Video Game Blog 054: The 2025 Video Game Year in Review

2025 is over and you all know what that means… time to recap the games I played in the past year and check the progress I made on my 2025 Game List! This is always a fun post where I get to remind myself of the good times I’ve had over the past year taking breaks from my busy life to indulge in some gaming.

You may notice the Animal Crossing screenshot I’ve been using as the thumbnail for the last few years isn’t on this one… I actually missed the ball drop this time around. Oops.

Bowser is such a drama queen. (Credit: Nintendo)

Most of the games on the list were ones from previous year’s lists. This was primarily a house-keeping year for my playing. I needed to get these games done and cleared from my list and my mind. I started off the year focused, wrapping up games I was close to finishing: The next to last Criminal Case game, New Pokémon Snap, Little Kitty, Big City, and several puzzle games, which I’ll talk about later. Then I pivoted to Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Ugh. This level traumatized me. (Credit: Nintendo)

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I used to be a completionist when it came to games. I did get all the stars and shine sprites on Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine respectively. With the first Galaxy, I got most of them but didn’t finish. This one I threw in the towel a lot earlier. Mostly because of Luigi’s Purple Coin Chaos. That one was horrible. It took me way too long. I finally won the level, but once I was done with it, I was pretty much over the entire game.

And then there were some of the Prankster Comet challenges that were just stupid. Going through an entire pain in the ass boss level with one hit point. Going through a slow Chain Chomp escort mission with shadow clones milling around. Ridiculous.

So, yeah, after that mess I decided I would not be getting every star. Some of them were just too frustrating. I knew I could do it, but I didn’t feel the need to invest the time in it. I’m not ashamed to say I gave up. I ended up with over 100 stars and won the game, so I consider this game crossed off my list.

Majestic. (Credit: Game Freak, Nintendo)

As usual I played some Pokémon games. I worked on Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time off and on. Early in the year I played through New Pokémon Snap. I talked about that one in a dedicated post, so I’ll just touch on it here. I have not logged every star rank of every Pokémon yet. This is one of those games I will go back to here and there over the years until I get 100%.

I’m mature. (Credit: Game Freak, Nintendo)

For a long time I was hooked on Pokémon Legends: Arceus. I didn’t end up finishing the story yet, because I got distracted by the Pokédex. This game has a robust Pokédex where you don’t just catch the Pokémon to register them, you have to complete multiple objectives that range from catching a specific number of them to seeing them use certain moves a certain number of times and many more. I got a little too into this and neglected the story and then got distracted by other games, as is my way. Next year I plan to get back to it and complete the story at least. Just like Snap, I’ll come back until I have the Pokédex completed. So this was one of the games I did not complete.

There’s a couple more Pokémon games to talk about but those will come later in the post.

More than anything, this was the year of the puzzle for me. I played through several puzzle games by Jupiter and Score Studios. I was actually lucky enough to be selected as a beta tester on Score’s latest game, Piczle World of Puzzles! That was a first for me, and it was a fun and fulfilling experience.

Once Piczle Rune Factory was released, I played every day until I managed to finish it. There were a lot of puzzles. I talked about this one in another post, so I’ll be brief here.

I managed to get 200% completion in just a few months. I figured I’d be working on this game for a couple years. I still don’t know how I did it.

I played several Jupiter games as well. They just keep coming out! I’ve mostly been focusing on the side games before I get back to the Picross S series and the massive Picross S+. I managed to finish five Picross games over the course of the year. (Although a couple of them were mostly done from last year.)

Check out my fancy Beta Tester sticker! (Credit: Score Studios)

I play some nonogram puzzles every day… especially now with Piczle World of Puzzles, since there is a daily puzzle on there, lots of free puzzles, and several cheap DLC packs. It’s just going to keep getting bigger. You can even make your own puzzles and upload them. I highly recommend it… it’s in early release now on Steam.

Okay, enough puzzle talk. Let’s shift our attention to RPGs. As you may know, I’ve been working my way through the Final Fantasy series in numerical order, replaying the games I’ve finished to get to the ones I haven’t played yet. This year I wrapped up Final Fantasy IX, which I had started last year. I may not have done absolutely everything in that game— for instance I barely played the card minigame— but I managed to get through the Chocobo treasure hunting minigame, got the Ultima weapon, and finished the game.

The one I’m most proud of crossing off my list is one that’s been nagging at me for years… Dragon Quest V.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I have been trying to win this game for ages. A couple of times I lost my save file, multiple times I got distracted… but finally this year I buckled down and won. That was a satisfying experience. I won’t be rushing off to play Dragon Quest VI for a while, but I can finally call V done.

I also finally got around to Shadows Over Loathing. I know I did a post about the first game in that series, but I didn’t really feel the urge to do a post about the second one. While I did enjoy this game, it didn’t grab me quite the way the first game did. If you recall, I played that one three times in a row to try all the classes and paths through the game. This one I played through once slowly, and had no pressing urge to start a second playthrough. I’m sure I will in the future, if for nothing else, than to try the other classes. But I’m in no hurry… I couldn’t even tell you why. It’s a solid game. Entertaining, funny, and engaging. At times, challenging. There were solid ideas and it was very much in the spirit of the first game. But it, for some reason, did not hold my attention the same way.

Running towards adventure! (Credit: Square Enix)

Speaking of RPGs, we’re now on the distraction section of the post. This is where I talk about the games that took my attention away from my list. The biggest one this year, by far, was Final Fantasy XIV. If you recall, I bought that game two years ago and then didn’t get around to playing it much. Well, this year I pulled the trigger on a six month sub and got really into it. (With a friend’s help and encouragement.)

My friend (pictured above along with my bunny-guy) gave me a ton of advice and gifts on the game… including the materials so I could dye my chocobo pink. (Which was an absolute priority for me. Mister Chirps HAD to be pink.) She also took me through the Coils of Bahamut dungeons so I could see that part of the story. I tried to space out my playing and only intended on doing the six months for now, coming back to it when I have more time… but then the auto renewal notice got routed to my spam folder, so I paid for another six months. Oh well.

All told, I ended up playing through the base game, the first expansion, and half of the second expansion. All in less than a year! I’m pretty proud of my progress and I’ve really been enjoying the game. I plan to finish the second expansion and maybe the Ixali society quests before I take an extended break from the game. Once I have my Steam Deck (soon…) I plan to rush through Final Fantasy XI, but not until I have the time to devote to it.

I saw this screen soooo many times. (Credit: Lego, TT Games)

Early in the year I got slightly off track from my list when I took a Lego side quest. See, I got Cocoashade Lego Horizon Adventures for Christmas last year and watching her play that got me seriously nostalgic for Lego games. So I played through Lego the Movie the Video Game and replayed Lego Star Wars III. Thankfully these were short diversions and fun.

Not quite so when I decided to play through Lego the Movie 2. The first game was classic Lego fun. The second game was experimental and a bit more time-intensive and clunky. I had fun with it too, don’t get me wrong, but it had a lot of grating flaws. Interminable load times, slow relic opening, annoying camera shenanigans, glitches, software crashes, clunky mechanics— especially in Super Build Mode. It had some good ideas and was very expansive, but ultimately the flaws outweighed the good in this one. The story ended abruptly and felt lazy… like they yadda-yadda’d the end. I won’t give spoilers, but you get to the end of a long obstacle course which feels like the set up for a huge final boss battle but then nothing. Several minutes of cut scenes and exposition and roll ending credits. Weak. I’m glad I played it (and the DLC was solid), but it was the worst of all the Lego games I’ve played so far. I’m glad I got it out of the way.

Not all my distractions were lengthy. On a whim I pulled up Kuukiyomi, a little game I’d bought years ago on the Switch. This is a series of minigames where the goal is to be considerate to others. It’s really quick and is quirky. I really had fun with this one and plan to play the entire series.

Some of my distractions came in the form of my Switch 2. I played a lot of Mario Kart World and some Donkey Kong Bananza, but mostly I didn’t get too distracted by my new system yet. Although I do play on it daily— it’s almost fully replaced my old Switch. Although I still have the Kuukiyomi games and Smash Ultimate on there. I’m worried Smash will wear out my controller. I’m seriously thinking about moving everything else over, though, so I can make room for my Steam Deck.

Me and Wally Gator. (Credit: Game Freak, Nintendo)

One of my latest distractions is actually a game that’s on my list for next year, so I don’t feel too bad for focusing on it. That game is, of course, Pokémon Legends: Z-A. I preordered both the game and the DLC and started playing on release day.

This bun is mad. (Credit: Game Freak, Nintendo)

This game is awesome. You would think a game that takes place entirely within the confines of a city would get boring, but I have not gotten bored yet. There are so many side quests, Pokémon, Mega Pokémon, and story quests that there’s always something to do. I even played the online tournament long enough to win some exclusive Mega Stones. I hate online play (even with FF14 I only jump in a squad if the game gives me no choice) but at least in this game the battles are quick and the goals easily attainable.

Look at me go! (Credit: Game Freak, Nintendo)

I’ve already made it through the story and I'm diving right into the postgame and DLC now. The game feels like it’s only getting started when you win it and I am here for that. It’s on my list for next year, and I’ve decided I won’t cross it off until I finish every side quest, all the DLC, and filled out the Mega Pokémon portion of my Pokédex.

This game was so cool. (Credit: Konami, Neobards Entertainment)

Some games weren’t technically on my list, but I still needed to play them for posts. The big one this year was Silent Hill f. I did swap that onto my list, but I wasn’t expecting it this year… originally that entry on my list was for Silent Hill: Origins. (I swear, some day I will play Origins.) I do have to play SHf two more times in the next year to finish Part 2 of my post.

Kickkick. (Credit: Atari, Akira Toriyama)

The other games I played for my posts were three more Duo-R games, three more indy games I wanted to review, and several Dragon Ball Z fighting games. I’m currently working on getting 100% on Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2, which will be featured on next year’s list, along with Part 3. It feels good to be back on my Dragon Ball fighting games. I have so many of them. I was playing catch up on these this year, so I only got to do one Retro Corner post. Hopefully I can fit in two or three next year.

Sometimes you just need to beat up Nintendo characters. (Credit: Nintendo)

Some games are in for the long haul and so they don’t turn up on my list. I once again got obsessed with The Binding of Isaac for a time. (Cocoa started playing this too, so we can now share strategies and discoveries.) I wrapped up Super Smash Bros for Wii U and played some of the 3DS version. (Yes, I got my 3DS fixed. I talk about it here.) I finally started Smash Ultimate, which will take me a very long time to complete. More on that in the next Smash Binge post.

Luigi joins the battle! (Credit: Nintendo)

Oh, and speaking of Smash, I did finally get back to Super Smash Bros 64 for a bit. Long enough to unlock Luigi finally! I learned that you can unlock Luigi by doing Smash the Targets on practice… I’d thought before that you had to do full playthroughs with each character. I have not unlocked Ness yet. In order to do that I’ll have to get much better at the game.

I’m getting all sorts of achievements this year. (Credit: Imagineer)

And aside from the games on the list and distractions, there are several games I play every day. The chief among them was Fitness Boxing 3. I exercised almost every day this year… only missing a few days in February when I was sick. I got through all the base achievements and have made a good dent in the SP and EX achievement lists.

This is their formal workout gear. (Credit: Imagineer)

I’m loving this game. Between this game and my diet, I lost a few pounds… before gaining them back over the holidays. I’ll get back on top of it. It’s a nice workout and it’s effectively beat out Just Dance for my daily exercise routine. I still play that quite a bit too, just not every day anymore.

For two in-progress posts, I’ve been playing through every Just Dance title all over again, taking notes and screenshots. I’m almost caught up now. Then it will be time to play Just Dance 2026 and Just Dance+.

Another game I’ve started playing every day is Pokémon Friends. This is a game where you play minigames to craft plushies which you can give to townspeople to raise your level.

It’s pretty fun, although at the higher levels, the minigames are practically impossible. The big flaw, in my opinion, is that they don’t increase the amount of time with each level attained, so you’re expected to do much more complex puzzles with still 60 seconds on the clock. But oh well, I’m not in it for the score. I’m in it to catch/craft all those Pokémon.

I also play Pokémon Quest and Piczle World of Puzzles every day. But the longest-running game? The one I’ve played for going on six years now? You guessed it!

Buntown Corner: Now it’s time to check in on Buntown, our little island paradise. Yes, I’m still playing Animal Crossing: New Horizon.

Yes I have toilets next to the tables in the restaurant. It’s all about convenience. It’s a little thing called being customer-focused. Now let’s see how our villagers have been doing this year.

We have some great villagers. (Credit: Nintendo)

While I didn’t focus much on Animal Crossing this year, being done with my Nook Miles cards (see last year’s post), I still continue to play daily. Partly to check in and see if I can get those last few crafting recipes. But mostly because I can’t bring myself to say goodbye yet. There is a big update dropping in January, so I’m sure that will keep me playing through the next year. And next year you will get a montage of the crazy hotel rooms I’ve designed. (Expect a lot of stuffed bears and toilets.)

I think I fell off a planet here. (Credit: Nintendo)

Wrapping up, let’s look at my annual game list. As always, the crossed-off titles are the ones I completed.

Game List 2025

Final Fantasy IX (Switch)
Dragon Quest V (iOS)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii U)
Super Mario Party Jamboree (Switch)
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (3DS)
South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense (XBox 360)
Sonic and Knuckles (XBox 360)
Final Fantasy Theatrhythm: Curtain Call (3DS)
Shadows Over Loathing (Switch)
Peggle Nights (PC)
Picross e4 (3DS)
Picross e5 (3DS)
Picross S2 (Switch)
Picross: Lord of the Nazarick (Switch)
Picross: Records of the Shield Warrior (Switch)
Piczle Puzzle & Watch (Switch)
Piczle Cross: Rune Factory (Switch)
Pokemon Picross (3DS)
Little Kitty, Big City (Switch)
Criminal Case: Supernatural Investigations (iOS)
Criminal Case: City of Romance (iOS)
Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (PS2)
Spyro: A New Beginning (PS2)
Just Dance 2026 (Switch)
Pokémon Snap 2 (Switch)
Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch)
Super Smash Bros for Wii U (Wii U)
Silent Hill f (PS5)
Mario Party 10 (Wii U)

This time around, I completed 22 out of 29 games. Last year I only had 24 on my list. I went up to 29 this year, mainly because I had several near completion. I also completed some games not on the list: The Lego Movie Video Game, The Lego Movie 2 Video Game, Lego Star Wars III, Pokémon Trozei, Duck Detective, Donut County, Just Dance: Summer Party, and Kuukiyomi. So there’s 8 more, bringing my completion total to 30 for the year.

Where did I go wrong? As always, getting distracted by games not on the list. But still, I’m impressed with my progress this time. I very nearly finished! Had I not gotten distracted, I’m certain I would have wrapped up the final games on the list. Add in the fact that I played some Duo-R games, played through Silent Hill f three times, another run on Silent Hill 2 Remake, played way too much Binding of Isaac and FF14, and ran through almost five Dragon Ball Z fighting games for my posts… all in all, this was a full year. Even with all that, this is the closest I’ve come to completing a list. 2026 is my year for sure!

Let’s look to the future. (Credit: Imagineer)

So what does the 2026 Game List look like? So far I have 26 games on there, but it may increase a bit as I finalize it. Some of them will be quick games, and a few are already close to being done, so my odds of finishing the list are pretty good this time. Of course, I still have a few months left of my Final Fantasy XIV subscription, so I plan to finish the second expansion before that runs out. And I’m weeks away from getting a Steam Deck so I’ll be playing a lot of the games I’ve accumulated over the years… not to mention a whole lot of Mewgenics. So we’ll see how focused I stay. (If you can’t tell, I’m excited about the Steam Deck.)

2025 was a big gaming year. (Credit: Nintendo)

Thank you for indulging me as I look back on my year of gaming. Although I stayed busy with work, this blog, preparations for my YouTube channel, reading comic books, doing a lot of unexpected yardwork, and spending time with my family, I still managed to squeeze in a lot of gaming. More than usual, actually. I don’t know how I managed to find that much free time. I probably won’t have nearly this much time next year, as I finally get my YouTube channel launched and approach my 100th post in the blog, but I’ll still find time to unwind. It’s important.

Chilling with my bunny. (Credit: Game Freak, Nintendo)

This is my gentle reminder to all of you to do the same in the coming year. Life can get really busy and it’s really important to make some time for yourself. If you’re not big on gaming (I’m not sure why you’d be reading this if you aren’t but maybe you just like reading my ramblings) then make sure to set aside some idle time to enjoy the things that bring you peace and satisfaction in life. As always, I appreciate you, thank you for reading, and I’ll see you in 2026!

Hi.

Dec 31 Video Game Blog 054: The 2025 Video Game Year in Review

Hi.

Dec 31 Video Game Blog 054: The 2025 Video Game Year in Review

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