Thursday, December 30, 2010

A Look to the Past: Games of the Years - The End

Hello, and welcome to the finale of A Look to the Past: Games of the Years. The greatest entries from the past twenty years of video games have been successfully chronicled, and we finally make it to the end: all the way back to 2010! We've visited the NES, witnessed the brief reign of the Dreamcast, dropped by to see online gaming take off, and finally come to rest at the current generation of hardware. In case you haven't been calculating information in your head this whole time, here's a recap of the feature for your reading pleasure:


1990 - Super Mario Bros. 3
1991 - Super Mario World
1992 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
1993 - Myst
1994 - Donkey Kong Country
1995 - Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
1996 - Super Mario 64
1997 - Star Fox 64
1998 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
1999 - Soul Calibur
2000 - Rayman 2: The Great Escape
2001 - Super Smash Bros. Melee
2002 - Animal Crossing
2003 - The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
2004 - World of Warcraft
2005 - Shadow of the Colossus
2006 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
2007 - Halo 3
2008 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2009 - Batman: Arkham Asylum

Game of the Ever: 2004 - World of Warcraft


And here are some fun statistics on the winners in case you're curious:


Publishers:

Nintendo - 12
Broderbund - 1
Namco - 1
Ubisoft - 1
Blizzard Entertainment - 1
Sony Computer Entertainment - 1
Bethesda Softworks - 1
Microsoft - 1
Eidos Interactive - 1


Original IPs: 

3 (Myst, Animal Crossing, Arkham Asylum)

Sequels/spin-offs:

17 (All the others)


Games with multiplayer:

11 (Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, Star Fox 64, Soul Calibur, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Animal Crossing, Wind Waker, World of Warcraft, Halo 3, Super Smash Bros. Brawl)


Games that contain the word "Super" in their title:

6 (Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Super Mario 64, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl)


As this year comes to a close and people begin to furiously compile their Top 10 lists and select their Game of the Year nominees, it's good to reflect on how far games have come. Compare the first item on the list, Super Mario Bros. 3, with 2009's winner. Has any medium improved so drastically in such a short amount of time? We could debate which of the two games is better until 2012 comes around to unleash the T-virus, activate the seven Halo rings, and wipe us off the face of the earth, but nobody can argue that time hasn't been very generous to games both technically and sophisticatedly. But if nothing else, this has proven how amazing video games are. Looking back on all those years brings nostalgia to my heart and reminds me why I play games in the first place. I sincerely hope that you've enjoyed this Look to the Past, and I'd love to hear your Games of the Years (and Game of the Ever, too). 

And with that, I'm off! See you next time!

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