Iridescence
Emancipated Wind Fish
- Joined
- May 11, 2014
- Location
- United States
Hello, my friends. This is a new series of discussions I'm going to start off. Where each of us vote for a game of the year for every year. We're going to start with the retro era, right when game consoles started to shine up to the 3D era. 1985 to 1995.
Some things I tried to keep in mind with my choices. Japanese releases count. I try to encourage variety where ever I can, because I don't want to see Mario and Zelda in every year. For example, in 1993, I loved both Link's Awakening and Doom but (despite being a Zelda fan) I gave it to Doom because it innovated more.
1985 - Super Mario Bros
Runner Ups: Gauntlet, Gradius
Super Mario revived the gaming industry after the market crash. It invented the platforming genre, was full of color, diverse enemies, boss fights, some light puzzle elements. Well varied overall. Plenty of shortcuts and secrets gave the game depth, as well. Gauntlet and Gradius were other good games that year.
1986 - Legend of Zelda
Runner Ups: Castlevania, Metroid (grandfathers of the sidescroller genre)
Zelda invented the adventure genre, open world, dungeons, puzzles, most of the tropes from the Zelda series and save states by itself. All of these things were unprecedented in gaming. There's so much to explore and discover here.
1987 - Punch-Out!!
Runner Ups: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (was a good sizable adventure for its time)
Punch-Out!! was great. Cool story, Nintendo bought Mike Tyson's likeness just before the fight that made him champion. It was hard as nails, but also the first game to portray a sport like this, and do so well. The controls were simple but it was a meticulous game.
1988 - Mega Man 2
Runner Ups: Super Mario Bros. 3
This one was a coin toss. I know Mario is the more popular choice, but I enjoyed Mega Man 2 much more.
1989 - Tetris
Runner Ups: Super Mario Land, Sim City
Released for the Gameboy, this defining spatial puzzle game was now available on the go, definitely making a big case for portable gaming. Not a very eventful year, so I had to give it to a remake.
1990 - Super Mario World
Runner Ups: F-Zero, Final Fantasy III, Mega Man 3
Mario has a way of reinventing himself with each iteration. In this game, there's a sense of color and atmosphere Mario never had before, amongst new art and totally new enemies, and a variety of levels. With action, some puzzles and a number of hidden secrets. And Yoshi.
1991 - A Link to the Past
Runner Ups: Sonic the Hedgehog (totally changed the look, feel and atmosphere of platforming)
This iteration of Zelda took the principles of the original and expanded it in every way possible. A seamless overworld interwoven into a strong narrative, with plenty of exciting combats, a wide variety of items and creative puzzles. ALTTP was as perfect of a game as it ever could've been on release.
1992 - Sonic the Hedgehog II
Runner Ups: Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Kart, Wolfenstein 3D
Sonic 2 was a big improvement over the first one, featuring a variety of different locations, plenty of new platforming elements, Tails and a creative debug mode. Definitely one of my favorites in the Sonic series.
1993 - Doom
Runner Ups: Link's Awakening, Myst, Secrets of Mana
Doom practically invented the first person shooter in 3D, with fast-paced action, eerie but personality filled environments based on metal music and other hobbies the practically-indie college kids who worked on it had. It's rare to see shooters today that are as expressive.
1994 - Super Metroid
Runner Ups: Donkey Kong Country, System Shock, Earthbound
The original Metroid was a classic in a loose sense of the word, but this game really added personality to it. It kept its side-scrolling action elements, but it actually felt like a full adventure rather than a pure abstraction of pixels. It's maze-like depth added challenge and made it unique from many other games out there.
1995 - Donkey Kong Country 2
Runner Ups: Chrono Trigger, Yoshi's Island, Warcraft II, Rayman
The first DK Country game was great, but this one just blew the original out of the park. With Dixie and Diddy teamed up together, rescuing DK was an interesting twist on things. The rich, life-like (at the time) color and atmosphere was enhanced even further. There was a wide variety of different levels, including the fun mine cart levels, improved water levels, and the new concepts introduced by allowing animals to tag along with you.
So, a recap.
1985 - Super Mario Bros
1986 - Legend of Zelda
1987 - Punch-Out!!
1988 - Mega Man 2
1989 - Tetris
1990 - Super Mario World
1991 - A Link to the Past
1992 - Sonic the Hedgehog II
1993 - Doom
1994 - Super Metroid
1995 - Donkey Kong Country 2
Some things I tried to keep in mind with my choices. Japanese releases count. I try to encourage variety where ever I can, because I don't want to see Mario and Zelda in every year. For example, in 1993, I loved both Link's Awakening and Doom but (despite being a Zelda fan) I gave it to Doom because it innovated more.
1985 - Super Mario Bros
Runner Ups: Gauntlet, Gradius
Super Mario revived the gaming industry after the market crash. It invented the platforming genre, was full of color, diverse enemies, boss fights, some light puzzle elements. Well varied overall. Plenty of shortcuts and secrets gave the game depth, as well. Gauntlet and Gradius were other good games that year.
1986 - Legend of Zelda
Runner Ups: Castlevania, Metroid (grandfathers of the sidescroller genre)
Zelda invented the adventure genre, open world, dungeons, puzzles, most of the tropes from the Zelda series and save states by itself. All of these things were unprecedented in gaming. There's so much to explore and discover here.
1987 - Punch-Out!!
Runner Ups: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (was a good sizable adventure for its time)
Punch-Out!! was great. Cool story, Nintendo bought Mike Tyson's likeness just before the fight that made him champion. It was hard as nails, but also the first game to portray a sport like this, and do so well. The controls were simple but it was a meticulous game.
1988 - Mega Man 2
Runner Ups: Super Mario Bros. 3
This one was a coin toss. I know Mario is the more popular choice, but I enjoyed Mega Man 2 much more.
1989 - Tetris
Runner Ups: Super Mario Land, Sim City
Released for the Gameboy, this defining spatial puzzle game was now available on the go, definitely making a big case for portable gaming. Not a very eventful year, so I had to give it to a remake.
1990 - Super Mario World
Runner Ups: F-Zero, Final Fantasy III, Mega Man 3
Mario has a way of reinventing himself with each iteration. In this game, there's a sense of color and atmosphere Mario never had before, amongst new art and totally new enemies, and a variety of levels. With action, some puzzles and a number of hidden secrets. And Yoshi.
1991 - A Link to the Past
Runner Ups: Sonic the Hedgehog (totally changed the look, feel and atmosphere of platforming)
This iteration of Zelda took the principles of the original and expanded it in every way possible. A seamless overworld interwoven into a strong narrative, with plenty of exciting combats, a wide variety of items and creative puzzles. ALTTP was as perfect of a game as it ever could've been on release.
1992 - Sonic the Hedgehog II
Runner Ups: Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Kart, Wolfenstein 3D
Sonic 2 was a big improvement over the first one, featuring a variety of different locations, plenty of new platforming elements, Tails and a creative debug mode. Definitely one of my favorites in the Sonic series.
1993 - Doom
Runner Ups: Link's Awakening, Myst, Secrets of Mana
Doom practically invented the first person shooter in 3D, with fast-paced action, eerie but personality filled environments based on metal music and other hobbies the practically-indie college kids who worked on it had. It's rare to see shooters today that are as expressive.
1994 - Super Metroid
Runner Ups: Donkey Kong Country, System Shock, Earthbound
The original Metroid was a classic in a loose sense of the word, but this game really added personality to it. It kept its side-scrolling action elements, but it actually felt like a full adventure rather than a pure abstraction of pixels. It's maze-like depth added challenge and made it unique from many other games out there.
1995 - Donkey Kong Country 2
Runner Ups: Chrono Trigger, Yoshi's Island, Warcraft II, Rayman
The first DK Country game was great, but this one just blew the original out of the park. With Dixie and Diddy teamed up together, rescuing DK was an interesting twist on things. The rich, life-like (at the time) color and atmosphere was enhanced even further. There was a wide variety of different levels, including the fun mine cart levels, improved water levels, and the new concepts introduced by allowing animals to tag along with you.
So, a recap.
1985 - Super Mario Bros
1986 - Legend of Zelda
1987 - Punch-Out!!
1988 - Mega Man 2
1989 - Tetris
1990 - Super Mario World
1991 - A Link to the Past
1992 - Sonic the Hedgehog II
1993 - Doom
1994 - Super Metroid
1995 - Donkey Kong Country 2