Pop Culture | Video Games | 90s
Ready To Feel Old? These 12 Awesome Video Games Turn 20 This Year
1997 was an incredible year for video games. The Nintendo 64 and PlayStation were going strong, and we started to get games for them that are still loved today! The PC was no slouch either, making this year full of fun times no matter what you played.
Final Fantasy VII
It's been 20 years since we first took control of Cloud Strife, joined up with AVALANCHE, and tried to stop the ShinRa Corporation from destroying the planet. A game so impressive that people still consider it the best in the series.
Goldeneye 007
The game that defined multiplayer on the Nintendo 64, we all loved shooting each other as James Bond and his enemies. Except when someone picked Oddjob.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
It changed the series forever and introduced the world to the "Metroidvania" genre. You controlled Dracula's son Alucard as he fought his way through a massive castle, and then again when it flipped upside down!
Star Fox 64
The game that introduced the rumble pak to the N64, nothing beat feeling the hits in your controller as you fought Andross' legions of ships and your teammates chattered away. Screw always having to save Slippy though.
Click to the next page for more awesome games that came out 20 years ago!
Diddy Kong Racing
Rare was definitely busy that year given they also made Goldeneye, and their colorful racing game was one of the few that actually went toe to toe with Mario Kart 64. You had tons of fun vehicles to choose from, and a massive adventure mode to play!
Star Wars: Dark Forces 2 - Jedi Knight
Kyle Katarn went from a smuggler working for the Rebels to the sole discoverer of a lost Jedi temple in this massive shooter-adventure. It was massive, and had you fighting tons of bounty hunters, goons, and even Sith Lords!
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Everyone's favorite marsupial came back for this sequel that was bigger and better than the original in every way. There was more stuff to collect, more hidden levels to find, and more scary things to run away from.
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
While not as massive a hit as Goldeneye, we still loved taking on the role of Turok and fighting the Campaigner's army of mutated dinosaurs. We probably shouldn't have been playing it as kids given how bloody it was, but we still did!
Yoshi's Story
The spiritual sequel to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island had Yoshi and his friends fighting Baby Bowser in a world that looked like a popup book! It was fun, challenging, and most of all, adorable.
Quake II
Bigger, badder, and more intense than the original, Quake II had tons of awesome levels and great multiplayer. It's still a classic to this day!
Tomb Raider II
Lara Croft made her return in this sequel that was better than the original in pretty much every way. The levels were massive, the secrets were hard to find, and you even got to explore her mansion, complete with a creepy butler!
Fallout
The game that would launch a massive franchise that still sells millions to this day, Fallout took us to a world where nuclear warfare destroyed everything, and we had to do our best to save our people from running out of water.