Games that are a decade old this year -- 1999 was awesome

No love for Wheel of Time? You wound me, sirs.

'98 was better.

I guess HoMM3 was 1999… I remember playing that for the first time at a friend’s house in the summer, and we played until about 5 AM in hotseat. I was 17 at the time, junior in high school. Back when I had TIME to play all these games…

Yeah 1998 is unequivocally the greatest year of gaming history. It was some serious planetary aligntment moment that brought paradigm shifiting awesomeness with every system.

Nope - Fall 2000.

I remember Half-life and Baldur’s Gate came out in `98 - what else did it have going for it?

Panzer Dragoon Saga
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
Unreal
Fallout 2
Grim Fandango
Baldur’s Gate
Tribes
StarCraft
Half-Life
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Metal Gear Solid
Xenogears
Thief: The Dark Project
Descent FreeSpace

I’m with '98.

1998/99 is when I started really getting into gaming.

Both good years.

Also…

Grand Prix Legends
Independence War
Heretic II
Warlords III: Darklords Rising
Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate
Viper Racing
Railroad Tycoon II
Myth II
Might and Magic VI
Motocross Madness
Jane’s F-15
Falcon 4.0
European Air War
Dethkarz (still one of my all-time favorite racing games)
Caesar III
BattleZone

…and that was just on PC.

The thing about 1998 is many of those games defined whole genres for years to come. The effects of Half-Life, Baldur’s Gate, Unreal, Grand Prix Legends, and Starcraft are still being felt today.

Yeah, 1998 was a great year…

Baldur’s Gate
Caesar III
Falcon 4.0
Fallout 2
Grim Fandango
Half-Life
Jane’s F-15
Myth II
Railroad Tycoon II
Starcraft
Starsiege: Tribes
Thief
Rainbow Six
Unreal
Warhammer: Dark Omen

What a ridiculous wealth of all-time classic games. How did we even have time to play them all?

1996 gives it a run for its money, though…

Birthright
C&C Red Alert
Civilization II
Duke Nukem 3D
Daggerfall
Emperor of the Fading Suns
Fantasy General
Flying Corps
Heroes of Might & Magic II
Jane’s Longbow
Master of Orion II
Quake
Silent Hunter
Syndicate Wars
Terra Nova
Tomb Raider
Wing Commander IV
Zork Nemesis

There were also some lesser known games that are personal favorites of mine, like Amber: Journeys Beyond (one of my all-time favorite adventure games). OTOH, 1996 saw the release of Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures, which I think in retrospect marks the exact moment that LucasArts jumped the shark with regard the adventure games. They still had a few great games in them, but the clock was ticking at that point…

Did you just list Birthright as an all time classic game? Actually, Birthright’s existence in 96 means you must subtract two great games from the list because of the anti-greatness/greatness explosion that happens when you mix them.

I’d put Birthright into the same category as Emperor of the Fading Suns–a game with undeniably serious problems that I loved anyway.

soulcalibur was out at least in 97 since that was when I played it.

I remember around then I spent a year playing SMAC and a year playing Falcon 4.0, and I think it was in that order.

So I missed out on a lot of the other games.

Nope, didn’t like it. It was no TIE Fighter.

Syndicate Wars!? Really? Why? I found it to be kinda dissapointing.

Hmm, '96: apparently Ancient Domains of Mystery was available to the public for the first time that year.

But look out for 2009!!

Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust
Stalin vs. Martians
ShellShock 2: Blood Trails
Stormrise
Terminator: Salvation
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2

Sims 3
Starcraft 2 (maybe)
Mirror’s Edge (PC version was this year)
Overlord II
Blood Bowl
Demigod
Disciples 3
Hearts of Iron III
Majesty 2
Champions Online
Trine
Plants vs. Zombies
Assassin’s Creed 2

2009 isn’t looking all that bad. It’s no 1998, but what year is? Other than 1998, that is.

I almost put my joke disclaimer in there but figured everyone would get it. :)

2009 will be a winner for me if the new STALKER game is cool.

Any year that has Grim Fandango is automatically the greatest gaming year ever!