1999, (Runoff) Game of the Year

[The_Liquid_Laser]

The 1999 Game of the Year is Age of Empires II.
The runner up is Final Fantasy VIII.
The master thread for all of these contests can be found here.

Ok, there is going to be a runoff vote for 1999 Game of the Year.  The runoff will end Thursday, Oct 19 at 11:59 PM EST.

First there are three games that remain from the first voting round:

 

Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal (Gameboy Color)
Pokemon returns and continues it’s megasales with this second set of entries into the Pokemon series.  Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal would sell over 29.4 million copies.

 

Final Fantasy VIII (Playstation)
Just 2 years after Playstation fans were blown away by FF7’s 3-disc adventure, Squaresoft releases this 4-disc adventure with greatly improved character models.  With a universally loved card game, and a not-so-universally loved battle system, FF8 would sell over 8.6 million copies making it the fourth best selling game on the Playstation.

Super Smash Bros (N64)
A bunch of family friendly Nintendo characters came together to beat the crap out of each other for the first time.  Super Smash Bros sold over 5.5 million copies.

TV Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytQSGg3W-W0

 

The following games got more than one "Other" vote, and are now added to the poll:

Age of Empires II (PC)
Bruce Shelley refines the Age of Empires design to yield fantastic sales and critical acclaim.  Age of Empires sold over 2 million copies by the end of 1999, and was later ported to both Mac and the PS2.

Homeworld (PC)
This space-themed RTS was the highest rated PC game on Metacritic for 1999.

Gran Turismo 2 (Playstation)
This second entry into the GT franchise sold over 9.3 million units on the Playstation.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (Playstation)
This entry in the Resident Evil series was originally conceived as a spin-off title, but by release time it has simply become the third entry in the series.  Resident Evil 3 sold over 3.5 million copies on the Playstation alone and was ported to the PC, Dreamcast and Gamecube.

Games which didn't survive the first voting round:

Heroes of Might and Magic III (PC/Linux/Max)
Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)
The Legend of Dragoon (Playstation)
Silent Hill (Playstation)
Donkey Kong 64 (N64)
Shenmue (Dreamcast)

Last edited by The_Liquid_Laser - on 20 October 2023