This year, we ran it back and invited SmashPad newcomers Adriana Rodriguez and Michael Fertitta to the scene, and the draft was an absolute blast. Highlights include Adriana's first pick being Grand Theft Auto VI (will it actually come out?), Danreb crashing out after not ending up with the "Capcom

We're back for the first stream of 2026 as we check out an indie darling that came out late last year in Unbeatable. Join us! www.twitch.tv/smashpad

SmashPad power washes into 2026 with PowerWash Simulator 2 youtu.be/RqATCkajmqE?...

SmashPad’s Top 10 Games of 2025 Like last year, 2025 has been a year of great and bad moments, so let's look back at what stood out the most for us.

We're back for one final stream on 2025 as we power wash into the New Year with PowerWash Simulator 2. Join us! www.twitch.tv/smashpad

Chris’ Top 10 Games of 2025 This year has been quite a challenging year to cover games. The weekly news showed how badly studios did if they didn't release a hugely successful game and needed funding for their next game, as all of that money seemed to be going to AI bullshit that is soaking up so…

Let’s Weekend #497 – The Bari Weiss Effect In this episode of Let’s Weekend: We talk about the very bad move Bari Weiss pulled with 60 Minutes that backfired, how the standard for US time slowed down due to a windstorm in Colorado, and the new properties going into the public domain in the new…

ReStory Playtest Demo - SmashPad Demo Fest youtu.be/PhpLAMWGGgE?...

Danreb’s Top 10 Games of 2025 2025 has been quite a year not only in gaming but for SmashPad. I think I’m the one in charge of writing our overall Top 10 Games of 2025 article, but I wanted to take another opportunity to thank both the staff and you, reader, for helping make this year be the best…

Jon’s Top 5 Games of 2025 Gaming can be an expensive hobby. It asks a lot, both of your spare cash and time — two rare commodities that one rarely mines in abundance simultaneously. In a nutshell, my 2025 proved an expensive and busy year, leaving much less time for gaming as I would have liked,…

Brandon’s Top 10 Games of 2025 If for nothing else, 2025 is going to be remembered as the year where we were absolutely inundated with good games. Genuinely, actually ranking these titles was a struggle, as several of them would more than qualify as a top contender. We're talking the video game…

Myles’ Top 10 Games of 2025 Like previous years, my top 10 games of 2025 was pretty tough to nail down. There are some easy lock-ins, considering some of these were among my most anticipated titles in recent memory, and definitely a few surprises that affected me in powerful ways. 2025 was a big…

Adriana’s Top 7 Games of 2025 This year I played more new games than I ever have in ages thanks to joining SmashPad and coming back to streaming. Being able to experience so many great titles is a joy and a privilege to say, and boy howdy, did 2025 come out swinging. I wasn’t able to play…

Kurosh’s Top 10 Games of 2025 What a year for unexpected games, huh? I don’t think I would have predicted my top 10 to include 80% of the games that actually made the list.

Michael Fertitta’s Top 5 Games of 2025 2025 was an incredible year for games, and naturally, it was just as difficult for me to keep up with all the games coming out. So instead of a top 10, here's my top 5. 5. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds - Multiplatform I was raised on Mario Kart, so I had never…

American Trucking through Louisiana and Winterland - Holidays with SmashPad youtu.be/s2SYeQMprgs?...

We're back for one final stream of the week as we check out the playtest demo for ReStory that seems like a cool electronics repair simulator. Join us! www.twitch.tv/smashpad

Kayla’s Top 10 Games of 2025 This has been an exhausting year, but one so full of games that I didn’t have time to play everything I wanted. This year was the first year I went to Evo, so fighting games stood out for me. Racing games also stood out for me since there was such an abundance of them…

We're back for some holiday trucking as we return to American Truck Simulator to check out the new Louisiana DLC and the Winterland map in their holiday event. Join us! www.twitch.tv/smashpad

Alex’s Top 6-ish Games of the Year I normally struggle to reach five games throughout the year, but 2025 was a little better for me. I at least dabbled into various games, but got distracted by other things going on in life that either took me away from gaming or sent me back into comforting…

Let’s Weekend #496 – The Beating Heard Around The World In this episode of Let’s Weekend: We talk about Jake Paul getting his jaw broken, the awful shootings of the past week, and Rob Reiner's legacy after he and his wife were murdered. Intro What Are We Up To? C: The Great Flood, This is Spinal…

Day 0 Update #561 – The Monkey Paw Strikes Again In this episode of the Day 0 Update: We talk about Silksong's success, the monkey paw result of Divinity's announcement, and a preview of games coming out in early 2026. All this and more, up next! Intro What Are We Playing? C: Sektori, Wario World,…

Michael Murphy’s Top 10 Games of 2025 I loved some games this year, so check them out below.

Silksong doesn’t just live up to its past. It grows beyond it on its own terms.

Andrew’s Top 5 Games of 2025 I played a hell of a lot of games this year, but I didn't really love very many at all. While I only covered a few things at SmashPad this year, two of them ended up being some of my absolute favorites. Otherwise, though? There weren't a lot of things that really…

New N64 NSO Additions (12/18/25) - SmashPad Retro youtu.be/FIpkTxwq7DM?...

[TGA 2025] “Damon and Baby” Hands-On During The Game Awards' week, we booked an appointment with Arc System Works to go hands-on with a couple titles, and one of them ended up being Damon and Baby. When it was first unveiled, it looked like an action RPG with twin-stick shooter mechanics, but…

Filippo’s Top 10 Games of 2025 For all of 2025's faults, I've found that I had a lot of great games to play.

We're back to stream tonight as we check out the two new Nintendo 64 games on NSO + Expansion Pack: Rayman 2 and Tonic Trouble from Ubisoft. Join us! www.twitch.tv/smashpad

Wario World (Switch 2 NSO + Expansion Pack) - SmashPad Retro youtu.be/ClC4HZaYACg?...

We're back for a new stream as we check out Wario World to see what this weird somewhat 3D platformer starring Wario was doing on GameCube now that it's on NSO. Join us! www.twitch.tv/smashpad

Let’s Weekend #495 – Michigan Man Myth In this episode of Let’s Weekend: We talk about the wild story surrounding the firing of Michigan's football coach, the surprising new candidate for governor in Minnesota, and we wonder how stupid is Liam Neeson. Intro What Are We Up To? C: Wake Up Dead Man,…

Day 0 Update #560 – The Game Awards Edition In this episode of the Day 0 Update: We talk about Amazon's big mistake in marketing King of Meat, Harada retiring from Bandai Namco, and the many announcements from The Game Awards. All this and more, up next! Intro What Are We Playing? C: Skate Story,…

“Milano’s Odd Job Collection” Review Milano shouldn't work so hard. She deserves a day off for chilling in the park. It's frustrating when there's a game you want to play, but it wasn't brought over to the US and buying the original is... pricey. Back in 1999 there weren't games casual games, and…

We'll be talking over The Game Awards at 7:30 PM ET/4:30 PM PT over at Twitch, so join us for a chill stream of seeing if any cool stuff gets announced and good games win awards. www.twitch.tv/smashpad

Skate Story - SmashPad Plays youtu.be/0p2ozvTcwYY?...

If you are looking for a great all-purpose controller at a reasonable price, given all the features it brings to bear, this is it.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - SmashPad Plays youtu.be/FFSIiXYo4Bw?...

We're back to stream as we check out one of the big indies of the week in Skate Story. Join us! www.twitch.tv/smashpad

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a jarring entry not only in the Black Ops series, but in Call of Duty as a whole. Despite a strong multiplayer experience, the sum of its parts just doesn’t add up.

Let’s Weekend #494 – RIP Shang Tsung In this episode of Let’s Weekend: We talk about the awful way that Trump has been talking about the great Somali communities in the US, the big Netflix acquisition of WB, and the death of the main villain of the original Mortal Kombat movie. Intro What Are We…

Day 0 Update #559 – Consent is Important In this episode of the Day 0 Update: We talk about the death of Shang Tsung's actor from the original movie, Netflix becoming a big publisher with their acquisition of WB, and a bunch of interesting games coming in the next few months. All this and more, up…

Despite it's unique look and feel, Skate Story isn't one of those indies that's gonna change the world. The game is fine, but once you get through the game's nine sections in the six hours or so to do it, there isn't much to have you go back except to start the game over again.

This remaster has commendable aspects, but it would have benefited from focusing on the original’s charm or a more suitable title in the series.

MindsEye - SmashPad's GOTY Catch up youtu.be/3va1gC4NxAQ?...

We're back for a new stream as we check out the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4. Join us! www.twitch.tv/smashpad

We're back to check in on some other game of the year potentials like this dark horse I've heard about called MindsEye. Join us! www.twitch.tv/smashpad

New NES & Game Boy NSO Additions (11/27/25) - SmashPad Retro youtu.be/vdGEFKnqc7I?...

“Octopath Traveler 0” Review Octopath Traveler 0 has a lot to it. The "main" parts of the story, primarily the antagonists discussed here, are some of the best in the series and will keep people invested along with the Animal Crossing-like charm you get from restoring Wishvale, but once you get…

Kirby Air Riders is one of the deepest arcade racing experiences on the Switch 2 and gives you a lot of content for $70. Masahiro Sakurai’s determination to have everything here without any DLC coming later means you get served so much game you’ll be playing this game for years...