ARCHIVED BLOGS
My Top Ten Favorite Games Of 2025
2025 was another awesome year for games and I'm excited to once again talk about the games that resonated with me the most in my annual top ten favorite games of the year blog. It's my 15th one since I started blogging! I played 28 2025 games and a majority of them were in consideration for my list. You can hear my thoughts in this blog on Magia Record (which finished its main story in 2025!), Donkey Kong Bananza, Ghost of Yotei, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, The Hundred Line and more!
- Posted on January 11, 2026
- Posted on January 11, 2026
Dear Falcom, Please Stop Using Generative AI In Your Company
Usually I write about things I enjoy on my blog, but this blog is actually addressed to Nihon Falcom after they announced at a recent shareholder meeting that they were actively using Generative AI in their company including during idea brainstorming, research, and editing their scripts. This is an embarrassing betrayal to themselves, their fans, and their art so I wrote this letter of sorts to hopefully help encourage them to eliminate all AI use at Falcom and get back on track.
- Posted on December 22th, 2025
- Posted on December 22th, 2025
Highlights From My PS3 Backlog Part 1
For the past year or so especially, I've been working my way through my PS3 backlog. I started with well over forty games, but I've been steadily crossing games off my list one by one and now I'm down to about twenty left. I've played a handful of really great games (and one amusingly not so great) so now seemed like a good time to share some of the highlights from my ongoing project. This blog covers my thoughts on games like Atelier Rorona Plus, Metal Gear Solid 2, Gran Turismo 6, and Suikoden II. I hope you enjoy it!
- Posted on September 5th, 2025
- Posted on September 5th, 2025
Magia Exedra First Month Review
Magia Exedra, the follow up to my favorite mobile game of all time, Magia Record, released at the end of March 2025 and now that I have played it daily for a month since launch, now seemed like a great time to share my thoughts. I was concerned walking in Exedra was looking more backwards than forward and that the combat looked perhaps too simple, so I'm excited to share my extensive thoughts on how the story and combat turned out and share how optimistic I am about the game moving forward.
- Posted on April 27, 2025
- Posted on April 27, 2025
My Top Ten Favorite Games Of 2024
2024 was an exciting year for games for me since I played so many excellent new games and had a lot of fun diving into my deep backlog in particular. After touching on my four honorable mentions this year, I dive into my top ten favorite games of the year that spoke to me the most. I hope you enjoy my thoughts on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Trails Through Daybreak, Astro Bot, Dragon's Dogma II, and more!
- Posted on January 3rd, 2025
- Posted on January 3rd, 2025
My Top 32 RPGs At 32
I've had a growing desire to make a list of my favorite RPGs of all time since I knew it would be fun to figure out and I wanted to be able to share it. Now that I'm turning 32 this seemed like an awesome occasion to finally sit down and write one out! I had a ton of fun putting this blog together and, perhaps it makes sense as one of the most wordy genres of games, this blog ended up as my longest to date as I had a lot to share. I hope you enjoy it!
- Posted on my 32nd birthday, September 19, 2024
- Posted on my 32nd birthday, September 19, 2024
My Ranking Of Every Mario RPG
I've always enjoyed the Mario RPGs dating back to the original Super Mario RPG on the Super Nintendo. While I kept up on home consoles, I fell behind on the 3DS game specifically following the release of Paper Mario Sticker Star. A decade later after numerous attempts, I finally beat it, and just recently I finally fully caught up by finishing Mario & Luigi Paper Jam. Now seemed like an excellent time then to rank and discuss every Mario RPG!
- Posted on May 4, 2024
- Posted on May 4, 2024
My Top Ten Favorite Games Of 2023
2023 was an extra amazing year for games, so figuring out which games made the cut and where they fit was quite the struggle for my annual GOTY blog. I wound up have having a little more honorable mentions this year as well including one that was a very welcome surprise. Here are my thoughts on my favorite games of 2023 including Trails Into Reverie, Alan Wake II, Super Mario Bros Wonder, Pikmin 4, and more!
- Posted on January 23, 2024
- Posted on January 23, 2024
My Full Thoughts On The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
After 110+ hours of gameplay, I rolled credits in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom and I'm very excited to talk about the full game at length. In this blog, after introducing some of my concerns I had walking in, I dip in and out of topics as I roughly follow the path of my personal adventure through the game. This blog contains full spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom, so please make sure you have finished the game yourself before reading it.
- Posted on June 14, 2023
- Posted on June 14, 2023
My Top Ten Favorite Games Of 2022
2022 was a quiet year in general for me, but I played lots of awesome games and I'm excited to share my thoughts on my top ten favorite games of the year! While narrowing down my top ten was easy, figuring out the order took a while as they all spoke to me differently and I had to choose what to value most! Here are my thoughts on my favorites including Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and Pokemon Violet!
- Posted on January 2, 2023
- Posted on January 2, 2023
My Top 30 Anime At 30
When I turned 25 I ranked my top 25 favorite games. I knew for 30 I wanted to do the same for the other big entertainment pillar in my life, anime! In this blog, I'm ranking my top 30 anime at 30. These are the anime that mean the most to me right now, not necessarily the best or the ones that historically meant more. I decided to group related media together, like films and movies, to highlight as many awesome anime as possible. Check out where my favorite anime, including Madoka Magica, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Symphogear, all landed!
- Posted on my 30th birthday, September 19, 2022
- Posted on my 30th birthday, September 19, 2022
My Full Thoughts On Xenoblade Chronicles 3 At Launch
After 142 hours, I finally reached a good stopping point for now with Xenoblade 3. I had an absolute blast playing through the game and exploring every last inch of Aionios. As I've done now for both Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade X, I'm excited to share my full thoughts on the game on my blog. Due to the game's structure, this blog contains full spoilers for Xenoblade 3, so please check it out when you have finished the game yourself.
- Posted on September 11, 2022
- Posted on September 11, 2022
My Top Ten Favorite Wii U Games
In the early morning hours of March 10, 2022, I finally finished my final Wii U game, Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water! Now that my primary Wii U journey is over, I'm excited to look back and share my top ten favorite games on the system and why they are special to me. This blog includes my thoughts on Mario Kart 8, Xenoblade X, Super Mario 3D World, Super Smash Bros For Wii U, and more!
- Posted on March 30, 2022
- Posted on March 30, 2022
My Final Wii And Wii U Games
During the first three months of 2022, I wrapped up both my final Wii and Wii U games to mostly the retire the consoles outside of replays and retro Virtual Console games. I thought it'd be interesting to talk about the games I was determined to finish before I retired the console so here we are! In this blog I'll share my thoughts on those final games including Sakura Wars: So Long My Love, Pandora's Tower, and Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water.
- Posted on March 17, 2022
- Posted on March 17, 2022
My Top Ten Favorite Wii Games
In the early morning hours of February 23, 2022, I finally finished my final Wii game, Zack and Wiki! To mark the end of my more than fifteen year primary journey with the Wii, I wanted to share and rank my top ten favorite games on the platform. Despite its overly casual reputation, the Wii had an astounding array of instant, all time classics. So while it was easy to make a list of ten games, figuring out the final order was a bit tricky. Even so, I had a blast thinking about all of the awesome games and memories I made with the console and I'm eager to share my thoughts on games like The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Super Mario Galaxy 2!
- Posted on March 6, 2022
- Posted on March 6, 2022
The Top Forty Tracks From Mario Kart 1-7 I Want Added To Mario Kart 8
The most important question in regards to the Mario Kart 8 Booster Course Pass was what 48 tracks would be included in it. With the first eight tracks announced, there are 40 remaining which is a massive number. I decided to revisit the first seven Mario Kart games to refamiliarize myself with both the games and the tracks. I took notes as I went and after much giving it much thought I'm ready to present what 40 tracks I most want added to Mario Kart 8!
- Posted on February 25, 2022
- Posted on February 25, 2022
My Mario Kart 1-7 Series Replay
Following the announcement of the Booster Course Pass coming to Mario Kart 8, which will ultimately add 48 new tracks to the game, I felt it was time to do a full series replay of the Mario Kart series. I played through every original cup of each game on the first highest available difficulty and claimed every gold trophy and in doing so played through all 120 unique tracks from the first seven games in the series. I had a blast revisiting all of these great games I grew up with and refamiliarizing myself with every track so I was eager to share my thoughts on each Mario Kart game and to track the evolution of the series.
- Posted on February 22, 2022
- Posted on February 22, 2022
My Top Ten Favorite Games Of 2021
With the second year of the global pandemic behind us, I'm ready and excited to share my top ten favorite games of the year! This was an especially competitive year where I kept debating what made the cut and what order to place the top games in right until the end! I always decide my list based off the games that resonated with me the most and that proved especially true this year. I'm excited to share my full thoughts on games like Blue Reflection: Second Light, Lost Judgment, Metroid Dread, Trails To Azure, and Neo: The World Ends With You! I also share the full list of 66 games I played at the end this past year!
- Posted on January 1, 2022
- Posted on January 1, 2022
Revisiting Every Mainline Metroid Game Ahead Of Dread
One of my favorite announcements from E3 2021 was Metroid Dread, the fifth mainline game in the series coming nearly 19 years after Metroid Fusion. Dread's announcement ignited my annual desire to replay Super Metroid and I quickly realized it was finally time to revisit every mainline game in the series. I'm excited to share my thoughts on all four mainline Metroid games, Metroid, Metroid II, Super Metroid, and Metroid Fusion, as well as the two remakes, Zero Mission and Samus Returns.
- Posted on July 16, 2021
- Posted on July 16, 2021
Replaying Every 3D Mario Game + My Thoughts On Bowser's Fury Part 2
When Nintendo announced the Mario 3D All-Stars Collection together with a Switch port of Super Mario 3D World for Mario's 35th anniversary, I realized now was a great time to finally replay every 3D platformer in the series. With all seven replays and Mario's latest 3D adventure, Bowser's Fury, completed, I'm excited to share my thoughts on every 3D Mario game. This blog is divided into two parts. Part 2 here is focused on Super Mario 3D Land, Super Mario 3D World, Super Mario Odyssey, and Bowser's Fury.
- Posted on March 23, 2021
- Posted on March 23, 2021
Replaying Every 3D Mario Game + My Thoughts On Bowser's Fury Part 1
When Nintendo announced the Mario 3D All-Stars Collection together with a Switch port of Super Mario 3D World for Mario's 35th anniversary, I realized now was a great time to finally replay every 3D platformer in the series. With all seven replays and Mario's latest 3D adventure, Bowser's Fury, completed, I'm excited to share my thoughts on every 3D Mario game. This blog is divided into two parts. Part 1 here is focused on Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Galaxy 2.
- Posted on March 19, 2021
- Posted on March 19, 2021
Revisiting Xenoblade Chronicles
Last year, I played through the entirety of Xenoblade Chronicles for the first time in eight years with the release of the Definitive Edition on Switch. I have extensive history with the original version of Xenoblade back on the Wii and I had long considered it one of my favorite games of all time, so I was excited to see how it held up. Since I didn't get to cover the Definitive Edition in my annual games of the year blog, I decided to write an entire blog dedicated to sharing my thoughts on revisiting the original game as well as briefly share my thoughts on the new epilogue, Future Connected.
- Posted on February 19, 2021
- Posted on February 19, 2021
Why I Love Ys
For years, I've always wanted to write a follow up to my blog "Why I Love Falcom's Trails Series" and write a comprehensive blog about the Ys series. With the release of Ys IX Monstrum Nox in the West, now seemed like a great time to finally finish and share my blog on why I love Ys! Over the course of this blog I delve into the three distinct styles of Ys games, the common elements between them, and finally dive deeper into why I like my two favorite games in the series, Ys Origin and Ys VIII: The Lacrimosa of Dana.
- Posted on February 4, 2021
- Posted on February 4, 2021
My Top Ten Favorite Games Of 2020
For my tenth year now, I'm excited to once again share my top ten favorite games of the year on my personal blog! Since I spent more time at home due to the global pandemic, this year RPGs dominated my list like never before. I have a lot of thoughts to share about my favorite games of 2020 including Trails of Cold Steel IV, CrossCode, Magia Record (RIP), and the Final Fantasy VII Remake! I also share the list of games I beat in 2020 at the end!
- Posted on January 19, 2021
- Posted on January 19, 2021
My Most Anticipated RPGs: End Of 2020 Edition
The announcement of Neo: The World Ends With You cemented a feeling that I have had for a while that I'm now more excited about the near future of RPGs than I have been for the past few years. In this blog I share in depth my thoughts on nine upcoming RPGs that I'm passionately excited about, both announced and unannounced, including Trails to Azure, Final Fantasy XVI, and the next Kingdom Hearts game.
- Posted on November 28, 2020
- Posted on November 28, 2020
Magia Record Year 1 Review
I've talked about my favorite mobile game in some of my other blogs, but with the main story and first anniversary just behind us, I felt now was an excellent time to share why I love Magia Record in more detail. After giving some context for how I started playing Magia Record I discuss the impact of the extensive amount of story content and why its seemingly simple battle system has a ton of depth and has kept me engaged for a full year.
- Posted on July 8, 2020
- Posted on July 8, 2020
The Childhood Game I Left Behind - Final Fantasy VII
With the Final Fantasy VII Remake a few days away, I wanted to discuss a few of the main forces that are influencing my excitement for it. Primarily in this blog I discuss my history with the original Final Fantasy VII when I grew up with the game and when I played it from start to finish in high school when I had much more RPG experience. I also discuss being physically present for the infamous moment that birthed the Ultima Troll gif and how the Covid-19 global pandemic has increased the importance of the Final Fantasy VII Remake for me.
- Posted on April 7, 2020
- Posted on April 7, 2020
My Top Ten Favorite Games of 2019
I'm ready and excited to share my favorite games of 2019! I played forty games last year, with thirty of them being 2019 games. It was an excellent and refreshing year for games and I'm eager to share my thoughts on Magia Record, Devil May Cry V, Trails of Cold Steel III, Kingdom Hearts III and more! At the end of the blog I'll also share my list of every game I finished in 2019.
- Posted on January 20, 2020
- Posted on January 20, 2020
The Eight Games I Played At Anime Expo 2019
I played eight games at Anime Expo 2019 and I'm excited to share my impressions on all of them including Granblue Fantasy Versus, Trails of Cold Steel III, and River City Girls. I also discuss why this year's Anime Expo was unusual for me, highlight my three favorite panels I attended, and share my four week impressions of the Madoka Magica mobile RPG, Magia Record!
- Posted on July 21, 2019
- Posted on July 21, 2019
My Top Ten Favorite Games Of 2018
It's time for me to share my favorite games of 2018! I played 42 games in 2018, with 21 of them being from 2018. There were a ton of awesome games released last year including Yakuza Kiwami 2, Spider-Man, and Super Smash Bros Ultimate. In this blog I'll share why each game that made my list resonated with me so much. Also at the end of the blog, be sure to check out the full list of the games I beat in 2018!
- Posted on January 1, 2019
- Posted on January 1, 2019
Nine DLC Characters I Want Added To Smash Ultimate
With Super Smash Bros Ultimate about to release, I'm already thinking ahead to what I want to see from the DLC. I'm most interested in what characters will join the Fighter Pass and hopefully beyond, so in this blog I'm sharing nine characters I hope will join the fight as DLC. Since the Fighter Pass includes stages and music, for each fighter I'm also sharing potential stage and music choices as well.
- Posted on November 29, 2018
- Posted on November 29, 2018
My Hero Academia: Two Heroes Review
After seeing the My Hero Academia movie in theaters, I knew I had to write up some extended thoughts on it. Check out my full review of the film that covers everything from start to finish. If you haven't seen the movie yet and want to see it fairly blind save this blog for later as I dive into full spoilers fairly quickly. Rest assured though, It's an excellent film well worth seeing for My Hero Academia fans!
- Posted on October 17, 2018
- Posted on October 17, 2018
My Experiences At Anime Expo And Comic Con 2018
This is my first blog on my new website! It's all about my experiences at Anime Expo and Comic Con 2018. I wrote about my thoughts on the four games I played across AX and SDCC including Kingdom Hearts III and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I also shared some of my convention highlights including all three concerts I attended at Anime Expo.
- Posted on August 1, 2018
- Posted on August 1, 2018
Archived Game Informer Online Blogs
My Top 25 Games At 25
When I turned 25, for the first time I put together and shared a list on my blog of my favorite games of all time. At the time of this reposting, it is still the only time I have made a list like this and I'd say it is still fairly accurate with the ordering even if a few modern games would certainly join in. In my top 25 blog, I share brief thoughts about each game that made the list and why each means so much to me until the top ten where I share some longer thoughts.
- Originally posted on my 25th birthday in September 2017
- Originally posted on my 25th birthday in September 2017
Why I Love Falcom's Trails Series
This is one of my favorite blogs I've ever written and I'm happy to have it archived and available to read again on my website. Throughout this blog, I explain why Falcom's Trails RPG series resonates so strongly with me. It begins by detailing what the series is and later delves into the three major pillars of the series: engaging turn-based combat, lovable characters, and a carefully developed world.
- Originally posted on October 5, 2016
- Originally posted on October 5, 2016
My Full Thoughts On Xenoblade Chronicles X
When I finished Xenoblade Chronicles X I knew I had a lot of feelings I needed to share beyond the paragraph or two I would write in my annual end of the year blog. In this blog, I dive in deep and share my full thoughts on Xenoblade Chronicles X, a game with enormous ambitions. Sometimes it is realized gloriously and other times it is lacking, but never is bad. I'm happy to once again share this blog on one of my favorite and most important games to me.
- Originally posted on January 5, 2016
- Originally posted on January 5, 2016
My Top 10 Favorite PS2 Games
When I finished my final game on my PlayStation 2, I decided to pick out and rank my top ten favorite games from the PS2's expansive library. My list only includes games I played on the PS2 itself, so any HD Remakes or handheld ports were excluded (sorry any Shin Megami Tensei, Disgaea, and Devil May Cry games!) . As I'm reposting this blog five years later in 2020 it's a list I still stand behind today.
- Originally posted on October 7, 2015
- Originally posted on October 7, 2015