1997 was a very busy year for Nintendo. In addition to releasing the N64 in Europe and Australia, as well as releasing a smaller redesign of the SNES, Nintendo felt the need to try and tighten its grip on the gaming industry by filing three separate lawsuits. One of these lawsuits was against Prima Publishing, the publishers of Prima Game Guides (uh, duh?). Why? Because they had the nerve to publish maps of different levels in GoldenEye 007.

Irrational Games, which would become 2K Boston, was founded by Robert Fermier, Jonathan Chey and superhero Ken Levine. Other companies founded in 1997 included Crave Entertainment, Illusion Softworks (aka 2K Czech), and one of JW’s personal favorite developer houses, Human Head Studios.

Sim City developer Maxis was acquired by Electronic Arts, and Activision countered by picking up Raven Software. Dungeons & Dragons owner TSR was also picked up by trading card manufacturer Wizards of the Coast.

1997 ended on a tragic note, however. The father of the Game Boy, Gunpei Yokoi, was killed after being involved in a car accident. One year later his final Nintendo product, the Game Boy Color, was released.

And as always, if you’re new to this series be sure to take a peek at our previous lists, and tell JW why you actually like Star Trek: Borg:

Top Ten Games of 1996
Top Ten Games of 1995
Top Ten Games of 1994
Top Ten Games of 1993
Top Ten Games of 1992
Top Ten Games of 1991
Top Ten Games of 1990

10.) Dynasty Warriors

Epic!
Dynasty Warriors is known primarily for being a series of average, of not repetitive and boring crowd-combat games. But before KOEI decided to take DW in that direction, and WAY before they decided to throw GUNDAM into this whole God awful mess, there was the original Dynasty Warriors, a 3D fighting game that played a whole hell of a lot like another fighter, Soul Calibur.

Taking sixteen memorable characters from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, KOEI’s original Dynasty Warriors pitted them against each other in a series of one-on-one, weapons-based combat that even today would be considered to be somewhat complex. The key to success was to time your enemy’s movements, and to strike while they were stunned.

There are very few similarities between the original Dynasty Warriors and all the games that followed. However, even a massive shift in gameplay mechanics couldn’t change one undeniable fact: If you play as Lu Bu, you’re a bitch.

Period.

9.) Colony Wars

The late 1990s saw the death of a once proud franchise: The space sim. Sure, hardcore MMO fanatics would argue that I am forgetting EVE Online, but I assure you that I’m not. However, before the space sim withered away and died, it saw a glory age that was sparked by the original Colony Wars on the PlayStation.

Colony Wars had you playing as a nameless, faceless pilot for the League of Free Worlds, an anti-imperial resistance force that is at war with the Earth Empire. Yes, the Earth Empire. In a manner of speaking, I guess you could say you’re the bad guy. Now, depending on how you perform during the 70-plus missions you are given one of six different endings. All six endings were determined by how well you played throughout the game. If you won all your key battles, you would topple the Earth Empire and bring about peace and prosperity to the galaxy.

You know, the boring ending.

However, the sixth, secret ending expanded on this Utopian future for the human race. After the Rebellion tramples the Empire once and for all you defeat the Earth Empire and watch your ending, you are witness to a large spacecraft that casts an ominous shadow over the Earth. Many theorized that this was a hint at a possible sequel. Ultimately, Colony Wars did get two sequels: Vengeance and Red Sun, although neither of them played off this secret ending.

Colony Wars developer Psygnosis had previously worked on the original WipeOut, which was #7 on 1995. They would go on to be bought by Sony, become SCE Studio Liverpool, and continue their work on the WipeOut franchise. If we’ll ever see another Colony Wars game appears to be unlikely, but as we have learned time and again with video games, anything is possible.

8.) PaRappa the Rapper

Rock Band? Guitar Hero? SingStar? None of them would be here today if not for the splendidly twisted mind of Masaya Matsuura. Imagine taking the core gameplay from Simon, where you press the buttons in the order in which they appear, and combining it with some of the most creatively quirky songs to ever find their way to a video game soundtrack.

You know, a lot of people forget that PaRappa the Rapper actually had a plot. In it, PaRappa (you) was trying to swoon Sunny Funny, who was a flower. In an attempt to impress little miss flower power, PaRappa learns kung-fu and how to cook, gets his license, and finally raps for his girl-to-be at a party.

PaRappa the Rapper has seen only one direct sequel (PaRappa the Rapper 2 on PlayStation 2), but the cult favorite UmJammer Lammy actually came out in 1999. I mention this because the songs were lacking and won’t be on this list.

And finally, the song that is ready for you to play above? More proof that the Chop Chop Master Onion rap, while indeed awesome, isn’t the best song in the game.

7.) Diablo

There are very few things that can be said about the original Diablo that hasn’t been repeated by a thousand other publications. It gave birth to the modern dungeon crawler. It had (for the time) flawless level design, character classes that actually required the player to adapt their own play style, and a multiplayer component that would be perfected in a future game that will be on our 2000 list.

However, unlike Diablo II, which was untainted by outside influence, the original Diablo was a dirty little whore. Diablo’s only official expansion pack was developed by Synergistic Software (known for Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure), released the very same year as the game as Diablo: Hellfire. Suffice to say it was a massive disappointment. The sound quality was crap, the “new” spells were nothing more than cheap modifications of existing ones, it didn’t support Battle.net, and, oh yeah, you were totally boned if you were playing Diablo on a Mac. It’s easy to see why fans of the franchise like to pretend this never happened.

But wait, it gets better worse. In 1998 a version of Diablo was ported to the PlayStation by none other than the grand masters of opportunistic profit, Electronic Arts. Much like the Diablo expansion, the PlayStation port didn’t support Battle.net, but it did include co-op play. Also, if you were an owner of the PSOne port, you probably found yourself at your local GameStop FuncoLand, picking up a new memory card because out of the 15 blocks that you had on a standard Memory Card, Diablo took up 10.

Blizzard North went on to create Diablo II and its expansion pack before they were unceremoniously shut down in 2005. Before they joined the big ol’ Blizzard family, though, Blizzard North was known as “Condor”, and as “Condor” they developed one of the worst games of all time: Justice League Task Force. Just more proof that no matter how bad a game can be (*coughTurningPointcough*), your next game can be a masterpiece.

Oh, and one more thing: Eat your vegetables and brush after every meal.

6.) Star Fox 64

Everything that made the original Star Fox awesome was made even better with the power of 3D! Seriously, the gameplay was almost identical to the original, with you piloting an Arwing (amongst other things, screw them) to avoid obstacles and enemy fire while blowing up just about everything you can. You were still on a fixed-rail, but while that would have been a death nail in other games, Star Fox 64 makes it work.

While the core gameplay remain unchanged, there were some key improvements. Amongst other things, gamers were given a level system that branched off to several side-missions, different vehicles to pilot including a tank and a submarine that was designed by the atrociously annoying Slippy Toad. Also, of course, gamers were given multiplayer.

Star Fox 64 was part of a heavy marketing blitz from Nintendo. Nintendo Power released a promotional video prior to the games release, and Taco Bell released a line of toys for their kids meals. Also, it was one of the first games to utilize the Nintendo 64 Rumble Pak – possibly because it came packaged with the damn thing.

When you get the chance, do yourself a favor and pick it up on the Wii Virtual Console. It’s well worth the price.

5.) Gran Turismo

The original Gran Turismo is, at its core, nothing more than a damn fine racing game. Seriously. I tried and tried and tried to come up with something unique that set this game apart from other racing games, and I really couldn’t find much of anything. You have two modes of play, Arcade and Simulation. In Arcade mode you pick your car, your track, and do your damnedest to win. In Simulation mode, you are tasked with winning races to earn driver’s licenses. These licenses allow you to take part in different races to earn money, trophies, and unlock more cars.

…oh. I almost forgot, Gran Turismo features nearly 180 cars. I guess you could make the argument that having 178 cars would set it apart from other games if you really have to (yes, I’m being sarcastic).

Ultimately, Gran Turismo is the rare game that is remembered for simply being excellent. Other games are remembered for having gimmicks, or for controversy. Not Gran Turismo. It was just that damn good.

4.) GoldenEye 007

You’re probably screaming at me now because GoldenEye 007 is all the way down at #4. Well, let me tell you why it’s at #4 – it hasn’t aged well.

For its time, GoldenEye 007 was the epitome of what a console FPS should be. This is in no small part thanks to the Nintendo 64 controller, with the combination of a trigger-like Z button and an analog stick which were both perfectly positioned to allow the gamer to use the D-Pad for character movement. Something else that helped to separate GoldenEye 007 from the competition was the inclusion of several aspects of stealth gameplay within the game. In an age where FPS titles demanded that you clean out any and every room you could with the biggest, baddest weapon available, GoldenEye 007 gave you a pistol with a silencer and said ‘you’re on your own’.

The big selling point with GoldenEye 007 was its multiplayer, which was and still is so excellent that tournaments are still being held for the game today. The level of customization with the game options was so detailed that players could come up with hundreds of different game types. My personal favorite is “Slappers Only!”, although my friends and I always referred it to “Bitch Slap”.

Fans have been clamoring for GoldenEye 007 to be released on either Xbox LIVE or Wii Virtual Console. Earlier this year we learned that our prayers were almost answered. What stopped our dreams from coming true? Satoru Iwata famously saying that under no circumstances would a Nintendo game appear on a Microsoft console.

Bastard.

3.) Fallout

Are you one of the millions (like me) who are psyched (like me) for Fallout 3, but have absolutely no idea about what the franchise was before Bethesda took over the reigns from Black Isle? Well, one way to describe the original Fallout would be if the apocalyptic wasteland of Mad Max and the pulp magazines of the 1950s and the old Flash Gordon serials had a twisted love child.

The retro-futuristic look and feel of the original Fallout game has become a staple of the main franchise. Everywhere you look you find references to 1950s culture, including special easter eggs such as The Doctor’s TARDIS from Doctor Who. Later in the game, if you had found the single-sleeved leather jacket made famous in Mad Max 2, you could actually find Max’s dog, Dogmeat.

Throughout the years there have been several spin-off games set in the Fallout universe, although none of them capture the same feel that the Black Isle games do. With Fallout 3, Bethesda looks to hopefully break that trend. Only time will tell.

2.) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

The Castlevania games have always been known for their excellent 2D platforming, but Castlevania: Symphony of the Night took it one step beyond and offered gamers what can be argued to be the single best 2D platforming experience ever.

For the first time since the forgettable Simon’s Quest, players (as Alucard) were able to explore the castle in an open-ended way. This resulted in more than one occasion of having to backtrack through previous rooms, especially after you unlocked new powers and abilities. Another added bonus was the ability to level Alucard up as you progress, giving the game light RPG elements.

Symphony of the Night may have actually been the remains of another Castlevania game, The Bloodletting, which had been canceled when Konami realized that the Sega 32X. While no confirmation of this has ever been made by Konami, it is widely believed that after The Bloodletting was shitcanned, those aspects of the game which could be carried over to the PlayStation were.

1.) Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII. It’s one of those games that is so closely tied to the console in which it was released that when somebody even mentions the name “PlayStation”, longtime gamers are hard pressed to not think of it immediately. Everything from the perfectly balanced turn-based combat and ingenious customization options with your party’s skill sets, to the beautifully composed music by Nobuo Uematsu, to a story that even today draws out the rawest of emotions from those who play it – and that doesn’t even count the moment — combine to create one of the single most memorable experiences any gamer could hope to have.

You know how I said Final Fantasy VII is one of those games that is synonymous with PlayStation? Yeah, well that almost wasn’t to be. FF7 was originally in development for the Super Nintendo, but was later moved over to the Nintendo 64 before a lack of space on the cartridge finally forced Squaresoft’s hand and the game was moved one last time to the PlayStation.

Demand for a true sequel or a remake remains strong, and every time rumors begin to swirl about a new Final Fantasy game from SquarEnix, fans instinctively think that “this one” will be the long-awaited Final Fantasy VII remake announcement. However, while a true sequel or remake has yet to be officially announced, Final Fantasy VII remains the most popular entry in the franchise, and has sparked two separate spin-off titles: Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core. Hell, the game has even spawned a CG movie, Advent Children.

It is without a doubt the #1 game of 1997, and it may very well be the single greatest story ever penned for a video game… even if Final Fantasy Tactics was better.

Worst Game of 1997:
Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi
It’s okay, you can say it: A Star Wars fighting game sounds like a badass idea. Sure, it would have nothing to do with franchise continuity, but what would be better than seeing Darth Vader fight Anakin Skywalker? Well, we didn’t get that. Oh no, you know what we got? Thok vs. Hoar.

HOAR!

Who the hell names a character “Hoar”?! That wasn’t the worst of it, either. The controls were clunky and unresponsive to the point where simply getting the character to do what you wanted him or her to felt like a minor victory. Now, fighting games in the past were often forgiven for questionable controls if they simply looked good, but oh no. Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi would have none of that. The game looked like absolute ass and actually managed to make Princess Leia’s slave outfit un-sexy.

…ick.

Look, there simply isn’t anything redeeming about this game. I recently tried to pick it back up to see if it was as bad as I remembered, and you know what? I had to turn it off after five minutes, lest I risk serious bodily harm. At least LucasArts learned their lesson from this game and have not released a Star Wars fighting game since!

…shit.

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