Best 5 years of gaming imo:

1. 1998
2. 2000
3. 2007
4. 2004
5. 2008

I just the people claiming that 1998 was better or that the PS3 library is better somehow were actually borned in 1988 and have played a lot of those games before comparing them to newer games.

As for myself, I only played the Mario/Zelda for the OP so I won't argue.

Blaster Master > Ocarina of Time, for adventure game in which you explore, find a temple, beat a boss, and gain a new item that grants you access to a new part of the world, and repeat the process.

Iron Tank > Metal Gear Solid, for one-man-army military tactical espionage action.

Double Dragon II > Soul Calibur, for fighting.

Nobunaga's Ambition and Famicom Wars > StarCraft, for strategy games in which you compete for resources and land and kill each other.

Mega Man 2 > Half-Life, for shooting.

Ultima V > Baldur's Gate, for western RPG.

Super Mario Bros. 2 and 3 > Banjo Kazooie.

Dragon Warrior III > Xenogears, for Squeenix RPG.

Splatterhouse and Ghouls 'n Ghosts > Resident Evil 2, for horror.

Ys II > Panzer Dragoon Saga, for Sega RPG.

King's Quest IV and Leisure Suit Larry 2 and Deja Vu II > Grim Fandango, for point and click graphic adventure gaming.

Might and Magic II > Pokemon, for an RPG in which you collect friends, choose which ones to have in your party, and grind them a bunch.

Did you even read the OP?

I apologize for my ignorance of the Master System in 1988 (I didn't play one until a few years later), and I have added these to my OP.

GTA IV is just a cheap sensationalist knock-off of 1988's NES game, Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode.  It has sex, drug use, graphic violence, AND NAZIS.  I just owned the whole 7th generation with one game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golgo_13:_Top_Secret_Episode#Sexual_themes.2C_violence_and_smoking

I would put in a pitch for 2002. Bringing us Metroid Prime, Super Mario Sunshine, Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II, GTA: Vice City.

Probably more, but the first three of those that i listed have consumed quite a bit of my life, much more than most games from prior or previous years (indeed, if Smash Bros Melee had fallen in 02, that would be it for its supremacy. I think Sonic Adventure 2 Battle was also 02)

Even playing with the release dates, this doesn't top 1998. Sometimes I don't know how serious tGoRB is*, so I'll play it safe and just say "No."

* Only after I had written it did I realize how awesome that initialization was. Tee-Gorb. I may have to call you that from now on, TeeGorb.

All I'm saying is, the best thing to come out of 1998 was an expansion pack.

But that expansion pack is good enough to bring 1998 in my top 3 years of gaming history.

And I will gladly accept the name Tee-Gorb. I would also have accepted GhostBang.

Teegorb > ghostbang. I would like to take a poll. Who thinks blaster master > ocarina of time? Or even the question of who as even heard of blaster master?

It's neither my fault nor Blaster Master's fault that young ruffians like you have no interest in educating themselves in gaming history that took place before their teen years.

Blaster Master was a NES game, which had 2 sequels on Game Boy, 1 on Genesis, and 1 on PlayStation.

I wrote the game summary for the database, and I made an animated .gif of the intro.  I shall copy that summary and animation below.

Here is the intro to the game. It explains everything.

After this madness, you find yourself in an incredible 2-D platformer. You travel both on foot and in your tank. There are topdown rooms scattered about, some of which will have a boss, which will be guarding an upgrade for your tank. Each upgrade grants you access to the next area (by letting your tank climb walls or hover for short distances, etc.), and the whole world is connected in this way without traditional stages.

All Ocarina added was dialogue, shopping, and a pesky 3rd dimension.  Blaster Master even has an underwater dungeon.  You get a tank upgrade that lets you drive underwater like a submarine.

Ocarina was an amazing game, especially for 1998, and one of the greatest games to ever follow this formula.  I won't argue that.  But if you played Blaster Master in 1988, you'd know it was nothing new.  Incredible, but nothing new.

And now you know.

So what happens to the toad? (And if the game doesn't tell us, shouldn't we get a sequel/spinoff detailing his epic quest to use his powers for the good of all toadkind?)