Choose your game - 1997 ed. [Poll]

• I'm not asking what game is the best.  I'm asking what game would you play first, be it for the first time, or just to revisit some old (better?) times?

• Diablo  - Loot collection at it's finest. Until number 2 came along.
• Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter - While not quite as memorable as TIE Fighter, I think it's our last great space fighter.
• Ultima Online - People are still playing this game...
• Fallout - This is the daddy that started what many of the users here still play in a form - New Vegas
• Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Dark Forces II - It's not quite Dark Forces, but this one put together lightsaber goodness with force powers.
• Age of Empires - Ensemble Studios had a breakout on their hands.
• Riven - I'm still not smart enough to figure out these logic puzzles. 
• The Curse of Monkey Island - LucasArts at the peak of their craft.
• Quake II - And people think Black Ops is a fast paced shooter....hahahaha
• Gran Turismo - This may actually be better than it's 5th iteration.
• Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - It'll be interesting how the remastered version turns out.
• Final Fantasy VII - Let's just say it's a good game. And it brought RPGs recognition stateside.
• Golden Eye 007 - Pierce can never replace Sean Connery as the ultimate Bond.
• Star Fox 64 - Do a barrel roll? I'll never get over the fact when I discovered this game was meant to be played in one sitting, arcade style.
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Easily far superior than it's God of War clone that just came out. Awesome score.
• Mario Kart 64 - You can find me poppin balloons, slippin and slidin on ice, using those bananas to awesome ends.
• Mortal Kombat 4 - ummmmmm, it's no MK2, so I know Brad isn't voting for this one.
• other - specify in comment 

MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only correct answer is X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter.

Love me some Mario Kart 64.  I can go back to that game any day.

If I had a PS1 at the time, it might have been Final Fantasy VII.  But my brother and I put a ridiculous number of hours into GoldenEye's multiplayer.

AoE with Gran Turismo a close second. 

This is a really hard choice. Games like Oddworld and Fallout are automatically eliminated, since they're not good enough for me to rush at their pants to carefully bite off the zipper. Same goes for Final Fantasy VII, if barely. The competition's between Goldeneye, Mario Kart, Star Fox, and Symphony of the Night. Two of them are excellent multiplayer experiences, while the other two deliver really solid single-player campaigns. However, I'm probably gonna go with Goldeneye, since it also has a strong single player mode. Also, fun fact: Star Fox 64 is the only one of those that I mentioned that didn't get a navgtr video.

Okay so I am young and have therefore only played two of these games. Now with that said; 
 
Winner: Age of Empires 
Runner-Up: Oddworld: Abe's Oddessey 

Wow, I'm surprised that Age of Empires is #1 at the moment. That can't be right, though, can it? It's probably all the AoE fans voting first. Surely Diablo will overtake it soon or something? I'm just surprised as hell, didn't think it was THAT popular.

I think Monkey Island 3 was one of the first games I got that had full voice overs, so it wins.  Age of Empires was quite good as well.
 
Space sims though, please come back.  If only to give joystick makers some life.

Jedi Knight or Diablo, with AoE a far third.

I love Fallout, so I'd probably pick that.
 
Followed by Diablo, then Quake 2.

WILD ARMS was also released in 1997. It's one of the often unsung greats of JRPG history.

" WILD ARMS was also released in 1997. It's one of the often unsung greats of JRPG history. "

Wanna go with X-Wing vs tie Fighter, but had to choose Star Fox 64. Played the shit out of both games.

Do a barrel roll!

i put like 80 hours into final fantasy 7. had a whole stable of gold chocobos. i raced em and bred them all the way up to a rank gold. had beaten ruby weapon. was getting close to beating emerald weapon and then my friend overwrote my save data with his crappy game. about 3 hours in. :'(

• Gran Turismo - This may actually be better than it's 5th iteration.

AoE I dug, but I though II was the real pinnacle.  
 
Goldeneye was my choice, I was rocking a nintendo 64 at that point. 

Of all the games presented here, I would probably be the most willing to play Fallout in this day and age, with Star Fox 64 as a runner up. While I personally consider it and Fallout 2 to be somewhat overrated in the general pantheon of CRPGs, I would say that the quality of the experience isn't totally dictated by nostalgia the same way a lot of the other games on this list are. Goldeneye has quite frankly held up pretty horribly since I was a kid and there are better Mario Kart games than Mario Kart 64. Certainly, Fallout has its own issues, but I feel like it's a game that still has its own unique worth underneath occasionally archaic and outdated mechanics and storytelling devices. Also, you can shoot dudes in the balls.
 
 Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who goes out of his way to find old games that he's never played before and blog about them (such as Fallout, which I only came to 2 years ago, right before Fallout 3 came out). That's a fairly slanted position.

Had to go with Symphony of the Night, though it was a tough call. Mario Kart and Starfox 64 were the ones I played first on that list, since I was an N64 kid. Got my first Playstation with a copy of Final Fantasy VIII (which turns out, playing VIII means not liking VII and vice-versa.) Picked up SotN years later and was hooked. I picked it on the list because it's the one I would go back to in a second today. I'd definitely go back to some Starfox 64 or Mario Kart, though. Goldeneye was great in its time, but I don't think I could play it after playing any modern fps. :)

" i put like 80 hours into final fantasy 7. had a whole stable of gold chocobos. i raced em and bred them all the way up to a rank gold. had beaten ruby weapon. was getting close to beating emerald weapon and then my friend overwrote my save data with his crappy game. about 3 hours in. :'( "

Oddworld, with Fallout a close second.
 
Reason: Oddworld was a weird and wonderful game with great characters/creatures, nice visuals and a generally great atmosphere. Oh, and the gameplay was good too. One of the few fantasy games that has nothing at all to do with swords and sorcery etc...

" @tunaburn said:

" i put like 80 hours into final fantasy 7. had a whole stable of gold chocobos. i raced em and bred them all the way up to a rank gold. had beaten ruby weapon. was getting close to beating emerald weapon and then my friend overwrote my save data with his crappy game. about 3 hours in. :'( "

Oh my god the absolute hatred. "

Close call between Quake 2 and Gran Turismo, but I think I would choose Gran Turismo. It's really hard in this day and age to illustrate the impact of a racing game with a bunch of real cars that looked fabulous for the generation, but Gran Turismo really changed the racing game genre from an era where ten cars and variations of two to three tracks would suffice.
 
Plus, I'd like to see how much more I understand proper racing technique now versus my early-teens self, who thought skidding into turns was somehow a competent way to drive. Thankfully that bad habit went away by Gran Turismo 2 or 3.

Fallout and Quake 2 are the acceptable answers.

"Games like Oddworld and Fallout are automatically eliminated, since they're not good enough for me to rush at their pants to carefully bite off the zipper. Same goes for Final Fantasy VII, if barely. "

" Do a barrel roll! "

Definitely Star Fox 64. I love that game.

R. None of those or any. I have such a large back catalog right now, from past steam sales. I don't think I'll be that bored enough to return to the 90's.

Need for Speed II

Diablo by far! The game was a blast to play but what totally blew my mind was the ability to have a stable online multiplayer experience on a 33.6 dialup modem!
 
Oh and Fallout comes second. And Quake 2 third.

Wow, not a great year really. I'll go with Castlevania because I think it has stood up really well and had a long term impact. StarFox 64 would be my second, only because I personally think its awesome (I have no other justification). I've never cared for most of the other games on that list.
 
'cept maybe X-wing Vs. Tie Fighter.

I fucking love Mario Kart 64.

Diablo - is there really any dispute?

Ultima Online.  My friend and I got the game and had so many fun adventures PKing people and robbing fools.  
So many good memories!

I went ahead and selected Mario Kart because it provided the most hours of entertainment for my housemates and myself. I enjoyed many other games on that list a great deal, but none of them put the whammy on me like that one did.
 
Also, I would like to mention that Blade Runner also came out that year and it was pretty sweet. Duders should definitely check it out if they can find it anywhere.

Quake 2, followed by Fallout, awesome game and all but I barely got through it, I can't stand isometric games.

Voted for Fallout,if it wasnt an option, AoE

It's a really close call between Oddworld & Monkey Island. I'd probably lean towards Abe's Oddysee.

Nothing quite held my attention like Monkey Island when I was a kid. My memories of Golden Eye and Mario Kart are littered with my brothers unplugging my controller mid-game.

I chose Final Fantasy VII, I play that game AT LEAST once a year on my PSP now, but that is mostly because I am fucking insane!

Curse of Monkey Island is the only right answer!^^