My Top 10 Japanese Games Of 2022

‘Elden Ring’ was not for the faint of heart.

Bandai Namco

This year was a rather strange and circuitous one for Japanese games, but not without its highlights. So here are some of my personal favorites.

This marks the seventh year I have done this top ten for Japanese games. Starting back in 2016, through to 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Naturally, these lists are just based on my personal preferences of the games I’ve played over the year and are nothing more than that.

10. Front Mission 1st: Remake

‘Front Mission 1st: Remake’ was very faithful to the SNES original

Nintendo

This was given somewhat of a stealth release and for the few places that reviewed it, they weren’t best pleased with it. This is because Front Mission is an old-school and difficult turn-based strategy game. Like with their Panzer Dragoon Remake, the team at Forever Entertainment have been very faithful to the original SNES game, including its brutal difficulty in places. It’s still a good game though and worth a look if you are into more involved tactical role-playing games.

9. Gundam Evolution

‘Gundam Evolution’ turned out a lot better than I expected.

Bandai Namco

Known euphemistically online as “Gundam Overwatch”, this free-to-play shooter has brought in a whole new crowd of gamers to the Gundam universe. It doesn’t play much like a mecha game but the variety of mobile suits and what they can do makes for interesting matches. I was expecting this to be a lot worse, but the final game pleasantly surprised me.

8. SD Gundam Battle Alliance

‘SD Gundam Battle Alliance’ was a return to form for Artdink.

Bandai Namco

This was a pretty polarizing game, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Handled by Artdink, it followed on from their Gundam Battle games on the PSP, but this time with cute and chibi mecha. Covering almost every Gundam series imaginable, it turned out to be a sizable undertaking. Only made more so with all the DLC for it. My only complaint is that the difficulty balancing is a bit on the harsh side, but this still turned out very well.

7. Sonic Frontiers

‘Sonic Frontiers’ works very well in its new open world setup.

Sega

This is probably my favorite Sonic game in a really long time, not including Sonic Mania which was more of a homage to the classic 2D games. Effectively taking Sonic into an open world setup, the blue hedgehog’s blistering speed suits the wide vistas well. While there are weird issues of pop-up, they don’t detract functionally from what the game offers, which is an awful lot.

6. Gran Turismo 7

‘Gran Turismo 7’ was so much fun to play.

Ollie Barder

I am not normally a fan of the Gran Turismo games, but I had a lot of fun with Gran Turismo 7. The campaign mode pulled me in nicely and before I knew it, I was unlocking classic cars left and right and actually enjoying myself. Maxing out an older Nissan Skyline into a complete monster (shown above) was also a lot more fun than I expected.

5. Xenoblade Chronicles 3

‘Xenoblade Chronicles 3’ holds up very well.

Nintendo

Following the success of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and the lovely Xenoblade Chronicles remaster, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was a great addition to that. With pretty much most of the performance issues that plagued the previous games gone, it holds up graphically both in portable and docked modes. The voice acting for this was also great. However, if you are new to this series, I would recommend playing the previous two instalments before this one.

4. Live A Live

‘Live A Live’ is one of those classic role-playing games that needed a remaster.

Nintendo

One of the most influential role-playing games ever made finally got the remaster it so sorely deserved. Adopting the 2.5HD setup seen in games like Octopath Traveller, this remaster of Live A Live was lovingly developed by historia. Considering how many role-playing games have taken Live A Live as an inspiration for settings and mechanics, I am just glad it is more widely available so everyone can see its magnificence more clearly.

3. Kirby and the Forgotten Land

‘Kirby and the Forgotten Land’ was gloriously adorable throughout.

Nintendo

Most Kirby games are great, but this was excellent. It was also surprisingly massive, with a lot of levels and abilities to unlock. The latter could also be upgraded, with deliriously cute results. The level design and overall game design were also handled masterfully too. So if you are new to Kirby and have always wondered why everyone adores the cure pink blob, then you should definitely start here.

2. Bayonetta 3

The multiverse plays a key part in ‘Bayonetta 3’s’ narrative.

Nintendo

A good while in the making but PlatinumGames did not disappoint. With an even more bonkers multiverse setting, the levels and set pieces were all dialed up to eleven. However, what keeps the Bayonetta games in that rarified strata of brilliance are their intricate and involved combat systems. This entry was no different and was as complex as its lauded forebears. It’s not a game for the casually inclined though, so you will need to apply yourself.

1. Elden Ring

‘Elden Ring’ was a massive undertaking.

Bandai Namco

Talking of games not for the casually inclined, the latest in the Soulsborne series went open world and was as exacting as ever, as well as being entirely enormous. The difficulty was as you would expect, but I somewhat messed things up by Platinuming the Demon’s Souls remake on the PlayStation 5 (not to mention unlocking the Penetrator armor set). In that, by the time Elden Ring came around, I was a bit burnt out with Souls games. I eventually got into it though and thoroughly enjoyed myself, albeit in a rather masochistic way.

That’s it for this year. One additional mention is that I also played a lot of Super Robot Wars 30, as the game received a ton of DLC this year. So in addition to the games above, I probably played upwards of 300 hours on Super Robot Wars 30 and all of its DLC as well.

While this year was a bit of a strange one, it’s looking like 2023 could be a very special one for Japanese games, so I am very much looking forward to that.

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