Short and very sweet, Concrete Genie is a spellbinding experiment in player creativity.
Updating the look but never losing the feel of the original, Link's Awakening is a masterclass in remaking a classic.
A gorgeous throwback hampered by uninspired mission design and over-indulgent storytelling.
As flawed and as fun as ever, Iron Rain doesn't dull the core pleasure of EDF, but doesn't manage much more either.
A grey second act that ultimately sets us up nicely for a far brighter finale.
Treasure Tracker still feels close to unique, and gains new life on both of Nintendo's current systems. Switch is very much the better choice, but 3DS is by no means a bad option. Still smart, prettier than ever and, in retrospect, genuinely important as part of Nintendo's modern history, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a rare example of a game that actually feels better for being a few years old.
Bold and newly beautiful, Monster Hunter: World demands to be played on its own terms and rewards you with an amazing RPG.
The Champions' Ballad isn't the extra dose of story for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that many fans were expecting, but it would be churlish to turn down another chunk of hours with one of gaming's greatest achievements. Even better, those hours are filled with new surprises, endgame-level challenges, and the weirdest post-game reward of recent years.
Cuphead made me feel more good and more bad than any other game I've played in the last several years. I swore, laughed, and hollered with delight. I hated it (and my own fingers) for long stretches but, having finished, I realise that's more or less the point – I emerged from all that pain smiling. Rather than simply offering the player what they want, Cuphead makes them earn that right – the rewards, if you can hack the tests, are absolutely worth it. Cuphead is incredible for more than just its looks. But before you dive in, make sure you actually want a game that plays like this, and not just a game that looks like this.
The Master Trials doesn't make any epochal changes to the established Breath of the Wild formula, but by packing in one of the game's best quests, some welcome new features, and a hard mode to be reckoned with, it more than paves the way for the starrier story expansion to come.