the SMUDGEBAP.COM AWARDS 2025

2025/12/16

welcome back website readers!

when i last wrote an article it was in the leadup to the launch of the NINTENDO SWITCH 2 in june. half a year has passed, videogames season never really ended, and i've returned to the site with a burning urge to give awards in categories i just made up to all the games i played. unlike previous years, i actually saw and played quite a few new releases, on top of the older stuff i'm always obsessing over. as a result i've felt way more "on the pulse" of whatever this medium is doing in the current moment, and i really cherish that!

before we start, the list doesn't include some games that i still played and loved, such as arc system works' DEAR ME, I WAS or nintendo's MARIO KART WORLD. the year was simply that stuffed with games for me to play that not all of them could win awards, after all.

ah! i'm already out of ramble time -- our first award-winner is approaching...!

HOLLOW KNIGHT: SILKSONG

best game that kicked my ass

so when SILKSONG came out it was a big moment -- like, wow, goodness, the game "we" were waiting for finally came out! and then immediately after launch everything i heard about it was its intense difficulty when compared to the already-difficult HOLLOW KNIGHT. i got silksong On Launch so these comments didn't find me until i was already a couple hours in, and as they whispered around i was trying not to let them influence my understanding of its design.

for the most part silksong's first hours were a sharply-designed breeze. i was patient with its rules, understanding its early challenges and how it differs from the first game, which i was much less patient with when i played it. don't tell anyone this, but i was Really Enjoying silksong! i had a good time getting used to its dastardly play routines and dying dozens upon dozens of times -- it was exhilarating, even. i finally understood the appeal of this kind of action game and i was excited to play more.

HOWEVER, i haven't played beyond the first eight or so hours i spent with it. it launched only a few weeks before the start of my uni year so i was having a busy month and the time & attention i need for this kind of intense action just slipped away. someday i'll get the urge to have my ass kicked by silksong once again, but in the meantime i've had other games keeping me company.

STRAY CHILDREN

best exonarrative rpg

when love-de-lic released MOON: REMIX RPG ADVENTURE in 1997 it kicked off a lineage of games whose influence breathes through to this day. key developers of MOON reconvened to form onion games, rereleasing the game in 2020 and more recently producing a successor: STRAY CHILDREN.

this game actually launched a year ago in japan, and emotionally i did that squidward window meme thing because my japanese still isn't good enough to read RPG dialogue. thankfully, in october, it received a late english release, so i was able to finally check it out. i now know not only that the game is silly pretty but also that it's Directly About the game moon: remix rpg adventure, unsealing it like an aged wine for a moody introspection.

as such, i actually stopped playing the game and made plans to instead play through the rest of moon: remix rpg adventure lol.

KIRBY AIR RIDERS

best game i don't own

masahiro sakurai is one of my favorite youtubers and i've got mondo respect for SORA's way of developing games. everything about KIRBY AIR RIDERS is pristine, it's delightful and luxurious and clean at a time where many game companies strive to bloat their software.

while i don't have the game, and kinda chose not to get it, i did check out the pre-release network test and i can confirm, right now, to you, that that city trial mode is some of the videogamesiest stuff out there. i'm really not sure i'd get an awful lot out of a party game like this, but it's a beautiful followup to the kind of stuff SMASH BROS. pulls. it's not even a racing game! this is a fighting game where you just happen to be riding something!! isn't that nuts!!!

DELTARUNE CHAPTERS 3 & 4

best "tenna"

playing the new chapters of the ongoing RPG deltarune on a brand-new console it launched alongside was a surreal feeling. i hadn't really been thinking about these characters or this world for a non-negligible number of years and suddenly i was pulled back in with a total pastiche of the expectations of a "new deltarune chapter" and i found that very funny.

when playing these two chapters i felt that chapter 3 was just the goofy one while chapter 4 is where things Get Real but as time passed i gained appreciation for the layers introduced in chapter 3. i feel like chapter 2 established what the "format" would be going forward, and chapter 3 REALLY plays into that. it takes a lot of self-awareness to basically do a deltarune parody within deltarune, and in hindsight the third chapter hides so much that shows the true nature of where this story is heading.

as a combined package, chapters 3 & 4 make it clear to me what the direction for DELTARUNE really is. it's surrounded by so much fan theorization and internet nonsense that i'm glad i was able to get in tune with the emotional traits of the story. at least, my interpretation of what it is.

i am however deeply upset at the developer's theft of my "worm" gag. i invented it mere months before the launch of these chapters, and it was nefariously stolen from me without cr

UNBEATABLE

best rhythm game

so i actually haven't played much of this yet it came out a few days ago and i have been SICK in BED unable to sit up long enough to play a videogame for very long but even through this illness i checked out two hours' worth of UNBEATABLE, this year's hotly-anticipated narrative rhythm game.

so far it's gorgeous, sweetly written and highly passionate. i already know rhythm game fans worked on this, but the love for music *in general* spills through. that love is crucial in the current moment -- like other works of love, the very existence of UNBEATABLE contrasts substantially with the inescapable woes of the videogame industry. notably there really aren't many new styles of rhythm game being produced, so the outburst of UNBEATABLE alongside RHYTHM DOCTOR and BITS & BOPS all from just this month is shining hope in the genre's darkness.

DONKEY KONG BANANZA

outstanding achievement in monkey videogaming

while the mario-odyssey style of adventure platforming might not have hit for me so much this time, DONKEY KONG BANANZA is still a crazy fun time. the satisfaction of banana never gets old and the terrain-smashing mechanic feels like it should be impossible to design around but they STILL PULLED IT OFF. it's, dare i say, bananas.

as a technical showcase for the Nintendo Switch 2 System it was spectacular, and i like the funny ape. i'm also pretty glad this exists in a separate vacuum from the "country" games, and that people got really confused about the "donkey kong timeline".

my favorite part of the game is that if you use the joy-cons detached you can beat them against your chest in rhythm to make DK do the same. i am mad that no other game is doing it like this one does.

TO A T

best slice-of-life game

i already discussed this game in my summer video, but i will reiterate that it's one of my favorites of the whole year. it's impossible for me to examine it without keeping in mind the context of keita takahashi as a storied game designer, but even in a vacuum it's a sweet beautiful game about sweet beautiful life. if UNBEATABLE is shining hope on the rhythm genre, this game is shining hope In General.

it's fueled by a relentless optimism for daily life and the value of even the smallest moments. it's a game made for an audience who feels pretty down in the dumps about the world, told literally timelessly through a story that isn't set in any particular year or moment. what it has to say is something that's important to keep in mind anytime, i think. it is the perfect shape.

GUNPEY

game of the year

that's right, 1999's GUNPEY for the wonderswan is the game of the year. you know it, everyone knows it, and it will always be the greatest game in existence. no other comes close, and if you fight me on this, you're going to lose.

see you next year for the 2026 smudgebap.com awards!