Well, it only took me *looks at watch* five months to finish up this piece. I mean, there are reasons: finishing school, applying for a new job, and, at times, general laziness.I'm not perfect, give me a break. But here they are, my favorite game from each year of my life, Super Rad 90s Edition!
Old adventure games loved to trick you into fail-states, which were points in the game that would result in you being unable to proceed further because of things you did or didn't do prior to that point. These games required a ton of trial and error, and I eventually got to the point that I had memorized the game and could beat it in one sitting.
I remember the game having a pretty interesting hint book. There were tons of questions relating to crucial points in the game, but the answers were blocked out and required a special decoder device to see them. I assume that was used as a form of copy protection. King's Quest V is also famous for all the ridiculous ways you could get King Graham killed.
1991 - Super Mario World
I don't feel the need to go into great detail here, because I've already expressed my many wonderful thoughts on Super Mario World, and I've written about it so much that it would be hard for me to say anything without repeating sentiments from previous articles.
If you want my full, in-depth thoughts on this masterpiece, you can read those here.
1992 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
In 2019, we often complain if a $15 downloadable game only gives us 3-5 hours of gameplay. I'm just as guilty as the next guy. Most games in the 80s and 90s could be completed in a handful of hours or less, but what if I told you that one of the best games on the Super Nintendo could be completed in less than 30 minutes? That's the case with Turtles in Time. It's a tightly-packed game with graphics that still look great today, combat that's easy to learn, it's jam-packed full of characters from the original cartoon, and has great level variety.
Far superior to its original arcade version, Turtles in Time on the Super Nintendo stands as a testament to Konami's legacy as one of the premier game developers from the childhoods of anyone in their 30s and 40s today.
1993 - Zombies Ate My Neighbors
ZAMN is a very tough game--one that I'll likely never beat it without the use of save-states--and that may be the game's only real flaw. Plenty of games are difficult, but ZAMN remains difficult because of a poorly implemented password system. You're given a password every four levels, which sounds more than fair, the only problem being that you start the level with the bare minimum in terms of weaponry, and beating later levels relies heavily on ammo conservation in previous levels.
Speaking of weaponry, that's another very endearing aspect for me. I loved that things like water guns, silverware (effective against werewolves), weed eaters (effective against plant enemies), tomatoes, and many other everyday items could be used as weapons.
ZAMN is a special game to me, and remains one of my favorite games of all-time. Many a weekend evening was spent playing and replaying Zombies Ate My Neighbors with a friend.
1994 - Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball
While Mega Man X and Super Metroid (and probably several other games released that year) are all-time classics and my personal favorites for both franchises, I can't begin to tell you how much time I spent playing Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball, which is how we referred to it. To this day, I can't think of a sports game that I think is better. It's the perfect blend of simulation and arcade sports, and I would be willing to bet that this is the game that I've put the most time into in my entire gaming life.
There were but two flaws that I can point out. One is that Nintendo was able to secure the MLB license but not the license for the MLB Players Association, so players were given fake names (outside of the game's titular star). This actually wasn't that bad to me, as the game gave you the ability to edit player names. I was obsessed with baseball at this age and prided myself on how many players I was able to change to the correct names by memory.
The game didn't keep track of stats aside from batting average, home runs, and RBIs for batters, and wins, losses, saves, and ERA for pitchers. Whenever I would start a new season, I would take several sheets of notebook paper, write my team's players on each one, and keep track of each stat. One page for doubles, one page for stolen bases, etc. The second major flaw came in the form of a well-known glitch. After you pass the All-Star Game in your season, player stats would be reset back to all zeroes. I'm not certain if this glitch happened every time, but it definitely happened to me on more than one occasion. This was heartbreaking for me, because Roberto Kelly had 34 home runs at the All-Star Break and was gunning for Roger Maris's single season home run record.
1995 - Chrono Trigger
I played Chrono Trigger for the first time in 2010, and while I definitely enjoyed it, I didn't finish it and missed out on a lot of the game's best content. Last year, myself, alongside my lovely wife and my podcast co-host Luke Roberts decided to do a retrospective episode of the legendary game, and I came away from it this time recognizing its greatness and it instantly became one of my favorite Super Nintendo games. I don't know what switch flipped in the eight years between my playthroughs, but I'm glad it did. There aren't many games that I would tell people is required playing in their lifetime, but Chrono Trigger is one of them.
I don't know what I can say about Chrono Trigger that hasn't already been said by a thousand different people outside of the fact that it's a game that is incredible moment followed by incredible moment. The pacing is so well done that you never need to grind unless you simply want to see what type of attacks you can unlock. The combat and tech systems remain fresh 25 years later. To me, Super Nintendo graphics are timeless, which is why, even this long after release, moments like the battle with Magus remain epic in scale.
1996 - Twisted Metal II
Due to the success of these games, many people like to discuss what other games of the era would be good candidates for an updated version. To me, there is only one answer: Twisted Metal. I would pay a full $60 for a Twisted Metal remastered collection. In fact, I don't even need the collection. Just remaster Twisted Metal II and Twisted Metal Black, maybe with online multiplayer thrown in.
Twisted Metal II is a game that my wife and I often wax nostalgic about. Can you imagine blowing up the Eiffel Tower or Statue of Liberty in stunning 4K?
Each stage was its own character with unique secrets to find and music that fit perfectly. People who played Twisted Metal II as much as I did likely remember where to find the best weapons and the strategies they used to win in each level. Everyone had their favorite characters, mine being Hammerhead, which was a monster truck that I often used to push opposing players off of cliffs for easy kills.
Twisted Metal may not have been the first car combat series, but it certainly popularized it, and then perfected it with this sequel. Twisted Metal II remains the pinnacle of the genre (though I can't stress enough how much I love Twisted Metal Black), and it's a shame that the PS3 version was unable to revive the series.
Anyway, Sony, remaster Twisted Metal, please.
1997 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
The "metroidvania" genre is my favorite type of game, and Symphony of the Night is the reason. Don't misunderstand me, I love Super Metroid just as much as the next person, but SotN is the be-all and end-all of the genre for me. It will never be surpassed. I fell in love with Castlevania at a young age because of my love for the Universal monsters that I watched in Monster Squad. That may be the reason I prefer it over its sci-fi counterpart. I love the monster motif more than the Alien inspiration.
When the worst thing that you can say about the game is that the minimal voice acting is hilariously cheesy, yet has become endearing in the twenty-two years since release, you know you've got something really special.
If you would like more in-depth thoughts on Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, you can find those here.
1998 - Metal Gear Solid
A friend had received the Japanese demo of Metal Gear Solid. It still didn't have English voice over, and it only featured the dock and helipad sections, literally the first two areas of the game. We must have played that demo 20 times. I was amazed by the kind of freedom you had to tackle each area as you saw fit. I was flabbergasted that the game gave you the ability to knock on walls to lure enemies toward you. It was hilarious that you could hide in a cardboard box. The way the camera would pan when you leaned against the walls, enemies noticing and tracking your footsteps in the snow, sneaking past armed guards, I had never experienced that kind of freedom in a video game before. I could play the game how I wanted to. That demo alone sold me on Metal Gear Solid.
I did extra chores around the house for weeks to convince my mom to buy the game for me on release day. She held up her end of the bargain, and I became completely enamored. I have vivid memories of so many parts of the game. I remember reaching the electrified floor in level B2 before I turned it off that first night. I remember being at my friend Neil's house wracking our brains trying to figure out how to defeat Psycho Mantis. I remember trying everything I could think of to kill Sniper Wolf without having to trek back to get the sniper rifle (I didn't want to go back through the wolf cave because it was dark and scared me).
The tale of espionage and government conspiracy had me on the edge of my seat, and the way they built up the climactic fight with Metal Gear Rex was superb. The fist fight with Liquid atop the defeated walking tank and ensuing chase sequence was the perfect finale to cap off an epic adventure.
1999 - Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
I've loved the Resident Evil series from the very beginning, and while Resident Evil 3 may not be the most well-regarded entry in the series, it's a personal favorite of mine, but I would be lying if I said that it being my favorite game of 1999 didn't have something to do with how few games I played at that time. It's well-known that RE3 was quickly developed as a stop-gap between RE2 and what was supposed to be the next true sequel: Resident Evil Code Veronica. Despite this, Capcom took efforts to try and make RE3 different from its predecessors like giving you the ability to create ammo and a rudimentary "choose your own adventure" system. Your choices didn't have an effect on the game other than what was happening at that particular moment, but I appreciate the effort.
The two things that RE3 got right was finally giving fans the ability to explore Raccoon City aside from the beginning moments of RE2, and the introduction of Nemesis, who has become a legend among Resident Evil fans. With how successful the remake of Resident Evil 2 was earlier this year, rumors have begun circulating that Capcom may explore remaking RE3. If there were any game in the franchise that deserved a second chance, I believe it's this one.
Thanks for reading. Be on the lookout for writing more frequently. As I mentioned at the start of this article, I finished college and got myself a big boy job, which means I've finishing the thing that was taking up a great majority of my writing time. Stay cool, bros.
-TheDustinThomas
