Twenty games that are now 20 years old
Time's wingéd chariot continues to do its thing. Contemplate your own mortality with this look back at 1995's biggest releases.
Now that the shine has worn off 2015 a little bit and our hangovers have cleared enough for us to unhook our liver machines, we've suddenly been struck by a sense of horror: it is 2015 and we are getting closer and closer to the grave.
Some VG247 readers weren't even born 20 years ago, but we all were. Oh gosh. We're all going to die. Here's what we were playing while you were all crawling around in your playpens or possibly even appearing as a glint in your parents' eyes.
Chrono Trigger
One of the best RPGs of all time, Chrono Trigger was a legend in its own lifetime and a stand-out even in the star-studded SNES catalogue. Square Enix did a lot more with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, but it's not just nostalgia for a lapsed franchise that makes this one special - in fact, it might have been too special to turn into a sequelised series, and we should be thankful we only got the one follow up.
Square Enix's largest ever game at the time of its release, Chrono Trigger boasted a then-unprecedented amount of player freedom to explore its time travelling worlds, multiple possible endings, the introduction of New Game+, and a colourful, loveable cast. It's been re-released on mobile, DS and the PlayStation Network, and comes highly recommended.
Command & Conquer
Warcraft had kicked things off, but Command & Conquer signals the beginnings of peak popularity of the RTS genre. Building on the success of Dune 2 but refining those concepts even further, Command & Conquer is both easy to learn and a rabbit hole of depth (up to a point; the meta game is, naturally, static). Set in an alternate history, it captured imaginations with its ridiculously cheesy FMV sequences.
Although most people would argue that RTS games don't work on consoles, Command & Conquer was particularly popular among PlayStation owners and is considered a classic of the PSOne era. It also released on PC, of course, as well as Saturn and even N64. It was a simpler time, when rapid mouse work and actions per minute weren't so dominant.
Descent
The kind of game analog controls are made for, Descent released before twin sticks became common and has a hell of a learning curve as a result of that. It was probably the first game to grant players full 3D movement - pitch, yaw and roll as well as perpendicular movement - and taking advantage is an eight finger job at the very least, on keyboard or control pad.
As well as introducing a whole generation to game-induced motion sickness, Descent pioneered a technology called portal rendering which significantly reduces the processing cost of then-fancy polygon graphics. It had LAN support for eight players and on-the-fly multiplayer, and spawned sequels, expansion packs and even a novel series.
Destruction Derby
The team that later became Ubisoft Reflections produced this vehicular combat sim, kicking off a series that lasted until the PS2 era. With weak graphics - even for the time - and not especially excellent handling, it didn't have the guts to stand up against vanilla racers, but what it did have was astoundingly advanced destruction modelling and genuinely exciting collisions. It really was jaw-dropping.
Destruction Derby is much more about driving and ramming than competing titles which feature extensive weaponry, although races often devolve into grimly determined quests for survival. You can pick it up via the PSN if you wish to relive this experience, but, uh.
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Released just one year after Rare blew our minds with the first Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest was one of the most hotly anticipated sequels of the SNES era. It didn't quite match its precursor in terms of sales and critical reception, which is probably not much of a surprise; the next generation of consoles was already on the horizon, and the absolute magic Nintendo was able to squeeze out of the 16-bit era didn't look as impressive any more.
Still, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is a great game, and if you tracked down all the bonus levels and every DK coin, you had serious playground chops. Plus: pirates! And the opportunity to rescue the big buff bloke, while playing as the skinny sidekick and his even skinnier female friend! Progressive stuff for 1995.
Earthbound
Oh, it's so hard to explain what makes this unusual game so special. At a time when most RPGs were stock fantasy affairs, it was set in the kind of suburban environment many SNES-owning kids lived in. It included a parental figure who appeared as an absent voice on the phone, doling out pocket money; ditto. It was a "playground full of insignificant things" which somehow became all too significant.
The second in a series of three and the only one to make it west (its Japanese title is Mother 2), Earthbound did not sell well in the US - possibly because Nintendo had no idea how to market this beautiful, delicate creature. Happily, its cult popularity has kept the dream alive, with protagonist Ness featuring in Super Smash Bros., and a virtual console release making it officially accessible to modern gamers.
Full Throttle
People got very excited when Double Fine started working on Brütal Legend, and Full Throttle is the reason why. This classic LucasArts adventure has a similar theme and setting (although it turned out the two projects had nothing to do with each other). Tim Schafer's first game as sole project lead, it established his reputation well ahead of Grim Fandango and Psychonauts, and despite being kind of short has an uncontested position amongst cult classics.
Two sequels were attempted but neither really went anywhere (besides maybe the recycling bin, for Brütal Legend), and the whole Disney buy out means we're unlikely to see anything come of LucasArt's back catalogue for many years. That said if Grim Fandango can get a modern re-release, there's hope.
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream
Based on a short story by Harlan Ellison, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream is a tense and atmospheric point-and-click adventure with cyberpunk themes. Starring five playable protagonists in a series of simultaneous stories, this psychological horror lingers in the mind long after you've thought your way through its logical but challenging puzzles.
The Dreamers Guild has gone out of business but distributor Night Dive got the rights back a few years ago, resurrecting this piece of abandonware and putting it up for sale through digital distributors. The graphics aren't easy on the eye - but neither is anything else. Profoundly disturbing and not for everyone.
Jumping Flash
The PSOne did polygons better than contemporary consoles, and it needed games to show that off. This was the era in which fully explorable 3D worlds started to take off and indeed revolutionise the industry in such a way that it's hard to explain to younger people what it was like to witness the transformation. In Jumping Flash, you leap between platforms and shoot things, all in first-person perspective, and everything is 3D. It was amazing.
It's not that amazing now, to be honest, because it turns out that first-person is a terrible thing to do to platformers. But it's still much more playable than it ought to be, and available via the PSN.
Mortal Kombat 3
Depending on which side of the debate you're on, Mortal Kombat 3 is either where the franchise jumped the shark or started getting really good. Although it all got thrown out with a recent reboot, this is the game where Midway decided it couldn't just make games about unexplained mystical tournaments, but needed some sort of continuity and narrative drive to pull together its cast of characters, who had always enjoyed diverse and interesting backstories and epilogues. Your mileage may vary as to the result of this decision.
The run button was a controversial addition, and several characters were left out, only to return in the Ultimate and Trilogy re-releases - now an accepted fighting game convention, but then seen as a bit money-grubbing. The new characters didn't go down as well as the new additions of Mortal Kombat 2 did. And there just wasn't enough new content to justify the upgrade for all but hardcore fans - of which there were plenty, obviously, as it sold like hotcakes.
Phantasmagoria
A product of the mid 1990's zeitgeist, Phantasmagoria was quite the departure for Sierra. Following on from games like The 7th Guest, it developed the genre a little bit further in putting an actor on-screen as the player character, which makes the (then controversially graphic) horror and gore elements all the more startling.
Like all FMV games of the era, Phantasmagoria has not aged well and looks like a dog's breakfast today. Luckily, it's also not that great, so you're not missing much if you choose to skip it: it seemed shocking and daring at the time, but it feels pretty weaksauce today.
Rayman
Released towards the end of the popularity of traditional character mascot platformers, Rayman didn't win fame the way Sonic, Mario and other famous side-scrollers did. It is, however, perfectly delightful, and deservedly won acclaim (and awards) for its gorgeous graphics and wonderful audio. Sort of like the modern Rayman games, really. Despite its comparatively low profile in the US, it was a major best-seller in the UK, and is too well-known in Europe to be considered a cult classic; it's just a classic.
Goodness knows why a little man with disconnected arms was chosen to front this series, but Michel Ancel's whimsy comes part and parcel with his tremendous gift for crafting perfect platformers.
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Not one of the best-rated Star Wars games, Dark Forces is still an important part of the gaming canon, because it kicked off one of the most-loved Star Wars games series: Jedi Knight. Yes, Jedi Knight 1 is actually Dark Forces 2, and the basis for a series that dropped its earlier moniker along with its lower review scores.
Dark Forces isn't bad, although it's quite dated now. It did a great job of creating new settings that felt recognisably Star Wars, and the gameplay was a little more challenging than its contemporaries, making the journey from start to end of each level feel like more than a fetch quest and shooting gallery.
Suikoden
Another fervently worshipped entry on our best RPGs of all time list, Suikoden is a brilliant classic JRPG that spawned an all-too-short series of sequels. It has a huge cast (Pokemon fans will enjoy catching 'em all) and is based on the classic Chinese novel Water Margin. The politically-charged tale of a rebellious group led by a former prince against his own empire is arguably more compelling than the high-faluting fantasy of competing titles, too.
If you like JRPGs even a little bit and you haven't played Suikoden you're really not doing yourself any favours. Both Suikoden and its excellent sequel have finally made it to the PSN on both sides of the pond, so save your pennies and grab it when you can.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Like Dark Forces above, this was a sequel that spawned its own series separate from the original. Super Mario World was alright, but Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island took the Yoshi riding bit everyone likes so much and put it at the centre: you play as Yoshi and his dinosaur buddies, while Mario is reduced to a helpless infant.
None of the later Yoshi games have really captured the delight of this first effort. It's funny how the hand-drawn art style has aged so well compared to more "advanced" graphics from the same era, and that makes it quite pleasant to revisit.
Tales of Phantasia
Tales of Phantasia didn't come west in 1995, which is pretty much the story of the series it spawned right up until a few years ago: patchy, delayed localisation. Western fans didn't get a look in until the 2006 Game Boy Advance re-release (it's also available on iOS as of last year).
Its legacy makes Tales of Phantasia so important, but in Japan it still ranks highly among RPG classics. It spawned at least 14 mothership sequels as well as numerous spin-offs and re-releases.
Tekken
Bless my soul, Tekken has not aged well! The gameplay still holds up, although later entries in the series are probably better balanced, but the graphics look appalling. Released early in the PSOne's lifetime, it has all the hallmarks of early polygonal titles, like janky hair, and janky muscles, and janky eyes, and janky - look, it's pretty janky, right?
Still, Tekken was great. The series has gone on to become one of the top modern fighting franchises while its early 3D rivals like Virtua Fighter and stable mate Soul Calibur are more niche games. Everyone has their favourite characters, from the cat-masked wrestler to the bear to the cyborg ninja with laser swords, and as creator Katsuhiro Harada gets more and more eccentric it has only become more ridiculous and delightful.
Twisted Metal
The 1995 Twisted Metal is the only game on this list I wasn't able to find a decent high res asset for, so please enjoy this much more recent art showing off Sweet Tooth, the franchise's iconic insane clown mascot.
Another vehicular combat game, released one month after Destruction Derby, Twisted Metal is much more about the guns than your skill behind the wheel - although both are needed for success. This was David Jaffe's first original IP, and its characters are tied together by a storyline that continued through the later sequels. Pretty good effort for a game about blowing up cars.
Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness
It was really Starcraft that propelled Blizzard's name into the limelight but you shouldn't underestimate Warcraft 2's popularity and appeal for all that - after all, it was Warcraft 2's success that gave Blizzard the impetus to create the sci-fi spin-off.
Releasing just one year after Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft 2 opened multiplayer up to eight players at once and introduced a map editor. Like Command & Conquer, it took the RTS formula which first gained popularity in Dune 2 and developed it, and continued the story later picked up in Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft. In short, it had everything it needed, and the reviews were exceptional.
Worms
Worms has been around for so long that it's hard to remember it ever had a beginning - but this was it. The progenitor. The original. The first side-scrolling tactical combat starring earthworms, exploding sheep, dragon punches, and many other very silly things.
A nice geeky party game thanks to round-robin multiplayer tournament support, Worms spawned many, many sequels, ports and remakes, as well as unending rivalries. I will never forgive you for getting out a ruler to check the angle of your bazooka shot, Adrian; it was cheating, and that's why I wouldn't hold your hand at the year seven disco.