20 years since 2000: One of the Greatest Years in Gaming?

We've not had many articles across the gaming press so far this year about the various 20th anniversaries coming up and I thought it might be a good time to revisit what made 2000 one of the greatest years in gaming. The release list for 2000 reads as follows:

The PlayStation 2 launch worldwide including instant classics like SSX (well, if we're being honest that was the only instant classic but the wait was palpable)

The Dreamcast having Jet Set Radio, Shenmue, Phantasy Star Online, Quake 3, Grandia 2, RE: Code Veronica and Skies of Arcadia in the same year. There was also the proper launch of its online gaming credentials.

The Nintendo 64 going down in a blaze of glory with Perfect Dark, Banjo Tooie, Paper Mario, Pokemon Stadium, Majora's Mask and Excitebike 64. I failed half my A-levels thanks to Perfect Dark's multiplayer.

The PS1 having the Squaresoft twilight year RPG's with Front Mission 3, Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy IX and Parasite Eve 2.

The PC pushing out timeless classics like Icewind Dale, Shogun: Total War, Diablo 2, The Sims and Deus Ex

The Gameboy Color gifting the world the best Metal Gear Solid title.

I cannot think of a year where it didn't matter what console you had you were well serviced with regards to releases.

Last edited by Ironhide on Wed May 20, 2020 3:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I had a PS1, N64, Dreamcast and PS2 (edit: actually got it in 2001) as well as the first semi decent PC I owned.

It was glorious.

I was mainly playing Dreamcast stuff

Crazy Taxi
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX
Metropolis Street Racer
Shenmue
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - the graphical improvements over the PS1 version kind of blew my mind.
Virtua Tennis

I think they were the only DC games I got that year but what a bloody list, I was having the time of my life.

I wasn't old enough to be closely following new releases (although we were reading the Nintendo magazine then iirc), but this was probably the year I won a new N64 with Pokemon Stadium and a transfer pack bundled in from a free cinema draw!

That Dreamcast lineup. Really wish we still had that Sega today.

Carlos wrote:Final Fantasy IX

Doesn't really count in the UK though, as it didn't come out here until 2001.

Wha?

On your list, I got deus ex, code veronica AND perfect dark. What a trio :datass:

I played the multiplayer of perfect dark to death. I don't think I ever finished the single player, I didn't think much of it really, but oh my god the multiplayer. Split screen with my best mate, finding our ideal balance of bots at different skill levels, and setting our favourite weapon sets. Days and days lost to playing it :wub:

I got Perfect Dark, Banjo Tooie and Pokemon Stadium on their release days. Each were glorious experiences in their own right.

Perfect Dark, as you may have noticed, places very highly in my recently published top 20 list. It has provided me with so many excellent memories:

-stayed at my friend's house the day it was released and we mowed through the story mode, explored the institute, sampled the multiplayer and combat simulator
-took turns coming up with strategies to beat Perfect Agent levels with another friend, which the other would then copy
-taking 45 minutes to beat Pelagic II on Perfect Agent :lol:

-getting killed twice at the final door of Area 51: Infiltration TWICE, because the enemies blocked my way when it opened

-beating Challenge 30 on my very first attempt after being stuck on 29 for weeks :msgreen:

Up until that point I'd never been as hyped about a game as I was with Banjo-Tooie. I had played B-K to death, to the point where I had set myself my own little personal challenges, which I would later learn to be termed as "speed runs". The first time I completed B-K my completion time was around 37 hours, and eventually I got this down to under 5 hours which I was pretty chuffed with. It was, however, very evident, very quickly, that speed-running Tooie was NOT a thing I would be doing. Memories include:

-taking control of the statue in Mayahem Temple
-the kickball tournaments
-the saucer minigame in Witchyworld
-the boss battles
-dragon Kazooie
-Hailfire Peaks becoming the best level out of both the games :wub:

My best friend got the PS2 with SSX when it came out and we became obsessed with collecting the signature trick photos.

You won't have been playing Tooie in 2000 - it came out in April 2001 in Europe.

I never really had 2000 down as a landmark use for videogames. Some of the stuff released that year I played later on down the line - I picked up Deus Ex when I got my first gaming PC in 2003, and my parents tried to order Majora's Mask for Christmas but it was sold out and placed on back order, eventually arriving around February or March 2001.

Perfect Dark was the biggie though. Alon with Ocarina, if was one of those games that had just been eternally previewed for what felt like ages. I started getting gaming mags in early 1998 or so, when I got an N64, and PD was something that was just constantly featuring. The release date got pushed back at least a couple of times as well, always slipping just out of reach.

It was one of those games that you could just never imagine actually being released. And the fact it came out on a mundane Friday in June just seemed to... normal for a game like PD. Obviously I had it pre-ordered and went to school as frantic as a bag of buttered marbles. The day ended, I came home, and then before I ever had chance to smell the new cartridge smell, the annoying boy who was in my class and lived round the corner knocked on my front door as he was wont to do, and talk my head off. I never really liked him and he just never picked up on the signals I gave, so I just had to endure his utterly banal chat about what crisps he'd eaten or something like thet. God I hated him that day.

You're a much nicer person than me. I remember when I was a 16 and playing the final boss of Viewtiful Joe I left a friend standing at the door to my house for a good ten minutes while I finished things and watched the final cut scene.

I didn't even really like the game.

PS1 was loaded, but then to be honest it was every year. I remember playing Toy Story 2, Resident Evil 3 and Gran Turismo 2 at the start of the year I think it was, Colin McRae Rally 2.0, Theme Park World, ECW Hardcore Revolution, and Pong (yes, really) in the summer, 'upgrading' to a PSone, specifically renting Destruction Derby Raw from Blockbuster, Tony Hawk's 2 just after the summer holidays, and Spyro the Dragon 3, Medal of Honor Underground, the confusingly named Wipeout 3 Special Edition (which I got by mistake because a DIY shop by the name of FADS had started selling videogames for no apparent reason and had mistakenly put the wrong Wipeout in the box for a tenner), Driver 2 and Tomb Raider Chronicles at Christmas, amongst a load of other things I've no doubt forgotten or can't quite place (Rollcage Stage II for example). 2000 was also the year new PlayStation game prices dropped to under £30, publishers launched a load of their own budget labels and games like Tomb Raider and Resident Evil were going for under £10, and Gameplay.com and Amazon.com really took off. Amazon started bunging £5 off vouchers in various magazines.

On Gameboy Color I spent many hours in the garden with my neighbour playing Pokemon Blue. And then Yellow.

What I also recall from 2000 is how THQ got away with releasing two WWF SmackDown's in the same year.

1998 I think can make a strong argument

N64 had Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie and F-Zero X

PC had Half life, Starcraft, Thief and Baldur's Gate

PS had Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turisimo, Resident Evil 2 and Tekken 3

Gameboy had Pokemon Red/Blue

A lot of big games that year.

Tomous wrote:1998 I think can make a strong argument

N64 had Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie and F-Zero X

PC had Half life, Starcraft, Thief and Baldur's Gate

PS had Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turisimo, Resident Evil 2 and Tekken 3

Gameboy had Pokemon Red/Blue

A lot of big games that year.

1998 wins purely because of Ocarina. Hyped to bits but when I booted it up when I got it home the title screen alone gave me goosebumps and it was better than I expected it to be, better than my hype is not something that happens often. No other game in that year comes close.

Tomous wrote:1998 I think can make a strong argument

Gameboy had Pokemon Red/Blue

A lot of big games that year.

Pokemon's UK release wasn't until October 1999 though.

I got my copy on US import earlier that year.

20 years since 2000: One of the Greatest Years in Gaming?

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