Jumpin said:
I don't see it as a best generation, but rather a period of time spanning over mainly two generations. It began when the SNES came to maturity in 1994 and ended after the significant days of the Sega Dreamcast in 2001.
Considering PSX/N64 generation was in the middle of that, I would say that generation was when the industry was at its best. Lots of growth,lots of diversity, lots of creativity, everyone wanted to do their own thing and not copy everyone else; like what happens today.
Essentially it began when Nintendo released Rare developed Donkey Kong Country, Square released the legendary FF6 and Enix released a very interesting action/adventure in Illusion of Time (follow up to Soul Blazer and Act Raiser). Then there was a torrent of not only very advanced feeling games, but also well crafted games. It wasn't limited to console either, on handheld Pokemon started a revolution in the RPG world which would eventually see a huge change in focus (with handhelds becoming the main focus of RPGs 10 years later). On PC there were games like Sim City 2000, Civilization 2, and Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness, which also came out in this time period. We got Chrono Trigger, Terranigma, Kirby Superstar, actual advanced feeling sports titles (NHL, Stanley Cup, ISS, and Fifa), Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Wild Arms 1 and 2, FF7 and 8, Suikoden 1 and 2, Goldeneye 007, Resident Evil 1 and 2, Xenogears, Vagrant Story, Gran Turismo, Starcraft, The Sims, Mario Kart 64, Conker, and many more games that were just simply fantastic, and I saw the period ending after Dreamcast's serving of games like Skies of Arcadia, Sonic Adventure, Shenmue, Code Veronica, and the original Soul Calibur.
So in reality, it's a period which covered 3 gens, but mostly in the PSX and N64 generation. Nowadays, the development process is more like the NES era; make a game, and then make as many sequels as possible which are barely distinguishable from the release before them. This, in my opinion, is a large sign of decline. The era I am speaking of had much more originality in it than any other era - but also a great deal of excellence. It created more classics than any other time period.
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