My games of 2020

I’ve been keeping a running thread of video games I’ve beaten on Twitter this year, which has been a fun project and a highlight of 2020 for me personally. Being under lock and key during a pandemic, it seemed a good time to make some headway on my backlog, go back to some favorites just for fun, and to clear some space on the docket for some new games … which is now reality as Santa delivered the kids (and to a lesser extent Mom and Dad) a Switch for Christmas.

Woohoo!

Anyway, I took the liberty of ranking the games I’ve beaten this year and included them in a list below. What you won’t see is a whole bunch of other games I played/enjoyed this year that weren’t “defeated” per se. Puzzlers like Mean Bean Machine, Tetris, Chew Man Fu, and Bubble Bobble ate a ton of my time, but weren’t an easy out. I also dipped my toes in with games I just didn’t have time or motivation to finish (such as Super Return of the Jedi, Comix Zone and Zombies Ate My Neighbors) as well as some games previously defeated to continue the process of unlocking items (like New Super Mario Bros. Wii). Finally, there was stuff I played with my kids that I had no interest in beating … like SSX Tricky, Kirby Super Star or Eternal Champions. Honestly, there’s a lot I played this year that didn’t make this list. But I wanted to be fair and only evaluate a game in its “complete” form (or at least as close to that as possible).

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Sonic the Hedgehog 2 — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 7)

Of the many gaming opinions I’ll often state as fact, none inspires quite the level of self-confidence as “Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is the best retro Sonic game.”

Yes, Sonic CD has many fans. Yes, Sonic 3 & Knuckles as a combo of two solid games becomes a better version of itself in its unified form (sort of like the Devastator or Voltron of video games). But I feel comfortable, confident, and maybe even downright cocky about this particular stance.

Sonic 2 is incredible.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Genre: Side-scrolling platformer
Released: 1992
Platform: Genesis
GameFan Score: 197/200
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