Since 2014 is almost over, I thought it appropriate to take the opportunity to create a summary of the best games of the last 25 years, going back to 1990. Specifically, this is a list of the "game of the year" for each of the 25 years between 1990 and 2014. Studios around the world have created hundreds of amazing game experiences over the last two-and-a-half decades, but only one game per year can be the very best. These are those games.

Please enjoy, and happy holidays to everyone!

Note: all years are based on North American release dates.



Although the Super Mario franchise had veered slightly off the road with Super Mario Bros. 2, it returned to form with Super Mario Bros. 3, arguably the best NES game ever made. Designed with the same platform elements typical of its predecessors, Super Mario Bros. 3 introduced several additions, including mini-games, many new power-ups (e.g., Tanooki Suit) and an overland map that allows players to select which levels to play and which to bypass.


Like its immediate predecessors on the NES, Super Mario World is a platform game that demands its players jump, run, duck, and swim to survive hazards and enemies in each level. It retains the overland map of Super Mario Bros. 3, but makes the game world and the levels within that world much larger, more graphically detailed, and more diverse; ghost houses, fortresses, and castles dot the landscape. Super Mario World marks the first appearance of Yoshi, who would become one of Nintendo’s most famous mascots.


While not necessarily the greatest Zelda game ever developed, A Link to the Past is certainly the quintessential Zelda experience. It established many of the items, enemies, and tropes that appear in almost every Zelda game. The Master Sword, for example, first appears in A Link to the Past. The game also introduced to the series the idea of parallel or alternate dimensions, across which the hero can travel. This added a new (forgive the pun) dimension to puzzle-solving in The Legend of Zelda. Items and portals that appear in one universe may be manipulated to produce effects in a parallel universe.


Why do RPGs always have the most awesome subtitles? March of the Black Queen, Person of Lordly Caliber, and of course The Legacy of Great Intention. Whatever The Legacy of Great Intention means, it's a terrific game, an influential turn-based strategy role-playing game, and one of the very best Sega Genesis titles. Players control a silent protagonist as he recruits a small army of fighters to push back against the evil Darksol who wants to conquer the world. Battles in Shining Force take place in square grids, on which players move units strategically to outflank and overcome opponents. There are over two dozen unique and colorful characters to recruit during the game, all of whom can be be promoted to a higher class.


Many point to Final Fantasy VII as the ultimate Final Fantasy experience, but its older brother is a more complete game, and a better one. Epic in size and in scope, Final Fantasy III (Final Fantasy VI in Japan) features over a dozen playable characters, all of whom carry significant emotional baggage and who endure trials that range from rafting across raging rapids to, quite literally, the end of the world. There are several unique events in the game, including an opera, a dinner party, and a number of multi-party battles, which allow the player to divide his or her party into two or more battle groups in order to fight off a multi-party enemy.


One of the most unique RPGs of the fourth generation, Chrono Trigger is an exceptional game with a deep combat system, unique characters, and a bewitching soundtrack. The combat system, with its "tech" attacks, double and triple techniques, and area-of-effect attacks (all of them gorgeously animated, by the way), is particularly impressive. Although the game is relatively short for a role-playing game, the inclusion of multiple endings affords the game a high replay value.


The finest example of the great migration from two-dimensional sprites to three-dimensional polygons, Super Mario 64 gave the platform genre unprecedented freedom of movement. It also introduced a revolutionary camera system that allowed players to manipulate the camera angles in the game. Set once again in the Mushroom Kingdom, Super Mario 64 sets Mario on a path to a final confrontation with his arch-enemy Bowser, who has once more captured Princess Toadstool. Super Mario 64 features fifteen diverse game environments and several hidden areas.


GoldenEye 007 ranks among games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake as one of the more important shooters ever made. Upon its arrival on N64 in 1997, GoldenEye proved two important things: one, that first-person shooters could survive, even thrive, on home consoles; and two, that they need not all be corridor shooters where players run from point A to point B, blasting everything in sight. In GoldenEye, stealth and strategy matter. Apart from its incredible and challenging single-player mode, which has tons of replay value, GoldenEye features a legendary split-screen multiplayer mode with customizable weapon sets and expertly-designed maps.

Ocarina of Time is a masterpiece, the pinnacle of Nintendo creativity and ingenuity, and the benchmark against which all games -- past, present, and future -- must be judged. It pioneered innovations like z-targeting, auto-jump, and context sensitive buttons. It took existing game mechanics like horseback riding, fishing, and the realistic passage of time and wove them into the game narrative like never before. Truly, Ocarina has everything: a sweeping musical score for the ages; vast, fully-realized three-dimensional worlds; innovative and easy-to-use controls; an epic and emotionally engaging storyline; and gameplay so rich, varied, and engaging that it has no equal.


Boasting incredible graphics, huge replay value, and a revolutionary "eight-way run" control scheme, SoulCalibur is one of the best fighting games ever made, a rare console port that outdoes the arcade original. Combat is strategic and intense, the characters are varied, and the action is silky smooth and beautiful to watch. One of the highlights of the game is "Missions Mode," a story mode of sorts where players can complete missions to earn points, which can then be used to unlock concept art and costumes.


It's difficult to single out one thing that makes Deus Ex such a superior game because everything works together. Graphics and sound provide an appropriate sense of place and atmosphere, the story and characters provide meaning and direction, and the dynamic gameplay provides constant challenges. What might be Deus Ex's greatest strength is its level design. Each level is perfectly spaced and paced, whether it's UNATCO headquarters on Liberty Island or a night club in Paris.


There are only so many truly revolutionary titles in the history of video games. One such game is Halo: Combat Evolved. What did it achieve? Well, by providing the nascent Xbox with a "killer app," it secured Microsoft's spot in the gaming world. It also introduced features, control schemes, and themes that have, for better or for worse, infiltrated almost every mainstream first-person shooter since. And, lastly, it shifted first-person shooters away from computers and onto home consoles. So it's a hugely influential title, but it's also an amazingly great game, with superior graphics, a standout soundtrack, a well-written story, outstanding level design, and perfect gameplay.


When Metroid Prime was showcased by Nintendo at E3 2001, the reaction from fans and critics was mixed at best. Thankfully, Nintendo and Retro Studios (the new kid on the block) stayed the course, and released a game that somehow, miraculously, managed to transition Metroid from 2D to 3D and third-person to first-person all at once. The result is one of the best games of the sixth generation, and the start of a brilliant trilogy that would continue on GameCube and Wii.
Unfairly criticized for its cartoonish appearance, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker features some of the most memorable and vibrant art direction of any Zelda adventure and boasts, without a doubt, the most visually expressive Link of any franchise game. Set on a huge, never-ending great sea, The Wind Waker is the story of Link’s quest to rescue his captured sister. Unlike other Zelda games, in which Link traveled by foot or on horseback, Wind Waker asks its players to navigate across the vast ocean in a small sailboat. Aside from its gorgeous cel-shaded graphics, the game boasts a terrific soundtrack and a deep, sometimes unpredictable story complete with several mid-game revelations and a truly shocking ending.


In Half-Life 2 Gordon Freeman must use his weapons and his wits to, once again, save mankind, in this instance from alien overlords and their human collaborators. Boasting an incredible physics system -- in which objects and people obey the laws of gravity, friction and buoyancy -- remarkably sophisticated artificial intelligence, and superior graphics, Half-Life 2 is the very definition of next-generation. Half-Life 2 unfolds across several chapters, some of which involve the use of vehicles, some of which are heavy on problem-solving. The variety of gameplay experiences packed into Half-Life is remarkable.


Where recent installments of the Mario Kart series felt, at times, like variations of a theme, Mario Kart 8 feels like a brand new game experience, built from the ground up. Sure, the battle mode is an afterthought, but it's small potatoes considering everything that's right with Mario Kart 8, including opulent visuals, an orchestral soundtrack (a first for Mario Kart), silky smooth online play, and imaginative tracks that rank among the best in the series.