Game of the decade 1990-1999 - The Bear and Badger

regmcfly

Fuck it, I need a thing to do.

Top 10 games of the 90s please. A few quick rules -

1) to be clear we are talking 1st Jan 1990 - 31st Dec 1999 inclusive.

2) must have had their UK/EU release in this time period. So, for example, Tetris on Game Boy would be eligible due to the Game Boy not being released until 1990 in the EU.

3) Up to 10 games, points are basic 1st place = 10 down to 10th place = 1. If you don't order them, I'll give 10 down from top to bottom.

4) closing date is 31st March 2020 at Midnight.

And also -

A) if you could, a very brief write up, as per JonB's amazing effort , would be appreciated.

Bob

Ah my girlfriend less vintage Atari st mega drive and SNES years

regmcfly

I was 5 on Jan 1st 1990 so I was ~~knee deep in girlfriends~~ playing with Ninja Turtles.

cockbeard

Wow, that's a huge window for one of the most active periods in gaming history, and also for many of us that age when we started playing games and being able to tell mates about it. You're covering gameboy to dreamcast, wow

edit: and we have to rank them, nooooooooo, I will attempt though

poprock

1. Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe.

That’s it. That’s the list. Released in 1990 and never bettered.

b0r1s

I’m going to be basing this off gaming memories not necessarily the best games at the time. This was a lot of mates same room MP gaming and that more than anything is what is going to dictate the order of the list.

Frosty

Going to do this immediately from memory with no thought

1. Monkey Island
2. Blood Omen Legacy of Kain
3. Half Life
4. Pokemon Red
5. Grim Fandango
6. Metal Gear Solid
7. Mario World
8. Gunstar Heroes
9. Street Fighter 2
10. Goldeneye

GooberTheHat

List based simply on how obsessed I was with these games, and how much enjoyment they gave me.

1. Half Life
2. Super Mario World
3. Command and Conquer - Red Alert
4. Super Mario Kart
5. Sid Meier's Civilization II
6. Total Annihilation
7. Doom
8. Thief: The Dark Project
9. UFO Enemy Unknown
10. Dune 2

Honourable mentions to: Roller Coaster Tycoon, Close Combat: a Bridge Too Far, Theme Hospital, Sim City 2000, Syndicate Wars, Dungeon Keeper, and a load more I'm sure I've forgotten.

Edit: Civ changed to Civ II

regmcfly

My immediate reptile brain said -

Mario World
Mario 64
Metal Gear Solid
Quake 2
Duke Nukem 3D
Civ 2
Monkey Island 2
Mega Man X
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Blast Corps

regmcfly

But we shall see

mistercrayon

Ugh can’t even include original deus ex here.

regmcfly

00 ya pie

hylian_elf

Ok here is my list. Only one game from a series.

1. Zelda: Link to the Past
2. Super Mario 64
3. Super Metroid
4. Terranigma
5. Final Fantasy 7
6. Actraiser
7. Chrono Trigger
8. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
9. Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
10. Tomb Raider

hunk

Off the top of my head in no particular order.
Games that still hold up today in raw playability and presentation.

1. SF3 3rd strike
2. SSF2X
3. Metal Gear Solid
4. Soul Calibur dc
5. Shenmue
6. Yoshi's Island
7. Final Fantasy 7
8. Halflife + CS
9. Chrono Trigger
10. Mario64
11. Super Mario Kart
12. Secret of Mana
13. Sonic + Knuckles 3
14. Quake3 arena
15. Super Metroid
16. Shining Force 2
17. Virtua Fighter 3tb
18. DoA2
19. Zelda lttp
20. Ridge Racer Type4
21. Thief 1+2
22. Grim Fandango
23. System Shock 2
24. Wipeout 2097
25. F-zero
26. Resident Evil 1-3
27. Garou motw
28. Gran turismo 2
29. Castlevania sotn
30. Bomberman 4
31. Tetris

There's more as this period comprises not one, not two but three console gens. Too many revolutionary titles to mention.

regmcfly

Lack of PC / Half Life here is an absolute war crime

Moot_Geeza

Just a list for now, which I'll probably tinker with before the deadline. Consulting my picks from this thread to jog the memory banks:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)

I wanted it so much I bought the game on release day, which lay dormant as an awesome yet infuriating paperweight until I nicked my sister's bf's N64 for the Christmas holidays and hid at my nan's with it. My first Nintendo game and an another example of an N64 game nailing the transition from 2D to 3D at the first pass. I only played through it once, but I've got nothing but perfect memories that sit [channels Glen Campbell] forever gentle on my mind.

2. Street Fighter II (specifically Turbo era)

This was A Big Thing. Everyone was obsessed with it, which of course it deserved. I put the majority of my hours in on the stuff-strutting 24-carat 24-MEG Megadrive version, but Street Fighter still smells of chips to me. At one point we had SF2: Champion Edition in the chippy and Mortal Kombat in the cab office. Perfect.

3. Shining Force II (Megadrive)

Managed to get hold of this when I was in a bit of a lather over RPGs. Was my first grid tactics affair. As a youngfam what I used to like was towns, and talking to videogame villagefolk about stuff/running errands in hamlets etc. Lost your hat? Never fear, I am here. 'What are the towns like?' would've been my first question to anyone who'd played an RPG I was interested in. Thankfully the towns in this were solid, and the rest of it was utterly magnificent. The ability to properly level up each character with a class transformation blew my mind, and its team assemble game has only ever been rivalled by Mass Effect 2 imo.

4. Micro Machines 2 (Megadrive)

GET OFF MY SPONGE

5. Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)

Probably the poster child for 'how did they manage that then?'. Mystifyingly good jump to three dimensional platforming that's been the template for all the best efforts since. Honestly though, how the fuck was it this good? Ridiculous achievement.

6. Quake III (Dreamcast)

Dial-up multiplayer bliss. People complained about the lag but it was a whole new world for me, I frittered away many post-6pm hours becoming reasonably proficient at it. I never bothered learning an M&K set-up, so even if I brought my A game a merking was just around the corner, but I absolutely loved it nonetheless. Small maps, limited players, great weapons and quality respawning pick-ups. Much as I enjoyed the early days of Halo 2, it was diminishing returns for me & online mp from this point onwards. Fun fact: Also responsible for adding LOL, LMAO and ROFL to my acronym vocabulary. I blame the lag though.

7. Bangai-O (Dreamcast)

My favourite Treasure game. Their top 10 is astonishingly good, so for this to top the list is quite an achievement. The risk/reward of the counter attack is sublime and of course, the game built around this conceit is sublime.

8. The Secret of Monkey Island (Amiga)

My mate had an Amiga, and as was par for the course, a seemingly infinite stack of games. This one wouldn't save for some reason so we had to leave it on overnight after reaching the island, then finish it in the morning. Insult sword fighting, absolute genius. Would probably be my choice for gaming's all-time no.1 theme tune too.

9. Worms Armageddon (PS1)

Gaming: The after pub years. Red Stripe, cheap hash or omg we've got weed, near constant soundtracks provided mostly by my best mate's older brother and undercooked frozen pizza. See also: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Could well be the point in time I'd choose to revisit if I had a special one shot time travel button.

10. Streets of Rage II (Megadrive)

Forgot about this until I saw it in Eric's votes. With apologies to Virtua Fighter 2, which it bumps off my original list, I think this was marginally more of an event for me. The original was a very good scrolling beat 'em up - scoring extra points if you added the word 'console' before 'scrolling' - and got plenty of things right first time. But ho boy the sequel was insane. Kicking the door open, arm in arm with Landstalker, bowling in with their 16 meg swagger and basically giving the Megadrive an extra two gears. Everything aside from the lack of team-up moves in two player is nigh-on perfect. The greatest scrolling beat 'em up of all time.

Not gonna list the nearest misses as not including them saddens me.

regmcfly

Man does worms make it to my list

regmcfly

Fuck sake

Moot_Geeza

LOVE Hunk's list.

Moot_Geeza

Went back in to swap some of my II's with 2's and vice versa. Because this is the shit that matters.

cockbeard

There are others I definitely should've added, and maybe a couple that maybe don't really belong here, but hey

StreetFighter 2
What, the guys have different moves, and there's more than three of them? Wooaahh
I won an SF2 comp at Townsend youth club but mum was a leader there so didn't let me claim the prize of a SNES. The competitveness of the game was there from the off, and it had versions for everyone. The jugglemonkeys getting on Alpha 2, then the parry in Third Strike, something for everyone, probably tops this list really

SMB3
Fundamentally changed the platformer. Flying wih the racoon suit, swimming as a frog, then to all intents and purposes it had a level select, plus mini games for end of level rewards (or am I conflating that with SMW). Felt like a genuine leap forward from the restricted movesets and linear gameplay I'd seen up until then

Ghosts and Goblins
Yes it was bolt hard, but so much fun, the difficulty was always surmountable and failure your own fault. We put up with a lot on difficulty if it's balanced wqith "fairness", also who doesn't want to run around a graveyard on your pants throwing jousting spears at the undead

Metal Slug
So much fun, simple as hell, walk right kill everything. Secret hint, don't bother getting in the tank, it'll only kill you. Bullets everywhere, decent platforming and designed to swallow ten pen pieces by the bucketload

Sensible Soccer
Probably still the best football game going, playing vertical through ball and bending it into your strikers path, there are fewer greater joys in gaming. Who needs licenses and fancy isometric pseudo 3D? Not I, and like many of my choices such a great game to stick on after the pub with a few mates

Worms
Post pub multiplayer perfected "revenge"

DonPachi
Chaining enemies?? I'm struggling just to stay alive. Oooh, rewards, nope leave them alone way too much risk there

Time Crisis
Took hundreds of pound coins from me in the Pier Amusements, but I did own the leaderboards on it so worthwhile really

Road Rash
Racing and weapons, yay. Yes the combo had been seen before in Roadblasters and Chase HQ, but this felt more visceral, and was based on (I guess, if not it evoked memories of) Super Hang-On. Flying round corners swinging baseball bats at your mates and dreaming of the day you can buy that Diablo. So many great memories of dodging a kick to the fuel tank only to hit a deer

Cannon Fodder
Strategy?? What's that? Yes it introduced me to strategy type games but could equally be played by attempting to run and gun your way through. Trying to protect Jools and Jops because for some mad reason you fell in love with them after about three levels and don;t want to see them on Boot Hill

WipeOut
Racing games existed, this just took everything to the next level. The soundtrack was the same as had been playing in the club you were either off to or just back from. Super fast, super futuristic, and just a huge wow

MarioKart
Nothing that hasn't been said a million times

Secret of Mana
Was never that into big RPG games, but playing with Boodhoo and Dickhead changed that. Really enjoyed those few months playing that together making our way through it. Never played another Squeenix until years later, which I regret in hindsight

cockbeard

Dammit - MGS and Bangai-O - what a tool I am, will edit/add and sort an order out later but before counting time, also amazed only one mention of Goldeneye

JonB

I'm thankful for having that top 100 list when it comes to these sorts of things. Just taking from order there I've got:

Mario 64 (N64)
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Street Fighter 2 Turbo (SNES)
Super Metroid (SNES)
F-Zero X (N64)
Super Bomberman (SNES)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
Suikoden 1 & 2 (PS1)
Secret of Mana (SNES)
Shining Force 1 & 2 (MD)

Most of those would have to stay, but there are so many other possibilities:

Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
Super Mario World (SNES)
Yoshi's Island (SNES)
Contra 3 (SNES)
Ridge Racer (PS1)
Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
Devil Crash/Dragon's Fury (MD)
Starfox 64/Lylat Wars (N64)
Tetris (GB)
Dynamite Headdy (MD)
Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES)
Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
Streets of Rage 2 (MD)
The Revenge of Shinobi (MD)
Gynoug/Wings of Wor (MD)
Bust a Move 2 (PS1)
Doom (PS1)
Resident Evil 2 (PS1)
Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
Soul Blazer (SNES)
ISS Deluxe (SNES)
Front Mission 3 (PS1)
Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
Super Monaco GP (MD)
Tekken 3 (PS1)
Half-Life (PC)
EA Hockey (MD)
Smash Court Tennis (SNES)
1080 Snowboarding (N64)
Tomb Raider (PS1)
Striker/World Cup Striker (SNES)

Eric

Nice one Reg, the golden age OF gaming. CONFIRMED list:
1. Gunstar Heroes (MD)
2. Streets of Rage 2 (MD)
3. Street Fighter 2 Turbo (SNES)
4. Goldeneye (N64)
5. Micromachines 2 (MD)
6. Sega Rally (Saturn)
7. Powerstone (DC)
8.Guardian Heroes (Saturn)
9. Gran Turismo (PS)
10. Eternal Champions Challenge From The Darkside(MCD)

Moot_Geeza

Heh sneaking it at no.10, I was waiting for it.

You've accidentally put Sega Rally 2 for no.6 btw.

And I am GUTTED Guardian Heroes didn't make the cut for me.

LivDiv

Gonna be a tough one this.
I'm doing favorites over influence/objectivity because its more fun.

Provisional list I will probably forget to update.
1. Banjo Kazooie
2. Streets of Rage 2
3. Sonic 3 and Knuckles and Knuckles and Knuckles
4. Mortal Kombat 3 Ultimate
5. Micromachines TT 96
6. ToeJam and Earl 2: Panic on Funkotron
7. Mario 64
8. F Zero X
9. Lemmings (Amiga)
10. James Pond 2: Robocod (Amiga)

Eric

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Heh sneaking it at no.10, I was waiting for it.

You've accidentally put Sega Rally 2 for no.6 btw.

And I am GUTTED Guardian Heroes didn't make the cut for me.

ET will always get in any list for nostalgia reasons. Should update it for the Mega CD version really plus Sega Rally amended. Cheers Moot x

Liv good call with TT96

Moot_Geeza

I should update MM2 with MM'96 really, but the selected version packs the nostalgia wallop for me so it stays.

Moot_Geeza

Disappointing lack of Ristar on liv's list. But an absolute high five for Toejam & Earl 2.

hylian_elf

Almost all of the games will be for nostalgia reasons.

cockbeard

Robocod, I remember being mesmerised when I discovered the Christmas room

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