I thought this would be a fun post to make. Since Game of the Year is something that’s in discussion right now, I figured I would do something insane and give my personal game of the year for every year from 1985 to now. I would go back further, but I’m not too familiar with games in that era outside arcade games.
Keep in mind these are just my personal GotY picks
1985: Super Mario Bros.
1986: Castlevania
1987: Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out
1988: Mega Man 2
1989: DuckTales
1990: Super Mario World
1991: A Link to the Past
1992: Kirby’s Dream Land
1993: Mega Man X
1994: Earthbound
1995: Yoshi’s Island
1996: Pokémon Red
1997: Final Fantasy VII
1998: Ocarina of Time
1999: Street Fighter III: Third Strike
2000: Final Fantasy IX
2001: Super Smash Bros. Melee
2002: Metroid Prime
2003: Wind Waker
2004: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
2005: Resident Evil 4
2006: Mother 3
2007: Bioshock
2008: Burnout Paradise
2009: Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
2010: Xenoblade Chronicles
2011: Portal 2
2012: Hotline Miami
2013: Animal Crossing: New Leaf
2014: Bayonetta 2
2015: Super Mario Maker
2016: Kirby: Planet Robobot
2017: Persona 5
2018: Celeste
2019: Devil May Cry 5
2020: Crash Bandicoot 4
2021: Metroid Dread
2022: Elden Ring
2023: Street Fighter 6
Picking a game every year for 2001-2010 was so hard