To celebrate having turned 18, I'm going to pick my favourite game from every year since 1991.
Keep in mind these are MY PERSONAL favourites of the year, not necessarily the best or the most beloved, but just games I REALLY loved at the time. Also keep in mind, every game up to 1996 or so I probably played AFTER 1996, seeing as that's kinda when I got into games, and I mean... can you see a 2 month old baby play Street Fighter II? Yeah didn't think so.
LET'S GET TO IT!
Showing 1-10 of 18 items
1991: The combo system invented (accidentally). Street Fighter II changed the landscape of fighting games for freaking ever with it's crazy cast of colorful characters, unique fighting moves for each character, and the accidental invention of the combo system, which is now absolutely key to all the fighting games made since. But who cares about that, I liked it because I could beat the shit outta cars, sumo wreslters, army dudes, all kinda craziness. To a kid, that was madness. Never seen anything like it when I started getting into it.
1992: Man this was a tough choice. Between Sonic 2, Kirby, Mortal Kombat and Wolfenstein, I was pretty stumped. Then I remember this little gem. I was a huge gameboy fan when I was a kid, they were my main platform for a long time. Portable games blew my mind, and probably explains why I'm really tolerant of 8-bit games these days. I grew up with similar games! Though I never owned this game, I played it a lot with friends, and I loved going back to that level where you float around in a bubble getting coins. Or the crazy clockwork Mario stuff. Many aspects of this game were awesome, and it has some of my favourite 2D mario levels ever. Plus, it introduced Wario, whose Warioland games and Warioware games I've been enjoying for years now.
1993: These choices keep getting tougher and tougher with Myst, Doom, Secret of Mana, and all kinds of great classics. But I have to give it to Kirby's Adventure. The prettiest looking NES game I've ever seen, with vivid-colors, great environments, and a cheery disposition. The gameplay was great too. I hesitated to include Kirby's first outing, on the Game Boy, because I knew this was so much better. They added his legendary copy abilities power, and instantly, a somewhat fun, albeit too simple platformer becomes a crazy, fun, and interesting gaming experience that I feel still holds up today. I know MY kids will be raised on this stuff to be certain. Fuck the Holotron-3000™, NES Kirby action is all a toddler needs.
1994: Hoo-boy, now it gets interesting. In one year, we get Doom II, Marathon, Final Fantasy 3 (or 6 or whatever), Donkey Kong Country, Super Metroid, and more. What a great year filled with classics. I had to go with Doom II however, because I liked it's simpler, tighter, more action focused gameplay than Marathon, I haven't beat FF3, and the SNES was never my scene (though Super Metroid almost made it). Doom II was absolutely awesome when I played it, and that was probably when all the newfangled FPS games with graphics and stories started coming about (Half-Life, anyone?). It had frantic, fast-paced, action that basically never let go from second one. Plus it had a super shotgun, which totally helped make that game for me. The simple, but fun action combined with awesome enemy design makes this an unforgettable game for me. I still go back to it every time I buy a new computer, or other strange platform it's been ported to a million times over.
1995: Another toughie, but it ultimately came down to what I played the most. Calling Full Throttle a fave would be a dirty lie. Yes I love that game, but did I even REALLY get into it? No. I didn't play it that much. Same with Earthbound, another game I appreciate, but from a distance. Tacking an old RPG is just something I never have time for, but Chrono Trigger is one I did for some reason. And I'd recommend it to others as well. If I had to pick a game that sums up all the greater aspects of the 16-bit era RPGs, (as flawed as I find 'em), this game would be it. It had an engaging story, somewhat less clichéd than it's contemporaries, the ATB system was a nice fit for the game, and I really liked how scripted events smoothly transitioned into battle. The whole crazy transitions and "whoosh" effects into battles that most RGPs have throw me right off, and I lose touch with the game a bit. This game was also pretty long, and kept me engaged most of the way through. It's a great end-all JPRG for me. Freezes the era perfectly.
1996: Aah the N64 came out, and with that, my first console to call my own. I was pretty happy at the time, I didn't even REALLY know what a console was, for me gaming was a matter of PCs. And.. edutainment. Well thanks dad for actually showing me some games. Soon to be his biggest regret, and my new favourite toy, the N64 was awesome. And it had Super Mario 64 when it came out, you bet I was playing that x-mas day, all day. Super Mario 64 is really the most memorable for me, because it was my first console game, and ostensibly, my first REAL game. Me and my father spend like 15 minutes trying to find the Z butter in order to crouch jump. Just a lot of good memories from this one. I especially liked the music and the crazy ADD feeling to the level design. Certainly helps a 5 year old get into games.
1997: This was basically between this game, GoldenEye, and Mario Kart 64 but I didn't even play a lot of Goldeneye at the time, and even if I did, I had waaay more fun with game, I think. Compared to Mario Kart, this one gives me the warm-fuzzies a little more. I also played a lot of FF7, despite it's status now as one of my least favourite FF games (I found out about the SNES ones afterwards, so yeah). Diddy Kong Racing had some good-ass hectic multiplayer, the style of which I still enjoy to this day. The track design was insane, and the multivehicle concept was totally new and fun at the time for me. Throw in some crazy powerups and attacks, and you got yerself an addictive little racer. Plus it debuted everyone's favorite foul-mouthed squirrel, back when Rare was prepping him up to be a full kid's franchise (I still have his pussy-ass gameboy game somewhere).
1998: Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Hey asshole, pick Half-Life" or "Where the Metal Gear LOVE?!" Well.. basically I played none of those in 1998. I was 7 or something. When I saw Half-Life's headcrabs, I got nightmares, and I wouldn't have had the patience for the awesome plot of MGS (as much as I love it now). Surprisingly, I DID have the patience for that addictive fucking RPG Pokemon. It was a cool game for me, because it was a classic style RPG, with a few key twists, like being able to pick your party members from a pool of 150. That was very awesome. Trading and battling friends in the schoolyard, collecting badges, and the general pokemania that I got caught up in, makes this a very personal choice for my favourite game of 1998.
1999: Awww hell yeah. This has gotta hold my personal record for most rentals. I think I rented this about 5 times in 1999 (well back before 5 rentals cost MORE than a full game). There isn't much for me to say about the game, most people know everything about this game. But it was such a fun game, really addictive and great multiplayer. Perhaps not the most advanced, or balanced fighting game, but definitely one of the craziest. And that's what I look for in a fighting game.
2000: Yeah I know I have another Chrono game here, but to be honest they're probably the only JRPG of real worth to me. They're tons o' fun and the plots don't seem to get too cheesy like most others. It was between this game and The Sims. I probably spent more time with The Sims, and to be honest, I dunno why. It's just a weird little guilty pleasure. Chrono Cross had some fun combat, an interesting setting, and probably the biggest cast I've seen in a JRPG. I mean seriously, it had like 40 characters you could acquire, and it gave good incentive to play the game differently each time, because some choices lock out other party members. Plus, messing with different dimensions was a pretty neat concept for the time.