Why the late 90's are the Golden Age of Video Gaming

Half-Life (1998) Counter-Strike (1999) Quake (1996) Quake II (1997) Quake III Arena (1999) Everquest (1999) Asheron's Call (1999) Unreal Tournament (1999) Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (1999) Starcraft (1998) Banjo & Kazooie(1998) Pokémon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow (1996-1999) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) Goldeneye (1997) Xenogears (1998) Final Fantasy VII (1997) Final Fantasy VIII (1999) Final Fantasy Tactics (1998) Metal Gear Solid (1998) Power Stone (1999) SFIII:Third Strike (1999) Tekken 3 (1997) Soul Calibur (1999) Silent Hill (1999) Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996) Super Mario 64 (1996) Super Smash Bros. (1999) Resident Evil (1996) Resident Evil 2 (1998) Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999) Crash Bandicoot (1996) Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (1997) Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (1998) Crash Team Racing (1999) Spyro the Dragon (1998) Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (1999) Fallout (1997) Fallout 2 (1998) Baldur's Gate (1998) Grim Fandango (1998) Diablo (1996) Gran Turismo (1998) Gran Turismo 2 (1999) Mario Kart 64 (1996) Diddy Kong Racing (1997) Mega Man X4 (1997) Planescape: Torment (1999) Thief: The Dark Project (1998) Starsiege: Tribes (1998) The Curse of Monkey Island (1997) Twisted Metal 2 (1996) Homeworld (1999) System Shock 2 (1999) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1999) Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996) Panzer Dragoon Saga (1998) NFL Blitz (1998) Tobal 2 (1997).
  
 
Any Questions?

Just one:
Will it blend?

Shit you could just say '98.

SHITTING HELL THATS SOME GOOOOOD GAMING  
  
Are we old timers yet?

Deus Ex came out in 2000, your argument is invalid

I feel really, really old... In a good way, but terribly old nevertheless.

Shit you could just say '98.

Damn, thems is some excellent games.

Uh, you forgot Mega Man X4...

Fuzion Frenzy came out in 2001, nullifying your point. Sorry I had to be a party pooper, bro.

Yeah, they were great. But I wouldn't play any of those games today.

@BubbleBobble: Thanks. I would've been remiss in my duties had I let you leave that off your list!

Please add Homeworld if you want my old ass respect.

anyway its because AAA games budgets made sense and developers at the time weren't afraid of thinking outside the box, and there wasn't as big a risk to do something innovative.

These days it's either:

1. Do it like call of duty
2. Do it like uncharted
3. Do it like Red Dead

Your list is missing Thief.

I'm ok with this.

Your definition of late 90's also includes my definition of mid nighties.

Early 91-3 Mid 94-97 Late 98-2000

Fuck... 1998 was such a great year. Nothing has even come close. Well, maybe 2007. 
 
I agree with this topic.

Holy shit, I'm in

Agreed my friend. 90s PC gaming was the greatest!
 
You forgot Planescape Torment though.

Planescape: Torment (1999)
Heroes of Might and Magic II (1996) 
The Curse of Monkey Island (1997)

Hope you didn't poop yourself writing so many words old man.

Third Strike was released in 1999.
Also: Red Alert 2

You forgot Starsiege: Tribes.

You also forgot Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1999), Rayman 2: The Great Escape (1999), Panzer Dragoon Saga (1998) which are all considered fantastic games.

 

How can anyone over the age of 20 disagree?

Oh, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)!

No Superman 64, this list is garbage.

Nope.

@warxsnake: Who is saying do it like Red Dead?

Cause I'd be pretty ok with someone doing it like Red Dead since there is all of like 4 good Western themed games out this generation.

@Galiant said:

Yeah, they were great. But I wouldn't play any of those games today.

Played Symphony of the Night a couple months ago. It holds perfectly fine today. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Fallout, Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate too. Sprites age much better than 3D.

Well duh.

More like 1994+ are the golden age. 1994 was an epic year for gaming if not the best year in the history of gaming.

Why have I the feeling that you're forgetting a lot of terrible games? Like everybody else always does, including myself?

Trying to establish a Golden Age for a medium this early in its life is a fucking fool's errand.

Good times. I wish content had evolved with the same speed as technology.

@IceOrb: Red dead redemption was an open world game that introduced true random encounters, among other things. You have new open world games that are using that as their basis now, Prey 2 for example.

Trying to establish a Golden Age for a medium this early in its life is a fucking fool's errand.

I would say the late 00's have better games than this list.

@LordXavierBritish said:

Trying to establish a Golden Age for a medium this early in its life is a fucking fool's errand.

This. Games also age incredibly quickly (and poorly), so it's nigh impossible to go back and compare the quality of games from different eras. I tried playing RE2 recently and that game is fucking awful by today's standards.

@damswedon said:

Your definition of late 90's also includes my definition of mid nighties.

Early 91-3 Mid 94-97 Late 98-2000

Pretty sure 1990 was in the nineties, dude.

Retronautical, man.

Edit: I played a bunch of these games. But as many people have pointed out, it's hard to make a golden age when games age so poorly. I'm sure a lot of people would like to point out all the great games that came out before the 90's and tell you you're wrong.

Nah, 2007 was.

Pretty sure 1990 was in the nineties, dude.

@Jimbo said:

@damswedon said:

Your definition of late 90's also includes my definition of mid nighties.

Early 91-3 Mid 94-97 Late 98-2000

Pretty sure 1990 was in the nineties, dude.

There is no year 0 on the Gregorian calender so the first decade was years 1 to 10. 1990 was the last year of the 1980's.

@Loose said:

@LordXavierBritish said:

Trying to establish a Golden Age for a medium this early in its life is a fucking fool's errand.

This. Games also age incredibly quickly (and poorly), so it's nigh impossible to go back and compare the quality of games from different eras. I tried playing RE2 recently and that game is fucking awful by today's standards.

D: take that back!!!!!!!

@JoeyRavn said:

@Galiant said:

Yeah, they were great. But I wouldn't play any of those games today.

Played Symphony of the Night a couple months ago. It holds perfectly fine today. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Fallout, Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate too. Sprites age much better than 3D.

It's nothing to do with graphics for me, really. I tried playing the old Fallout games recently, it feels like a chore, even if I'm interested in the story and everything it just feels too old. We've come a long way with things like UI, inventory management and general player control/feedback.

The only reason games were good in the 90s was that's when mainstream America got a genuine taste of Japanese Drama where they kill off main characters and there are seldom happy endings. It blew people's minds.

There is no year 0 on the Gregorian calender so the first decade was years 1 to 10. 1990 was the last year of the 1980's.

While these were all certainly awesome games, I don't really think gaming can ever have a true "golden age" (or at least, not yet) simply due to the fact that it is a medium so closely tied to it's technology. Like some other people have said here, those games were amazing at the time and certainly hold high places in video game history but unlike film and literature which, for the most part, remains consistent in the manner in which it is to be ingested and how it is to be considered, very few of those games hold up today (while old films and books do for the most part).

Don't get me wrong either. I love old games. I even do a podcast about them. I just think a lot of those experiences when played today aren't nearly what they were at the time of their release.