15 Years of Gaming: Part 5 (1999)

1999

'99 was, for all intents and purposes, a "recharge" year, a year in which the main gaming consoles hold off on major releases in anticipation for the "final" charge that would be 2000. Because of this, neither the Nintendo 64 or the PlayStation really did a whole lot. I remember convincing my mother to buy me a PlayStation this year, only to hold off and reconsider after realizing that not a whole lot would be coming out. That being said, PC Gaming is an entirely different industry, one rarely affected by console trends (PC gamers would have you believe that PC Gaming is the only type of gaming that is relevant, but this is hardly the truth).


Final Fantasy VIII
Release Date: February 11, 1999.
Platform: PlayStation
ESRB Rating: T
Developer/Publisher: SquareSoft
GameRankings: 89.17%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.7/10 (Very Good)

 

Before I go any further, I would like you to know that FF8 is a great game, easily the best that came out in '99. That being said, it's my least favorite "core" Final Fantasy (before 2003), and is one of the few I've never beaten. On the surface, it seems to be an improvement in almost every way from it's predecessor. This is hardly the case. The party characters, for the most part, aren't nearly as interesting as their FFVII counterparts (Cid and Vincent > Zell and Irvine), though I will acknowledge FFVIII's plot being arguably the most female-driven plot in any Final Fantasy. The female characters are generally the most interesting and most plot important, and that's a refreshing change from most video games (though not necessarily Final Fantasy). The Junction system is unwieldy and not nearly as rewarding a system as it might appear to be. All this being said, FFVIII is a very pretty game, and is still a blast to play.

 

Roller Coaster Tycoon

Release Date: March 31, 1999.

Platform: PC

ESRB Rating: E

Developer/Publisher: Chris Sawyer Productions/Hasbro Interactive

GameRankings: 87%

Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 7.3/10 (Solid)

RCT was more than a simulation game. How so, you might be asking? Well, it was fun, for starters. To this day, there might not be a game I've played more of than this one. Many a weekend during the summer of 2000 were spent playing this game. The game's appeal, for me, came from the gradual, meticulous build up of your parks, not as much the maintenance. Being able to build custom rides was also a plus, certainly. I'm finding it really difficult to describe what made RCT so enjoyable, and there doesn't appear to be any good youtube videos that would do it for me, so here's the intro video.

 

Super Smash Brothers

Release Date: April 26, 1999.

Platform: Nintendo 64

ESRB Rating: E

Developer/Publisher: HAL Laboratory/Nintendo

GameRankings: 80%

Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 7.2/10 (Solid)

 

The original Super Smash Brothers was more or less a gimmick game. A silly little farce Nintendo seemed to green light as a little tongue in cheek self-tribute. Looking back, all it really seemed to do was set up the Killer App that was to come, but that doesn't change the fact that, for it's time, it was one of the most enjoyable multiplayer games on the 64.

Unreal Tournament and Quake III: Arena

Release Date: November 30, 1999 and December 2, 1999.

Platform: PC (Both)

ESRB Rating: M (Both)

Developer/Publisher: Epic Games/GT Interactive and id Software/Activison

GameRankings: 94% and 94.13%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 7.4/10 (Solid)

I can only have one, and I think UT has the better cover art.

These two games, despite the strangely contrasted GameRankings scores, were extremely similar experiences to me, and I mean this in a good way. They both came out within a month of each other, and were both the biggest online multiplayer shooters on the market. Direct competitors doesn't even begin to describe it. Telling a Quake player you thought Unreal was better (and vice versa) is a one way ticket to an argument, even today, 12 years later. I figured the best way to respect both of these games was to put them together. That, and I'm tired. Sue me.

Yeah, I used a video from UT99, too. It was the cleanest one I could find.