2025 in review

Videos and Learning New Skills

If you've just been following this blog, then 2025 hasn't been much. Looking back I only created one post on how I was tackling my backlog. I had created a handful of other posts, but never got around to refining them or fleshing out the ideas that I once had. However, most of my time this year was spent on my YouTube channel, CheckTheManual. There I tried my best to create content semi-regularly, with the highlight being July/August leading up to Evo where I looked at several game manuals, and my collectors edition of Cyberbots in full detail. Outside of that I also made 2 Playdate reviews, which seemed to really take off and are where the majority of my views have come it seems. My goal was to try to hit 100 subscribers within the year, and currently as I'm writing this my channel is at 115 subscribers! I'd say the videos that I'm most proud of were my Cyberbots video as well as a Nintendo Power video I made looking at the launch of Nintendo's Wi-fi service and how to access it. I learned a lot of new things in editing videos, and although basic, it felt good to learn something new. My goal for 2026 isn't necessarily a subscriber count per se. I'd like to come back to writing more blog posts. Perhaps just keeping things shorter and a bit more opinion-based would be easier for this blog, still to be decided more on. As for my YouTube channel, I would like to continue in creating longer videos with a bit more substance and research needed to be put into them. My short form content which has been my bread and butter so to speak I'd like to keep more brief. Usually my videos are about 2 minutes in length for the shorts, but in checking my analytics I find that most people aren't staying for longer than 10-15 seconds. So I plan to change my shorts to be shorter just looking at either artwork or tidbits about the manual I thought were cool. I have a lot of other ideas for my videos, so stay tuned to that. 

Outside of the videos and posts I'll be creating, I'd also like to focus more attention on things that could aid in bringing new ideas to the table. I've always heard that game developers do better when their interests are more varied, and that they take the medium of video games as a creative outlet first as opposed to making entertainment or as a job. With that being said, in 2026 I'm going to be putting more effort into reading, and learning Japanese. The latter I've already taken some great steps towards, as in the last quarter of 2025 I've been taking in person Japanese classes with my fiancé. My main intention behind this is to experience Japan and its culture to the fullest extent, and so I don't look like a total tourist when we eventually are able to make the trek across the Pacific. Additionally, it would allow me to experience things that most western gamers wouldn't be able to because of the language barrier. Maybe one day I could contribute in a meaningful way to a fan translation of a game! On the flip side, reading has been something I've always enjoyed, but never put serious time into. I have a handful of books down that I'd like to read, but most of them are nonfiction. I'll do my best to find some great fiction to read throughout this year as well, in the hopes to expand my horizons and potentially improve my amateurish writing on this blog. 

Games 

Most years I look back on and realize I acquired more games than I did play them. This was thankfully not the case this year. About two-thirds of the way through the year, I looked back and really started to keep track of every game that I spent more than a few hours or so playing. For me, I usually spend my evenings playing one game for several hours. That doesn't necessarily mean that I beat all of the games I played, but I did beat quite a few of them. Using the website topsters.org I compiled all of my games into one helpful image I could add to and revisit over the course of the year, while also placing them in the order I enjoyed them the most. Here is a list of everything I played! 

Wow! Right at 50 games this year across a variety of platforms, genres and timeframes. This list is ordered in its entirety, with some room for games to move around. Now I'm sure I forgot some games to add to this list that I did end up playing, but I can always add it to next year's list if needed. Additionally, here are some brief thoughts on the games that I either enjoyed the most, or have something to add to for clarification. 

1. Virtua Fighter 5 REVO/World Stage: A fighting game player's fighting game. Playing this game semi-seriously for the first two-thirds of this year was nothing short of one of the greatest experiences I've had playing a fighting game. The epitome of simple to understand, difficult to master. The VF community is awesome, and I look forward to hopping back on the grind in 2026. 
2. Unicorn Overlord: Easily one of my favorite tactical RPG's and probably now in my top 10 JRPG's. Beautiful presentation overall, with deep mechanics and gameplay that can be as long or as short as you'd like it to be. The story is pretty cut and dry, but there's a lot of character growth and finality to the story that really made me enjoy it. Can't recommend enough, thank you Vanillaware. 
3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Don't play this without playing the rest of the series up to this point. If you haven't, you won't care. If you have, easily one of the most memorable experiences you'll have and a true love letter to the players of the franchise.
4. Fallout New Vegas: The sleeper hit of this year for me. From Novac to Nellis, from Vegas to Hoover Dam, everything about this game is memorable. Some of the best character writing and decision making I've ever encountered in a video game, and something everyone should play.
5. Animal Crossing Wild World: I loved when the villagers were a little more snarky, and the mechanics not so over tuned with crafting and durability. Easily my favorite Animal Crossing. 
6. Lumines 2: Has Missy Elliot and Gwen Stefani saying "super kawaii"
7. Baroque: Game I wish I played more of award. I'll definitely be coming back to this one throughout '26
8. Freedom Wars: Neat premise, and the gameplay is fun, but a bit grindy in single player. I wish I would've played this game when the online was working on Vita, or just played the remaster on modern consoles/Steam. If you like Monster Hunteresque gameplay, give this a shot.
9. Clair Obscur Expedition 33: I only played like 5-6 hours of this while it was on game pass. Kind of a neat premise, and it was a game that I had on my radar, but I didn't really feel like there was anything that I hadn't already experienced in other games before. I might come back and give it another shot, but at this point the community around the game is kind of keeping me from playing it. 
10. Spotto: Play more DSiware games. Cute and charming puzzle game that doesn't overstay it's welcome

If you'd like to know more of my thoughts on any of the games I have listed above, feel free to ask in the comments or send me a DM on my Bluesky or Twitter. In the year to follow, I also have some games I'd like to play sooner rather than later. So, I've also made a list of games in my backlog that I can check off my list as 2026 continues. 

As you can see, I started this list back in September or so, and I've already played the first two games on this list, so I'm making some headway. I'm thinking of playing something with a bit more action next, so maybe I'll check out Ranger X. It's also Persona's 30th anniversary next year, and I've always wanted to play the OG. We will see.

Overall my 2025 was great. In my personal life things are going quite well, and my passion of video games grows stronger by the year. I'm really proud of myself for growing my YouTube channel to the point that it is today, and I look forward to creating even more videos in the future. Keep an eye out here as well for posts ranging all sorts of game topics. I hope you have a happy New Year!