With the news that a GAME survey today saw gamers confirm 1996 as the most memorable year for video games - something we wholeheartedly agree with - we take a look back at a twelve months that was truly vintage.
Toyohashi, Japan is set to host a large-scale Monster Hunter event to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary, complete with themed hotel accommodations.
Acquire, famous for games like Tenchu and Octopath Traveler, becomes KADOKAWA subsidiary. Can this mean a revival for beloved series?
I would kill to have a Way of the Samurai game with a huge budget and modern tech... The first game was one of my greatest joys on PS2 back in the day. And I really hope From Software will do something with Tenchu... I hate that they're just sitting on the IP like it doesn't even exist.
Tenchu would be superb in this day and age. Ninja and samurai games are hot right now and more is better.
"The company was unable to focus enough on its main hope"
Nope. Going back to the 32X as the reason Sega lost that generation doesn't go back far enough before the Saturn.
Sega executives need to blame themselves as to why Sega lost that generation. Not Saturn. Not 32X. Not Sega CD. Nope. Executives were the reason why. It wasn't the hardware. Those devices were either dropped early or released to soon resulting in a developer backlash the hurt the game catalog. They really shouldn't have been made at all because they should have planned their next move more carefully. It has nothing to do with the devices. Poor leadership decisions and lack of unity within the company are what happened.
Love how blame is always shifted away from what is the truth. Writing a book placing the blame on the 32X isn't the truth.
I am pretty sure there are documentaries (Youtube) around it which highlights these points. I had Sega Mega drive and NES growing up but that's about it. I didn't even know there was a war going on between these companies but I do remember thinking why I can't play Sonic cartridge on Nintendo or Mario on Sega :D
I had the Genesis and the Saturn, also had the SNES and 64, I never got a Dreamcast for some reason, but I never saw one in the stores either.
I still remember when Tomb Raider came out, it has to be the first video game that people want to watch you play, even people that don't play video games
I got TR a a 13 year old all those years ago, still best TR game out, followed closely by the rebbot IMO
Wow? 96? My friends across the pond have a much different view than I do. 96 might have been the best year of the decade, and to me that's a big might. The best year of the 90s, IMO,would be 1998
Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Daggerfall, Red Alert, Diablo.. pivotal year in gaming. It was also the year I got absolutely hooked on online gaming with Duke3d and the Total Entertainment Network.
And remind yourself of some of (my) highlights of the following years (I'll stop just before the year of the sequel 2004 - look it up just how many sequels there were in that year). Years are for PC / console release, not arcade release and generally European release.
1997- The Curse of Monkey Island
Quake 2
Tomb Raider 2
1998 - Banjo Kazooie
Ocarina of Time
Half Life
Resident Evil 2
1999 -
Crash Team Racing
Donkey Kong 64
Quake 3 Arena
Rayman 2
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
Seaman
Shenmue
Silent Hill
System Shock 2
Tomb Raider : The Last Revelation
2000 - Banjo Tooie
Jet Set Radio
Perfect Dark
Timesplitters
American McGee's Alice
Crazy Taxi
2001 - Alone in the dark : The New Nightmare
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Devil May Cry
GTA3
Halo : Combat Evolved
Ico
Luigi's Mansion
Max Payne
Silent Hill 2
Sonic Adventure 2
Wave Race : Blue Storm
2002 - Eternal Darkness
Jet Set Radio Future
Kingdom Hearts
Metroid Prime
Resident Evil remake
Resident Evil Zero
2003 - 1080 Avalanche
Beyond Good and Evil
F Zero GX
Grabbed by the ghoulies
Gregory Horror Show (very niche).
Mario Kart : Double Dash
Max Payne 2
Legend of Zelda : the Wind Waker (very late 2002 in Japan)
Outrun 2
Prince of Persia : The Sands of Time
Rayman 3
Silent Hill 3
Viewtiful Joe
From 1996 to 2003 it was a truly great run of gaming years.
2004, the year of the sequel, arguably saw a shift to games companies playing safer and, after that there only seemed sporadic numbers of great games before the next generation e.g. Resident Evil 4 in 2005 and it took a few years, perhaps until Bioshock and later Uncharted 2, until we started to see the quality of those earlier years which were largely formed by the brief life of the Dreamcast, the early blossoming of the Gamecube and some artsy games on the PS2.
Looking at the above years, 96 may have had Mario 64, Tomb Raider and Resident Evil, the source of the future of gaming really, but how could you overlook 1999, 2001 , 2003 (or the years inbetween, smaller in great games but sometimes of very high quality)?