Support NeoGAF

[German Hops]

Notice I'm using the metric version of decade, so I can have 2020 be the end instead of creating a one year decade option. So this goes back to as far back as pong, arcade and floppy disk computers all the way to the present where digital releases and 4K gaming are prominent. Which decade would you consider the best?

After careful thought, I've decided it would be the 90's, it was the first decade I got into gaming with my first system NES in 1991. It was very hardcore, transitioning from 8-bit to 16-bit all physical cartridges were the standard, CD-Rom was the new thing in the early 90's. all controllers were wired. Games transitioned from 2D to 3D later in the decade with N64 and PSX. Most games were still console exclusive (albeit less than the 80's were everything was). There was no online until the end with Dreamcast, so multiplayers had to be with actual people in the same room. The ratings system was introduced in the decade due to the introduction of mature games like Mortal Kombat and Doom. Video game rentals and Arcade were still commonplace. I think this was the decade with the most change.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

2011 to 2020 only because being Gravity Rush 1 and 2

 

[TDiddyLive]

2001-2010. Online console gaming hit full stride and hasn’t looked back.

 

[Griffon]

It's hard to chose. I have many reasons to like all the decades from 90 to today. Each had some really great stuff.

 

[turtlepowa]

1991-2000
So many great games, LAN Parties with Build Engine Games and Unreal Tournament, no loot boxes, no F2P crap, Pc Games on Discs, peak of RTS, fighting games and classic adventures, Super Nintendo, Bullfrog, games were gameplay focused instead of Netflix focused BS, printed magazines were state of the art instead of metacritic crap, video shops with games. What a great feeling when friday evening your favorite game was available for renting.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

I'm gonna go with 2001 to 2010. Arcade racers, Japanese survival horror, turn-based JRPGs etc. But the '90s were pretty good too.

 

[lachesis]

I chose 1981-90... not because of quality of games, but because personal enjoyment. It was like forbidden fruit for me, that my parents were basically against me playing videogames, reading manga and anime as well... so I had to compromise or find other venues to fill that desire. Secret visits to the arcades or secret quick sessions when mom went out for errands. I think that was part of the fun... while the games, even for me back then were severely lacking in visuals. However, I did have a good imagination to fill that gap.

 

[Tiamat2san]

90’s
SFC, neo géo, Saturn, PS, Jaguar ,3DO, DC
And I got PC engine CD-rom
So many great games, the golden era of fighting games.

 

[sublimit]

2001-2010 easily

 

[Zero7]

91-00. The jump from 2D to 3D was mindblowing and a lot of generes were still in their experimental stages.

 

[cireza]

The nineties as far as I am concerned for two reasons :
- we reached the highest level of mastery we ever had for 2D games and pixel-art
- 3D felt like a creative boom and possibilities were endless, especially as budgets for making games were still pretty small, anything could exist (unlike today)

I do enjoy a lot current video-games nonetheless !

 

[pramod]

2001-2010, with 1991-2000 a close second. The 90's were the pinnacle of 2D gaming, but most of my favorite games of all time like Capcom vs SNK2, Phantasy Star Online, RE4, etc, came out in the early 2000's. The 2000's were also the heydays of the Xbox360, where we had that rare scenario of 2 great consoles fighting neck-and-neck similar to the SNES vs Genny days, and as a result we got a TON of amazing games and franchises due to that competition. I think overall the games of 2001-2010 represented a peak when you combine both quality and quantity, there were just SO many good games in that decade.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Lots of good time in 2000-2010 -- and even from 90 to 1990 for that matter -- but 2010-2020 takes the cake.

You can't beat games like TLOU, TLOU2, God of War, TW3, Zelda BOTW, RDR2, and VR gaming. Super memorable experiences at a graphical and technical level that was only a dream for kids in the 90s.

 

[nkarafo]

1991 - 2000

- The peak of 2D/pixel art games.
- Games were still not as casual/mainstream.
- Arcades were still strong and state-of the art.
- Golden era of PC gaming IMO.
- Peak of FPS games level designs instead of linear/cinematic crap.
- Peak of RTS games.
- Peak of Sega and Nintendo software quality/innovation.
- No lootboxes, DLC, digital stores, etc.
- No mobile games.
- Renting games.
- Lending/swapping games with friends.
- Censorship was coming from lame old people, not from the inside.
- No woke shit.
- Game journalists were gamers.
- Game magazines were fun.
- Sega VS Nintendo was the best console war.
- Dungeon Keeper. That game alone is enough.

 

[HE1NZ]

95-2005

 

[Enzo88]

1991~2000 and it`s not even close.

 

[jufonuk]

I prefer Now because we have the chance to look back at what came before and pick the bits that we prefer. Cheating ? Maybe.

But mine would be from the NES to GameCube . Since then it’s just been improving on what went before. Don’t believe me? then find the greatest hits from way back. Guess what they hold up damn well. Super Mario bros 3 classic super Mario world classic
NBA Jam
streets of rage 2 classic. Thunder force IV classic.
Guardian heroes classic
Ikaruga
Metroid Prime
Quake three on the Dreamcast
Golden eye Multiplayer
Death tank on Saturn
What about the countless excellent fighting games
Classics
Can’t discount the amazing arcade
So much choice.

there is a reason a lot of indie devs mine the gold from that time frame.

 

[jufonuk]

1991 - 2000

- The peak of 2D/pixel art games.
- Games were still not as casual/mainstream.
- Arcades were still strong and state-of the art.
- Golden era of PC gaming IMO.
- Peak of FPS games level designs instead of linear/cinematic crap.
- Peak of RTS games.
- Peak of Sega and Nintendo software quality/innovation.
- No lootboxes, DLC, digital stores, etc.
- No mobile games.
- Renting games.
- Lending/swapping games with friends.
- Censorship was coming from lame old people, not from the inside.
- No woke shit.
- Game journalists were gamers.
- Game magazines were fun.
- Sega VS Nintendo was the best console war.
- Dungeon Keeper. That game alone is enough.

 

[Griffon]

95-2005

Edit: actually I would push that to 96-2006 and it would be even better.

 

[Bakkus]

Rough, the first years of the 90s weren't as good as the rest, and the last few years of the 00s weren't as good as the ones before. Anyways, it's one of those. Hard to pick.

 

[Ballthyrm]

I'm an optimist guy, I think the best decade is always going to be the next one.
Technology keeps getting better, the tools are getting better, the audience and thus the reach of future game dev is getting wider, the subjects and creativity are getting wilder.

I can't wait to play the next indie Hit from Cameroon or Mongolia, or any country for that matter.
I firmly believe we've seen nothing, yet !

 

[ACESHIGH]

Tough choice... if 1994 - 2004 was an option though. There's no way to beat that.

 

[Orta]

1991-2000

NES, Megadrive, SNES, Saturn, Playstation, PC & Dreamcast.

Can't be beat.

 

[Old Retro]

1987 - 1997

Coin ops + gaming franchises + video game technologies that will be remembered for millennia

Also gaming experiences you just can't buy nowadays.

 

[SantaC]

90s.

Zelda+FF+PC gaming

 

[Shadowstar39]

As someone who was there from the start of mainstream gaming (early 80s) with Apple iie/iic , Atari 2600, intellivision, Arcades, commodore 64, Amiga, Master system, NES., etc.... I will have to say 2000-2010.

If you asked me in that decade, I would of said the 90s, but looking back now its not the case. Yeah the late 90s were glorious. PS1 had become a monster with some of the greatest jrpgs and new franchises around. I love soul reaver, blood omen, suikodens, vandel heartsgrandia, ff7 -9, ff5/6, ff tactics, vagrant story, legend of dragoon, tomb raider silent hill, etc... The thing is the early 90s was meh, the mid 90s was just plain bad outside of a few games.

Early 90s I got out of gaming as i was in high school, and women didn't like games. Getting laid took precedent over all. Except for getting stoned, that took precedent too.
It wasn't until PS1 came out and I was an adult that I got back into gaming. It was games focused on my age bracket that did it. Before that besides mortal kombat and road rash there wasn't much targeting adult gamers. Well on console anyway. On pc back then we did have ultima underworld, wing commander, xwing, might and magic, ulmita 7, eye of the beholder, gold box Ad&D, dune, command and conquer, doom , Quake 1. Oh and Half-life, Baldurs gate, Thief 1Homeworld, Heavy Metal, Unreal Tornament, Unreal, Quake, Ok the 90s were great for pc, the early 90s and the late 90s. The mid 90s sucked all around for both console and pc (just think that was the time of FMV games, 32x, 3d0, atari jagaur, etc..) The 3d accellerators and ps1 really gave the late 90s a shot in the arm that was needed to get out of the mid 90s slump.

Early 2000s rocked on PC. Black and white, Dungeon Siege, Diablo 2, Baldurs gate 2, Icewind dale, Torment, Vampire the masquerade bloodlines, Kotor 1/2, Half-life 2, Team fortress 2, Far cry, Fear, MAx Payne, NWN, Doom 3, Nolf 1/2, Hitman, Undying, Morrowind, Gothic 1 and 2, Arx Fatalis, Deus Ex, Thief 2/ 3, Everquest, EQ2, WOW, COD, Cod 2, return to castle Wolfenstein , total war rome, etc......

On console the ps2 rocked with jrpg goodness again. Dark Cloud, FF10, 12. Suikoden 3/4/5, dark cloud, Grandia 2, SMT nocturne, Devil summoner, Persona 3/4,DQ 8, Star ocean 3, Monster hunter, Ico, shadow of collousus, GTA 3 ,vice city, San andreas (also pc games), black, halo (as far as i am told), Soul Calibur 2/3, Dynasty warriors, Oni,

Mid 2000s rocked with 360/ps3 birth... Lair, haze, Too human, RROD...oh wait.
Nah we had good releases too. Fable, COD2, Cod3 (did we have cod3, i don't remember it), Cod4, waw, resistance, Uncharted, Ratchet and clank, Just cause 1, Saints row 1, Oblivion, Tomb raider anniversary, Legend, underworld... PC: Civ 4, Crysis, Fear 2, Witcher 1, Neverwinter nights 2, Total war medieval 2

Late 2000s though, Fallout 3, new vegas, little big planet, Resistance 2, Killzone 2, Just cause 2, Heavy Rain, Red dead redemption, GTA 4, MGS4, FF13, Uncharted 2/3, Dead Island, Motor storm pacific rift, Demons Souls,

You know what I give up. Both decades rocked. 2010-2020 rocked too, Although i would like to do without the sjw crap that slithered in later in the decade, otherwise its been a good time all around.

 

[Reality Czar]

I feel like a lot of pop culture peaked in the late 90s. 1997 was a good year.

Videogames as a form started peaking in the late 80s and had a golden age that lasted 2 decades. I would say 1987-2007 is the videogame golden age.

Late era 16-bit early 32-bit seems like the peak of game design to me.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

91-2000 easily.

No doubt you got a slew of shitty games as game making was still low cost enough any no-name company could make a game and release it for $50 on cartridge or disc.

But the sheer coolness of tech and build up of franchises we know today had many have it's root in 90s gaming. I had:

- Genesis
- SNES
- PS1
- PC (brother's PC)

All different, and a nice progression in power and innovation from console 2D to 3D on PS1 and PC. FMW was usually shit filler, but it was still something cool to see till you got tired of it after two views.

But with CD gaming starting, it gave all gamers (console and PC) the storage to have big games, FMW, CD quality sound etc.... And prices of games transitioning to CD got cheaper or stayed low. Cheaper than 16 bit cartridges by $20 where I live.

It was also the time MP gaming was playing with siblings or friends on the couch. Less convenient than online but always more fun.

 

[junguler]

90s for sure, the 2000s were awesome too but i find many of 2010s games disappointing and not on par with the older gen games.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

1991-2000

NES, Megadrive, SNES, Saturn, Playstation, PC & Dreamcast.

Can't be beat.

Playing Dreamcast games back in the day was magical.

That said, if I could more specifically choose a favorite decade in gaming, it would be 1997 to 2007.

There were just so many good console and handheld games to play at the time.

 

[Aceofspades]

The move to 3D was full of new ideas and experiments. So 1991- 2000 easily

 

[Paulxo87]

Not sure if I'd even sell my gaming memories from 1991 until 2000 for even a million dollars

 

[Goro Majima]

I think 2001 to 2006 could hang with the entirety of the 90s but then tack on 2006-2010 and it's simply no contest.

The PS2 is an embarrassment of riches but then also include Half Life 2, World of Warcraft, Mass Effect 1 and 2, Morrowind and Oblivion, Halo 1-3, a whole bunch of Call of Duty, and on and on.

Okay now take all that and throw the Gamecube, Wii, Xbox, and and the first half of the Xbox 360 and PS3 on top.

Remember that that decade included four full GTA games too. Oh and Rockstar still had time to make great games like Bully.

 

[zcaa0g]

90s was the advent of 3D accelerators, more advanced sound cards and MIDI music in games and new genres were created in FPSs and RTSs. Unmatched.

 

[The Gorby Congressmanz]

The nineties as far as I am concerned for two reasons :
- we reached the highest level of mastery we ever had for 2D games and pixel-art

That would seems to be 2000's imo, 2D games were going through phases in the 90's especially 95 onward where you started to see a lot of just retooled 16-bit games, weird CG, clashing foregrounds and backgrounds (hi Mega man X4 X5 and X6) odd smearing or stange resolutions across the sprites or backgrounds and objects, it seemed early 2000's which removed the 2D is not 3D Stigma (From consoles anyway) were among the biggest, cleanest, and well animated of 2D, but that was only for about 2-3 years or so.

 

[Arkam]

1990s was the jam.... Hell it gave us NBA Jam! Seriously though the 90s were amazing times to be a gamer. So many amazing games and finally enough horse power to realize them. But before the horseshit that is “modern gaming” baggage. No installs, no patches, no MTX, etc, etc...

Think of most any genre and some of biggest hits will be from the 90s.

Doom
Half Life
Quake
Tribes
Everquest
Gran Turismo
Resident Evil
FF6 & 7
Tony Hawk
Street Fighter
Mortal Kombat
WarCraft
Curse of Monkey Island
Twisted Metal
Tomb Raider
Mario 64
OoT
Mario Kart
House of the Dead
Tekken
And on and on.

My deepest condolences to anyone who didn’t get to experience it in real-time.

 

[NahaNago]

90s for me as well. Dude, the ps1 and n64 were just too amazing.

 

[eastcoastkody]

90s. Not even a question. NES/Genesis/64/Dreamcast

not to mention we still had Arcade games.

 

[GreatnessRD]

It was very close between '91-'00 and '01-'10 for me.

2001-2010 edged it out because them early 2000s was just top tier. GTA3, MGS3, SVR '06. Jesus, it was just an outrageous lineup back then. Completely shits on anything current. I Feel bad for you young folk. All you get today is microtransaction and patches. Dumpster juice.

 

[01011001]

DC, PS2, GC, Xbox that was the golden age of gaming. new genres emerging left and right, 3D graphics and gameplay becoming actually good, innovation and weird concepts still pushed by AAA publishers and NO FUCKING DLC OR MTX YET!

 

[harmny]

2021 and beyond. Gaming is getting better and better every year and whoever disagrees with that statement is a boomer that lives in the past

 

[ReBurn]

I've loved them all

 

[JORMBO]

90s. The jump to 3D, online games starting out, great local multiplayer.

 

[swaffles23]

Definitely the 90s.

The SNES and PS1 days were magical. and on top of that the greatest MMORPG ever created, Ultima Online, released. Still hasn't been dethroned.

 

[Ten_Fold]

91-2000 has Soo many classics with tons of replay value it’s just hard to beat. Some of the best fighting games and jrpgs in that era.

I did like 01-2010 days. Man spent alot of my early teens playing melee, naruto and dbz games, also halo 2 online was too good. The 360 days from like 05-2010 during my teen years was some of the most fun I’ve ever had with gaming, hardly any SJW bs, social media wasn’t that big of a deal, halo 3, gears, MW2, SF4, MVC2 online, I swear you just had to be there.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

The next decade. The newer, the better. Keep nostalgia away as games are getting more mature.

 

[SirTerry-T]

Tough one. I'm a child of the seventies so I grew up during a time where microchips, Space Invaders and early game consoles were these almost magical inventions. The birth of the cheap home computer is what made this hobby accessible for kids of my generation and what helped cement our love for playing the games and for some of us an entrance into creating them.
Games and tech have got better but some of the magic from that 1981-1990 "Silver Age" is missing for me.

 

[01011001]

2021 and beyond. Gaming is getting better and better every year and whoever disagrees with that statement is a boomer that lives in the past

I too love how every big game needs to have some kind of bullshit monetization scheme and how they dumb down everything so that your drunk uncle can play too when he comes home from the bar

also always online DRM for single player games yay great time!

 

[kingpotato]

Doesn't 2021 and beyond win by default because it includes all previous years. With enough energy and money you can play almost any video game ever released, today.

 

[Handel]

Decades should start with 0 and end with 9, so 1990-1999, 2000-2009, etc. Even sticking by the OP's decade blocks, which puts some of my favorite games ever from the year 2000 including the GOAT Majora's Mask into the 90s decade, still would pick the 2001-2010 decade. Early 3D was rough for many genres, and many games while fun still lacked a decent story outside of RPGs. Games like Ico, SOTC, Mass Effect and Bioshock took things up a notch in the storytelling department. Art styles evolved with the new graphical power giving us the beauty of Wind Waker and Okami. Multiplayer was just leagues better in the 2000's than the decade prior as well, with online gaming and the phenomenon of games like SSBM and Halo.

The 2010s would be a very close second, and really should be at the top but there's so much I have yet to play from that decade, and Japanese developers whose games I have a preference for just weren't that strong for most of the decade.