1991 was a pretty significant year for gaming. The Super Nintendo was released in the United States (was released in Japan in 1990, thus the ActRaiser pick on our 1990 list), as was Final Fantasy II in North America. Over in Japan, SEGA released what we would know as the SEGA CD, and check out this list of companies that were founded in 1991:
Previous Lists:
Top Ten Games of 1990
If you are a Windows 3.1 purist, or even have fond memories of Windows 95, SkiFree and Fuji Golf. If not, I’ll do my best to break them down: Both Fuji Golf and SkiFree came either pre-installed or as part of the Microsoft entertainment Pack for Windows series of games. Both games are renowned for being incredibly simple while still being grotesquely difficult.
With Fuji Golf, no matter how you low your final score was, you would almost always lose by 2-3 strokes. As for SkiFree, the game simply never ended. All you did was ski down a never ending hill, avoiding obstacles like trees, burning trees, pills and, naturally, the Abominable Snow Monster. It was simple, it was pointless, and it was fun as hell.
Throughout the 1990s, Sierra Entertainment was known for publishing several memorable games, including Leisure Suit Larry, Red Baron, King’s Quest and the S.W.A.T. series of games. However, one of their most renowned series is also one of their most forgotten. I speak, of course, of the Police Quest franchise – the direct predecessor of S.W.A.T..
In Police Quest 3: The Kindred, you were tasked with solving a series of murders surrounding a supposed drug cartel in the fictional town of Lytton. What sets the Police Quest series apart from other point-and-click adventure games is in that unlike other games that had you exploring a mystical world, not unlike Myst, Police Quest 3 had you using your brain to solve actual mysteries, instead of simple “match the light†brand of puzzles.
After Police Quest 3, the series experienced a great drop-off in quality. This is because of the sudden departure of the game’s designer, Jim Walls. Walls was replaced with SWAT founder Daryl Gates, and the quality of the point-and-click titles under Gates’ supervision dropped off in a big way. Walls went on to work on games for Electrionic Arts, including the excellent Earth & Beyond, and the not-so-excellent The Legend of Black Kat.
What made Lemmings so great was the simplicity of the game as a whole. You were tasked with guiding a number of lemmings (which, so you know, is a type of rodent not unlike the hamster) from one end of a particular map to the other, and with those lemmings you had to assign skills to help them navigate their way through the dozens of environments.
Lemmings was one of the earliest outings by DMA Design. You may know DMA Design a little better by their current name: Rockstar North, the creators and primary developers of the Grand Theft Auto series of games. DMA also developed and released several sequels, including 3D Lemmings and Lemmings Paintball, with varying levels of success.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time is quite possibly the single best beat ‘em up game to ever touch a home console – and specifically, the SNES. However, we’re not talking about the SNES port, we’re talking about the good ol’ fashioned Arcade goodness.
The game was very simple in that it gave you an eight-way joystick and two buttons. That’s all you needed. Now, the game was obviously not designed to be played alone, although it still was fun as hell if you were by your lonesome. No, the game was designed for four players (being one of the first arcade cabinets to feature four control set-ups) and while it may have been a tight fit, it was easy for all four players to jump in and beat down some foot soldiers.
Thankfully for Wii owners, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time is available on the Nintendo Virtual Console.
The direct sequel to 1990′s The Secret of Monkey Island, 1991′s Monkey’s Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge brought back the trio of Gilbert, Schafer and Grossman to deliver a sequel that was true in every way.
Much like the first game, LeChuck’s Revenge utilizes the SCUMM game engine that the previous game (along with games like Full Throttle and Sam & Max) used. However, the display was streamlined somewhat to give players easier access to items, and to better organize verbal commands/responses.
The game also featured two difficulties for the game’s puzzles, with the easier mode being for the game reviewers. At least, that’s what the box said. Other aspects of the game that were of note were the improved graphics (i.e. environmental detail) and a longer, more engaging story. While the game was given high markings from reviewers, it’s more or less a personal opinion as to which of the two games (Secret, or LeChuck’s Revenge) is better.
Sid Meier may be known for a great many things, but his pride and joy, the game that made him n industry-wide star was without a doubt the original Civilization. Released for both the PC and on the SNES, Civilization introduced players to a completely new and different style of game. Larger in scope than Sim City, and with a larger emphasis on detail than Meier’s previous effort, Railroad Tycoon, Civilization gave players the chance to build and maintain a whole empire.
Unlike other games in the series, the original game didn’t have any major differences in your civilization other than the look and feel. So while the Aztecs and the Russians may look as different as humanly possible, they more or less played the same.
What can really be said about Street Fighter II? It’s credited as being the best 2D fighting game ever designed, and is primarily responsible for the brief revival of the arcade business in the early 1990s. Throughout the early and mid 1990s, Street Fighter II spawned several different iterations, including Championship Edition, Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo. In fact, when you include sequels and ports, Street Fighter II has 25 different games associated with it. It has even been ported to cell phones.
Some call it a sequel. Some call it a remake. Either way, Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts is one of the hardest damn games to ever grace the Super Nintendo. Playing almost identical to the games to come before it, Arthur (aka you) was able to upgrade into the bronze armor, upgrade his weapons, and use special magical attacks. New to the series was Arthur’s ability to double jump. A couple of new weapons also made appearances in the game, although many purists found them more of a hindrance than a help.
While we eventually saw a sequel in 2006 with Ultimate Ghosts ‘n Goblins, we had to wait ten years between Super GnG and the next entry in the series, an unofficial spiritual successor you may know called Maximo: Ghosts to Glory.
The original Sonic the Hedgehog, while not the best in the franchise, is still among the best games of 1991, and about as close to being a Super Mario game while having almost nothing in common with Mario… if that makes any sense to you.
What I mean by that is that it is a 2D side-scroller in which you jump on your enemies and collect items, specifically rings. Also, it’s about 100x faster than that fat ass plumber could ever hope to be, with incredibly fast gameplay and masterfully designed stages that exploited it.
However, in the end Sonic’s first outing couldn’t stand a chance against what many would argue was Mario’s best outing…
Super Mario World is the only game that will be featured on more than one list (read: 1993), so that should tell you a lot right there. If not, I’ll try to explain Super Mario World as though somebody has actually managed not to play it.
Super Mario World basically took everything that made Super Mario Bros. 3 great and gave it a new coat of paint and a mount (Yoshi). That’s all that is drastically different with Super Mario World. Other than that it is the same excellent side-scrolling gameplay with excellent power-ups, the perfect difficulty curve and it had even perfected the two-player gameplay with Mario and Luigi finally being able to exchange lives with each other.
Super Mario World almost had a sequel, Super Mario’s Wacky Worlds. Thankfully the game was canceled, since it was due to appear on the Philips CD-i – and we all know how well Nintendo was treated on that piece of junk.
Worst Game of 1991: Where’s Waldo
…do I really have to explain myself on this one?
I know i’m not the majority.. but.. Sonic and Turtles in Time were better than Super Mario World!
(So was SkiFree)
Personally, my favorite game on this list is Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts.
(I think 1991 just needed more than 10 spots)
Super Mario world is a worthy winner, I think I must have wasted a good proportion of my youth in front of my NES (grey box the size of a horse), playing that game. I am dissapointed not to see Double Dragon on there as well though that was an awesome game too.
Olly
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