for its time, 1998 was outstanding. if we are to look at a year relative to just itself and the years prior, 1998 is still the most impressive. that's when ocarina of time, metal gear solid, pokemon, and panzer dragoon saga all hit. and people knew back then that they were playing legendary groundbreaking games. it was a really exciting time. it was also the middle-late part of a generation and things were really getting good (well, it was the end of the saturn and the start of the dreamcast).
2013's been a good year. nintendo's had more critical success this year than any i can remember in recent history. rayman legends, the last of us, and grand theft auto v were also extremely well-received. but it's also the year that saw the wii u flounder without software and the ps4 and xbox one come out to a fairly standard launches. i'm not sure if i played any legendary classic games yet, but at least this year's lineup's been better than the previous two.