Oh wait! I know it I think.

Mario Kart 8.

Correct on both.

#5

(-2)

Taking a small drop out of my top 3 this year, the Beginner's Guide is still one of the most unique and memorable gaming experiences I've ever had. A glorified walking simulator that takes you through a fictional game developer's unfinished projects that unfolds into a fascinating story and message about how we handle expectations in those we look up to. It's a story that can only be told through this medium and I think that is wonderful, something I want more devs to explore and expand. Please check this one out even if you haven't, it's well worth the $10 on steam

You got the franchise right, and the games too.

That's it!

Quick question before I finish my list.  How is Link's Awakening being handled?  Is the Switch version being included with the Gameboy and Gameboy Color versions?

Yeah, they're both being considered the same game. It's pretty weird I know, but this is one of those where no one lists both versions on the same list, so keeping them separate would just mean each version would be eating each other's votes.

Alright, let's get to the top 10. Probably gonna be a few days into the new year before I finish this list up. 

10. Red Dead Redemption

I know that many, perhaps most, would have RDR2 ahead of this. Personally, I just can't get there. 2 certainly has a top tier story, performances, and the world is beautifully realized down to every minute detail. But the thing is, RDR1 isn't exactly a slouch in these departments either, it's damn fucking excellent, in fact. And where RDR2 often feels tedious to play, due to some overbearing systems, and poor pacing, RDR1 was just a fun to play all the way through. And come on, that ending...legendary.

9. Legend of Dragoon

One of the first JRPGs I ever played, and my favorite PS game to this day. I generally replay it once per year. Some of it is a bit basic. Color coded characters. Obvious writing tropes for certain characters. Hell, even the names of a lot of enemies are hilariously uncreative. That said, none of it hampers my love for this game. I love the world, the story, the characters, the lore, and I love the addition combat system. The fact that this IP remains utterly untapped by Sony, is a crying shame.

8. Jade Empire

Speaking of untapped IP...Jade Empire. Another game largely forgotten in time. Released in a golden era of RPGs, and Bioware's own personal prime, this game could have made for every bit as good a franchise as the later released Mass Effect, and Dragon Age games. It's got all the hallmarks you expect from them, so if you ever played a great Bioware game, you know pretty much what to expect. I cannot understate enough, however, that just because this game was quickly overshadowed by Bioware's greatest games ever, doesn't mean that this game isn't fucking amazing. Because it is. Play this game!

7. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

My personal favorite ES game. There are arguments to be made for why Morrowind before it, or Skyrim after it, might in fact be the superior games. Skyrim is certainly more enjoyable to play on a minute by minute basis. Morrowind is in many ways a deeper RPG. Oblivion however, sits at a cross between them. More fun to play than Morrowind, deeper than Skyrim, and imo the best writing and quest design that Bethesda has put forth in any of these games. The perfect blend. It also didn't hurt, of course, that this was my first Xbox 360 games, and that was a pretty damn memorable way to start a generation. The Thieves guild and Black Hand questlines in particular will always stick with me. 

6. Elden Ring

Undoubtedly, the most impressive game FromSoft has made to date. Leading up the release of this game, I very much was expecting "just" open world Dark Souls, and while that is in many ways exactly what it turned out to be, I never imagined it would be executed to such masterful effect. Even in the opening hours of Elden Ring, I was still unconvinced that this game would live up to all the pre-release hype. But the game just never stopped the surprising and delighting me, the deeper I got. The world design in wonderful, and it's got one of the best maps (and utilization of said map) that I've ever seen in a game. Of course, it's excellent in all the ways that FromSoft games are usually excellent, but it's really scale that sets this game apart. I think I lost track at the amount of times I gasped at the scale of this game during my initial playthrough. And not in the "oh god...there's more..." way, that many games induce these days.

Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

Probably the most universally loved game there is, at least as far as I can see - Nintendo fans and non-Nintendo fans, gamers and non-gamers, man and women, children and adults, even people who usually stick to multiplayer or competitive games, just about everyone loves Breath of the Wild. It's no wonder it takes first place at the final results of this event every year.

This year I watched a first playthrough of every 3D Zelda game, and this was one I watched in person, with a friend who isn't always into open-world games. It took him a while to get into it, which is surprising to me because I find the game's opening to be one of its best parts, but inevitably, he ended up adoring it. For me, this game lost a lot of its shine over the years - it's just not the same when you've already seen mostly everything there is to see - so to watch someone's first time experience made me remember just how special it was back when I had no idea what to expect or see at the backside of each hill I climbed. Exploring Hyrule for the first time is absolutely magical, I think that's mostly unanymous, it's why everyone loved their time with this.

Breath of the Wild doesn't come without its flaws. For me, the biggest one is how the reward for exploration is always either a shrine or a korok - after a while, it takes away from the excitement a bit, when you see something interesting only to realize you already know what it's gonna be. But the mechanics and physics are so deep, it remains fun no matter what. And knowing that getting those right likely took a large chunk of the game's development time, on what was Nintendo's very first attempt at an open-world, bodes very well for the sequel. It's crazy how Breath of the Wild's sequel has had the lengthiest development cycle of any Zelda game so far, because it's felt nowhere near as long as some of the breaks between previous games - the reason likely being that, even all these years on, Breath of the Wild continues to impress and surprise all of us.

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A well-crafted world, significantly improves on the previous ones. It feels like an adventure in a fantastic wide world full of history, details and references within its own universe which further enriches the main story.

I must highlight its essence of discovering places like no other game, and its music that accompanies us through them.

The most notable psychological horror game to date, its use of symbology is brilliant, you really need to pay attention.
Its story that involves the use of settings, mechanics, rhythm and cinematics leads us to a revealing ending.