Retrogaming Review of The Year 2025

 Retrogaming Review of The Year 2025

The Drive To Carry On
I thought my Amiga days were over, on the 1200 at least, as after 27 years the disk drive began to play up - it'd work for a while, but then stop reading disks, and if you've been playing an X-Com Battleship for the last hour only to be unable to save your progress, it rather takes the wind out of your sails, or the Elerium out of your propulsion system. But thanks to ebay I was able to get a replacement, although my problems didn't end there: the new drive didn't work at all until we worked out it was due to my Amiga being a French model so I had some scary times getting at the motherboard to be able to reach in and snip a copper wire which was preventing the new drive from doing its job. A simple solution, and it worked!

Switching It Up
The other big gaming development of 2025 was the addition to the console family of the original Nintendo Switch! For years I'd had it on the to-do list, but it was thanks to the release of Switch 2 I finally took the plunge into current gaming (they're still releasing games for the original model - technically it's still retrogaming unless I play something just released!). Specifically, it was the generosity of a work mate who upgraded to the new console and gave me his old one (thanks Sam!), so I had no excuse at last to jump into the recent Nintendo catalogue. How exciting! I also got a new gaming screen (Dell 22" widescreen with DVI, connecting through an HDMI-to-DVI adaptor), specifically to play Switch (and wished I'd got an even bigger one), as well as Wii, looking sharper than through my old fullscreen Dell FP2007 (which has started to cut out every so often, most inconveniently). Though I have ever more games I want to play and ever less time to devote to it, it wasn't a bad year for variety with at least a couple of games tackled on all systems: Amiga, N64, GameCube, Wii and Switch, an eventful year all told and one I look back on fondly on the gaming front.

Awards:
Surprise of The Year: SSX3
Disappointment of The Year: XIII
Toughest Nut: Magic Pockets

[Ratings reflect total, historical experience, not just the enjoyment level I got out of them this time.]


January - April: Mario Kart Wii (2008, Wii) - This took some serious work to achieve everything I wanted to do (and I still don't have every track won with the best rating), with the Ghost Time Trials taking up a lot of time and attempts, but I also had multiple multiplayer sessions which is what it's really all about. It's a truly great entry in the series, especially all the connection to the past with so many tracks from previous iterations brought back, but I haven't had quite the same joy as I had out of the last two home console versions with our Christmas holiday fun times and Boxing Day Championships of two decades ago, and while it's the best one-player version with so much to do, it's also not enough to quite make it on a par with the past. ****

January - December: UFO: Enemy Unknown (1993, Amiga 1200) - I thought this long-running tradition of now 23 years was at risk when my disk drive started playing up, I'd been having problems since before Christmas '24, but it still mostly worked, until it stopped, with me at 03/02/18 in game time, but fortunately, with a replacement drive things continued as normal. It wouldn't be a proper gaming year without this (though I do sometimes think about going to Cydonia and ending the game, it's just such a long tradition and hard to countenance not playing it any more, especially as it has a nice, calming effect and a sense of connecting to the past and an oasis of gradual satisfaction on a weekly basis). *****

January - March: Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010, Wii) - Like 'MK Wii' this was a strong game, but didn't have quite the same impact on me as the golden oldies, though it gave a great challenge and kept me going well into the year in quest of all those stars. Sad there's no 'Galaxy 3,' but with Switch now on the roster perhaps 'Odyssey' will be in the not-too-distant future... ***

January - December: WSC Real 08 (2008, Wii) - Much like the real snooker calendar I took a break after the World Championship in May and rarely found myself going back where once I tried to keep the disc turning on a weekly basis, perhaps as other games demanded more completion. Multiplayer in January of a year ago and over the recent Christmas bookended the year, but being No. 1 in the world gave me less motivation to keep going, though I haven't yet maxed out all my stats and there's always the Pool career to take on eventually (not to mention the '09 version of the game!). The only notable thing was sort of getting my highest ever break of 151 since the computer opponent fouled his first shot and then I got a 147 (if foul points counted in a break, which I know they don't, but still a highest score!). ****

January - December: Wii Sports (2006, Wii) - Trying to be more regular (I was aiming for at least every couple of weeks, but it was actually still almost monthly a lot of the time), I did smash my PB on the PB (Personal Best/Punching Bag), going from 56 to 59 after years stuck at the previous best and not even getting close! I also revived my Bowling career and we'll see where that goes and if I can keep it up on a regular basis like the Boxing, which is good exercise, giving it more of a motivation. ***

March - April: Sleepwalker (1993, Amiga 1200) - Close to being awarded 3 stars, but for the technical issues at the end not allowing me to see the completion animation. I was surprised how satisfying it was to go back and complete this, looking nice, not too long, even with such a low score I'd still have to rate this as one of the more surprising games of the year since most others I either expected to be good, or not, and if not for a late entry by 'SSX3' this would have won that category. Nice to continue the recent tradition of an Amiga game at the start of Spring, too. **

April - May: XIII (2003, GameCube) - You shouldn't go far wrong with an FPS, especially on a system not blessed with a definitive example of the genre, but I found this to be awkward, linear and not very engaging, and while it had some occasional beauty (I always think of the leafy hedge maze and gardens towards the end), it wasn't enough to save it. **

May - June: Glover (1998, N64) - Another somewhat disappointing experience, a tough one (this would've had a shot at my new category of Toughest Nut if not for the arthritis-inducing 'Magic Pockets'), and one to keep me trying, but I was never really sold on it - puzzle games have never been a big draw and despite this being as much a platformer, it was a bit awkward and annoying, nor was it enough to merely continue the N64 Summer game tradition of recent years, I expected more from it. **

June - July: Magic Pockets (1991, Amiga 1200) - Now this was hard: a 2D platform game in the no saves style of yore, not even passwords to allow skipping past levels already completed, and unlike 'Aunt Arctic Adventure' of the other year it didn't even have infinite continues to assist, it was pure trial and error, try after try, and so was very satisfying to ultimately complete. At the gorilla fight halfway through there was a time I thought I might not succeed, having spent a couple of hours to get to that point and then being beaten so often, but perseverance pays off and this game of childhood was yet another to finally bow before my belated attempt to crack it. But it was more pain than pleasure, hence the score. **

July - August: The Settlers (1993, Amiga 1200) - I had to get back to a classic, my favourite game of all, after a mix of mediocrity, but it did remind me of the fact it takes so long to get to the winning stage even when the opposition has no chance of coming back, which is less interesting, and the unfortunate glitch of your castle eventually refusing to allow you to take anything out of it once you've got to a certain point in the game (I'm not sure this is due to me giving all opponents maximum stats on everything and myself minimum, it's a theory I'll have to test out sometime as I don't remember that happening in the distant past when I used to play more conventionally), so it's far from perfect, but the visuals, sounds, politeness of it all... well, that is perfect and still stands as my favourite game of all time! *****

August - September: Burnout Paradise Remastered (2020, Switch) - Could have been described as a disappointment since expectations were high, 'Burnout 2' probably my all-round best game on 'Cube and I'd never played another title in the series, while also being my first exciting delve into Switch territory. Which is not to say it's a bad game - it's huge with tons to do (plus a bonus island of more stuff!), but with omission of the integral multiplayer (few years have passed without some 'B2' in that regard), and trying to find everything and work out how to do certain things towards the end it was starting to feel like a chore, but its vast world and countless vehicles, not to mention the exhilaration of whipping about on bikes, made this the best 'disappointment' I could have hoped for this year: a good, solid experience that somewhat showed me what to expect from Switch (I say somewhat as it was a remastered port from earlier systems). ***

October: Operation Winback (1999, N64) - Yet another game I wasn't thrilled with, which is a shame because it's one that had been on my radar since the earliest days of N64 Magazine as a worthwhile one to try out. Took me years to get a copy at a reasonable price, but while there's a good deal of replay value thanks to scoring, I didn't enjoy it's Third-Person Shooting enough to want to go back, not in the near future, at least, and while I was fulfilling another recent tradition of an October N64 game (to commemorate my console's 'birthday,' the month I first got it back in 1999), it wasn't up to others on the system and at this stage I was thinking ahead about trying to clear the decks for the biggest Christmas 'Zelda' ever. **

November - December: SSX3 (2003, GameCube) - Strange that my two 'Cube titles this year turned out to be the biggest disappointment and the biggest surprise! I fancied a racing game so I could plough through quickly before Christmas and devote the festive season to my Christmas 'Zelda,' and that didn't work out, but while I initially had some irritation, this snowboarding game exceeded expectations and once I really got into it, grew on me to the point I realised I really wanted to get back to it to find those last snowflakes or win those races, beat those times and scores, the longevity appealing, the difficulty curve well designed, and while it hung around I found great satisfaction in a number of the challenges within that required repeated effort to beat, turning this from a merely good experience to great, no better expressed than in tearing me away from 'Zelda' on occasion because I wanted to finish those last bits and pieces! And I still didn't do everything by year's end so I suspect it'll be like last year's companionship of 'Mario Galaxy' and 'Mario Kart' together seeing me well into the new year. ****

December: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild (2017, Switch) - It's Christmas. It's 'Zelda.' It's the inevitable Christmas 'Zelda,' one of my major gaming traditions since 2019. But this was... different. Disconcertingly so in many ways (constantly breaking weapons and equipment, no strong theme music, slight control issues), but oh! The sense of going off on an actual adventure is unparalleled: it's like the barriers to progression have been lifted and rather than follow a dedicated story through, slowly building access to various parts of the world and unlocking things through the acquisition of items, you're practically given everything at the start and pushed out into a living, breathing world where you can spend hours simply 'seeing what's over the next hill' or 'I just need to try and follow this coast round a bit further'! It's beautiful, it's vast (still some noticeable pop-up, technical limitations haven't been entirely superceded!), but it's too early to tell whether this will be up with my favourites of the series simply because there isn't that sense of clear progression, there don't seem to be dungeons other than one-puzzle mini versions all in the same theme or style. But you can climb almost anything, leap off cliffs with a Paraglider, the enemies are much tougher and cleverer, it doesn't kowtow to the mores of casual gaming: you literally take on what you feel comfortable with and learn, like in the real world. Biggest complaint is that there aren't enough hours in the day to satisfy the craving for exploration. And yet, at the same time after a few hours you can start to feel jaded since you're not necessarily accomplishing anything, and the map is an ugly black thing with blue lines, and... like I said, it's too early to judge because I've already learnt how to fill in the proper map, like 'Zelda' past, so there's still much to be discovered. I'm sure I'll have much more to say in my full review, but that won't be for some time... ****

Honourable mentions: New year multiplayer 'MarioKart: Double Dash' (*****), 'Burnout 2' (*****), and both starting and ending the year with 'WSCR '08' (****), not to mention a little 'Wii Sports Resort,' namely Frisbee and Golf (only having one Wii Motion Plus meant anything other than turn-based games were off the menu), but otherwise there wasn't much time for side plays, it was all big, serious gaming for me.


Next Year - Still found some Amiga games that worked on the 1200 after the no-go of the 1500 and had a nice even split with my various machines, so in 2026 I'd like to:

- Bring the Amiga 500 down...?

- Play 'James Pond II: Robocod' for my Spring Amiga game

- Maybe do 'Lego Star Wars' for my late nights after matches during the Snooker World Championship

- Keep the tradition of my Summer N64 game going with either 'Wave Race 64,' 'Lylat Wars,' 'Extreme G' or 'Wipeout 64'

- Try something else on Switch (ooh, too many to choose from!), and Wii ('Pirates,' 'Bully,' 'De Blob'?)

- Get back to Game Boy ('Link's Awakening' or 'Wario Land,' perhaps)

- Return to 'Metroid Prime 2' for 'Cube now I can do 60Hz games again with my new screen, before I get to 'MP4' on Switch (perhaps paired with 'Link's Awakening' for Christmas if I ever get to solder a new battery in the cartridge!)

Happy New Year!