200 Greatest Games Of The '90s- By The VGC Community

[LoganRuckman]

So, I found an awesome thread from Chud.com, in which the community came together in creating a list of their 200 favorite games of the '90s: http://www.chud.com/community/t/142786/ ... of-the-90s

While I haven't read the whole list yet, I plan to, as it is a great idea. The '90s, in my opinion, is perhaps the greatest decade for gaming. Finding 200 great games is easy in a decade with so many. I wanted to do a similar list with the VGC community.

When we pick a game, we should provide a screenshot, video, or boxart, and a brief summary of the game. Oh, and include the year it was released, and the platform it was released on. The big problem I see is if we should go by original release date only, or if other release dates should factor into this. The reason this could be a problem is because a game like Super Mario Bros. 3, which was released in Japan in 1988, would not be eligible based on it's Japanese release date. But it's American release in 1990 would make it perfectly fine. How do you think we should go about this?

Anywho, I'll start off the list with both my favorite game of the '90s and my favorite game of all time.

The List (Use Ctrl + F to see if your favorite game has already been nominated):
1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
2. Night Trap
3. Super Mario World
4. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
5.The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
6. Streets of Rage 2
7. Final Fantasy VII
8. Super Mario 64
9. Battletoads
10. Silent Hill
11. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
12. Doom
13. Super Mario Bros. 3
14. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
15. Myst
16. ActRaiser
17. Star Control II
18. Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow
19. Area 51
20. Metal Gear Solid
21. Lemmings
22. Sensible Soccer
23. Free Cell
24. Grim Fandango
25. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
26. Sonic 3 and Knuckles
27. Sega Rally Championship
28. Sonic the Hedgehog
29. Body Harvest
30. Panzer Dragoon Saga
31. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
32. ToeJam and Earl
33. Star Wars: Tie Fighter
34. GoldenEye 007
35. MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat
36. Donkey Kong Country
37. Elf Bowling
38. Tecmo Super Bowl
39. Front Page Sports Football Pro '95
40. Super Smash Bros.
41. Twisted Metal 2
42. Crazy Taxi
43. Street Fighter II
44. Banjo-Kazooie
45. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2
46. Mario Kart 64
47. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
48. Sonic Adventure
49. Mortal Kombat
50. Chrono Trigger
51. Virtua Fighter
52. NHL '94
53. Quake
54. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
55: NBA Jam
56. NBA Live 95
57. Riven - The Sequel To Myst
58. Soul Calibur
59. Tamagotchi
60. Symphony of the Night
61. Wolfenstein 3D
62. Ultima Underworld

1. The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past (SNES, 1991 Japan, 1992 North America and Europe)



A return to form after the polarizing (and underrated, IMO) Zelda II, the third entry in the series perfected the classic formula. It gave you a larger world to explore, more minigames, a more developed story, a much better soundtrack, better puzzles, better bosses, better dungeon design, and more. The Dark World was a highly inventive concept, and it was executed perfectly. I mean, just when you thought the game was over after defeating Agahnim, you're given a whole new world to explore. This game, even more than the first game, established the formula for the series. Every game in the series after ALTTP owes a debt to this classic. In my humble opinion, this is the greatest game ever made.

[scotland]

I nominate 1992's Night Trap, for the Sega Mega Drive (Sega CD), made by Digital Pictures.

night trap1.jpg (9.15 KiB) Viewed 2836 times

The game is known, along with Mortal Kombat, as driving the US Senate hearings with Lieberman that led to the ESRB. It became the whipping (hehe) boy for parental concerns on video game sex (with Mortal Kombat for violence). Unlike Mortal Kombat, Night Trap is just not even a good game. Yet its impact lasts to this day. It was once the technology of the future, CDs, and the gameplay of the future, Full Motion Video where you direct the movie! You have seen the games, right?!

Originally made 5 years before release for a VHS technology video game consoles. The game of the future began firmly rooted in VHS technology, a technology that has no retro love whatsoever (even Beta has more love than VHS these days). Heck, the console, the Hasbro NEMO was financed in part from Nolan Bushnell in his post Atari venture capital days, so this game, all by itself, stretches basically from Bushnell to the 90s to today in its continued impact.

The game itself is like an MTV video...a bad cheap MTV video. Its full of 80s cheesy mustaches, sleeveless t-shirts, air guitar (oh boy can we get more 80s...just add Hulk Hogan or Gary Coleman), a celebrity role by an 80s sitcom actress (from that show with Gary Coleman, that'll check the box, thank you). Its a parady of 80s slasher films that come off as just a poor wanna be. It even has a disappointing fully dressed shower scene where the only suggestive thing is the grabber collar being a bit...excited. If you are going to do an MTV video, at least get an MTV hottie like Tawny Kitaen or Kari Wuhrer or something.

The game is to protect a gang of teens from vampires...oh not sexy Twilight vampires or even Buffy vampires, o no, lumbering ninja clad middle aged vampires. They shuffle about like extras from the Planet of the Apes tv show. You watch the movie, and set off traps made from smoke bombs and created by Scooby Doo.

Yet this weak gameplay, grainy video, with less sex then an episode of the Golden Girls, became the herald of sex in video games, parental concerns, senate hearing, self censorship in the face of unwarranted ignorant fear, and beyond that, the symbol of why Full Motion Video became a synonym to promise unfulfilled, and rightly or wrongly, the overwhelming symbol of the Mega CD writ large and maybe why Nintendo dropped optical discs for another decade. Little game, big footprint.

[Rev]

Awesome topic Logan!

I nominate:

3. Super Mario World, released on November 21, 1990, by Nintendo.



The first Mario game in the 4th generation of gaming, also happened to be one of the best. Known for it's multiple power ups, hidden levels, and the introduction of the iconic character, Yoshi, Super Mario World is a great example of 2D platforming done right. Super Mario World is one of the best Mario titles of all time, and the fact that it was a launch title for the SNES only makes it more astounding.

[eneuman96]

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Released November 20, 1995

SNES



While the first Donkey Kong Country certainly is still a great platformer, DCK2 was the peak of the series because it had excellently designed and atmospheric levels, and the fact that every level had hidden things to collect in order to access a bonus set of hard levels helped increase replay value.

[LoganRuckman]

5. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time (Nintendo 64, 1998)


You simply can't talk about the Nintendo 64, nor can you have a discussion about the greatest games of all time, without bringing up the first 3D game in the Zelda series. That's because it is legitimately one of the greatest video games ever made. It took the formula established by A Link To The Past and the same basic story, and updated it for 3D. The time travelling aspect was awesome, the combat was probably at its best at that point, the dungeon design was incredible (Forest Temple, anyone?), the boss fights were fun and imaginative (Dark Link comes to mind), the items were fun to use, the story was very well developed, it introduced Z-targeting, and the world was huge. What more could Zelda fans ask for?

[Rev]

Sidenote: would it be helpful if I edited the first post nightly with which games have already been claimed? If this goes to 200 that's 20 pages which would prevent games being on the list multiple times.

[Sut]

6). Streets of Rage 2.
Sega Mega Drive / Genesis
Released: 20/12/1992


Released during the time of Sega's hottest streak. When they finally had a larger market share than Nintendo thanks mainly to titles like Sonic, Ecco and of course Streets of Rage 2.
One of Sega's marketing tactics during this period was to portray the SNES as a slow kids toy and comparing this to SNES Final Fight backs up their argument.
To this day I think this remains the definitive belt scrolling beat 'em up. Arcade quality graphics an absolute awesome soundtrack and most importantly of all for a game in this genre - the variety and number of moves available to the player stops it getting old. The different characters also add replay value as each one requires adapting your battle tactics.
A game released at the height of Sega's powers and a testament to the 'arcade at home' sensibility of my personal favourite games company.

[Rev]

7. Final Fantasy VII, Squaresoft, January 31st, 1997.



The first big RPG in the West, Final Fantasy VII was a huge deal back in 1997. Final Fantasy VII took a simple concept, "save the world", and turned it into a huge story of good vs. evil. The hero, Cloud Strife, was a mercenary for hire, but through several events he is led into a battle against a man named Sephiroth, in his struggle to discover his past and save the world. The game boasted 9 different characters and a unique combat system. The game boasted new features such as Limit Breaks which were powerful attacks that could be unleashed once your character had taken enough damage. Perhaps one of the most defining points of the game was the huge selection of side quests that were available to players, drastically lengthening the game for those who wanted a longer experience. While FFVII is arguably not the best Final Fantasy title, Final Fantasy VII hosts one of the largest fanbases out of any game in history, making it deserving of a spot on the list.

[ptdebate]

8. Super Mario 64 (1996)

Nintendo's first major Mario release in 5 years, Mario 64 was more than just another iconic platformer. It was a groundbreaking achievement in 3D spatial interaction. It would become the cornerstone of an entire industry based on real-time action in a three-dimensional virtual world.

[velcrozombie]

9. Battletoads, Rare, June 1991

54899-Battletoads_(USA)--web.jpg (71.55 KiB) Viewed 2775 times

There are plenty of reasons not to include Battletoads on this list: as an IP it's a shameless rip-off of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; it has an unforgiving level of difficulty (how many people have even gotten past the third level?); and the two-player mode is designed so poorly that it is nearly impossible to complete.

Despite these complaints, the game deserves to be recognized as one of the best NES games of all-time. What starts as a simple brawler quickly distinguishes itself by mixing in platforming, racing and even puzzle elements, all of which feel solid on their own. There's great use of vertical and horizontal motion, as levels descend, ascend and twist back and around on themselves like pretzels. The animation on the Toads is some of the best on the NES, as they grow horns, morph their arms and legs like a Looney Tunes character and have clear facial expressions of emotions like fear and excitement. The score is quirky, diverse and memorable (heck, the PAUSE SCREEN music is more iconic than many other video game scores by itself) and adds considerably to the unique environment and mechanics of each level. Rare would go a great run during the SNES and N64, but this is where they really put themselves on the map.