Once again, Nintendo churns out yet another impossibly brilliant game and keeps it to themselves. How selfish! Mario had been doing this for about twenty five years when Super Mario Galaxy 2 arrived. That's longer than many of you have been alive. Yet we're still enraptured by each new princess-rescuing hop-along adventure with his moustached face on the box. This nigh-perfect 2010 platform romp was drenched in classic Nintendo charm and polished to a radiant shine, a masterclass in game design that few could live up to. Challenging right up to the point of frustration but never overstepping that line, every bit of Super Mario Galaxy 2 was handled with love and extreme devotion. Gameplay was razor-sharp, often taxing but always a joy to experience, and as an audiovisual spectacle this was a feast too, even on the substandard Wii hardware. No other console mascot has been so prolific since inception, and it doesn't look like we're likely to see the end of Mario anytime soon. Perhaps, though, it's time for Nintendo to consider licensing some of its stunning first-party brands and popping the plumber on competing hardware - Wii U sales haven't been breaking any records, but imagine the impact that a new Mario game could have on the PS4 or Xbox One? Nintendo could stand to make some serious cash.
4. Halo: Reach - Microsoft Xbox 360 (2010)
Even the most weary, grizzled anti-Xbox activist would have a hard time finding serious fault with Halo: Reach - it really is just that close to being the perfect shooter. As a way for Bungie to say goodbye to the franchise it created, this 2010 swansong was more than we could ever have hoped for. Even without Master Chief. The setting was part of the genius. Going back for an origin story, Reach strung together a far more coherent narrative than we were accustomed to from the Halo franchise, loading each event with reverse nostalgia as we see how the past and future meet. Single player aside, the riveting, lightning quick multiplayer kept gamers plugging in long after the campaign had run its course. A properly epic shooter with a sense of grandeur that eclipsed almost any other FPS at the time, as a technical achievement Halo: Reach was the ultimate closing scene from Bungie, and the perfect springboard for 343 Studios to build on.