Looking back on it I have no doubt this four year stretch was Nintendo's greatest. Such a great time to be a Nintendo fan, the only blemish on this magical period is Yamauchi's unfortunate decision to go cartridge only for the N64. Let revisit, remembering to Play It Loud and Change the System:
1994:
The best Metroid game ever (arguably). One of Nintendo's great masterpieces.
The apex of Nintendo's (at that time) great relationship with Squaresoft. A masterpiece. Unfortunately things have never been the same since then.
Significant in that is signalled Nintendo rectifying their mistake of censoring the first MK. MK2 on SNES was clearly better than the Genesis and the beginning of the SNES overtaking the Genesis. It was a pretty darn fun game for its time also.
The first time I played this my jaw dropped. The beginning of a beautiful relationship with Nintendo and Rare and Silicon Graphics, the end of the Genesis' rule as the 16-bit leader.
1995:
Another example of the close Nintendo-Squaresoft relationship of the early/mid 1990s.
One of the most unique Nintendo games ever made.
Killer Instinct. Not only did Nintendo uncensor the MK franchise, they made their own violent fighter. And an interesting return to the arcade scene which back in those days was still sparkling with life.
One of the best 2D platformers ever made ...
Except Yoshi's Island was just as good as DKC if not better.
1996:
The mythical Project: Reality/Ultra 64/Nintendo 64 finally seems to be nearing release:
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Mario enters 3D and is touted as the greatest video game ever made.
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Wave Race 64, a racing gem, incredible graphics for its day.
1997 now. Mario Kart 64. Perhaps the first real 4-player blockbuster game, a staple for death match/competetive racing junkies.
The best Star Fox game. Also introduced rumble feedback to the industry.
A stunning blockbuster that came out of nowhere. College dorms would never be the same. GoldenEye would sell for months (and months and months) being the first real break-out home console FPS. The Bond movie producers would cite this game as bringing in tons of new Bond fans to the movie franchise.
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1998. Rare would continue their magical run with another great platformer in Banjo-Kazooie.
F-Zero X. An underrated masterpiece of 60 fps blistering racing action.
In the 90s, Star Wars and Nintendo went together like peanut butter and jelly. And this was the good ol' days before Jar-Jar and the prequels cast a shadow over the IP. Arguably this all peaked in 1998.
In 1996, a small no-name title would create a tremendous phenomenon in Japan. By fall of 1998, Nintendo was ready to bring it to the US. It was the beginning of something big.
The zenith. Ocarina of Time was a magical experience, arguably Nintendo at its "blockbuster" best and still the standard bearer for the franchise.
So ends 1998, so ends the greatest Nintendo era. Sure Nintendo (and Rare for a while) would continue to make great games for years afterwards, but this period was just special and IMO has never been matched. It represents Nintendo's most creative and ambitious time period, even their duds (like the Virtual Boy) were notable for being quite daring gambles.
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