Mobile games seem to be a dime a dozen at this point, with anyone putting an endless runner onto the app store, and handheld games now solely seem to be in the apt hands of Nintendo; there really needs to be something special about the game in question to make it stand out. These are the mobile or handheld games that made the most impact on BagoGames staff this year.
Pokémon Go
I rarely play any mobile games, I just don’t like the platform and the fact that beating the game is usually impossible. The Pokémon Trainer in me had to download this game on day one, and I did. It changed my life for a few months, I actually left my house, met some people, and ventured into some areas where I needed a gun. Safety aside, I had fun. I collected a nice portion of Pokémon and won several gyms over. I also used up all my data several times. My love for the game ended when I hit level 20, from there I felt that there was nothing left to do and even though I never found my Jigglypuff I put the game away and haven’t opened the app since.
Runner Up: Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
-Jerry Dobracki
Fire Emblem: Fates
I could honestly count the amount of games I played on Vita/3DS on one hand. Crim Grill 2, Steins; Gate 0, Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness. However, my award goes to Fire Emblem: Fates. A game that marries strategic combat with inter-character development. While not every change was an improvement (I see you lurking there equipment, you nefarious scoundrel), it was fresh enough to ward off the sense of lukewarm safeness that a series can get into when a predecessor is an unexpected hit.
-Kailan May
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Bravely Second: End Layer
Sometimes I like to play classic turn-based RPGs, it’s comfort food for me. Something about a good job system, a straight forward good vs evil story, and plenty of grinding and side quests that just does it for me. While Bravely Second was not nearly as good as the first one, I still found it incredibly enjoyable, and was one that kept me glued to my 3DS for quite a while. The game is pretty much a direct sequel to the first, taking place only a couple years after the first game, and plenty of time is spent in Luxendarc checking up on people and places and seeing what has changed. In some ways it just felt like an extension of the first game than a true sequel, but there’s enough changes, new jobs, etc that really made me get back into the world and quest ever onwards. I have high hopes for the series however, and hopefully Square Enix can really shake things up for the inevitable third game in the series.
Runner Up: Pokemon Go
-Zac LaRocque-Walker
Reigns
Reigns achieves so much while appearing to do very little. It’s a very minimally designed game but the beauty and great design is present right at the core. In an opinion piece on Polygon lead designer François Alliot stated that one of their intentions was to show how absurdly we as a society handle complexity and serious issues. They wanted players to feel that disconnect as they went through this game. They also of course wanted to make a great game and I’m here to say that the social commentary is a huge plus on top of a very well designed game. I loved Reigns and still play it. I primarily played it on PC but then later picked it up on sale on mobile and have had trouble putting it down since I started playing it again. It’s like a ‘Choose-Your-Own-Adventure’ game with a Tinder twist and it’s something that many people (myself included) had no idea we wanted in a game. Swiping and making decisions is deeper than it sounds but shallow enough where you can easily play this while doing something else. It even has more depth than that last third of Fable III promised it would have!
Runner Up: Pokemon GO
-Josh Nichols
As you can see we don’t really play too many mobile or handheld games, but those are BagoGames’ choices for 2016. What about you, what was your favorite?