Black Falcon Games

Here is part II, the second half of my 1998 retrospective.  Well, the second half for now, maybe I will think of more to say in the future on this topic.  I wrote most of this when I posted part one, but wanted to break them up a bit so I waited.  I have improved it some in the interim but I’m sure I will edit more into this over time.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Games By Genre

RPG
Action-RPG
Adventure (Graphic Adventure)
– Visual Novel
– Action-Adventure
Shmup
Other Shooting Games
Strategy
Simulation (Building)
Simulation (Vehicular Combat)
Flight Combat (Arcadey or Simmish)
Racing Simulation
Arcade-style or Futuristic Racing
– Arcade racing
– Futuristic racing
– Motorcycle or Snowboard racing
– Unrealistic modern racing (not arcade games)
– Kart or Character Racing
– Air racing
– Topdown or Overhead-ish Racing/Combat
Car Combat
First Person Shooter or FPS-hybrid
– Console FPS
Third-person Shooter
Platformers
– 3D
– 2d or 2.5d
Fighting Games (Combined or 2D) (all top list titles are 2d so there isn’t a separate 2d category)
– 2.5D or 3D
Sports and Wrestling
Puzzle
– Puzzle-Action
Party
Music
Beat ’em Ups
FMV Games
Open World Games

The Most Awarded Games of 1998 At the Time
– Wikipedia’s List
– PC Gamer (US)
– IGN – IGN64, IGNPSX, IGNPC
On Best Game Ever Made Lists
The Complete PC Gamer 2025 List, By Year

My Favorites
– My Favorite Games of 1998
– My PC Top 10 List (All-Time)
– My Console 10/10 Games List
– The Games I play Most These Days

Introduction

To reprise the main point of the previous article, several things happened at the same time in 1998, which combine to make it gaming’s greatest year ever.

First, in 1998 developers showed that they had improved their knowledge of how to make 3d games enough that finally we started to get definitive titles which showed what games can do in 3d in a way very rarely seen before. Ocarina of Time’s implementation of Z-targeting is important to not here; it may not have been the first game with any targeting system, but it is the definitive one. 1998 was not a good year for 2d games on home consoles, but on computers and arcades 2d games were still a big deal, and the art design in 2d game design saw its near-perfection in 1998, as you see with Capcom and SNK’s games particularly, along with some PC games like Starcraft. One reason 1998 is great is because of this progress in game design and visuals. However, it is not the only factor.

Second, on the PC side, 1998 is great because it was, business-wise, that mountaintop. Or perhaps, it might actually have been just slightly on the downhill slope business-wise for the North American PC business, but on the pinnacle game releases-wise, as the games of that year helped bring down PC gaming by not selling enough to continue development of PC-specific games on the same scale as the industry had been before. The projects that released before studios either shut down or moved over to consoles are titles which have remained in memory as legends to this day due to the contrast between those times and what things would become in the 2000s, days where everything seemed like it was either a console game or an MMO.

Particularly on the PC and arcade sides, the year was that peak of the mountain that would be followed by a rapid decline within a few years. Yes, I’ve been thinking about this question a lot recently, but I think that a big part of why 1998 is usually the pick for gaming’s best year is because of because it was the top of that mountain. These factors, happening at the same time, combined to give us many of the best and most important games ever, all in the same year. A few genres did not see major releases in ’98, but most did.

But what are those games, by genre? The main purpose of this article is to provide lists of games, by genre, with descriptions of some titles, showcasing many of the best or most noteworthy titles of 1998. I have NOT played all of these games myself, but I have played many of them. The point is not to discuss only games I have played, but everything noteworthy. If your favorite game isn’t listed, I apologize; I tried to list most of the games worth discussing, but I know I left some out. There are too many to cover everything, sadly. I know that I am mentioning some games that probably aren’t as good as other games that I’ve not listed, but listing absolutely every retail title from the year would be too much; just go to Wikipedia or GameFAQs for that list. I think leaving some out is reasonable in the name of at least a shred of focus.

GAMES BY GENRE

I said this in the first article, but here’s a fun challenge! How many genres can you make a top 5 for that, if years were excluded, could be a solid all-time top five? For 1998, some genres pass that test. Others have good or great games, but the absence of certain key titles from other years gives away the game. And some genres are lacking compared to other years. Even the best year can’t be perfect. Let’s investigate.

RPG (Turn-Based, Pausable Realtime, or similar) – Baldur’s Gate (PC), Xenogears (PS1), Pokemon Yellow (GB) (JP ’98, US ’99), Panzer Dragoon Saga (SAT), Might & Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven (PC). Honorable Mention: Fallout 2 (PC), or perhaps Suikoden II (PS1; JP release, US ’99).

Special Mention: Pokemon Red/Blue (GB), which released in Japan in 1996 but the US in ’98. Yellow did release first in ’98, which is why it goes in the above main list despite probably being less beloved than the base Red or Blue versions.

Additionally, Final Fantasy VII (PC) released in 1998, a PC port of the ’97 PS1 classic. I am mostly not mentioning ports here but this was very popular and won some awards so here it is.

In 1998, Western RPGs were in a renaissance that Interplay led. Starting with ’97’s Fallout and Ultima Online and continuing with ’98’s Baldur’s Gate, PC RPGs hit a new high of popularity. It would only a be a few years before the MMO genre mostly consumed PC RPGs, but what a few years it was. In Japan, meanwhile, RPGs had been one of the most popular genres since the late ’80s. In Japan the genre would fade in popularity in the mid to later ’00s, as budgets got to be too much for the declining size of the Japanese home market, but in ’98 numerous top-tier RPGs released in Japan. Many of them either never released in the US or released here later, but that was how it was back then.

As in most of these genres, you have a top four here of games that stand against any in the genre from any time, then a few more important titles that aren’t better than anything from other years, but certainly are important. Pokemon originally released in Japan in 1996, so it doesn’t qualify for the main list, but as I said above Pokemon Yellow did release there in ’98, so I can include that. Red & Blue must be mentioned for their worldwide impact, though; this list would look quite incomplete without the year’s biggest new hit franchise. I’ve never been a Pokemon fan but there clearly are reasons it spawned a megahit franchise that remains one of gaming’s biggest to this day.
As for the others, Baldur’s Gate 1 isn’t as beloved as its sequels, but without the first one we wouldn’t have BG2. I do like BG2 more than BG1 also, but the first is an exceptional game and it has my favorite RPG engine, that Planescape: Torment, BG2, and the Icewind Dale games would also use. Xenogears started the long-running Xeno series of RPGs that has continued through Xenosaga and now Xenoblade. It is a story-heavy game with one of the most interesting and in-depth stories seen in an RPG up to that point. Panzer Dragoon Saga is one of the genre’s most beloved titles among the few who have played it. I need to play it sometime, but that price… ack. M&M VI has a large open world, probably the largest of any game released this year, and brought its classic series into the modern era. And Fallout 2 isn’t the iconic classic that the first one was, but still is a big, sprawling game with a larger world than the first one filed with sidequests and various things to do.

Some Japanese RPGs that didn’t release in the US in ’98 but did release there and don’t make my top list above but are also noteworthy include: Atelier Elie (PS1, JP only); Black/Matrix (PS1/SAT, JP only); Dragon Warrior Monsters (GBC, JP ’98, US ’99), Grandia Digital Museum (SAT, JP only), Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu (PS1, JP ’98, US ’99); Legend of Legaia (PS1, JP ’98, US ’99), Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete (SAT ver., JP only; US got the PS1 ver. in ’99 as did Japan); Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (PS1, ’98 JP, ’00 US); Thousand Arms (PS1, JP ’98, US ’99).

Also it’s not especially noteworthy but it sold well, so I’m going to mention Quest 64 (N64). This one is interesting because despite being a Japanese game, it released in the West first — the Japanese release wasn’t until ’99.

Other top Western RPGs of 1998: Return to Krondor (PC). This game doesn’t reach the heights of the exceptional first one, but it’s still a good game.

Action-RPG – Star Ocean: The Second Story (PS1, JP release – US ’99), Gauntlet Legends (ARC), Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire (PC), Brave Fencer Musashi (PS1), Shadow Tower (PS1) (JP ’98, US ’99), Parasite Eve (PS1). Honorable Mention: Bomberman Quest (GB/C, JP release – US ’99).

Star Ocean 2 is the best game in that series and is my pick for the greatest action-combat Japanese-style RPG ever. The rest of these games are good too, but that one is the elite, must-play title. I also love Gauntlet Legends, it is a fantastic game and one of my favorite action-RPGs ever. I played a whole lot of it in arcades, N64, and more. Incredibly fun and addictive game. Shadow Tower is a FromSoft game and basically is a spinoff of King’s Field, From’s predecessor to the Dark Souls series. Expect quite challenging first person RPG adventuring. Quest for Glory V was the last game in a classic series that I love. I think it was a downgrade in most ways from the engine that ran III, IV, and the I remake, combat now is standard hack and slash action-RPG stuff, and some features such as multiplayer and alternate characters were cut from the game, but still it’s a good game with decent combat and some fun adventure elements. QFGV is by now certainly an under-rated game few pay much attention to now, but even if it’s not QFGIV, it’s still good.

As for the others, Brave Fencer Musashi is kind of a action-RPG with platformer elements thing. It’s good, though Square’s 1999 title Threads of Fate is kind of a better version of the idea. And Parasite Eve is a popular and well-made game with nice graphics and some fun action. I’m probably ranking it a bit lower than many would, it didn’t grab me and keep me coming back, but regardless, it is a good game.

Biggest RPG Debacle of 1998: Descent to Undermountain (PC). This badly broken game had a great idea — how about we take the Decent engine and make a dungeon-crawler RPG out of it? — but the engine was very difficult to turn into an RPG engine and the team struggled badly to make it work. Ultimately the game released badly buggy and broken, and most of the bugs were never fixed. Sad.

Adventure (Graphic Adventure) – Grim Fandango (PC), Sanitarium (PC), Starship Titanic (PC), Tex Murphy Overseer (PC), Black Dahlia (PC)

Others of Note: The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time (PC), Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy (PC), Clock Tower II (PS1) (JP; US release in ’99), Ring: Legend of the Nibelungen (PC), The X-Files Game (PC)

The failure of these games, as well as Quest for Glory V and King’s Quest VIII: The Mask of Eternity in the action-RPG category below, to sell as well as publishers hoped basically was the death-knell for adventure games. This year saw Lucasarts’ best adventure game barely make its budget back, helping convince the company to drop adventure games a few years later; the Quest for Glory and King’s Quest series end, partially due to decent but not amazing sales of the two games released this year (though both well outsold Grim Fandango, apparently.); and a bunch of other adventure games release that didn’t sell amazingly either, as the Myst boom was fading but the ‘item puzzles’ adventure boom before that wasn’t coming back either and had receded to a more niche state of popularity. Survival horror games were a booming genre, particularly in Japan, and in Japan the visual novel genre was reaching a new peak of popularity, but Western adventure, adventure-RPG, and adventure-action games were all in retreat. If titles like King’s Quest VII: Mask of Eternity were an attempt to save adventure games, it didn’;t work. Europe would continue to make bigger-budget adventure games in the next decade, with titles such as The Longest Journey and Syberia particularly notable, but even there the genre would eventually fade to a more indie game-focused level in favor of more simplified things like walking simulators.

Visual Novels – Sakura Wars 2 (SAT) (JP only) (also a strategy game), Machi (SAT) (JP only), One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e (PC/PS1) (JP only), serial experiments lain (PS1) (JP only), Machi (SAT, PS ’99) (JP only), Triangle Heart (PC) (JP only).

In Japan, the visual novel was really hitting its stride in ’98, with important titles for the genre’s development. Visual novels were most frequently romance games, often with sexual content in their PC versions but with that stuff removed on consoles. If not that, murder mysteries were the most common alternative. There were noteworthy titles in the genres’ development in ’98. The best pure adventure game of ’98 in Japanese lists is clearly Machi, a murder mystery story. The game is great enough to finish fifth in a 2017 Famitsu list of the best adventure games ever. Sakura Taisen 2 is also noteworthy since the series was such a huge success at the time and the game was popular and did very well.

For me though, even though I haven’t played it or any of these games in this genre, One is perhaps the most noteworthy, as it is one of the games by the people that would become Key, the masters of the sad love story visual novel or anime. Before making their iconic 1999 classic Kanon, most of that staff made One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e for a different studio. It is a somewhat similarly sad and weirdly supernatural title, like Kanon. The PC version is adult, the PS1 version not, as expected. Apparently Nasu, the writer of Tsukihime and Fate Stay-Night, was inspired to be a writer by One. Noteworthy indeed. As for those others, Triangle Heart is mostly noteworthy for being the origin of the spinoff Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha magical girl action series. Nanoha is a minor side character from Triangle Heart. The lain game is a weird, and highly expensive now, experience, sought after by fans of that iconic anime. I haven’t played the game, but the anime is my favorite anime ever (and yes, the anime is from 1998.).

Action-Adventure – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64), The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX (GBC) (colorized remake of a 1993 game with a bit of new content), Resident Evil 2 (PS1 ver.; others later), The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard (PC), King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity (PC). Honorable Mention: Metal Gear Solid (PS1) or Tenchu: Stealth Assassins (PS1).

I wasn’t sure what to do with this subgenre. Should it go here, or above graphic adventures? Which games should be in each one? I’m unsure but went with this.

Anyway, Ocarina of Time is one of gaming’s greatest masterpieces. It is the highest rated game ever and the number one pick for best game ever made. I agree that it is the best console game ever and Nintendo’s best game ever, but I do put it below Starcraft overall. Either way, this epic adventure is one with spectacularly great gameplay, good visuals for the time, and great controls. It is a must-play for all. Link’s Awakening DX is only barely less amazing; LA, in its various forms, is my favorite 2d Zelda game ever. My favorite version is the original B&W release, not this color version, though, as I’ve always found its color choices garish and not teh way my mind imagined the game looking when I played the original version. Also the new color dungeon is neat, but its reward significantly overpowers you, if you use it the game becomes easy. Still, LA DX is fantastic. At least one of the three versions of Link’s Awakening is a must-play.

Resident Evil 2 is a very different kind of thing from Zelda; it is a survival horror game, of the graphic adventure / action game hybrid. It is both adventure and action, though, so here it is. The game was a massive hit and is by far the most popular of the adventure game-style Resident Evil games, before Resident Evil 4 moved the series in a more third person shooter direction. This is the best classic RE game.

As for those two PC games, those are two titles which I will discuss in the next category, adventure games. In short, they are ambitious, interesting, and flawed games which got some critical acclaim but didn’t sell amazingly. Mask of Eternity was Sierra’s last King’s Quest game and legendary designer Roberta Williams’ last game for decades. It sold okay but not as well as hoped. Lastly, Redguard is an adventure / action hybrid, a bit like Mask of Eternity but more open-world, as you would expect from Bethesda. Redguard got good reviews, but did not sell well at all, putting its publisher Bethesda in financial trouble. The “Elder Scrolls Adventures” line was abandoned after this title. Creator Todd Howard has said that it would probably have sold better on consoles than it did on PC, which is likely true.

Finally, those last two games in the HM category, Metal Gear Solid and Tenchu, perhaps should be a separate genre, along with Thief: The Dark Projet, which I put in the FPS category. I listed those two here because GameFAQs puts them in the Action-Adventure genre, which does make sense. Those three games formed the core of a new genre, the stealth genre, which first existed on its own in 1998. Thief pioneered stealth gameplay as a serious endeavor, with light levels, sound, and more mattering significantly as you tried to break in to places, memorize guard patrol routes, and steal what you were there to take. It’s an outstanding game. Tenchu took a much more action game approach, but also advanced the stealth genre with its sneaky stealth assassin slash third person action gameplay. It’s a lot of fun. And lastly and for msot people firstly but as far as I’m concerned by far the worst, Metal Gear Solid pioneered cinematic story-heavy stealth action, as you sneak around facilities, avoid enemies, and sometimes fight bosses. MGS1 is basically an overhead game gone 3d, a lot like the classic MSX/NES Metal Gear games but with polygons. It’s much less “3D” than Tenchu or Thief as far as the gameplay goes. It’s also got pretty simple stealth mechanics and I kind of hated playing it; see my PS1 list for more on that. Still, for creating what was one of gamings’ most popular franchises obviously it must be on this list.

Shmup – Armed Police Batrider (ARC; JP only), Radiant Silvergun (SAT; JP only), Blazing Star (NG/ARC), ESP RA.DE (ARC; JP only), R-Type Delta (PS1; JP ’98, US/EU ’99). Honorable Mention: Touhou 4: Lotus Land Story (PC98; JP only).

Special Mention: Gradius IV* (ARC). It’s kind of a 1998 game and kind of a 1999 game — see below. This is one of my favorite shmups of ’98 if we count it.

Also Noteworthy: Touhou 5: Mystic Square (PC98; JP only), Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth (N64/ARC), Dangun Feveron/Fever SOS (Arcade), Guardian Force (Arcade/Saturn; JP only), Raiden Fighters Jet (Arcade), Demonstar (PC).

Special Mention: Einhander (PS1) released in Japan in ’97, but the US in ’98. Square’s shmup was actually quite good and one of the most popular of its day and still holds up well, but it was originally a 1997 release. G-Darius (PS1) similarly is a 1998 home port of a 1997 arcade release.

All of those top six or seven games are no-doubt classics. The top three stand against anything else in the genre in popularity and importance. RS I mentioned in the first article. It is one of the most popular shmups ever. Blazing Star is my pick for best Neo-Geo shmup, edging out Viewpoint. Batrider is probably the best shmup that only genre fans have heard of; this Raizing classic has long dominated first place on the shmups.systeml1.com forum’s best games ever lists. That says a lot, and that is why I put it in first on this list. Beyond that, number four title Esprade is a Cave classic, on most Cave fan’s top fives, and an important title because it was their first with flying people as the characters, something they would do a lot of subsequently. I’ve never cared much for Cave games beyond Dodonpachi myself, so my personal 1998 shmups list would mnot have Esprade on it, but it’s here for Cave’s many fans.

The Touhou series is one of the most famous bullet-hell shmup franchises. It’s either that or Cave’s Dodonpachi games, for sure. The two that released in ’98 are for the PC-98, while a lot of people start with the Win9x games from 2002, but still, these are Touhou games with all of the graphics, beautiful bullet patterns, and gameplay styles of the newer games in the franchise. It’s impressive how fast, smooth, and bullet-filled the screen gets on these games designed for older computers. These are bullet-hell games, no compromises. I picked 4 for the upper tier in part because its stage 3 theme, Bad Apple, is quite famous. You almost cetainly have heard at least some of its many remixes.

1998’s Gradius and R-Type games are a bit more iffy, though. That is, both games are well made, but they are very similar to the earlier titles in their franchises, and those early titles are the iconic ones. It’s amazing that 1998 got both R-Type AND Gradius games, but did it get the best ever R-Type and Gradius games? Probably not. I’d say those two games really reveal this as a 1998 list and not an all-time one. R-Type Delta is a good game, though. Delta is more of that, with iffy PS1 polygon graphics but intresting stages and a typically high difficulty level. Gradius IV, similarly, is basically a classic Gradius game, but with polygon models. As an arcade game it looks better than console-only R-Type Delta, and it’s pretty good, but it is a very safe game dedicated to being a lot like the original Gradius, but in 2.5d with polygons now.

Also, Gradius IV has an asterisk because the full release didn’t come until early 1999. Looking online you will see it sometimes listed as a ’98 release and sometimes February ’99, but this is apparently because it was shown in pretty much finished form at an arcade show in November ’98, and has a 1998 copyright date on its title screen, but it seems that it was not sold to arcades until the next February. Is that a 1998 game? Well, kind of not, but either way, I don’t think that many people would pick Gradius IV over the original game or Gradius III. It’s a fine enough game but doesn’t match up to its predecessors. Still, it’s a good Gradius title and mostly is just ‘more of the same but 2.5d now’ and how is that bad? It’s not! Gradius is my favorite shmup series and Gradius IV is, I believe, the last shmup made internally by Konami, so it is pretty significant.

Regardless of which years you put them in, these games mark the end of an era for both franchises. Both games ended their series, for the most part — Gradius IV is the last Gradius game internally developed by Konami, the only shmups they have made since are the Otomedius games. Gradius V is an exceptionally great game, but it was developed by Treasure, of Radiant Silvergun fame. It is noticeably different. R-Type Delta ended the original R-Type series. Irem would go back to the franchise on PS2 and PS4/X1 with the R-Type Final games, but long time gaps separate each of those games and they have some significant differences from the original series.

As for the second tier noteworthy titles, of those, Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth was the last full single player game in that classic series. It is a good, fun game but kind of easy and simple. Demonstar is the followup to 1995’s Raptor: Call of the Shadows (PC), regarded as one of the best shmups available for DOS. Demonstar isn’t as great or famous as its predecessor, it’s a stripped-down arcade style game instead of one with saving and a shop, but the core gameplay is the same and it’s still good. And the others are very good Japanese arcade shooters. Raiden Fighters Jet is a good game in a well thought of Raiden sub-series.

My shmups of ’98 top 5 list, ranked: Blazing Star, Armed Police Batrider, Gradius IV, Touhou 4: Lotus Land Story, Demonstar.

Other Shooting Games (Light Gun Shooters, Third-Person Action, Rail Shooter, Run & Gun, etc.) – Future Cop: L.A.P.D. (PC/PS1), Metal Slug 2 (ARC/NG), Assault: Retribution (PS1), Robotron 64 (N64), The House of the Dead 2 (ARC; DC port ’99). Honorable Mention: Time Crisis II (ARC; PS1 port later).

I’m combining all of these into one because of how few titles there are in each subgenre, and because I often combine all of these kinds of games together when sorting games.

Anyway, Future Cop LAPD is a fantastically fun sci-fi action-shooting game. It is third person, but while behind the mech, your view is zoomed out so much that it plays more like an overhead game than a behind-the-character one, hence its inclusion in this genre. Wherever you put it though the game is great fun. The missions are brutally hard and very long, so beating it will be quite hard, but it’s worth at least attempting. The multiplayer is also amazing, with strategy/action hybrid design that is unlike anything seen before.

As for Metal Slug, while the series in general is maybe run & gun’s best ever, MS2 is not the best Metal Slug game. The game aimed high, and added great new features like the two playable female characters to the series, but the constant slowdown really holds it back. Of the Neo-Geo Metal Slug games, the next two, X and 3, are definitely better than 3. Still, even an average Metal Slug game is still better than almost any other shooter, and Fio and Eri date to ’98.

Assault: Retribution is one of the better 3d overhead-ish run & gun action games of its generation. It isn’t incredible but it is good, which is more than you can say for most games of its type, such as the two PS1 Contra games.

Robotron 64, meanwhile, is basically an enhanced version of the previous year’s Robotron X for PS1, but while that game was a somewhat unplayable disaster, this one is pretty good. The key difference is the camera, which now is zoomed out so you can actually see the whole stage and what is going on. This change makes the game dramatically more fun. If you play this game play this version.

Other than this, some other shooting gmaes that are pretty average but some people may enjoy anyway include Apocalypse (PS1) and Centipede (PC/PS1/later DC), as well as Nitrous Oxide: N2O (PS1), a second rate Tempest 2000 knockoff of sorts, except as a rail shooter.

Strategy (Real-Time or Turn-Based) – Starcraft: Brood War (PC), Shining Force III Scenarios 2 and 3 (SAT), Worms 2 (PC), Norm Koger’s The Operational Art of War, Vol. 1: 1939-1955 (PC), MechCommander (PC). Honorable Mention: Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines (PC).

Myth II: Soulblighter (PC) is the next title, just missing the top six.

The top four in this genre are all popular and important classics among the best ever. Starcraft is the best thing ever, Worms 2 the essential Worms game which defined the visual look of the restof the franchise, TOAOW a very important title in the wargaming subgenre which was regarded by PC Gamer and others as the years’ best wargame and started a noteworthy series, and Shining Force III a beloved trilogy which still has devoted fans. There were other Japanese tactical strategy games in ’98 other than SFIII, but that is the clear most popular one. On Worms 2 in particular, I have never understood why its sequel, Worms Armageddon, is the one that seems to be remembered the most. Armageddon is, in fact, pretty much just Worms 2 but with a full-screen interface instead of Worms 2’s basic Windows menus and a few new items. Oh, and it saves your progress in the single player with save files instead of having to write down passwords as Worms 2 did for some stupid reason. Armageddon is just a level and item pack expansion for Worms 2, all of the core gameplay and graphics are identical. They even tried to lie about Armageddon being special for its online play, but Worms 2 had online play also, with lobbies and everything, built in to the game! I played it. Worms 2 is the game that defined what a Worms game looks and plays like. I think it is by far the most important release in the series. As for the others, TOAOW is one of the few older wargames that genre fans might put on a top games list. Earlier hit wargames like Panzer General or Steel Panthers are much more mass market focused, but TOAOW tries to be both semi-approachable and a serious title.

The top three games are games with both base building and unit control. TOAOW is a wargame, meaning it’s a dense unit control game. And the bottom three are games with only unit control with small to moderate numbers of units, also known as tactical strategy games. Of them I picked MechCommander for the top spot because I had the most fun with it and it has a deeper strategic base layer than the others; you can customize your mechs in between missions, which is great fun. Next is Commandos, a small unit tactical strategy game which was a massive breakout hit for its developer. The game combines stealth and strategic combat in a brilliant way. As for Myth II: Soulblighter, it might have a slightly higher review average than Commandos, but for long-term industry impact, when comparing these two units-only, no-building tactical strategy games, there is no question which is more important: Commandos. Commandos created a subgenre somewhat popular to this day, Myth didn’t. Also, Myth is a good game but I just don’t like it as much as those other games myself, it feels like a classic RTS but you can’t build units, instead of something else like a wargame or Commandos do. And in an RTS, I like base building.

Also maybe of note, though far below the top tier greats of the above category: Police Quest: SWAT 2 (PC), Dune 2000 (PC), M.A.X. 2 (PC), KKND 2 (PC), CyberStorm 2: Corporate Wars (PC), Battlezone (FPS-strategy) (PC), Star Wars: Rebellion (4X) (PC), Uprising 2 (FPS-strategy) (PC), Dominion: Storm over Gift 3 (PC), or Liberation Day (PC). Also remember that building sims are a separate genre on this list, which is why they are not here (Anno 1602, The Settlers III, etc.). These gmaes are fine to good, but not all-timers. The original Dune 2 is noteworthy for being the game that created the RTS genre as we know it, but its modernized remake here is more like, oh yeah, in between Command & Conquer games they did that thing. It’s good but did not match the C&C games in popularity. It’s probably the best game in this group, though, as it’s solidly made. The next best would probably be Battlezone, a surprisingly good RTS/FPS hybrid title. Uprising is a bit like that but worse. The other standard RTS here is Dominion, which is infamous for its publisher which was working on a certain FPS by John Romero more so than the very average game. Also realtime is CyberStorm 2, which is a bit like MechCommander but with a straight overhead view and less ambitious design. Last is the pretty flawed RTS/FPS hybrid M.A.X. 2. As I said in the 4X category (in the first post), Star Wars: Rebellion is also considered disappointing and flawed. It is a very micromanagement-heavy game.

Other noteworthy Japanese tactical strategy (aka Strategy-RPG) games of 1998, beyond Shining Force III’s volumes – Black/Matrix (PS1/SAT, JP only), Kartia: The Word of Fate (PS1; JP ’98, US ’99); Langrisser V: The End of Legend (SAT, JP only), Sakura Taisen 2: Kimi, Shiitamou koto Nakare (SAT, JP only), Wachenroder (SAT, JP only). Of these my favorite is Wachenroder, though Sakura Taisen 2 is surely the most popular.

Looking back, the best game ever (StarCraft) aside, honestly while there were a lot of RTSes in ’98, ’97 has more top tier RTSes. ’94: WarCraft I. ’95: Command & Conquer, WarCraft II. ’96: Command & Conquer: Red Alert. ’97: NetStorm: Islands At War, Age of Empires, Total Annihilation, Myth, Star Command. ’98: StarCraft, Myth II. ’99: Age of Empires II, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms. ’00: Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. ’01: Conquest: Frontier Wars. ’02: WarCraft III. ’03 to ’10: Age of Empires III, Rise of Nations, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War (series), Rise of Nations 2, Supreme Commander, Supreme Commander 2. 2011: Starcraft II. More recently: Beyond All Reason (freeware), Age of Empires IV, Tempest Rising, and of course the Starcraft, Age of Empires II, and Age of Empires III remasters. AoE II and III both have new official content additions as well, exclusively for the remasters. Starcraft Remastered, Age of Empires II Remaster, Tempest Rising, Warcraft III, Age of Empires IV, and Beyond All Reason still have active multiplayer communities. You can find a match in NetStorm or Warcraft II with patience as well.

Simulation (Building) – SimCity 3000 (PC), Anno 1602 (PC), Caesar III (PC), Railroad Tycoon II (PC, later DC). Honorable Mention: The Settlers III.

There really are only a few definitely noteworthy games for this genre but all are important titles, the top three especially. Anno is particuluarly important since it started that series that would come to define this subgenre, and also for taking The Settlers’ place at the lead of the dense Eurogame resource and trading-heavy category. The Settlers also had a release this year, but in retrospect it was eclipsed by Anno 1602. When I think of a complex economic-focused strategy game with lots of resources to collect and trade, complicated economic tech trees, worker placement, and such, that quintisential European-style strategy game, my first thought to describe it is ‘like The Settlers’, but I imagine most people would find ‘like Anno’ much more useful. And the first Anno game is quite good.

SC3k is also quite important, being in some ways the best SimCity game ever released. My bias will always be with SimCity 2000, but 3000 adds a lot and is also a fantastic game.  It has beautiful 2d sprite art grahics and some systems improvements over 2k.  SC3k is the last unquestioned great SimCity game, as the series faded off after this in favor of The Sims. I find that sad personally, I love SimCity but never have had any interest at all in The Sims. I’ve never played a The Sims game and doubt I ever will. And last but definitely not least, Railroad Tycoon II is one of the most successful transportation sim games ever. Either this or A-Train are surely the best known railroad sim games ever.  Railroad Tycoon II sold great and won awards.

Simulation (Vehicular Combat) – Falcon 4.0 (PC), Jane’s WWII Fighters (PC), M1 Tank Platoon II (PC), iM1A2 Abrams (PC), Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator: WWII Europe Series (PC).

This is the last year AAA hardcore vehicular simulators relased on PC — after ’98 nothing would match Falcon 4.0 or its racing counterpart Grand Prix Legends (next category) in budget for the time or scope. Falcon 4.0 launched with many issues, but its place as the last seriously hardcore realistic flight simulator with a big budget counts for a lot. The game, and GP Legends beside it, are important parts of the end of the PC-exclusive gaming era. It may be easy to forget this today, but racing sims and flight simulators were major, AAA-tier genres in the ’80s and ’90s on computers. 1998 would be the end of that, for the most part. Other than Falcon 4.0, the rest of these games are ‘good to fine but not absolutely essential must play stuff’ titles. They’re good if you like the genres but don’t have lasting active communities.

As a note, there were no major civilian flight simulators released in 1998. Microsoft Flight Simulator ’98 actually released in fall ’97, and its main competitor at the time Flight Unlimited III released in ’99. I’m sure some addon content for MFS’98 released in ’98 though.

Flight Combat (Arcadey or Simmish) – Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War (PC), Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (PC/N64), Stellar Assault SS (SAT) (J), Forsaken (PS1/PC) & Forsaken 64 (N64), Buck Bumble (N64). Honorable Mention: Colony Wars: Vengeance (PS1)

Special Mention: I-War (PC) (EU ’97, US ’98). This is a good space sim, not quite at FreeSpace’s level but high quality. It is ultimately really a 1997 game though.

The top two in this genre are pretty important. FreeSpace 1 is a late entry into the space sim genre previously defined by Wing Commander and X-Wing/TIE Fighter. Freespace 2 is the really iconic title — it’s often regarded as quite likely the best space sim that isn’t a Star Wars game — but it wouldn’t exist without this first game, and the series started off great. As is also true for games like X-Wing, Freespace is significantly more complex than the other games on this list, but less than the ‘real’ simulators in the above genre. I’m not sure which genre it should go in but I went with this one. As for Rogue Squadron, it is a fantastic flight action game with some of the best, most fun arcadey flying maybe ever. The game started a four-game series of Star Wars flight action games from Factor 5, and it was a favorite series of mine at the time. All four games are great, this one very much included. The PC version is better, but for the N64 that version looks and plays fantastic, particularly with the Expansion Pak.

As for the other games, Forsaken and Forsaken 64 are pretty good 6DOF (Descent-clone) shooters, like a hybrid between a FPS and a flight action game.  Descent got surprisingly few clones, and Forsaken is a pretty good one.  I wish it had a map, but it’s otherwise good.  Note that the N64 version is different from the PC/PS1 one and has different levels. Many people would surely put Colony Wars: Vengeance higher on their list, but I never liked that game all that much so I’m putting it low.  I just never enjoyed playing either G-Police or Colony Wars much at all. Stellar Assault SS is definitely better.  Buck Bumble (N64) has somewhat annoying close fog, but once you get used to it it plays decently well.  Its iconic rap intro might make some people put it higher on the list regardless of its gameplay, though.

Racing Simulation – Grand Prix Legends (PC), Colin McRae Rally (PS1/PC) (EU release, other regions ’99), Viper Racing (PC), F-1 World Grand Prix (N64, later DC/PS1/PC), Monaco Grand Prix: Racing Simulation 2 (PC/N64/PS1/DC), maybe Motocross Madness (PC).  If you don’t want to count that, maybe NASCAR ’99 (PC/PS1/N64) I guess.  Special Mention: The Western release of 1997 (in Japan)’s Gran Turismo (PS1).  Another noteworthy game released in Europe in ’97 that released in North America in ’98 is F1 Racing Simulation (PC), from Ubisoft, the first game in the series that Monaco Grand Prix continued. It was a critical hit here but sold poorly.

Yes, in ’99 F1 sims dominated the realistic racing genre. Grand Prix Legends is the main event here, as I said in the first article.  The game is regarded by classic racing game enthusiasts as probably the greatest older racing simulation game ever made.  There would not be another game on its level until maybe iRacing, and relative to the time their budgets are lower.  In between the best probably is Assetto Corza, but it is not regarded quite as highly as GPL.  I am not a sim racing fan, but those who are know this game to be the pinnacle of the genre.  The game didn’t get as many awards as you might expect, probably because of how difficult control is, but those who learned how to play it well love it. (As an aside, there is also an iRacing mode called Grand Prix Legends, which just like the original game is a 1960s F1 cars mode.  iRacing was founded by one of the founders of Papyrus, the developer of the original Grand Prix Legends, so this is a nice callback to their most beloved title among the hardcore.)

As for the rest of these titles, Colin McRae Rally began an important series that would become the Dirt series of simmish rally racers.  The first one isn’t as realistic as the Dirt games would become, but it was a massive hit in Europe particularly and was more realistic than previous games in the genre.  Viper Racing is a somewhat lightweight sim, but it’s fun and has great crash and car damage modeling.  Motocross Madness is one of those hybrid titles, an arcade/sim crossover with more realistic handling than Moto Racer, but lots of very arcadey elements like being able to jump very high up into the air.  It’s the Forza Horizon of ’90s motorcycle racing games, I guess.  And Gran Turismo releasing in the West was hugely significant.  Gran Turismo would be a massive seller in both the US and Europe, selling a good 4 million copies in each region.  The game is a pretty lightweight sim compared to top PC sims like GPL or 1996’s Geoff Crammond’s Grand Prix II, and has no car damage, disappointingly, but that is surely an important part of how it sold so much while the hardcore sims always were more niche.  Given that the kind of racing it covers isn’t that popular in the US, it’s interesting that the game sold so well here.

Arcade-style or Futuristic Racing – Daytona USA 2 (ARC), F-Zero X (N64), XG2: Extreme-G 2 (N64, later PC), Moto Racer 2 (PC/PS1), R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (PS1).

The racing genre had a massive number of good and great games this year, it is nearly impossible to choose only five.  You can tell this is my list from the inclusions of XG2 and Moto Racer 2, I just couldn’t leave them out.  A more objective top list would probably have 1080 Snowboarding and Speed Busters or Motocross Madness instead of those two.

If we break things up into subgenres:

Arcade racing – that is, actual arcade games released in arcades – Daytona USA 2, California Speed (also N64 the next year), Sega Rally 2 (also DC the next year), Radikal Bikers, Hyperdrive.

’98 probably isn’t the best year ever for arcade racing games, but all of these titles are pretty fun. I am a big San Francisco Rush fan, and its developer Atari Games made two racing games in ’98. However, the arcade one was California Speed, which is a point-to-point racer, conceptually basically a Cruis’n game in the Rush engine. Expect a lot of straight lines and smooth curves. It’s fun, but but is easier than the main Rush series; this is light entertainment and not something that will take serious play to learn. As for the two Sega games here, Sega Rally 2 and Daytona 2 are both pretty good. Daytona 2 is the much more legendary of the two, though, being an expensive, beautiful-looking game with some of the best graphics of any game released in 1998. It is the second of two racing games running on its hardware, after ’97’s Scud Race, and tragically neither one got a home port pretty much ever. Very sad. Daytona USA 2 isn’t the iconic classic that the first Daytona is, but its expense and relative rarity are surely part of why. It is still a top tier arcade racing game that should have come home. As for Sega Rally 2, it isn’t the visual stunner that Daytona 2 is, and is generally regarded as a downgrade from the very popular original Sega Rally, but it’s still a pretty good game, especially in arcades; the Dreamcast version isn’t as good as the arcade is. Those last two games aren’t games I have played before, but they look interesting and hopefully are worth mentioning.

Futuristic racing – F-Zero X (N64), Wipeout 64 (N64), XG2: Extreme-G 2 (N64/PC), Powerslide (PC), S.C.A.R.S. (N64/PC/PS1). Honorable Mentions: DethKarz (PC), Red Asphalt (PS1).

What an amazing lineup! Those top four are four of the best futuristic racing games ever, no question. F-Zero X is the elite title here, a beloved classic I, and many others, love. Wipeout 64 is an interesting one, the Wipeout series of Playstation games gone N64, with levels adapted from the PS1 games and some new design ideas. It is a challenging game that is probably slightly easier than the PS1 games. It’s my personal favorite Wipeout game. XG2 is another favorite of mine, a combat-heavy racer I regard highly. The N64 version does have framerate problems, but even so it’s an impressive game with huge, complex tracks and outstanding gameplay. PowerSlide is much lesser known than those three N64 classics, but it’s a fantastic game. As the name suggests it’s a powersliding-heavy game with often dirt tracks. It has somewhat realistic physics but still has enough of that arcade charm to be a lot of fun. The game controls impressively well and I highly recommend trying it.

DethKarz is a decent futuristic racer, but I find it really frustrating — it has a lot of floating roads with no walls, it can be hard to stay on the track and not fall off, and the handling isn’t the kind I like. It got good reviews though so clearly other people see something in it I didn’t. SCARS is basically a futuristic kart racing game so it barely deserves to be in this genre but I’ll put it in both. I think it’s a good game, but don’t love it as much as many seem to. It’s here more for its popularity than anything. On the other hand, Red Asphalt (PS1) got bad reviews but I think it’s pretty fun, good game. The track layouts are great and controls are good. If this list was based purely on my opinions, Red Asphalt would be in the top five for this genre no question. I like it a lot more than DethKarz or SCARS.

Also noteworthy, perhaps, is Motorhead (PC/PS1) if you count it as futuristic.  It’s a simple but fun circuit racer which has great graphics but simplistic gameplay. Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now (PC) is also maybe worth mentioning.  It’s not the iconic classic-of-sorts that the first game is, but it’s a decent racing game with massive levels and somewhat San Francisco Rush-inspired handling.

Motorcycle or Snowboard racing: Moto Racer 2 (PC/PS1), 1080 Degrees Snowboarding (N64), Motocross Madness (PC), Road Rash 3D (PS1), Redline Racer (PC, later DC as Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing).

I know tossing 1080 in this category might be odd, but I can’t think of another category that fits it better.  It is the most popular snowboarding game ever. I know most people dislike Road Rash 3D, but it’s actually my favorite game in the series.  Moto Racer 2 is my favorite motorcycle racing game ever, for PC; exceptional game.  It is a very fast and fun arcade-style game, awesome stuff.  Motocross Madness is also very good.  It’s a lot more realistic than Moto Racer 2 so doing well takes more practice, but once you figure it out it’s great fun.  It’s not quite on par with Excitebike 64 for a more realistic motorcycle racing game with big air, but it’s great stuff.  And Redline Racer is disliked by many but I’d call it under-rated. It’s fast and fun, a lot like Moto Racer but not quite as great.

Unrealistic modern racing (not arcade games) – Speed Busters: American Highways (PC, later DC as Speed Devils), Need for Speed III: High Stakes (PC/PS1), R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (PS1), Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA (N64), Top Gear Overdrive (N64). Honorable Mention: Test Drive 5 (PC/PS1), maybe.

Test Drive 5 is a simple and somewhat average game, but it’s fun.  Speed Busters really surprised me, I wasn’t expecting it to be better than NFS, but it is.  Great game!  It’s too bad it didn’t become a franchise apart from its two Dreamcast versions.  The PC version of NFS3 is a very good game, but the problem with it is that NFS4: High Stakes contains all of its content plus a lot more.  If you’re going to play one of those games today High Stakes for PC is the obvious choice. Still, Hot Pursuit is simpler and is straightforward fun, unlike the sometimes brutal campaign mode in High Stakes, so both ahve a place I guess. As for the console games,  R4 is surely the most popular game on this list but I don’t love it as much as some.  It’s good though.  Top Gear Overdrive is very fast and plays great, in some ways it might be the most solid of the four N64 Top Gear games.  And Rush 2… well, it’s like Rush 1 for N64 but with bigger, longer tracks.  I think the tracks are probably a bit too long and less thrill-focused than the tracks for the arcade games are, but it is a console exclusive so the different design style makes sense.  I like it less than the other two N64 Rush games but it’s still great. Oh, the PS1 version of NFS3 Hot Pursuit is fine enough but not as good as the PC game, or the three other console games I just mentioned.

Kart or Character Racing – S.C.A.R.S. (PS1/N64/PC), Sonic R (Saturn, later GC/PC). These two games are quite different, but I want to mention them and SCARS goes here as well as in futuristic.  Both of these games have diehard fans, but for the most part 1998 was a year where people continued to play Mario Kart 64 or Diddy Kong Racing on their N64s if they had one.  Why only these two?  Well, the only other kart racer of any note I can find is Bomberman Fantasy Race (PS1), which is thoroughly mediocre.  Kart racers almost could be in the ‘genres that weren’t good in ’98’ list, though enough people like SCARS that maybe I shouldn’t put it there.

Air Racing – Plane Crazy (PC/PS1), Aero Gauge (N64). Neither of these games are incredible, but they are both a fun time for this somewhat different subgenre. Plane Crazy for PC is one of the better arcadey plane racing games.  It’s a pretty fun game.  Aero Gauge is a futuristic flight racing game so it’s really in both of those categories, but while decent the game has some issues.

Topdown or Overhead-ish Racing/Combat: Vangers (PC), Circuit Breakers (PS1). Special Mention: Grand Theft Auto (PC/PS1), which released in Europe in ’97 and the rest of the world in ’98.

GTA is one of the very early games set in a single large space, not multiple maps. It has most of the chaos of its later 3d sequels, though simplified a bit because of the perspective. The game isn’t exactly a 1998 release but it needs a mention, I am American.  On Vangers, it is also an overhead driving/shooter.  Those who know this insane trip of a game know why it must be mentioned here.  The game is a crazy, open world driving combat adventure in a future where people are all human-bug hybrids.  The world is broken up into maps and isn’t one single space, but still, it’s quite a unique title.  Circuit Breakers has a kind of behind the car view, but at its core it’s an overhead-style game in the style of the Micro Machines games that the developer had made previously so I’m putting it here.

Car (Arena) Combat – Vigilante 8 (PS1/N64, later DC), Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012 (PS1), Twisted Metal III (PS1).

This year Sony and the developer of the first two Twisted Metal games separated, leading to the original studio making the knockoff-named Rogue Trip while Sony had a new team make the underwhelming third main series entry.  The first two Twisted Metal games are much more popular than the later ones, but between these two I’d imagine Rogue Trip is likely better. As for Vigilante 8, it is kind of a Twisted Metal-style arcadey car combat spinoff of 1997’s PC car combat simulator Interstate ’76.  It’s a fun little game but nothing really special.  I’d probably rather play it than those other games but this has never been a genre that appealed to me all that much.

For racing games the one thing really missing is something that would soon become hugely popular, open-world racing games.  There aren’t any racing or driving games this year that have a single huge open world.  There are some games with large levels to drive around in, such as Motocross Madness (PC), Body Harvest (N64), Vangers (PC), the car combat games, Monster Truck Madness 2 (PC), and such, but important steps in the larger-world driving or car combat games such as Driver (1999), Grand Theft Auto III (2001), and Smuggler’s Run (2001) hadn’t released yet.

First Person Shooter or FPS-hybrid – Half-Life (PC), Thief: The Dark Project (PC), Star Wars: Jedi Knight – Mysteries of the Sith (expansion pack for 1997’s Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II), Starsiege: Tribes (PC), Unreal (PC). Honorable Mention: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six (PC ver.)

Top console FPS: probably Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (N64/PC). Also Noteworthy: SiN (PC), Shogo: Mobile Armor Division (PC).

This is certainly one of the best first-person game lineups of any year ever. Mysteries of the Sith is perhaps my favorite FPS campaign ever, if the base Dark Forces II isn’t; Thief is the definitive stealth game, a title that pretty much invented serious stealth gaming; Half-Life took Jedi Knight’s cinematic style and made it more mainstream by making the game a lot more linear and approachable, and was at the time regarded as maybe the greatest PC game ever, with PC Gamer US’s highest score ever up to that point, 98%; Unreal had some of the best graphics of any PC game that year and would turn out to be a very popular and well-designed game, you have heard of the Unreal Engine in part because of this game that was the first to use it; Tribes 1 was an innovative multiplayer-focused shooter with dozens of players in each game in huge open arenas, zooming around on jetpacks shooting each other with guns such as the iconic Spinfusor; and Rainbow Six was the first game to try to be a realistic first-person police SWAT assault simulator.  SWAT 2, relased the same year, does something somewhat similar but from an overhead isometric perspective, but Rainbow Six is a full first person game.  And last, Turok 2 was a crazy-huge and ambitious title for the N64, with a huge world and a lot to look for and do. Compared to the years’ PC library I don’t think it quite compares, but it still is a very noteworthy release.

Compared to other years, 1998’s FPS entries are interesting. It shows the genre just before major change, as 1999 would be the year of the arena shooter, and then shortly after that Halo moved everything in a new, simpler direction.  But first, in ’99, Quake 3 (PC), Unreal Tournament (PC), and Turok Rage Wars (N64) all released, and the first two of those became iconic classics for daring to drop the single player campaign and only have multiplayer-style arena battles.  Older shooters usually either simply had the multiplayer be in the regular single player levels, or had some multiplayer levels but only a few of them as a sideline to the main campaign.  And then in ’99 came the arena shooters… but right there in between those two styles is Tribes, a multiplayer-focused shooter with massive levels and a high skill ceiling. It has the multiplayer of the ’99 games, but the level scale of its time, or more. Fascinating stuff. Tribes is a spinoff from Sierra’s mech, or HERC as they call them, franchise.  By dropping the mechs for fast little people with jetpacks Sierra was changing with the times, and making something that could not have been done as well earlier on.  There would be one last giant robots game from Sierra in ’99, Starsiege, before their mech franchise ended in favor of just Tribes. People still play Tribes online, which is unsurprising given how unique and challenging it is.

Before I move on to the next genre… the ‘Well, Its Ideas Mattered A Lot In the Future!’ Award: Jurassic Park: Trespasser (PC).  Trespasser is an infamously bad game, but it is also an infamously innovative one.  Its physics-based puzzles were something never seen before. Half-Life 2 would build off of ideas Trespasser first got off the ground.  The game has large, open levels to explore, and when run on a newer, post-1998 computer that can actually run it well, is something some people find they enjoy a lot more than they were expecting.

Third-person Shooter (behind the character) – Heretic II (PC).

While third-person console action, action-adventure, or action-RPG games were popular in ’98 with games such as Zelda – Ocarina of Time, TES Adventures: Redguard, or Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, the third-person shooting-focused genre was still very new.  Indeed, Heretic II, here, is one of the early examples of this soon-to-be-huge subgenre of the FPS.  It’s basically a FPS with the camera pulled back outside of the character.  It’s not really noteworthy otherwise though, the game is a downgrade from Raven’s previous games.  I think that this game shows something very fascinating, though, and that is how Raven abandoned complex game design for simple between 1997 and 2002.  It seems like they recognized the changes that would be coming to the industry, of PC and arcade developers going console, before they really happened, and you see that with Heretic II.  Raven’s first game, Heretic, is basically fantasy Doom, with Doom-style levels to explore.  1995’s Hexen was a massive and complex first person adventure set in a single huge connected world, where you wandered around fighting numerous powerful enemies and looking for switches and the path forward, or the path to a switch that opened some door somewhere else, if you can ever figure out which one and where that place is.  It is a challenging game that takes serious commitment to beat, and while I did have the game in the ’90s — it was the first FPS I owned — like most people I eventually gave up on it. Hexen 2, from 1997, has more streamlined level layouts than the first one, but still is a complex puzzle game with large-ish levels and tricky, confusing puzzles.

But 98’s Heretic II dramatically simplifies things.  This time the game is largely a linear hack and slash adventure, and not all that long of one either.  They may have been rushed, but clearly Raven decided to change their design style to make their games a lot simpler and more approachable in the future, in order to make games people would finish instead of not. They continued this with all the games they made after this. Next was Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, a very linear and simple FPS.  It’s a fun thrillride that you’ll blast through.  After that Elite Force 2 was more of the same, and then their two Star Wars games, Jedi Knight II and Jedi Academy, are similarly simplified, linear games, without any of the scale and complexity of games like Hexen or Jedi Knight 1.  I have always found JKII very deeply disappointing because of this, it’s high on my list of most disappointing games ever.  Still, simple can be fun; I like Elite Force 1 almost as much as Hexen.  Both styles can be good.  But when something already is one thing, I’d rather see it stay that way than simplify to reach a wider audience, as you see going from JK1 to JK2, or, for another developers’ example, ActiVision going from Interstate ’76 (1997) to Vigilante 8 (1998).

For platformers, you need an excuse for why Mario games are not included, since there were no Mario platformers released in 1998.  Just say that it’s a best platformers ever that aren’t Mario games list.  I think the 3d platformers list is credible enough to convince many about its all-time legitimacy, but the 2d/2.5d list wouldn’t do so for most.

Platformers (3d) – Banjo-Kazooie (N64), Sonic Adventure (J) (DC), Space Station Silicon Valley (N64), Spyro the Dragon (PS1), Burning Rangers (SAT). Honorable Mention: Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (PS1).

This is a very solid list indeed loaded with beloved classics.  This isn’t MY top list, I don’t think that any of these would be in my no-Mario all time top 6, but it is a very good list.  All of these games are many someones’ favorite 3d platformer ever.  Sonic Adventure and Banjo-Kazooie would be particularly influential for the genres’ development, as Banjo typifies the collectathon style while Sonic Adventure finally started figuring out how to make a very fast-paced platformer in 3d, something nobody had succeeded at before. Both are definitely must-play games!  These two are all-timers.

For the others, Space Station Silicon Valley has an interesting possession mechanic, giving you a variety of creatures to control.  Burning Rangers is short, but its jetpack-based gameplay is visually impressive and compelling while it lasts.  And Spyro showed that the PS1 could, indeed, do a solid 3d platformer. It’s empty-feeling compared to an N64 one, and I find the constant cutscenes annoying, but it’s well made.  Crash 3… it’s here for its fans. I’m not really one, but it’s fine, average stuff.  I do like it best of the three PS1 Crash platformers though.

For less noteworthy 3d platformers, Bomberman Hero (N64) is solid, but not amazing. It’s the only Bomberman game to be a full-on 3d platformer, but it’s done well enough to do. It would be in my personal top 5 for the year.  Infamously difficult Glover (N64/PC, later PS1) and not as great sequel to popular classics Tomb Raider III (PC/PS1) both released in ’98.  Tomb Raiders 1 and 2 were big deals, but I think that 3 is when the series started to feel like just more of the same to its fans.  Also, it’s largely forgotten, but the first person 3d platformer Montezuma’s Return (PC) (EU ’98, US ’99) is also interesting stuff to look at.  It released in Europe in ’98 and the US in ’99, yes Europe first, so it does qualify for this list.  It’s nowhere near the quality of those console games but I admire the attempt to make platforming work in first person.

Platformers (2d/2.5d) – Goemon’s Great Adventure (JP release; US ’99) (N64), Wario Land II (GB) (note, the more famous GBC version released in ’99, but the B&W version is the same game other than color.  And this version does have SGB color.), Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee (PS1/PC), Montezuma’s Return (GB/C), Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (PC).  Honorable Mention: Heart of Darkness (PS1).

Special Mention: Klonoa (PS1) (JP ’97, US/EU ’98).  Klonoa is one of the best and most popular 2.5d platformers, but it did release in Japan in late ’97, a bit like the inverse of Goemon’s Great Adventure.  Between the two Klonoa is more popular I’m sure, but I like GGA the most.  Any genre fan should play both.

After these, Super Tempo (JP only) (SAT) and Rockman & Forte (JP only) (SNES) would be the next two, most likely, and most would pick one of those, but I really like Montezuma’s Return so I’m putting that on one the list.  Rockman & Forte probably should be on the top 5 over Jazz 2, but I’m leaving things this way.  Sorry.

As for this list, Goemon’s Great Adventure one of my favorite platformers ever. It’s outstanding, crazy fun, and it’s a tragedy that Konami would never again put as much effort into a Goemon game as they did GGA.  Wario Land II is a weird game thanks to its no-die mechanic and puzzle-heavy focus, but while frustrating it is pretty good. I’ve 100%ed it twice, once on SGB and once GBC.  Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is the least well known game here, but it probably should be more well known than it is. Epic deserves credit for releasing a 2d platformer on PC in 1998, the genre was mostly dead on PC or TV consoles by that point.  The game does have pretty small graphics, but that means that now you can see where you are going, unlike the first one   It’s still a classic western shooter/platformer.  Abe’s Oddysee and Heart of Darkness are highly animated games, of the Prince of Persia vein.  That kind of rotoscoped style has never been a favorite of mine, it feels like you have less precise, instant control of your character in this kind of game.  I like Heart of Darkness despite that, it’s a straightforward, well made platformer.  I do not love Abe’s Oddysee — if this was a ‘how much I like the games’ list it’d be far below all other titles I’ve mentioned here — but it’s important so it probably should be on the list even if I don’t like playing it all that much.  It is an important and interesting title with unique mechanics in its GameSpeak system.

Montezuma’s Return is a remake of a classic title from the early ’80s.  It is a flip-screen platform adventure where you jump around, get items, and figure out where to use them to work your way through the pyramid you are exploring.  This game is a nice improvement over the original, adding features such as password save once you finish each pyramid, or temple, or whatever.  Also you start out in simpler levels, working up to larger, more complex ones as you go.  This game is little-known but actually is quite good — it’s an A-grade game.  I know most would put Heart of Darkness or Rockman & Forte in their top five and not this one, but I’d guess most of them have never given Montezuma’s Return a chance.  You’d have a much better chance of convincing me to remove Jazz 2 than Montezuma’s Revenge.

On that note, Rockman & Forte is a brutally hard game with some design issues.  It’s kind of ironic that it was thought of as a title for the probably younger audiences still on the SNES, because it’s the hardest Mega Man game of its generation by far!  I think it’s too hard to be fun, but it’s good.  Super Tempo is a much more approachable game.  I get why it wasn’t released here, and it’s nothing special, but it’s a solidly fun title, much like its 32X predecessor.  Maybe one of these two should be on the top 5 instead of Jazz 2, it’s close.

Overall, nobody is going to believe this is a ‘best non-Mario platformers ever’ list, but yes, 1998 did have good 2d platformers.  Goemon’s Great Adventure particularly is a favorite of mine. It’s my pick for best 2.5d platformer of its era.  The top two on this list are ‘best ever non-Mario’ tier games.

Here’s my attempt at a Platformers of 1998 (Overall) list: Goemon’s Great Adventure, Banjo-Kazooie, Sonic Adventure, Wario Land II, Montezuma’s Return.

Fighting Games – Combined or 2D – The Last Blade 2 (ARC/NG), Street Fighter Alpha 3 (ARC), The King of Fighters ’98 (ARC/NG), Marvel vs. Capcom (ARC), Guilty Gear (PS1).

Honorable Mentions: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (ARC) (JP release; US ’99), Samurai Shodown! Pocket Fighting Series (Neo-Geo Pocket), King of Fighters R-1 (Neo-Geo Pocket). (The latter two games are JP exclusive releases which have sequels on the Neo-Geo Pocket Color that got Western releases.)

In addition to these, the first home ports of earlier arcade games Vampire Savior/DarkStalkers 3 released on PS1 & Saturn (Saturn JP only). Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (PS1/SAT, Saturn JP only) and Pocket Fighter (PS1/SAT, SAT JP only) all also had their first home release in ’98 after ’97 arcade releases. Also the PS1 version of X-Men vs. Street Fighter was in ’98; it was a ’97 release on ARC & SAT.

So yeah, it’s a pretty seriously stacked lineup. It is unfortunate that Street Fighter III is one of those series which bookended 1998, but ’98 has an all time great year with some of SNK and Capcom’s best ever 2d fighters releasing that year. The Last Blade 2 is my favorite 2d fighter ever, KOF ’98 is one of the most popular games ever in that legendary franchise (KOF ’02 being the other top classic game in the series), SFA3 was Capcom’s most popular 2d fighter of the time, Marvel vs. Capcom significantly improved over past Capcom Marvel games and set the stage for its iconic sequel (even if I’ve never been able to make any sense of how to play the games at all), and Guilty Gear was showed a new studio entering the genre, one which would prove to be among the genre’s most important. The flashy action of Guilty Gear or Blazblue games is something to behold, and you see that right from the start. And JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, known as JoJo’s Venture in the US, is a somewhat forgotten but beautifully animated game by some of the same staff who also worked on the Street Fighter III series. Given the games’ high sales in Japan at the time, how popular the JoJo series would later become, and the games’ high quality and stunningly animated visuals, it’s kind of surprising that it isn’t more popular today than it is.

As for those two handheld games, the two NGP games there are by far the best fighting games ever released on a handheld up to that point. Even better ones would release on NGPC, in color, in 1999 and 2000, but the B&W model got off to a fantastic start with two easy but really fun to play and nice looking titles. Yes, the AI won’t be much of a challenge, but otherwise NGP/C fighters are fantastic. These titles are the first handheld fighters that feel like console games in smoothness and quality.

As for 3d fighters, they weren’t anywhere near the 2d ones’ level this year. There are well over five 2d fighters from ’98 better than any 3d fighters that year. With that said some decent 3d fighters did release this year:

Fighting Games – 2.5D or 3D – There are basically two 1998s in this genre. On the one hand, home platforms got their first ports of three very important games. On the other hand though, the actual fully new titles of ’98 aren’t anywhere near as noteworthy.

The fully new games list: Bushido Blade (PS1), Tech Romancer (ARC, DC ’99), Bloody Roar II (PS1), Psychic Force 2012 (ARC), Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring (PS1). Honorable Mention: probably SoulCalibur (Arcade) [note that this is worse than the 1999 DC version!] or Street Fighter EX2 (Arcade/PS1).

The ports of earlier arcade games list: Tekken 3 (PS1; ARC ’97), Virtua Fighter 3tb (DC, JP release, elsewhere ’99; ARC ’96), Mortal Kombat 4 (N64/PS1; ARC ’97).

Yeah, those are much bigger names than the new titles! Tekken 3 is the best classic Tekken game, and was incredibly successful. Tekken 3 was apparently the highest-grossing arcade game in Japan in 1998, so the home port was of a still very relevant arcade game. I generally hate the Tekken series but even I will admit that Tekken 3 is a good game. The home release of Virtua Fighter 3tb is also noteworthy, particularly in Japan. While it never did much of anything in the US, VF3 was a very successful game in Japan in arcades. The home port isn’t as beloved as the first, second, or fourth VF games, but it’s still good. And Mortal Kombat 4… well, the game definitely wasn’t as popular as the 2d MK games that preceded it, but it still was a successful game at the time, with some very entertaining cutscenes and environmental interaction as well.

So yeah, if you count these ports, Tekken 3 in particular, 1998 was a good year for 3d fighters, but only looking at games first released anywhere in ’98, this list is underwhelming. Virtua Fighter 3tb is a solid port of a game that in Japan was very popular but here few people cared much about; VF3 just didn’t catch on in the US like it did in Japan. Of the fully new titles for ’98, Japanese arcade magazine Gamest gave Psycic Force 2012 their GOTY. It’s a flying-people, somewhat shooter/fighter hybrid thing, a bit like Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. (another fighting game of ’98, and one I didn’t mention because few like it) but better. I picked Bushido Blade for first place though because of these it’s the one I like playing the most by far. It has an interesting anime-inspired and yet semi-realistic style. Still, overall this list is games that I think of as nowhere near the greatness of the wave of titles that would follow in just a year or two. I don’t think anyone would ever confuse this for a best ever list, not even close. The best games here are decent but have nothing on the greatness of the 2d fighters in the above category. 3d fighters would improve dramatically the next year, in 1999, with Dead or Alive 2 and the Dreamcast version of SoulCalibur. For those who don’t know, the arcade SoulCalibur game runs on a PlayStation 1-based board. The graphics and gameplay were much improved for the Dreamcast release the next year.

Sports and Wrestling – WCW vs. NWO Revenge (N64), NHL ’99 (PC/N64/PS1), Madden ’99 (N64/PS1/PC), International Superstar Soccer ’98 (N64), High Heat Baseball ’99 (PC/PS1). Honorable Mentions: FIFA ’99 (N64/PS1/PC), NBA Live 99 (PC/N64/PS1).

Also, the home release of NFL Blitz (N64/PS1) happened in 1998, after releasing in arcades in ’97.

For the most part 1998’s sports games were sequels, as per usual. High Heat was an ew franchise, though, and until 3DO’s bankruptcy in 2003 it would be successful and reasonably popular. The first few games especially got notice for being the best more simmish baseball game series available at the time, since the previous simmish baseball leader, Hardball, had faded in quality. I love Hardball 3 through 5, but even I admit that Hardball 6 (which was a 1998 release), wasn’t great. The series would only last one more year after that; the last entry was ’99’s Hardball 6: 2000 Edition.

The most popular games here would obviously be Madden and FIFA, but the one with the most enduring fanbase probably would be WCW vs. NWO Revenge, which was the second AKI-developed wrestling game released on the N64 in the West and their third overall. AKI’s wrestling games are the nostalgic favorite of a great many people and dominate ‘best wrestling game ever’ lists. Their two WWF (WWE now) games, which released in ’99 and ’00, are probably better-known and more popular today than the two WCW games which preceeded them in ’97 and ’98, but in fact, WCW vs. NWO Revenge is the best-selling third party game on the N64 (not counting LucasArts games), not its WWF sequels. The gameplay and engine are pretty much the same as the WWF games to follow, just with different characters and maybe a few less modes. These games never interested me since I don’t like wrestling at all, but I’ve watched enough N64 Aki wrestling game play to know that a lot of people feel quite strongly about these games, which is why it takes first place in the category despite my general disinterest. My personal favorite here would be High Heat, probably, but I do like baseball a lot more than any other sport. NHL ’99 is a good fun time as well.

Obviously, this genre’s list won’t convince anyone that this is an all-time list.

Puzzle – Tetris DX (GB/C), Hexcite (GB/C), Wetrix (N64, PC/PS2 later), Susume Taisen Puzzle Dama (N64, JP only).

Also, in ’98 Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo released on the PC in the US (arcades/PS1/SAT earlier), and Puchi Carat released on PS1 in JP/EU and Saturn in JP (arcades ’97).

While most people would say that 1998 was not one of the puzzle genre’s best years, as the Tetris game was a rerelease and there was no Puyo Puyo this year for instance, the fourth game relased in ’99, 1998 was still a decently fine year for puzzle games. The color update to Tetris was nice, adding not just color but also battery save to save your best scores. I put it first because, well, it’s Tetris. In second, and in first for me because this is a 10/10 game on my list, I know nobody else cares, but I seriously love Hexcite, a game based on an obscure Japanese board game that I wish I could find a physical copy of. I wrote a review of it a few years back. It’s an amazing board/puzzle title that I got completely addicted to for at least a year some time back. Just incredible stuff. As for the others, Wetrix is an interesting 3d puzzle game where you use pieces to make reservoirs to try to hold all the water that soon starts flooding the stage. It’s pretty good, look it up if you haven’t played it. And last, Susume Taisen Puzzle Dama is a decent little puzzler from Konami. It’s the N64 entry in its then-ongoing Puzzle-Dama and Tokkaedama puzzle game franchise, and has both modes in one, albeit with original characters and not the franchise ones on other platforms, such as the Tokimeki Memorial versions on PS1. it’s basically like an easy version of Puyo Puyo — you only need to match three to form a match.

Lastly, Puchi Carat is a pretty great arcade game, and the home port’s just as fun. It’s a shame it never released in the US on PS1. If the arcade game had been from ’98 it would be in the main list for sure.  This list won’t convince anyone this is an all-time list, but any year with one of the better Tetris games should rank well.

Puzzle-Action – Egg (JP only release), Bomberman: Party Edition (’98 JP, ’00 US), Bomberman World (PS1).

Egg is a very weird but pretty cool game. You hit an egg around a stage, and as it rolls it takes control of territory. You will build a civilization in your territory, and compete against another player for dominance of each stage. It’s weird but actually pretty good. Give it a try.

Sadly, that’s where the ‘pretty good’ ends for 1998, because while there were six Bomberman games in 1998, neither of the two action-puzzle games are anything great. Indeed, going by their review averages, they are both below average. As for the other four Bomberman games though, they were in other genres — a turn-based strategy game, an action-adventure, a 3d platformer, and a kart racing game. These two are the classic-styled ones. Why did Hudson release two somewhat similar games in the same year, both on the same platform and both 2d overhead titles? Well, the game designs of both are different. World released in January and tries to be the next — and maybe kind of last — TV console 2d Bomberman game. It has nice isometric 2d graphics, but the gameplay isn’t as varied as Saturn Bomberman and it doesn’t look quite as good as that game. Party Edition released in December and is a remake of the original Bomberman, but with some nice multiplayer added. It’s clearly a smaller-scale offering than World, but actually reviewed slightly better. Its ‘kill all enemies in every level to proceed’ gameplay is very basic, but well, it is a remake of the first NES game, so you should expect that. Both are smaller-scale titles than what was surely the biggest-budget Bomberman game of ’98 and his best game that year, the decent 3d platformer Bomberman Hero on N64, but both are fun, classic Bomberman titles.

Party – Mario Party (N64) – This title basically recreated the board game / minigame collection.  It would have many copycats after its release, but it all started here, in ’98, with Mario Party 1.  The first one is definitely not the best game in the series, the second one for N64 is the fan favorite, but you wouldn’t have Mario Party 2 without the first game. 1998 is when this genre was, for the most part, created.  Board games and minigames both existed before, but not exactly this kind of combination of the two.  It would prove to be a very successful formula.

Music – Dance Dance Revolution (Arcade).  The first arcade release of DDR happened in Japan in, you guessed it, 1998!  The Western release would not be until ’99, but still, it’s Japan where it was the biggest hit.  So yeah, there was a hugely important moment for this genre as well.  DDR changed music games more than maybe any other; only Guitar Hero compares. DDR has challenging gameplay and a great dance music soundtrack.

Special Mention – Beatmania (PS1, JP only release) had its first console port of the 1997 arcade game happen in ’98.

Beat ’em Ups – The beat ’em up genre had mostly passed on by 1998, in favor of one-on-one fighting games.  I don’t think any decent beat ’em ups released in the US in 1998. Japan and/or Europe did get a few, though: Crisis Beat (PS1) (EU/JP only), Lucifer Ring (PS1) (JP only), Legend (PS1) (EU only), Rapid Angel (PS1, JP only), and that’s about it.   Ninja: Shadow of Darkness (PS1) did release in ’98 worldwide but it wasn’t any good and got universally poor reviews.  These are all obscure games I haven’t played so I can’t say how good any are myself.  The four games I mentioned do all at least have some decent GameFAQs review(s).

FMV Games – The FMV genre had boomed massively several years earlier, probably peaking in 1993-1994, but by ’98 most people had moved on to wanting gmaes with 3d polygonal graphics, not live-action video.  With that said, though, there were still a few FMV games releasing.  I mentioned some already in the adventure game genre — Black Dahlia (PC) and Tex Murphy: Overseer (PC) have live-action video and live actors.  Other than that, one of the more noteworthy releases is The Lost Ride (CD-i, EU only), a FMV rollercoaster shooter game a bit like earlier FMV games like Sewer Shark or Loadstar, but with better video quality.  It’s not the greatest game to actually play, but nothing in that genre was.

Open World Games – One of the most important and popular genres now, open-world games as we know them didn’t really quite exist yet in 1998.  Some of the underpinnings of the genre existed, such as the huge worlds of the big RPGs, the open chaos of Grand Theft Auto or its third person ’98 followup of sorts Body Harvest, the QTEs of something like Die Hard Arcade, the physics puzzle silliness of Jurassic Park: Trespasser… but the genre as it would come to be hadn’t put those parts all together.  With that said, Trespasser and Body Harvest both released in ’98 and are important to mention here.  Trespasser is an infamous mess of a game but it is an important mess, and it is one that became much more playable years later due to more powerful hardware finally being able to run the game well.  The games’ physics engine was the best ever seen in a game up to that point, it is an important milestone in game physics I think.  As for the largest RPG worlds of ’98, it may be Might & Magic VI: Mandate of Heaven.  Its world has nothing on the insane scope of the world of 1996’s The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, but it’s a big, open-world RPG with lots of monsters to fight and important evolutions to the first person RPG genre.  And unlike Daggerfall it is entirely hand-designed, instead of randomly generated each time.  On an Elder Scrolls note though, The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard has a decent-sized world to explore, fight, and adventure in.  It’s much more of an platform-adventure game in a largeish world than a modern open-world game, though.  I would say, again, that 2001’s Grand Theft Auto III is when the open-world game truly hit its full form.

The Most Awarded Games of 1998 At the Time

Wikipedia has a list of 1998’s most awarded games here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_in_video_games

As you can see from the list, he Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time dominated the console Game of the Year awards.  The only listed sources which award other 1998 games GOTY are Japanese arcade magainze Gamest, which gave it to Psychic Force 2012; the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, which went for Metal Gear solid, RPGFan, which chose Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, and Gamespot, which chose Grim Fandango as Game of the Year.  The other 9 listed awards all went to Zelda.  Ocarina of Time is one of the greatest games ever made, and while it isn’t my 1998 GOTY — obviously Starcraft is — it is still my favorite console game ever.  It deserved every bit of those many awards.

Wikipedia’s list of Game of the Year award recipients is very incomplete, however, as none of the PC gaming magazines are included but a lot of the console ones are. As a result of that, somehow Half-Life, the game which won most GOTY awards probably of any game that year, is not in their top list of the most-awarded games, and only shows up down in the ‘major releases by date’ section.  I’m not sure how this happened but it is a pretty major omission, as Half-Life won over 50 Game of the Year awards worldwide.  See ths list here: https://valvearchive.com/web_archive/sierrastudios.com/games/half-life/awards.html  The most notable among them include four of the five PC gaming magazines in the US: PC Gamer, PC Games, PC Accelerator, and Computer Gaming World, along with many websites – Adrenalive Vault, Gamespot Readers’ Poll, CNET Gamecenter, Blue’s News, Voodoo Extreme, Download.net, and many in Europe — PC Gamer (UK), several German magazines including PC Player and PowerPlay, and more.  How does Wikipedia’s little list not include any of those, but it does have some mass-media outlets giving awards to games from 1997?  That’s not great.  Still, there is a nice list of noteworthy releases there, it’s a good resource.

What about some platform sites?  Well, at that point, there were two major sources of gaming news and information, paper magazines, or websites.  The magazines split into two parts, console magazines — Nintendo Power, EGM, Game Informer, GamePro, Official PlayStation Magazine, and others in Europe such as Edge — and PC magazines, which in the US were four: PC Gamer (US), PC Games, Computer Games Strategy Plus, and Computer Gaming World.  On the internet, two sites which still exist, Gamespot and IGN, were the two leading games journalism places.  Other smaller sites also existed of course, mostly dedicated to a specific platform or type of game — RPGFan, Nintendorks, GB Station, etc.  At this point the internet was dominated by text with some images, as most people still had dial-up internet so streaming video was impossible at a watchable bitrate and even photos could take a while to load on slower internet.  Many sites and magazines gave out Game of the Year awards, but most only focus on their niche, such as PC games only or just Nintendo or what have you.

Of the two major gaming websites, Gamespot had both a PC side, Gamespot, and a console side, originally called Video Gamespot, but gave one unified award list, with Grim Fandango winning overall.  It is surely the most interesting GOTY pick of the year, but given how amazing the game is — it’s its genres’ best game ever after all — I can’t argue with it.  IGN, however, at this point had completely siloed sites, with each platform site operating with different staff and giving its own awards.  So, there is no single IGN Game of the Year awards list for 1998, only separate ones for IGN64, IGN Playstation, and IGN Pocket.

Some award lists

Here I am going to list out PC Gamer (US) and IGN (N64, PS1, PC)’s Game of the Year winners.  Why those two?  They were two that I read the most at the time, no question.  And somehow both are missing from Wikipedia’s list.

PC Gamer (US) – The PCG ’98 GOTY awards are in the March 1999 issue of the magazine.  This makes sense — the article would have been written in December and into January for an issue on newsstands in February.  I’ve always strongly disagreed with giving out awards before the end of the year, you cut off key titles!

PCG gave a Game of the Year, then awards by genre beyond that.  There wasn’t a ranked list of all the games, so they don’t try to put each game compared to the others of other genres here.

Note: this goes in order as the order is in the magazine.

(one or two page spreads with large pictures)
Game of the Year – Half-Life. Runners-Up: Battlezone (1998), Rainbow Six.
Best Action Game – Rainbow Six. Runners-up: Battlezone (1998), Descent: Freespace.
Best Adventure Game – Grim Fandango. Runners-up: TES: Redguard, Sanitarium.
Special Achievement sidebars: in Innovation: Battlezone (1998). In Graphics: Unreal. In Hardware: NVidia Riva TNT. In Art Direction: Grim Fandango.
Best Real-Time Strategy Game: Starcraft. Runners-up: Battlezone (1998), Caesar III, Railroad Tycoon II.
Best Simulation – Falcon 4.0. Runners-up: European Air War, Jane’s F-15.
Special Achievement sidebars: in Music: Grand Theft Auto. In sound: Half-Life.
Best Sports Game – NBA Live 99. Runners-up: Links LS 1999, NCAA Football 99.
Best Role-Playing Game – Baldur’s Gate. Runners-up: Final Fantasy VII, Might and Magic VI.
Best Racing Game – Motocross Madness. Runners-up: F1 Racing Simulation, Need for Speed III.
(just a half page per genre for the below categories)
Best Turn-Based Strategy Game – Worms 2. No runners-up, nothing else good enough. They say they almost had to not award anything for this genre until they remembered Worms 2.
Best Wargame – The Operational Art of War. Runner-up: The People’s General.
Best Arcade Game – NFL Blitz. Runners-up: Rogue Squadron 3D, The House of the Dead.
Best Multi-Player Game: Rainbow Six. Runners-up: StarCraft, Worms 2.

Poor Battlezone, it got runner-up in three categories but won nothing other than a special achievement… ah well.  But yes, wargames are a separate genre from turn-based strategy.  That’s how it was.  It’s not my list but it is a solid list here for sure.  Also, I may like the Voodoo2 more, but their choice of the Riva TNT over the GeForce 2 is prescient given the way that competition went over the next couple of years after ’98.  Also, I think it’s clear PCG had much more serious flight sim fans on staff than racing sim fans.

IGN – Remember, IGN did platform lists, with separate ones for the N64 and Playstation and no combined list.  It was the same with staff, who each worked just on one platform’s site. IGN was at its best back when it was platform-specific like that.

IGN64 – Nintendo 64 awards

https://www.ign.com/articles/1999/02/06/ign64s-best-of-1998-awards
If we believe the date on the article, this published on Feburary 5th, 1999.

IGN64 didn’t formally list runners-ups, but I list as that the games theys mention within each category as also good.

Best Overall Game of 1998 – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Runner-up: Banjo-Kazooie.
Best Action Game of 1998 – Turok 2: Seeds of Evil. Runners-up: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Body Harvest.
Best Adventure/Role-Playing Game of 1998 – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Best Fighting Game of 1998 – Mortal Kombat 4.
Best Platformer of 1998 – Banjo-Kazooie.
Best Puzzle Game of 1998 – Wetrix. Runner-up: Bust-A-Move 2.
Best Racing Game of 1998 – F-Zero X. Runners-up: Wipeout 64, Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA, 1080 Degrees Snowboarding.
Best Sports Game of 1998 – NFL Blitz. Runner-up: International Superstar Soccer 98.

IGNPSXJazz Jackrabbit 2 (PC) – PlayStation 1 awards

https://www.ign.com/articles/1998/12/25/the-best-games-of-1998
This article is dated December 24th, 1998. That’s well before the N64 list.

IGNPSX put its games in a genre-mixed list of 10 games.  I am going to assume they put them in order, with best on top.  I added the genre best notes, they don’t mention genre bests in their article, but they clearly did try to get a representative selection of genres in the list.  I also added the numbers marking which place in the list each game is in, they don’t have that either.  They clearly did rank them by quality though.

1. Game of the Year – Metal Gear Solid.
2. Resident Evil 2 (Best Adventure)
3. Gran Turismo (Best Racing)
4. Tekken 3 (Best Fighting)
5. Xenogears (best RPG)
6. Spyro the Dragon (Best Platformer)
7. Crash Bandicoot: Warped
8. NFL Gameday ’99 (Best Sports)
9. Vigilante 8
10. Tenchu

IGNPC – PC awards

https://www.ign.com/articles/1999/01/29/ignpcs-best-of-1998-awards

IGN wasn’t the biggest deal on the PC gaming front — PC Gamer, Gamespot, Blue’s News, and others were surely more popular — but they did have a PC site.  Going back to this article was interesting, I wasn’t expecting their choice for number one!  Note, they chose to put the GOTY in the middle, instead of the start or end.

Best Action Game: Half-Life. Runners Up: Unreal, Thief: The Dark Project, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Shogo.
best Adventure Game: Grim Fandango. Runners Up: Sanitarium.
Best Racing Game: Powerslide. Runners Up: Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, Moto Racer 2, TOCA: Touring Car, Test Drive 5.
Best RPG: Baldur’s Gate. Runners Up: Fallout 2, Final Fantasy 7, Might and Magic VI.
Best Simulation: European Air War. Runners Up: Falcon 4.0, Jane’s F-15, Jane’s WWII Fighters.
Best Sports Game: NFL Blitz. Runners Up: NHL 99, NBA Live 99, FIFA 99.
Best Strategy Game: Starcraft. Runners Up: Close Combat 3, Populous: The Beginning, Railroad Tycoon II, The Operational Art of War Vol.1.
Best Online Game: Starsiege: Tribes. Runners Up: Everquest Beta, Worms 2.
Game of the Year: Baldur’s Gate. Runners Up: Unreal, Half-Life, Grim Fandango, Starcraft.
Best Graphics: Unreal. Runners Up: Powerslide, Grim Fandango, Jane’s WWII Fighters.
Best Sound Effects: Thief: The Dark Project. Runner Up: Oddworld Abe’s Exodus.
Best Soundtrack: Railroad Tycoon II. Runners Up: Grim Fandango, Jane’s WWII Fighters.
Most Innovative Game Design: Thief: The Dark Project. Runners-up: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Grim Fandango.
The Underachiever Award: Jurassic Park: Trespasser. Runners Up: Dune 2000, Dominion: Storm over GIFT3, Star Wars: Rebellion, SiN.

On Best Game Ever Made lists

Half-Life on the PC side and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the console side would both dominate Best Game Ever lists for years after their releases. Ocarina would turn out to have the longer run of dominance, however, as it would still be winning awards or at least high finishes decades after its release, while Half-Life ended up largely supplanted on these lists by its sequel Half-Life 2 in 2004. Half-Life won first place on PC Gamer (US)’s Best Game Ever Made lists in 1999 and 2001 (they didn’t do one in 2000), but after ’04 it’s the sequel that gets first billing, while the also-great first game dropped rapidly. For instance, in PCG’s 2013 Best Games Ever list, Half-Life 2 finishes in third place, while Half-Life 1 is in 61st. In between ’13 and ’25 HL1 stopped making the list entirely. I will have more on PCG’s ’97-’99 Best Ever lists, and some thoughts on their ’94 and ’01 lists, in a short article which will follow this one. (They did not publish lists in ’95, ’96, or ’00.)

Ocarina, however, still finishes high in lists. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is surely the most-awarded game ever. It is the standard example of the ‘best ever game’, even if some think that it has aged in various ways. It doesn’t still win every single GOTY list including Nintendo games — IGN just released a new list here: https://www.ign.com/articles/the-100-best-nintendo-games-of-all-time which I quite dislike, since it puts OoT at 6th and gave the top two spots to Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, two games I don’t like at all — but it still places very highly. Sixth place is a whole lot better than what anything from 1998 got on that PC Gamer Best Games Ever list from this year. Finding a complete list of every award Ocarina of Time won would be a very time-consuming but potentially interesting task that I have not undertaken yet, so I’m sorry for not having a more complete picture of its dominance here.

The Complete PC Gamer 2025 List, By Year

On that note, I posted the link to PC Gamer’s 2025 Best Games Ever list in the last article and discussed it, but didn’t think the full list fit there.  Here is that list, sorted by year of release.  If you want to see the order of the games go read the article, it is linked in the first list.  I pretty strongly disagree with this list, it is badly deficient of understanding of many of the best games from the past, but I think getting other perspectives is important and this does that.

The PC Gamer 2025 Best Games Ever List: The Beginning to 1992: None. 1993: Doom. 1994: None. 1995: None. 1996: None. 1997: None. 1998: Thief: The Dark Project (Gold). 1999: Alpha Centauri, System Shock 2, Planescape: Torment. 2000: Deus Ex (Remastered), Diablo II (Remastered), Baldur’s Gate II (Remastered). 2001: Max Payne. 2002: The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. 2003: None. 2004: Half-Life 2, Knights of the Old Republic 2, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. 2005: Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. 2006: Garry’s Mod, Dwarf Fortress. 2007: Team Fortress 2. 2008: None. 2009: Dragon Age: Origins. 2010: Fallout: New Vegas. 2011: Minecraft, Portal 2, Dark Souls Remastered. 2012: Hotline Miami, FTL: Faster Than Light, Counter-Strike 2. 2013: Arma 3, Papers, Please, Spelunky. 2014: Shadowrun: Dragonfall, The Sims 4, Alien: Isolation. 2015: Cities Skylines, Rocket League, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege X, Kerbal Space Program, Undertale, The Witcher 3. 2016: Stellaris, Final Fantasy X/X2 Remaster, Dishonored 2, X-COM 2, Stardew Valley. 2017: What Remains of Edith Finch, Nier Automata, Hollow Knight, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Prey (2017). 2018: Unavowed, Dusk, Subnautica, Monster Hunter World, Yakuza 0, Into the Breach, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, Return of the Obra Dinn, Rimworld. 2019: Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Resident Evil 2 (2019 Remake), Hunt: Showdown 1896, Slay the Sire, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Red Dead Redemption 2, Disco Elysium – The Final Cut. 2020: Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020), Deep Rock Galactic, Cyberpunk 2077, Hades, Crusader Kings 3. 2021: Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Wildermyth. 2022: Cult of the Lamb, Total War: Warhammer 3, Vampire Survivors, The Case of the Golden Idol, Persona 5 Royal, The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, Hitman: World of Assassination, Pentiment, Elden Ring. 2023: Against the Storm, Dave the Diver, Lethal Company, Alan Wake 2, Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced, 31. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater – Master Collection Version, Baldur’s Gate III. 2024: Metaphor: ReFantasio, Thank Goodness You’re Here!, Echo Point Nova, Satisfactory, Straftat, Nine Sols, Helldivers 2, Balatro, Caves of Qud. 2025: Peak, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Blue Prince, Stalker: Call of Prypiat – Enhanced Edition, System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

Where are iRacing or Grand Prix Legends, DCS or Falcon 4.0, TIE Fighter, Half-Life 1, Grim Fandango, Starcraft 1 or 2, Age of Empires II or IV, and so many more? Or DOTA 2, for that matter? The strategy and building simulation game selections on this list are so strange, I can’t make much sense of it. Like, I get the inclusions of Crusader Kings III, Into the Breach, The Sims 4, Cities Skylines, Stellaris, FTL, Total War: Warhammer, Dwarf Fortress, and Satisfactory. I know those are all popular games now. Some aren’t as good as top older games, though — like, Into the Breach versus, say, Starcraft or TOAOW or something? Stellaris over Master of Orion 2 or EVE Online or something? Come on. No. On the other hand, the one older title that makes it, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri is fantastic, it well deserves it. I’d rather have seen Civilization II, but that’s just my personal bias, and AC is a really amazing game. But completely leaving out the entire RTS genre is unforgivable. And it’s not like they list MOBAs instead, none of those make the list either. Ridiculous.

And for (graphic) adventure games, on that list you’ve got Disco Elysium (if you count it as one and not an RPG, but it probably is mainly adventure), Return of the Obra Dinn, Papers, Please, Blue Prince, Unavowed, The Case of the Golden Idol, What Remains of Edith Finch, and… uh, The Stanley Parable maybe? Also Portal 2 is puzzle-focused. Okay, I get people liking all of these games and some are probably deserving (Return of the Obra Dinn, Blue Prince, Papers, Please, Disco Elysium, Portal 2), but even those ones are at best just as good as the best classic adventure games, such as Grim Fandango, Curse or Secret of Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, whichever your favorite King’s Quest game is, the Gabriel Knight games, Myst or Riven, The Longest Journey, and more. Making a list of adventure games that completely excludes every single game from the decades where it was one of the PC’s most popular genres is bizarre and wrong. The games on this list aren’t better than the classics, just newer.

As for RPGs, they have a whole lot of them on the list, but that the oldest one on the list is from 1999 is noteworthy, as is that zero first person dungeon crawlers make the list despite it being one of the genre’s oldest and most prolific subgenres. It’s clear what the people who made this lists’ preference is.

My Favorites

And lastly, I’m going to have a section where I discuss my preferences. This list has been a combination of games I like and games I know others like and games which are potentially interesting, in order to cover just about all bases possible, but the below is just the stuff I like myself.

My Favorite Games of 1998:

(Please note: I don’t own Panzer Dragoon Saga so I’ve never spent much time with it. Given how much I love the other PD games it would likely make the top 10 otherwise.)

The top 8 are all 10/10 games. 9 and 10 are A+ grade titles or nearly so.

1. Starcraft: Brood War (PC) (Blizzard)

2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) (Nintendo EAD)

3. Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith (PC) (Lucasarts) (expansion for ’97’s Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight)
4. F-Zero X (N64) (Nintendo EAD)
5. Grim Fandango (PC) (Lucasarts)
6. The Last Blade 2 (Arcade/NG) (SNK)
7. Hexcite (GB/C) (JP release; US ’99) (Gu/Landwarf)
8. Baldur’s Gate (PC) (Interplay)

9. Goemon’s Great Adventure [Ganbare Goemon: Dero Dero Douchu Obake Tenkomori] (JP release; US ’99) (Konami – KCE Osaka)
10. Wipeout 64 (N64) (Psygnosis)

Top Honorable Mentions: It’s painful to not be able to include Blazing Star (ARC/NG) (Yumekobo/SNK) or Descent: Freespace – The Great War (PC) (Volition/Interplay) in my top 10, they deserve to be there, followed by Half-Life (PC) (Valve/Sierra). All three are solid A grade hits.

The next tier of honorable mentions, A- games on my list: Moto Racer 2 (PC, EA), Thief: The Dark Project (PC, Looking Glass), Wario Land II (GB), XG2: Extreme-G 2 (N64/PC, Acclaim), Gauntlet Legends (ARC, Midway), the first home releases of Vampire Savior (SAT, JP only, Capcom) & Darkstalkers 3 (PS1, Capcom), Banjo-Kazooie (N64, Rare), Sonic Adventure (DC, Sega).

Next tier, slightly lower A- grade games: Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama (N64, JP only), Forsaken 64 (N64), the first US home release of Strikers 1945 II (PS1), Rockman & Forte (SNES, JP only), Tetris DX (GB/C), Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire (PC), Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (N64/PC), the US release of Alundra (PS1, JP ’97), Starsiege: Tribes (PC), Resident Evil 2 (PS1/PC/N64).

B+ games: The King of Fighters ’98 (ARC/NG), Heart of Darkness (PS1), Brave Fencer Musashi (PS1), Shanghai Pocket (GB/C), OutWars (PC), Puchi Carat (PS1, JP/EU only), Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (PC release of this earlier arcade game), Road Rash 3D (PS1), Circuit Breakers (PS1), Shogo: Mobile Armor Division (PC), Samurai Shodown! Pocket Fighting Series (NGP, JP only release), Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA (N64), Might & Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven (PC), PowerSlide (PC), Wetrix (N64), Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (N64/PC).

My PC Top 10 List (All-Time)

Once my list of the best computer games hit ten in the mid ’00s, like, it was pretty much done. In order for it to change a game would actually need to be better than one of these and I do not think that that has happened.

1. Starcraft: Brood War (1998) (Blizzard) / Starcraft: Brood War Remastered (2017) (Blizzard)

2. Civilization II (with Conflicts in Civilization, played with Forgotten Worlds music) (1996, expansions 1996 & 1997) (MicroProse)
3. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (2002, expansion 2003) (Blizzard)
4. Star Wars: TIE Fighter Collector’s CD-ROM (1995 CD ver. of 1994 original) (LucasArts)
5. Planescape: Torment (1999) (Interplay)

6. Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000) (Interplay)
7. Star Wars: Jedi Knight (w/ Mysteries of the Sith expansion) (1997, expansion 1998) (LucasArts)
8. Grim Fandango (1998) (LucasArts)
9. Guild Wars: Prophecies (2005, open beta 2004) (ArenaNet)
10. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995) (Blizzard)

I didn’t put the WCII or BGII expansions above because I don’ think they are as essential as the other ones here.

Top Honorable Mentions: Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness, Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero, The Curse of Monkey Island, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, SimCity 2000, Commander Keen 1-3: Invasion of the Vorticons.

My 10/10 Console Games

What about a console list? You can find a few ‘my favorite console games’ lists of mine on the site, but none are my definitive list, because I’ve always found it quite hard to decide on a list. I can say for sure, though, that in addition to the top 10 PC games plus most of the PC honorable mentions (only the last two perhaps aren’t 10/10 games), the following console games are also 10/10 titles on my list, in some order or other:

Super Mario World (SNES), Super Mario Maker (Wii U), Super Mario Maker 2 (NS), F-Zero (SNES), F-Zero X (N64), Hexcite (GB/C), Picross 3-D (NDS), Ikaruga (ARC/DC/GC/X360/PC), Skies of Arcadia (DC/GC), Tempest 2000 (JAG), Panzer Dragoon Orta (XBOX), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GEN), Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (GEN), Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (GB), Kirby’s Dream Land 2 (GB), Donkey Kong [’94] (GB), Gradius: The Interstellar Assault (GB), Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved (X360/PC), Super Mario Bros. (NES), Mega Man 4 (NES), The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (GB) / DX (GBC), The Last Blade 2 (ARC/NG), San Francisco Rush 2049 (N64), Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (GC), The Last Blade (NGPC), The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC), Super Mario 64 (N64).

The Games I Play Most These Days

2025: Mario Kart World (NS2), Starcraft: Brood War Remastered (PC), GeoGuessr (PC), Super Mario Maker 2 (NS), Nintendo 3DS Puzzle Games, Diablo IV (XSX ver.)

2024: Super Mario Maker 2 (NS), Starcraft: Brood War Remastered (PC), GeoGuessr (PC), Nintendo 3DS Puzzle Games, Dead or Alive 6 (X1, played on XSX), Diablo IV (XSX ver.)

I don’t play retro games nearly as often as I did between 2004 and 2017, which is why I’ve written about them less in recent years. I’m much more into these endless games you can’t actually beat. Ah well.

Conclusion

This article took a fair amount of time, effort, and research to put together, but I’m not sure how valuable it is.  I think the first part has some good points, but a giant list like this… well, I hope people are inspired to try something I’ve mentioned here that they haven’t played before.  That includes me, there are definitely games here I should play…