I came in fully expecting it to be a side story, but it was much more than that.

Mushihimesama is required reading for shmup fans. Whether you're going at it solo or with a friend, on the highest difficulty setting or the lowest, Mushihimesama is incredibly easy to spend an afternoon with for years to come.

Sure, parts of Life is Strange: True Colors are really bleak, but ultimately it’s an uplifting, heartfelt story about what it means to find your own version of home. It tells that story in a way that feels perfectly sincere, which is something that is hard to come by in games nowadays. True Colors has officially redeemed the Life is Strange series in my eyes.

Put simply, this is a game in which you get out what you put in. It is incremental in its brilliance. It is a game of pure mechanics and of player skill. It's confusing in a good way and difficult in the best way. From a game design perspective it is perfect, but the ambiguity will definitely push some players away.

It's the big intellectual property that comes to retail and shows up the competition by being bold, original, and -- more importantly -- brilliant. Easily deserving of its place among the BioShocks and the Borderlandses, Arkane's aggressive, non-aggressive, unsubtle, sneaky, thoroughly versatile tale of intrigue makes for the kind of game that reminds us this generation isn't all straightforward shooters and "me too" trend-seekers.

I think Code of Princess will go on to be one of those cult-classic games that gamers will bring up in their 'must-play games' list for the 3DS, just like Guardian Heroes. It's really that good. That 'spiritual successor' label? Totally worthy. This is a beautifully crafted side-scrolling beat-'em-up that has no equal on the 3DS, and the love that went into the localization makes it that much better.

KoF XIII is probably the best game of 2011 for die-hard fans of traditional 2D fighters. From the incredible graphics, to the deeply detailed and difficult-to-master drive cancel combos, to the invigorating options for rushdown and retreat that come with every KoF title, the game feels like the most traditional, yet most skill-rewarding modern fighter on the market.

It all shapes up to the definitive, and maybe final version of one of the most beautiful, detailed, and passionately developed fighting games in recent memory.

For anyone interesting in a wholly unique story that is almost guaranteed to sink its hooks into you, look no further than Necrobarista.

A new milestone for compilations. A great deal of care was put into the project, and 30 games is enough meat to ensure that everyone will really enjoy at least half of them. I sincerely hope this is the start of a revival of the classic Rare we know and love.

If you enjoyed Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV, and the like, you will certainly enjoy this one as well. It does a really great job of easing new players into the mechanics too, so it's worth trying out even if the difficulty sounds daunting.

Delivered just about everything I wanted out of it, and then some. I've grown attached to a number of newcomers, I've played more online matches than I ever did with Brawl, and I'll be tackling all of the single-player content for weeks on end. I'm all in again thanks to Smash 3DS.

Playground Games took a humungous, beautiful world, packed it full of entertaining challenges and events, added in tons of personality and style, and built it all around the proven Forza tech, giving racing game fans an exceptional automotive experience that they didn't even know they wanted. For as much as I love Forza Motorsport, it's going to be hard to go back after this.

The good times keep rolling in Episode 2 with a great atmosphere, more Raid levels, and an compelling-enough narrative.

Choices, choices, choices, the crown jewel of "free" market corporatism is now available with The Outer Worlds 2, with breathtaking worlds, impeccable dialogues and narratives, and a combat system that could've been better balanced, maybe.

Slight gripes with the new engine and the old source aside, this is still Link's Awakening: one of the best Zelda games to date.

However many little nagging issues I have with Wild Hunt (the combat is still a bit too simplistic), Blood and Wine is the best The Witcher has ever been since the first game. I came in merely expecting a bigger Hearts of Stone, but ended up getting something more expansive in nearly every sense of the word.

Harmonix has treated the band’s music, art, and history with a respect and reverence that sets it apart from other similar collections. The question is, how will anyone held responsible for a full band game -- Harmonix or otherwise -- ever really be able to clear the bar that’s been set?

I adored my experience playing Rayman Origins and I'm certain that anybody with a love for 2D platform games will feel the same. It stands tall in the field as being one of the best of its kind in this console generation and supplies ample hope that there's not only plenty of life still in that genre, but in Rayman as a franchise.

Between responsive controls, colorful sprites that are easy on the eyes, and a clever rewards system that will keep players coming back for more, Jetpack Joyride is comfortably the best in its class.

If you walked away from Avatar wishing a world like Pandora actually existed out there, here you go. This is that world. Seeing Pandora is one thing, but being able to scale its massive treetops, soar high above its floating mountains on an Ikran, and traverse its wide open plains on the back of a Direhorse is really something special. This is the best version of Avatar yet.

It's a series that's consistently enjoyable on an every-other-year cycle. Playground Games' take on Australia falls right in line. It's not quite the leap that the franchise made from the original Horizon to Horizon 2, but it's not on cruise control, either. There's enough variation here -- from the feel of cars to the game modes to the radio stations -- that this is another excellent installment in an always-excellent series. And, since variation is a key reason for Horizon 3's success, well, Australia seems like it's probably the most perfectly appropriate setting.

Earth Defense Force 6 is easily the best game the series has seen so far, and it attains that title in an unexpected way. While its gameplay could be charitably described as a continuation of EDF 5 (or a complete rehash, if you want to be mean for some reason), the way it uses its narrative to repeatedly spin things in surprising ways drastically changes the feel and flow of the mission-to-mission gameplay. It’s still the same loveable mix of possibly deliberate tokusatsu campiness and jank, but something’s different this time. If you’ve never been able to decide if the EDF series is completely stupid or remarkably brilliant, this will keep you wondering, but also fascinated.

If you're thinking about picking up DoDonPachi Resurrection, you're staring down the barrel of one of the best shoot-'em-ups of our time.

The beautiful graphics, evocative soundtrack, selective but effective use of voice acting, excellent story, and occasional fart joke make Attack of the Friday Monsters worth keeping in your permanent collection.

Instead of dancing around the "is it a fighting game or not?" question plaguing Nintendo's major mascot title for years, Rivals of Aether goes full throttle into the genre and delivers an experience the platform fighting genre deserves.

Control is a weird, enigmatic, perplexing masterpiece. It's also Remedy's most well-rounded work yet. Like Jesse levitating far off the ground, Control signifies Remedy is capable of ascending to great new heights.

For those who have any love for the series, and appreciation for the era of the arcade, you absolutely can't go wrong with this one. I prolonged this review longer than necessary because I just wasn't done playing it – and I'm still not. It's a winner.