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My Top 25 (+20) Games of the 5th Generation

The 5th gen was a weird one. It was a highly transitional era, pretty mind-blowing at the time, but the vast majority of the games from back then have aged incredibly poorly. So nostalgia winds up counting for a lot more here than it does in my other lists.

Here are my favorite 25 games in ranked order, with some runner-ups listed alphabetically.

Eligibility: Released on PS1, N64, Sega Saturn or Game Boy Color. Released on PC/Arcade during 1996-1999 in the US.

Noticeably missing because I haven't played them (much): FF Tactics, Baldur's Gate, Homeworld, Metal Gear Ghost Babel, the Resident Evil games.

List items

1. Half-Life

On the single-player side, this revolutionized first-person shooters and set the standard for what we expect today.
On the multiplayer side, Valve fostered the best damn mod community that has existed before or since. Half-Life was practically a platform unto itself.
Counter-strike was the biggest hit of course (and that would probably be my real #1 if I was counting it as its own game). But a lot of other mods were great too. I loved Team Fortress Classic, Day of Defeat, Action Half-Life, Wasteland Half-Life, even the vanilla deathmatch could be fun on certain maps. It seemed like every week I'd learn about some cool new mod that I'd want to check out. Good times.
2. Super Mario 64
3. Quake II

Quake 2 is probably not a great game, but I was damn near obsessed with it. It was my first introduction to online multiplayer, I'd play on a 56k modem with a ping between 100 and 400 and I loved it. Before Half-Life I was way, way into the Quake 2 mod scene, constantly checking Planet Quake to find new shit to play. Threewave CTF was mind-blowing at the time, Rocket Arena was great. There were a lot of other neat mods like Jailbreak, Catch the Chicken (yes really), Headhunters, Blast Chamber, etc, that never really got a large player base but the Internet was new to me and it was more about the joy of discovery.
The single-player was not too shabby either. I loved the tone of the story, I'd watch that intro cinematic over and over again... As a moody teen it was right up my alley.
4. Super Smash Bros.

I had a crew of people that would be playing this constantly, it was amazingly fun. It seems that Melee has become the overall fan favorite, but the original always felt better to me.
5. Metal Gear Solid
6. Fallout

I played Fallout 1 & 2 back-to-back (never finished 2), lets say they share a slot here.
7. Planescape: Torment

The best story in video games.
8. Starsiege: Tribes

Tribes was an incredibly innovative and influential multiplayer game that, sadly, has largely been forgotten today. It was the first FPS with wide open terrain and vehicles, and everyone had a fucking jetpack. The main focus was on CTF, but a big dueling culture emerged too. Nailing someone with a disc while you were both in midair was incredibly satisfying. There were lots of different options for your armor type, weapons, special equipment like mines, etc... We'd spend a ton of time experimenting with different loadouts and we didn't even have to unlock any of it! Imagine that!
The 2012 F2P reboot only lasted for a few months, and the recent kickstarted spiritual successor never even broke 800 concurrent players. This style of gameplay is probably gone for good, but it was a hell of a thing to experience.
9. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

My head knows that OOT is the better game...
10. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

... but my heart belongs to Majora's Mask.
11. Quake III Arena
12. Star Fox 64
13. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
14. Command & Conquer: Red Alert
15. Xenogears
16. Myth: The Fallen Lords

Myth I and II share a slot here. I love the story, atmosphere and lore of these games.
17. The Curse of Monkey Island
18. SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle

A very realistic FPS where you'd command your squad-mates in realtime. Rainbow Six was much more popular, but it never grabbed me the way SWAT 3 did.
19. StarCraft
20. Mario Kart 64
21. Worms 2

Worms 2 and Worms Armageddon share a slot here.
22. Thief: The Dark Project
23. Final Fantasy VII
24. GoldenEye 007
25. PaRappa the Rapper
26. Baku Baku

The games below are unranked, in alphabetical order.
27. Colony Wars
28. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
29. Diablo

The sequels are better loot games, but the original had this incredibly sinister, oppressive atmosphere that I loved. The drums from the main dungeon music are so good.
30. Donkey Kong 64

Not a great game, but I played it a whole lot and I like the DK Rap.
31. Driver
32. Duke Nukem 3D
33. F-Zero X
34. Mario Tennis
35. NFL Blitz
36. NiGHTS into Dreams...
37. One

"One man. One solution. One state of mind."
Not a whole lot to this, just a short satisfying action game.
38. Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei

I think this is the game that convinced me to buy a Sega Saturn. Which was kind of unfortunate, but still, great game.
39. Quake

I never got to play the multiplayer, but I like the single player for what it is.
40. Silent Hill
41. Suikoden II
42. Unreal Tournament

I appreciate the wide variety of content that Epic put into this, but Quake 3 was always the jam for me. It just felt better.
43. Wario Land 3
44. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
45. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons