Hello everyone! Today I’ll be sharing with you what I’ve been playing this year and what the top games have been for me. Although moving had its impact on my gaming habits I have been playing more games lately, because the weather outside isn’t great, so winter is usually a perfect time to relax with a fun videogame, or a book!

The Year of Retro Gaming?

Ever since we moved I rediscovered all of the old consoles I have and I dug up my New Nintendo 3DS as well as hooking up my Wii U to the television. I sold my Nintendo 64 and most of the games, which was a nice way of earning some cash, because most of them were in near mint condition, boxed and all. I bought the N64 way after the GameCube was launched, more as a collector’s item than anything else, so selling it wasn’t that hard for me. As Marie Kondo would say: “It did not spark joy.” 😉

I do love retro gaming, though, and luckily Nintendo has always made it possible for everyone to play most of the classics on their newer systems. It turned out I have a slew of old games installed on my Wii U and 3DS, besides having quite the backlog of unplayed games on both systems too. Add to that my ever growing backlog on the Switch and you end up with a big pile of games to play and the concurrent feeling of not knowing what to play, similar to people who own too much clothes and don’t know what to wear.

My Year in Gaming on the Nintendo Switch

It’s pretty neat, but just like how you get your year wrapped in Spotify, you can also have a look at your playing stats on the Nintendo website when you log on with your account. This year you can clearly see a dip in my playing stats in June, when we were moving and well, later on in August and September another dip, because we were spending a lot of time outside when we could. October and November have been pretty good gaming months.

My top played games of this year were kind of a surprise. I thought I had spent more time playing Pokémon than I did Smash Bros, but who am I to disagree? Monster Hunter Rise has been an absolute delight to play and I’m still not finished. The base game is just chock full of content and I’ve been playing for shorter bursts, to prevent burn-out from the game. Since the gameplay is pretty repetitive I think that’s the best way to enjoy the game.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is such a charming game, but I have to admit that I haven’t been playing it much after the first year. The main problem is that I really wanted to change my island, but I just don’t know where to start. The new update that went live in November really helped to spark my interest in the game again and I’m planning to play it on a daily basis, just to check in with my villagers and starting the arduous task of moving everything closer together so I can finally start building my farm on the island and a Legend of Zelda themed forest area, which has been on my wishlist for a long time.

Ever since I bought all the DLC fighters for Smash Bros. Ultimate I have a renewed interest in the game. Mainly because I love playing it together co-op, but also because I just want to collect all the spirits… The game is such a blast to play and it is definitely a unique title that hasn’t been equalled by any other platforming fighter trying to beat its grandeur.

Apparently I’ve started a total of 15 new games in 2021. I remember very little which games they are, to be frank, but I know the new Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and several indie titles are among them, like PictoQuest, Moonlighter, and Shovel Knight.

The rest of my gaming in 2021

Like I said, I played a lot of older games. One that held me particularly busy was Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia on the 3DS. However, I ran into a bit of rut with the game, having forgotten to get certain characters to join my armies and now having to grind to level them up, which has not done good things for my motivation to continue. I will at some point, or maybe start over on normal difficulty first, just so I can finally finish the story, because I’m dying to find out how it continues, but I just can’t get past certain levels at the moment, which is quite frustrating.

I also spent my time playing Metroid: Zero Mission, which isn’t necessarily a very long game, but definitely worth playing through a couple of times. And recently I started to play the sequel Metroid: Samus Returns on the 3DS in all of its 3D glory. So far I’m having a real blast with this remake of the original Game Boy title.

What 2022 might bring

Looking forward to next year in gaming, there’s a lot of good new titles headed to Nintendo Switch, among my top expected games are Triangle Strategy, which looks like it’ll bring turn-based tactical RPG goodness. The sequel to The Breath of the Wild is also headed to Switch next year, which will probably see a release in late 2022. Looking at the image below there’s even a lot of releases I still want to play that I haven’t even gotten that are out now. Metroid Dread is a top contender, Skyword Sword HD, Mario Golf, Mario Party Superstars, Disco Elysium, Eastward and Voice of Cards are all wishlist material too.

And then there’s the releases of winter. Shin Megami Tensei V and Big Brain Academy are also on my wishlist. And next year we’re getting some really big releases. Pokémon Legends Arceus, Triangle Strategy, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, Kirby and the Forgotten Land…. Maybe I should have just mentioned that I’m not interested in Splatoon 3 and Dying Light 2. That would have saved me some time, haha.

For now, though, I’m content playing the new Pokémon remakes and Metroid: Samus Returns. After that I’ll see what I’ll sink my teeth in, but it will definitely be all on Nintendo consoles.

What have you been playing this year that really stood out for you? Please let me know in the comments below!

Happy gaming!

~Jeffrey