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.

As of this past Monday, all nominees, runners-up, and winners have been decided. All decisions are final. The judgment calls were made not by how the games have lingered nostalgically in my mind at my current age, but by how I believe I would have voted at the end of each year.

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NOMINEES

Jumping Flash! (PS1)

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (SNES)

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)

Myst (PC)

And the winner is...

1995 Game of the Year - Yoshi's Island

Following the release of Rare's instant platforming gem, Donkey Kong Country, Shigeru Miyamoto was instructed to make Super Mario World's sequel look more like DKC than another Super Mario World. The result was a colorful and cartoony, not to mention incredibly charming, platformer starring adult Mario's newly acquired dino sidekick, Yoshi.

Gee, what is there not to love about this game? The game looks great, and the music is joyful during the outdoor romps through the island's wilderness and suspenseful each time the player traverses through a fort or castle. Each mini-boss and boss have such character, you want to replay their levels just to fight them again. The challenge of finding all the hidden red coins, gathering all five flowers, and attaining and maintaining 30 points of health in each level was indeed a hearty one. To this day, I still haven't succeeded in this endeavor in the last two worlds. Thankfully, there are items in the form of different kinds of watermelon and health items, among some other things, and fun mini-games to earn these items. The game screams replayability.

In fact, that's primarily why it won over the runners-up (especially one in particular). I can still remember how excited I was for this game to be released and I remember how my brother and I didn't buy a new game for eight months after we got Yoshi's Island. Eight months. We probably went back and played older games in that time, but if memory serves, most of the time was spent playing the game shown above.

Runner-up - Donkey Kong Country 2

Yes, I believe DKC2 is the best game in the DKC trilogy and certainly one of the best, most challenging platformers I've ever played, but in the end, I made the hard choice to put Yoshi's Island on top. It was the eight months thing. Sorry, Diddy and Dixie!

Now that said, this game's no wimp in comparison. Its predecessor did a great job showing how a 2D platformer could take you through realistic-looking natural environments while creating a genuine atmosphere in each one that sucked you in while hunted for secrets, shiny items, and yellow fruit. DKC2 took it to a whole other level, though. The mood was much darker; you were on a rescue mission. There was also a pirate motif and you can't deny how awesome that was.

For me, what made DKC2 better than DKC were the pronounced bonus "levels"(as opposed to "rooms"), Dixie's heli-hairspin and the better use of animal buddies, and the air of desperation you could hear in most of the music tracks' bridges.

Runner-up - Myst

I'm willing to bet many of you haven't played Myst before, but I won't say "Shame on you!" Historically speaking, I'm sure you at least know of the game. It's the game that made PC gaming what it was in the 90's and most of last decade. Myst showed the world that PC gaming could be popular and mainstream and that there was certainly a market out there for games made for personal computers.

I was only nine when Myst was first released; my cousin who also owned the game was twelve at the time. He was able to solve most of the puzzles on his own while I had to resort to the use of three strategy guides. Before you smirk or reprimand me, different guides for Myst explained things differently. Even if the wording was ever so slight, it made a difference for me. Also, one of the books actually walked through the game from the perspective of some random photographer that happened upon the Myst book; that particular guide felt like I was reading a journal or an exciting novel, exploring the Ages along with him, discovering all their secrets and odd mechanisms.

I fell in love with the surrealism that abounded, just on Myst Island alone! Who thought you could raise a whole ship out of the water by the dock by touching a few specific panels along the island's central walkway? Who knew you could make a tall tree grow even taller by powering up a boiler and turning a metallic wheel? I could spend hours on Myst Island itself, just toying with everything and being fascinated by the relationships between certain landmarks. My love for scavenger hunts, connect-the-dots mysteries, etc. either started or was discovered with this game.

Previous entries: 1994