Your favourite Year of gaming releases?

[R55NA]

Been hearing a lot of discussion about 2023 being the "Best Year EVER for Gaming", and while it was a good year, I believe there were better years in the PS1/PS2/360 days.


Check out every year here (and prepare to feel old):

List of years in video games - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Here are some notable years for me:

1997:

Gran Turismo
GoldenEye
Mario Kart 64
Grand Theft Auto 1
Final Fantasy 7
Age of Empires
Carmageddon
Formula 1 97
StarFox 64
Tomb Raider 2
Oddworld Abes Odysee
FIFA World Cup 1998
Crash Bandicoot 2
Tekken 3


2001:

RuneScape
SSX Tricky
Halo 1
Final Fantasy 9 (EU)
GTA 3
Project Gotham Racing 1
Crash Bandicoot 3
Silent Hill 2
Soul Reaver 2
Luigis Mansion
Simpsons Wrestling
Onimusha
MGS 2
Gran Turismo 3
DMC 1
Shenmue 2
Super Monkey Ball
Burnout 1
Tony Hawks 3
WWF Smackdown! Just Bring it
Super Smash Bros Melee



Any years that stand out for anyone? Is 2023 the best?

 

[TypeRDC5]

Hard to remember exactly as release dates for games used to be quite different between regions back in one day but for me 2001/2002 was the year(s) for me.

GTA3
Pro Evolution Soccer
MGS2
GT3

I'm sure there are some I have forgotten but it seemed even games I knew little about during those years turned out great.

The PS2 generation will probably never been matched for me.

 

[FerrariF1GT]

2007:

• Mario Galaxy 1
• Mass Effect 1
• The Orange Box, Portal 1 most particularly
• Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn (I wish this one wasn’t so expensive these days)
• Folklore (this one’s also pretty expensive; shame this one was overlooked outside of Japan)
• Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey (seriously, the 360 had some great exclusive JRPGs)
• Super Paper Mario (I know everyone and their dog prefers Thousand Year Door, and I sadly have not played that, but I digress)
• Metroid Prime 3
• God of War 2
• Uncharted Drake’s Fortune
• Motorstorm 1
• Forza Motorsport 2
• Project Gotham Racing 4
• Although these games died out quick and are easy to mock, screw it, I still love Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band 1
• I’m the furthest thing from an FPS fan, but it would be remiss not to mention Halo 3, Resistance 1, and COD Modern Warfare 1
• I’m probably missing plenty of DS/PSP gems, but I’m not well-versed in that area
• I need to take a dive into the more casual games from that year; I don’t want to ignore those

 

[sesselpupser]

Gotta be 1998 for Metal Gear Solid alone. I'm sure I could think of at least one other game that released that year, if I tried really hard...

Edit because I found the list:

• Resident Evil 2
• Bust a Groove
• Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
• Descent Freespace
• NFS3: Hot Pursuit
• Tekken 3
• Unreal
• Vigilante 8
• Commandos
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
• Banjo Kazooie
• F Zero X
• Rainbow Six
• Spyro
• Shogo
• Pokémon Yellow
• Delta Force
• Medievil
• Turok 2
• Marvel Vs. Street Fighter
• Street Fighter Alpha 3
• Grim Fandango
• Trespasser
• Fallout 2
• Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
• Half-Life
• Tomb Raider 3
• Thief
• Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
• Sonic Adventure

And these are just the games I've played and enjoyed!

 

[R55NA]

2007:

• Mario Galaxy 1
• Mass Effect 1
• The Orange Box, Portal 1 most particularly
• Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn (I wish this one wasn’t so expensive these days)
• Folklore (this one’s also pretty expensive; shame this one was overlooked outside of Japan)
• Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey (seriously, the 360 had some great exclusive JRPGs)
• Super Paper Mario (I know everyone and their dog prefers Thousand Year Door, and I sadly have not played that, but I digress)
• Metroid Prime 3
• God of War 2
• Uncharted Drake’s Fortune
• Motorstorm 1
• Forza Motorsport 2
• Project Gotham Racing 4
• Although these games died out quick and are easy to mock, screw it, I still love Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band 1
• I’m the furthest thing from an FPS fan, but it would be remiss not to mention Halo 3, Resistance 1, and COD Modern Warfare 1
• I’m probably missing plenty of DS/PSP gems, but I’m not well-versed in that area
• I need to take a dive into the more casual games from that year; I don’t want to ignore those

COD4/MW, Halo 3, Mass Effect, GH3, Rock Band, FM2 and PGR4 in the same year is mega.

This was the same year I went to college, so I have fond memories of 2007 onward. Had all the time in the world, and all everyone did was play Modern Warfare!

 

[m355y]

1998 was peak gaming year for all those amazing titles like MGS, Gran Turismo (in the EU), Resident Evil 2 but also N64 stuff like Banjo Kazooie, personal favourites like Colin McRae Rally and Toca 2, F1 World Grand Prix 2 on the N64, not to mention the birth of the Dreamcast, that jaw dropping video of Sonic Adventure with the killer whale, the excitement about the 128bit era and stuff like ARCADE magazine at its peak. 1998 is my answer, in case you hadn't realised yet.

 

[PletdeKoe]

Jup 1998 was one of the greats.

 

[m355y]

Was Ocarina of Time 98 too? Just loses a couple of marks because the official F1 game that year sucked.

 

[Dave A]

Two games that had the biggest impact on my and remain special are Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy 7, a distant 3rd is probably Metal Gear Solid. So it has to be 1997 or 1998 for me.

The original Playstation was when I was into gaming the most and spent the most time playing games. I was still very much into it during the PS2 era, but by the PS3 I starting having less time for gaming, and today I maybe spend 2 hours a week gaiming on average, not counting sudoku on my mobile, though I retain a strong interest in it, I just lack the time.

 

[Daz555]

1981

Donkey Kong
Frogger
Tempest
Defender
Galaga
Scramble
Turbo
Qix
Astro Blaster
Centipede

 

[Veinz]

2007, back when owning an xbox was good.

Halo 3, Modern Warfare & Forza Motorsport 2 were my favorites.

 

[m355y]

2007, back when owning an xbox was good.

...until it did 'red ring of death' anyway.

Xbox360 was an absolute golden era, shame it was also the most unreliable console of all time as well as maybe the best.

 

[Alfred1]

I would go with 1998. Look at all the games below ❤️

• Ocarina of Time
• Resident Evil 2
• Metal Gear Solid
• Half-life
• StarCraft
• Baldur’s Gate
• Grim Fandango
• Mario Party
• Banjo-Kazooie
• Spyro the Dragon