HF Retro Game of the Year - 1995 - Vote in the Poll!

[Shareefruck]

Looks like Chrono Trigger has ran away with this one.

Some notable 1994 releases:

• DOOM II
• Donkey Kong Country
• Earthworm Jim
• Final Fantasy VI
• Super Metroid
• Sonic and Nuckles
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3
• The Elder Scrolls: Arena
• System Shock
• Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
• Star Wars: Tie Fighter
• Need for Speed
• Cruis'n USA
• Killer Instinct
• Wario's Woods
• Jazz Jackrabbit
• Tekken

I'll get to thinking and will see if I have anything to add to your list.

Megaman X and Super Street Fighter II Turbo are also two pretty serious contenders, although the latter will probably be left off in favor of the release date of the first iteration, judging by how SniperHF said he's doing it.

 

[Jasper]

Master of Magic.

Looks like Chrono Trigger has ran away with this one.

Some notable 1994 releases:

• DOOM II
• Donkey Kong Country
• Earthworm Jim
• Final Fantasy VI
• Super Metroid
• Sonic and Nuckles
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3
• The Elder Scrolls: Arena
• System Shock
• Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
• Star Wars: Tie Fighter
• Need for Speed
• Cruis'n USA
• Killer Instinct
• Wario's Woods
• Jazz Jackrabbit
• Tekken

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

Lion King and Return of the Jedi were also 94

 

[member 157595]

Looks like Chrono Trigger has ran away with this one.

Some notable 1994 releases:

• DOOM II
• Donkey Kong Country
• Earthworm Jim
• Final Fantasy VI
• Super Metroid
• Sonic and Nuckles
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3
• The Elder Scrolls: Arena
• System Shock
• Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
• Star Wars: Tie Fighter
• Need for Speed
• Cruis'n USA
• Killer Instinct
• Wario's Woods
• Jazz Jackrabbit
• Tekken

Some incredible games on that list, some overrated, some underrated...and then God said "Let Their Be Platformer!" and Super Metroid happened.

I'll get to thinking and will see if I have anything to add to your list.

Games to potentially mention (not saying these are necessarily worthy of putting on the list, just they deserve to not be forgotten):

- Demon's Crest (if you haven't played this one, it's very much worth it)
- Contra: Hard Corps
- Theme Park (had this one as a kid, was fun but difficult at the time)
- NHL '95 (loved this one, but I don't know how these polls handle sequels/yearly updates)
- Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball (it's so bad that it's good; I'm sorry, I loved this game as a kid)
- Samurai Shodown II
- NHL '95 (loved this one, but I don't know how these polls handle sequels/yearly updates)
- Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball (it's so bad that it's good; I'm sorry, I loved this game as a kid)
- Samurai Shodown II
- One Must Fall: 2097 (best fighting game on PC ever)
- Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (I don't know if this got an international release?)
- King of Fighters '94
- Streets of Rage 3 (though if we can only have one per franchise, SOR 2 is the better game and came out earlier)
- Wild Guns (another underrated game, but if we go by NA release as we did with EarthBound, this one was a '95)
- Raptor: Call of the Shadows
- Super Punch Out
- Lion King (very good licensed game, a serious rarity at that time)
- Wing Commander III
- Heretic (but if you can only mention one id Software game, Doom II is one of the best PC and FPS games of all time so...)
- SimCity 2000 (but this may count as a '93 release since the original Mac version was apparently in 1993)

If we go by NA release date, then Mega Man X 100% NEEDS to be added to the main list. It's easily one of the 3 best MM games ever made; however, the original Japanese release was near the end of '93. I think I got most of these release dates correct; I had to look the majority of them up.

Also, shout out to you for mentioning Jazz Jackrabbit. Underrated PC platformer that is hard to get your hands on nowadays (EDIT: I just learned it was released on GOG, awesome!)

 

[The Head Crusher]

Looks like Chrono Trigger has ran away with this one.

Some notable 1994 releases:

• DOOM II
• Donkey Kong Country
• Earthworm Jim
• Final Fantasy VI
• Super Metroid
• Sonic and Nuckles
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3
• The Elder Scrolls: Arena
• System Shock
• Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
• Star Wars: Tie Fighter
• Need for Speed
• Cruis'n USA
• Killer Instinct
• Wario's Woods
• Jazz Jackrabbit
• Tekken

I'll add Bungie's Marathon to that list. It is the forefather to the Halo series.

 

[The Head Crusher]

I will remember that Ogre-Mage "Bloodlust" sound effect forever, I swear.

I still randomly break out some of the characters saying if you click on them too much.

We've got explosives! Ba-Boom! Bombs are beautiful.

Or

Join the army they said. See the world they said. I'd rather be sailing.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

I'll add Bungie's Marathon to that list. It is the forefather to the Halo series.

Don’t you mean forerunner?
But yeah, Marathon was a fun game and deserves a mention.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

More for 1994:

Star Wars: Tie Fighter
Wing Commander III: The Heart of the Tiger (f*** me did I love this game, and still do)
Heretic
Rise of the Triad

 

[Osprey]

- Theme Park (had this one as a kid, was fun but difficult at the time)

I just looked this up to confirm that it was a 1994 game and found that, oddly enough, it was released on Jan 1st, 1994. One day earlier and it would've had to have gone on the 1993 list.

Wing Commander III: The Heart of the Tiger (**** me did I love this game, and still do)

This may end up being my vote. It truly was the "Game of the Year" in the PC world. Other games might've arguably been slightly more "fun" (ex. DOOM II in multiplayer), but WC3 was the total package of gameplay, story and production values and pushed sales of Pentium and CD-ROM-equipped computers. Thank goodness that I got my Pentium 90 just in time for its release.

Heretic

Coincidentally, I played through the first few levels again just last week. If you haven't yet, check out GZDoom, a modern engine for running all of the Doom-based games, including Heretic. It was a thrill to play Heretic again, but in 1920x1080 and with mouse look.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Chrono Trigger and like many have said, AINEC.

The Dream-team cranked out a grand-slam with that one.

Akira Toriyama - Dragon Ball
Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy
Yūji Horii - Dragon Quest/Warrior
Hironobu Sakaguchi -Final Fantasy

Somewhat of a Mount Rushmore of jRPG's...

 

[The Macho King]

1994 is X-Com. Super Metroid is a close second.

1994 is X-Com and there is no debate. I will fight all of you.

Edit: Shit, forgot Master of Magic was 1994 too. Jagged Alliance came out in 1994. MoO was in 1994. Damn 1994 rocks. But it is still X-Com.

Also - I'm not a huge fan of the first System Shock. I probably wouldn't even remember it if I didn't love SS2 so much.

 

[member 157595]

More for 1994:

Star Wars: Tie Fighter
Wing Commander III: The Heart of the Tiger (**** me did I love this game, and still do)
Heretic
Rise of the Triad

Oh holy shit I can't believe I forgot about ROTT. Absolutely everything about that game was done to excess. Like, if you made the movie "Commando" (one of my favorite movies of all time) into a mid-90's video game, ROTT would be it (well, that or Metal Slug). Nowhere near the polish of games like Doom I/II and Duke Nukem 3D, and stupid as hell at times, but it kicked ass then and still does now.

If someone can't appreciate a 90's FPS that lets you transform into an invincible dog and bark-explode people to death, I feel bad for them:



A search indicates that the shareware version was indeed released in '94; I am not sure if we are distinguishing between shareware and full versions for PC games?

 

[Osprey]

1994 is X-Com. Super Metroid is a close second.

1994 is X-Com and there is no debate. I will fight all of you.

Edit: ****, forgot Master of Magic was 1994 too. Jagged Alliance came out in 1994. MoO was in 1994. Damn 1994 rocks. But it is still X-Com.

Wow. How did I forget X-COM? I just endorsed Wing Commander III, but I'll have to go with X-COM, instead. You won't need to fight me on that. In fact, I'll join you in fighting everyone else.

Also - I'm not a huge fan of the first System Shock. I probably wouldn't even remember it if I didn't love SS2 so much.

System Shock 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, but I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never really been a fan of the original and have never beaten it. I appreciate it a great deal and should love it, but I've never been able to get comfortable with its outdated controls... and I don't just mean outdated today. They were outdated even in 1994. They were clearly descended from the controls of dungeon crawler RPGs like Ultima Underworld, but those became obsolete when DOOM was released the year before. SS1 was an RPG, not a shooter, but it's incredibly challenging to go back to a "click to pan" method of looking around when you're now used to just moving the mouse. SS1 could've been more commercially successful (like its sequel) if it had had more modern controls, IMO. Fortunately, the Enhanced Edition that was released a few years ago gives the game just such a modern control scheme, so, hopefully, I'll finally be able to play it and finish it when I get around to it.

 

[The Macho King]

Wow. How did I forget X-COM? I just endorsed Wing Commander III, but I'll have to go with X-COM, instead. You won't need to fight me on that. In fact, I'll join you in fighting everyone else.

You just saved your own life.

RE: SS. I agree 100%. The controls are awful and as a narrative it still is rather meh. I would still prefer Ultima Underworld to it as well. System Shock 2 is a masterpiece and on the shortlist of greatest PC games of all time. System Shock 1? I mean, I think there's a reason it was six years before it got a sequel.

Jagged Alliance is an interesting one to me. I also didn't love the original, but part of that is it came out pretty close to X-Com and X-Com is just superior in every way. It also took a long time to get a sequel, but JA2 is the apex of the genre (and of gaming if you ask me), although it doesn't exist without X-Com.

X-Com just blew away what I thought could be done with a game at the time. And while I've liked some of the clones (Xenonauts), sequels (Terror From the Deep, Apocalypse), and reboots (War of the Chosen is a quality game IMO), X-Com still just stands apart. Classic doesn't begin to define it. It's the archetype of an entire genre. It's the comparison point for every squad-based tactics game. It is sublime.

 

[Shareefruck]

These early 3D FPS shooters in 94 potentially beating out something like Super Metroid would be such a bummer.

 

[Xelebes]

I missed out on the poll but not too bummed. I didn't play any of the games on the list except perhaps looked at ten years after they were released. I never had an SNES or a Sega Genesis or a PC that played late 3.1 or 95 games.

 

[Bocephus86]

Tie Fighter came out in 1994 and that might be my favorite game of all time; I'll fight you both.

But I also have not played the original X-com (is it still playable today?) and love the new ones, so I might throw in the towel in the first round.

 

[The Macho King]

Tie Fighter came out in 1994 and that might be my favorite game of all time; I'll fight you both.

But I also have not played the original X-com (is it still playable today?) and love the new ones, so I might throw in the towel in the first round.

Get OpenXcom (it fixes a ton of the bugs and improves performance on new machines), but X-Com is f***ing timeless. Other than Jagged Alliance 2, I don't think any squad-based tactics game has come close.

Unlike the nuXcoms, don't get attached to your soldiers. Embrace the destruction and the randomness. Kill the filthy xenos.

 

[Bocephus86]

Get OpenXcom (it fixes a ton of the bugs and improves performance on new machines), but X-Com is ****ing timeless. Other than Jagged Alliance 2, I don't think any squad-based tactics game has come close.

Unlike the nuXcoms, don't get attached to your soldiers. Embrace the destruction and the randomness. Kill the filthy xenos.

Plans for the weekend, confirmed.

 

[NyQuil]

These early 3D FPS shooters in 94 potentially beating out something like Super Metroid would be such a bummer.

Platformers and 2D side-scrollers are so generic.

I get bored with them within 20-30 minutes.

They try to wrap them up with attempts at a plot and characters but ultimately controller twitch mechanics are essentially mindless and repetitive.

"Here's my left side."

"Here's my right side."

"Avoid the balls floating around."

Yawn.

 

[NyQuil]

Get OpenXcom (it fixes a ton of the bugs and improves performance on new machines), but X-Com is ****ing timeless. Other than Jagged Alliance 2, I don't think any squad-based tactics game has come close.

Unlike the nuXcoms, don't get attached to your soldiers. Embrace the destruction and the randomness. Kill the filthy xenos.

X-Com created an entirely new genre by itself.

 

[Osprey]

These early 3D FPS shooters in 94 potentially beating out something like Super Metroid would be such a bummer.

I'm going to regret asking, but why do you say that? What's so special about Super Metroid? It looks like every other platformer to me and something that could've come out 5-10 years earlier. The early 3D FPSes were cutting edge and weren't even possible just 1 or 2 years earlier. They may've been rather mindless, but were they any more mindless than platformers like Super Metroid? I'm not sure about Super Metroid, but most platformer levels are super linear and don't allow you to backtrack. At least even the early FPSes had open maps and allowed or even required you to re-visit areas. While simple by today's standards, the early FPSes were very advanced for the day. That and the fact that side scrolling platformers really hadn't evolved since the 80s are largely why the birth of one genre coincided with the death of the other.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Young me demands the answer be Jazz Jackrabbit.


A classic.

 

[Osprey]

Get OpenXcom (it fixes a ton of the bugs and improves performance on new machines), but X-Com is ****ing timeless. Other than Jagged Alliance 2, I don't think any squad-based tactics game has come close.

I second the OpenXcom recommendation. It looks just like the original, so none of the flavor (and, for those of us who played the original, none of the nostalgia) is lost. It simply fixes bugs, runs better (being a native Windows/Linux/MacOS application, so no DOSBox needed) and subtly improves usability (like allowing you to click and drag to rotate the globe, rather than use the clunky panning buttons). It's worth pointing out, though, that you still need the original XCOM files (so that OpenXcom can use the graphics, sound effects and so on).

Unlike the nuXcoms, don't get attached to your soldiers. Embrace the destruction and the randomness. Kill the filthy xenos.

Getting attached to your soldiers was one of the absolutely brilliant things about XCOM that separated it from other games at the time. I wouldn't recommend anyone avoid doing that or you lose some of what was special about the game.

 

[The Macho King]

I second the OpenXcom recommendation. It looks just like the original, so none of the flavor (and, for those of us who played the original, none of the nostalgia) is lost. It simply fixes bugs, runs better (being a native Windows/Linux/MacOS application, so no DOSBox needed) and subtly improves usability (like allowing you to click and drag to rotate the globe, rather than use the clunky panning buttons). It's worth pointing out, though, that you still need the original XCOM files (so that OpenXcom can use the graphics, sound effects and so on).



Getting attached to your soldiers was one of the absolutely brilliant things about XCOM that separated it from other games at the time. I wouldn't recommend anyone avoid doing that or you lose some of what was special about the game.

I meant that mortality is much higher in X-Com than nuXCOM or even games like JA2 and Silent Storm.

I'm going to regret asking, but why do you say that? What's so special about Super Metroid? It looks like every other platformer to me and something that could've come out 5-10 years earlier. The early 3D FPSes were cutting edge and weren't even possible just 1 or 2 years earlier. They may've been rather mindless, but were they any more mindless than platformers like Super Metroid? I'm not sure about Super Metroid, but most platformer levels are super linear and don't allow you to backtrack. At least even the early FPSes had open maps and allowed or even required you to re-visit areas. While simple by today's standards, the early FPSes were very advanced for the day and there's a reason that their birth led to the death of the side scrolling platformers.

Super Metroid I would say is all about it's perfect execution. Controls are so smooth. Weapons/upgrades are fun. I do think Super Metroid is peak platformer.

Super Metroid is all about open world/back tracking when you get new abilities later on. Level creation was just perfect.