The final DF Retro Super Show for 2025 revolves primarily around our panel's favourite retro games of the year. Exactly what counts as "best of the year" for a category like retro gaming is different than traditional best-of lists, so the DF Retro team of John Linneman, Audi Sorlie, Coury Carlson and Marc "Try4ce" Duddleson has divided its picks into four categories.

The first category, first-time retro games, revolves around titles that each panelist had never played until this year and fell in love with. Example picks include Ganbare Goemon 3 (1994, Super Famicom), Autobahn Raser: Das Spiel zum Film (2004, PS2), Raw Danger! (2006, PS2) and Jumping Flash! (1995, PSX).

Next up in the conversation is classic games whose technological feats felt particularly impressive upon reviewing this year - which builds upon the History of Killer Graphics conversation hosted in DF Retro Super Show Episode #2. Among the panel's picks, John calls out the 1993 Mega Drive-emphasising shoot-'em-up Battle Mania Daiginjō and re-examines the environment-shadow impact of 2004 PS2 open-world game DRIV3R, and Audi's breath is taken away by the anime-calibre graphics of the otherwise underwhelming 2012 PS3 RPG Time and Eternity.

The topic of best retro-styled games that were newly released in 2025 has some organic crossover with the 2025 John Linneman Collection, and the Super Show crew further discusses prior picks Night Striker GEAR and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. The panel's additional picks include M2's brand-new Salamander 3 sequel, the Space Harrier-like Asura the Striker and a number of 2024 games that received 2025 physical editions, including Digital Eclipse's remaster of the original Wizardry and M2's Castlevania-redeeming work on Haunted Castle Revisited.

And the quartet rounds out the conversation with each member's favourite physical pickups for classic software and hardware - including Audi's incredibly rare pickup of an Asterix and the Secret Mission special edition, complete with its original box and T-shirt.

Our end-of-year news section is brief, owing to the retro gaming-specific news cycle winding down, so we focus our attention on Coury and Marc's recently published, years-in-development documentary about the American video game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly. The My Life in Gaming duo answers questions about its creation and production, and their input adds great context to the 76-minute video, which we've embedded below for your enjoyment.