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Normally I do my Game of the Year blog first, and then my blog on what games in 2019 I’m looking forward to.  But I’m going to switch it around this year like I did last time.  Mainly because there are a couple of releases that are coming up quick, and also I want to try and squeeze a couple more 2018 games in to see if they’ll make my GOTY list.  But don’t worry, my Game of the Year blog will go up soon after this one, like in another week or so.  In the meantime, here are some games I’m looking forward to playing and reviewing in 2019.  Granted there may be more as we get into the year and have Nintendo Directs and E3 announcements and such, but here’s some that I know right now.

Animal Crossing

Nintendo announced a new Switch Animal Crossing game when they revealed that Isabelle was going to be in Smash, and I couldn’t be more excited.  I love playing Animal Crossing games with family and friends, the first one on GameCube is one of my top five favorite games of all time, and heck, I STILL play the mobile game more than a year after it was released!  So yeah I’m a little crazy.  But I am looking forward to this game the most.  Hope it’s not just a port of New Leaf!

Kingdom Hearts 3

This one comes out at the end of January, and I think it’s been more than fifteen years since the last main game!  I’m not the BIGGEST Kingdom Hearts fan, as I think the gameplay has some problems and the storyline is garbage.  BUT I still enjoy the series enough that I’ve played nearly every one of them, even the mobile titles.  I just enjoy tromping around colorful 3-D Disney worlds beating up bad guys, I just don’t pay much attention to the story and I don’t care about what Organization 13 is up to and that sort of stuff.  Can’t wait to see the new Winnie the Pooh world, as that was always my favorite in past games.  And I love how the old black and white cartoons are now Game & Watch style LCD mini-games!

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey

Another early release, this one is a remake of Bowser’s Inside Story on the DS.  But that was one of the best Mario RPGs ever made, so I’m looking forward to the remake.  It’s very good.

Fitness Boxing

I’m not really totally looking forward to this one, and I may not get it unless the price goes down, but I’m more just intrigued by this game more than anything.  It’s already been released (Jan. 4), and it’s a first party Nintendo title, but they haven’t really promoted it much.  So I think that’s just kind of weird.  The box art makes me think of an old DS game called Feel the Magic.

LEGO Movie 2 Game

I enjoyed the first LEGO Movie a LOT, so I’m hoping to see the sequel.  I’m sure the game it’s based on will be just a run-of-the-mill LEGO title, but I’m still looking forward to checking it out and hopefully reviewing it.

Yoshi’s Crafted World

Good Feel makes a lot of awesome 2-D Nintendo platformers.  They made Wario Land: Shake It, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, and Yoshi’s Woolly World.  And they made this game, too, where everything looks like it was made out of cardboard, paper, and other craft materials.  Hope it’s as good as the other ones they’ve made!

Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn

And speaking of Good Feel, here’s a 3DS port of Kirby’s Epic Yarn, which was originally on the Wii.  Normally I’m not a big fan of all of Nintendo’s ports.  I didn’t get Luigi’s Mansion on the 3DS, nor did I get a lot of other Switch ports either.  I just don’t feel like playing full price for a game I’ve already played on the Wii U.  But I may make an exception for this one because I really like Kirby and this is a great game with awesome music and graphics.

Luigi’s Mansion 3

I loved the first Luigi’s Mansion game on GameCube and even though the 3DS sequel Dark Moon wasn’t as good, I still enjoyed it a lot.  I feel lucky that I was even able to play the arcade game, too!  Here’s hoping the third game on the Switch lets you explore one big mansion like the first game and not have mission based mini-mansions like the second one.  Either way, I’m sure I’ll play it and enjoy it just fine.

Team Sonic Racing

I thought this game was coming out during the 2018 holiday season, but I guess they delayed it.  Which is fine with me as I wouldn’t have had time to play it then anyway.  I’m a big fan of the Sonic and SEGA All-Stars racing games, and parts of them were even better than Mario Kart.  Here’s hoping this new game will be as good, too.  Only disappointment is the possibility it’ll only have Sonic characters.  I sure did enjoy racing as Ulala in the last two games.

Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled

Speaking of mascot kart racers, I didn’t know about this one until just recently.  I’m not sure if it’s a remake of the first Crash Team Racing, as there have been sequels to that, even though they’re not as good.  But the first CTR was one of the only Crash games I liked, and did some things better than Mario Kart as well.  So we’ll just have to see.

Crystal Crisis

Last year I wrote about a fighting game called Blade Strangers, which had characters from other games like Shovel Knight and whatnot.  This year they’re doing the same thing with many of the same characters, except this time with a puzzle game.  I like puzzle games better than fighting games, so I’m really looking forward to playing this one.  It even adds some new characters, too, like freaking ASTRO BOY!

Toe Jam & Earl: Back in the Groove

This has actually been out on PC for over a year, but I’ve always thought it should be on consoles so I’m glad it’s now going to be.  I’m not the biggest fan of Toe Jam & Earl, but I do like the cartoony characters and I hope to review this one.  Hopefully it’ll come out this year.  It’s hard to keep up with these indie download only releases.  Last year, I wrote about looking forward to a downloadable Switch game called Penguin Wars (a remake of an older game), but it hasn’t come out yet!

Dead or Alive 6

Not really looking forward to this a whole bunch, but I did get to review DOA5 and found out that it was a pretty decent fighter if you can look past all the fanservice.  So I’ll be keeping my eye on this one, too, and maybe try to review it.  Who are your favorite DOA characters?  Can you guess mine?

Metroid Prime 4

And last is Metroid Prime 4.  Will it really come out this year?  Who knows?  But I’ll look forward to playing it regardless as the Metroid Prime games are one of the few 3-D shooters I actually like.

And that’s all for now!  Let me know what you think of my list.  Anything I might’ve missed that you think I would like?  What games are you looking forward to playing in 2019?  Tell me in the comments section!  Later!  --Cary