Best run ever is by the way

Squaresoft

1997 - FF7
1998 - Xenogears

How the hell did they do that? Plus bringing out FFT and Parasite Eve.
That was the pinnacle of Square.

Naughty Dog will continue to impress. Sony split Naughty Dog into two teams and increased the numbers. One team works on Uncharted and the other on other IP's. Rare made games in a time when titles could be created within a years time. Gaming is far more complex today.

Enix didn't "buy them out", they had a joint-merger.  And despite all the hits Square put out throughout the 90s on the SNES and PS1, the company was still losing a ton of money in the early 00s thanks to overbloated game development budgets and the box office money pit that was FF Spirits Within.  Square's management was and is still today God awful.

An absolutely amazing lineup of games.. Rare actually may have even surpassed Nintendo in quality during these years, and were my second favorite company at one point. Then they had there swan song game in 2005 with Kameo, and then completely just dropped off the map.. Such a shame.

Agree with you OP. Rare created my favourite two games ever during that period.

Those are 15 & 17 year spans vs 7 years for the op, not really a fair comparison.

I absolutely get and appreciate what you're saying, though I felt I would point a few things out from my own point of view, having lived through the 16bit era also.

1. DKC was a landmark achievement for it's time, and deserves all the praise it gets. The graphics and music were phenominal, if the gameplay itself wasn't innovative. And I certainly wouldn't argue that it helped deliver a "killing blow" from the SNES to the Genesis.

However, I would point out that the only real reason the Genesis had a lead over the SNES in the first place, was because it launched earlier, and then released Sonic the Hedgehog which became an instant popular success. But on the other hand, Super Mario World was incredibly well received and popular, especially in NA, as well. The SNES also had many things going for it that drove system sales early on, not the least of which being Street Fighter II being exclusive for a good year or two. If people wanted to play SFII at home, the SNES was the system to play it on, and that alone drove sales. The fact that you could only play games like Contra, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Actraiser, Mega Man X, etc. on SNES also helped. Not to mention the fact that even before DKC released, major hits for Nintendo like F-Zero, Sim City, Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario Kart, Mario Paint, A Link to the Past, Earthbound, Star Fox, and Super Metroid, all of which were highly acclaimed, sold well, and helped push the system. 

2. Goldeneye was absolutely one of the single biggest hits on N64, not to mention on any system that generation. As were Banjo-Kazooie, Diddy Kong Racing, Perfect Dark, etc. However, again, Nintendo themselves also had massive hits in Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64, etc. before Goldeneye came out. Goldeneye CERTAINLY had a major hand in helping system sales and making a lot of folks want to own one, it was one of the "Games to Have", but then again, so were Mario 64, Mario Kart, and Ocarina of Time.

I'm not trying to downplay Rare's hand in pushing Nintendo hardware, they absolutely were a big part of Nintendo's success. In fact it's rather unfortunate that Nintendo ever sold Rare back their majority stake, or allowed Rare to sell themselves to Microsoft. That loss, while not detrimental, was certainly a big one, and Rare's presence on Gamecube, combined with their own, and Retro Studios and Silicon Knights (at the time), would have really helped. But I suppose I am just a bit resistent to the idea that Rare "saved" Nintendo's consoles. There is a stronger argument to be made that they did in fact "save" the N64, or at least helped keep it relevant. But I don't think, even as good as DKC and Killer Instinct were, that the SNES really needed "saving", and honestly it was already kind of kicking the Genesis' ass before DKC even released in late '94. Like I said, DKC definitely did help them give Sega that knockout punch, but Nintendo was rockin' fine at least in the SNES gen by themselves.

Capcom's old days are always forgotten because their best games were in the arcades. Their output during the CPS-1 and CPS-2 days is legendary.

This is a nice thread.

It makes me even more reassured that, back then, I made the right choice picking a 64 instead of a PSX (I even came to hold one on my hands before picking the other on the shop). Nowadays, people discuss 64s games much more than they do PSXs. Also, people PLAY those games NOWADAYS much more than day do PSXs. Cut Symphony of the Night, Metal Gear and JRPGs out of the equation and you have a total massacre, quality and variation wise (I just really missed the great Shmups PSX had to offer, like Einhänder and many ones from Taito - had to borrow my friend's console for those lol).