1998, Game of the Year

[S.Peelman]

And there it is, 1998, also known as the peak of gaming. This year is like 1997, but with a peak even higher. This year has a whole lot of my all-time favourite and my absolute all-time favourite. Sadly it'll all be downhill from here, but there's still a bunch of amazing years yet to come, the Golden Age isn't over yet.

From the lists above, my favourites are;
- Banjo-Kazooie
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Anno 1602
- Crash Bandicoot Warped
Besides those, I've also spent plenty of time with Mario Party, F-Zero X and Star Wars Rogue Squadron. All great games. Then, I also played Need for Speed III, 1080* Snowboarding and Sonic Adventure and probably Tomb Raider 3 and Spyro the Dragon though all these wouldn't win their spot in my hall of fame. It's funny I barely played anything from the main poll, but a lot from the secondary list.

Things don't end here though, on the contrary. Many of my absolute favourites, which Anno 1602 and Ocarina of Time also are, aren't even mentioned here. This year is also the year of MediEvil. A HUGE omission from the poll if you asked me, and one of the greatest games ever. I'd say it certainly is the greatest PlayStation game. Next another of my favourites PlayStation games released in 1998, though admittedly obscure, is Kula World. Besides these I personally won't forget Motocross Madness, Railroad Tycoon II, Caesar III and it was the year of Link's Awakening DX. A multitude of these games are featured in my Top 50 list, and I played a whole bunch more besides those that would all just fade under the weight of all these heavyweights.

However, a bit like 1996, the winner is still very clear to me. Even Anno 1602 and MediEvil, who on their own would win almost any other year, aren't enough to challenge the all-time greatest video-game. My vote of course is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.