Rolling Stone's GOTY List Shows A Whole Lot Of Love For One Nintendo Mascot

How on earth is it that time of year again already? It feels as though we can still sense the tight elastic of our tiny Kirby swimming trunks digging into our fresh summer sunburn, and yet here comes Rolling Stone with its Best of 2025 list, because it's nearly Christmas. Brace for impact!

Yes, Rolling Stone has dropped its 25 favourite gaming experiences of the year and, whilst the number one spot is absolutely no surprise (congratulations to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33), we've been tickled pink to see that good old Donkey Kong has managed to secure a number three spot via all that wrecking shop he did in Bananza. The big man has smashed his way onto a prestigious podium there, so well done, Mr. Kong. And nice tie!

Elsewhere on the list, some 10 spaces down in fact, you'll spot another Switch 2-shaped mention in the form of Mario Kart World. Honestly, we probably wouldn't have expected that DK would outdo Master Mascot Mario in this way if you'd told us in the summer, but we'd tend to agree on the placement rolling (no pun intended) the great ape's way here.

What else has delighted us in making the cut? Well, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy dropping into a very nice 7th place is great, as that really was one of the year's big highlights on Switch, alongside the wonderful Absolum, BALL x PIT, and, of course, Hades 2, which has pulled off a blinder by snatching the number 2 spot.

Images: Nintendo Life / Marvellous, Nintendo Life / Devolver Digital, Nintendo Life / Dotemu, Nintendo Life / Fellow Traveller

Oh, and look at Silksong, all the way down (if you can be all the way down on a top 25 list) at number 12. That isn't perhaps where we'd have expected to see such a massively well-reviewed game, but personal taste is a wondrous and mysterious thing, innit!

With a total of 11 of these games available on Switch consoles, it's still a very strong showing for Nintendo gamers - and hopefully we'll see Switch ports of some of these soon!

Here's the full listing for your perusal, but check out the full article for details and reasoning:

1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

2. Hades II

3. Donkey Kong: Bananza

4. Dispatch

5. Ghost of Yōtei

6. Blue Prince

7. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy

8. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach

9. BALL x PIT

10. Arc Raiders

11. South of Midnight

12. Hollow Knight: Silksong

13. Mario Kart World

14. SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance

15. Battlefield 6

16. Ninja Gaiden 4

17. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

18. Absolum

19. despelote

20. The Séance of Blake Manor

21. Split Fiction

22. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

23. Rematch

24. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles

25. Silent Hill: F

See anything you disagree with making the cut? Think something is too highly/lowly-rated, or even missing entirely? Let us know!

View full article