So amidst all the femenisim/sexism/podcast babble I'd like to get back to talking about good games, here is my list of the games of every year since I was born to the last year.
These are my opinions but I also feel somewhat informed on what makes an objectively quality game so feel free to inject your own lists, edit mine, or just criticize me if you want, its only the internet after all.
1990: Final Fantasy
I dont even like the first one that much, but this game is so important, so influential, I have to pay homage by making this the game of my birthyear (plus suprisingly, very little else came out this year)
1991: Sonic The Hedgehog
I realise that the 2nd one is widely regarded as the best and this was a very hard pick considering zelda was released in the same year, but to step up to iconic platformer like mario and create a colourful and engaging world with a strong rival gameplay style to 2d stages, I have to give it to sega for this year.
1992: Super Mario Kart
Yeah Street Fighter 2 was close, but Mario Kart tips it for me, as I found it to be just as much fun to play on my own as I did with a friend, this game introduced racing to an entire generation, as a 2 year old I would watch formula one and think 'where are all the bannanas? this track is too easy' One of the consistently best franchises ever made.
1993: Mortal Kombat 2
I have to go with the game series that practically invented the ERSB rating for video games, no doubt i think there were better fighting games but mortal kombat had so much influence (and the best storyline) on the tone of games the 'dark' 'edgy' or 'violent' games we see today good and bad, took from this controversial but stellar franchise.
1994: Super Metroid
I never actually finished this game, but I watched my friends beat it while I cheered them on, (we used to take turns trying to complete levels and pass the controller when we died) This game reinvented platforming as is equally quality as it is influential. Amazing to look at, and amazing to listen to. Nintendo does it again.
1995: Diddy Kong Country 2: Diddy's Quest
Oooohhh this was hard, very hard, yoshi's island came out the same year and those two game are essentially tied in nostalgia and enjoyment for me,Yoshi's island has the most enjoyable ending out of any game Ive played BUT DKC2 gets the nod because of how absolutely stellar the soundtack is, there is no game on the snes that sounds this great and it looks beautiful too, quirky, just difficult enough and a great 2 player system. I'm so sorry Yoshi, you were really close.
1996: Tomb Raider
This is one of the most impressive years in gaming, Mario 64, Diablo, quake, resident evil
but I'll give to lara this time, the female lead action adventurer, the british accent, the training level where you get to train in her mansion. The dinosaurs, the lava...the mod :D. Just too much memorable stuff, Croft gets the nod.
1997: Final Fantasy VII
Yes, I am one of them, but just for the record, it was hard choosing this game the same year Tekken 3 and Gran Turismo (highest selling Ps1 game) came out, but this game was with me through puberty, although technically not my first rpg (if you count pokemon) it was the first epic I finished, it took me 2 and half years to complete and I truly laughed, cried, and cheered at some point through that time. A masterpiece.
1998: Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
A lot of interesting games came out this year but no massive titles, so I'd like to turn my attention to the only stealth game I actually ENJOY waiting silently in, and the game that made me interested in japan beyond giant robots and questionably sized sailor school outfits. The music has in my opinion the best sounding instruments on the PS1, and the gameplay is so good you wonder how the managed to mess it up so much in the later games. Izaoyi was only sharp for the beginning.
1999: Pokemon Gold and Silver
This was the high point of the series for me, the phone, the ability to go back to Kanto, night and day, bug catching contest! pokemon was my childhood and this was the most fun i ever had out of a pokemon game. I will one day come back to this series and catch em all.
2000: Perfect Dark
Goldeneye is the definitive first person shooter, and perfect dark improved on it everyway possible, again Im a sucker for the tough classy girl with the british accent, and the guns and locales were awesome, but this is the game I spent the most time on multiplayer with, creating my own bots and match styles. This was an easy pick.
2001: Super Smash Bros Melee
Tooo easy, suprisingly there wasnt really many huge great games this year, but even if there was I'd still go with the pinnacle of the series (I did like brawl though) Too much to say in this paragraph, but you all already know why its here.
2002: Resident Evil 0
I wont lie this was a weak year for me, nothing really came out and grabbed me, but I do love resident evil (or at least I did) and this is my second favourite in the series, great characters, well though out puzzles, classically beautiful pre rendered backgrounds and the scorpion on the train, love it!
2003: F-Zero GX
even with the strong competetion this year, this was a very easy pick, the super tough game that you play with a smile, the music, the campy odd characters, awesome tracks, the non dickish meta community. This game was my main motivation to skip school and I loved every minuite of it. Captain Falcon isnt an internet meme to me, he is really one of my heroes.
2004: GTA San Andreas
Sandbox Mastery, Rockstar in my opinion has never released a bad game, and this is one of the best games in the world, I cant even begin to talk about how much this game does and does it so well, the game holds up even to this day, sure it inspired a culture in gaming that can be annoying when on the headset but it created a world for my generation an adult playground for the teenagers where everything was just how we wanted it. Saints Row never nailed it like this.
2005: Resident Evil 4
Again one of the best games ever, pioneered the over the shoulder camera view and and blended horror and action perfectly,I realise Ive put two resident evil games on my overall list but I couldn't not have this one, Leeooonnnn Heelllp!
2006: Bully (Canis Canem Edit)
A very weak year, Im at the risk of looking like a Resi Fanboy AND a Rockstar fanboy but this game was amazing, Its weird because I dreamed of 'a game where you could go to school' for years when I was little, and when I'm 16 this relatively unheard of gem just falls on the shelf. All my angst about school bullying disappeared this year, I got them all back :)
2007: Mass Effect
Its hard to single out one of the games without the rest of the trilogy, but this game blew me away in terms of story, ive never been more invested in a character before in my life unless you count starfox maybe. The dialouge options, the romancing, the planets, I even liked the Mako! This was my first trip with Bioware and I never wanted to comeback. My name is Frokane and this is my favourite game in 2007.
2008: Gears Of War 2
Yeah another weak year, this was the twilight before I felt games started getting really really bad for the most part, but luckily I had the best cover based shooter as a send off, not much to say about it as a package it just had really really strong gameplay and it kept me hooked.
I now feel slightly calmer whenever I see a chest high wall.
2009: Batman Arkham Asylum
Trust me, it was hard not to pick Tekken 6, Batman was always the one comicbook hero I never thought could be made into a succesful game, I mean how can you balance being a human with no powers but feel very powerful but then realisticly vunerable at the same time? This game got everything right, and obviously the combat system will probably be in games forever now, it just works so well.
2010: Bayonetta
I always liked the idea of DMC and God Of War but i never felt at one with those games, for some reason I didnt like the weapons I either felt too powerful or not strong enough, I didnt like the locations and the music in those games sucked (sorry but its true). Bayonetta was just like 'the correction' for that genre and its beautiful, its weird and wonderful, soooo many combosssss!
2011: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
I didnt want it to have to be skyrim, I wanted to be cool and contrarian and pick a quirky alternative but damnit, its skyrim, I neednt say anymore.
2012: Far Cry
God damn this is me as cynical 22 yr old, in a year where games have all just hit a low point for this year, and then....Ubisoft release a game in a series ive never played before, I knew nothing about the game before playing it but when I did.....omg. The story, the voice acting, the beautiful sandbox island, vaas, and hunting animals for upgrades, the outposts! the trippy visions and of course the weed plantation flamethrower level woooo! This game came out of nowhere for me and I'm soooo glad it did :)
2013: Grand Theft Auto V
Never before in my life have I spent so long, watching every trailer, promo, interview, theory video, screenshot reveal, rumor, info leak before in my entire life! Ive never waited so long for a game in my life before. And boy was the game amazing! But I'll be honest there is a lot more they could have done with it to make it 'perfect' but I await the DLC with fierce anticipation! Rockstar again!, You made the most successful game of all time!
These are my opinions but I also feel somewhat informed on what makes an objectively quality game so feel free to inject your own lists, edit mine, or just criticize me if you want, its only the internet after all.
1990: Final Fantasy
I dont even like the first one that much, but this game is so important, so influential, I have to pay homage by making this the game of my birthyear (plus suprisingly, very little else came out this year)
1991: Sonic The Hedgehog
I realise that the 2nd one is widely regarded as the best and this was a very hard pick considering zelda was released in the same year, but to step up to iconic platformer like mario and create a colourful and engaging world with a strong rival gameplay style to 2d stages, I have to give it to sega for this year.
1992: Super Mario Kart
Yeah Street Fighter 2 was close, but Mario Kart tips it for me, as I found it to be just as much fun to play on my own as I did with a friend, this game introduced racing to an entire generation, as a 2 year old I would watch formula one and think 'where are all the bannanas? this track is too easy' One of the consistently best franchises ever made.
1993: Mortal Kombat 2
I have to go with the game series that practically invented the ERSB rating for video games, no doubt i think there were better fighting games but mortal kombat had so much influence (and the best storyline) on the tone of games the 'dark' 'edgy' or 'violent' games we see today good and bad, took from this controversial but stellar franchise.
1994: Super Metroid
I never actually finished this game, but I watched my friends beat it while I cheered them on, (we used to take turns trying to complete levels and pass the controller when we died) This game reinvented platforming as is equally quality as it is influential. Amazing to look at, and amazing to listen to. Nintendo does it again.
1995: Diddy Kong Country 2: Diddy's Quest
Oooohhh this was hard, very hard, yoshi's island came out the same year and those two game are essentially tied in nostalgia and enjoyment for me,Yoshi's island has the most enjoyable ending out of any game Ive played BUT DKC2 gets the nod because of how absolutely stellar the soundtack is, there is no game on the snes that sounds this great and it looks beautiful too, quirky, just difficult enough and a great 2 player system. I'm so sorry Yoshi, you were really close.
1996: Tomb Raider
This is one of the most impressive years in gaming, Mario 64, Diablo, quake, resident evil
but I'll give to lara this time, the female lead action adventurer, the british accent, the training level where you get to train in her mansion. The dinosaurs, the lava...the mod :D. Just too much memorable stuff, Croft gets the nod.
1997: Final Fantasy VII
Yes, I am one of them, but just for the record, it was hard choosing this game the same year Tekken 3 and Gran Turismo (highest selling Ps1 game) came out, but this game was with me through puberty, although technically not my first rpg (if you count pokemon) it was the first epic I finished, it took me 2 and half years to complete and I truly laughed, cried, and cheered at some point through that time. A masterpiece.
1998: Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
A lot of interesting games came out this year but no massive titles, so I'd like to turn my attention to the only stealth game I actually ENJOY waiting silently in, and the game that made me interested in japan beyond giant robots and questionably sized sailor school outfits. The music has in my opinion the best sounding instruments on the PS1, and the gameplay is so good you wonder how the managed to mess it up so much in the later games. Izaoyi was only sharp for the beginning.
1999: Pokemon Gold and Silver
This was the high point of the series for me, the phone, the ability to go back to Kanto, night and day, bug catching contest! pokemon was my childhood and this was the most fun i ever had out of a pokemon game. I will one day come back to this series and catch em all.
2000: Perfect Dark
Goldeneye is the definitive first person shooter, and perfect dark improved on it everyway possible, again Im a sucker for the tough classy girl with the british accent, and the guns and locales were awesome, but this is the game I spent the most time on multiplayer with, creating my own bots and match styles. This was an easy pick.
2001: Super Smash Bros Melee
Tooo easy, suprisingly there wasnt really many huge great games this year, but even if there was I'd still go with the pinnacle of the series (I did like brawl though) Too much to say in this paragraph, but you all already know why its here.
2002: Resident Evil 0
I wont lie this was a weak year for me, nothing really came out and grabbed me, but I do love resident evil (or at least I did) and this is my second favourite in the series, great characters, well though out puzzles, classically beautiful pre rendered backgrounds and the scorpion on the train, love it!
2003: F-Zero GX
even with the strong competetion this year, this was a very easy pick, the super tough game that you play with a smile, the music, the campy odd characters, awesome tracks, the non dickish meta community. This game was my main motivation to skip school and I loved every minuite of it. Captain Falcon isnt an internet meme to me, he is really one of my heroes.
2004: GTA San Andreas
Sandbox Mastery, Rockstar in my opinion has never released a bad game, and this is one of the best games in the world, I cant even begin to talk about how much this game does and does it so well, the game holds up even to this day, sure it inspired a culture in gaming that can be annoying when on the headset but it created a world for my generation an adult playground for the teenagers where everything was just how we wanted it. Saints Row never nailed it like this.
2005: Resident Evil 4
Again one of the best games ever, pioneered the over the shoulder camera view and and blended horror and action perfectly,I realise Ive put two resident evil games on my overall list but I couldn't not have this one, Leeooonnnn Heelllp!
2006: Bully (Canis Canem Edit)
A very weak year, Im at the risk of looking like a Resi Fanboy AND a Rockstar fanboy but this game was amazing, Its weird because I dreamed of 'a game where you could go to school' for years when I was little, and when I'm 16 this relatively unheard of gem just falls on the shelf. All my angst about school bullying disappeared this year, I got them all back :)
2007: Mass Effect
Its hard to single out one of the games without the rest of the trilogy, but this game blew me away in terms of story, ive never been more invested in a character before in my life unless you count starfox maybe. The dialouge options, the romancing, the planets, I even liked the Mako! This was my first trip with Bioware and I never wanted to comeback. My name is Frokane and this is my favourite game in 2007.
2008: Gears Of War 2
Yeah another weak year, this was the twilight before I felt games started getting really really bad for the most part, but luckily I had the best cover based shooter as a send off, not much to say about it as a package it just had really really strong gameplay and it kept me hooked.
I now feel slightly calmer whenever I see a chest high wall.
2009: Batman Arkham Asylum
Trust me, it was hard not to pick Tekken 6, Batman was always the one comicbook hero I never thought could be made into a succesful game, I mean how can you balance being a human with no powers but feel very powerful but then realisticly vunerable at the same time? This game got everything right, and obviously the combat system will probably be in games forever now, it just works so well.
2010: Bayonetta
I always liked the idea of DMC and God Of War but i never felt at one with those games, for some reason I didnt like the weapons I either felt too powerful or not strong enough, I didnt like the locations and the music in those games sucked (sorry but its true). Bayonetta was just like 'the correction' for that genre and its beautiful, its weird and wonderful, soooo many combosssss!
2011: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
I didnt want it to have to be skyrim, I wanted to be cool and contrarian and pick a quirky alternative but damnit, its skyrim, I neednt say anymore.
2012: Far Cry
God damn this is me as cynical 22 yr old, in a year where games have all just hit a low point for this year, and then....Ubisoft release a game in a series ive never played before, I knew nothing about the game before playing it but when I did.....omg. The story, the voice acting, the beautiful sandbox island, vaas, and hunting animals for upgrades, the outposts! the trippy visions and of course the weed plantation flamethrower level woooo! This game came out of nowhere for me and I'm soooo glad it did :)
2013: Grand Theft Auto V
Never before in my life have I spent so long, watching every trailer, promo, interview, theory video, screenshot reveal, rumor, info leak before in my entire life! Ive never waited so long for a game in my life before. And boy was the game amazing! But I'll be honest there is a lot more they could have done with it to make it 'perfect' but I await the DLC with fierce anticipation! Rockstar again!, You made the most successful game of all time!
