Many gamers began 2018 by teaming up with a garishly outfitted cat and rushing into battle against a big, angry monster. Some of those same people will usher out the year by punching Nintendo icon Mario in his famously mustachioed face.

It was a good year to be a gamer.

There were blockbusters, solid indie projects and things in between, giving fans a wealth of options. It was, in many ways, a year of reintroductions, with developers going under the hood of established franchises rather than settling for a new coat of paint.