As 2019 comes to a close, so does the decade. The past ten years have provided some of the best that gaming has ever had to offer, beginning with the tail-end of the seventh generation, and closing out right as companies have announced successors to their eighth generation hardware. What better way to celebrate the end of a decade than reminiscing and remembering some of the best of the best?

So, that begs the question; what were your top ten favorites games that released from 2010 all the way to 2019? We’ll be taking a community vote, to figure out the GBAtemp community’s essential and most-loved video games from this decade.

To clarify, games that were given a re-release or cosmetic remaster shouldn’t be considered. For example, Valkyria Chronicles released originally in 2008, but received a PC port in 2014, and a 1080p remaster for the PlayStation 4 in 2016. Neither of these newer versions of the game added new content, outside of graphical improvements, and are essentially the same game with a new coat of paint. If, however, a game was ported to a new engine, remade from the ground-up, or had substantial changes made or content added (Ratchet & Clank, Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia, etc) then it’s fair game. If you're confused as to when a game released, you can always check its release date on Wikipedia! (note: count the initial release date in the west, not a delayed PC port that came out the following year, or localizations that released one year in NA, but multiple years later in EU/AU).

Example:

Spoiler: Like this

2010: Fallout New Vegas
2011: The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
2012: Persona 4: Golden
2013: Fire Emblem: Awakening
2014: Danganronpa 2
2015: Rocket League
2016: Superhot VR
2017: Sonic Mania
2018: Dead Cells
2019: The Division 2

This gives us a chance to have some fun, discussing some of our favorite games, explaining why we loved them, while reflecting on the previous decade. Then we can pit all the years against each other, to figure out which Pokemon game is going to win this vote, because let's face it, Pokemon always wins! Have fun!

 

[relauby]

yay for Deadly premonition, I also love the game's story, but I totally cannot handle the clumsy gameplay. Wish it had been more polished. The ending was so depressing.

I actually never had too much trouble with the gameplay, except for the driving. If anything I thought the combat was a little too easy. But man, the game is just so weird in everything else it does I’d still love it even if the gameplay was worse.

 

[Draxikor]

I have a lot of pending games from PS3 so i cant be sure to fill 10 places, but for sure the best for me is Xenoblade Chronicles for Wii and Metroid Other M

 

[DANTENDO]

And I think the new star wars game should be considered by those playing it right now I'm 8 hours in and id say best star wars game I've pld for combat so far

 

[simbin]

Binary Domain
Dead Island
Lollipop Chainsaw
Remember Me
Singularity
Syndicate

 

[James_]

We all know that the best game from this decade is Meme Run.

 

[cracker]

There are too many good games in that range of time. One game I keep thinking about replaying (and wanting a port for Switch of) is Shadow Complex.

 

[HideoKojima]

Mario Odyssey 2
Half life 3
Metal Gear : The Boss Legacy
Resident Evil: The return of Los Illuminados

Ps: not trying to be funny here, I'm just from the future...

 

[DANTENDO]

Mario Odyssey 2
Half life 3
Metal Gear : The Boss Legacy
Resident Evil: The return of Los Illuminados

Ps: not trying to be funny here, I'm just from the future...

Can you tell us what happened at the end of ff7 remake

 

[Ryccardo]

By release date? This is going to be hard...

2010: Pokemon HGSS (bad remakes but good games, in fact the last of the series I can claim as such)
2011 (unexpected): Cubic Ninja (both itself and its unofficial extras)
2012: none
2013: Animal Crossing NL (the second-best in terms of content of the series yet after e+, yet the least memorable one I've played especially in terms of the music)
2014: none (Smash Bros 4 gets the questionable award of being the least worst game of the year I've played AND the worst game I've bought)
2015: Xenoblade for N3DS (the Wii original is from 2010, but I played this one first and consider having status bars and shit on a separate screen to be a significant improvement)
2016: none (Pokemon Go wasn't bad from the little I remember, but I didn't actively play it back then, and it retroactively lost the title since it's full of added crap compared to then)
2017: absolutely no idea, would award Everybody's Golf 7 due to my trust of the brand but actually I've never tried it
2018: none
2019: none
2020: none (I already expect the new animal crossing will be inferior to most previous ones)

 

[gudenau]

2010: Warioware D.I.Y.
2011: Minecraft
2012: Xenoblade Chronicles
2013: Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move
2014: Super ash Brothers 4
2015: Undertale (Was a lot of good stuff this year, goodness)
2016: Enter the Gungeon
2017: Super Mario Oddesy
2018: Warioware Gold
2019: Slay the Spire

 

[HideoKojima]

Can you tell us what happened at the end of ff7 remake

The real-time combat system sucks so I didn't finish it yet, plus it's an open world and I wanna finish it 100%, I mean I can check on Veoh (yeah YouTube has died after all creators stopped posting videos as a reaction to demonetization) to prove what I'm saying but I don't wanna spoil it.

 

[T-hug]

Souls, Bloodborne, Destiny, Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes (played the most by far, never spent a penny on it ) Gears of War, TES:IV Oblivion.
Probably missing something but those are what I've spent the most time on, so feels right to pick them

 

[gameboy]

Pokemon Omega Ruby + Alpha Sapphire, best Pokemon to date
Mario Kart 7, was a game changer to karting
Zelda Breath of the Wild, obvious
Infamous Second Son, the graphics were game changing
Ni no kuni, the studio gibli and battle system
Metal Gear Solid 5 PP, game changer also
Control (for high end pc) one of the best games ive ever played

this decade was pretty bad in terms of gaming IMO

 

[gameboy]

Pokemon Omega Ruby + Alpha Sapphire, best Pokemon to date
Mario Kart 7, was a game changer to karting
Zelda Breath of the Wild, obvious
Infamous Second Son, the graphics were game changing
Ni no kuni, the studio gibli and battle system
Metal Gear Solid 5 PP, game changer also
Control (for high end pc) one of the best games ive ever played

this decade was pretty bad in terms of gaming IMO

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Can you tell us what happened at the end of ff7 remake

it leaves of on a cliff hanger to part 2 coming 2024

 

[Paulsar99]

Witcher 3
Rdr 2
Gta V
Persona 5
Persona 4 golden
Botw
Stardew Valley
Pubg
Mgs V
Re2 remake
Bloodstained
Divinity OS 2
Yakuza 0
Xenoblade 2
Gow
Horizon Zero Dawn
Uncharted 4
Sleeping dogs
Doom
Bloodbourne
Dota 2

 

[Glyptofane]

Off the top of my head, a few would be:

Super Mario Galaxy 2
Animal Crossing New Leaf
Fantasy Life
Yo-kai Watch 2
Mario Kart 8

Most anticipated was probably Golden Sun Dark Dawn, and well, I don't hate it as much as some people do, but it didn't really live up as you are all aware.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

2010: Call of Duty: Black Ops (Wii)
2011: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Wii)
2012: Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 (Wii)
2013: Call of Duty: Ghosts (Wii U)
2014: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Wii U)
2015: Fast Racing NEO (Wii U)
2016: Star Fox Zero (Wii U)
2017: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U)
2018: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch)
2019: Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch)

 

[supergamer368]

It's really hard for me to pick favorites, but I found a pic on Reddit which has a lot of the major releases of the decade if anyone else is having trouble.

Spoiler: 2010's starter pack

 

[DS1]

Catherine and FTL are the two I think that really made the decade. Everything else is pretty derivative or sequels to games that were already good (they just made them better).

I usually don't put fighting games on any "top" lists (I think they are all pretty amazing and I never get tired of them), but it is significant that the genre saw a renaissance this decade. There are countless titles and the fighting game scene went from little enclaves to a global community.

2010 Resonance of Fate
2011 Catherine
2012 FTL
2013 Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
2014 Sengoku Basara 4
2015 Crypt of the Necrodancer
2016 Persona 5*
2017 Nioh
2018 Spider-Man
2019 Devil May Cry 5

*Yes, I had previously said Etrian Odyssey V, but I didn't actually play EO:V until it came out in English the following year. Pocket Card Jockey and Style Savvy 4 also came out that year, it was a big year.

 

[tyrantnyx]

Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time is definitely my number 1 game of the decade.

 

[Taleweaver]

Mario Odyssey 2
Half life 3
Metal Gear : The Boss Legacy
Resident Evil: The return of Los Illuminados

Ps: not trying to be funny here, I'm just from the future...

So these will all release in 2020, and therefore still be considered 'part of this decade'?