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Gaming Vintage: What Were The Best Years?
June 27th 2002, 18:20 CEST by Fallon Every year some game gets enough Game of the Year awards in magazines, giving the publishers an excuse to repackage, re-release, add an extra mod (and a tacky badge). But this annual random "best" game is rarely representative of a generally good gaming year. What, in your probably-not-humble opinion, has all round been the best year for PC gaming, and what were the games that made it so? |
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Topic: Gaming Vintage: What Were The Best Years?
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Altered Beast, Marble Madness and Stunt Car Racer on the Amiga blew my mind when I saw them. I couldn't believe the graphics and the sound. It made my PC speaker/CGA setup look like shit. "Good health" is merely the slowest rate at which one can die.
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Shadow of the Beast on the Amiga was the shiznit. "Conductor Fist says the next stop is your face! Choo! Choo!"
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Shadow of the Beast looked better than most games that came out 5 years later. Its a shame that it was such a horrible game though. The controls (or lack thereof) still give me nightmares. On the other hand, Cinemaware made some great looking games that were actually fun to play. Defender of the Crown, Wings, etc. Here's hoping their return to the industry is a success! Smashing!
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Sloppy Topics: What Is The Best Question To Ask Without Any Context What So Ever? For me, "now" is always the "best" time. "You go to HELL! You go to HELL and you DIE!!"
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Best year for gaming is 2004. That's when we'll see: Longsword Sniper 2 Wheel of Time 2: More Fairyball Shootin' Duke Nukem, starring in "Forever Still Ain't Ready But Here's Some More Mindshare Shovelware" Smashing!
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Shit. I completely forgot about Cinemaware. Maybe it's because I hated them for slapping Amiga screenshots on the back of EGA and CGA versions of their PC ports. Bastards. And curse the local software store for always having the demo Amiga machine running a loop of their titles. With sound. Bastards. Only YOU can stop the Interplanetary Spread of Jet-Propelled NAZI FACISM! I'm fighting terrorism by playing violent video games!
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Some of the Amiga Cinemaware games were fun (Wings, Lords of the Rising Sun, Rocket Ranger) but some blew (Sinbad). I think Defender of the Crown belongs firmly in the crap column and I don't see how anyone can have fond memories of it. sigh...god, I miss my Amiga 2000 there is no emoticon for my spite
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Heretic!! /me catapults hangedmanAG at castle wall "Conductor Fist says the next stop is your face! Choo! Choo!"
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C'mon, DOC was a big box of inuit crap. Lords of the Rising Sun owned it in every way. Even the princess was cuter. there is no emoticon for my spite
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1989. Why? 16-bit consoles arrived in America. That began my 5-year long fanzine career. Those consoles are still my favorites of all time. -Ed i need assertion devils inside my eye won't let up any motion
i need a surgeon devils inside won't cut me any slack |
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I liked Defender of the Crown. Joustin', Siegin', Warrin'. Hoorah! I can still remember the DOTC theme song and I haven't played it since...damn quite a long time ago (played Amiga version on my A500). Smashing!
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The year Prince of Persia came out. Recognize the weighty presence of a two-tonne ego.
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Lords of the Rising Sun was better, but I still loved DotC. "Conductor Fist says the next stop is your face! Choo! Choo!"
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The Quake1/Quake2 era. That was the best time for me ... so far anyway. I never had so much fun making maps and taking part in the community as I did back then. And for those mentioning consoles ... the topic specifically says "PC gaming". gg! "It's pretty common for pussies, dumbasses, and their families to blame their problems on vague influences like the media and society. The truth is, fuck you."
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The influnce of rotund Italian plumbers crosses all boundries - including console and PC! Okey Dokey! I'm fighting terrorism by playing violent video games!
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Well, the topic is WRONG! Smashing!
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Marble Madness on the Amiga sucked for me. I was an Ace on the Arcade version but I could never get the timing down for the Amiga version. Plus the graphics weren't quite the same.l |
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Bob, EvilDolemite is right -- I have both Crusader: No Remorse and Crusader: No Regret (sadly I cannot play either now thanks to the evil voodoo Origin used to insure neither game would work under any flavor of Windows). I want a modern sequel. It doesn't need to have the latest bells 'n whistles, just look good and play the same as the others. It was a fun little universe to romp in. What's that blue thing doing here?
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I think my favorite year was probably '83-84. Archon, M.U.L.E., Seven Cities of Gold, Epyx games, Inforcom games, Ultima, Microprose (wasn't Pirates around then?)... It was a great time to be young and have a Commodore 64. there is no emoticon for my spite
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No way man, Pirates! was like 87 or 88. Entirely different era. Seven Cities of Gold is the bomb, yo. Smashing!
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Now that I think of it, Pirates was indeed much later. Great game. I wish Pirates Gold hadn't sucked. I'm still sticking with '83-84 there is no emoticon for my spite
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Ultima II, The Bard's Tale, MULE, Questron. Ah, the 80's... "Conductor Fist says the next stop is your face! Choo! Choo!"
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What a friggin' decade for games. Looking back it was all good...even the bad stuff. there is no emoticon for my spite
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I liked Dig-Dug. The incredible insights you've given on many topics have brightened all of our lives and touched us in ways we can never fully describe.
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Looking back, Dig-Dug was the sickest and most disturbing game ever. there is no emoticon for my spite
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X-Wing Alliance wasn't that bad. Not better than TieFighter, certainly. But no worse than the others in the series. And I kind of liked StarWars Starfighter... it felt a lot more like TieFighter with those oversized bounding boxes. It was fun on a stick if you didn't ask too much of it. The best way to create an award winning game is to write the acceptance speech first.
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The scary part is how Dig-Dug started an actual inflation fetish. Recognize the weighty presence of a two-tonne ego.
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Bailey[/b} I know! The first time I saw an inflation site I thought, "Dig Dug"! Now, I've got to figure out what problems "Kangaroo" caused. there is no emoticon for my spite
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Sorry 'bout the mis-bolding, everyone. there is no emoticon for my spite
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Things I Learned From Playing Video Games! (Author unknown) You can overcome most adversaries simply by having enough quarters. Money is frequently found lying around on the streets. Bad guys always leave weapons and other goodies lying around so their enemy can pick them up and defeat them with them. Piloting any vehicle or operating any high-tech weapon is simple and requires no training. One good guy can defeat an infinite number of bad guys. Many things you need can be found hidden inside other things. If you see food lying on the ground, you should eat it. You can smash things and get away with it, and it doesn't hurt. If you find something lying on the ground, you should always pick it up. Whenever huge fat evil men are about to die, they begin flashing red or yellow. Shooting innocents is detrimental to your health. Ninjas are common in most cities, and frequently fight in public. Bad guys always move around in predictable patterns. All female martial artists wear revealing clothes and have great bodies. Gang members all look the same, and often have the same names. When racing, don't worry if your vehicle crashes and explodes. A new one will appear in its place. You can knock other vehicles off the road and get away with it. If someone dies, they disappear into thin air. When you are born, you drop out of the sky and are completely invincible for a very short time. DOOMED! - Videogames Turn Deadly.
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Excellent list, Hulka. Ages ago I wrote an article called "Everything I Needed To Know I Learned From FPS's". I asked people to write in with their own and we got some really awesome ones (which were posted in the follow-up article). Some of the one's the readers came up with had me howling at my desk. "I don't get mad. I get stabby."
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Hulka I saw a list like that at one time, only it was oriented towards video game villains and what they do wrong. The single best line was something like: - if they would simply uninstall one of the many lifts in their fortress, they'd be safe from you for all eternity. "It's pretty common for pussies, dumbasses, and their families to blame their problems on vague influences like the media and society. The truth is, fuck you."
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Interesting point Warren brought up; the topic does specify "PC gaming," but of course that's ridiculous. When I think "gaming," I don't think PC or console firstly. I think about board games and card games and pencil and paper. Of course the PC (and to a lesser extent, consoles) have brought huge advances to the life of the gamer (and will of course bring more in the future), but it will be a long, long time coming before any computer game is going to bring me any "golden" times, as some of the experiences I've had with a group of like-minded friends have been. And, no, Bailey, not in the back rooms of comic stores; for me, all of it was always best in a dark basement, with darker beer. Anyway. Stuff isn't there yet, but it's close; with all the yah-yah about NWN that's been going around lately, I guess it must really touch upon that face-to-face ideal that is the core of gaming. For me, anyway; yes, single-player "games" are wildly entertaining experiences, but, largely passionless. I expect this to change. "You go to HELL! You go to HELL and you DIE!!"
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"When a dude stands around and does nothing, whack him on the head with something to see if he's on your team." – SolidSnake hehehe The incredible insights you've given on many topics have brightened all of our lives and touched us in ways we can never fully describe.
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Actually I don't think NWN, even in multiplayer with a hman DM, comes anywhere close to being like face-to-face gaming. Its still just a computer RPG with D&D like rules. Its just a very good one. ... What I've learned from gaming is that the KEY is the the CRATE. The KEY will open the door. The door seems to be made out of standard WOOD or in some cases even basic STEEL. It is not, however, standard WOOD or STEEL, it is the kind that can't be broken through with a ROCKET LAUNCHER or even a personal NUKE. You must have the KEY! Smashing!
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I think you'll find that most peoples' favorite time is the 1st 3-4 years they actually got into gaming. That's the time you really become a fan, so you have fond memories of it. |
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True, George. So true. Smashing!
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I couldn't sit idly by while hearing talk of some of the classics. I said in post #1 (first post bitches!) that 2002 is the best year for games until 2003 and I meant it. Games, in general, keep getting better. Production values keep going up, and there's nothing stopping you in 2002 from playing the 1984 classics. Where as, in 1984, you couldn't play Half Life. Ya Dig? Anyhow, ya - Defender of the Crown sucked ass. A good friend of mine loved it and I finally just formatted the disk so we couldn't play it anymore. Hated that game. Hated Colonial Conquest as well (if any of you old c64 people can remember that). Fortunately that game just sort of ate itself so nothing drastic was needed to make it not play. All the old strategy games bored me to tears. Except Seven Cities of Gold. mmmmmm Shadow of the Beast for the Amiga had the best damn graphics evar. Archon... M.U.L.E... Mail Order Monsters... such classics all around. Like jafd said though, the best *gaming* times I've had have very little to do with the computer though. Except the first month of Everquest. That was something else. But mostly the best gaming I've experienced was in the basement of the games store, playing T1 Magic tournaments, while Ernie Gygax (Gary's son) ran D&D campaigns in the background. One of the perks of where I live (8 or so miles from Lake Geneva, home of TSR hobbies) is that if you were into this sort of thing, there were places to go, and people of a like mind near. Now I'm just rambling. Research has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory rats.
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I can't agree that games are always getting better. Yes the production values are going up, but that's only a small part of it. On the other hand, I don't agree with the view that only older games are good and all the new games suck and are just unfun remakes with fancy graphics. There's good and bad games coming out all the time; once in a while a great one comes along... But if *I* (your view may vary) were stranded on a desert island and could only have a handful of games to take with me not a single one of them would be from this year... or last year for that matter... even if we say for the sake of argument that the island has high speed internet to the rest of the world, but had a magic warez filter to stop me from downloading anything else. Smashing!
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Dunno the years, but Flashback (old skool, first game to use 24 FPS motion capture), Half-Life, Dungeon Keeper, Super Mario Brothers, Doom, Outcast, FFVII, Total Annihilation. Games these days just don't have the impact on me that those games did. |
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I dunno man but this year is shaping up to be pretty stellar. Medal of Honor, Freedom Force, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights.... what other titles are around the bend? Warcraft 3, Unreal Tournament 2, Unreal 2, Asheron's Call 2 (if you like such things), hell, I'm sure there is a bunch that I am missing. Stellar lineup indeed.... and that's just for the PC!!!!!!!! |
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I think you'll find that most peoples' favorite time is the 1st 3-4 years they actually got into gaming. That's the time you really become a fan, so you have fond memories of it. Very true, I remember 1992 (first PC) - 1996 as a period I really enjoyed games. |
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Hmmm... every game I listed besided Freedom Force is a sequel of some kind. Freedom Force goty then! |
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bah, MMORPG's aren't fun unless you can steal... Levelling Schmevelling, Running a mafia that won't get you thrown in jail... now THAT's fun. iamelectro
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Whatever year Panzer Dragoon Zwei was released is the best. =P |
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ZANZARAH. "My Idol is John Carmack and I just want to be a programmer like he is. So I just think that Hentai in 3D could be a great pleasure..."
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SUCKS. So there.
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My best years of games have nothing to do with the games themselves... It's the people, always the people. What made the stupid Kangaroo game on the Atari so much fun? Playing with my family. What made Contra on the NES so much fun? Playing with my Dad and brothers. What made quake1 the game I fell in love with? Playing it mp on the LAN we had at work. What made Action Quake2 so amazing? The people I played with at MS. What made UO great back in the day? The friend I played with every free minute we had. What made Starcraft, Age of Empires, Counter-Strike, etc, etc, etc, etc... The people I played with. This may not apply to everyone, but I'll have more times I look back on...because playing with other people I appreciate is the best experience, no matter the game. What made the SOF2 demo so much fun, the people. That simple, always applies. Gaming for me is about the people. Sure, I play single player games, I obsess over such and such game until I beat it or grow tired of it, but no SP game has ever compared to playing DM, CTF, or CS with people I like being around. Virtually or no, people make games fun for me. So my best years are behind me and in front of me. I've played with people I'll never play with again, but I'll go play D&D with people tomorrow, that make the game good for me... Someday I'll look back on these current D&D sessions and think what a great time I had because of the people I played with. "You're asking for humans to be considerate and think of others, Caryn. Don't you know that's reaching a little far?" - Bailey
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How would one play this Zanzarah game? I believe I can fly......urk.
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One of my fondest memories was playing Mortal Kombat on the SNES with my little brother. He's ten years younger than me and I was about 19 or 20, I think. He would beat me every time on the game, so I went and got a detailed strategy guide and memorized a bunch of moves on a few of the characters and would sneak some practice time in when he was out playing. I would make excused not to play him for a few days so I could practice up. Then one day we sat down for one of our usual sessions and I beat the pants off him several games in a row. He threw down the controller and insisted that the SNES was somehow cheating so I could win. :) "Deathmatch rules, nobody plays coop, and people who play single player are regarded as a little strange. Just like real life." – submitted by astute reader Mark
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