Discussion Your 1995 GOTY (Yoshi's Island, Warcraft II, Chrono Trigger, C&C)

[Bonfires Down]

Let's try this Google Forms thing. It's not working as smoothly as I hoped and I'm not sure if it works that well on mobile. And you'll need to log in to your Google account. So let me know if you prefer this or the old system.

VOTE FOR GOTY 1995 HERE

RESULTS

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[Milena]

Not sure I have a preference, I like both this and the old ranking system.

Anyway, I voted for Yoshi's Island as number 1, as I still haven't played a better platformer.
My brothers, sisters and I played it so much growing up that my mother still remembers all the songs. She can even recognize them amid the chaos of family meetings.

Full Throttle and The Dig at number 2 and 3 rispectively.

 

[freshVeggie]

C&C was my jam. My first RTS love. Blew my mind to control an whole army in real time.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Oh, Wipeout, Dark Forces, XCOM, Gabriel Knight, C&C... damn, that's going to be tricky.
I shouldn't really vote for Earthbound as i played it much later but hmmm, a good year.

 

[Dandy]

What a good year for point and click adventure games! I loved the Dig, Full Throttle and Discworld.

 

[Bonfires Down]

My vote is for the one where you can overdose on LSD.

Oh, it’s also the best 2D platformer ever.

 

[Kvik]

Terror from the Deep Now that's a hard game.

TTDX and Crusader No Remorse got my second and third votes, respectively. I didn't have the chance to play Chrono Trigger/Phantasy Star IV back then since I don't have a console growing up so they're out of the running. My votes would've been different otherwise.

EDIT:

O yea, 1995 also marked the release of Brandish Renewal, an updated revision of Brandish, with new music(!) and HDD support.

 

[Bonfires Down]

I didn't have the chance to play Chrono Trigger/Phantasy Star IV back then since I don't have a console growing up so they're out of the running. My votes would've been different otherwise.

You disqualify them because you didn’t play them at the time? Well, you don’t seem to be the only one thinking this way but I don’t really get why.

 

[Kvik]

You disqualify them because you didn’t play them at the time? Well, you don’t seem to be the only one thinking this way but I don’t really get why.

Well, certainly not because they're lacking in quality. They are still really good games in their own right. If I have to have a reason, it's probably because of nostalgia (as cliched as it is). Most of my votes consist of PC games I played growing up, playing with friends and borrowing each other's games. Those memories made the games feel stronger to me, somehow.

 

[Wibblewozzer]

I make my choices mostly based on what I believe holds up today and don't consider what year I played the games. But I also do factor how much I enjoyed them whenever I did play them, too.

Warcraft II easily got my vote as I've put hundreds of hours in it. I don't think I ever completed both campaigns but my two best friends and I back in those days made maps constantly and also downloaded early mod tools to customize units and just constantly screw around. Mostly we made maps for one another to play and then watched one another play our creations. Also, I told one of the friends that I liked her by making a map that spelled it out using land in a water only map. We dated off and on for years after that.

The remaining places were tougher. Went with Mega Man X2 for second place and Hexen for third place. I really enjoy Mega Man games, but X2 doesn't hold any particularly special place in my memory. Hexen I didn't actually play much but I have to give it the vote due to playing a bunch of Hexen 64 multiplayer with the same two friends mentioned above.

 

[Trisolarian]

Full Throttle and Dark Forces are the only ones I played.

 

[Oldschool PC]

If you count the Japanese release, then it's Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together easily. It's also the only console exclusive I will vote for of any year.

 

[Bonfires Down]

If you count the Japanese release, then it's Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together easily. It's also the only console exclusive I will vote for of any year.

Oh, it was supposed to have been included along with Seiken Densetsu 3. Oh well.

 

[Futaleufu]

1.- Transport Tycoon Deluxe
2.- Commad & Conquer
3.- Real Bout Fatal Fury

 

[Wildebeet]

I think I'll vote Chrono Trigger. I kind of want to choose Yoshi's Island, but I'm tired of choosing Mario games. Anyway around that time I was playing a stretch of SNES RPGs including FF3, Earthbound, Illusion of Gaia, Secret of Mana ... but Chrono was my favorite.

It's amazing how well Yoshi's Island holds up today. I think the only awkward bit is the weird out of place vehicle sequences (not a big deal though), but otherwise that game is way ahead of its time both visually, musically and level design wise.

Runner ups to C&C and Dark Forces!

 

[Durante]

C&C and WC2 are splitting the RTS vote

Personally I think Chrono Trigger is a deserving winner, probably the most well-rounded and well-paced JRPG of all time.

 

[low-G]

1995 is a bit of a hard year for me, so many greats as usual for the 90's, but what I'd call great changed some over the years.

By late 1995, WipEout was my favorite game of the year, but I also loved Toshinden, Jumping Flash, and Warhawk. The whole PS1 launch knocked my socks off. I'd still say Warhawk and Jumping Flash hold up. WipEout was overshadowed by better playing sequels, and Toshinden was actually bad.

My friend let me borrow his copy of Chrono Trigger for about a month, but I wouldn't have put it over any of those PS1 launch games at the time... But it still was incredible and is probably my pick for best game of 1995 now.

But I still also absolutely loved Earthbound, and Mechwarrior 2, and Descent, and Dark Forces. I bought Full Throttle, but my friend loved that way more than I did (one of his GOATS). I enjoyed Yoshi's Island a lot, but I didn't buy it that year (just rented). I was also making Doom maps and still loving Tie Fighter in 95...

I didn't play nor love Virtua Fighter 2 until the latter half of 1996. Virtual On also came out that year, one of the GOATS.

I never played C&C, I got into C&C at Red Alert...

I did play WC2 in the day, but I wasn't a huge fan. I did think it was pretty neat, but it didn't really do it for me. In fact my friend installed it on my PC but I thought so little of it I deleted it I mostly think of the orc quotes from WC2 these days.

 

[Digoman]

1st) Warcraft 2 is the better game, but I can't resist the crappy FMV and storytelling of Command and Conquer
2nd) Hard choice between Full Throttle and Gabriel Knight... but I went with Full Throttle because I can still remember that intro...
3rd) Crusader: No Remorse because it was so much fun and it is very underrated.

 

[Wildebeet]

C&C and WC2 are splitting the RTS vote

I wanted to see a Starcraft vs. Total Annihilation showdown coming up. I had to check, but looks like Starcraft was 1998 and TotalA was 97. Bah!

(TotalA all the way.)

 

[Bonfires Down]

I wanted to see a Starcraft vs. Total Annihilation showdown coming up. I had to check, but looks like Starcraft was 1998 and TotalA was 97. Bah!

(TotalA all the way.)

This way you can pretend that TA actually has a chance to beat SC Not commenting on their quality, just their popularity.

 

[m_dorian]

This one:

 

[ISee]

Very nice voting system, good job. You invested a lot of time into it.


WarCraft 2 or C&C? That's an impossible decision for me. Both games shaped an entire genre and formulated templates how RTS are supposed to work. Both had (spiritual) predecessors and evolved their gameplay formula. Command and Conquer had full motion videos, a charismatic Joseph Kucan (Kane), wonky pathfinding, but you could command and group as many units at once as you wanted to, something that wasn't possible in WarCraft 2 and not even in StarCraft. It's hard but I think C&C was the better RTS at the time.

Number 1: C&C
Number 2: WarCraft 2

Full Throttle, The Dig or Mechwarrior 2 for number 3. I think Full throttle is better than the dig and I say that as somebody who loves sci fi. Scope and production values are just bigger. Mechwarrior 2 is one of my beloved nostalgia games, but the gameplay wasn't perfected yet. Better Mechgames came along (not 5!)

Number 3; Full Throttle

 

[TheLetdown]

Chrono Trigger has to be 1, for me. I'm not someone who often replays games. That one? I got nearly all of the endings back on the cartridge and then finished them up years later on an emulator that could speed up parts.

WC2 was endlessly replayable. Their custom map editor (which was far, far outdone in WC3) was pretty damn good for its time.

And while Full Throttle is pitch perfect, I always loved where The Dig went. It felt emotionally resonant, at times. The art -- particularly the use of color -- is still incredible.

 

[Ge0force]

1) C&C
2) Full Throttle
3) Crusader