i saw this trend a couple of years back about going through games released from every year since the year you were born and picking one from each year that you consider your favorite.

originally when i wrote this note in my phone, I got so far as 2004 and then got too lazy to keep looking up games, so I think instead of going through every single year, maybe let's try this:

feel free to pick some honorable mentions as well!

here's mine from 1994 - 2004:

1994 - donkey kong country 1995 - donkey kong country 2 1996 - pokemon blue 1997 - final fantasy 7 1997 (honorable mention) - Jersey Devil for PS1 1998 - ocarina of time 1999 - pokemon snap 1999 (honorable mentions) - super smash bros. and yugioh: forbidden memories 2000 - pokemon puzzle league 2001 - halo 2002 - kingdom hearts 2003 - socom 2 2004 - cave story or kingdom hearts chain of memories

2004 - GTA SA 2005 - Battlefield 2 2006 - Bully 2007 - Team Fortress 2 2008 - GTA 4 and Fallout 3 2009 - Madden 10 2010 - Civ 5 and Mafia 2 2011 - Deus Ex Human Revolution 2012 - Trials Evolutoin 2013 - GTA 5, Bioshock Infinite, Last of Us 2014 - Watch Dogs 2015 - Fallout 4 2016 - Hearts of Iron 4 2017 - None 2018 - Red Dead Redemption 2 2019 - Tropico 6 2020 - Don't have one 2021 - Hitman 3 2022 - None 2023 - None

Honorable mention: Earthbound (before my time)

Note that I have played all of these games to various extents.

For some years picking just one is too hard. If you'd put a gun to my head though, I would say the first one I list for the years where I listed two or more.

Some games I've played at a top 1% level (or got to top 1% in the leaderboards). Those are listed with 'Competitive'. I'd like to note that I've played those games for many years.

1999 - Pokémon Blue 2000 2001 - Luigi's Mansion / Pikmin 2002 - Super Mario Sunshine 2003 - Mario Kart: Double Dash / The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker 2004 - Super Mario 64 DS 2005 - Mario Kart DS 2006 - LocoRoco 2007 - Super Mario Galaxy 2008 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl 2009 - New Super Mario Bros. Wii 2010 - Super Meat Boy / Pokémon SoulSilver 2011 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Competitive) 2012 - Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (Competitive) / Journey 2013 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 2014 - Mario Kart 8 (Competitive) / Shovel Knight / Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze 2015 - Undertale / Nuclear Throne / Rocket League 2016 - Overwatch (Competitive) / Hyper Light Drifter 2017 - Cuphead / Fortnite (Competitive) 2018 - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Competitive) / Celeste 2019 - A Short Hike 2020 - Hades 2021 2022 2023 - Pikmin 4

And there are way more fantastic games that hopefully get shine on someone else's list (like Minecraft, Ratchet and Clank and Rayman, to just name a few).

I've spent WAY too much hours playing video games throughout my life, however I won't change it per sé if I could go back in time. I've had great times, I've learned how to improve my skills to become great at something, I've consumed amazing pieces of art. For now though, I need to spent my time elsewhere. Many great (indie) games have come out and I have a huge list of games to play for when I've got more time again for games.