DeviousJinjo
1997
The first Age of Empires holds up better than people give it credit for... it's just overshadowed by its sequel.
1998
This sure was a video game that I played once back when Blockbuster existed.
1998
Grim Fandango is a cool, creative game, but jesus the moon logic in play here really stands out. Puzzles are especially obtuse, and there is a tonal dissonance that games like Monkey Island don't have. The moon logic feels at home in the wacky cartoon pirate-land that Guybrush Threepwood inhabits, but not here.
A most excellent baby game for babies who are babies.
Yellow is obviously the best Gen 1 game. It's less buggy (though not by a huge amount) and the sprites are much, much, MUCH better. Unfortunately being forced into taking Pikachu removes some of the personalization and replay value. Everyone loves Pikachu, but it's hard to say that nothing is lost when the player doesn't get to chose their starter.
1998
A technical accomplishment with inspired art, music, and level design, even if underneath those things it's no triumph of game design.
1998
An essential video game, now and forever.
1998
I played Glover extensively as a kid, and yet I have no positive memories of it. Instead I remember pain.
1998
Neat little hidden gem.
1998
What
1998
Banjo Kazooie, like most of Rare's glory day output, is better than it has any right to be. Standing on the shoulders of a particular giant, Banjo Kazooie manages to both clean and dirty Mario 64 at the same time. The results are both stupid and addictive. There is only one feature of Banjo Kazooie for which I will stand my ground enough to argue that it is actually good at least SOMEWHAT on purpose rather than by happy accident, and that's the level design. Each of Banjo Kazooie's worlds is memorable, inventive, compact, and fun to traverse in ways that DK64, Banjo Tooie and Yooka Laylee all would completely fail to reproduce. Technical limitations really can be a godsend.
1998
An RPG where absolutely none of the systems were properly thought out. It has some cool ideas but falls flat on its face in execution. The encounter rate is absurd and combat is both shallow and slow. The tedium is made even worse by how grindy the game ultimately reveals itself to be. Total lack of balance means that character building is a series of non-decisions. The structure of the plot from town to town is completely formulaic and predictable, and the story is almost nonexistent, so there's no salvation there either. This was pretty much the only RPG available on the N64, but even with that massive advantage, this was never worth anyone's time.
1998
Balance incarnate. I suck at it and can't appreciate it properly, so my big takeaway is usually just whining at how long every campaign mission takes.
Very good baby game for tiny babies. Surprisingly high replay value.
Good baby game. Not as good as the zoo one or the time travel one.