So many to pick... But I will choose only a few...
Age of Empires 2
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Heroes of Might and Magic III
Civilization
Doom 2
Ff4, 6, and 7
Chronotrigger
Super Metroid
Castlevania SOTN
Zelda a Link to the past
Tony hawk's pro skater 1 and 2
Any of the street fighter
Pokemon
Star craft + brood war
Diablo 1 and 2
And so much more!
I've bought SOTN for 4 different systems/platforms now. Double Crissaegrim and double Rings of Varda ftw.
I used to play it that way to. OP. To the max. It was more fun to try the other weapons and items to be honest. The game has tonnes of unique gear!
This is almost my exact list. They're all games I will happily replay.
I'm kinda surprised it took this long to see Pokémon mentioned.
Top 5
Doom and Doom II
Command and Conquer: Red Alert
Super Mario World
StarCraft with Brood War expansion
Duke 3D
Similar to mine, I'd add TIE Fighter and Warcraft II as well.
This is the perfect list for me. Command & conquer was a gem!
Agree for C&C:RA. I easily spent hundreds of hours playing that game. But would you believe they were all on the PS1? (family didn't have a PC in the 90s 🫤)
You can play Super Mario World on the PS1?
I gotta see that. Lol
This is the perfect list for me. Command & conquer was a gem!
StarCraft
The StarCraft storyline and characters resonated so much with me as a kid.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
One of my all-time favorite Zelda games!
Mine too!
That game is trippy af. One of the first games I ever played and completed. An absolute classic
Earthbound
and of course motherfucking Half-Life
Legendary ending and silly humor throughout made this my goat game. Super Mario World and Super Metroid tie for second.
Definitely Half-Life.
The exact two that came to my mind!
that's a big hi five, bro!
Command and conquer, before Westwood was fucked over by EA
Hard to pick one but if I had to I'd go with Final Fantasy VII since it was the game that got me into RPGs, and I got some good memories of watching my brother play it when we were kids.
I remember beating Final Fantasy VII and just staring at my TV in shock. Like, mouth hanging open, mind blown.
What's crazy is for the life of me, I can't even remember the basic gist of the ending of the game today. I just remember how it made me feel.
Earthbound and Chronotrigger are the two games with the most memories for me.
U. N. Squadron and Super Punch-out! We’re the two I played through the most - just over and over again. So much fun.
Quake
Thief
Metal Gear Solid
Half Life
System Shock 2
Honourable mention to Final Fantasy 7, and Zelda Ocarina of Time. They might have been great when released, but I don’t think they’ve aged well.
@Platform27@lemmy.ml @mayflower@lemmy.ml Those are some excellent choices. I'd pick quake for multiplayer - and SS2 for single. Honorable mention to Dune 2.
Yeah, super nice choices!
With exception of MGS, I still play all of those (Quake and Thief series) every few years.
My favorite games as a child growing up in the 90s:
Zelda OoT
Super Mario 64
Pokemon Red
Zelda OoA/OoS
Though after later playing Final Fantasy 7 in 2003 that quickly captivated me and became really special to me. It was my first Final Fantasy I ever played and one of my most cherished games to this day.
Also, while I never played the original 90s game, I absolutely adored Black Mesa and the Half Life franchise. It was damn impressive what Valve accomplished with the original Half Life back then.
Total Annihilation... couldn't get enough of it. Even playing strategy games today I desperately miss the elaborate control and mechanics of TA.
Unpopular opinion: Total Annihilation > Star Craft
*South Korea has entered the chat
Pretty sure you can get a modern copy of TA. Either on steam or gog.
And if you like the general style but want to broaden your horizons a bit, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance and Planetary Annihilation: Titans are both good options!
Never played that, but how about Supreme Commander? That game still beats out any other RTS imo
Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Goldeneye
Handheld it's Pokemon red/blue, no competition.
Edit: although it's actually gold/silver if that counts (released 1999 in Japan, 2000 in North America)
Yes Game Boy was a must in that years, even with just Tetris was great as device and then Pokemon have make the addiction.
Yes, I spent many years with red/blue/yellow, but I have to say, gold/silver were the most bang for the buck. I remember reading so many articles about what the new game would have (day night cycle, radio with daily lottery system, weekly events, new pokeball types, holding/berry systems, etc.) and they delivered on absolutely everything in spades. It was only after I beat the elite four that I realized you could go back to kanto and do 8 more gyms! It was by far the most satisfied I have ever been with a new release to a series. I have since read that the devs were under the impression that it would be the last game in the franchise (lol!) so they poured everything into it. And it shows.
Baldur's Gate
Original Unreal. Ranked #1 in the world at one point for a couple weeks. Nothing compares to that game and time for me.
Donkey Kong Country 2
Fallout. I'm yet to play the second part and people say it's even better.
You just don't see such game design anymore, I can't say modern or old one is better, both have their advantages but playing Fallout was totally worth it
If you loved it, you must play 2! It’s so good.
Heroes of Might and Magic 2
Heroes of Might and Magic III !!!!!!
A great choice as well! Both are my favorites from the series, but 2 is the one that I got to play first as a kid.
Commander Keen
Age of empires 1
Pyramid: Challenge of Pharaoh's dream
Atlantis: The lost tales
Ski free
Super Mario World
Spyro
Gonna throw Crash Bandicoot on this one as well
I replayed Spyro recently, and honestly, I felt like it didn't hold up. It felt like the objective was to get all of the gems, but there was no reward for getting gems. And maybe because it was a kids game, I just felt like it was way too easy. You could basically just walk to the end of each level, skip any gems and dragons that weren't in the main path to the exit of the level, and finish the game in a couple of hours. I also felt like the level design was kind of wonky. Like, there were paths where you would follow to a dead end just to get gems, and there was nothing else there. That's fine if that happens a couple of times in the game, but it was like this like 4 or 5 time per level.
Spyro 2 was a huge improvement to this formula, because you use the gems to buy upgrades and unlock new paths, or pay the dude to let you use the elevator and such. It made getting gems - and therefore the rest of the game - feel a lot less pointless.
Super Mario Bros 3 is a timeless game and is my favorite side scroller although Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country give it a run for its money
SMW is one of the greatest platformers of all time, but SMB3 was such a huge leap forward it's hard to say
I'd say I enjoyed playing sm3 over world.
World was a little friendlier, especially with the extra power up and Yoshis. But it's the kind of game I can't go back and play anymore. I played it a ton back then and I'm satisfied with it to never want to play it again. But 3, I can't get enough of.
This thread isn’t complete without mentioning how Super Mario Bros 3 was introduced to the world in the climax to the movie The Wizard.
Such a core memory of my childhood. Blew my tiny little mind.
I love the power glove, it's so bad
It is, in fact, so bad. Alas, not in the 80s way.
It was unusably awesome
Dune 2,
Descent,
Transport Tycoon,
Starcontrol 2,
Starcraft,
Civilization,
Commander Keen,
Jill of the Jungle
Turrican 2
Day of Tentacle
Wing Commander
Might and Magic
Ufo
Dune 2 ... such a great game! I was just playing a bit of OpenRA last night. Great to see your comments this morning!
Quake 3 arena
Excellent
It's still the first game I run with every PC upgrade.
Metal gear solid was brilliant.
Then wipeout 2097.
Also, does anyone else remember the Music franchise of games on PS1?
Seconded. Nothing really compares to MGS imo. That being said, I stopped gaming around 2001.
I spent hundreds (maybe thousands) of hours on that!
PC:
Indiana Jones & the Fate of Atlantis
Day of the Tentacle
The Monkey Island trilogy
Sam and Max Hit The Road
Full Throttle
Loom
X-Wing
TIE-Fighter
The Dig
Space Quest 4 and 5
Quest for Glory 3 and 4
Beneath a Steel Sky
Broken Sword 1
Flashback
Out of this World
Prince of Persia 1 and 2
Test Drive 3
Ultima VII
Doom and Doom 2
Twinsen’s Adventure
Descent
Syndicate
MDK
Interstate ‘76
Command and Conquer
Age of Empires
SimCity 2000
SimTower
Console (NES/SNES):
Mega-Man 3
Super Contra
Ninja Gaiden 2-3
Dr. Mario
Battletoads
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Captain Skyhawk
Kiwi Kraze
Base Wars
Batman: Return of the Joker
A Boy and his Blob
Whomp’Em
Yo! Noid
Fester’s Quest
Bart vs. The Space Mutants
Caveman Ugh-Lympics
Ghostbusters 2
SNES
Super Mario World
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Chrono Trigger
Pilotwings
Starfox
Zelda: A link to the Past
Donkey Kong Country
F-Zero
Street Fighter 2 Turbo
ActRaiser
Castlevania 4
Super Mario Kart
Secret of Mana
Megaman X
Final Fight
NBA Jam
Contra 3
Axelay
Super Bomberman 2
Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose
Prince of Persia (Mechner's favorite)
TMNT: Turtles in Time
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Star Wars trilogy
Out of this World
Joe & Mac
Disney's The Lion King
Battletoads in Battlemaniacs
N64
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Super Mario 64
Mario Kart 64
GoldenEye 007
Star Fox 64
Diddy Kong Racing
Donkey Kong 64
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
WipEout 64
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Killer Instinct Gold
Gauntlet: Legends
Cruis'n World
Syndicate was glorious
Truly was, incidentally Satellite Reign is a spiritual successor to it, and it's pretty fun.
I think those adventure games deserve the accolade considering they really were the pinnacle of the genre, and it hasn't even really continued since then.
They died with the transition to 3D and have resurrected and blossomed into a lot of new games and subgenres like with Disco Elysium, the Tell Tale games, The Talos Principle, Life is Strange, Monument Valley, VA-11 Hall-A... even The Stanley Parable is a point and click narrative driven game.
Good call on The Stanley Parable; it does have a similar fun, nonsensical style like the old Lucas games. Disco was very interesting and I enjoy the Tell Tale games, but those don't really scratch the same itch. The others I'm ignorant about.
At any rate, those old gems still feel like the pinnacle of the genre to me.
Festers quest is probably the most buggy game I've put a lot of time into. It's good, but could have been great.
Really? I don't remember it being buggy back then
In no particular order:
THPS
Super Smash Bros.
Goldeneye
Worms
Lemmings
FIFA World Cup’98
Pokémon red/blue
LoZ: Links’s Awakening
Counter-Strike
SiN
Delta Force
Baldur's Gate
Counter-Strike overtook the others by a mile in the 00s but in the 90s I probably enjoyed Delta Force more actually.
Wait I forget about consoles:
GoldenEye 64, opened my eyes to FPS I guess
Wave Racer 64, was the staple racer in our household
I was just trying to remember the name of SiN earlier today, thanks.
Counter-strike was in the 2000s though right? Or am I gone mad?
I thought it was 1998 but the mod came out in 1999, then Valve bought them out and released it as a standalone game in 2000.
SIN was so good (patched)!
I even somehow remembered the day Sinclair was born when that date came irl.
Later when Episode 1 (of 1) came out I set my ringtone to its theme music.
Final Fantasy VI (or III as it was known then). Just a masterpiece with great music, a great story, great characters, and fun gameplay.
There are too many to mention, but the top five for me in no order:
SimCity 2000
Baldur's Gate (1&2)
Final Fantasy VI (or III, as we called it in the States)
Doom II
Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara
And I'd still play any of them to this day.
Super Metroid
Age of Empires 2
But only started playing it a few years back
Wololo
By far:
Leisure Suit Larry
Prince of Persia
Both 80s aren't they?
LSL was a pioneer in micro-transactions. This was pre Internet, mind you. If you got stuck, you could call a paid 1-900 number for hints or straight walkthroughs, and they charged ~$4 per minute. Don't ask me how I know.
Streets of Rage 2. Honourable mention to FFVII and FFVIII.
I second streets of rage. It has an amazing soundtrack.
Sanitarium.
Some of my favourite that bring back good memories:
Age of Empires II
Caesar games
C&C Red Alert
Diablo
Magic & Mayhem
Pharaoh
Pokémon (Yellow, Blue/Red)
Postal
SimCity 2000
StarCraft
Warcraft II
Diablo
Doom
Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis
Lotus
I know the other three games, but never heard about lotus
Hated that game. My friends would always find where the exit was, and let me wait there while they did the job.
Just a great game. Descent 1-3 were loads of fun.
From what I understand, the IP owners basically became scumbag squatters, and no hope for a revival of the IP ever occurred
Ultima series, especially Ultima VII and Ultima Underworld I & II
Myst series
Hexen
Doom
Quake
Duke Nukem
Postal and Postal II
Diablo and Diablo II
SimCity and Simcity 2000/SCURK
Civilization series (still play!)
Secret of Mana
Ace of Empires 2
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Pokemon Blue
Goldeneye
Age of Empires 2 is still going, stronger than ever! Must easily be the most successful 90s game still alive
Brood War still has a robust competitive scene. Not sure which has more viewers/players though.
Oh yea that‘s true, forgot about brood war. Also a fantastic one
It's pretty hard to pick one but I do have favorites among different categories.
Solo RPG - Chrono Trigger
MMORPG - Ultima Online
FPS - Quake
RTS - C&C: Tiberian Sun
Solid choices all!
Interstate 76
Oh, yeah, this game is cool, I loved playing it when I was a kid, the car combat was really nice, I would love a modern game like this.
Now you're asking a question I can answer. FFVII or Pokemon. That's all I ever played. Thank you for your time.
Giving you an upvote for FFVII, that was the game that got me into gaming. Still have the best memories of that one
I played those 2 because my mom could afford the consoles after much saving, but not much else. Those are the 2 games I got to choose. I even had to play ffvii without a memory card. Sooooo many hours restarting after a power outage or someone turning off the PlayStation. I'm a very very patient person now.
That is torture. FFVII is such a cool game, but playing that in one session is close to inhuman. (Still play it from time to time on emulators)
I played so much X-Com, Civ 2, and Final Fantasy Tactics back in the day.
Sam n Max Hit the Road and King's Quest 5, 6, and 7. <3
Master of Orion.
Ultima Underworld.
Shadowgate.
Goldeneye.
Final Fantasy 7, 8, and 9.
Golgo 13.
Wing Commander 3.
Lands of Lore.
SimTown.
Yo Noid
RCT 3
After Dark ;P
Also Catz.
Kings quest 6 was one of my all time favs, haven't thought about that game in a long time.
I recently purchased King Quest and Space Quest collections from GOG.
I didn't have a CD ROM drive as a kid so I only got to play The disc version. Hearing the voices is so much better than I expected.
I used to play Absence Makes The Heart Go Yonder at my dads house all the time so I really get emotional over it :)
Yeah, IMO the two best Kings Quests were 3 and 6. Both with Prince Alexander/Gwydion.
King's Quest 5 with King Graham was also pretty good.
The one with Princess Rosella was probably my least favorite.
I never finished the latest one that came out a few years ago.
I agree though I remember loving the art style and the voice work for 7 since it reminded me so much of Disney; but I was about 13 or 14 when it came out.
Except for the darned jackalope.
I didn't actually have 6 but I played it a lot at my dads friends house when we visited but it was one of my faves.
The new one on Steam is actually pretty goods though. I just discovered it a couple months ago.
I never played 7 because it only came on CD. Our computer wasn't good enough for it growing up.
Years later I did try 8....it wasn't to my liking.
SimTown
That one I have not heard in a while. It works great using wine! But the controls are really awful (compared to todays standards) 😵💫
There is a shocking lack of Star Control 2 in here. Easily the best game I have ever played, period. It frequently gets name dropped in lists of game developers' favorite games of all time. Later space epics like Mass Effect stood on Star Control 2's shoulders to reach the heights they did.
Good news! The devs released it to the open source community under the name The Ur-Quan Masters. You can play it now for free! And they're developing a sequel as we speak over at Pistol Shrimp Games
Super Melee was so much fun! Chenjesu and Khor-Ah were the toughest but the other ships were pretty well balanced. So much fun.
I loved exploring new star systems too. Just an incredible game!
Juffo-Wup fills in my fibers and I grow turgid.
Oh this one is good. I have like 12 hours stuck in an empty community college lounge today. I found an APK for Android and I've been playing for a solid 4 hours. It's a lot of fun even just gathering resources and upgrading the flagship.
How do I find tech upgrades? My lander needs some environmental resistance for sure.
.. you'll find upgrades eventually :)
Difficult to pick a single fave. Here are the games I've spent most of my time playing back then.
On PC:
X-Wing series (X-Wing, TIE Fighter, etc.)
Star Control 2
Earthsiege 1 and 2
Starsiege: Tribes
Team Fortress mod for Quake
EverQuest
On arcade, mostly fighting games, and some side-scrollers:
Mortal Kombat 1, 2, 3, 4
Killer Instinct 1 and 2
Virtua Fighter 1 and 2
Marvel Vs. Street Fighter
TMNT
X-Men: Children of the Atom
Want to go back to the 80s? Lode Runner, Rescue on Fractalus! and Karateka. Also Gyruss introduced me to modern remixes of classical music.
Earthsiege 2 ❤️
I still play Civilization 1 from time to time.
And with friends, Worms 2 is a banger, and so is the cave flyer Wings
Worms was so much fun
Still is 😊
Myst: Riven
I have fond memories of friends coming over, all huddled together in front of my 15" monitor to figure out our way through Riven. Those eureka moments where we were like "wow! These are symbols for a base 5 number system!"
Brave Fencer Musashi! It's a fun RPG from squaresoft. Very much a hidden gem. The music in it was streets ahead.
I only played the demo but it was great! Now that I remember it I may try to get my hands on a copy.. thanks for sparking a memory!
Do it, it is legit worth it!
I acquired it recently and plan to do so.. looks like it held up well after all these years other than maybe a little platforming jank, but that's par for the time!
Aha yeah some of the platforming was definitely questionable. Overall though it definitely holds up! Taketh care on your journey!
Streets ahead is never gonna catch on!
You're just streets behind
Transport Tycoon
Doom
Goldeneye 64 (I bought a N64 console just for this game)
Frontier Elite
Baldur's gate
Fallout 2
X : Beyond The Frontier
Goldeneye 64 (I bought a N64 console just for this game)
Also did this! Played it at a friend's, fell in love, so 13 year old me got a job and worked til I could buy it. What a game.
Age of Empires 2
The Shining Force series
Man that's a tough one. The 90s covered a huge spectrum of games and consoles.
Perhaps at the time, Final Fantasy VII was my favorite. No other game absorbed me like it did. I spent so much time playing it. But it's aged badly now.
But as far as games that I would still go back and play? I'd say probably twisted metal 2. The game is just so good. The music, the characters, the vibe of the game.
Too tough to name one I can only narrow it to three
Xcom UFO Defense
Chrono Trigger
Super Street Fighter 2
Was looking for Street Fighter II on here. That game set me back DM150 and it was worth every bit of it.
Possibly surpassed by Virtua Fighter II eventually,
My personal favorites in no specific order and no preference on the system:
Metal Gear Solid
Sonic 1&2
M1 Tank Platoon
F-Zero
A link to the past (Zelda)
Test Drive 3
Duke 3D
Dune 2
Ultima 7
Stunts 3D
Comanche (All parts)
Delta Force
Hind-E
Sim City 2000
FF 8 &9
TFX
GTA 2
Transport Tycoon
Banjo-Kazooie
Its still one of the best of its genre
For me... Monster Truck Madness, both 1 and 2
I loved Monster Truck Madness 2, I loved those crazy Monster Truck, the Monster Patrol and the Sting monster trucks were my favorites.
Super Mario 64
Definitely a tie right now between Sonic 1 or 2, which I managed to get copies of for Genesis 3 years ago when I first got a Genesis.
The entire list of releases from the year 1998, the objectively best year in all of video gaming history.
I agree, subjectively.
Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force.
I got it working on Linux just so I could play it on steam deck. Side bonus! It's so old integrated graphics can more than handle it at modern resolutions. I put that game on every laptop I own.
Old business machines are great for that purpose, snag one on recycle day, install Nobara, install Elite Force.
One day I'm going to have a dedicated LAN match room exclusively for this game.
Road rash
Shining force
Redneck rampage
Bottom of the 9th 99
Top is hard. Probably OOT.
Top five would be OOT, Doom, Sonic 2, crash bandicoot, and half-life.
Way too many good ones to pick from haha.
STAR CONTROL 2
Another World
Action Quake 2
Street fighter 2
SC2 was so good. I was really excited for SC3... but then it came out.
For me it is probably a tie between Sid Meier's Civilization and Doom. Both were groundbreaking in their genres and they had immense influence on the type of games I since became interested in playing.
Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven
Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor
Heroes of Might and Magic III
Rogue Squadron!
Gotta get that RAM expansion for the 64!
The Secret of Monkey Island
still play it nowadays from time to time
Metal Gear Solid
Monkey Island 2 (The first one is arguably better, but 2 was my introduction to the series, so I have a bit of a soft spot for it)
Sim City 2000
Command and Conquer
Red Alert
Goldeneye
Mario Kart
NBA Hang time
Perfect Dark
MDK
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Super Mario Kart and NHL '94
I've always been a Nintendo fan, and their first- and second-party catalog from the 90s is phenomenal:
Zelda OoT / MM
Goldeneye / Perfect Dark
Super Mario Bros 64
Mario Parties
Banjo Kazooie / Tooie
Pokémon Red / Blue / Yellow
Pokémon Stadium
Outside of Nintendo, the standout titles for me are:
Crash Bandicoot
Spyro
Metal Gear Solid
FF VII & VIII
Technically 2000, but Sacrifice. It's still one of the most unique games I've ever played, and is my top wish for a remake/remaster.
It's a hybrid action RPG and RTS, which isn't completely unheard of, but even in its niche genre it's unlike anything else. You play a wizard with a range of both spells and summonable units, which can be ordered around to a limited degree, or more commonly used as a personal escort. Both the units and your own spells are very creative, and the higher level ones can be ridiculously powerful. In a glorious early celebration of terrain deformation, many of the high level spells will create volcanoes, mountains, craters, or even gaping voids in the already surreal landscapes. The story mode is also very weird and funny, with some top level voice actors.
Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. Super Mario 64 was my first "3D" so to speak, but OoT took that to the next level. The feeling of wonder when I first left the Lost Woods and came out into the field will never be topped.
In more or less this order:
Fifa 99
Duke Nukem 3D
Doom
Rise Of The Triad
Test Drive 5
Simcity
Hardball 3
Madden 98
Starcraft
Age Of Empires 2
Need For Speed 2
All Points Buletin
Shout out to FIFA 95 on the SNES which was completely isometric. A good era for soccer games with a lot of worthy competitors:
International Superstar Soccer Deluxe
Super soccer
FIFA
Sensible soccer
Move sensible to the top of the list. Aftertouch was genius game design.
Yes! Duke 3D!
Hail to the king, baby!
Homeworld and Half Life for me: both were just awesome. I spent a very long time in both.
The 90s were peak gaming for me - a lot a creative things were going on, new genres being explored. And we were spoilt for choice with all the blatant piracy.
But if I had to choose one game that really blew me away, that would be Thief.
It's between Final Fantasy Tactics and Suikoden II. I think it goes to the latter.
The ones I played the most were:
Heroes of Might & Magic
Civilization
Genghis Khan ][: Clan of the White Wolf
ZZT
Final Fantasy 6
not in order, mind
TOCA Touring Car Championship
Gran Turismo
Syphon Filter
Mechwarrior 2.
Controlling a heavy mech was 90s af.
And I can still hear the startup sequence in my head.
Reactor online
Sensors online
Weapons online.
All systems nominal.
I don't really know what to pick so I'm going to go with something kind of obscure, "The Adventures of Bouapha: Spooky Castle". The gameplay is a little hard to explain but it kind of plays like Zelda but you can pickup upgrades for your main weapon that allows it to be thrown in many directions and it has sub-weapons that can either be found or dropped by enemies and they have limited ammo.
I actually forgot this game existed until itch recommended me "Hamsandwich", which is a free and open-source collection of updated versions of a bunch of old Hamumu Software games. There are mods available for specific games and it's available for Linux, Windows, MacOS, Android and any other OS/device that can play the online version.
Baldur’s Gate. That game blew me away.
backyard baseball
The one i played the most was probably super mario world
My favorite snes game
But ocarina of time was great too.
For pc id say, red alert or diablo.
Zelda OoT
Super Mario World
Doom
TIE Fighter
Diablo
Can't decide between at least:
Homeworld
Frontier: Elite II
Warcraft II
Burden of the Crown
X-Wing, TIE Fighter, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Rebel Assault
Simant
Happyweed
Tekken 3. Late 90s but I spent HUNDREDS of hours playing it.
There were a lot of games released in the 90s. It would take 2-3 per genre to start getting close.
Picking just one single game... I guess I'll go with Fallout 2
I liked the Marathon series for Mac and the Twisted Metal series for PS.
It's impossible to pick just one (even when talking specific genres)
But when it comes to fighting games, Marvel vs. Capcom and KOF '97 where among the best.
loved KOF 97, 98 back then. Bloody Roar 2 as well. That game was so much fun.
MGS 1 for obvious reasons.
Blitz and NBA street 1&2 were definitely some faves.
Jet Moto series.
Jet grind radio had so many hours sunk into it.
Resident evil 1-2 was absolutely terrified of these games but couldn’t stop playing and quickly became a favorite of me and my dad.
The Secret of Monkey Island
Super Metroid
Yoshi's Island
Star fox 64
There are so many... Here are some that I probably spent the most time with:
Master of Orion
XCom (the original)
unreal tournament
Elder Scrolls Daggerfall
Falcon 3.0
Mechwarrior 2
Seven kingdoms
Syndicate and Wing Commander Privateer
Sonic Adventure.
If 1998 in Japan and 1999 everywhere else is too close to the '00s (and in the context of what SA1 meant for the Sonic franchise I wouldn't blame you,) Sonic CD.
Subspace - Meet people from all over the world, and then kill them.
One of the first online multiplayer games. It has a very long skill curve, and a ton of variety in game types.
It's still alive in Steam as Continuum!
Shattered Galaxy, it marketed itself as an mmorpgrts. The depth of gameplay was fantastic. While the graphics look a little dated, I would still play it if there was any server population left.
So many amazing games to choose from such as all the D&D based ones, Morrowind, the SimCity ones and the Championship Manager games, but my absolute favorite was Fallout 2 for sure!
I loved the game Tomba! 2 The Evil Swine Return, it was creative, intricate, and very far ahead of its time, I would love to see the series get a reboot or a remaster
Flashback. There's something cinematographic in that old Delphine gem.
I don't think I can choose between games like Alpha Centauri, Marathon, Chrono Trigger, Homeworld, Quake, Counter-Strike (I played the beta in '99, does that count?), not to mention King of Fighters '98, Half-Life, Star Craft... wow it really was the golden era of gaming wasn't it?
Sid Meier's Colonisation, my 10 year old laptop that I replaced last year only had enough power to play that game and I put so many hours into it when I didn't have access to my main pc. It's just a shame that my new laptop doesn't upscale dosbox the same way my old one did but I think that's just because of the differences between MacOS and Windows.
(Edit: wrote the wrong game series somehow)
Half-life
the Doom games
the Quake games
Shogo
POD
Outlaws
Soldier of Fortune (it was released in 2000 tho but it's almost the 90's lol)
Can’t pick a favorite. But I will say the one I return to the most often is Super Metroid
Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid.
My top favorites, can't decide which one is the best:
Dyna Blaster / Bomberman
Commander Keen
Skyroads
Hero's Hearts
The entire Dreamcast catalog. Specifically Skies of Arcadia, Power Stone 2, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure 2, Berserk: Gut's Rage, Spawn: In the Demons Hand, Phantasy Star Online, and so many more great ones.
Honourable mention: Seaman
Everquest. Also my favorite game from the 2000's, 2010's and 2020's
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri - it was the Crysis of its time, in that whatever computer you had, you needed a better one to be able to play it.
Also, we all decided that the atrocious acting in the FMVs was deliberate, so that's okay.
Banjo-Kazooie
So unfortunately I didn't play video games until about 2001 when I turned 5 and got an N64 for my first Christmas in the USA. The game itself is from 2000 though.
Mickey's Speedway USA for the N64.
Goddamn I loved that game. I have so many fun memories with it.
Buzz aldrin's race into space I was already a geek at that time
In no particular order, these are the games I played the most back then.
SNES
Super Bomberman II
Stunt Race FX
Super Mario Bros
Yoshi's Island
PS1
Gran Turismo 2
Spyro 1 & 2
Crash Bandicoot series
Twisted Metal 2, 4
Jet Moto series
Coolborders series
Pro Skater series
Einhänder
PC
After Dark Games
And a couple of nearly-90s favorites,
PC
4x4 Evo 2
Red Alert 2
OG Halo
PC: Descent. Full 6 degrees of freedom movement. Fantastic.
Albion
Frontier: Elite II
Quake
Command & Conquer
Civilization
Quest for Glory
Simcity
Doom
Wolfenstein
Prince of Persia
Syndicate
A lot of the greats have already been mentioned by others, but Myst (1993) and Riven (1997) deserve to be up there.
Not only for the immersive worlds you got to experience through masterfully crafted imagery, sound and music, but also combined they held the record for best selling game series until they were surpassed by The Sims.
Earthbound!
Jagged Alliance 2
I wish they could do something with the franchise. I spent so much time pouring over different mercenaries and guns. Atheist as much time as actually playing.
Jagged alliance 3 just came out and it's pretty great so far! Not as many mercs but maybe M E.R.C opens up later.
Ape Escape!
Zoo Tycoon and Everquest!
I tried Project 1999 for Everquest, but the change in culture from 1999 to now is just...a lot. I'd enjoy it again if I could get my friends to play, but I think it'll be too old school for everyone.
Toy Story 2 for PSX.
Titanic: Adventure out of Time
The game had quite the ambiance (Smethelles awkward FMV face & that haunting D deck music still haunts my dreams sometimes). In addition, I really liked the laid back mystery solving gameplay that it provided... I feel like it was pretty unique and haven't found anything that quite scratches that same itch.
Also, sim tower.. That game is just awesome.
How did I not see a mention for Super Mario 3??? That game changed everything for me. That game with all its easter eggs was just magic as a kid.
Mega Man Legends!
WILLY BEAMISH
Feeling happy and enthusiastic
Doom 2
Wolf3D
StarCraft
Warcraft 2
Chrono Trigger
F15 Strike Eagle 2 (might be late 80s though)
Super Mario World
Shadowrun (Sega Genesis)
Sonic
Of all those, StarCraft on BattleNet changed my life. What an amazing thing, to play against people from around the world. So it's hard to rank when we're mixing platforms and online and whatnot.
So many to pick... But I will choose only a few...
Age of Empires 2
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Heroes of Might and Magic III
Civilization
Doom 2
And so much more!
I've bought SOTN for 4 different systems/platforms now. Double Crissaegrim and double Rings of Varda ftw.
I used to play it that way to. OP. To the max. It was more fun to try the other weapons and items to be honest. The game has tonnes of unique gear!
This is almost my exact list. They're all games I will happily replay.
I'm kinda surprised it took this long to see Pokémon mentioned.
Top 5
Doom and Doom II
Command and Conquer: Red Alert
Super Mario World
StarCraft with Brood War expansion
Duke 3D
Similar to mine, I'd add TIE Fighter and Warcraft II as well.
This is the perfect list for me. Command & conquer was a gem!
Agree for C&C:RA. I easily spent hundreds of hours playing that game. But would you believe they were all on the PS1? (family didn't have a PC in the 90s 🫤)
You can play Super Mario World on the PS1?
I gotta see that. Lol
This is the perfect list for me. Command & conquer was a gem!
StarCraft
The StarCraft storyline and characters resonated so much with me as a kid.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
One of my all-time favorite Zelda games!
Mine too!
That game is trippy af. One of the first games I ever played and completed. An absolute classic
Earthbound
and of course motherfucking Half-Life
Legendary ending and silly humor throughout made this my goat game. Super Mario World and Super Metroid tie for second.
Definitely Half-Life.
The exact two that came to my mind!
that's a big hi five, bro!
Command and conquer, before Westwood was fucked over by EA
Hard to pick one but if I had to I'd go with Final Fantasy VII since it was the game that got me into RPGs, and I got some good memories of watching my brother play it when we were kids.
I remember beating Final Fantasy VII and just staring at my TV in shock. Like, mouth hanging open, mind blown.
What's crazy is for the life of me, I can't even remember the basic gist of the ending of the game today. I just remember how it made me feel.
Earthbound and Chronotrigger are the two games with the most memories for me.
U. N. Squadron and Super Punch-out! We’re the two I played through the most - just over and over again. So much fun.
Honourable mention to Final Fantasy 7, and Zelda Ocarina of Time. They might have been great when released, but I don’t think they’ve aged well.
@Platform27@lemmy.ml @mayflower@lemmy.ml Those are some excellent choices. I'd pick quake for multiplayer - and SS2 for single. Honorable mention to Dune 2.
Yeah, super nice choices!
With exception of MGS, I still play all of those (Quake and Thief series) every few years.
My favorite games as a child growing up in the 90s:
Zelda OoT
Super Mario 64
Pokemon Red
Zelda OoA/OoS
Though after later playing Final Fantasy 7 in 2003 that quickly captivated me and became really special to me. It was my first Final Fantasy I ever played and one of my most cherished games to this day.
Also, while I never played the original 90s game, I absolutely adored Black Mesa and the Half Life franchise. It was damn impressive what Valve accomplished with the original Half Life back then.
Total Annihilation... couldn't get enough of it. Even playing strategy games today I desperately miss the elaborate control and mechanics of TA.
Unpopular opinion: Total Annihilation > Star Craft
*South Korea has entered the chat
Pretty sure you can get a modern copy of TA. Either on steam or gog.
And if you like the general style but want to broaden your horizons a bit, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance and Planetary Annihilation: Titans are both good options!
Never played that, but how about Supreme Commander? That game still beats out any other RTS imo
Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Goldeneye
Handheld it's Pokemon red/blue, no competition.
Edit: although it's actually gold/silver if that counts (released 1999 in Japan, 2000 in North America)
Yes Game Boy was a must in that years, even with just Tetris was great as device and then Pokemon have make the addiction.
Yes, I spent many years with red/blue/yellow, but I have to say, gold/silver were the most bang for the buck. I remember reading so many articles about what the new game would have (day night cycle, radio with daily lottery system, weekly events, new pokeball types, holding/berry systems, etc.) and they delivered on absolutely everything in spades. It was only after I beat the elite four that I realized you could go back to kanto and do 8 more gyms! It was by far the most satisfied I have ever been with a new release to a series. I have since read that the devs were under the impression that it would be the last game in the franchise (lol!) so they poured everything into it. And it shows.
Baldur's Gate
Original Unreal. Ranked #1 in the world at one point for a couple weeks. Nothing compares to that game and time for me.
Donkey Kong Country 2
Fallout. I'm yet to play the second part and people say it's even better. You just don't see such game design anymore, I can't say modern or old one is better, both have their advantages but playing Fallout was totally worth it
If you loved it, you must play 2! It’s so good.
Heroes of Might and Magic 2
Heroes of Might and Magic III !!!!!!
A great choice as well! Both are my favorites from the series, but 2 is the one that I got to play first as a kid.
Commander Keen
Age of empires 1
Pyramid: Challenge of Pharaoh's dream
Atlantis: The lost tales
Ski free
Super Mario World
Spyro
Gonna throw Crash Bandicoot on this one as well
I replayed Spyro recently, and honestly, I felt like it didn't hold up. It felt like the objective was to get all of the gems, but there was no reward for getting gems. And maybe because it was a kids game, I just felt like it was way too easy. You could basically just walk to the end of each level, skip any gems and dragons that weren't in the main path to the exit of the level, and finish the game in a couple of hours. I also felt like the level design was kind of wonky. Like, there were paths where you would follow to a dead end just to get gems, and there was nothing else there. That's fine if that happens a couple of times in the game, but it was like this like 4 or 5 time per level.
Spyro 2 was a huge improvement to this formula, because you use the gems to buy upgrades and unlock new paths, or pay the dude to let you use the elevator and such. It made getting gems - and therefore the rest of the game - feel a lot less pointless.
Super Mario Bros 3 is a timeless game and is my favorite side scroller although Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country give it a run for its money
SMW is one of the greatest platformers of all time, but SMB3 was such a huge leap forward it's hard to say
I'd say I enjoyed playing sm3 over world.
World was a little friendlier, especially with the extra power up and Yoshis. But it's the kind of game I can't go back and play anymore. I played it a ton back then and I'm satisfied with it to never want to play it again. But 3, I can't get enough of.
This thread isn’t complete without mentioning how Super Mario Bros 3 was introduced to the world in the climax to the movie The Wizard.
Such a core memory of my childhood. Blew my tiny little mind.
I love the power glove, it's so bad
It is, in fact, so bad. Alas, not in the 80s way.
It was unusably awesome
Dune 2,
Descent,
Transport Tycoon,
Starcontrol 2,
Starcraft,
Civilization,
Commander Keen,
Jill of the Jungle
Turrican 2
Day of Tentacle
Wing Commander
Might and Magic
Ufo
Dune 2 ... such a great game! I was just playing a bit of OpenRA last night. Great to see your comments this morning!
Quake 3 arena
Excellent
It's still the first game I run with every PC upgrade.
Metal gear solid was brilliant.
Then wipeout 2097.
Also, does anyone else remember the Music franchise of games on PS1?
Seconded. Nothing really compares to MGS imo. That being said, I stopped gaming around 2001.
You mean Parappa the Rapper?
No, I meant this game: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_(video_game)
I spent hundreds (maybe thousands) of hours on that!
PC:
Console (NES/SNES):
SNES
N64
Syndicate was glorious
Truly was, incidentally Satellite Reign is a spiritual successor to it, and it's pretty fun.
I think those adventure games deserve the accolade considering they really were the pinnacle of the genre, and it hasn't even really continued since then.
They died with the transition to 3D and have resurrected and blossomed into a lot of new games and subgenres like with Disco Elysium, the Tell Tale games, The Talos Principle, Life is Strange, Monument Valley, VA-11 Hall-A... even The Stanley Parable is a point and click narrative driven game.
Good call on The Stanley Parable; it does have a similar fun, nonsensical style like the old Lucas games. Disco was very interesting and I enjoy the Tell Tale games, but those don't really scratch the same itch. The others I'm ignorant about.
At any rate, those old gems still feel like the pinnacle of the genre to me.
Festers quest is probably the most buggy game I've put a lot of time into. It's good, but could have been great.
Really? I don't remember it being buggy back then
In no particular order:
THPS
Super Smash Bros.
Goldeneye
Worms
Lemmings
FIFA World Cup’98
Pokémon red/blue
LoZ: Links’s Awakening
Counter-Strike overtook the others by a mile in the 00s but in the 90s I probably enjoyed Delta Force more actually.
Wait I forget about consoles:
I was just trying to remember the name of SiN earlier today, thanks.
Counter-strike was in the 2000s though right? Or am I gone mad?
I thought it was 1998 but the mod came out in 1999, then Valve bought them out and released it as a standalone game in 2000.
SIN was so good (patched)! I even somehow remembered the day Sinclair was born when that date came irl.
Later when Episode 1 (of 1) came out I set my ringtone to its theme music.
Final Fantasy VI (or III as it was known then). Just a masterpiece with great music, a great story, great characters, and fun gameplay.
There are too many to mention, but the top five for me in no order:
And I'd still play any of them to this day.
Super Metroid
Age of Empires 2
But only started playing it a few years back
Wololo
By far:
Both 80s aren't they?
LSL was a pioneer in micro-transactions. This was pre Internet, mind you. If you got stuck, you could call a paid 1-900 number for hints or straight walkthroughs, and they charged ~$4 per minute. Don't ask me how I know.
Streets of Rage 2. Honourable mention to FFVII and FFVIII.
I second streets of rage. It has an amazing soundtrack.
Sanitarium.
Some of my favourite that bring back good memories:
Diablo
Doom
Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis
Lotus
I know the other three games, but never heard about lotus
https://www.mobygames.com/game/10773/lotus-esprit-turbo-challenge/
thanks, i'll try it later
Holy cow, that's a deeeeeeeep memory that just floated back up.
I also have a NES/SNES memory 😉
Descent
It was a multi player net work game we used to play at work over lunch or occasionally on weekends.
Occasionally I rewatch one of the best trailers ever crafted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHFazkfmBE4&t=2
This one (2022!) is the last good trailer I spotted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kNtEKfN4Hg&t=48
Regarding my favorite games:
Scortch, Worms 1, Tomb Raider 1 + 2, Diablo Hellfire, Gran Turismo 1 + 2, Koudelka
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=IHFazkfmBE4&t=2
https://piped.video/watch?v=_kNtEKfN4Hg&t=48
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Hated that game. My friends would always find where the exit was, and let me wait there while they did the job.
Just a great game. Descent 1-3 were loads of fun.
From what I understand, the IP owners basically became scumbag squatters, and no hope for a revival of the IP ever occurred
Secret of Mana
Ace of Empires 2
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Pokemon Blue
Goldeneye
Age of Empires 2 is still going, stronger than ever! Must easily be the most successful 90s game still alive
Brood War still has a robust competitive scene. Not sure which has more viewers/players though.
Oh yea that‘s true, forgot about brood war. Also a fantastic one
It's pretty hard to pick one but I do have favorites among different categories.
Solo RPG - Chrono Trigger
MMORPG - Ultima Online
FPS - Quake
RTS - C&C: Tiberian Sun
Solid choices all!
Interstate 76
Oh, yeah, this game is cool, I loved playing it when I was a kid, the car combat was really nice, I would love a modern game like this.
Now you're asking a question I can answer. FFVII or Pokemon. That's all I ever played. Thank you for your time.
Giving you an upvote for FFVII, that was the game that got me into gaming. Still have the best memories of that one
I played those 2 because my mom could afford the consoles after much saving, but not much else. Those are the 2 games I got to choose. I even had to play ffvii without a memory card. Sooooo many hours restarting after a power outage or someone turning off the PlayStation. I'm a very very patient person now.
That is torture. FFVII is such a cool game, but playing that in one session is close to inhuman. (Still play it from time to time on emulators)
I played so much X-Com, Civ 2, and Final Fantasy Tactics back in the day.
Sam n Max Hit the Road and King's Quest 5, 6, and 7. <3
Master of Orion.
Ultima Underworld.
Shadowgate.
Goldeneye.
Final Fantasy 7, 8, and 9.
Golgo 13.
Wing Commander 3.
Lands of Lore.
SimTown.
Yo Noid
RCT 3
After Dark ;P
Also Catz.
Kings quest 6 was one of my all time favs, haven't thought about that game in a long time.
I recently purchased King Quest and Space Quest collections from GOG.
I didn't have a CD ROM drive as a kid so I only got to play The disc version. Hearing the voices is so much better than I expected.
I used to play Absence Makes The Heart Go Yonder at my dads house all the time so I really get emotional over it :)
Yeah, IMO the two best Kings Quests were 3 and 6. Both with Prince Alexander/Gwydion.
King's Quest 5 with King Graham was also pretty good.
The one with Princess Rosella was probably my least favorite.
I never finished the latest one that came out a few years ago.
I agree though I remember loving the art style and the voice work for 7 since it reminded me so much of Disney; but I was about 13 or 14 when it came out.
Except for the darned jackalope.
I didn't actually have 6 but I played it a lot at my dads friends house when we visited but it was one of my faves.
The new one on Steam is actually pretty goods though. I just discovered it a couple months ago.
I never played 7 because it only came on CD. Our computer wasn't good enough for it growing up.
Years later I did try 8....it wasn't to my liking.
SimTownThat one I have not heard in a while. It works great using wine! But the controls are really awful (compared to todays standards) 😵💫
Good news! The devs released it to the open source community under the name The Ur-Quan Masters. You can play it now for free! And they're developing a sequel as we speak over at Pistol Shrimp Games
Super Melee was so much fun! Chenjesu and Khor-Ah were the toughest but the other ships were pretty well balanced. So much fun.
I loved exploring new star systems too. Just an incredible game!
Juffo-Wup fills in my fibers and I grow turgid.
Oh this one is good. I have like 12 hours stuck in an empty community college lounge today. I found an APK for Android and I've been playing for a solid 4 hours. It's a lot of fun even just gathering resources and upgrading the flagship.
How do I find tech upgrades? My lander needs some environmental resistance for sure.
.. you'll find upgrades eventually :)
Difficult to pick a single fave. Here are the games I've spent most of my time playing back then.
On PC:
On arcade, mostly fighting games, and some side-scrollers:
Want to go back to the 80s? Lode Runner, Rescue on Fractalus! and Karateka. Also Gyruss introduced me to modern remixes of classical music.
Earthsiege 2 ❤️
I still play Civilization 1 from time to time.
And with friends, Worms 2 is a banger, and so is the cave flyer Wings
Worms was so much fun
Still is 😊
Myst: Riven
I have fond memories of friends coming over, all huddled together in front of my 15" monitor to figure out our way through Riven. Those eureka moments where we were like "wow! These are symbols for a base 5 number system!"
Brave Fencer Musashi! It's a fun RPG from squaresoft. Very much a hidden gem. The music in it was streets ahead.
I only played the demo but it was great! Now that I remember it I may try to get my hands on a copy.. thanks for sparking a memory!
Do it, it is legit worth it!
I acquired it recently and plan to do so.. looks like it held up well after all these years other than maybe a little platforming jank, but that's par for the time!
Aha yeah some of the platforming was definitely questionable. Overall though it definitely holds up! Taketh care on your journey!
Streets ahead is never gonna catch on!
You're just streets behind
Transport Tycoon
Doom
Goldeneye 64 (I bought a N64 console just for this game)
Frontier Elite
Baldur's gate
Fallout 2
X : Beyond The Frontier
Also did this! Played it at a friend's, fell in love, so 13 year old me got a job and worked til I could buy it. What a game.
Age of Empires 2
The Shining Force series
Man that's a tough one. The 90s covered a huge spectrum of games and consoles.
Perhaps at the time, Final Fantasy VII was my favorite. No other game absorbed me like it did. I spent so much time playing it. But it's aged badly now.
But as far as games that I would still go back and play? I'd say probably twisted metal 2. The game is just so good. The music, the characters, the vibe of the game.
Too tough to name one I can only narrow it to three
Xcom UFO Defense
Chrono Trigger
Super Street Fighter 2
Was looking for Street Fighter II on here. That game set me back DM150 and it was worth every bit of it. Possibly surpassed by Virtua Fighter II eventually,
My personal favorites in no specific order and no preference on the system:
Banjo-Kazooie
Its still one of the best of its genre
For me... Monster Truck Madness, both 1 and 2
I loved Monster Truck Madness 2, I loved those crazy Monster Truck, the Monster Patrol and the Sting monster trucks were my favorites.
Super Mario 64
Definitely a tie right now between Sonic 1 or 2, which I managed to get copies of for Genesis 3 years ago when I first got a Genesis.
The entire list of releases from the year 1998, the objectively best year in all of video gaming history.
I agree, subjectively.
Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force.
I got it working on Linux just so I could play it on steam deck. Side bonus! It's so old integrated graphics can more than handle it at modern resolutions. I put that game on every laptop I own.
Old business machines are great for that purpose, snag one on recycle day, install Nobara, install Elite Force.
One day I'm going to have a dedicated LAN match room exclusively for this game.
Road rash
Shining force
Redneck rampage
Bottom of the 9th 99
Top is hard. Probably OOT.
Top five would be OOT, Doom, Sonic 2, crash bandicoot, and half-life.
Way too many good ones to pick from haha.
SC2 was so good. I was really excited for SC3... but then it came out.
Donkey Kong Country 2
Maybe you'll enjoy this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMCojxGQnok
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=wMCojxGQnok
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Holy shit this is amazing
For me it is probably a tie between Sid Meier's Civilization and Doom. Both were groundbreaking in their genres and they had immense influence on the type of games I since became interested in playing.
Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven
Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor
Heroes of Might and Magic III
Rogue Squadron!
Gotta get that RAM expansion for the 64!
The Secret of Monkey Island
still play it nowadays from time to time
Metal Gear Solid
Monkey Island 2 (The first one is arguably better, but 2 was my introduction to the series, so I have a bit of a soft spot for it)
Sim City 2000
Command and Conquer
Red Alert
Goldeneye
Mario Kart
NBA Hang time
Perfect Dark
MDK
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Super Mario Kart and NHL '94
I've always been a Nintendo fan, and their first- and second-party catalog from the 90s is phenomenal:
Outside of Nintendo, the standout titles for me are:
Technically 2000, but Sacrifice. It's still one of the most unique games I've ever played, and is my top wish for a remake/remaster.
It's a hybrid action RPG and RTS, which isn't completely unheard of, but even in its niche genre it's unlike anything else. You play a wizard with a range of both spells and summonable units, which can be ordered around to a limited degree, or more commonly used as a personal escort. Both the units and your own spells are very creative, and the higher level ones can be ridiculously powerful. In a glorious early celebration of terrain deformation, many of the high level spells will create volcanoes, mountains, craters, or even gaping voids in the already surreal landscapes. The story mode is also very weird and funny, with some top level voice actors.
Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. Super Mario 64 was my first "3D" so to speak, but OoT took that to the next level. The feeling of wonder when I first left the Lost Woods and came out into the field will never be topped.
In more or less this order:
Fifa 99
Duke Nukem 3D Doom
Rise Of The Triad
Test Drive 5
Simcity
Hardball 3
Madden 98
Starcraft
Age Of Empires 2
Need For Speed 2
All Points Buletin
Shout out to FIFA 95 on the SNES which was completely isometric. A good era for soccer games with a lot of worthy competitors:
Move sensible to the top of the list. Aftertouch was genius game design.
Yes! Duke 3D!
Hail to the king, baby!
Homeworld and Half Life for me: both were just awesome. I spent a very long time in both.
The 90s were peak gaming for me - a lot a creative things were going on, new genres being explored. And we were spoilt for choice with all the blatant piracy.
But if I had to choose one game that really blew me away, that would be Thief.
It's between Final Fantasy Tactics and Suikoden II. I think it goes to the latter.
The ones I played the most were:
Heroes of Might & Magic
Civilization
Genghis Khan ][: Clan of the White Wolf
ZZT
Final Fantasy 6
not in order, mind
TOCA Touring Car Championship
Gran Turismo
Syphon Filter
Mechwarrior 2. Controlling a heavy mech was 90s af.
And I can still hear the startup sequence in my head. Reactor online Sensors online Weapons online. All systems nominal.
I don't really know what to pick so I'm going to go with something kind of obscure, "The Adventures of Bouapha: Spooky Castle". The gameplay is a little hard to explain but it kind of plays like Zelda but you can pickup upgrades for your main weapon that allows it to be thrown in many directions and it has sub-weapons that can either be found or dropped by enemies and they have limited ammo.
I actually forgot this game existed until itch recommended me "Hamsandwich", which is a free and open-source collection of updated versions of a bunch of old Hamumu Software games. There are mods available for specific games and it's available for Linux, Windows, MacOS, Android and any other OS/device that can play the online version.
Baldur’s Gate. That game blew me away.
backyard baseball
The one i played the most was probably super mario world
My favorite snes game
But ocarina of time was great too.
For pc id say, red alert or diablo.
Zelda OoT
Super Mario World
Doom
TIE Fighter
Diablo
Can't decide between at least:
Homeworld
Frontier: Elite II
Warcraft II
Burden of the Crown
X-Wing, TIE Fighter, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Rebel Assault
Simant
Happyweed
Tekken 3. Late 90s but I spent HUNDREDS of hours playing it.
There were a lot of games released in the 90s. It would take 2-3 per genre to start getting close.
Picking just one single game... I guess I'll go with Fallout 2
I liked the Marathon series for Mac and the Twisted Metal series for PS.
It's impossible to pick just one (even when talking specific genres)
But when it comes to fighting games, Marvel vs. Capcom and KOF '97 where among the best.
loved KOF 97, 98 back then. Bloody Roar 2 as well. That game was so much fun.
MGS 1 for obvious reasons.
Blitz and NBA street 1&2 were definitely some faves.
Jet Moto series.
Jet grind radio had so many hours sunk into it.
Resident evil 1-2 was absolutely terrified of these games but couldn’t stop playing and quickly became a favorite of me and my dad.
Ambermoon
The Secret of Monkey Island Super Metroid Yoshi's Island
Star fox 64
There are so many... Here are some that I probably spent the most time with:
Seven kingdoms
Syndicate and Wing Commander Privateer
Sonic Adventure.
If 1998 in Japan and 1999 everywhere else is too close to the '00s (and in the context of what SA1 meant for the Sonic franchise I wouldn't blame you,) Sonic CD.
Subspace - Meet people from all over the world, and then kill them.
One of the first online multiplayer games. It has a very long skill curve, and a ton of variety in game types.
It's still alive in Steam as Continuum!
Shattered Galaxy, it marketed itself as an mmorpgrts. The depth of gameplay was fantastic. While the graphics look a little dated, I would still play it if there was any server population left.
So many amazing games to choose from such as all the D&D based ones, Morrowind, the SimCity ones and the Championship Manager games, but my absolute favorite was Fallout 2 for sure!
I loved the game Tomba! 2 The Evil Swine Return, it was creative, intricate, and very far ahead of its time, I would love to see the series get a reboot or a remaster
Flashback. There's something cinematographic in that old Delphine gem.
I don't think I can choose between games like Alpha Centauri, Marathon, Chrono Trigger, Homeworld, Quake, Counter-Strike (I played the beta in '99, does that count?), not to mention King of Fighters '98, Half-Life, Star Craft... wow it really was the golden era of gaming wasn't it?
Sid Meier's Colonisation, my 10 year old laptop that I replaced last year only had enough power to play that game and I put so many hours into it when I didn't have access to my main pc. It's just a shame that my new laptop doesn't upscale dosbox the same way my old one did but I think that's just because of the differences between MacOS and Windows.
(Edit: wrote the wrong game series somehow)
Can’t pick a favorite. But I will say the one I return to the most often is Super Metroid
Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid.
My top favorites, can't decide which one is the best:
The entire Dreamcast catalog. Specifically Skies of Arcadia, Power Stone 2, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure 2, Berserk: Gut's Rage, Spawn: In the Demons Hand, Phantasy Star Online, and so many more great ones.
Honourable mention: Seaman
Everquest. Also my favorite game from the 2000's, 2010's and 2020's
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri - it was the Crysis of its time, in that whatever computer you had, you needed a better one to be able to play it.
Also, we all decided that the atrocious acting in the FMVs was deliberate, so that's okay.
Banjo-Kazooie
So unfortunately I didn't play video games until about 2001 when I turned 5 and got an N64 for my first Christmas in the USA. The game itself is from 2000 though.
Mickey's Speedway USA for the N64.
Goddamn I loved that game. I have so many fun memories with it.
Buzz aldrin's race into space I was already a geek at that time
In no particular order, these are the games I played the most back then.
SNES
PS1
PC
And a couple of nearly-90s favorites,
PC
PC: Descent. Full 6 degrees of freedom movement. Fantastic.
Albion
A lot of the greats have already been mentioned by others, but Myst (1993) and Riven (1997) deserve to be up there.
Not only for the immersive worlds you got to experience through masterfully crafted imagery, sound and music, but also combined they held the record for best selling game series until they were surpassed by The Sims.
Earthbound!
Jagged Alliance 2
I wish they could do something with the franchise. I spent so much time pouring over different mercenaries and guns. Atheist as much time as actually playing.
Jagged alliance 3 just came out and it's pretty great so far! Not as many mercs but maybe M E.R.C opens up later.
Ape Escape!
Zoo Tycoon and Everquest!
I tried Project 1999 for Everquest, but the change in culture from 1999 to now is just...a lot. I'd enjoy it again if I could get my friends to play, but I think it'll be too old school for everyone.
Toy Story 2 for PSX.
Titanic: Adventure out of Time The game had quite the ambiance (Smethelles awkward FMV face & that haunting D deck music still haunts my dreams sometimes). In addition, I really liked the laid back mystery solving gameplay that it provided... I feel like it was pretty unique and haven't found anything that quite scratches that same itch.
Also, sim tower.. That game is just awesome.
How did I not see a mention for Super Mario 3??? That game changed everything for me. That game with all its easter eggs was just magic as a kid.
Mega Man Legends!
WILLY BEAMISH
Feeling happy and enthusiastic
Doom 2 Wolf3D StarCraft Warcraft 2 Chrono Trigger F15 Strike Eagle 2 (might be late 80s though) Super Mario World Shadowrun (Sega Genesis) Sonic
Of all those, StarCraft on BattleNet changed my life. What an amazing thing, to play against people from around the world. So it's hard to rank when we're mixing platforms and online and whatnot.