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[MiguelItUp]

1997 by a landslide IMO...

2007 definitely the runner-up for me.

 

[Midnight Bliss]

Only 1997, both 2007 and 2017 feel dead

 

[ThatStupidLion]

very close for me,

but went '97 over '07

 

[killatopak]

2007. I was playing in the dirt in 1997.

 

[wondermega]

1987

Zelda II
Mega Man
Mike Tyson's Punch Out
Contra (Arcade) + Super Contra
Final Fantasy (Japan)
R-Type
Operation Wolf
Leisure Suit Larry
Street Fighter
Shinobi
1943
California Games
After Burner
Fucking Phantasy Star
Tecmo Bowl
Blades of Steel
Galaga '88 (I know, I know, it was December 87)
Little Computer People
Maniac Mansion
Metal Gear (Japan)
Police Quest
Rastan
Xenophobe

 

[nominedomine]

1997 and it's not even close.

 

[the_master]

So hard to chose between 1997 and 2007. Both great years. Not so good comparatively 2017 though

 

[Stephen Curry]

Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 were maybe the two most influential games for modern online multiplayer. I'd pick 2007 just off of those two.

 

[kunonabi]

My years roughly looked like:

1997

Mario Kart 64
Blast Corps
Mega Man 8
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Fighters Megamix
X-Wing vs Tie Fighter
Harvest Moon
Star Fox 64
Tetrisphere
Goldeneye 007
Breath of Fire III
Shock Troopers
Tomb Raider II
Bomberman 64
WCW vs nWo
Klonoa
Mega Man Legends
Doom64
Vampire Savior
Kof 97
Bloody Roar
Armored Core
Bushido Blade
Mischief Makers
Street Fighter III: NG and 2I
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
Tobal 2
The last blade
Pocket Fighter

2007

Hotel Dusk: Room 215
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Virtua Fighter 5
Tekken 5: DR
Super Paper Mario
Touch Detective 2 1/2
Super Mario Galaxy

2017
Danganronpa V3
Yakuza 0
Nioh
Senran Kagura: PBS
The Alliance Alive
Persona 5
Friday the 13th the Game
ARMS
Ever Oasis
Miitopia
Monster Hunter Stories
Culdcept Revolt
Layton's Mystery Journey
Etrian Odyssey V
Style Savvy: Styling Star

So yeah 97 all the way and it's not even close.

 

[StormCell]

I remember playing GTA 1 in 1997. The game was so great back then.
The GTA series was an integral part of my life since then.

I actually miss the more action driven destruction driven gameplay loop of GTA 1/2 over the more narrative driven recent GTA's. Even now playing GTA V I can't help but feel ripped off that causing tons of destruction doesn't somehow net me a ton of money. It's pretty lame that blowing stuff up is not an actual "goal" of these games.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

1997
Blast Corps
Blood
Carmageddon
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Colony Wars
Crash Bandicoot 2
Diablo
Diddy Kong Racing
Doom 64
Dungeon Keeper
Einhander
Fallout
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy VII
Goldeneye 007
Gran Turismo
Grand Theft Auto
MDK
Mega Man Legends
Mega Man X4
Mortal Kombat 4
Myth: The Fallen Lords
NFL GameDay 98
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
Quake II
Sid Meier's Gettysburg
Star Fox 64
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
The Curse of Monkey Island
Tomb Raider II
Total Annihilation
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

2007
Assassin's Creed
Bioshock
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Crackdown
Crysis
Dirt
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Europa Universalis III
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
Forza Motorsport 2
Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar
God of War II
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Half-Life 2: Episode 2
Halo 3
Mass Effect
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Pac-Man Championship Edition
Portal
Project Gotham Racing 4
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Rock Band
Skate
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Paper Mario
Supreme Commander
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
Team Fortress 2
The Darkness
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
The Lords of the Rings Online
The Witcher
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Unreal Tournament 3
Warhawk
World in Conflict
World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros Treasure

2017
Assassin's Creed Origins
Cuphead
Destiny 2
Dirt 4
Divinity: Original Sin II
Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
Fortnite
Forza Motorsport 7
Hellblade
Hollow Knight
Horizon Zero Dawn
Injustice 2
Lone Echo
Mario + Rabbis: Kingdom Battle
Metroid: Samus Returns
Nex Machina
NieR: Automata
Night in the Woods
Nioh
Opus Magnum
Persona 5
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Prey
Project CARS 2
Pyre
Resident Evil 7
Sonic Mania
South Park: The Fractured but Whole
Splatoon 2
Super Mario Odyssey
SteamWorld Dig 2
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Thimbleweed Park
Total War: Warhammer 2
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
What Remains of Edith Finch
Wipeout Omega Collection
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Where is Gravity Rush 2 in 2017???????

These games in black cursive are pointless .

No... Gravity rush 2, is a Masterpiece.

 

[Shane89]

2007, killzone 2. boom

 

[Dream-Knife]

This is actually a surprisingly hard one. Xenoblade 2 is my favorite single player game, but I've been playing Goldeneye for over 20 years. 2007 is an easy elimination for me, but I have yet to play Halo 3 campaign (I know...), and I view that gen as a dark age in gaming.

1997 highlights:
Goldeneye, Star Fox 64, Mario Kart 64, Blast Corps, Quake 2
2017 highlights:
Xenoblade 2, BOTW, Yakuza 0, Persona 5, Nier Automata

Really completely different types of games. I guess I'd have to give it to 1997 because those games are infinitely replayable. I have about 1000 hours in the 2017 games I listed, but have probably double that in Goldeneye alone.

 

[amigastar]

I actually miss the more action driven destruction driven gameplay loop of GTA 1/2 over the more narrative driven recent GTA's. Even now playing GTA V I can't help but feel ripped off that causing tons of destruction doesn't somehow net me a ton of money. It's pretty lame that blowing stuff up is not an actual "goal" of these games.

Yeah, i agree. I guess it would be even more controversial if the main goal was causing havoc.

 

[West Texas CEO]

1997 =

2007 =

2017 =

Nailed it, lol.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

2017 produced the greatest game of all time so...

 

[StormCell]

This is an easy one for me. I can count the games I'm still interested in playing and easily know which year comes out on top.

1997: 17 games

2017: 6 games

As excellent as Horizon Zero Dawn is and as much as BotW is the GOAT, 1997 has multiple titles with legacies stretching into the present as well. I simply cannot believe how many all-time great titles released in '97 and how diverse the content is. There was just so much variety back then. It makes me sad when I flip through the PS Store and don't see nearly as much variety.

 

[aygomyownroad]

Missing a few games for 1997. But 1997 and 2007 were both amazing (I had to pick 2007 for super Mario galaxy, rock band and guitar hero 3 alone!)

But 2017…. Trash year it really was

 

[TheGodfather07]

2007. the early HD era was pretty exciting and you had nintendo going a completely new direction with motion controls.

 

[CosmicComet]

1997 > 2017 >>> 2007

 

[IAmAnAgnostic]

Anyone choosing 2017 has a recency bias or hasn't actually played (or realized the influence of) the 2007 or 1997 games.

I chose 2007, but I can see the argument for either 1997 or 2007.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Nailed it, lol.

Not because 2017 we had Gravity Rush 2... So is a perfect 10.

 

[StormCell]

Anyone choosing 2017 has a recency bias or hasn't actually played (or realized the influence of) the 2007 or 1997 games.

I chose 2007, but I can see the argument for either 1997 or 2007.

I can see that. The problem for me is that 2007 was a major downturn for me or during the big downturn. EA was swallowing up companies left and right. Madden became the only football game in town. Competition among baseball titles was also drying up. The market, in general, was struggling with spiraling development costs and particularly the AA development studios were going under or being bought out by hungry publishers like EA. It's not a great time in gaming to me even with Nintendo finding new life via the DS and Wii as it marked a change in strategies that we see across the market and not just with Nintendo -- it's as though suddenly everything became about costs rather than pushing the boundaries of what we can do. Graphical fidelity went up but a lot of novelty evaporated.

1997 was just packed with lots of new experiences, new kinds of games, and everyone was still figuring out all the new stuff they could do with 3D. It's just a really fun time. Is it nostalgia? Yes, but for me those games are still a lot of fun today whereas a lot of new games today are not as fun or they require more learning before the fun can be discovered. It's like if you don't know what you're doing in a modern game you're not going to have fun until you figure it out first, sadly.

 

[Deerock71]

The one with Goldeneye.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Most the 2007 games aren't even THAT good. 1997 easily.

 

[Rockondevil]

07 had the most that fell within my tastes.

 

[NeoGiffer]

1997
2007
2017

Spoiler

 

[DukeNukem00]

It's like if you don't know what you're doing in a modern game you're not going to have fun until you figure it out first, sadly.

Interesting point of view and most likely as a console gamer. For pc gamers, going into the 2010's, the dumbing down and consolification of previous hardcore pc franchises was the number one lamentation. The last thing a pc gamer would have ever said about modern gaming is that its complex. Because what games were actually doing was taking older franchises and games and striping features from them and streamlining them.

 

[Cattlyst]

97 was peak teenage years for me. That list brings back so many memories. Definitely 1997!

 

[StormCell]

Interesting point of view and most likely as a console gamer. For pc gamers, going into the 2010's, the dumbing down and consolification of previous hardcore pc franchises was the number one lamentation. The last thing a pc gamer would have ever said about modern gaming is that its complex. Because what games were actually doing was taking older franchises and games and striping features from them and streamlining them.

I'm a long time PC player. I've been playing cRPGs as far back as the very early '90s. I was cutting my teeth on games like BattleTech and MegaTraveller. You will find with these games that they are not overly complicated to start but you will have to make notes on where you are going and what you need to be looking for in order to progress through the game (ie. there's no quest log, no list of quests to click on and open, no quest markers on a map, no fast travel option).

I don't like anything that begins in an overly complicated fashion. I don't even like customizing my character's appearance before starting a new game, especially if I don't know all the ramifications of my decisions before I make them. It's the same way with a game like Elden Ring when I start leveling up for the first time -- how the fug am I supposed to know which stats to boost without a little nudge to let me know how not to fug up my new character? And imagine leveling up 3 or 4 times and then being presented with a damn skill tree with separate distinct trees of skills all within the first hour and not having a clue WTH you should do?

I have modern game fatigue. Keep things simple to start out. Nothing is more basic than "Welcome to Morrowind. You need to find a sword. Oh look, there's a shield and a sword. Make your way to the village to the NW following this trail that connects with a road." At least with this, you are now playing and are freeing to figure shit out on your own at a pace of your choosing...

 

[TxKnight7]

2007

 

[JMarcell]

1998 was better than 1997 IMO:

Resident Evil 2
Half-Life
Zelda Ocarina of Time
Metal Gear Solid
Sonic Adventure
Baldur's Gate
Banjo-Kazooie
Panzer Dragoon Saga
StarCraft
Grim Fandango
Thief: The Dark Project
F-Zero X
Unreal
Xenogears
Street Fighter Alpha 3

 

[Evil Calvin]

How has Pyre not come to the Switch yet?

 

[StormCell]

1998 was better than 1997 IMO:

Resident Evil 2
Half-Life
Zelda Ocarina of Time
Metal Gear Solid
Sonic Adventure
Baldur's Gate
Banjo-Kazooie
Panzer Dragoon Saga
StarCraft
Grim Fandango
Thief: The Dark Project
F-Zero X
Unreal
Xenogears
Street Fighter Alpha 3

I feel like you could pick any year from the '90s over anything from 2010-2022.

 

[Kokoloko85]

97 Japan
98 West

My favourite game of all time followed by another top 10-15 of mine

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

2017 for me.

 

[Kokoloko85]

1998 was better than 1997 IMO:

Resident Evil 2
Half-Life
Zelda Ocarina of Time
Metal Gear Solid
Sonic Adventure
Baldur's Gate
Banjo-Kazooie
Panzer Dragoon Saga
StarCraft
Grim Fandango
Thief: The Dark Project
F-Zero X
Unreal
Xenogears
Street Fighter Alpha 3

Damn I forgot about Half life, Unreal and Thief. I lover Thief and Unreal i just messed around with for hours lol

 

[DukeNukem00]

I feel like you could pick any year from the '90s over anything from 2010-2022.

Kinda true, but PC gaming in 1998 stands alone in the entire history of gaming. Genres were forged or reinvented that year that we follow to this day. Half Life for example split the gaming world into games before HL and games after HL. Half Life-s dna is in everything from Resident Evil 4, to Uncharted to Call of Duty. Thief created the modern stealth genre that every stealth game or game with stealth elements to this very moment picked and used. Shadows, light, sound - the game nailed everything from the first try, while being the first - with no blueprint. Rainbow Six and Delta Force lays the foundation for the tactical genre. Unreal comes out and gives the unreal engine to the world - think about it, every single unreal engine game ever made, the entire market that exists today, its all thanks to this PC game from 1998. Steam and everything that encompases today, everything that it means for gaming today, comes from the PC game Half Life from 1998. Thats besides the worldwide gamedesign shift if produced with its sheer briliance as a game.

These are just four games that shaped and moved the entire industry and every platform, not just pc or just consoles - and they all came in 1998. You cant compare 2017 or whatever modern year with that.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Kinda true, but PC gaming in 1998 stands alone in the entire history of gaming. Genres were forged or reinvented that year that we follow to this day. Half Life for example split the gaming world into games before HL and games after HL. Half Life-s dna is in everything from Resident Evil 4, to Uncharted to Call of Duty. Thief created the modern stealth genre that every stealth game or game with stealth elements to this very moment picked and used. Shadows, light, sound - the game nailed everything from the first try, while being the first - with no blueprint. Rainbow Six and Delta Force lays the foundation for the tactical genre. Unreal comes out and gives the unreal engine to the world - think about it, every single unreal engine game ever made, the entire market that exists today, its all thanks to this PC game from 1998. Steam and everything that encompases today, everything that it means for gaming today, comes from the PC game Half Life from 1998. Thats besides the worldwide gamedesign shift if produced with its sheer briliance as a game.

These are just four games that shaped and moved the entire industry and every platform, not just pc or just consoles - and they all came in 1998. You cant compare 2017 or whatever modern year with that.

A forgotten one but that basically forged a ton of FPS multiplayer games afterwards, including the first Halo : Starsiege Tribes

That net code was witchcraft, could play 128 players without lag on a 56k.

PC’s 98, 99 and 00 was insane

99’ Quake 3, Unreal Tournament, Planescape torment, System shock 2, Homeworld, Alien vs Predator, EverQuest, Age of empire II, motherfucking Freespace 2 the king

00’ Deus ex, Baldur’s Gate II, Counter strike, Diablo II, Thief 2, Hitman, The longest journey.

Hanging on Mplayer to play Rainbow 6, or booting a game of longbow 2 coop. Playing Tribes all summer and coming back to school in September all green like from the CRT “sunshade”

Crazy good period for PC gaming