2017 was the best of these years, based on the strength of Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The Switch's launch was a console launch of the style I never thought I would see again, in large part because the Switch needed to come out of the gate with guns blazing. 2017 was also the Western launch of Persona 5.

1994 was an incredible year on SNES (Super Metroid, FF6, DKC, plus a version of Mortal Kombat II that was as close as the 16-bit consoles could get to the arcade).

1998 was a strong year all around with Ocarina of Time, Xenogears, RE2, and Tekken 3 being my favorites of the year.

I'd also offer up 2006 (Twilight Princess, FFXII, Okami, and Wii Sports).

2013 (TLOU, Ni no Kuni, A Link Between Worlds, Fire Emblem Engage, Dragon's Crown, and many others). It was the first year in a long time where I was actually excited about games. Replaying Ni no Kuni now after having watched The Boy and the Heron.

The 90s in general are my "best of gaming" era. Hard to pick between 1994 and 1998 personally, those years were stacked.
Lowkey 2017 is up there as well.

2008 is the year with the most games in my top 50, but they tend not to be too close to the top:

• Mirror's Edge - 8th
• WipEout HD - 19th
• Prince of Persia - 20th
• Race Driver: GRID - 22nd
• Fallout 3 - 30th
• N+ - 44th

2007 is the only year with two entries in my top 10:

• Portal - 4th
• BioShock - 5th
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - 25th
• WipEout Pulse - 45th

My No.1 game belongs to 1998, but that year only has three entries in my top 50:

• StarCraft: Brood War - 1st
• Pokémon Red and Blue - 14th
• Future Cop L.A.P.D. - 31st

Of those years, only 1998 is in the poll options, so that makes things easier for me.

2011 for me, so many good and big games that year, Skyrim, LA Noire, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Witcher 2, Arkham City, Portal 2, Forza Motorsport 4, Gears of War 3, Zelda Skyward Sword, Dead Space 2, Yakuza 4, Star Wars The Old Republic, Rage, Crysis 2, Resistance 3, Dark Souls, Battlefield 3, CoD Modern Warfare 3, Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Saints Row The Third, Minecraft.

No other gaming year has been even close to that packed with big games. Certainly not for me, there are more 2011 games on my top 50 games of all-time list than any other year.

Over and above those listed, I feel Banjo Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot Warped, and F-Zero X deserve to be in the conversation for 1998 as well.
They may not have been as revolutionary as some others, but they were supremely well made and stand tall among the best of that year.

I will add to that even though I'll stick to 1996, 2011, and 2012 in that order pretty much, 2017 gets an honorable mention for Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, and Xenoblade 2. Was a pretty big resurgence for Nintendo stuff after almost a decade of lukewarm stuff from them (for my money anyway). Plus you had Assassin's Creed Origins - which I wouldn't discover until years later, but it was the start of the open-world ARPG direction of the series that I still enjoy.

1986 - The Original best year for gaming. I thoroughly enjoyed owning a console that played the games from that year.

2007 clears

2023 is better than some of the years listed tbh, and probably the strongest year since 2017, with a ton of stellar games in a wide range of styles and genres.

I'd put it above say 2000, 2001, or 2011.

If we went by western release dates, then Persona 5 and Yakuza 0 would be added.
Which would make 2017 a very easy choice for me.

But I'll stick to the earliest possible release. In which case this was the best year to me:

1998
W. LoZ: Ocarina of Time
2. StarCraft
3. Half-Life
4. Metal Gear Solid
5. Resident Evil 2

(Btw, I accidentally voted for 1997 instead.)