1) Half Life
2) Banjo Kazooie
3) Zelda OOT

Anyone besides me notice how Encounter from the Metal Gear Solid OST sounds like this music from Speed?

Baldur’s Gate has extra nostalgia and cozy factor for me so it’s gets the spot over Ocarina. The low level, chill setting is my jam and BG2 was too much, too complex when I came back after a long hiatus so I couldn’t get into it.

1. Baldur’s Gate
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Heart of Darkness
4. Metal Gear Solid
5. Starcraft

StarCraft. - When a VIDEO GAME becomes an official sport of a Nation... Then it's hit a legendary status that few have ever achieved.

1998 is an amazing year with the likes of Half Life, Baldurs Gate, Ocarina of Time, Fallout 2, Spyro, Banjo Kazooie, Unreal, Heretic 2, Metal Gear, Xenogears...

Cultural Impact: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Y'know, this game was originally going to be much lamer than it turned out. Back when it was tentatively titled The Legend of Zelda 64, it was basically going to be a Super Mario 64 rip-off with the whole game taking place in Ganon's Castle and you venturing to various dungeon-like areas within that framework like how Mario jumped into various paintings. That's the actual reason why Ganon's Castle is structured the way it is in the final game; some of the roots of the original plan were retained therein. I'm so glad that's not the game we wound up getting! Instead we got a full and majestic overworld and the game-defining time-hopping mechanic. In fact, it's really the passage of time in general and the player's impact on the flow of time that brings Ocarina of Time to life in a special way. The game employed details other games didn't back then to bring in added layers of realism, like a day/night cycle that has an impact on who's out and who's not, what collectibles are available, etc., like a kind of microcosm of the game's larger time travel mechanic vis-a-vis the Master Sword. The whole way that time and the magical ocarina songs work in this game lent to it the feeling of a world that was truly, if magically, alive...ya know, by the metrics of the time anyway. I couldn't help also appreciating the elevated role that Zelda enjoys in this game compared to prior entries in what theoretically is supposed to be her own franchise. Ocarina of Time was by far the most immersive entry in the series up to that point and was of tremendous influence upon the way games in its genre were often structured thereafter.

My Favorites: Although there's quite a lot good to say about Ocarina of Time, obviously, at the same time, I feel like while its cinematic presentation is strong and sometimes legitimately gripping, the underlying story itself is really pretty straightforward all in all and mostly boils down to a long series of cliched damsel-in-distress scenarios, and to which end, it's not quite my absolute favorite game of the year to replay anymore today, though with its lush visual detail for the time and large cast of loveable characters and absolutely brilliant level design and time-influencing mechanics and engrossing music, it remains high up there on the list.

Here's a list of my favorite titles from 1998. As you can see, it's fairly long because, as we well know, '98 was just a fantastic year in gaming. It really was. It becomes even more notable when you recall that it was actually in 1998 that Pokemon first launched here in the U.S., becoming an all-encompassing, utterly inescapable cultural phenomenon/madness within months. I felt a bit too old for it already at the time (16) and got bored with the Game Boy games quickly myself, but just mentioning it as something that was also of tremendous cultural impact that year.

Anyway, I'm kind of cheating with this list in two ways, I'll admit. I just learned now that Klonoa: Door to Phantomile was originally released in Japan in December of the previous year. Not realizing that it came out so much earlier in Japan than here, I neglected to include it in my 1997 list of favorites, so I'm choosing to add it here anyway because I have to. It cannot go without mention. Second thing that feels like cheating is including Sonic Adventure on my list for the opposite reason: it didn't actually get released until September of '99 here in the U.S., along with the Dreamcast. The pre-release marketing for the Dreamcast launch Stateside was downright brilliant, in fact. You could rent a Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure and I believe some other launch window games all summer long at video rental stores (which were a thing back then) leading up to the actual launch in September and you bet your ass I took advantage of that option to play Sonic Adventure all summer, "early"! It really felt like Sega was back. Felt like it anyway.

Well I'm getting sidetracked on period anecdotes. Here's my list of '98 favorites in the approximate order of how much I've enjoyed replaying them more recently.

1. Grim Fandango
2. Half-Life
3. Metal Gear Solid
4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
5. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile
6. Xenogears
7. Panzer Dragoon Saga
8. Resident Evil 2
9. Parasite Eve
10. Sonic Adventure
11. Banjo-Kazooie
12. Crash Bandicoot Warped
13. Vigilante 8
14. Spyro the Dragon

Final anecdote: Year the N64 Expansion Pak came out. Vigilante was among the earliest games that used it.

It is always intriguing to see people's favorite games. Back in my collecting days I remember finally locating Panzer Saga and I was so excited. And was  blown Way by disappointment. For me the entire world was desolate, devoid of anything interesting and every character was bland. I had to force myself to finish it. Good news is I flipped it for 2x what I paid and got Shining Force 3 which was amazing.

I am Zelda fan, so I should be voting for OoT, right? And maybe I would if it was some other year, that is not as stacked with great games. Or if I wasn't Zelda fan that, although considers Zelda as one of TOP 10 gaming franchises, doesn't rate any Zelda above 8.5/10 (which is fine, my most beloved games rarely go to 9/10 or higher). Or if I didn't thought OoT was actual step back from 2D Zeldas in many aspects. Anyway....

It would be easy for me to vote for Fallout 2 - it is one of my all time favourites, and often comes up on top, depending on a year I do the list. It was mechanically improved over Fallout 1, it was more open to how you want to play and it was bigger. Yes, Fallout 1 has better story, and some of the changes to humor in Fallout 2 are not welcome by everyone, but it is still one of the top games in Pantheon of CRPG Greatest. It is by far my favourite game from that year, with Might and Magic VI being second.

Yet I can't not vote for Half-Life. Not only it was fantastic game, but it was blueprint for different breed of FPS games and it changed (for good or worse) how FPS games are made from that point on.

Some other games I really loved from that year are Grim Fandango, Thief: Dark Project, Baldur's Gate, StarCraft and often these days overlooked Commandos: Behind the Enemy Lines - back when it launched it was very much appreciated for doing something quite different with squad based tactical games basing its complete gameplay around stealth and detecting patterns in enemy routines.

Hoo boy, what a year. For once, it won't be a "Other" game, though

5 Spot goes to F-Zero X. Only got to play it on the Wii years later, and I loved it instantly, especially it's metal soundtrack.

Number 4 goes to Anno 1602. It's still the best of the series for me.

StarCraft comes at number 3. But it required more Vespene Gas to get ranked higher; RTS are not really my thing normally.

Fallout 2 gets the second spot, narrowly beaten by Baldur's Gate. But it was really a toss-up between those two. However, Fallout 2 is still my best in the series, as while Bethesda got the essence right, but not the spirit of the Fallout series.

Now that we gathered the party, we can venture forth to the first spot. Baldur's Gate narrowly edged out Fallout 2, mostly because I played much more of Baldur's Gate than I did Fallout 2.

OoT is one of the greatest games of all time.

Vigilante 8 is one of the most underrated games ever, easily the best car fighter I played alongside the sequel. It's like the Crash Team Racing of its genre but without the recognition it deserves.