I love that one! Played it endlessly on N64. Chassey Blue was my gal.

Would it surprise you the main theme of MGS is plagiarized from a Russian composer in the 70s? The most original music in that game is on the Konami logo which is a sampled clip of Policenauts theme

One of the best years in gaming. I expect the masterpiece Ocarina of time to take the crown. I just don't feel like returning to that game as much as other titles in the series. It set in stone the formula started by a Link to the past that dominated the series for 25 years. Not my favorite in the series, not my favorite Zelda on the system and not my favorite that yéar but a great game.

Half Life made a large impact and pretty much created the gaming industry giant Valve. But since genre is one I have never enjoyed I skipped it.

Metal Gear Solid - Oh the blod keeps pumping in my veins when I hear the music of being discovered and trying to avoid the soldier guards. Very few games can match that feeling of stress and urgency. Some creative forth wall braking only topped by Eternal Darkness. A treat of a game.

But, and there is pretty much always a but, all the great titles released this year got beaten by a space opera. The coolest game I know. The only game that gives me goosebumps just going through the menu. One of the fathers of modern E-sport. The best real time strategy game ever. A phenomenon and a great game all around. Fantastic gameplay, extraordinary story, sound design without equal, phenomenal three distinct race innovation. I LOVE this game. It is not my most played or most liked game ever, but I think it is the one game where I have strongest positive feelings towards. Best release of the year. What few flaws it had the next years expansion fixed.

Edit. Noticed that I did not mention the name of the game. Talking about Starcraft ofc.

Damn, what a stacked year 1998 was! For me, it's between Half-Life and Baldur's Gate, hard to decide. So many games that year that had such impact on entire genres, Starcraft, HL, BG, Thief: The Dark Project, F-zero X, Rogue Squadron, Fallout 2 etc. Crazy stuff.

I think I'm going to vote Baldur's Gate though, it's the closest to my heart genre-wise and gameplay-wise. Thief and MGS did wonders for the stealth genre (one could claim that Thief more or less invented it in its sheer form). But today, CRPGs are still my favorite genre, and they're having something of a renaissance of late.

Another thing that strikes me looking at that insane list is that it contains two former giants who have since destroyed themselves (Bioware, Blizzard), one that no longer produces games at a significant rate (Valve), two that were killed by time (Black Isle and Looking Glass) etc. It's as amazing as it is sad seeing what they did in the past. Just about the only developer among all of them who do anything worthwhile today is Nintendo.

Not really a contest on the list... and yet, an admitting something, never completed OoT. I can't really remember where I got to either in like 3 attempts at playing it.

One of my favourite games ever came out in 1998. Devil Dice. People should play it if they can, great fun.

Panzer dragoon saga
Played on emulator but so sooo good

I'd go with Soul Calibur. One of the greatest fighting games of all time.

Funny thing is, original Zelda was supposed to be bunch of "labyrinths" (dungeons) that you get into from the main screen. But under the influence of Ultima (as per Miyamoto), they added the overworld.

Very interesting! Did not know that!

Official voting is now over for 1998.

This was another year where the winner had a landslide, but it was a close race for runner up between 4 different games.  The 1998 Game of the Year is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and the runner up is StarCraft.