Inspired by the likes of NeonNinja and hart704 (a.k.a. HartKnight), I've decided to start up my own GOTY series. Since my hobby of playing video games began in 1994, that is where I shall begin, even though a few games I own were released prior to that year.

Here's how I've chosen to make this work: I will display a list of up to five nominees and then choose the GOTY and two runner-ups from that list. The nominees must be games that I have played. The games are categorized by release year, not by the year in which I first played them.

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NOMINEES
Mega Man X (SNES)
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (SNES)
Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

And the winner is...

1994 Game of the Year - Donkey Kong Country

What can I say about this game... Lots of gaming memories...

While it was the third video game to enter my now 173-strong game collection, it's the first video game that I ever played that I can c1assify today as not just a video game, but a video gaming experience. Back in the day, at the age of eight, I was absolutely mesmerized by the diversity of the different locations on DK Island. Beyond how solid the gameplay was, it was the atmosphere and rich attention to detail and the accompanying music that swept me away into Kongo Jungle, Vine Valley, and the like. My brother and I would play "pretend/imagination" games both in our bedroom and outside where we'd pretend we were exploring the different locales and encountering the different enemies and such. Sometimes, we even pretended our bedroom (with the door closed) was a treehouse (the window looked out to the forest in the backyard), like DK's hut!

Back in 1995, I would frequently lay on my bed with my dad's cassette player and listen to a tape a friend from Scouts had given to me that had the DKC soundtrack on it. More recently, when I was student teaching in 2008, every weekend I'd grade homework assignments to the "DKC123" playlist I made on my iPod. Even then, Dave Wise's tracks still had the magical power to wisk my mind away from my bedroom and all the student-written print into the very worlds I could have sworn were real when I was younger.

By the way, I still have that cassette tape. It's gaming memorabilia to me, a part of my gaming history.

Runner-Up - Mega Man X

I admit, it's kinda silly having two runner-ups when there were only two other games to pick from, but it is what it is. Mega Man X is still considered to be a very great Mega Man game. I've never beaten it, though I have gotten to the final stage. I'm okay with that. Each stage is unique, the bosses are fun, and of course, it's highly entertaining to play on bosses' weaknesses to ruin their day and other bosses' stages.

Runner-Up - Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

The Sega Genesis version of this game may have featured the Green Ranger and Goldar, but it was a fighting game, whereas this game was an actual platformer of sorts. The Rangers had to fight lots of Putties, sure, but they also had to climb, swim, and do lots of jumping in between. I enjoyed playing it for that reason, because it was like the only other game I owned at the time (Super Mario World) and the next game I'd get (DKC). It took more skill to beat this game than I thought it would to beat the other. And so, even without Tommy, I felt proud to own this title.