Consistently underrated at the time this masterful mix of influences makes hardly a single mistake in all three games - and definitely deserves a fourth.

It’s at least as much about exploration, across several huge and detailed mountains, as it is about time trials and pulling off tricks, and its touch controls are wonderfully intuitive. All that’s missing is the glühwein.

One of the most enjoyable roguelikes of recent years, with the heavy emphasis on RNG saved by some fun co-op options.

A genre hybrid that turns repetitive loop grinding into one of the most uniquely addictive gaming experiences of the year, with surprisingly few caveats.

A very welcome remaster of one of gaming’s most carefully hidden secrets, whose charming retro simplicity is as entertaining today as it was 22 years ago on the Game Boy Advance.

Coming with all three tranches of DLC, this is another roaring success from the team at Feral Interactive and a welcome return for a spin-off that is considerably more entertaining than some of the mainline entries.

The package itself may be no frills but Virtua Fighter 5 is still one of the best fighting games ever made and deserves to be appreciated by a wider audience.

Kratos may not be gaming’s most charismatic protagonist but it turns out he has a surprising knack for multiplayer as well as single-player action, in one of the best-looking games on the PlayStation 3.

Beneath the saccharine sweet exterior beats the heart of a monster, one that wants to devour your every waking moment with its wonderfully addictive platform action.

The pioneering space adventure makes an impressive landing on PlayStation 4, with more content than ever and the promise of even better things to come.

An excellent 3D platformer that rather than just trying to copy Nintendo has plenty of ideas of its own, with some thrilling freeform action.

Metroid and Castelvania face a new challenger, as the bizarre world of Mexican wrestling inspires one of the most entertaining action adventures of recent years.

Still the funniest and best-looking entry in the series, even if it’s the least innovative. And despite a few graphical flaws the PS Version is the definitive edition.

One of the most enjoyably weird games of recent years and yet surprisingly easy to grasp, with an engaging mix of action and survival gameplay – and a good dose of surrealist imagery.

Yet another triumph on the pitch but the lack of attention to new features within myClub means it feels a bit repetitive.

The lack of any meaningful additions is a surprise, but it only underlines what a fantastic game the Game Boy original was, in what is still a classic Zelda title that thoroughly deserves the star treatment.

The SteamWorld franchise digs deeper than ever and comes up with another charming mix of Metroidvania and Boulder Dash.

There is such a thing as being too hard and the original version of Below proved that, but there’s also such a thing as second chances and Explore mode has managed to turn Below into a game everyone can enjoy, and without compromising its original vision.

If indie gaming is just a state of mind then Ubisoft is getting increasingly good at encouraging it in their developers, especially in this novel plant-based platformer.

Masterful reboot of the old snowboarding racer, with just the right mix of retro appeal, modern presentation, and brand new ideas.

The best multiformat Wii U game so far, even if the improvements are mostly minor and the underlying game still lacks personality.

A Dark Ages mystery whose gameplay and dialogue are as unique as it’s daringly unconventional premise and visuals.

A wonderfully cheerful rhythm action game that channels the best of Jet Set Radio and Parappa the Rapper but still maintains its own distinctive style.

More content than usual for a Call Of Duty map pack and the new Face Off mode is a neat variation on the usual team-based action.

An odd, but admirably experimental AAA game, which offers plenty of epic scale action at launch but whose true worth will probably only be revealed in the months to come.

A surprisingly strong effort at turning around the disappointment of last year’s game, with the best Star Wars action this side of Battlefront.

Beautiful presentation and an intriguing open world environment, but the misjudged difficultly level is just too punishing.

A fun restatement of the Ninja Gaiden 2D formula, that is just complex enough to engage both new and old fans, while being surprisingly accessible in terms of its difficulty level.