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[Bonfires Down]

Mods, please fix the Phantasy Star poll text if you see this.

It's time to reflect on another year in gaming, 20 years on. Last year's thread is here.

• That PS2 lineup doesn't need any introduction; Silent Hill 2, Final Fantasy X, Grand Theft Auto III, Metal Gear Solid 2... ok, you get it. GTA3's influence on open world games cannot be overstated and it was the best selling game of the year. Silent Hill 2 is still considered to be one of the best horror games ever and this type of dark and mature story was a rarity at the time. MGS2 was at first a disappointment for some, but is now seen as a very worthy installment.
• Halo revolutionized first person shooters on console and set the dual analog standard.
• The Gamecube had a strong launch window with Smash Bros Melee, Luigi's Mansion, Super Monkey Ball and Rogue Squadron II.
• Matching the games from 2000 was impossible for the PC, but there were plenty of quality games and cult classics like Black & White, Max Payne, Arcanum and Commandos 2.
• The GBA was released along with classic games like Golden Sun and Advance Wars.
• Runescape, Dark Age of Camelot and Phantasy Star Online made for a strong online showing.

January 4	RuneScape
January 16	Mario Tennis
January 29	Oni
January 29	Phantasy Star Online
January 31	Mega Man X5
February 5	Paper Mario
February 7	Clive Barker's Undying
February 19	Severance: Blade of Darkness
February 27	The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages
March 5	Conker's Bad Fur Day
March 6	Shadow of Memories
March 6	The Bouncer
March 13	Onimusha: Warlords
March 15	Fallout Tactics
March 21	Tribes 2
March 21	Serious Sam: The First Encounter
March 22	Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil
March 25	Black & White
March 26	Zone of the Enders
March 28	Pokémon Stadium 2
May 8	Myst III: Exile
May 22	Red Faction
May 28	Crazy Taxi 2
May 30	Bejeweled
June 8	Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
June 11	F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
June 11	Super Mario Advance
June 15	Startopia
June 15	Original War
June 18	Twisted Metal: Black
June 21	Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
June 22	Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis
June 23	Sonic Adventure 2
June 27	Anachronox
June 27	Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
July 10	Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
July 23	Max Payne
July 29	Pokémon Crystal
August 1	Golden Sun
August 21	Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
August 27	Mario Kart: Super Circuit
September 10	Advance Wars
September 20	Commandos 2: Men of Courage
November 23	Shenmue II
September 24	Phantasy Star Online Version 2
September 24	Silent Hill 2
September 30	Ico
October 10	Dark Age of Camelot
October 12	Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney (JP)
October 17	Devil May Cry
October 21	Stronghold
October 22	Grand Theft Auto III
October 28	Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
October 29	Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
October 30	Aliens versus Predator 2
October 30	Civilization III
October 31	Soul Reaver 2
October 31	Mega Man Battle Network
November 1	Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies
November 1	Burnout
November 1	Dragon Warrior VII
November 5	SSX Tricky
November 7	Battle Realms
November 9	Project Gotham Racing
November 12	Empire Earth
Novmeber 13	Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon
November 13	Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
November 15	Dead or Alive 3
November 15	Halo: Combat Evolved
November 15	Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
November 17	Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
November 18	Super Monkey Ball
November 18	Wave Race: Blue Storm
November 18	IL-2 Sturmovik
November 19	Wario Land 4
November 20	FreQuency
November 20	Return to Castle Wolfenstein
November 21	Super Smash Bros. Melee
November 23	Gothic
December 3	Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
December 3	Pikmin
December 3	Super Smash Bros. Melee
December 3	Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
December 4	Mega Man X6
December 12	Shadow Hearts
December 17	Luigi's Mansion
December 20	Final Fantasy X

Ps. Anyone know how to tighten the column widths?

 

[zcaa0g]

That was a pretty sick year covering a variety of genres.

 

[StateofMajora]

Every time I re examine what came out that year I am still impressed. Just wow...

 

[Tschumi]

One heck of a year. I personally love Baldur's Gate 2, Serious Sam, Operation Flashpoint, Stronghold, Dark Age of Camelot, Civilization 3, SSX Tricky.. yeah

 

[TexMex]

1998 gets all the hype but 01 may honestly be better.

 

[zcaa0g]

That year is probably where my backlog of 1000+ games began and never recovered from.

 

[zcaa0g]

1998 gets all the hype but 01 may honestly be better.

1998 was quality. 2001 was quality and quantity.

 

[Laptop1991]

Return to Castle Wolfenstein PC

 

[Celcius]

Wow, that may have been the best year ever

 

[Phase]

God damn Black & White was a good game.

 

[ssringo]

I was overseas for the military that year so my game time in the later half was kinda interrupted by some real world shit. There was some serious quality that year but it's not among my favorite gaming years.

One thing I do remember was that as cool as DMC was, I hated the way the controls needed to realign when transitioning between camera angles. It actually turned me off from the franchise until DmC and DMCV.

 

[Corgi1985]

better than 2010-2020 combined

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

My favorites:

Final Fantasy X
Golden Sun
Gran Turismo 3
Grand Theft Auto III
Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Max Payne
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Twisted Metal: Black

 

[Droxcy]

So many good games and memories just about every game on the list got played at least once.

GTA
GT3
THPS
Runescape (lol)
Bad Fur Day

 

[Fart Knight]

Crazy.

 

[sublimit]

Insane year. Maybe the best ever.

 

[intbal]

Anachronox
Blade of Darkness
Clive Barker's Undying
Return to Castle Wolfenstein

 

[Zero7]

I was saddened by the end of the Dreamcast. But overall it was a golden year for gaming.If nothing else.

Metal Gear solid 2
GT3
GTA3
Halo
Shenmue2
Tony Hawk 3

 

[Bernd Lauert]

The GOAT year. Will probably never be topped too.

 

[German Hops]

The GOAT year. Will probably never be topped too.

Damn good year, but it's still a far cry from 1998.

 

[Aggelos]

Guys, year 2001 was such a defining moment, I used to buy those Future Publishing magazines (Official PS2 Magazine, PSM Magazine and whatnot) and the great games and gaming announcements just kept coming.
Every monthly issue was like a gamers' wet-dream. Daiyuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum bruh!!!

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Amazing year... on paper.

Too bad it coincided with me being in a state of deep personal transformation, when gaming started to be something I wanted to cling to but not really what I wanted to do. The period between Majora’s Mask and Metroid Prime is not one I remember fondly. Having a PAL PS2 didn’t help things, too. Hard to enjoy DMC when it was so slow compared to the US version.

I gotta admit, that year’s variety was staggering. But there’s very few in there I ever went back to, mainly Onimusha and Zelda Oracles.

 

[prinz_valium]

Diablo 2 LOD > anything else on that list

 

[Naibel]

Yeah I mean this year is just... I mean COME ON ! What were they thinking, stacking up releases like this ?

At least in Europe, releases were more spread out. Xbox/MGS 2 was released in March, GameCube/Final Fantasy X in May. That meant 2002 was nearly just as good, if not better than 2001 here !

 

[SkylineRKR]

One of the best years in gaming ever. Even if this would be about just the PS2.

 

[DGrayson]

What a year!

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

God damn, if you compare that list with any year of the last decade...

Gaming was better in the past.

 

[Concern]

Easily one of the best years of gaming.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Great list.

 

[Zheph]

Insane year

2022 about to... forget about it

 

[Underpants158]

Wow. So many of those games are legit contenders for game of year 2001. I think you'd get a variety of games with first place votes. Damn, even Black and White came out that year. Kind of a forgotten game.

 

[Majima Everywhere System]

2001 was all about staying up forever with RISE FM. Halo was great, but I was a year late. Castlevania is the first game i played in the best genre. Metal Gear was a very impressive game. It had it all.

FfX fell short for me after 7 and 9. It's just no one's fantasy but the designers. Tony Hawk 3 was fun, but it was already just more Tony Hawk by that point.

 

[Kerotan Frog]

Wow oh wow, what a year..

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages
Zone of the Enders
Sonic Adventure 2
Luigi's Mansion
Metal Gear Solid 2
Halo
Super Smash Bros Melee
Final Fantasy X
Gran Turismo 3
Grand Theft Auto III
Ico
Tony Hawk 3
Devil May Cry
Pikmin
Paper Mario
Super Monkey Ball
Shenmue 2
Pokemon Stadium 2
Dragon Quest VII

ALL IN ONE YEAR...?

Idk if this will ever be topped. So many amazing games and franchises that got their start.

 

[GnomeChimpsky]

Aliens vs Predator 2 scared the ever-loving shit out of me. Can't believe I actually finished it.
Clive Barker's undying was great as well. Two top tier horror games right there.

 

[swaffles23]

Incredible year for gaming.

I still playthrough ICO and Silent Hill 2 a couple times a year at least.

 

[Jeeves]

Monster of a year. Better than 1998 in my opinion. Criminally few votes for Super Monkey Ball, though. I could see if it wasn't a multiple selection poll, but...really, guys?

The prior Christmas is when I got Majora's Mask, too, so that was another incredible game I mostly played in 2001.

Paper Mario Phantasy Star Online / Version 2

I....would play this.

 

[HE1NZ]

My top 10:

01 Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (PC)
02 Aliens vs. Predator 2 (PC)
03 Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
04 Max Payne (PC)
05 Return to Castle Wolfenstein (PC)
06 Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox)
07 Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge (PC)
08 Paper Mario (N64)
09 Serious Sam: The First Encounter (PC)
10 Advance Wars (GBA)

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[TransTrender]

Devil May Cry
GTA 3
Twisted Metal Black
GT3
Jak and Dexter
FFX

Fucking crazy year for the PlayStation 2

 

[Naked Lunch]

1998 murders that lineup - no contest.
2001 is still good tho.

Now compare that list to today - what a sorry state gaming is in these days.

 

[cireza]

Phantasy Star Online of course

 

[J-Roderton]

Damn, didn't realize it at the time. What a freaking year.

 

[K1Expwy]

I remember Virtua Fighter 4 arcade the most from that year. 2001 had a nonstop supply of instant classics

 

[SegaManAU]

It's crazy to look back and think about how many amazing games were released that year! Wow.

 

[Tg89]

Amazing year for games. D2:LoD easily a step above the rest though.

 

[Romulus]

I remember playing Halo CE and thinking "how is this possible on a console." The levels were huge, along with the bump mapping and even split-screen it just blew my mind.

 

[TheMan]

The result of developers hitting their stride before the time when they needed 1 billion man hours to produce hi res grass

 

[Dave_at_Home]

Good lord! Hot bangers! Of that long list, here's the ones I've played.

• Devil May Cry​

• Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec​

• Grand Theft Auto III​

• Halo: Combat Evolved​

• Ico​

• Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy​

• Max Payne​

• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty​

• Silent Hill 2​

• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3​

• Soul Reaver 2​

• Return to Castle Wolfenstein​

• Twisted Metal Black​

Kind of wish younger gamers today could participate in the special singular experience gaming used to be. Friday night, gaming magazine next to you as you deep-dive into your newest gaming obsession on your glorious tube TV. I'll never forget firing up Resident Evil 1, 2, and 3 for the first time. I certainly can't forget Metal Gear Solid. Not to mention co-op gaming with my brother and friends on Twisted Metal 2 and Streets of Rage 2.

 

[Reality Czar]

Damn, didn't realize it at the time. What a freaking year.

Movies were good too. The first installments in the following series debuted that year:

LOTR
Harry Potter
Fast & Furious
Shrek
Monsters Inc.

Plus Spirited Away, Momento, Freddie Got Fingered, Mulholland Drive, Tomb Raider, Wet Hot American Summer, AI, Ocean's Eleven, Zoolander, Royal Tanenbaum's, etc.

Things in general have really gone to shit since then.

 

[JLB]

Absolute madness.
what a year.