1997

[HHJ]

N64:Mario 64
Goldeneye
Turok Dinosaur Hunter
Doom 64

PSX:
Final Fantasy 7
Castlevania SOTN
Soul Edge
Oddworld: Abe's odysse

Off the top of my head I bought all thse games that year and much more.

Might be the greatest year gaming's ever had !

 

[deviake]

Hello fellow millennial.

Good shit. Played all of them but Castlevania and Sould Edge (start at Soulcalibur 2).

 

[My Spot]

Twas a glorious year. Got a PSX for my birthday largely thanks to all those FF7 movie trailers. I was fascinated with the analog (not Dual Shock) controller.
98 is still probably the GOAT year for gaming though.

 

[Misery Signals]

There were some great games but I was playing Mario 64 in 96.

 

[My Spot]

Goldeneye
Castlevania SOTN
Final Fantasy 7
Colony Wars (probably the most underrated PS1 game)
Soul Blade
Fallout
Star Fox 64
Blast Corps
Diddy Kong Racing
Gameday 98 (when 3D 11 on 11 football wasn't thought possible on PS1)
Jedi Knight
Crash Bandicoot 2
Parappa
Oddworld
Quake 2
Mario Kart 64
Tomb Raider 2
Turok
Nuclear Strike
Ace Combat 2
Treasures of the Deep (another really underrated PS1 game)

Plus arcades were still king and gaming magazines were still relevant.

 

[Madmick]

I used A.I. to spit out the following table referencing two sources I've discussed on the board in the past. It shows the year and game count from these. The "AG" column is my favorite meta-ranker, the Acclaimed Games Top 1000, and "GQ" is the GQ Magazine 2023 survey which remains the most prestigious survey ever conducted for the question. I had the A.I. sort the table from highest game count to lowest game count using the AG list.

I know @GearSolidMetal will get in here to tout 2007. Pretty strong freaking argument, there. Hard to debate against it.

Year	AG	GQ
1999	42	3
2004	36	5
1994	33	2
2001	33	6
1993	32	1
1996	32	2
1998	32	4
2010	32	3
2012	30	1
2006	29	2
2007	29	6
1997	29	3
2009	28	3
2011	28	4
2016	28	7
2005	26	2
2014	26	1
2008	25	4
2013	25	4
2000	24	5
2003	24	1
2015	24	4
2017	24	5
2002	23	2
2018	22	4
1991	21	3
2019	21	2
2020	21	2
1995	20	1
1987	19	0
1992	18	2
1990	17	2
2021	17	1
1989	15	0
2024	14	n/a
1985	13	2
1986	12	0
1988	11	0
2023	11	n/a
1981	10	0
1983	10	0
1984	9	0
2022	9	1
1982	7	0
1980	5	0
1977	2	0
1979	2	0
1971	1	0
1972	1	0
1976	1	0
1978	1	0

 

[dreden1982]

There were some great games but I was playing Mario 64 in 96.

Yup. I bought an N64 on launch day at Sears after school in 9th grade. Took a bus f on school right to Sears haha amazing feeling

 

[Kassitus]

Year it was a great year. KOF 97, Mega Man 7, Sega Saturn and PS1 in their prime and N64 establishing itself. Looks like statistically 1999 takes the cake though.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

@Madmick

Was Madden 64 in 1997?

I remember having my entire team 7'6 with 99 Speed

 

[Misery Signals]

Yup. I bought an N64 on launch day at Sears after school in 9th grade. Took a bus f on school right to Sears haha amazing feeling

Our family got the system and the game for Christmas that year. We didn't have a computer and I didn't even know the PS1 existed yet so graphics went right from SNES to Mario 64 and I was blown away.

 

[My Spot]

@Madmick

Was Madden 64 in 1997?

I remember having my entire team 7'6 with 99 Speed

Yes. But for some reason, it didn't have the NFL license (only the NFLPA). And it wasn't 3D yet.
THIS was the football game to buy in 1997. Graphics were insane for the time.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

Yes. But for some reason, it didn't have the NFL license (only the NFLPA). And it wasn't 3D yet.
THIS was the football game to buy in 1997. Graphics were insane for the time.

N64 also had the GOAT wrestling games... THQ WCW and WWF ( Not 97 )

 

[GearSolidMetal]

I know @GearSolidMetal will get in here to tout 2007. Pretty strong freaking argument, there. Hard to debate against it.

Its a tough debate between 2007 & 2008.

That's when creativity in gaming was absolutely at its peak, and they were the years gaming started to make more money than Hollywood... so it became more corporate.

That's why so many franchises became pain-by-numbers/checklist slop, and why the three best games of the last five years have been independently developed and published.

Baldur's Gate 3
Cyberpunk2077
Elden Ring

 

[My Spot]

1998 is still the GOAT gaming year IMO. Not just quality/quantity but some pretty important releases.

Zelda OoT
Tekken 3 (PS1)
Gran Turismo
Half Life
Metal Gear Solid
Resident Evil 2
Grim Fandango
Starcraft
Banjo Kazooie
Baldur's Gate
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Oddworld 2
Thief
Turok 2
Crash Bandicoot 3
Unreal
Pokemon Blue/Red
Fallout 2
Colony Wars 2
Myth 2
Spyro the Dragon
Rogue Squadron
Final Fantasy Tactics
WCW/NWO Revenge
Rainbow Six

Half Life/MGS/Zelda all came out like in the same three week span.

 

[Pittie Petey]

Mario 64, Turok, Wave Race 64, Cruisin USA 64 were pretty much all I played in '97 and it was glorious!

 

[Wrath of Foamy]

Fighters Megamix and Saturn Bomberman.

 

[Misery Signals]

2001

Final Fantasy X
GTA 3
Halo
Metal Gear Solid 2
Silent Hill 2
Devil May Cry
Max Payne
Ico
Smash Brothers Melee
Tony Hawk 3
Grand Turismo 3
Jak and Daxter
Twisted Metal Black

 

[Madmick]

1998 is still the GOAT gaming year IMO. Not just quality/quantity but some pretty important releases.

Zelda OoT
Tekken 3 (PS1)
Gran Turismo
Half Life
Metal Gear Solid
Resident Evil 2
Grim Fandango
Starcraft
Banjo Kazooie
Baldur's Gate
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Oddworld 2
Thief
Turok 2
Crash Bandicoot 3
Unreal
Pokemon Blue/Red
Fallout 2
Colony Wars 2
Myth 2
Spyro the Dragon
Rogue Squadron
Final Fantasy Tactics
WCW/NWO Revenge
Rainbow Six

Half Life/MGS/Zelda all came out like in the same three week span.

So I went back to the retarded toasters. This time, instead of using one to accelerate a data-grinding task, I asked them to think, which is always a bad idea, and simply asked which years were most commonly mentioned when this question comes up.

ChatGPT: 1998 (Runners-Up: 2004, 2007, 2011, 2017, 2023) (Hon. Mentions: 2001, 2009, 2013)
Gemini: 1998 (Runners-Up: 2004, 2007, 2023) (Hon. Mentions: 1996, 2001, 2017)
Copilot: 1998 (Runners-Up: 1997, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2011)
Perplexity: 1998 (Runners-Up: 2001, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2017, 2023)
Komo: 1998 (Runners-Up: 1985, 2004, 2007, 2023)

Props to Perplexity for the 1985. That's a deep cut, and when you look at the games that came out, it's very much justifiable.

 

[My Spot]

Mario 64, Turok, Wave Race 64, Cruisin USA 64 were pretty much all I played in '97 and it was glorious!

 

[My Spot]

So I went back to the retarded toasters. This time, instead of simply using one to accelerate a data-grinding task, I asked them to think, which is always a bad idea, and simply asked which years were most commonly mentioned when this question comes up.

ChatGPT: 1998 (Runners-Up: 2004, 2007, 2011, 2017, 2023) (Hon. Mentions: 2001, 2009, 2013)
Gemini: 1998 (Runners-Up: 2004, 2007, 2023) (Hon. Mentions: 1996, 2001, 2017)
Perplexity: 1998 (Runners-Up: 2001, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2017, 2023)
Komo: 1998 (Runners-Up: 1985, 2004, 2007, 2023)

Props to Perplexity for the 1985. That's a deep cut, and when you look at the games that came out, it's very much justifiable.

99 was pretty dope too, especially on the PC side.

Soul Calibur (obviously the superior DC port)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Unreal Tournament
Quake 3
Gran Turismo 2
System Shock 2
Age of Empires 2
Alpha Centauri
Crash Team Racing
Freespace 2
Planescape Torment
Ape Escape
Rayman 2
Final Fantasy 8
Homeworld (first 3D RTS I think?)
Resident Evil 3
Soul Reaver
Everquest (people forget this was WoW before WoW)
Driver
Medal of Honor
Donkey Kong 64
Sonic Adventure (FINALLY 3D Sonic dammit)
Spyro 2
Silent Hill
Dino Crisis
XWing Alliance
Mechwarrior 3

Plus the magical DC launch.