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The Ten Greatest Years in Gaming
Ground Glass writes "Next Generation has posted an abbreviated version of gaming's history by only chronicling the high points - the ten best years in the history of the medium. While it doesn't cover 1998 (and therefore forgets the birthdays of Half-Life, Starcraft, and Zelda: Ocarina of Time), most of the memorable moments are there. What was your best year for gaming?"
I have to go with 1996-1997. Simply because of Final Fantasy VII. That game revolutionized the industry, made the playstation a true contender, and has haunted my dreams ever since.
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Starting at 5
5: 1984, The year the apple macintosh computer was first released, thus cementing the place of PC-based video-games forever.
4: 1944. D-Day, the source of 9/10th of all game ideas ever produced.
3: 2020. Both the setting of every style of cliche 'near future cyber-tale', and the year Duke Nukem Forever will be released.
2: 1889. Namely, november 6th, 1889. Founding of a little playing card company was made in a little backwards country called japan that would later become Nintendo. The company, not the country...
1: 1992. The year E.V.O. The Search For Eden was released. Quite possibly the single greatest evolution-themed platformer for the SNES ever produced. 'nuff said.
open mailbox. get it. read it. drop it. s. e. open window. w. get all. open sack. get lunch. eat it. open bottle. drink water. drop bottle. w. get all. e. turn on lamp. u. get all. d. w. move rug. d. n. (Troll!)
But it can't have all been downhill from Zork, Zork III came out after Zork. Let's not forget Enchanter, Planetfall, Deadline, Ballyhoo, and many many more (A Mind Forever Voyaging!).
Not to mention modern day classics like "Spider and Web" (best "Aha!" puzzle I've ever encountered), "Photopia" (superb, moving story), and "Blue Chairs" (trippy, melancholy, uplifting, depressing, and wonderful).
The biggest hallmarks for me was first Ultima 7, which showed how huge a video game world could get and how detailed, it for me first definved "VIRTUAL WORLD" in which you could do anything and be as cruel and depraved as you wanted.
The next hallmark was X-Com, Mass destruction of the battlefield which to this day still hasnt been duplicated.
Finally the year UO was released, the 2nd real grand daddy of all MMO's after meridian, playing with yourself is all well and good *cough* but playing with several hundred people is priceless.
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise. -Fight Club
Not to mention modern day classics like "Spider and Web" (best "Aha!" puzzle I've ever encountered)...
Spider and Web (which you can play online!) is, indeed superb --- and I know the moment you mean; I remember sitting there in amazement that he'd managed to pull off something so perfect and so unexpected.
It's not perfect --- the 'that's not important right now' bits really annoyed me for reasons that would be a spoiler to go into. But it's a great game. It's also very hard.
(Background: Spider and Web is a modern adventure game written to run on Infocom's Z-machine. There's a large and vibrant community based around writing and playing adventure games --- the genre's never been healthier. You can find more information than you ever believed possible off the link above.)
My vote for the best year is whatever year MAME came out. Seriously!
When I was 14 my Dad kicked my ass because I wasted about $20.00 playing Crazy Climber at the arcade. Flash forward years later to MAME. I definitely got my money back......
It was the year I finally got to play Elite unsupervised. I wince to think how long I spent on that game; whole nights spent hunched over a BBC Model B trading, pirating and cursing Thargoids who trapped me with low fuel. To my mind it's still one of the most addictive games around, after Civ 2.
There used to be a version that mimicked it on a PC floating around but I can't find it anywhere and I understand the creators had it pulled.
- 1981--My parents divorce. My Dad needs to overcompensate, so he gets an Odyssey2. I play Pick Axe Pete and KC Munchkin until I fall asleep at the controller.
- 1983--I play Galaga at the Silver Ball Arcade in Worcester, MA, and just cannot be stopped. I was in a trance. I must have played for 45 minutes. Everyone was watching. I was 10 years old.
- 1984--My friend has a Commodore 64 and we play Archon endlessly. The Banshee cannot lose.
- 1986--I see a kid play Super Mario Bros in an arcade cabinet in Orlando, FL. I am HYPNOTIZED. $290 dollars, four months, and one still-overcompensating Dad later I can retire my Atari 5200.
- 1987--I get Metroid. This is the best game ever made. (Still).
- 1991--Street Fighter 2 is released. Only Tournament Cyberball competes for quarters for the next three years. Dhalsim cannot lose.
- 1994--The University of Redlands Physics lab has many Macs hooked up with Appletalk. These many Macs all have Marathon on them. Deathmatches ensue, and ensue hard.
- 1997--I get my first Mac, and Ambrosia Software gets half my paycheck. Maelstrom, Apeiron, Swoop, Escape Velocity.
- 2003--Some minigolf place in the SVF has a Street Fighter II: Turbo game in the "cheap corner". I play for the first time in years and thrash the shit out of a dozen young Vietnamese kids for about 30 minutes. Dhalsim still can't lose. I walk away from the game.
- 2006--I re-re-re-discover Diablo 2. MAN I love this game. Watch out, Metroid.
Some lowlights...blarg.