CCIV: Game of the Year 1997 Round Eight

[Neon Ignition]

We're reaching the endgame of 1997's line up, another run of games attempt to challenge the popularity of the 1996 range of titles but which will be popular enough to reach this years final?


Which of the above games are amongst the best of 1997 and why?

[Cepp]

Some great choices there. I didnt realise Time Crisis 2 was a 97 release, I didnt see it in the arcade until years later.

I think I would have to give it to Star Fox 64 with Snowboard Kids a close second

[Asura]

Oooh, interesting - because way down the list there is Time Crisis 2, the game which I regard as the absolute apex of the "lightgun arcade game" genre. It's the best. Others were good but it was the peak of the mountain; Ghost Squad is almost as high but not quite there.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Was Tekken 3 1997?! I played the crap out of that.

[Neon Ignition]

I gave Sonic R a nod because as much as it has issues I did play a ton of it back in the day. Street Fighter III got a vote as well, I know the iterations are better thought of but for me 2nd Impact is the least appealing version so I went for NG. Lastly the real top choice - Star Fox 64. An entry so good Nintendo could never top it.

Tekken 3 released in 1997 but the PS1 port hit the year later.

I know it's beloved but for some reason T3 never clicked with me as much as T1 and 2 did.

[Cepp]

They had Double Impact in an arcade in Central Manchester for years, was the version I played most so I'm quite fond of it.

[wakka]

Weirdly enough, considering I've never been much of a PC gamer, two out of three of my picks in this list are PC titles.

Dark Forces 2 wasn't a game I owned myself, but my best friend had it. We were both Star Wars obsessives at the time (we even convinced ourselves Episode 1 was incredible when that came out) and this game offered a really unique experience. It was maybe a little advanced for the age that we were at, but the ability to make the choice to be on the light or the dark side through your actions felt really incredible at the time.

Theme Hospital was a game I played a lot of. I had already played Theme Park and loved it and this improved and expanded upon that in so many ways. A really fun game, and the humour was great too. Peak Bullfrog.

And finally, Time Crisis 2. Absolutely fuppen goated, this one. The best lightgun game and one of my favourite games, full stop.

Oooh, interesting - because way down the list there is Time Crisis 2, the game which I regard as the absolute apex of the "lightgun arcade game" genre. It's the best. Others were good but it was the peak of the mountain; Ghost Squad is almost as high but not quite there.

I endorse this comment. Pretty much reflects my views on the genre.

[QualityChimp]

Thunder Force V and Time Crisis 2, but of that lot, 100% Tekken 3.

A-maze-zing!

I don't think the bowling and Force Mode really worked, but as something different and chucked in for free, they were a fun distraction.
Playing with being assigned random characters sucked when you got Dr. Boskonovitch or the other player got Gon or Eddie, but those characters aside, this was a milestone in versus fighters for me.

I remember playing the CPU and Nina did a throw move against me, then another, then another!
I had no idea you could chain throw moves - game changer.
I hit the local library and borrowed a tips book and looked who had the longest chain throw.
Using the book and the excellent training mode, I set about learning the moveset of my boi, KING!

I learned his ten hit combo, which finishes with this amazing stomach punch that winds the enemy and as they double over, King grabs them and does a piledriver. BAM!
Similarly infuriating for other players is when you grab their legs and spin them around.

Although there's a lot of fantasy elements (although there are no fireballs), there's a lot of realistic movesets, copied from real martial arts.

As a kung fu film fan, the references to legends Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan in Marshall Law and Lei Wulong, respectively.
Law has a one-inch punch move and wears outfits that homage EtD, WofD and GoD. Lei can fight in drunken style and has a cop outfit reminiscent of Police Story.

[Travesty]

The PC version of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was great, so woted that. Also gave a vote to Theme Hospital because it too is fantastic. I did not vote Star Trek: Generations, it was awful and when I was a kid I played it a lot because I was a huge Star Trek fan.

[dataDave]

Chain throws were already in Tekken 2.

[dataDave]

I have lots of good memories playing Tekken 3 with my friends, and it was a really faithful progression following Tekken 2. It was an excellent sequel. I really liked how it was set twenty years after the last game allowing a slight variance with the characters and their movesets. Of course it still gets played a lot today whenever we do anything PSX related.

Star Fox 64, though. That chain score system is genius, like something only Treasure could come out with in later years. That was the first ever game that had me repeatedly rinsing the first level over and over until I could clear it perfectly - and this set a familiar trend for all other score attack games that followed it. You can play nothing but chasing mastery of that first level and get your £60 worth. Easily. The same goes for stuff like Sin & Punishment and Bayonetta. Star Fox 64 was the first in a very short string of ‘the BEST games’, for me.



Also, how good is the 3DS remake? I’m not religious at all but that really was a personal gift from God Himself. That, and Majora’s Mask 3D.

[Asura]

The PC version of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was great, so woted that. Also gave a vote to Theme Hospital because it too is fantastic. I did not vote Star Trek: Generations, it was awful and when I was a kid I played it a lot because I was a huge Star Trek fan.

Honestly Star Trek is a weird franchise for videogames, because they're so variable. It has some absolutely fantastic games and some real stinkers, and not much in-between.

[wakka]

I also played Star Trek Generations on PC and yes it was bad.

Not the worst game on the list though. That honour goes to the Gameboy version of Yoda Stories. Truly atrocious. I got suckered so many goddamn times by ****ty Star Wars games when I was a kid.

[dataDave]

I loved Yoda Stories as I was deep into Star Wars at the time with the Special Editions just coming out, as well as having the prequels teasing on the horizon (before we knew they’d be Barry). I also had it installed at work and used to sneak little quests in throughout the day when no one was looking - that made the game more fun. It just sat there between Solitaire and Minesweeper, actually within the ‘Games’ section of my Win95, super-discrete.

I was also absolutely consuming everything that LucasArts were doing, and had ever done, on the PC; as I’d only just obtained one for the first time ever. Good times!

[dataDave]

Honestly, all those point&click adventures and space battle/flight sims all in their big cardboard boxes going for budget prices in Electronics Boutique. I had something like 20+ PC games after about two weeks. It was absolutely ridiculous.