Best Year Ever: Nintendo vs. PlayStation vs. Xbox

[Veknoid_Outcast]

I guess I should vote myself.

Xbox 2007 is a really nice year. BioShock is probably the best game of 2007, edging out Super Mario Galaxy by the slimmest of margins. The Orange Box included Half-Life 2, one of the ten best games ever made in my opinion. Halo 3 is an awesome game which, to this day, sports the best online multiplayer I think I've ever played. Mass Effect and Modern Warfare are both excellent too. And Crackdown was a lot of fun.

Sony 1998 is great, too. Unfortunately I haven't played all of those games. Metal Gear Solid is a masterwork, and Gran Turismo and Resident Evil 2 are outstanding titles.

Not having played all the Sony games, I think I need to give it to Nintendo 1998. Banjo is arguably Rare's best game. Turok 2 is a spectacular open-world shooter. 1080 is one of the better snowboarding games ever made. Body Harvest is basically GTA3 before GTA3. F-Zero X is a silky smooth futuristic racer with huge replay value. Rogue Squadron, to me, is the best of the series. Tetris DX is a massive improvement over the original Tetris, which was already a masterpiece. Another 1998 N64 game, not listed, is MLB featuring Ken Griffey Jr., which I consider the best baseball game of the generation.

And then, of course, there's Ocarina: the best N64 game, the best game of 1998, the best game of all time. 18 years later, it's yet to be topped. All-time great music and sound design; expertly-designed dungeons and boss encounters; a fully-realized and alive 3D world; plenty of secrets and items to discover; meaningful side-quests; movement and combat made easy through z-targeting and context sensitive buttons; a wistful, epic tale of adventure, loss, and redemption; and, across it all, a time-traveling mechanic that adds weight and consequence to every decision, and every action.

So Nintendo 1998 for me :)