1988 Nintendo was on the rise. But the challenge of creating propper sequels eluded them. Third party games were showing their excellence. The golden age ended. What were your favorite games in 1988?

It's between Double Dragon II and Contra for me. Played the heck out of both. Think I'll give the nod to Double Dragon.

Swimming in a testicle. Never got old.

Unless we're basing this only on US release dates, the lack of Mega Man 2 makes me have fury.

I mainly played on PC back then
Most memorable games of 1988 for me were:

Grand prix circuit


Gold rush, adventure with multiple paths


And F19 Stealth fighter

I love Zelda II more than a normal person should, so yeah.

If you have a friend over your house. Those co-operative games are indisputably #1.

In 1988, you had some really cool RPG and adventure games on the PC too.
Bard's Tale III, Ultima V, King's Quest IV, Might & Magic II, Wizardry V, Police Quest 2 and the NES had Knight Rider, Willow (!) and Megaman 2!
It is also the year when Tetris emerged, why are none of these games on the list?

Out of the ones you posted though, I'd give Contra and SMB 2 a shared first place.

Damn, the mid-late '80s were such a great time for gaming. Aside from the Superman arcade game, which I never played, I absolutely love every game in the poll except for Double Dragon and Altered Beast, which were just ok (still loved them at the time, though).

Ugh... really, really hard for me to choose but it would probably be between Phantasy Star, Bionic Commando or the arcade of Ghouls 'n Ghosts. Just to show my love for home consoles, the Sega Master System, and the fact that it was a technical marvel for its day I'll go ahead and vote for Phantasy Star... but man it's close.

Also, that picture for Ghouls in the OP isn't from the arcade of Ghouls 'n Ghosts (nor the Genesis or Supergrafx ports, either). It might be from the GBA version of Super GnG, which had added levels but I'm not sure.

You've listed ten games..... Thats a poll on its own.