In general, I think of 1999 as a year of gaming mediocrity in comparison to its predecessor. In actuality, here in the U.S. it was defined by Pokemon; like the Red, Blue, and brand new Yellow versions, but more so the mass merchandising: the trading card game, the Pokemon League, the anime, the comic books, the toys, the Tamagotchi-alike pet Pikachu, Pokemon Snap, a second set of collectable cards just in case the TCG just wasn't enough, and all of this (especially the cards) being absolutely everywhere, including all sorts of stores that sold no other trading cards. Seriously, Pokemon was absolutely inescapable to the point of obnoxiousness by the summer. And it's not like all this was an earned commemoration of an especially great video game or a compelling anime show or something. The whole thing was just one big capitalist merchandising scheme from the outset. At least the big N offered me the relief of being able to beat the living shit out of a certain ubiquitous electric mouse with their surprise tournament fighting game, giving me the strength to endure. Mercifully, the mania descended back to an Earthly level after the first movie hit American theaters late in the year, but I've never really forgiven Nintendo for putting me through that, so let's move on!
Cultural Impact: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. This game just came out of absolutely nowhere and took the country by storm. To put it a certain way, this game and its sequel the next year were so popular that they brought real-life skateboarding back into style. I even gave RL skateboarding a try myself (though that didn't last long 
). I think it was mainly 'cause the game makes it so easy to pull off innumerable feats that look just awesome and which frankly most of us had never seen or heard of before and didn't know were actually done by people.
My Favorite Game: The Longest Journey. I mean speaking of very, very Generation X games, you'll find none more completely fitting that description than this one. My shows at the time were Stargate SG-1, Xena: Warrior Princess, Charmed, and of course Buffy the Vampire Slayer. My favorite movie was The Craft. And yes, I was a practicing Wiccan as a result. It was an era. Fittingly, this attitude-riven point-and-click adventure about a...highly assertive 18-year-old art student named April's quest to restore balance between the worlds of magic and of distant-future science fiction in which she actually lives quickly became my new favorite game practically the second I got it and remained so for years. It actually still holds up fairly well too. There's much to be said here about the sheer fun of the dialogue, with its lack of concern for social taboos that very much reflected where much of teen culture was in that transitory period between the "nice 90s" and the "noughties". I also really love a lot of the games "logic" puzzles. Like there's one, for example, wherein you have to recover an item that's fallen onto some train tracks and the solution is to inflate a blue ducky vest attached to a string, then poke one small hole in it so that it slowly deflates as you lower it down, causing its mouth to close around the item just as it reaches sufficient depth. In that sort of way, a lot of them aren't so much actual logic as reflections of April's personality. It's not actual logic that you have to learn so much as April logic. You have to learn to think the way she does to progress through the game. It's kind of brilliant that way. Here's a playthrough:
And here's a general list of my favorite 1999 games. Know that I don't feel too strongly about the exact order here though beyond the first four entries. Drakan and EverQuest sort of resurrected my interest in Western RPGs and The Last Revelation was my favorite of the first generation of Tomb Raider games, and also kinda where the franchise probably should've ended, at least for a bit longer. With Dino Crisis (which was basically Resident Evil but with dinosaurs) you may be sensing a theme by now if you've been following my posts on these retro threads: yep, I kinda always loved dinosaurs. 
1. The Longest Journey
2. Drakan: Order of the Flame
3. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
4. EverQuest
5. Fear Effect
6. Valkyrie Profile
7. Dino Crisis
8. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
9. Crazy Taxi
10. Jet Force Gemini
11. Gran Turismo 2
12. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage
13. Crash Team Racing
14. Super Smash Bros.
15. Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense
16. Donkey Kong 64
Gotta catch 'em all! Gotta catch 'em all!
Last edited by Jaicee - on 17 October 2023
