What a year for gaming! 2019 brought the release of several games from many of my favorite franchises. Below you’ll find a list of five of my favorites from 2019, in order of their release dates.
2019 Year in Review
Nintendo has actually put together a great way to see your Switch Year in Review. All you need to do is visit the Year In Review page here and log in to your Nintendo account to see your activity. I posted some of my stats below. I’d love to hear about yours!
Yoshi’s Crafted World
Release date: March 29, 2019
I love Yoshi and I absolutely love all things adorable, so this game was a no-brainer for me. As you can see from my Nintendo stats above, I spent a good amount of time in April roaming through Yoshi’s Crafted World solving puzzles, collecting every collectible I could get my tongue on, and saving those plushy Poochy pups.
Borderlands 3
Release Date: September 13, 2019
September 2019 was a big month in gaming in my house and Borderlands 3 kicked it all off. I love the Borderlands franchise and was as excited as anyone to dive into the next iteration. The game is full of new characters and locations, but also includes lots of familiar faces and places as well. I chose to play as the new Siren character, Amara, and had a blast with her and the new siren abilities introduced in BL3. It took me a minute to get used to the PS4 controls after spending a majority of my time this year on the Switch (why are the action buttons opposite?!?!), but I had a great time once I got back into it. I have yet to finish the game as my time was quickly compromised by the release of the next game on my list, which came out just a week later!
The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
Release Date: September 20, 2019
The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is actually a re-release of the original Link’s Awakening game from 1993. Although I owned a GameBoy as a kid, I never played the original, so I was super excited to take a stab at the updated game. The Zelda franchise is my absolute favorite and this game only enforced that for me. Although challenging, I loved the art style (cute always wins in my book), map exploration, and familiar game mechanics. I never lost that desire to unlock hidden areas of the map and was ecstatic every time I unlocked a familiar weapon. Hookshot, amirite?
Luigi’s Mansion 3
Release Date: October 31, 2019
Ahh, Luigi’s Mansion. I first played the original Luigi’s Mansion game on my brother’s GameCube and was instantly hooked. It was thrilling to see two of my favorite hobbies combined, gaming and ghost hunting. I wasn’t as impressed with Luigi’s Mansion 2 for the 3DS, so I was super excited to hear about a new Luigi’s Mansion game coming out on the Switch.
With a Halloween release date, it did not disappoint. Once all the trick-or-treaters had entered their sugar comas for the night, I popped in Luigi’s Mansion 3 and played well into the early morning hours…on a weekday. Oops! It was just as enjoyable as the first Luigi’s Mansion I had played so many years earlier. I spent many hours in November sucking up ghosties, collecting gems, and releasing my trapped buddies. I ended up putting it down for a while once the next game on my list was released, but I did go back and finally beat the final boss, Big Boo, just a few nights ago!
Pokemon Sword
Release Date: November 15, 2019
As with most Pokemon game releases, I spent a few hours before release researching which flavor I was going to pick up, Sword or Shield. Since I’m more of a melee person over defense, I chose Sword. I was excited to get started on my latest Pokemon journey and was happily settling into the story when I realized I was going to have to pick a starter Pokemon. This is ALWAYS a struggle for me as most starter Pokemon have that major cute factor. I rarely choose a starter based on type and this time was no different. In the end, I went with the fire-type, Scorbunny because…well look at him!
This game is still a work in progress for me. I have advanced enough to get my starter Scorbunny to his final evolution and, let me just say, the cuteness is definitely gone. He’s pulled my team along pretty well though, so I can’t complain. I’m liking the new addition of the Gigantamax forms in gym battles. They add another level of strategizing that makes things interesting. I also love the overall look of the game and the size of the map. There is so much to explore and customize! For now, I’m stuck at the Rock gym. In this game, it seems like having the correct Pokemon type is much more important than just being a higher level than your opponent. I’m going to have to do a bit more grinding to get my water and grass types in shape. Wish me luck!
See You Next Year!
This year was a great year in gaming for me. Not only just the highly anticipated franchise releases this year, but also it brought me all of you, the LadiesGamers family! I’ve had a ton of fun reviewing games and sharing my thoughts with you all. I’m so excited to see what 2020 brings!
