I'm European, so 2002 might actually be better than 2001 for me. It's mostly because of Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy X being released as late as 2002 in Europe, and the rest of the games released in 2002 aren't too bad either. I'm not sure whether 2002 is the best year ever though, since 1998 (or maybe 1999 but I think it was 1998) and several years in the 2010s are pretty good too. Someone also mentioned 2007, and it seems pretty strong too.