s “original” take on Venom (my favorite marvel character) was just terrible and didn’t capture anything that made Venom as a character interesting and the final act was just a mess. I hope that rumored Venom spin off can salvage things and actually make him interesting (and also make the host Eddie Brock or Flash Thompson because I knew from the get go the “original host” they went with is just cliche’d and overall not a good choice))
UPDATE: Corn Kidz 64, Cavern of Dreams and Pizza Tower are all now available on Switch, Pseudoregalia's map update has been released, and Hi-Fi Rush is now available on PS5!
And announced today: Pizza Tower has shadow-dropped on Switch today!
Ah, the annual tradition of “Ben shows off games I’ve never heard of and gets me to buy them”.
Hi Fi Rush gives me vibes between Jet Set Radio & Scott Pilgrim
I absolutely love the game
Thank you for featuring our game En Garde! ❤⚔
You're welcome! And thank you for making it. ^^
YOU THE MAN!
Dude, hi-five rush doesn’t just feel like a game from the early 2000s. It feels like it time traveled straight from that era.
oh you haven't seen Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. that game is LITERALLY jet set radio 3
This video is longer than Dumbo, Disney Animation's shortest feature-length film (package films don't count).
Congratulations--you have officially released your first film.
Also, even though it was disappointing that you spoiled your #1 on the thumbnail, at least you made a light-hearted rib on how obvious it was just before the segment began.
4:31 "You can't beat me! I am Crash Bandicoot!"
That thumbnail looks beautiful!
43:46 TBF, the MMOs get more songs mostly because each expansion is effectively treated like its own game with its own unique musical identity so each one gets a track list of about the same size as the rest of the games here. That explains XIV's representation at least. Can't speak for XI.
Makes sense to me. The point was more in that XIV got noticeably more than XI despite both being multi-expansion MMOs, likely because of how big XIV currently is.
@@BenjaMage Looking it up looks like XI only had 3 major expansions while XIV's repped up to Shadowbringers which is technically expansion 4 if you count AAR as an expansion and not the default game (convoluted I know lol). So 5 vs 4 "games" effectively. Still disproportionate but it is what it is.
I will say THANK YOU for introducing me to gravity circuit i freaking LOVED it.
Apparently UA-cam thinks M&M's Kart Racing was an appropriate game to show in the description.
Joking aside, this was an amazing list you've compiled here, I could see myself dabbling into some of these indie titles in the near future.
Hi Fi Rush reminds me a lot of the Phantasy Star games where you have to time your attacks, its my favorite 2023 game alongside Armored Core 6
Also honorable mention to Library of Ruina, despite it not being a 2023 game i absolutely ADORE this beautiful art of a turn based game
54:19
I think this was a good idea as it makes the list more accurate to your opinions.
Glad I saw this list, hell i was sold on number 2 that I already bought it and almost completed it.
I guess it’s an unwritten rule to always show footage of someone high-fiving Luigi in Peach Gardens when talking about the Booster Course pass huh :P
Guess so!
19:02 XSEED is behind this, I bet this is a localization thing.
They still are farming on farming games after they pretty much lost almost other series they worked on while clinging on their previous work with barely any new ports for them (looking at you, Trails in the Sky Trilogy and most of the Ys games that are still stuck on PC).
0:39 and to think that from last month ALONE we've already seen two-thirds of that very value repeated
Main five 2023 games that stood out for me
Super Mario Wonder
The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog
SpongeBob SquarePants Cosmic Shake
Metroid Prime Remastered
Sonic Dream Team
2:02 Going through the list of games you haven’t played yet, here are some of my favorites:
Disney Illusion Island:
A cute Rayman Legends style platformer starring Mickey Mouse and friends.
Kirby’s Return To Dreamland Deluxe:
The first game in Kirby’s modern era given a fresh coat of paint. Plus getting to play as Magolor as he goes through his own redemption arc was very enjoyable.
Sonic Superstars:
Seeing Classic Sonic getting a new game with 3D visuals was such a treat. Plus the Lego DLC costumes were so cool.
WarioWare Move It:
Take WarioWare Smooth Moves and crank it up to eleven and you have this game.
As for the official entries on the list, Super Mario Bros Wonder is my favorite, hands down.
50:29
Thank you so much for including my comment!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!
Great video you made and I should really play Murder of Sonic & Hi-Fi Rush. :)
Myself since I gotten a PS5, I have played other games like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Sonic Frontiers & Superstars, Crash Team Rumble (guilty pleasure at times), the Shantae games, RWBY Arrowfell, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (my fav game of 2023). Did seen other media too.
I straight up have not heard about a lot of these games or just forgot about them. Probably should pay a little more attention to the smaller games that are coming out. Great video Ben! Also happy to help out with the multiplayer Mario Wonder footage!
Really neat Games of 2023 list, with some pretty expected games, and some games I hadn't heard of before. The transitions into each game were also really great to see as usual (and not gonna lie, the Pizza Tower one actually made me jump because I wasn't expecting Peppino's scream). Looking forward to what 2024 brings
The Theatrhythm games' artstyle always reminded me of Pikmin, specifically the blue Pikmin, those mouths are just Blue Pikmin mouths
I always look forward to your less popular picks for these! Almost nothing on my list of favorite games this year overlaps with yours, so to answer your question...yes you have given me quite a few new things to play!
I really enjoyed Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, I loved the art style and exploring the environments was a lot of fun
I knew this list was going to be good and the hour long length is worth and Benjamin as someone who grew up with the original mario RPG via the Wii virtual console you my man are Missing out because it is a Great little game.
Wow! That thumbnail is better than I could ever do! I’m excited for this behemoth of a video!
Can’t argue with that #1 choice. That’s my pic too. Other highlights for me last year were “Mario Wonder” and “Sea of Stars”.
So I had to watch this in multiple sittings, but I want to stress that that's not a criticism of the video length at all; nah nah, I thought the length was pretty optimal. Detailed enough to get in the highlights, but snappy enough to flow from segment to segment. 👌
Even with all the exclusions/absences, I'm amazed at how much variety you packed into this list! The honorable mentions at the start was a great inclusion, as well! Definitely keep it in mind going forward. And out of what was shown, I'd say that Pseudoregalia, Gravity Circuit, En Garde!, and Pizza Tower stuck out to me the most.
Mario Wonder was absolutely my favorite of the year. I'd honestly go as far as to say it's my favorite 2D Mario game. On top of everything you mentioned in your video, another thing I love about Wonder is that compared to other 2D Marios, even Mario World, Wonder does a great job making every level feel really distinct from each other. Aside from levels that are designed to be a continuation of another level, none of them ever feel same-y or bleed into one another.
And even though I never got to play them myself, I can absolutely see myself enjoying HiFi Rush, Pizza Tower, or the Mario RPG remake.
Oh, and if we're gonna include "DLC for an older game that was released this year" like with the Booster Course Pass, then I have to give a shout out to the Dimensional Shellshock DLC for TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. It took what was already my favorite beat-em-up and made it even better
My 2023 GOTY would be Robocop Rouge City. I played it 5 times already and it never got old. It got me to watch the first two Robocop movies. They are some of my favorite movies I've have ever seen. Everything about that game is amazing. NG+ just arrived for that game too. I recommend buying that game.
I haven't played Hi-Fi Rush because my laptop is kinda old but I really want to play it. However I played Gravity circuit when it came out and it is easily one of my favorite games from last year, it's so fun, the gameplay is so dynamic and the soundtrack is amazing.
I had a blast with Pizza Tower. I really need to get back and complete that game.
Bought En Garde after watching this video and am loving it. Thanks for introducing it to me.
Octopath Traveler 2 was easily my GotY of 2023. An incredible RPG and an improvement from the first game in literally every way. Even better combat and graphics, better characters, better stories, fun new mechanics, and an actual endgame? Arguably one of the best RPGs ever and with an 80+ hour campaign you'll never get tired of!
I think the thing I loved most about the endgame- *remembers THAT part during final boss* SECOND most- *remembers the OTHER part* ...third most about the endgame is that the challenge still remains even if you're significantly overleveled. I would know cause I grinded to level 90 for the superboss (did b4 endgame) and the final boss still put up a decent fight.
I still can recall the sense of dread when I discovered the superboss area. It was a slow decline from "cool a new area" to "hey wasnt this item in the previous game" to "...I dont like the look of those big doors" to entering with a "oh god please no" then seeing THAT prompt with a "nonononono" and finally confirming my worst fears with one simple *"FUCK."*
Octopath Traveler II was SO close to being my GOTY of 2023, then I finished Trails to Azure in December. Yes I'm counting it, as 2023 was the first time Trails to Azure released in English
thanks for playing Cavern of Dreams : )
You're very welcome! And thank you for making it. ^^
The hints in the thumbnail! AAAAA I LOVE IT
Those games felt like a lifetime ago
Ngl I thought those games were all the way back in 2022
My highlight when it came to RPGs? Star Ocean The Second Story R. A fantastic remake that not only brings in expected quality of life changes, but also makes the gameplay easier to handle and breaks the tedium the OG versions make. Also, the game as a whole can be made even MORE broken and I love it that way.
Most of the games here that I didn’t already play and love myself are now on my list of games to buy sometime, especially the indies. My personal game of the year was Pizza Tower, I couldn’t ever have imagined that the game I got hooked on at SAGE 2019 would’ve exploded in popularity when it came out. Also Mario Wonder, what a game. I really loved Super Mario Land 2 with the wild and weird themes and enemies and having a Mario game that felt so unique in tone again immediately drew me to the game.
This video is amazing! I can tell you poured your heart and soul into this just as much as the developers did with the video games on this list.
Funny thing about the Harvest Moon/Story of Season franchise, it's what inspired Concerned Ape to create Stardew Valley in the first place because he's an HM fan lol.
Most games I play nowadays are from Indie companies too and that's mostly because I am of limited means, plus I find Indie games seem to put more heart into their games now, like you know they not only care about their product, but about gaming in general.
2023 ended up being a year where I had so many games I wanted to play, and I still have a backlog lol. My fav game that I played last year, oooff, that's hard. Honestly despite on how short the game is (like it only took me 4.5 hours to complete lol), it would be the indie Visual Novel, Date with Death. It's romance based where the Grim Reaper (who's totally hot) wants your soul and you end up making a bet with him to keep it. For like 3 or 4 days I was obsessed with it. But yeah it's the shortest game I've played. A very close 2nd would be Coral Island, but the full game isn't out (despite coming out of early access last year), so it wouldn't be fair to rank it number 1. It's a farming sim that's set on an island and has very similar mechanics to Stardew Valley (only with 3d animation) and it includes diving because you're trying to save the local coral reef too hehe.
I also played some demos this year. Fav demo for sure is another visual novel indie game with romance in it called Our Life: Now and Forever. It's the 2nd game in the Our Life franchise and the first game I got to play last year (even though it fully came out in 2021), it ended up being my fav game I played in 2022. Main game is free and any DLC though is very affordable. Basic concept of both games is that you create your own MC and grow up with your next door neighbor (or in the sequel's case, neighbors) and you have the choice to fall in love with said neighbor. First game you have Cove, who's the primary LI, but in later DLC two more LIs were added, Derek and Baxter. In Now and Forever, you start off with two LIs, one male and one female. And when I say you do grow up with these chars, you actually do lol. VN is split up into 4 steps, each covering a critical part of your life. Step 1 is as a kid, Step 2 is adolescence (think early teen), Step 3 is young adult (right after HS), and Step 4 is the epilogue when you are an adult (think mid-20s). With the exception of Step 4, Steps 1-3 can have up 10 moments (5 are DLC) each. But yeah I love this franchise and I can't wait for more of the demo to be added on. The game developer, Patch Games, is going to expand the demo a bit. This past fall they did a kickstarter and it was so successful they added extra stretch goals. Like this game is going to be even more customizable than the last one. I don't think the full game will come out this year, but it's easily one of my most anticipated games, along with KH4 lol.
Anyway loved your video Ben! I had so much fun watching it, it didn't feel like an hour-long video lol.
This has actually made me be interested in playing some of these games. Especially En Garde and Gravity Circuit
Edit: I might just play Cavern of Dreams just because I share the same name as the main character.
Hard to say of the games I myself played that came out in 2023 is my favorite, but its hard for me to pick anything other than Octopath Traveler 2. I will always be a turn based rpg fanatic. Pseudoregalia would've deffo made top 3 tho if I actually played it last year!
I adopted a new motto:
Mobilize
Organize
Unionize!
No industry needs to do that more than video games.
I'm gonna be honest who didn't expect hifi rush to be number one?
Oof, Ben’s been telling me how much of a big ‘un this was. Now we get to see his 1-hour special, enjoy!
Amazing work on this, Ben! I’m amazed how many games came out last year, and I’m honestly amazed that there were so many that you could still make a top 15 even without playing a lot of the heavy hitters. For me personally, some of my favorites were Mario Wonder, Tears of the Kingdom, Kirby’s Return Deluxe (if that counts), etc, and quite unsurprisingly, we have the same top favorite. Again, I thank you for giving me the motivation to get around to playing Hi-Fi. Also I admittedly didn’t start playing Pizza Tower and Cocoon until this year, but I love those ones, too. Hopefully 2024 can measure up to last year, if not in games, then at least the treatment of the industry.
I'm considering getting Gravity Circuit after what you said!
...goddamn I cannot believe half of that list was apart of my top 5.
...that's ABSURD
22:57 i feel like the reason you wanted more was because it shares a surprising amount of rare's n64 blood. I get a lot of banjo tooie's humor, conker's bad furr day special effects, the moveset and overworld like level is literally dk isle, the idea of wanting more to do is most likely due to the fact rare had a big problem _restraining_ themselves
My sleeper hit for 2023 was Make Way. It's a party racing game in the sense of it's Ultimate Chicken Horse meets a top down racer. The players select track pieces, item boxes, or hazards and build up the course over time granting points to players that make it to each checkpoint.. It's got a charming art style and some of the later unlocked pieces are creative. From standard turns and U bends to narrow bridges, spirals, and loop de loops. You can even set four lanes of highway traffic as a part. It's $15 or your regional equivalent on all major platforms supporting both split screen and cross play online multiplayer (although limted to four people for both. Weird because all starts show up to 8 starting locations but hey it runs well on even its Switch port).
My favorite games of this year were TOTK, Pizza Tower, Mario Wonder, and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. I actually got a physical copy of BRC last night! This was really fun to watch
While I just finished it this year, Cassette Beasts has my heart.
I gonna say it,Dominic Ninmark is the composer of Megaman X Corrupted (the best future Megaman fangame)
I love the thumbnail man, it's probably a dumb thing to focus on but that's kind of the essence of my being
I didn’t play many games that came out in 2023, but I did play the Little Nightmares duology, and holy shit has the internet been sleeping on this series. Not only is the gameplay really fun and satisfying, but the art design is impeccable, the music is simultaneously memorable, eerie, beautiful, and frightening, there are legitimately good scares, and visual storytelling so immersive and compelling that it puts most modern horror games to shame (looking at you FNaF). I can’t recommend them enough.
It does hurt a bit that Silent Hope wasn't represented here.
It feels like the perfect rougelite beginner game from what I've played.
I didn't play many new games this year so my favourite new game of 2023 for me was definitely Pizza Tower.
My favourite game not released in 2023 that I first played in 2023, however? Easily ultrakill. Might be the best game I've ever played, period.
I was so happy to see Gravity Circuit so high on the list. I need to get back into it just so I can play the post launch content. It's really hard for me to choose a specific game I considered my favorite of the year, but I know a few I can think of are: Gravity Circuit, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (definitely recommend giving that one a go), Metroid Prime Remastered, Mario Wonder, and Persona 5 Royal. The last one being a very last minute edition as I got it a week before New Years and loved it that much.
37:39 Okay, I guess Touhou Spell Bubble doesn't exist since it came out before Vacation Odyssey, but I can understand why you didn't count that. With that in mind, you REALLY should play Touhou Spell Bubble, cause it's really fun. It's a combination of Puzzle Bobble/Bust a Move and a rhythm game, and it's great.
Literally only problem with it is how much the DLC costs, which is the same problem I have with Groove Coaster and some other rhythm games (mainly GC here cause they're both made by Taito and they follow similar pricing on their packs).
Amazing list! Super Mario Bros Wonder, Pizza Tower, Gravity Circuit and Hi Fi Rush were all amazing 11/10 masterpieces to come out in 2023!!!!!!!! Nice list Benjamin!!!!!!!
Honestly happy to see Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog on this list. One of my favourite things the series has done in recent history. I would love for them to make more of these kind of casual scenarios for the cast
Ayyy, great vid as always!
Woo were back
I doubt it will be on this type of list but I really should make a 3D platformer I have ideas I just need to make a character and basics so i can have fun making levels
I haven't played this game myself but Touhou Spell Bubble is a spin off of Puzzle Bobble and Touhou. It apparently has rhythm elements and is supposedly pretty good.
R.I.P Tango Gameworks
50:30 YO THAT IS ME ONLY THE TOP LEFT CORNER!!!!!!!!😱
i had never heard of you before but the recommend came in cluch today and i gottaa say good job keep up the good work
Very unique list as usual and a breath of fresh air to be honest! Do you have plans to play ANY of the most popular games of the last year (like ff16, baldurs gate, zelda etc.) ? Would love to hear your opinions
Honestly in terms of favorite games I played in 2023 I'd say it's a tie between Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 Turbocharged and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. To get the easy one out of the way first, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is just a perfect game if you just want to vibe and mess around in the setting it's in helped by its amazing OST. High recommendation if you enjoy the Jet Set Radio style of game.
Now for Unleashed 2, as a fan of both video games and the Hot Wheels brand the duology of Unleashed 1 and 2 are a blessing considering after the mess that was World's Best Driver and the mobile game dark age it was so good that those two games released especially for the Racing Game Genre where personally most AAA racers mainly Forza and Need For Speed have kinda felt bland recently more towards Forza Horizon and the latest Motorsport entry, despite never playing either and only got my taste of Open World racing via Burnout Paradise Remastered a while back, cause I've grown tired of the open world racing style and miss the arcade style that HWU1 and 2 have. Hell HWU2 has a better base Roster of cars than the first, mainly with more 2000s Era diecasts I grew up with. Not to mention getting rid of needlessly abundant Character Cars Unleashed 1 was swarmed with post launch which nearly made up half the final roster of cars.
I haven’t played much. But Octopath Traveler II is easily my favorite of 2023!! The graphics and soundtrack have been retained and are made better, the characters’ interactions are miles better, the writing is much smarter, the stories are still excellent and the villains and bosses still retain their charm and impacts towards the travelers. And what about that endgame? It is somehow awesome and the final boss is just truly amazing! Now I know you didn’t play it. But I might look forward to you reviewing it if you play it.
808 in the thumbnail!? Hi-Fi RUSH is definetly here.
Omg I love the thumbnail art
That honorable mentions section is honestly great.
I finally played all three of the "N64-inspired platformers" and I have to say Pseudoregalia was by far my favourite.
It's kinda funny, I did end up buying quite a few games that were released in 2023, but I never got around to playing most of them. Though from what I have played I'd definitely say Pseudoregalia was my favorite, at least looking at 2023 games.
If anything this year really got me into a lot of great games that came out in earlier years, like Hollow Knight, Ori and the Blind Forest, and ESPECIALLY OneShot. Maybe this year I'll actually get to a lot of these 2023 releases, especially stuff like Pizza Tower and Hi-Fi Rush, been meaning to play those for a bit now.
Definitely, HiFiRush deserves the top spot I've played it and it works extremely well
My winner has to be Baldur's Gate 3. Not just because I fell in love with it, which I did, but because my step father fell in love with it. He's only ever been into action games until now.
And yet BG3 is the only thing he's played since he got it for Christmas. We also got him a VR headset with the Horizon game he's been dying to play, but no. The dice call to him.
First off, I saw number 1 coming from a mile away.
Secondly, the only thing I played that came out last year was Future Redeemed. At least that was darn good.
finally one of these that actually puts HFR at the top.
50:28 Look Ma! I'm in a Benjamage video!
Personally, the highlights for me out of the games I've finished (including games that got released in Japan years ago, but didn't release in English until 2023) were:
Octopath Traveler II
Trails to Azure
Mario Wonder
(70-80% of the games I played weren't even released in 2023 (90% of the games I finished in 2023 were Trails games, and none of the Trails games I've played were released in 2023 (I played and finished Sky FC in 2022, and I played and finished the rest of Sky, the Crossbell duology, and the first Cold Steel in 2023. I started CS2 in 2023, but didn't finish it until a couple days after New Year's)))
Gravity Circuit is genuinely more fun than a solid majority of actual Mega Man games.
It’s THAT good.
Lots of love to the April fools sonic the murder mystery game! You love to see it!
Pikmin 4 was easily my game of the year- I had so much fun playing it that I replayed it three times in short succession after getting it for my birthday. It just has so much to do, so many solid QoL improvements, and feels great to see how fast you can clear it.
Otherwise- I’m a big fan of Mario and Kirby, so Mario Wonder and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe were both a great new experience and a wonderful revisit to a game I played that made me fall back in love with the game all over again. I won’t deny, the hype cycle made Wonder not quite live up to my expectations (and I feel it got honeymoon phased hard by fans) but I can’t deny the game’s quality. The gameplay had an amazing flow, it looks beautiful, and it has a ton of fun level concepts and Wonder effects.
I’ll freely admit, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land lost its luster for me for some time- not that I thought it was bad or that the later games invalidated it or anything. It just didn’t hold up quite as strong in my mind. But replaying it, hot diggity dang, the game was a joy to play. The updated visuals certainly help from a game that, while it also aged fine in graphics, definitely DID feel inferior to newer stuff. And just in general, I forgot just how fun Return to Dream Land was. And the Magolor side mode is incredibly fun to play, an excellent addition on par with Bowser’s Fury.
Sonic Superstars is a solid classic Sonic experience, even if I don’t think it tops Mania. And I can’t deny it, I find Detective Pikachu Returns a charming game that is just a fun Pokémon story. It’s nothing worth writing home about for gameplay, but the story is a fun ride. As a couple honorable mentions.
Holy crap someone actually talked about gravity circuit finally i love gravity circuit and i am sad it did not take off like hollow knight or shovel knight to see someone finally aknowlig it makes me so happy😊
It’s on my list of things to get after I can finish off some of my backlog, it looks incredibly fun.
Though I will whole heartedly support Hi Fi Rush as no. 1, given your love for it's predecessor, I was surprised not to see Spider-Man 2 here.
So Imma do some gushing of my own!
Combining Miles and Peter's gameplay by having them both playable with updates, some really heartfelt side missions (Howard the Pigeon Man especially), and a story that combines probably the best and scariest version of Kraven the Hunter yet with a really unique take on Venom (that is IMO overhated WAY too much), all I'm convinced is Yuri Lowenthal should have won best performance at the Game Awards, or at least it should have won something, because DANG, Insomniac gave it their all here.
Their backs are gonna hurt, carrying Sony and the PS5 like that with Miles Morales, Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, this game AND the upcoming Wolverine game...
16:53 in other word, THROW OUT RULE BOOK
You might say Diddy Kong is back... And about time too.
I bought Gravity Rush on sale last month. As terrible as I am at Mega Man style games, I had a blast with it.
Gravity Circuit looks so fun!
Did playing "a majority of the Puzzle Bobble games" include the Touhou and Azumanga Daioh ones? lol.
Here are my favorite games of 2023 :
5) Sonic Superstars (8/10)
4) Super Mario Bros Wonder (8.5/10)
3) Pikmin 4 (9.5/10)
2) The Legend Of Zelda Tears of The Kingdom (10/10)
1) Marvel's Spiderman 2 (10/10)
Congratulations on the first video to break 1 hour
My favorite game this year is either Dragon Quest Monsters the Dark Prince or Touhou Artificial Dream in Arcadia
The latter I have yet to finish but gimme a break it's kinda long
Honestly my favorite game I played in 2023 for the first time is deffinitely DMC 5.
My favorite games I played in 2023:
*The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
*Resident Evil 4 Remake
-The game that did the impossible. It improved upon near-perfectiom. Even Ashley no longer comes off as whiny or idiotic like she did in the original.
*Hi-Fi Rush
-Forspoken, sit your B&@$%< A$! down! This is how you do comedy in a video game!
*Spider-Man 2
*No Straight Roads
-The precursor to Hi-Fi Rush.
*Dead Space Remake
-No one asked for this, and very few (if not, no one) was expecting it to turn out as good as it ended up. It ended up being better than it had any right to be.
*Mortal Kombat 1
*Street Fighter 6
*Splatoon 3
*Hogwarts Legacy
*Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
*Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
*Lies Of P
-Clockpunk Pinocchio is the closest we're gonna get to a Bloodborne sequel.
*Kirby's Epic Yarn
*Twisted Metal Black
-Got this one off the PS4 store and it is BRUTAL! Which reminds me...
Hey, Sony! Look at me! Re-release ALL of your first party games as well as several 3rd party games dating as early back as the PS1 for purchase on modern hardware (NOT just restricting them to PS Plus emulation), you will make more money than a YEAR of ANY LIVE-SERVICE GAME REVENUE!
Honorable Mentions:
*Super Mario Bros Wonder
-Had I not picked up Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, it would've gotten a spot.
*Super Mario RPG Remake
*Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
-Team Ninja's Sekiro-like is EASILY the hardest game of 2023. If you don't believe me, just TRY to beat the game's cruel first boss WITHOUT losing your sanity.
*Mega Man Battle Network Series
*Starfield
-Cue Space Oddity.
Personally my 2 favorite games of 2023 are Turbo Overkill (one of the greatest single player fps games ever made and a great debut for the returning Apogee studios) and Ghostrunner 2 which took the already great and challenging first person parkour and hack and slash gameplay from the first game and massively improved upon it. And I recommend you give both of em a shot.
Shame my GOTY wasn’t my most anticipated game (which was Spider-Man 2. It’s “original” take on Venom (my favorite marvel character) was just terrible and didn’t capture anything that made Venom as a character interesting and the final act was just a mess. I hope that rumored Venom spin off can salvage things and actually make him interesting (and also make the host Eddie Brock or Flash Thompson because I knew from the get go the “original host” they went with is just cliche’d and overall not a good choice))