The final five of my Top 15 Games of 2015; again it is worth repeating that being in this final five does not reflect on relative quality, only timing.

OlliOlli 2

OlliOlli 2 is an entertaining follow-up to the original OlliOlli, expanding on its straightforward skateboarding action and serving as another prime example of how the endless runner genre can be expanded into an in-depth game. Combining the simple jump-and-dodge action and challenge chasing of something like Punch Quest with the arcade skateboarding action of the classic Tony Hawk games, it is challenging yet still easy enough to learn. The plethora of such fun, retro-style action games which merge modern light game sensibilities with the finely-tuned ideas of retro gaming that can be bought on various download services is a pleasant thing; many of these games serve to remind the player of the good memories they have of retro games while including many of the changes to the medium that have improved it.

Mario Maker

Mario Maker stuck with me far more easily than the comparable LittleBigPlanet mostly because Mario is iconic and something with which I was familiar. As a creation kit for 2D platform games it is not perfect – the gating of map components, while a sensible ease-of-use feature for new players, was too slowly undone – but as a recreation of Mario physics it is spot-on. As a result levels can be made that do not necessitate anything except experience of Mario to take part – one of the things I disliked about LBP was its idiosyncratic physics and mechanics that never seemed to gel with me. The virtues of Mario Marker are primarily ease-of-use and quality-of-life ones; the core game engine within is so timeworn and refined it is hard to fault. Players may not upload a level they cannot beat (removing some of the issues endemic to other user-creation engines of unplayable junk levels predominating), for example. In many ways a refined, user-experience focused Mario level maker is the best use of retro game nostalgia possible; the player may design their own play experience and be given the tools of classic game design with a user-friendly front-end.

Assault Android Cactus

Although this game was released via Steam Early Access some time ago, it was finally finished in 2015 and was very much worth the wait. A twin-stick shooter with a large library of unique characters, interesting multi-stage bosses and entertaining cheat codes unlocked by scoring well, it is – much like OlliOlli 2 – a modern user-experience gloss on retro gaming. Cheat codes range from deformed models and colour filters to adding AI players, super-difficulty modes and most interestingly of all a slightly erratic but interesting first-person mode – arguably unplayable on some levels but entertaining it how functional it is. Although it is mechanically a simple arena shooter there are enough level gimmicks, enemy variations and weapon options to make it highly replayable; there is a lot of fun to be found in taking a new character with a new moveset into old levels to set a high score. A real highlight of the level gimmicks is a very difficult late-game level which turns the basic timer mechanic (players must grab battery items to keep their timer going) on its head by adding an AI rival competing for the same power-ups.

Star Wars Battlefront

This may be a controversial choice; some people have argued this game too simple and lacking depth to have lasting enjoyment value. I would argue that in theory this is its virtue; it sells itself as offering a Star Wars experience and provides that without the in-depth customisation that adds busywork to Call of Duty. From the off players can be Star Wars characters, getting the iconic Rebel and Imperial blasters, X Wings and TIE Fighters without needing to unlock them. Powerups add some democracy to the Battlefield inspired vehicle action by limiting the opportunity to camp vehicle spawns, and also add the joy of getting to fly the Millennium Falcon or become Darth Vader. One can sit down and get as epic or as restrained an experience as one wants; it is a FPS for busy people and there is definitely a place for that. While, arguably, Call of Duty‘s 5-minute matches are perhaps more suitable for quick play the work of maintaining classes and the drip-feeding of unlocks via weapon XP, unlock tokens and so on adds a metagaming level to it that Star Wars does not have. Players can get new blasters, but that is as far as it goes and the iconic weapons – the classic Stormtrooper rifle, for example – are available from the start.

DanganRonpa Ultra Despair Girls

DanganRonpa and its sequel are fascinating, grotesque visual novels with logic puzzle elements. That this spinoff is a third-person shooter seems at first bizarre, but the result is something far weirder and more compelling than anyone could imagine. It redoubles the grotesque horror of DanganRonpa, with the loathsome Monokuma in many ways replaced as antagonist by a group of depraved children whose backstories – revealed in grim cutscenes – should be sympathetic but cannot easily be reconciled with the way they act. It is a game of ever-deeper depths of vileness and the only catharsis comes in its wearyingly peppy comedy between the dim protagonist and the erratic, lecherous Toko Fukawa (a returning character from the first game). Full of esoteric anime jokes, interesting and challenging collectible hunts and puzzle rooms and some strangely-designed shooter mechanics that work in a way that disorients veterans of the genre, Ultra Despair Girls feels like a meta-commentary on shooters and the expectations of misunderstood villains.