Although the 1980s are deservedly considered to be the most important decade in the history of the gaming industry, with Nintendo’s NES breathing new life into the home-console industry after the Atari 2600 caused it to crash; the 90s saw the gaming industry come on leaps and bounds. The Nintendo 64, PlayStation 1, Ocarina of Time, and Super Mario 64 all released in the 90s, and are among the most important releases in the industry’s history with their bold leap from 2D to 3D.
The importance of the decade’s major releases doesn’t guarantee, however, that the games still hold up today. As new ideas flourish and old classics are cloned and improved upon, many iconic games that once felt revolutionary now seem watered-down and overly simplistic. Thankfully though, numerous games still offer the same priceless entertainment today as when they first hit shelves.
10 (Hasn’t Aged Well) Grim Fandango
Once a cornerstone of the gaming industry, the point and click genre has been reduced to a nostalgia-fueled niche in recent years as the genre has struggled to adapt and compete with the ever-improving action, adventure, and platforming genres.
Another key issue is that some of the games, like Grim Fandango, were extremely difficult; with puzzles that often resulted in the classic “how was I ever supposed to work that out” thought. Furthermore, the majority of point and click games advertised a strategy guide or help-line that could be called if players got stuck. The genre would often be intentionally tough for this reason, to encourage people to spend money on help if they were stuck. The modern gamer is far less patient than in the 90s, meaning many young fans will likely dismiss Grim Fandango when they see that there’s no in-game guidance for completing the many tough puzzles.
9 (Aged Well) Crash Bandicoot: Warped
The third Crash Bandicoot game is considered to be the strongest of the original trilogy, exemplified by its impressive 91 Metascore and 9.0 User Score.
Naughty Dog took the criticisms that Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back was too similar to the original Crash Bandicoot on board, and added tons of mission variety in Warped with underwater, flying, and driving levels all offering a great change of pace. The game was also a pioneer in bringing speedrunning into the mainstream with its time trials that added excellent replay value.
Vicarious Visions’ N. Sane Trilogy remaster did a fantastic job of re-imagining Naughty Dog’s games, but they didn’t overshadow how great 1998’s Crash Bandicoot: Warped still is to play today.
8 (Hasn’t Aged Well) Rayman
Ubisoft’s limbless mascot hit the ground running in 1995 with Rayman. The new platforming mascot put himself on the map with the iconic Dream Forest world that kicked off the game in style and is one of the most memorable platforming worlds of the 90s.
The issue with Rayman is, however, that the game takes a sharp decline in quality during its second half, as it becomes excruciatingly difficult. Difficulty isn’t usually a reason to criticize a game, as many players like the challenge, and most games fall into the “tough but fair” category. Rayman on the other hand can feel impossible at times with boss attacks that fill almost the entire screen, numerous jumps where the platform appears to be just out of reach, and frequent camera issues. The source of these issues becomes clear when discovering that, believe it or not, the developers rarely playtested the game.
7 (Aged Well) Crash Team Racing
It’s safe to say that Crash Team Racing wasn’t the most inventive game in the world, as Naughty Dog essentially created a clone of Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing.
Despite the unoriginality, Crash Team Racing is still one of the most well-balanced and enjoyable kart racers ever released. Like Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Crash Team Racing has recently been remastered; but the PS1 game is still as fun to play today, especially with friends, as back in 1999.
6 (Hasn’t Aged Well) Tomb Raider
The first entry into one of the most iconic video gaming franchises was released in 1996 by Eidos Interactive. Developed by Core Design, Tomb Raider was a pioneer in the action-adventure genre that would soon become a dominant force in the gaming industry.
Unfortunately, it’s safe to say that Tomb Raider isn’t worth playing today for any reason other than nostalgia. Not only have numerous subsequent action-adventure releases taken ideas from Tomb Raider and greatly expanded on them, but the game also suffers from typical camera issues that plagued 90s video games.
5 (Aged Well) Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Ubisoft wasted little time in reinventing their platforming mascot to the modern times, with Rayman 2: The Great Escape ditching the sidescrolling of Rayman and offering vast, open levels in the same vein of Super Mario 64.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape offers a far more enjoyable platforming experience today than its predecessor Rayman with its meticulously designed stages that are an absolute joy to fully explore.
4 (Haven’t Aged Well) FIFA and Madden Games
EA’s FIFA and Madden series’ are frequently criticized today as people feel that there isn’t much improvement in each yearly release. Although this is a fair argument to make, there’s no doubting that when comparing games that are at least five or six years apart, the improvements are significant.
There is still some simplistic fun to be had with 90s sporting titles, running away from the referee to avoid a booking in FIFA 94 is still as bizarre and entertaining today as it was in 1994 for example. Generally speaking though, sporting titles have come on leaps and bounds since their 90s iterations with regular improvements to the aesthetics and gameplay realism.
3 (Aged Well) Super Mario 64
Nintendo could have played it safe and created a run of the mill Mario adventure, knowing that it would have still sold tons of copies. Playing it safe has never been in Nintendo’s nature though, and they went all out with Mario 64, creating one of the best platformers of all time. As for how the game holds up today, the fact that fans around the world were delighted to hear the Super Mario Odyssey was going to be a return to the N64 game’s open level formula, exemplifies just how beloved it still is today.
2 (Hasn’t Aged Well) GoldenEye 007
One of the most influential first-person shooters of all time along with DOOM, GoldenEye 007 revolutionized the FPS genre by popularising the once PC-centric genre on consoles.
Unfortunately for Rare, their once groundbreaking game pales in comparison to the FPS titles of today. Features that once seemed ahead of their time like the implementation of stealth and realistic character models have been vastly improved upon as years have gone by, cementing GoldenEye 007 firmly in the category of games that should only be sought out today for nostalgia.
1 (Aged Well) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Much like Super Mario 64, Nintendo didn’t play it safe with the first 3D Zelda title; creating what is considered to be the best 3D game of all time on their first attempt.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time‘s incredible 99 Metascore will likely never be matched or beaten due to the influx of reviewers that impact a game’s score aggregation, i.e. the game has 22 review scores whereas Breath of the Wild has 109. As would be expected, the game doesn’t feel like the near-perfect experience today as it once did, as there are plenty of areas where the game simply falls short of modern adventures. Despite this, playing Ocarina of Time today is still a memorable experience that any gamer should treat themselves to at least once in their life.
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