It’s December and I have no doubt that I am not the only gamer who is looking at their backlog and convincing themselves that next year is the year that they are going to start working on it. We have all told ourselves this before and it has never happened, right? There’s no way I would be five hundred games deep if that were the case. However, I now have outside inspiration to stop buying video games – an impending overseas move and buying my first home.

Battling your backlog can often be hard as it’s seen as a chore. No matter how hyped you were for a game initially, it is far more exciting to buy and play something brand me. Whilst playing through Super Smash Bros. Ultimate lately I thought about just how many characters that I don’t connect with as I have never played a game in their respective series. Even worse, most of these series I already own and added to my pile of shame. So, I decided to theme my 2019 backlog buster around playing games related to characters from the Smash Bros. series.

I was tossing up whether to include games from series that I have played before. For example, do I really need to add a Pokemon game when I’ve beaten so many? In the end I decided to do just that as I still have Pokemon games in my backlog. There’s a few games that I don’t own which I’ve indicated with an * and I’ll figure out a cheap way to obtain them nearer the time. Otherwise this is my list as it stands.

Remember, I am heavily relying on games that I already own but if you have better ideas for games than what I have listed do feel free to tell me. In some situations I have a game in the series e.g. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow but it doesn’t relate to the characters in Super Smash Bros. so I didn’t include it.

Mario, Peach, Bowser, Rosalina and Piranha Plant
Super Mario Galaxy

Daisy and Bowser Jr
Mario Kart 8

Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Link and Zelda
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Samus, Dark Samus, Zero Suit Samus and Ridley
Metroid Prime Trilogy

Yoshi
Yoshi’s Wooly World

Kirby, Meta Knight and King Dedede
Kirby’s Adventure

Fox, Falco and Wolf
Starfox 64 3D

Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Pichu, Mewtwo, Pokémon Trainer, Lucario, Greninja and Incineroar Pokemon Ultra Sun

Luigi
Luigi’s Mansion *

Ness and Lucas
Earthbound

Captain Falcon
F-Zero

Ice Climbers
Ice Climber

Sheik, Young Link and Ganondorf
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

Dr. Mario
Dr. Mario

Marth, Lucina, Roy, Chrom, Ike, Robin and Corrin
Fire Emblem Awakening

Mr. Game & Watch
Game & Watch Collection

Pit, Dark Pit and Palutena
Kid Icarus Uprising *

Wario
WarioWare Gold *

Snake
Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection *

Sonic
Sonic Rush

Olimar
Hey! Pikmin *

R.O.B
N/A

Toon Link
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

Villager and Isabelle
Animal Crossing Switch *

Mega Man
Mega Man 2

Wii Fit Trainer
N/A

Little Mac
Punch-Out!!!

Mii Fighter
N/A

PAC-MAN
PAC-MAN Championship Edition 2 *

Shulk
Xenoblade Chronicles

Duck Hunt
Duck Hunt *

Ryu and Ken
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection *

Cloud
Final Fantasy VII remake or Kingdom Hearts III potentially *

Bayonetta
Bayonetta *

Inkling
Splatoon 2

Simon Belmont
Castlevania *

Richter Belmont
Rondo of Blood *

King K. Rool
Donkey Kong Country *

Joker
Persona 5 *

So, that’s the plan! Growing up I never had a Nintendo console so I feel that this will definitely help me on my quest to play more series and work on my backlog. In fact, the more I talk about it the more excited that I get. Now I wonder what the other DLC characters will be. Hopefully I already have some of their games too!