Greatest Video Games of All Time Poll: 5th Gen/1996-2000

[JimmyJazz]

Welcome, fellow AM gamers, as we celebrate the best that gaming has had to offer, from the early days of the Atari and the golden age of arcades, to the massive open worlds and innovative indie games of today.

The way that this poll will be run is as so:
There will be six mini, generational polls, focused on the 1970s-1984, 1985-1990, 1991-1995, 1996-2000, 2001-2005, and 2006-present (more specific details regarding consoles and PC games will be explained in their respective polls), to find the Top 20s of each period in gaming. Every poll will be held for entire week, opening Sunday mornings and closing Saturday by midnight. After the six weeks, there will be a month (roughly five weeks) of voting to rank the final 120 games, to create an all-time list.

You can have a ballot of any size, but it must have at least five games, and no more than 15 will be factored in.

The point formula is as follows:
1. 50 points
2. 40
3. 30
4. 20
5. 15
6. 10
7. 9
8. 8
9. 7
10. 6
11. 5
12. 4
13. 3
14. 2
15. 1

Also, you can feel free to allot less points for smaller lists, but not more points.

The final 20 will be compiled from the vote.

For this poll, we will be focusing on all Nintendo 64 (N64), Playstation 1 (PS1/PSX), Sega Saturn, Game Boy Color , and other designated fourth generation console games, as well as computer, arcade games, (AND Neo Geo games) released between the years 1996-2000, before the launching of the PS2, GameCube, and XBOX (Dreamcast games were released before then, but are technically considered to be "sixth gen").

Here is a page for references to games released in this period: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ye ... ideo_games

Let the voting, and inevitable nostalgia for some, begin! I know this, and the next poll, will be filled with that for me!

[Pierre]

Man, this decade of video gaming was just ridiculously good. Look at the amount of classics and cult games released only in this five year span! However, it was a period where I became more of a full-blown PC gamer, and I only played the console games I stumbled upon, until I finally acquired a PlayStation a few years ago. I think it shows in my list.

1. Final Fantasy VII
No need to look at me like that, I know what you're thinking. So what? This game is often claimed to be the greatest video game of all time, and that's my right to think it is indeed. I could not escape it, I loved everything, the gameplay, the characters, the music, the (sure, ugly by our current standards) graphics, the story, the mini-games and optional bosses and quests, all of it. So, yeah, it might seem an easy choice, but I'm in love with that game.

2. StarCraft
The greatest RTS of all time. It's so good, it's actually still more played than its sequel, it became a cultural phenomenon and national sport in South Korea, and it made space marines cooler than Doom and that Verhoeven movie ever did.

3. Half-Life
Just one of the most fascinating FPS odyssey ever. There's nothing to say about this game that has not already been said, so I'll stop here.

4. Metal Gear Solid
Another absolutely deep and fascinating game. I did not think exploring a base without killing everything in sight could be that fun before.

5. The Longest Journey
In my opinion, the best point'n'click ever released. Sure, a few puzzles were a bit obscure, but otherwise it was just an amazing journey, and the lead character, April Ryan, is one of the best-written female protagonist ever.

6. Deus Ex
Another game in the same class as Half-Life and Metal Gear Solid. Fascinating story, amazing gameplay, blah blah blah. This period was just overcrowded with classics.

7. Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templar
Sure, the graphics have aged, but at the time it was a gorgeous game. And the story, puzzles and characters were also fantastic, so it helped. This series never reached this summit again, unfortunately.

8. Final Fantasy VIII
The one FF fans like to hate the most, it's actually a touching love story and an otherwise great fantasy/sci-fi RPG. The gameplay was a bit unbalanced, and that card game was terrible, but FFVIII is still a classic.

9. Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
The Oddworld series takes place in a great and funny world, and the gameplay was just perfect (with only some little bugs). Back then, the first one, Abe's Oddysee, was called the unlikely saviour of 2D platforming, and it could have been. I recently pre-ordered the New N' Tasty remake, and can't wait to play it.

10. Grim Fandango
I can't help but think that LucasArts point'n'clicks lost something in the transition to 3D. But it was still a fantastic game, and it had probably the best story out of all LucasArts' games.

11. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
Where I lived, Jedi Knight was the game everyone had to play upon release. Frankly, it had a great FPS gameplay, you could use the Force and a lightsaber (who didn't want to?), but some levels were a bit on the labyrinthic side. Still, I loved that game back then, even though the sequels are better.

12. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
13. Baldur's Gate
Probably, the RPG hack'n'slash with the biggest legacy is Diablo, but back then I was playing Baldur's Gate and I was having a pretty great (and hard, too) time. The first one had a more open-world feel, but it was only exploited with mixed results (what a lot of filler areas there were!) and the characters were pretty bland. It was corrected in the second game, with a more character-driven feel and less fillers (although the game was also harder). And as an added bonus, the expansion packs to both games were worth having, with the new bonus dungeons being dang entertaining and hard.

14. Blade Runner
I will admit this game is flawed, but it was a great point'n'click, with an engaging storyline that ran parallel to that of the movie, and multiple endings. It had that same kind of neo-noir cyberpunk feel as the movie, and most of the characters were pretty solid. A great game.

15. Metal Slug 3
For those who don't know, the Metal Slug series are a great run and gun flagship series from the Neo Geo, and they were my favourite games on the system. The third one, which features levels with multiple paths, the series trademark humour and a fantastic epic ending, is often acknowledged (alongside Metal Slug X) as the best in the series, and I can't help but agree with it.

16. Tekken 3
17. Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
18. The Curse of Monkey Island
19. Unreal
20. Tomb Raider
21. Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror
22. Metal Slug 2/Metal Slug X
23. Tomb Raider II
24. Star Fox 64
25. Shantae
26. The Neverhood
27. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
28. Unreal Tournament
29. Quake II
30. The Operative: No One Lives Forever

Other great games: Outlaws, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, Quake, Quake III Arena, Pokémon Gold, Silver & Crystal, Metal Slug, Hexen II

Great games that I did not/could not finish for some reason: Super Mario 64, Blazing Star, Tomb Raider III, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Kizuna Encounter, Far East of Eden: Kabuki Klash, Super Smash Bros., MediEvil

Could-have-been masterpieces: Imperium Galactica, Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny, Lands of Lore III, Heart of Darkness, Age of Empires, Mega Man 8, Jazz Jackrabbit 2, Duke Nukem 3D, Redneck Rampage

Games I regret the most not having played: all four Legend of Zelda games (Ocarina, Majora, the two Oracles), Shenmue, Final Fantasy IX, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Diablo I & II, GoldenEye 007, Mega Man X4 and X5, the Mega Man Legends games

[BleuPanda]

A strong set of years. The first generation I experienced during its own time, though a lot of these are games I didn't get a chance to play until much later.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
2. Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal
3. Rollercoaster Tycoon
4. Final Fantasy IX
5. Metal Gear Solid
6. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
7. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
8. Final Fantasy VII
9. Star Fox 64
10. Resident Evil 2
11. Paper Mario
12. Starcraft
13. Crash Team Racing
14. Super Mario 64
15. Half-Life

[Jirin]

Personally I'm not a fan of FFVII, but I know that for a lot of people it was their first exposure to JRPGs so it has strong emotional meaning. For me there's only so many two minute spell animations you can handle before your eyes glaze over permanetly, and so many enemies that inflict 7 damage on your 900 HP total before you lose any sense of urgency.

1. Final Fantasy Tactics

There's a challenge I found on the internet called the Single Class Challenge. It's where your entire party has to be only one class and you can only use abilities from this class. It makes the entire game a different strategic experience every game. For this I used Gameshark to turn my entire party into Mimes and turn Ramza into a woman for Dancer. I finished them all except Knight and Calculator.

2. Mario 64

This was the first really popular fully 3d game, and for some reason after that most 3d games were designed to be far less 3d. Like, there were three dimensions but you only had to think about two of them in any given time. But this idea of searching huge playgrounds for stars was brilliant, and fan hacks have given it incredible replay value.

3. Star Ocean 2

One of the most replayable games of all time, with 8 possible characters out of 12, all of which have different controls and an ending for every pair being matched up. Not to mention a huge amount of post game content.

4. Valkyrie Profile

One of the most unique RPGs ever made with an unconventional story structure where you play as a valkyrie in Norse mythology and you watch the death scenes of all the characters before they join your party. Also one I could probably sell on ebay for quite a price since it was so underprinted.

5. Xenogears

Xenogears' combat isn't very good but it has one of the most ambitious, complex, epic storylines in RPG history.

6. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

Most people know Persona from the numbers 3 and on which have a school sim component. This one is just a really dark story with punishingly hard combat about a parallel world created by accident where rumours people spread come true.

7. Baldur's Gate 2

What makes the Baldur's Gate games better than most newer D&D based games is that you control the full party and can pause and give commands, giving you the ability to create full party strategies instead of just hacking away and watch your automated allies do whatever they want.

8. Tales of Eternia (Destiny II in US)

Another vastly undermarketed game in the US, the third in one of the most oversaturated JRPG series and probably the best 2d entry.

9. Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy IX is my favorite PSX Final Fantasy, because I prefer the fantasy quality of the SNES games that was brought back for IX over the very emo-angsty technomagic Final Fantasy games.

10. Baldur's Gate

Just like its sequel only smaller scale.

11. Metal Gear Solid

A game that invented a genre, basically. What adventure game now doesn't have a stealth element?

12. Mario Kart 64

There isn't really a bad Mario Kart game. It only kept getting better until 7.

13. Persona 2: Innocent Sin

The first Persona 2 game that shows the original world whose ending created the world of Eternal Punishment, that wasn't available in the US until the recent PSP port.

14. TacticsOgre

A similar game from the creator of Final Fantasy Tactics, but it had some gameplay issues.

15. Suikoden II

The best and currently rarest of the Suikoden titles, with Jowy, one of the most interesting and multidimensional villains in video games.

[whuntva]

Finally, Games I know!

I'm only 20, but I do remember most games to come out of this era.

1) Final Fantasy VII
2) Ocarina of Time
3) Super Mario 64
4) Metal Gear Solid
5) Pokemon Gen II

[Pierre]

Personally I'm not a fan of FFVII, but I know that for a lot of people it was their first exposure to JRPGs so it has strong emotional meaning.

Indeed. I agree with you. But as much as I feel my emotional attachment to it, it actually remains my favourite JRPG, only challenged by the VI, so I don't see any reason to change my vote . Good list, otherwise, lots of titles I've heard about but never got around to play, I hope I will get the chance some day.

7. Baldur's Gate 2

What makes the Baldur's Gate games better than most newer D&D based games is that you control the full party and can pause and give commands, giving you the ability to create full party strategies instead of just hacking away and watch your automated allies do whatever they want.

I agree with you there, this pause system to build up strategies was fantastic. What could have made fight preparation even better would have been a less bothersome way of tinkering the characters fighting IA, which is sometimes mandatory before a harder fight than usual. But it was still great.

[Pierre]

14. TacticsOgre

A similar game from the creator of Final Fantasy Tactics, but it had some gameplay issues.

Jirin, are you sure this game is eligible? The Wikipedia page claims it's a port from a 1995 SNES game.

[Nassim]

The game boy color game collection is quite a letdown and I haven't played much Saturn games, so that'll be mostly a game between Nintendo 64 and Playstation.

Since Bust a Move/Puzzle Bubble made it through the previous round, I leave Bust a Move 2 out but that'd be my real 2.

1) Final Fantasy VII
2) Vandal Hearts
I regret not playing more to Ogre Battle 64 and Final Fantasy Tactics, because Vandal Hearts created a burning love for Tactical RPG in my, that no other game (as much as I like the Fire Emblem) ever fullfilled as well.
3) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
4) Jet Force Gemini (Star Twins in Japan)
Pretty much any game released by Rare Ltd from Donkey Kong Country to Conker's Bad Fur's Day is a masterpiece, but the true masterpiece (with Donkey Kong Country 2) might be one of the lesser ones. This shooter/platformer was much more fun than could be described with innovative controls and game systems. Just plain awesome !
5) Street Fighter Alpha 2
For that matter, it's a vote for the Street Fighter Alpha serie more than one specific entry. PS1, despite terrible joystick, was heaven for versus games : Street Fighter Alpha and Ex plus Alpha, Rival Schools, Tekken...
6) Super Mario 64
7) Bust a Groove
If there is one game where I was litteraly unbeatable, that's it. And technically I was since I would do no mistake with the hardest moves... not that it's THAT hard but hey...
8) The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time
9) Heart of Darkness
Anybody who liked the Abe's Odyssey games should try this underrated gem... I remember the thrill of trying to blast my way through waves of shadows, the joy of saving my dog, the perfect soundtrack... seldom have I enjoyed a die and retry game that much.
10) GoldenEye 007
Technically Perfect Dark is a better game, with the much needed bots in multiplayer, but I killed so many hours in this game with my friend, hilarity always ensued, thank you rare !
11) International Super Star Soccer 64
I'm usually not a big fan of FIFA or ISS, especially in the latter years where he got too technical (I'd rather have fun with Sega Soccer Slam), but ISS 64 was a perfect arcade game where you could score tons of silly goals... Netherlands for the win !
12) Mario Kart 64
2nd best Mario Kart game, still far from the flawless perfection that Mario Kart DS is.
13) Suikoden
That moment when you realize after recruiting 106 allies out of 108 that you can no longer get the last 2 because of something you needed to do earlier in the game...
14) Metal Slug X
Too bad that's vote splitting with the 3...
15) Counter-Strike
Feels a little strange ranking it over Half Life, but I spent hours in my local internet café playing this, all my lunch money went there

40 other awesome games :

1080° Snowboarding
Age of Empires II
Banjo Kazooie
Blazing Dragons
Castlevania (Nintendo 64)
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Cool Boarders 2
Crash Bandicoot 2
Darkstalkers 3
Diddy Kong Racing
Die Hard Trilogy
Driver
Final Fantasy VIII
Goemon's Great Adventure
Grim Fandango (after years of trying to find a correct version, I finally bought the new version on Steam ! Currently playing it, too early to be sure it would have made my top 15)
Half Life
International Track & Field
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Oddworld : Abe's Oddysee
Perfect Dark
Quake III Arena
Rampage World Tour
Rayman
Rayman 2
Rival Schools
Star Wars Episode 1 : Racer
Starcraft
Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha
Super Smash Bros
Tekken 2
The Last Blade
The Sims
Theme Hospital
Tomb Raider 2
Toonstruck
Turok 2
Unreal Tournament
Vigilante 8 (heavy gunned cars fighting each other in silly manners ? yazzaaaaaa !)
Wario Land 2
Wave Race 64

Worst game I owned :
Aera 51 for Playstation

Worst game I played :
Primal Rage

Worst game :
Bubsy 3D

10 games I regret not having played :
Commandos : Behind Enemy Lines
Fallout & Fallout 2
Final Fantasy Tactics
Homeworld
Ogre Battle 64
Paper Mario (Mario Story)
PaRappa the Rapper
Parasite Eve
Symphony of the Night
Tenchu

Soundtracks :
Well, nothing comes even close for me to the soundtrack of Final Fantasy VII. If I have to pick one specific one it's that one, related to THE OTHER moment that made me cry in the game.

As I said, Heart of Darkness soundtrack was fantastic too, fully recorded with a complete orchestra :

And of course, there's Ocarina of Time. It's a toss-up between the epicness of Gerudo Valley and the strange melancholy of Windmill Hut :

There are no original songs in them, but the soundtracks of Tony Hawk 1 to 3 informed my teenage tastes, from ska-rock to punk rock, cow punk or skate punk, (and a bit of metal), it was the perfect angry white guys music for a not so angry white teen. So for you, the perfect THPS playlist, ending with what was back then my favorite song ever :
Rage Against the Machine - Guerrilla Radio
Styles of Beyond - Subculture
Alley Life - Out With the Old
Bad Religion - You
Suicide Machines - New Girl
Goldfinger - Superman
Adolescents - Amoeba
Guttermouth - I'm Destroying the World
AFI - The Boy Who Destroyed the World
Papa Roach - Blood Brothers
Millencolin - No Cigar

(Yes I like Ace of Spades more than most of those songs, but I don't really link it to the game... any other of those songs and I picture a guy landing crazy tricks with his board)

And now for a completely WTF moment, the best song with lyrics of this generation, and maybe of the history of video games :

As much as I have the sounds from Counter Strike engraved in my brain (fire in the hole !) the best sound effect ever recorded is from another PC Game :

[Jirin]

14. TacticsOgre

A similar game from the creator of Final Fantasy Tactics, but it had some gameplay issues.

Jirin, are you sure this game is eligible? The Wikipedia page claims it's a port from a 1995 SNES game.

I forgot that it had a very limited print SNES version. I can switch it out with something else if that makes it ineligible.

[Nassim]

I forgot Crazy Taxi, thought I'd put it in my 6th gen list but it has been released in arcade in 1999.
Would not make my top 15 anyway

[JimmyJazz]

Sooo many good games, man...

1| Deus Ex
2| The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask
3| Diablo II
4| System Shock 2
5| Half-Life
6| The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
7| Super Mario 64
8| Final Fantasy Tactics
9| Grim Fandango
10| Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal
11| Metal Gear Solid
12| Baldur's Gate II
13| Castlevania Symphony of the Night
14| StarCraft
15| Final Fantasy IX

[Nassim]

1| Deus Ex
3| Diablo II

Dammit, I forgot 2000 PC games... Can you make Diablo II my #10 and bump everything else down one spot ?

[JimmyJazz]

In reply to Nassim's soundtrack selections:

When it comes to FF7, my two favorite themes from that game are actually Cosmo Canyon and JENOVA. Truth be told, I actually think that JENOVA is a greater piece of battle music than OWA

Regarding the N64 Zeldas, Gerudo Valley and Song of Storms are definitely two of the classics of the whole series. My other favorites from that game are the Lost Woods/Saria's Song, and three of the dungeon themes, those being the Forest Temple (so enchanting yet haunting at the same time), Shadow Temple (I love the effect of the boss playing on his drums and singing), and Spirit Temple (the epic vibe and unique Middle Eastern sound that it gives, fitting for the last dungeon before Ganon, though you don't HAVE to do them in that order of course...). Not surprisingly, those are my top three dungeons from that game.

I would like to mention tons of definite recommended songs from Majora as well (which I am delightfully revisiting in the 3DS remake, which fixes some of the, in hindsight, admittedly irritating quirks of the original version): Song of Healing, Clock Town (all three variations), the Observatory, Final Hours, Oath to Order, Deku Palace, Milk Bar, and, of course, the Stone Tower Temple Theme:

[JimmyJazz]

1| Deus Ex
3| Diablo II

Dammit, I forgot 2000 PC games... Can you make Diablo II my #10 and bump everything else down one spot ?

Sure, no problem

[JimmyJazz]

14. TacticsOgre

A similar game from the creator of Final Fantasy Tactics, but it had some gameplay issues.

Jirin, are you sure this game is eligible? The Wikipedia page claims it's a port from a 1995 SNES game.

I forgot that it had a very limited print SNES version. I can switch it out with something else if that makes it ineligible.

If you could Jirin, that would be appreciated

[Jirin]

For future reference, is this the way we are going to handle all games that became available worldwide long after they were available in Japan? So, Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky and Growlanser IV would be PS2 gen?

Throw in Crash Bandicoot for #15.

Game I regret not having played for this gen is Panzer Dragoon Saga.

[Rocky Raccoon]

The '90s was a good era. The SNES and PS1 are my favorite systems to this day.

1. Resident Evil (PS1)
The Nevermind of horror-survival games. I remember playing late at night with the lights out and actually being a little bit scared. I had a friend who I introduced the game to, and he made me turn it off after the dogs jumped through the window.
2. Star Craft (PC)
Many, many hours where spent battling on the desolate landscapes of various planets and space stations. I remember playing a friend on a map with a trench through the middle. It was his first time and he had no idea, so I just built ships and didn't even bother with ground defense. I won while only losing a single unit.
3. Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
I've never really played much FF - I know, sacrilegious - but this game consumed me for a while. I couldn't get into VIII, but since many of you praise IX, I'll have to give it a go. One of the fun things was renaming all the characters after my friends, family and pets.
4. Madden ’99 (PS1)
Two friends and I had a franchise going together, after a slow start we finished our first season with an 8-8 record and went through the offseason picking up players and drafting rookies. We had high hopes for the next season until one evening while I was at work my girlfriend erased our saved files on the memory card to make room for a game she wanted to save. I'm married now, but not to her.
5. Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
It was like playing a super spy and action hero all at once, and it seemed like each part of the game was unique from the last. It felt well-deserved when I drove off into the sunrise on the frozen landscape.
6. Tomb Raider (PS1)
Running around with Lara in various lost civilizations was a lot of fun.
7. NBA Live ’97 (PS1)
My fondest memory of this game is actually losing. Two friends and I were play a season together, and in one game we had a 2-point lead with a few seconds left. The computer was in-bounding in their own half. After deflecting the inbounds pass, the ball bounced around on the floor for a few tantalizing moments. One of my friends tried to pick it up but missed. In a final act of desperation the computer picks it up and hurls it about 70 feet. Nothing but net.
8. Jet Moto (PS1)
One of the best racing games ever. Playing split screen with friends was a lot of fun.
9. Conker’s Bad Fur Day (N64)
Mostly here because of the fun multi-player levels. The sniper rifle was awesome.
10. Hot Shots Golf 2 (PS1)
As I've mentioned before, I like sports games. This one's fun for fans and non-fans of golf. The challenge of opening up characters by playing and beating them in match play was fun. There are even a couple of surprise guests.
11. Mario Party (N64)
A unique game to me at the time, and it really is a great party game. The series has been up and down through the years, but there are some fun editions to it. Especially No. 4.
12. Ready to Rumble (PS1)
Afro Thunder, baby!
13. Colony Wars (PS1)
Another in a line of outer space shooters I've enjoyed, along with the original Star Wars arcade and Star Fox.
14. Gran Turismo (PS1)
I like racing games, and this one certainly had enough bells and whistles and great graphics to keep me interested.
15. Golden Eye 007 (N64)
The idea of stealthily sneaking around and shooting people was new and cool to me.

[Live in Phoenix]

This is where I start to fall out of the loop

1. Resident Evil
2. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
3. Super Mario 64
4. Final Fantasy VII
5. Tomb Raider

[JimmyJazz]

One more day to vote people, this thing closes tomorrow at midnight!

[JimmyJazz]

Poll is closed gentlemen, here are the results:

[imgsize 320x280]http://www.eggplante.com/wp-content/upl ... mo-Art.jpg[/imgsize]

1| Final Fantasy VII / 208 points / 6 votes
2| Super Mario 64 / 161 / 7
3| Deus Ex / 110 / 3
4| Resident Evil / 100 / 2
5| The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask / 90 / 2
6| StarCraft / 86 / 4
7| Metal Gear Solid / 80 / 6
8| Diablo II / 76 / 3
9| Half-Life / 71 / 5
10| The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time / 67 / 4
11| Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal / 61 / 3
12| Final Fantasy Tactics / 58 / 2
13| Castlevania: Symphony of the Night / 53 / 3
14| Planescape: Torment / 50 / 1
15| Vandal Hearts / 40 / 1
16| Baldur's Gate II / 37 / 4
17| Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 / 37 / 2
18| Civilization II / 30 / 1
18| Diablo / 30 / 1
18| Rollercoaster Tycoon / 30 / 1
18| Star Ocean 2 / 30 / 1

[Jirin]

This tie is between four games that had one high vote from one person. We may be leading to another four way tie here. I vote Valkyrie Profile.

[Pierre]

This tie is between four games that had one high vote from one person. We may be leading to another four way tie here.

I at least can confirm that I won't vote. I've played none of the four games tied

[Jeff]

Better late than never. . .

1. Deus Ex
2. Super Mario 64
3. Civilization II
4. The Operative: No One Lives Forever
5. Half-Life
6. Mario Kart 64
7. Grim Fandango
8. System Shock 2
9. Counter-Strike
10. Age of Empires II: Age of Kings

[JimmyJazz]

Thanks to Jeff's ballot, the whole tie shenanigans has been officially solved. Poll is NOW closed.

[Stephan]

Nobody voted for Planescape: Torment? Nobody?!

[Jirin]

I wasn't into PC gaming at the time and I have been on a Mac for the whole time I've been interested in Planescane: Torment.

[Stephan]

Thanks JimmyJazz for allowing me to vote in earlier polls. I've made it a point not to look at the results and I hope my lists don't throw out too many favorites of others.

1. Planescape: Torment (Black Isle Studios, 1999)
2. Diablo II (Blizzard Entertainment, 2000)
3. Diablo (Blizzard Entertainment, 1997)
4. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows Of Amn (BioWare, 2000)
5. Fallout 2 (Black Isle Studios, 1998)
6. Half-Life (Valve Software, 1998)
7. Age of Empires II: The Age Of Kings (Ensemble Studios, 1999)
8. Fallout (Interplay, 1997)
9. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (Neversoft Entertainment, 2000)
10. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (LucasArts, 1997)
11. Baldur's Gate (BioWare, 1998)
12. Grim Fandango (LucasArts, 1998)
13. Half-Life: Counter-Strike (Valve Software, 2000)
14. Unreal Tournament (Epic Mega Games, 1999)
15. Age Of Empires (Ensemble Studios, 1997)

I never got that into StarCraft at the time. Maybe I should re-evaluate it.

[JimmyJazz]

List has been updated. Lots of changes with this one. Planescape, Baldur's Gate II, and Diablo enter the Top 20, kicking out FFIX and System Shock 2. You may notice that there are technically 21 games, based on he four way tie starting at 18. If no one minds, I think we will just keep it that way for this one time (hopefully).

[Stephan]

Ah, shame I kicked out System Shock 2, That was my #16.

[letmeintomyzone]

Hi, JimmyJazz.

I would like to contribute in these threads, but I haven't played many videogames. Maybe once I make the list, I'll explore more games.