Gaming in the 90's, the Clinton Years! Top 5 or 10 games

I don't think any gamers out there will deny this, gaming in the 90's rocked. The 90's started out with a blast from the 16 bit era and the revival of arcade gaming, things progressed to the 32 bit era and ended with the 64 bit gaming. PC gaming made significant improvements throughout the 90's and the sky was the limit for PC game by the late 90's. I was just old enough to start playing games at the end of the NES era. When the SNES came out I really started to love gaming and never looked back.

I had many favorite games throughout the 90s. What were your top 5 or 10 favorite games in the 90s. (I didn't have any of the Sega systems or a Playstation growing up). I am sure everyone has quite different gaming experiences in the 90s, I am curious to hear what your top favorite gamers were and why.

1. Super Mario 64 (N64) - This was the first true 3D platforming game that really knocked the ball out of the park. I spent hours with friends playing this game and completing the game 100%. I have yet to play a game as balanced and fun as this game since its release. Enough said!

2. Street Fighter 2 (Arcade/SNES) - This game introduced me to 2 player competitive gaming. My friends and I would make tournaments on the weekends and we had a blast. I know there were other fighters out around this time but to me this was the first true fighter I played

3. Doom Series (PC) - I can't narrow it done to one game from the series, but Doom and Doom II were the first FPS games I ever played. Also, doom was my first gaming experience on the PC. I played through both Doom and Doom II multiple times, I loved the challenge, the background music, the gore and the different weapons. Most of all, this game was a completely new gaming experience

4. Earthworm Jim (SNES) - I loved this game for the challenge and at the time it sported top notch graphics. This game was very bizarre, I never got the humor, but the stranger the game got, the more I wanted to play it. I think this game somewhat defines the potential of side scrolling'platform games in the 16 bit era.

5. Temco Super Bowl (NES) - This game was released in 1991 and I still played this game with friends today. Bo Jackson and Thurman Thomas were unstoppable. This was the first sports game I played and the gameplay rocked.

6. Goldeneye 007 (N64)

7. Warcraft 2 Tides of Darkness (PC)

8. Super Mario World (SNES)

9. Resident evil 2 (PS)

10. Super Mario Land (Game Boy)

Off the top of my head...

1. Metal Gear Solid (PSX)

2. The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time (N64)

3. Super Mario 64 (N64)

4. Sega Rally (SAT)

5. Streets Of Rage 2 (MD)

Top 7:

1. Earthworm Jim Sega Genesis, words cant describe how much this game made an impact on me

2. Metal Gear Solid 1, PSX, the game that changed gaming forever (IMO using voice acting and incredible cutscenes)

3. Super Mario 64, one of the VERY few games that I still havent beaten completely, :oops: Yeah I admit it

4. Goldeneye, Many hours, playing multiplayer with my brother and him always killing me in that Temple level *shot by DD44*

5. Half Life 1 for PC, another one of those gems, that changed gaming, I love this game then and I love it now, Long Live the King of First Person Action

6. Yoshi Story, I dont care what anybody says! I like this game :oops:

7. Crusin* USA, My favorite racing game!!!!

Off the top of my head...

1. Metal Gear Solid (PSX)

2. The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time (N64)

3. Super Mario 64 (N64)

4. Sega Rally (SAT)

5. Streets Of Rage 2 (MD)

joesh89

One of my best friends has a saturn, and we had a great time playing sega Rally. I wish that game had more than 3 tracks, but regardless, Sega Rally is classic on some many levels.

Metal Gear Solid is one of those games I never got to play in the 90s because I didn't have a playstation, but I eventually got to play ita few years back on my PS2, and I really wish I got to experience that game when it first came out.

Top 7:

1. Earthworm Jim Sega Genesis, words cant describe how much this game made an impact on me

2. Metal Gear Solid 1, PSX, the game that changed gaming forever (IMO using voice acting and incredible cutscenes)

3. Super Mario 64, one of the VERY few games that I still havent beaten completely, :oops: Yeah I admit it

4. Goldeneye, Many hours, playing multiplayer with my brother and him always killing me in that Temple level *shot by DD44*

5. Half Life 1 for PC, another one of those gems, that changed gaming, I love this game then and I love it now, Long Live the King of First Person Action

6. Yoshi Story, I dont care what anybody says! I like this game :oops:

7. Crusin* USA, My favorite racing game!!!!

rwallacefan

Glad to hear there is much love out their for Earthworm Jim! I really loved that game and it had a huge impact on me too. Like I said, that game is everything that a side scrolling/platform game could have been back in the 16 bit era. Do you play the What the Heck? level just to hear the background music? Classic

1. The Doom Series. I Still remember walking into a computer store and seeing Doom running for the first time. It blew me away. I'd seen Wolfenstein at a friend's house, but this felt like I was watching a game from the future. 2. X-Com Enemy Unknown. It is unknown how many hours I poured into this game, but I know it was a hell of lot. 3. Mortal Kombat. This is memorable simply because of the huge outrage it caused by upsetting concerned parents and other 'think-of-the-children' groups. My friends and I might not have ever heard of this game if it wasn't demonised so widely in the press. As soon as we found out there was a fighting game where you could send a harpoon through somebodies chest, and drag them over to you, then tear their head and spinal column out through their neck, our eyes lit up like maniacal Christmas trees and we did whatever necessary to get our hands on this game. 4. Final Fantasy Tactics The most overlooked and underrated FF game ever made. The combat and job system was far more complex and entertaining than any Final Fantasy game before it or since. The dumbed-down 'kiddy' versions on the NDS were a huge disappointment. I'm not going to even rent another Final Fantasy game until these combat mechanics are re-introduced. 5. Heroes of Might and Magic III Many nights spent playing this with friends. Many LONG nights!!! This game was brilliantly balanced, and is still the best in the series. LASERTEETH

I remember my friend gave me the 3.5" floppy doom demo disk that included the entire first episode. I played that episode over and over again until I finally convince my parents to buy that game for me.

Solid choice with mortal kombat. I played mortal kombat III alot with friends, the scorpin harpoon is classic.

Never got a chance to play the X-com or Heros of Might and Magic games, but anyone I have every talked to has great things to say about them.

[QUOTE="rwallacefan"]

Top 7:

1. Earthworm Jim Sega Genesis, words cant describe how much this game made an impact on me

2. Metal Gear Solid 1, PSX, the game that changed gaming forever (IMO using voice acting and incredible cutscenes)

3. Super Mario 64, one of the VERY few games that I still havent beaten completely, :oops: Yeah I admit it

4. Goldeneye, Many hours, playing multiplayer with my brother and him always killing me in that Temple level *shot by DD44*

5. Half Life 1 for PC, another one of those gems, that changed gaming, I love this game then and I love it now, Long Live the King of First Person Action

6. Yoshi Story, I dont care what anybody says! I like this game :oops:

7. Crusin* USA, My favorite racing game!!!!

TheRaiderNation

Glad to hear there is much love out their for Earthworm Jim! I really loved that game and it had a huge impact on me too. Like I said, that game is everything that a side scrolling/platform game could have been back in the 16 bit era. Do you play the What the Heck? level just to hear the background music? Classic

Yep and I still hum it :P OOOOOOOOH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH -screams-

if I remember correctly there was this little racing portion, man that brings back load of nostaligia

ahhh, the 90s. What a golden age.

TOP FIVE!!!!

5. NHLPA 93: I'm a little embarrassed to put this game on, but I'm being impartial here. I got good at every corner of this game and could win with any team in any situation. I love how they had the guts to give a player a zero rating. Oh Ottawa, how crappy you once were

4. Goldeneye: I must have put hundreds of hours into this game. I'm looking forward to the remake, just to see what's different. I played the original until the battery pack memory died (sad)

3. Ocarina of Time: Just a phenomenal game from start to finish.I even tried to collect all those spider tokens in OoT, but I guess I'm not hardcore enough. I would rather have Majora's Mask on this list, but that is technically in the 2000's.

2.Civilization 2 (PC): This game is a bit crude compared to civ 3 or 4 but it is in many ways better. More pure. A huge time sink for me in the 90's and beyond. Lots of custimization options. Amazing scenerio builder. Makes you forget it's a game about war and bloodshed

1. Super Mario Kart: this game was popular with everyone. I could have anyone over and we could all have a blast with it. Even my sister's friends ;). It has tons of hardcore appeal too, with lots of nuances to master, masterful character balancing, and challenging difficulty. I'm talking about the SNES version of course. Sega had the gaul to attack this game in advertising, which was fruitless. In retrospect it makes sense. The say negative ad campaigns are most effective of any ad strategy, and mario kart was a dagger into the heart of the Genesis. If a game's worth is best described in how many copies it spawned then SMK is a milestone. Tons of clones, all bad btw. It's the only racing game I actually explored the game world in like it were an adventure game or something. Me and my brothers got time trial scores that beat the pants off of those nintendo power scores. I would go as far as to say that we got the fastest POSSIBLE times in many of the courses. BTW, the newer iterations of the series have horrible ideas tacked onto them (purple shells and starting boost mushrooms for example)

1. Fallout 1 + 2-Never had I played a game that offered this much freedom. Sure games like GTA let you run around and shoot up a city, but in Fallout your decisions mattered. Kill the shopkeeper and take his stuff? You won't be able to get anything from him later on, (important due to the limited number of merchants) and the town might turn hostile. Will you be an intelligent character with a high speech skill, or a brute? What type of combat do you want to specialize in? Great replay value for such an old game. I'm not sure if anything has topped it.

2. Half Life + Opposing Force-Most of us know about Half Life, but I feel it's expansion Opposing Force doesn't get enough love. It scaled down the Xen levels, (thank god) and provided a much more well rounded experience. It was also interesting how they placed you in the role as one of the baddies from Half Life. The concept wasn't explored very well, but due to Half Life's minimalist storytelling, it would be hard to make that work.

Can't think of anymore that really stick out. I'll edit this post if anything comes to mind.

[QUOTE="TheRaiderNation"]

[QUOTE="rwallacefan"]

Top 7:

1. Earthworm Jim Sega Genesis, words cant describe how much this game made an impact on me

2. Metal Gear Solid 1, PSX, the game that changed gaming forever (IMO using voice acting and incredible cutscenes)

3. Super Mario 64, one of the VERY few games that I still havent beaten completely, :oops: Yeah I admit it

4. Goldeneye, Many hours, playing multiplayer with my brother and him always killing me in that Temple level *shot by DD44*

5. Half Life 1 for PC, another one of those gems, that changed gaming, I love this game then and I love it now, Long Live the King of First Person Action

6. Yoshi Story, I dont care what anybody says! I like this game :oops:

7. Crusin* USA, My favorite racing game!!!!

rwallacefan

Glad to hear there is much love out their for Earthworm Jim! I really loved that game and it had a huge impact on me too. Like I said, that game is everything that a side scrolling/platform game could have been back in the 16 bit era. Do you play the What the Heck? level just to hear the background music? Classic

Yep and I still hum it :P OOOOOOOOH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH -screams-

if I remember correctly there was this little racing portion, man that brings back load of nostaligia

The racing portion I think you are refering to is Andy's Asteroids, you had to complete this at the end of every major level. It was def a fun addition to the game, I do remember the last two or three of this races being pretty challenging. And I am glad you agree, the What the Heck? music was the best. I have it downloaded to my Ipod, and listen to that track still to this day!

ahhh, the 90s. What a golden age.

TOP FIVE!!!!

5. NHLPA 93: I'm a little embarrassed to put this game on, but I'm being impartial here. I got good at every corner of this game and could win with any team in any situation. I love how they had the guts to give a player a zero rating. Oh Ottawa, how crappy you once were

4. Goldeneye: I must have put hundreds of hours into this game. I'm looking forward to the remake, just to see what's different. I played the original until the battery pack memory died (sad)

3. Ocarina of Time: Just a phenomenal game from start to finish.I even tried to collect all those spider tokens in OoT, but I guess I'm not hardcore enough. I would rather have Majora's Mask on this list, but that is technically in the 2000's.

2.Civilization 2 (PC): This game is a bit crude compared to civ 3 or 4 but it is in many ways better. More pure. A huge time sink for me in the 90's and beyond. Lots of custimization options. Amazing scenerio builder. Makes you forget it's a game about war and bloodshed

1. Super Mario Kart: this game was popular with everyone. I could have anyone over and we could all have a blast with it. Even my sister's friends ;). It has tons of hardcore appeal too, with lots of nuances to master, masterful character balancing, and challenging difficulty. I'm talking about the SNES version of course. Sega had the gaul to attack this game in advertising, which was fruitless. In retrospect it makes sense. The say negative ad campaigns are most effective of any ad strategy, and mario kart was a dagger into the heart of the Genesis. If a game's worth is best described in how many copies it spawned then SMK is a milestone. Tons of clones, all bad btw. It's the only racing game I actually explored the game world in like it were an adventure game or something. Me and my brothers got time trial scores that beat the pants off of those nintendo power scores. I would go as far as to say that we got the fastest POSSIBLE times in many of the courses. BTW, the newer iterations of the series have horrible ideas tacked onto them (purple shells and starting boost mushrooms for example)

GunSmith1_basic

NHLPA93 was quite a classic hocket game. I do remember too how terrible ottawa was in that game! I never got a chance to play civilization 2 in the 90s, but if it anything like Civ 3, then I am sure it was an instant classic.

Super Mario Kart for the SNES brings back so many memories. It was challenging, it had a ton of game modes and difficulty settings, and it had a ton of tracks. I remember playing battle mode against my cousins all the time, we had a blast. We also would fight over who was going to get to play as yoshi.

The 90s were a golden age in gaming indeed!

Yes, the 90s were the best era in gaming, IMO. Great stuff. SNES, Genesis, PS1, Saturn, N64, and even though other stuff was out the NES still put out some great games in the early 90s. This is tough to narrow it down to just 10, but here it goes: Super Mario World - 2D platforming perfection. Nothing is better when it comes to 2D platformers. NOTHING. Period. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - The Legend of Zelda for NES was a masterpiece of a game. But this game built on that masterpiece and somehow made it even better! If you have never played this game, you need to go get it right now, any version, and way you can, and play it...NOW, GO! King's Field II - I just love the King's Field series so very, very much. I know a lot of gamers just can't stand them, but the King's Fields are my games, man. I love the strong sense of exploration. I love the sense of lonliness you get and the dark and dangerous world you're in. I love the fighting mage aspect of it too. And unlike most gamers, I love the first-person view of the game which just immerses me even more into the King's Field world. And numer II was the best on in the series, IMO. Diablo - Anyone who owned a PC or PS1 back when this came out had this game or played it at a friends house. This game reinvented the hack-n-slash RPG concept on it's own, creating a unique and fantasy-fan approved game of mammoth proportions. Then you add Battlenet to that awesomeness and you have yourself a Grade-A, 10 out of 10, piece of gold running on your Pentium I ,baby! Resident Evil 2 - The best RE game out of the original trilogy. It had the best storyline with all kinds of twists and turns, it had the coolest creatures (The Licker, The Tyrant, and the Trenchcoat Monster/Guy), it has much better graphics and voice acting than the original, and it was the longest game out of the three with the best replay value. Spider-Man (PS1/N64/Dreamcast by Activision) - This game was amazing when it came out. Not so marvelous by today's standards, but back then, it was great. The controls were just awesome and so intuitive and fun to play with during a time when 3D games were still trying to feel out how gamers wanted to control their 3D worlds. And I'm a huge comic geek. Doom - This was the game that really got me into first-person shooters. I liked Wolfenstein 3D as well, and it was first, but it was just a game to me. Doom really got me obsessed for a few months. Sonic The Hedgehog Games - The best game series on the juggernaut of a machine known as the Sega Genesis. Sonic games were pretty, they were fast, and they were fun. What more do you need? Descent - This was my introduction to multiplayer gaming. We used to play at school in computer class after our assignments were done on the school network. It was grand time of fully 3D, 360 degree space-ship combat during a time when such a thing was almost unheard of. Super Metroid - A masterpiece of gaming that is so good I still go through it every now and then. Superb graphics for SNES, excellent game design, and a overwhelming urge to explore every nook and cranny of Planet Zebes.Emerald_Warrior

I do remember the days of Diablo, I loved that game and spent hours playing it at times.

Descent was an interesting take on the FPS genre, and is one game I really wish I got to play alot more.

As far as nothing is better than 2D platforming, I completely agree. I loved that era of games, and really missed them alot when the era of 3D gaming started!

1. Fallout 1 + 2-Never had I played a game that offered this much freedom. Sure games like GTA let you run around and shoot up a city, but in Fallout your decisions mattered. Kill the shopkeeper and take his stuff? You won't be able to get anything from him later on, (important due to the limited number of merchants) and the town might turn hostile. Will you be an intelligent character with a high speech skill, or a brute? What type of combat do you want to specialize in? Great replay value for such an old game. I'm not sure if anything has topped it.

2. Half Life + Opposing Force-Most of us know about Half Life, but I feel it's expansion Opposing Force doesn't get enough love. It scaled down the Xen levels, (thank god) and provided a much more well rounded experience. It was also interesting how they placed you in the role as one of the baddies from Half Life. The concept wasn't explored very well, but due to Half Life's minimalist storytelling, it would be hard to make that work.

Can't think of anymore that really stick out. I'll edit this post if anything comes to mind.

Got_to_go

I'm surprised you didnt mention Blue Shift, this game deserves at least some love, I loved playing the role as a security guard!

NBA Jam and NBA Jam TE WWF Wrestlefest Super Mario World Super Mario 64 The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past The Legend of Zelda OoT Final Fantasy VII The 7th Guest Street Fighter II to Super Street Fighter II Turbo Lufia 2DeafNYCPlayer

The early final fantasy games of the 90s were classic. I loved Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII for the SNES!! My first RPG game I played was Final Fantasy Mystic Quest for the SNES, I don't know how many of you remember this title but it was a watered down verison of the final fantasy series meant to get gamers new to RPGs into the genre. That game def got me into RPGs.

I played A link to the Past recently, and that brough back some many childhood memories, I loved that game! At the time, the I was floored by thefact that the game had to entire worlds. I loved the ending battle against Gannon!

mario world

mario 64

GT2

tmnt4

Chrono cross

GT1

zelda OoT

Zelda LttP

Donkey kong country 2

Megaman x 2

Oh, no love for Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2? Well, I guess that's why 3 was never made. I, however, am still waiting for Dungeon Keeper 3...

In no real order.

1. Super Mario 64 (I remember how realistic the thing looked to me...)

2. Sonic the Hedgehog (still no platformers like it or its successors)

3. The Neverhood

4. Descent I and Descent II (basically continuations of each other)

5. Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator (still the best, and surprisingly good-looking for 1998)

6. Pokemon Blue Version

7. Star Fox 64

8. Crash Bandicoot 2

9. Mega Man: The Power Battles (did anyone else ever play this in arcades?)

10. Phantasy Star II (so horribly overlooked...FF steals its thunder every time)

In no real order.

1. Super Mario 64 (I remember how realistic the thing looked to me...)

2. Sonic the Hedgehog (still no platformers like it or its successors)

3. The Neverhood

4. Descent I and Descent II (basically continuations of each other)

5. Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator (still the best, and surprisingly good-looking for 1998)

6. Pokemon Blue Version

7. Star Fox 64

8. Crash Bandicoot 2

9. Mega Man: The Power Battles (did anyone else ever play this in arcades?)

10. Phantasy Star II (so horribly overlooked...FF steals its thunder every time)

Fusionmix

mario world

mario 64

GT2

tmnt4

Chrono cross

GT1

zelda OoT

Zelda LttP

Donkey kong country 2

Megaman x 2

bigM10231

Looking back on it now, I should have put the donkey kong country series on my list. I spent hours on both Donkey Kong Country 1 and Donkey Kong Country 2. The soundtracks for both games were incredible, at the time of the release, the graphics were amazing and most of all the gameply was challenging but incredibley

1 goldeneye 007

2 zeldaoot n64

3 perfect dark n64

4 the lion king super nes dont say ne thing you wont regret

5 super mario world

6 super mario kart

7 need for speed hot pursuit 3-ps1

8 crash 3-ps1

9 mario 64-n64

10 -rugrats scavenger hunt-n64

ya as odly as that sounds , snes and n64 kept me occupied for very long times

hardly anything on ps1 appealed to em or sega ever didnt have until recently

The N64 may have had less game and less overall 3rd party support then the PS, but you can't deny, the n64 had some top notch games!

Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, and 3

Kirby Super Star

Pokemon Red

Super Mario 64

Banjo-Kazooie

Super Mario World

Zelda OoT

Starfox 64

Goldeneye

Tekken 3

np particular order. FF7 FF tactics MGS 1 breath of fire 3 zelda: a link to the past xenogears vagrant story vanguard bandits brigandine street fighter 2cropcircles

breath of firw 3 was an awesome RPG for the PS, I spent countless hours playing that title at my friends house. The PS had some excellent RPGs, and I always wished those games would come out for the N64.

Here are the best games of the golden years. Metal Slug 2 almost made the list.

10. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong Double Trouble - Super Nintendo - 1996

9. Sonic the Hedgehog - Sega Genesis - 1991

8. Final Fantasy IV - Super Nintendo - 1991

7. Metal Gear Solid - Sony Play Station - 1998

6. Super Metroid - Super Nintendo - 1994

5. Super Mario World - Super Nintendo - 1991

4. Chrono Trigger - Super Nintendo - 1994

3. Super Mario 64 - Nintendo 64 - 1996

2. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - Super Nintendo - 1995

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nintendo 64 - 1998

The 90's were deffinately the best era for games. Here goes:

1. Twisted metal 2
2. Sonic Spinball
3. Mortal Kombat II
4. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
5. Killer Instinct
6. Donkey Kong Country
7. Tomba!
8. Spice World (Yeah, I know the game sucks, but I loved it at the peak of Spicemania.)
9. Twsted Metal 1
10. Street Fighter II

Man I miss those days.

1. Descent - I always played this with my dad, whos passed on, so there's a lot of good memories there. Annnd I probably wouldn't like FPS if it wasn't for this.

2. Wolfenstein

3. Descent 3

4. Doom

5. Half Life