Happy mid-year, everyone! I'm back in business! Okay, seriously, I need to do something about these hiatuses. I missed out on posting a list of my favorite games I played in last year, for crying out loud! Well, to make up for it, I've decided to pull a RabbidLuigi and take some of my more highly games of my original list and unite them with games I've come to admire since 2015 began, because trust me; I may have put off a lot of things...anywhere, but I never stop playing(video games, that is), otherwise I would end up a dull boy. But, dull or not, we still need to establish some rules for this list(because lists have always been about order. That's kind of the whole point of lists.) There's the usual "only games I played" and "one game per franchise" rules(man, we're already getting monotonous), and also I will be counting games I have played in the last 12 months. More or less. I haven't been keeping perfect track of when I played these games, so just bare with me.

Speed Runners' Top 10 Favorite Games Played Lately(July 2015)

10)Shantae and the Pirate's Curse(3DS)

   I think it's safe to say Shantae is quickly becoming my favorite 2D platforming franchise--or at the very least, one of my favorite video game franchises in general. Shantae and the Pirate's Curse takes the metroidvania style of gameplay from the original Shantae and added a few tweeks to the layout, mainly the way all the areas are divided into islands and are unlocked in a certain order, so it also has some linearity from Risky's Revenge. However, this way, it was easier for the developers to give each area more substance and layers to their design than when everything was interconnected, and their are sections of the islands you couldn't get to right away until you've acquired a new weapon later, encouraging you to come back to that island and go to the places you couldn't the first time you visited that island and find more collectables and secrets. And about the weapons, in place of the genie abilities Shantae lost in the previous game(sorry, spoiler), you can now find and wield Risky Boots' pirate weapons to progress further into the game. These weapons range from pistol for a standard long range attack to Risky Boots' boots that makes you run and break through enemies and obstacles like Sonic the Frickin' Hedgehog!(Yes PLEASE!) Mix all that with impressive new boss battles, clever and fun dungeons, and plenty of personality and color, and you have a must play for the 3DS. I just wish I had put more time in this game I did, which is the main reason I didn't place this game higher. Nevertheless, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is well designed and charming metroidvania for any fan of the genre and 3DS owner alike and is a solid contender for my favorite Shantae game along side the original game for GameBoy Color.

9)Metroid Prime(GC/Wii)

   WHAT?! I would dare place the godly Metroid Prime so low on a favorite games list?! Blasphemy! Well, I have just one reason for this. A petty reason, but a reason nonetheless; Metroid Prime is a big game, and I'm a busy man. At the end of the day though, there's no denying that Metroid Prime is a fantastic game. The game plays in a first-person perspective, and you see everything through Samus' very helmet visor, with all the overhead displays and esthetics you'd expect from an advanced sci-fi space suit like that of the iconic suit Samus Aran wears, already making for more immersion than you could with any typical sci-fi themed FPS. But, the sense of immersion doesn't stop there. Since this is Nintendo we're talking about, the overworld is enormous with many floors and alternate routes, interactive pieces and puzzles and wild and very dangerous alien life attempting to bite your goddamn head off, buckets and buckets of variety all throughout, and most of all, no real set path to take, just do what ever hell you want(provided you acquired the proper power-ups, which is just how these games work) And oh yes, the power-ups! It really isn't a Metroid game without kickass technology to upgrade your suit with, such as the multiple types of beams you get to deal with many different enemy types and open certain doors, applications to your suit to withstand different types of environmental hazards, and even upgrades to your visor to see in the dark, spot camouflaging enemies, and even find hidden routes. There is just so much content to this game, it's such a crying shame I haven't had enough time to experience it all! I don't even know how far I've gotten in this game; I know I was able to gather a couple Chozo artifacts, but I'll have to continue whenever I can make the time, and by god, I will make the time, dammit! If you're a Nintendo fan, you owe it to yourself to have Metroid Prime in your collection one way or another, and it's certainly a game I won't allow slip through my fingers!

8)Hyrule Warriors(Wii U)

   Hyrule Warriors is fun and badass; I'm just gonna get that out of the way right now. I have a feeling Zelda purists are gearing to line up in front of my doorstep with pitchforks and torches for saying this is a good game despite not being a traditional Zelda game, but if the game is functional and I'm genuinely enjoying myself, I just simply don't give a fuck what a certain game in any franchise it's doing! Video games are entertaining first and foremost, and before I begin to ramble, I'm just going to talk about Hyrule Warriors already. This is one Zelda game where no one pulls any punches. You are at war. You are deep inside the carnage against maddening odds and it is awesome! As Warriors-style beat-em up, you are capable of mowing through hundreds of enemies at once, and you have many different moves and combos to rack up the kill count! It's that simple sense of satisfaction of dominating a whole army by yourself in such an over-the-top way that really gives this type of gameplay it's appeal. Of course, it couldn't be that easy, as you'd have to deal with either massive bosses with specific weaknesses and strategies and other characters where elemental attributes that are part of your weapons make their use and you have to adapt to their move set and attack and evade and the right moments. Plus, this is one of few games in the Zelda franchise where Link isn't the only playable character. You also have a choice from characters like the giant sword wielding Impa, the shadow shifting Midna, the waterbending Ruto, the hammer smashing Darunia, even Zelda herself is playable, and some characters even get alternate weapons for entirely new movesets and elements to get a character you want with the weapon best suited to the mission. It may not be an adventure game like The Legend of Zelda usually is, but it's a damn good Warriors game and has even interested me into trying out other Warriors games such as the highly recognized Dynasty Warriors games(in fact, there's another Warriors-style game later on this list, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there)

7)Kirby Triple Deluxe(3DS)

   It's not unheard of that Kirby is one of Nintendo's prime platforming franchises, and the staple Kirby platformer for 3DS is no exception. The base controls for Kirby are just about the same as they've always been; walk/run, jump, float, inhale, and copy, so let's just jump right into the part of the gameplay of any Kirby platformer I can give fresh commentary on: the copy abilities. You've got five new abilities: beetle, which let's you fly and uses a horn hat like a sort of spear; archer, which when mastered, can make for some good ranged combat and swift attacks; bell, which utilizes sounds for combat; circus, though while I've heard not a lot of liked it, can actually make for some tricky combat for enemies and fun circus acrobatics and is actually my favorite new ability in the game; and of course, HYPERNOVA, which is sort of like the Super Abilities in Return to Dream Land, but what this is is a gigaton amplifier for your inhale ability! You can't get any other copy abilities when you have Hypernova, but this power-up is used to move giant blocks, solve puzzles, and even battle particularly crazy bosses! This game also introduced a inter-foreground mechanic where you can jump between the foreground, background, and so on by jumping onto these miniature warp stars. This may not sound like much such as the 2.5D layout of Kirby 64, but the way this game literally layers these side-scrolling levels really due give these level more depth and deliver some interesting stage gimmicks. Other than that, though, it's a Kirby platformer. You rarely ever go wrong with that, and Kirby Triple Deluxe delivers enough to be up there with Kirby 64 and Return to Dream Land.

6)Bayonetta 2(Wii U)

   PlatinumGames does it again! Now, for a hack-n-slasher where you play a witch with hair that's sometimes possessed by demons fighting angelic enemies between the realities of heaven, hell, and purgatory, what could you do to improve on that? Well, how about providing the expositions needed to fill in the plot holes of the first game which I can't even describe right now for the sake of not spoiling the story? How about removing those insta-death quick time events and save the button demanding for the power struggle QTEs that work so splendidly the boost the power of scripted finishing moves? How about amplifying the combat 2-fold with the new Umbra Climax that integrate your demon spawn into super melee attacks? How about expanding on the levels and action with well executed and controlled air, water, and vehicle sections that well simulates Kid Icarus: Uprising's engine? How about new challenges that text your combat flexibility(which admittedly get out right frustratingly hard later on) and in some instances, allow you to play co-op mode with a friend? How about bigger, badder, world-destroying godly boss battles?! In that order; check, check, check, check, check, and...not quite. The bosses were good, but they didn't quite level up to the scale of the bosses in the previous games. Then again, Bayonetta 1 went all the way to the closest thing we ever got to God in a video game with it's final boss appropriately; if that's not a hard act to follow, I don't know what is, but you know what? That's just a minor nitpick compared to how much this game did correctly. Needless to say, Bayonetta 2 did everything a video game sequel should do; take the aspects of the predecessor, improve everything from the last game, and add properly functioning new elements to keep it fresh.

5)Shovel Knight(Wii U/3DS/PS4/Xbox ONE/Steam)

   Regrettably, I didn't get the chance to play this game when it was still 2014, but early in 2015, I stopped beating around the bush, bought Shovel Knight from the Wii U Nintendo eShop, and now I'm incredibly glad I get to talk about this game now! If you somehow couldn't already tell, the overall presentation of Shovel Knight is a throwback to the NES days of gaming, with 8-bit graphics and chiptone electronic music and how well made the graphics and music is actually good enough to give just about any game on the NES a run for the money, as the graphics have an impressive amount of color and detail for 8-bit standards, and the music has so much energy fanfare melodies that it truly feels like you're on a quest of honor and glory and you can't help but feel pumped enough to face whatever this game throws at you. That's especially good considering the fact that even the NES brand of challenge is applied to Shovel Knight. Enemies are quick and even smart enough to read your moves, platforming requires quite an amount of precision and thinking with some very clever and smoothly flowing stage gimmicks, and colorful and varied bosses with many different resources at their disposal, but everything does actually give you enough room and registers to adapt to them and still have fun. Throw in some useful weapons, an expansive and well fleshed-out overworld, and plenty of noteworthy DLC, and you've got one of the greatest 2D experiences EVER! If you're a retro gaming fan and really, truly take pride old-school platformers, get Shovel Knight. Seriously, I mean right after you read the rest of this list, log off, go to the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, or Steam, pay for this game, download it, and play the living crap out of it! Shovel Knight is a 2D platformer worth every penny and second you invest in it...Classic Sonic fans.

4)Super Smash Bros. 4(Wii U/3DS)

   Super Smash Bros. 4 was my most anticipated game for 2014, with the only other game I was more hyped for at the time being Mighty No. 9(which is coming out in September ^w^) And now, after being out for 8-10 months, did it live up to the hype? Well, would it be this high on the list if it didn't? This time around, the gameplay feels faster and weightier, certain characters have been altered in their play styles a bit to be more fluid, particularly two of the heavy sets, Donkey Kong and especially Bowser, and low and behold, the tripping is GONE! YEEEEEES! The selection of stages were also nice, a lot of them being simply the most enjoyable I've played in a Smash Bros. game, and there's an exclusive roster of stages for each version of Smash Bros. with the 3DS version featuring locations from handheld games, and the Wii U version having sets from mostly console games respectively. Plus, the Wii U version has these super sized stages made especially for matches of up to 8-players! No, that wasn't a typo; the console version of Smash 4 now has twice the maximum number of player slots of any Smash game ever! Go nuts!(You too, bronies. We all know the joke you're thinking off. Go ahead, leave it in the comments. I'm just not going to make it myself for the sake of professionalism.) As for the roster, while some of the newcomers were kind of...eh...most of the characters we did get are some of the most entertaining and fiercest entries to the Smash roster, such as the sporadic Greninja, the hyper Little Mac, Shulk and his varied Manado amplification skills, and my current favorite, Robin, with his(or her; you get gender options) wide array of magic and potent sword attacks! Oh, and you can use your Miis as fighters now. That's pretty cool. I mean, what else is there to say; it's freaking Smash Bros.! Fights are still chaotic, fan service is still satisfying, and--what's that? There's a ton of DLC, and they're going to release more new characters soon? And there's been a Smash Poll going on for character requests?!

GET HYPED!!

3)Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire(3DS)

   The thing about these Pokémon remakes is that they update so much content and add so many new things they might as well count as their own games entirely, and so far, the remakes have fixed the majority of the original games' issues as well as update the games with content that had been established in the Pokémon series by the time, which in my opinion is better. The Hoenn series, in this case, has still remained my favorite series of Pokémon to this day, and since Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire have updated this series for the 3DS, did these games keep their end of the bargain and improved and adapted to the current generation? Yes. Yes. Yes! Yes! YES! YES! YES!! Generation 3 already introduced a crapton of really good Pokémon, and now some of the best new evolutions that debuted since are thrown into the mix with all the Mega Evolutions from Pokémon X and Y and a few new ones! In fact, Groudon, Kyogre, and even Rayquaza now have Mega and Primal Evolutions! The new Dex Nav makes it easier to find Pokémon and with the addition of the Poke Amie mechanic from X/Y, training Pokémon is now that much easier and more meaning full! And the gyms; oh god, the gyms are even better than they ever were before, as the 3D video enhancement allows for new, more enjoyable gym gimmicks and the leaders themselves now not only more epic in presentation, but the battles with them are more balanced and well characterized than before, right down to their selection of Pokémon, strategies, and moves! All in all, it's Pokémon. While the main RPGs tend to stay generally the same, the use of features of final quality are what makes each main series game stand out. When I put Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire in the honorable mentions of my list if my most anticipated games of 2014, I said if this game successfully improved on the original Hoenn games, I would consider it the best 3DS game ever, and Game Freak, you truly did deliver! Not only that, but Pokémon ORAS is now my favorite Pokémon game and my favorite RPG! Props to you Game Freak, you fucking magnificent people.

2)Skullgirls(PS3/PS4)

   I've felt like I've gotten better a fighting games lately, although there has only been one other fighting game on this list so far. I had been curious about Skullgirls and I knew this was an all time favorite of one of my online friends, Deadshred, and after actually figuring out how to connect my PS3 to the internet(yeah, I was never a "hardware expert"), I finally downloaded the rereleased version, Skullgirls Encore, and I am now SO glad I got into this game myself! I had never been an all that good at these arcade style 2D fighting games, and the main reason for that was never getting the hang of the control style of these games as they've always felt really demanding of my abilities to input and memorize button combinations and input timing, but this game I felt was pretty forgiving of my button and analog skills and I was able to enjoy the fights more while still feeling like I'm applying the proper skills in the long run! It's especially great because the roster of characters, despite the rather small number of fighters especially for today's fighting game standards, are differentiated excellently, with characters ranging from heavy and hard hitting to fast and nimble to adaptable to many different situations and each character having their own set of special skills and artillery types to make each character stand out. In fact, the characters themselves are all very well written and very interesting with many different motives and so very different hardships in the journey to face the Skullgirl and confront the Skull Heart artifact that's the central cause of all the conflict in the story. Some characters are in this fight for the pursuit of power and mafia status, others are in it to protect everything and everyone they care about, others are in it for revenge against the Skull Heart for the pain and suffering it caused them, and some are even out to find self actualization with the events surround the battles against the Skullgirl being the contributing factor of how they got into this situation to begin with. These characters and their purposes and applications were what made this game truly shine, and out of all of them, Squigly is by far my favorite. She makes for a quite a tricky opponent when mastered, her story was the most engaging and emotional, and despite being a zombie...she's just so fucking adorable! >3< Honestly, I think Skullgirls may not only be the most fun I've had with a fighting game by far, but the main contributing factor to me getting better at fighting games, and now LabZero has remade the game into Skullgirls 2nd Encore with all previously released DLC included and full voice acting and recently released it for download for PS4 and PSVita! Here's hoping this is an IP that becomes a complete series!

1)Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus(PSVita)

   So, why do like this game so much to put it all the way at the top of this list? Is it the many charming, well skilled, and rather hot cast of entirely female main characters? Yes. Is it the fast-paced, over-the-top, and fluid combat? Yes. Is it the surprisingly well thought out, well layered, and thought provoking story despite the amount of sexy fan service themes present? Yes. Is it the most of everything? Yes. I'm not going to lie; I was expecting to like Senran Kagura: SV, but I didn't think I'd get so engrossed in the game as much as I did! I had never expected the story to have so much thought into what is truly good or what is truly evil and/or that "good" and "evil" may just be labels to make black and white of all the actions of those who walk the path of the shinobi rather than showing the different colors of these brave female characters actions and purposes, many of whom have experience so much pain and difficulties that you really start to truly care about these girls and root for them all the way to the end! I won't go over all the characters right now and I'm going to try to not spoil too much, but out of all the characters featured in Shinovi Versus, the mascot character of the Versus series introduced in this game, Yumi, is the one character to actually personify all these ideals and series of hardships presented in this game. Throughout the game, Yumi's pain and inherently immeasurable sense of justice was all that was driving her, motivating her, but she was unaware that what she was doing was not for the better, and only after facing many different shinobi, "Good" and "Evil" alike, after seeing what their true resolves and purposes were, Yumi eyes were opened and she set out to make things right again, and by the end of the Gessen Story, her heart was finally at peace knowing her grandfather was proud of the kind of woman she became in the very end. Now, that's all well and good, but no matter how good a story can be, it means nothing in an electronic video game if the gameplay isn't good. Senran Kagura: SV is indeed the other Warriors game I mentioned earlier on the list, and I already said the combat was fast and fluid. The playable characters are also well varied ranging from heavy hitters to flexible strategy-advantaged reachers to many status heavy fighters, and each character has a three finishers with many varying ranges, reaches, strengths, and effects, my favorite once again being Yumi with many field burying icy attacks and speedy movements! There's just so much that I've come to love about Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus that I didn't want to stop playing! I still want to play the downloadable characters Daidoji and Rin! I still want to get all A ranks! And I still want to get every character at max level! I love Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus so much that I am now fully invested into the Senran Kagura franchise, as it was so well made, interesting, alluring, and most importantly, it's a lot of fun, and with Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson coming to 3DS in August and Senran Kagura: Estival Versus expecting to come to the U.S. in December, I am very excited for the rest of 2015!


   I'm Speed Runner, and I should get around to downloading Senran Kagura Burst real soon.