The 69 Greatest Video Games of the 1990s
The 1990s contribute 69 of the game canon's all-time entries, led by Doom (1993). Rankings aggregate 17 authoritative lists; every entry links to its full evidence.
1. Doom
Doom is another name for damnation.
2. Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64 is a 1996 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the first Super Mario game to feature 3D gameplay, combining traditional Super Mario gameplay, visual style, and characters in a large open world. In the game, Bowser invades Princess Peach's castle, kidnaps her, and hides the castle's Power Stars in different worlds inside magical paintings.
3. Super Metroid
Super Metroid is a 1994 action-adventure game developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is the third Metroid game, following the Game Boy game Metroid II: Return of Samus (1991).
4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a 1998 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was the first Legend of Zelda game with 3D graphics. It was released in Japan and North America in November 1998 and in PAL regions the following month.
5. Super Mario World
Super Mario World is a 1990 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was released in Japan in 1990, in North America in 1991 and PAL territories in 1992. The player controls Mario on his quest to save Princess Peach and Dinosaur Land from the series' antagonist Bowser and the Koopalings.
6. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is a 1991 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is the third game in The Legend of Zelda series, following Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987). It was released in Japan in 1991, and in North America and Europe in 1992.
7. Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VI, titled Final Fantasy III in its initial North American release, is a 1994 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
8. Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Bros. 3 is a 1988 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was released in Japan on October 23, 1988, in North America on February 12, 1990, and in Europe on August 29, 1991.
9. Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger is a 1995 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the first installment of the Chrono series. The game's plot follows a group of adventurers who travel through time to prevent a global catastrophe.
10. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a 1997 action role-playing game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. It is a direct sequel to Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, set four years after its events. It was directed and produced by Toru Hagihara, with Koji Igarashi acting as assistant director.
11. EarthBound
EarthBound, originally released in Japan as Mother 2: Gīgu no Gyakushū, is a 1994 role-playing video game developed by Ape Inc. (now Creatures Inc.) and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
12. Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear (Japanese: METAL GEAR(メタルギア), Hepburn: Metaru Gia) is a Japanese franchise of action-adventure stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, Metal Gear, was released in 1987 for MSX home computers.
13. StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment.
14. Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII is a 1997 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation. The seventh main installment in the Final Fantasy series, it was released in Japan by Square and internationally by Sony Computer Entertainment, becoming the first game in the main series to have a PAL release.
15. GoldenEye 007
GoldenEye 007 is a 1997 first-person shooter game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is based on the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye, with the player controlling the secret agent James Bond to prevent a criminal syndicate from using a satellite weapon.
16. Super Mario Kart
Super Mario Kart is a 1992 kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The first game in the Mario Kart series, it was released in Japan on August 27, 1992, North America on September 1, 1992, and Europe on January 21, 1993. Selling 8.76 million copies worldwide, the game went on to become the fourth best-selling SNES game of all time.
17. Street Fighter II
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior is a 1991 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcades. It is the second installment in the Street Fighter series, and the sequel to 1987's Street Fighter. Designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and Akira Yasuda, who had previously worked on the game Final Fight, it is the fourteenth game to use Capcom's CP System arcade system board.
18. System Shock 2
System Shock 2 is a 1999 action role-playing and survival horror video game designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios. Originally intended to be a standalone title, its story was changed during production into a sequel to the 1994 game System Shock.
19. Half-Life
Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay.
20. Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy Tactics is a 1997 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation. It was released in Japan in June 1997 and in North America in January 1998 by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the first game of the Tactics sub-series within the Final Fantasy franchise, and the first entry set in the fictional world later known as Ivalice.
21. Planescape: Torment
Planescape: Torment is a 1999 role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Entertainment for Windows. The game takes place in locations from the multiverse of Planescape, a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy campaign setting.
22. NBA Jam
NBA Jam is a basketball video game series based on the National Basketball Association (NBA). Initially developed as arcade games by Midway, the game found popularity with its photorealistic digitized graphics, over-the-top presentation and exaggerated style of two-on-two basketball play.
23. Quake
Quake may refer to…
24. Homeworld
Homeworld is a real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Studios on September 28, 1999, for Windows. Set in space, the science fiction game follows the Kushan exiles of the planet Kharak after their home planet is destroyed by the Taiidan Empire in retaliation for developing hyperspace jump technology.
25. Resident Evil
Resident Evil, known as Biohazard (バイオハザード, Baiohazādo) in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person games, with players typically surviving in environments inhabited by zombies and other mutated creatures.
26. Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena is a 1999 first-person shooter game developed by id Software. The third installment of the Quake series, Arena differs from previous games by excluding a story-based single-player mode and focusing primarily on multiplayer gameplay. The single-player mode is played against computer-controlled bots.
27. Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh in 2001, it is the second game in the Age of Empires series. The Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages and contains 13 playable civilizations.
28. Secret of Mana
Secret of Mana, originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 2, is a 1993 action role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sequel to the 1991 game Seiken Densetsu, released in North America as Final Fantasy Adventure and in Europe as Mystic Quest.
29. Diablo
Diablo or El Diablo is the Spanish word for 'devil'.
30. Grim Fandango
Grim Fandango is a 1998 adventure game directed by Tim Schafer and developed and published by LucasArts for Microsoft Windows. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use 3D computer graphics overlaid on pre-rendered static backgrounds. As with other LucasArts adventure games, the player must converse with characters and examine, collect, and use objects to solve puzzles.
31. SimCity 2000
SimCity 2000 is a city-building simulation video game jointly developed by Will Wright and Fred Haslam of Maxis. It is the successor to SimCity Classic (1989) and was released for Apple Macintosh and MS-DOS personal computers in 1993, after which it was released on many other platforms over the following years, such as the Sega Saturn and SNES game consoles in 1995 and the PlayStation in 1996.
32. Ultima Online
Ultima Online (UO) is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released on September 24, 1997 by Origin Systems. Set in the Ultima universe, it is known for its extensive player versus player combat system. Since its release, it has added eight expansion packs, a booster pack, and dozens of free content updates.
33. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 1992 platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute (STI) for the Sega Genesis. Players control Sonic as he attempts to stop Doctor Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space station, the Death Egg.
34. Lemmings
A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also includes rats, mice, hamsters and gerbils.
35. Fallout
Nuclear fallout is residual radioisotope material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is moved by the atmosphere in the minutes, hours, and days after the explosion.
36. Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog with supersonic speed, who battles the mad scientist Doctor Eggman and his robot army.
37. Gunstar Heroes
Gunstar Heroes is a 1993 run and gun video game developed by Treasure and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. It was Treasure's first developed video game. The premise is centered around a pair of characters, the Gunstars, in their efforts to stop an evil empire from recovering four powerful gems.
38. Pokemon Blue/Red/Yellow
Pokémon Red Version, Pokémon Blue Version, and Pokémon Yellow Version are 1996 role-playing video games (RPGs) developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy. They are the first installments of the Pokémon video game series, and were first released in Japan as Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green, followed by the special edition Pocket Monsters Blue later that year.
39. Thief: The Dark Project
Thief: The Dark Project is a 1998 stealth video game developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows.
40. Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider, also known under Lara Croft: Tomb Raider from 1996 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British developer Core Design.
41. Street Fighter III
Street Fighter III: New Generation (Japanese: ストリートファイターIII -New Generation-) is a 1997 fighting game in Capcom's Street Fighter series, originally released as a coin-operated arcade game. The sequel to Street Fighter II (1991), it initially discarded every previous character except for Ryu and Ken (hence the New Generation subtitle), introducing an all-new roster led by Alex.
42. EverQuest
EverQuest is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North America, and by Ubisoft in Europe in April 2000.
43. The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island is a 1990 point-and-click graphic adventure game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games. It takes place in a fictional version of the Caribbean during the age of piracy. The player assumes the role of Guybrush Threepwood, a young man who dreams of becoming a pirate, and explores fictional islands while solving puzzles.
44. Star Wars: TIE Fighter
Star Wars: TIE Fighter is a 1994 Star Wars space flight simulator and space combat video game, a sequel in the Star Wars: X-Wing series. It places the player in the role of an Imperial starfighter pilot during events that occur between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The game was produced by Lawrence Holland and Edward Kilham's Totally Games studio.
45. Tekken 3
Tekken 3 (鉄拳3) is a 1997 fighting game developed and published by Namco. It is the third installment in the Tekken series and the first game built on the Namco System 12 arcade hardware.
46. Virtua Racing
Virtua Racing (V.R.) is a 1992 Formula One racing video game developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for arcades. It was initially a proof-of-concept application for exercising the "Model 1", a new 3D graphics platform then under development. The results were so encouraging that Virtua Racing was fully developed into a standalone arcade title.
47. Gran Turismo
Gran Turismo may refer to…
48. Myst
Myst is a 1993 adventure video game developed by Cyan and published by Broderbund for Mac OS. In the game, the player travels via a special book to a mysterious island called Myst. The player interacts with objects and traverses the environment by clicking on pre-rendered imagery.
49. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness is a fantasy real-time strategy (RTS) computer game developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows in 1995 and Mac OS in 1996 by Blizzard's parent, Davidson & Associates. A sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, the game was met with positive reviews and won most of the major PC gaming awards in 1996.
50. Street Fighter Alpha 3
Street Fighter Alpha 3, released as Street Fighter Zero 3 in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 1998 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcades. It is the third and final installment in the Street Fighter Alpha series, and runs on the same CP System II hardware as previous Alpha games.
51. Harvest Moon
A Harvest moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox.
52. Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution (ダンスダンスレボリューション, Dansu Dansu Reboryūshon) (abbreviated DDR; also called DanRevo, Dance Revo, or DanceRevo; stylized as DanceDanceRevolution since SuperNOVA) is a music video game series produced by Konami.
53. Nights Into Dreams
Nights into Dreams is a 1996 action game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. The story follows the teenagers Elliot Edwards and Claris Sinclair, who enter Nightopia, a dream world where all dreams take place. With the help of Nights, an exiled "Nightmaren", they begin a journey to stop the evil ruler Wizeman from destroying Nightopia and consequently the real world.
54. Mario Kart 64
Mario Kart 64 is a 1996 kart racing game for the Nintendo 64 (N64). Developed and published by Nintendo, it is the second installment in the Mario Kart series after 1992's Super Mario Kart. The game retains the gameplay of its predecessor: the player, controlling a Mario franchise character, races opponents around tracks based on locales from the Super Mario platform games.
55. Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VIII is a 1999 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the eighth main installment in the Final Fantasy series.
56. Suikoden II
Suikoden II (Japanese: 幻想水滸伝II, Hepburn: Gensō Suikoden Tsū; ) is a role-playing video game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation video game console and the second installment of the Suikoden video game series. It was released on December 17, 1998, in Japan; on September 29, 1999, in North America; and on July 28, 2000, in Europe.
57. Chrono Cross
Chrono Cross is a 1999 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is set in the same world as Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
58. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is a 1995 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The player controls Yoshi dinosaurs on their quest to reunite baby Mario with his brother Luigi, who has been kidnapped by the wizard Kamek.
59. Wolfenstein 3D
Wolfenstein 3D is a 1992 first-person shooter game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen for MS-DOS. It was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game Castle Wolfenstein, and is the third installment in the Wolfenstein series.
60. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a 1996 role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was the final Mario game for the SNES, and was directed by Chihiro Fujioka and Yoshihiko Maekawa, produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, and scored by Yoko Shimomura.
61. Phantasy Star IV
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium is a 1993 role-playing video game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. The fourth main installment in the Phantasy Star series, it is the final title in the original tetralogy and is currently the last traditional role-playing game in the franchise.
62. Daytona USA
Daytona USA is a 1994 racing game developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for arcades. Inspired by the popularity of the NASCAR motor racing series in the United States, it has players race stock cars on one of three courses. It was the first game released on the Sega Model 2 arcade system board.
63. Streets of Rage 2
Streets of Rage 2, known as Bare Knuckle II in Japan, is a 1992 beat 'em up video game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. The sequel to Streets of Rage (1991), the characters Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding return while the game also introduces two new characters: Max Thunder, and Eddie "Skate" Hunter, the younger brother of Adam Hunter from the first game.
64. Panzer Dragoon Saga
Panzer Dragoon Saga, known in Japan as Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG, is a 1998 role-playing video game (RPG) developed and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. It replaces the rail shooter gameplay of previous Panzer Dragoon games with RPG elements such as random encounters, semi-turn-based battles and free-roaming exploration.
65. Contra III: The Alien Wars
Contra III: The Alien Wars is a 1992 run and gun video game developed and published by Konami for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is the third home console entry in the Contra series after Contra (1988) and Super C (1990) for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
66. X-COM: UFO Defense
UFO: Enemy Unknown (original title), also known as X-COM: UFO Defense in North America, is a 1994 science fiction strategy video game developed by Mythos Games and MicroProse. It was published by MicroProse for DOS and Amiga computers, the Amiga CD32 console, and the PlayStation.
67. Silent Hill
Silent Hill (サイレントヒル, Sairento Hiru) is a Japanese horror franchise centered on a series of survival horror video games created by Team Silent and published by Konami. The franchise is primarily set in Silent Hill, a fictional town in the U.S.
68. Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie is a platform game series developed by the British studio Rare. The games focus on the two title characters―Banjo, a male brown bear; and Kazooie, a large female breegull who is typically seen riding in Banjo's backpack―both of whom are controlled by the player. The games generally involve the pair in conflict with the evil witch Gruntilda Winkybunion.
69. Shenmue
Shenmue is an action-adventure game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. Shenmue (1999) and Shenmue II (2001) were developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for the Dreamcast; Shenmue II was released in 2002 in Western markets on the Xbox. Shenmue III, developed by Suzuki's company Ys Net, was released for the PlayStation 4 and Windows in 2019.