Year of the Game: Goons Decide the Best Year in Gaming

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Synthetic Hermit: Apr 4, 2012; mega survoltage!!!; Grimey Drawer

#1 (first place): 2001

The GameCube and the Xbox launched three days apart, with launch window games that immediately showed off how incredibly capable they were compared to the prior generation. It's easily the second biggest generational leap after 2D-to-3D.

Super Smash Bros. Melee - the GameCube's killer app, and the entry that turned "Smash" into a household word for ages to come.
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader - With astounding lighting effects and sound design, the game that finally properly realized playing a Star Wars movie, after various attempts on the Nintendo 64.
Pikmin - Shigeru Miyamoto's first new addition to Nintendo's core franchise canon since Star Fox in 1993. Eternally charming and absorbing environments, music, creatures, and sound effects.
Luigi's Mansion - Another incredible hardware showcase, with engrossing real-time lighting, super detailed animations, and tons of fully interactive objects.

The Nintendo 64 also still had a bit to give, with the first entry in the Paper Mario franchise (and easily the best RPG on the system), and Conker's Bad Fur Day, which pushed both the limits of the hardware and the limits of good taste.

Just in terms of hardware features, the Xbox was insane. 733 Mhz Intel CPU, Nvidia graphics, Dolby Digital 5.1, 8 GB built-in hard drive, dual-layer DVD game discs, built-in ethernet port. The first two months didn't have as many hard hitters as the GameCube, but of course, it did have Halo.

2001 was also a huge year for the PS2, featuring several of its killer apps; Gran Turismo 3, Grand Theft Auto III, Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy X, Silent Hill 2.

One of the best multiplatform titles of all time, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, also released in 2001. And the Game Boy Advance also launched, with a very solid first year.

#2 (second place): 1998

The heaviest hitting year of the Nintendo 64. Ocarina of Time, which unleashed a mountain of revolutionary gameplay mechanics and birthed modern day adventure games. Banjo-Kazooie, a Nintendo-quality platformer not from Nintendo, with deeper mechanics and more relatable characters. F-Zero X, 30 cars racing on crazy futuristic tracks at 60 FPS with PCM music on a console otherwise plagued with chugginess and MIDI. 1080� Snowboarding, a very tight and polished downhill racing game complete with a trick mode. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, not the greatest framerate, but otherwise very impressive visually with very cool weapons; one of the first titles to take advantage of the Expansion Pak, along with Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.

Also featuring Half-Life and Starcraft on PC, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil 2 on PS1, and the debut of the Pok�mon franchise in North America plus the debut of the Unreal Engine and the Game Boy Color.

#3 (third place): 1999

The bridge to the next generation begins. More advanced games appear on all platforms, and the Dreamcast debuts, bringing cutting-edge arcade games to the home without sacrifices and affordably. Also home to my favorite game of all time.

Honorable mention: 2000 -- Home to 3 of my top 5 games of all time, Perfect Dark, Majora's Mask, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. Also an excellent year for the PC, with The Sims, Diablo II, Deus Ex, and Counter-Strike, as well as Final Fantasy IX on PS1 and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on Dreamcast. The PS2 also launched, which didn't get discontinued until 2013.

Synthetic Hermit fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Aug 10, 2022

# ¿ Aug 10, 2022 05:16

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 00:12

Synthetic Hermit: Apr 4, 2012; mega survoltage!!!; Grimey Drawer

Ms Adequate posted:

I'm loving this thread, especially as my bestie and me have long held that the period 1997-2002 was 'The Golden Age' because every single year there saw banger after banger released.

My personal top 50 list certainly agrees with that:

# ¿ Aug 10, 2022 08:22

Synthetic Hermit: Apr 4, 2012; mega survoltage!!!; Grimey Drawer

^ You achieved the impossible, doing a writeup on 2002 without Jet Set Radio Future:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwK4VPnF-5o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btqdXGjtXn4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYIdIlWDUtc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m11b7rbM3jI

Xbox had an awesome year in 2002 - Alongside Morrowind and JSRF, it had Steel Battalion, Gunvalkyrie, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions, Splinter Cell, Shenmue II, RalliSport Challenge, and with the launch of Xbox Live, MechAssault and Unreal Championship.

# ¿ Aug 11, 2022 23:48

Synthetic Hermit: Apr 4, 2012; mega survoltage!!!; Grimey Drawer

Rarity posted:

My post is coming along nicely. I hope people like charts

I adore charts. :cheers:

# ¿ Aug 21, 2022 09:17

Synthetic Hermit: Apr 4, 2012; mega survoltage!!!; Grimey Drawer

Red Rox posted:

Would be interesting to know what age people where in their #1 year and see if there�s a trend.

Like how often your favorite songs are from when you were 15-16.

I was 12 in 2001. 15/16 (2004/2005) I was getting into online gaming, but only 3 of my top 50 games of all time (and only 1 in my top 20) are from those years, compared to 4 in 2001 alone (and all in my top 20).

My #1 song of all time is from 1999, but I didn't become a fan of it until 2009 (age 20). Otherwise, a lot of my favorite songs I heard in the late '90s/early 2000s (particularly original & licensed video game music and my uncle's classic rock records).

# ¿ Aug 23, 2022 08:58

Synthetic Hermit: Apr 4, 2012; mega survoltage!!!; Grimey Drawer

Them's some gooooooood charts. :tipshat:

How were the scores assigned? Personal opinion, initial popularity, lasting power?

Synthetic Hermit fucked around with this message at 22:11 on Aug 25, 2022

# ¿ Aug 25, 2022 22:09

Synthetic Hermit: Apr 4, 2012; mega survoltage!!!; Grimey Drawer

Rarity posted:

A combination of first-hand experience, second-hand experience, commercial success, critical success and importance to the industry as a whole. Obviously I cannot divulge the explicit formula but be assured this a serious and comprehensive scientific analysis

A strong set of variables.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2022 22:23

Synthetic Hermit: Apr 4, 2012; mega survoltage!!!; Grimey Drawer

Very surprised to see Rarity bucking the mainstream trend and putting Majora's Mask and Perfect Dark on an even keel with Ocarina of Time and Goldeneye.

Commercial success appears to have low weighting.

Small typo; in the writeup, Age of Empires doesn't have its score (7, going by the chart) next to it.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2022 06:20