Between 3D All-Stars and the N64 app, I’ve always got a version of Super Mario 64 downloaded, ready to boot up and triple jump and belly slide before that seamless curl back into a pit-a-pat run as I head towards Jolly Roger Bay, to hear its progression of pure melody to underwater synth and finally that drum beat drop in the cave. I’m sure I’ve played this file for longer after the full 120 stars than before it.

Let’s guess some numbers: Odyssey has probably been on my Switch at least 70% of the time (long after all 999 moons), OlliOlli World maybe 80% (post-DLC devouring), and Penny’s Big Breakaway might be the full 100% since its release in 2024 (I can one-combo most levels but now basically just play in the bathhouse world, Bubblin).

These are gaming constitutionals I can’t take elsewhere, dancing shoes with their own unique moves, gamefeels I always want ready to hand.

Tears of the Kingdom is a special case because it might be my favourite ever game and is an absolute buffet of brilliance throughout, but oh boy was it also at times a completionist’s kryptonite. The Hyrule I keep downloaded these days is a different, calmer place now that I’ve ticked off all the quests and caves and the sensor (the literal item and the distraction-FOMO-internal one) rarely bleeps. I can just graze around shield-surfing and waterfall-riding, enjoying a beautiful world also coloured by post-game bonhomie whilst wearing a Korok mask that shudders awake so rarely it feels like an event and not a distracting duty.

My hidden secret is that I’m often looking forward to the bit in games, often about two-thirds in or more, when you’re past the pressure of progress and new mechanics and can start noticing and noodling. And I love these after-game, ever-play spaces, once so great to play through and now a different, unpressured kind of pleasure to just play in.

I flip between polishing off a couple of levels in Wonder or 3D World or DKCR, suddenly able to appreciate them in ways anew.

Of course, there are so many different joys to be had in a replay, or a revisit, sometimes even a remake. Sometimes new things emerge from more back and forth in the same game, like a stone rubbing. And I’ve been thinking about it all recently whilst having a blast playing a sort of combi-platformer mash-up where I flip between polishing off a couple of levels in Wonder or 3D World or DKC Returns, suddenly able to appreciate them in ways anew.

In truth, Wonder I was pretty whelmed by first time round. I couldn’t even muster the botheredness to beat it. But going back to it for the Bellabel Park update (which I mainly got for a multiplayer games night during which we didn’t actually play it) has been a minor revelation.

I must not have been in the mood for its charms on first pass — I still don’t like some of that hot pink chintz — but going back inevitably means doing the undone, harder challenges like the game-highlight Special World, and the trickier-to-find 10-Flower coins, which forces the kind of close attention and sit-forward engagement that can light up the mind, catalyse appreciation, and help you properly fall for a game (I’ve now fallen for the game).

3D World I’d actually already finished-finished, but despite its series-best 3D (that even now looks gorgeously robust and pastel-perfect), it has that 2D Mario spirit of loads of smaller levels, a gloriously long tasting menu with flavours so fleeting they don’t always stay long enough to touch the sides.

Replaying randomly just for the play of it has let me feel the shape and the edges, noticing the courses whose dioramas always appeal (Let’s-a-go, Japanese castle level!) and firming up the memory of the game with particulars and details noticed better when going at a replay, hangout pace. There’s less noise of the new. Did I properly realise the first time the flowers were spinning in musical sync? Are there many Mario levels as gorgeous as the sunsetting Sprawling Savanna? Did I realise how many clusters of small birds there were first time through?

But all these platformers are easy revisits, with level selects and the kind of immediate fun found in the unit of the jump and the moment. It’s rarer for me to replay whole story or campaign games proper. I suppose Automata or the brilliant Kero Blaster don’t count with their new-game twists. I know people love their Resi-replays, but I don’t think I’ve done one since Claire in OG Resi 2. I’m not 100% sure I’ve ever consciously started a New Game+. But I do love the ability to skim-play a game already beaten, unburdened by the education of new mechanics or the obligation to watch crappy cutscenes.

This means I like the option of turning on 9999 damage or speed multipliers in Final Fantasy IX, say, when you just want to vibe your way through some Uematsu music and medieval-punk painted backgrounds. Or the rewind in the Nintendo Switch Online services when you sometimes want the sights and sounds without the skills. I also wish there were more ‘SP’ type entries, for when you just want to skip to Page Forest Temple and walk through a corkscrewing corridor.

The flipside is that when I do muster up the botheredness for a Proper Replay, it’s often ages later when it’s me who’s now plus. When I recently replayed ICO on the PS streaming service, it was great to revisit one of those games so impactful that I’ve never really stopped thinking about it, whether as a reference point for a certain mood or when seeing a play of pale light on stone walls. But it was also a flattened, shorthand memory meme, and it was lovely to replay it and revive it as a full-bodied game, like water on dry pasta, with new and deeper associations 25 years later. Also, it’s still brilliant.

Replaying randomly just for the play of it has let me feel the shape and the edges

Now, do remasters or remakes count as replays? Or dabbling in a Switch 2 Edition? There’s probably no hard and fast rule, given how many ways the terms are used. It was a joy to (re)play Skyward Sword HD and Metroid Prime Remastered, and I probably love them even more than before, and have them on my Switches 50% of the time, for when you just want to swing a Joy-Con to cleave the top off a Deku Baba.

But there’s also a fun kind of stereoscopic double vision for those who’ve played before, where you’re not only playing the game but also noticing and playing the differences (and watching the endless YouTube comparisons, which I am a complete sucker for). And it’s nice to have that community-wide book club discussion, the vicarious replay of seeing new people exposed to a thing you love, hoping they might love it too, like stealing glances at a friend’s face when showing them your favourite film.

And on the topic of returning to (very) old favourites, I think the new Star Fox character designs are great and the graphics look gorgeous. The bombs lack their slow-mo oomph, and I wish the barrel roll still fwinged away the lasers, but I’ll still get it just for the chance to replay and relove a game I haven’t touched since…well, last weekend, to be honest. But! I’m also excited for the orchestral soundtrack – new life for themes I’ve known most of my life.

How do you replay your games? Is returning for another pass as satisfying — or more satisfying — for you than your first go-through?