HF Retro Game of the Year - 1996 - Super Mario 64

Game of the year back in 1996?


  • Total voters
    84
  • Poll closed .

JesusPrice

Registered User
Aug 14, 2007
222
6
Newfoundland
All the time myself and my buddies spent playing Twisted Metal 2, drinking Mountain Dew, and listening to the Spawn Soundtrack. Such a great time!

Bonus points to Tomb Raider, the PS1 was truly a great machine.
 
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Blender

Registered User
Dec 2, 2009
51,305
45,253
I went with Diablo, but could have easily went with Quake as well. A lot of classic games in 1996 all of which could be winners here.
 

PK Cronin

Bailey Fan Club Prez
Feb 11, 2013
33,828
23,185
A lot of great options here, but I'm going to go with Resident Evil. It's the only one of the bunch that I'd still play today and enjoy it as much as I did back then. I've always wanted a re-release of Diablo 1 with increased movement speed...but I don't think I'll ever get that.
 

Frankie Blueberries

Allergic to draft picks
Jan 27, 2016
9,099
10,546
Out of the choices, I only really have memories playing Duke Nukem 3D and Super Mario 64. Both great games, I went with Duke Nukem 3D mainly because of the level design and wacky weapons.
 

SniperHF

Rejecting Reports
Mar 9, 2007
42,632
21,042
Phoenix
The only two on the list I haven't played are Daggerfall and Twisted Metal. Well technically I only played the demo disc of Tomb Raider but I played it a lot :laugh:
I'd probably go:
1. Diablo
2. C&C RA
3. Mario 64
4. Duke
5. Civ II
6. Quake
7. Resident Evil
8. Super Mario RPG
9. Tomb Raider

Red alert is somewhat rough to play without the comfort of build queues. But being able to keep up with it is part of the skill so simply tacking them on would require a total rebalance.
 

Osprey

Registered User
Feb 18, 2005
27,093
9,355
I loved Diablo and Civilization II, but I have to go with Quake. It really was the Game of the Year on the PC side, a landmark game that had a profound effect on the industry. It popularized fully 3D engines, 3D accelerators, mouse look, client side network prediction, drop-down consoles, .cfg/.ini file tweaking, esports, machinima and extreme modability (thanks to QuakeC, allowing for Team Fortress and Capture the Flag multiplayer modes). BTW, I know that a few of those weren't in the original release, but were still added in by the end of 1996. Speaking of the original release, I still have a factory-sealed copy of the retail shareware release (an interesting experiment by id to sell the shareware on CD for $4.99 that failed when people learned how to unlock the full game without the paying for the unlock code).
 

McRpro

Cont. without supporting.
Aug 18, 2006
9,970
6,957
Clown World
I voted for Twisted Metal 2 even though SM64 should win this in an absolute landslide. I had so many great times with Twisted Metal 1 and then part 2 was even better! Then the series developers changed and it turned to shit.
 

WarriorOfGandhi

Was saying Boo-urns
Jul 31, 2007
20,568
10,598
Denver, CO
I absolutely love Civilization II and still believe it is the best Civilization (unless, of course, we count Alpha Centauri). It was so beautiful, so nuanced, so well-structured, had such fantastically fun ways to build and grow and conquer and diplomatize, was such a wealth of historical knowledge, and had the super sweet throne room and advisors wearing sunglasses. There are few games that can make an entire afternoon race by in what seems like 15 minutes the way Civ II does.
 
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542365

2018-19 Cup Champs!
Sponsor
Mar 22, 2012
22,262
8,646
Voted Super Mario 64, but my friends and I played the hell out of Twisted Metal 2 as kids.
 

Xelebes

Registered User
Jun 10, 2007
9,013
595
Edmonton, Alberta
1. Mario 64 (because it still holds up as still fun.)
2. Duke Nukem 3D (had tremendous fun playing this years ago. Not so much nowadays.)

Can't say I played any of the other games on the list.
 

Blitzkrug

Registered User
Sep 17, 2013
25,785
7,632
Winnipeg
I'm tempted to vote Super Mario RPG because that game is a masterpiece imo. Clever writing, intuitive battle system (that would become the hallmark for all future mario RPG games) and a unique look graphics wise. Squeezed the last bits out of the SNES hardware. Shame it was kinda buried by the wave of new consoles because that game never gets enough love.

It kinda also marked the end of an era since this was pretty much the last thing the Square/Nintendo relationship produced before it completely collapsed over FFVII. A relationship that to this day has never been the same.

I'll give it to Mario 64. Pretty much laid the groundwork on how to take the leap from 2D to 3D...awful camera aside.
 

Pilky01

Registered User
Jan 30, 2012
9,867
2,319
GTA
Getting to the point where I was too young to have an informed opinion. I definitely played MARIO 64 more than any of the others though.
 

JaegerDice

The mark of my dignity shall scar thy DNA
Dec 26, 2014
25,021
9,228
Super Mario 64.

Not close for me.

EDIT: This is my first time seeing all the winners from the previous polls, and good lord...there are some dreadful choices in there. :laugh:
 

SniperHF

Rejecting Reports
Mar 9, 2007
42,632
21,042
Phoenix
Getting to the point where I was too young to have an informed opinion.

Yeah I'm wondering how long we'll keep going. I think through the start of the SNES years most posters around here can have a mostly informed opinion.

But like the mid DOS years and games outside of the tentpole franchises on the NES I expect knowledge drops off pretty quick. And all the various smaller consoles and PC competitors like the IBM compatible competitors like the Commodore 64. Though there were a lot of ports between them.

By biggest blind spot is say 86 to 91. Though I have a reasonable amount of playtime on games before then since I only had an Atari through most of the 90's.

But if people keep voting I think we'll keep going.
 

Commander Clueless

Hiya, hiya. Pleased to meetcha.
Sep 10, 2008
15,237
2,922
I used to love using the map editor to make completely absurd challenge maps like starting on a small island while the enemy gets the whole mainland with beach defenses.

The map editors in those old RTS games added so much replayability.
 

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