A trip back to 1993 in gaming history
Now you remember that question kids asked each other when they were talking about PCs? "What Pentium do you have?" 1993 is the year that started it all! The Pentium microprocessor was introduced by Intel. If you don't think 1993 is big enough, think again - The World Wide Web was born at CERN!
Before I carry on with this I'd like to note that it'd be really cool if you reading this would share your thoughts and opinions on the games I highlighted below as I (and probably most other people) am not well familiar with all of them and might have totally missed the awesomeness of some or even generally missed to mention some cool games released that year.
Some other years I already covered, be sure to open them up in a new tab while reading this one.
A trip back to 2002 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 2001 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 2001 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 2000 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 2000 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1999 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1999 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1998 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1998 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1997 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1997 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1996 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1991 in gaming history
Having that out of the way, let's move on!
- Doom
The 10th of December 1993 split gaming history in two: before Doom and after Doom. A legendary title from the legendary id Software! Being chronologically only a year ahead of Wolfenstein 3D - John Carmack's new engine was technologically a whole generation ahead of his previous one, which by itself at the time was a real breakthrough.
I was too small at that time to get onto the whole Doom hype, but you can tell us all about that, right?
- Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat II expanded their combat system with several new simple attacks and your beloved uppercut now launched your opponents into the air (something that I can't even imagine the MK series without).
- Top Gear 2
- Duke Nukem II
The first ever Duke Nukem game that I ever played was the 3D one and when I booted up "Duke Nukem II" I was super disappointed as this was nothing like what I was looking to see! However those were just my childish expectations and having given the game a run I've found it quite entertaining. Designed by Todd Replogle, same as the first and the third game. What was the first Nukem game you ever played?
- Day of the Tentacle
This is the game that started (you might say, wait, what about "Maniac Mansion", but that one didn't get this big) "the golden era of LucasArts quest games" - something that we have to thank for giving us games like: Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Monkey Island games etc. A game that brought wide recognition to Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer. Do you have a favorite LucasArts quest from around that time?
- Out Run 2019
Set only a year ahead from where we live right now, I don't think that any of us would really go 564 MPH on a highway next year.
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Originally planned as a Gameboy port of "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past", eventually turned out to be a standalone title - the fourth installment in the series and the fist Zelda game to be released on a portable gaming device.
- Myst
On the 24th of September - Miller brothers released their graphic adventure puzzle game that started an amazing series, which later became the best selling PC game until The Sims took that title in 2002.
- MechWarrior
- Star Fox
A rail shooter released for the SNES system, the first ever game to use the Super FX graphics acceleratrion compressor.
- Virtua Fighter
The first arcade fighting game to feature fully 3D polygon graphics. The game was highly praised for its innovative game engine and real-life fighting styles. No doubt the Virtual Fighter series had a massive impact on the genre, yet sadly it did not survive the competition eventually.
- Master of Orion
A turn based game - I was told that this was a really nice display of how a space colonization sim could work even back then and that every aspect (economic, military, diplomacy) was extremely well done. I haven't played it myself though, did you? Can you tell us something about it?
- Secret of Mana
Originally released in Japan as "Seiken Densetsu 2" an action RPG released by Square which later joined forces with Enix (you get where I'm going, right?). A sequel to the 1991 "Seiken Densetsu" known in the US as "Final Fantasy Adventure" and in Europe as "Mystic Quest" (what a naming nightmare). I remember this game standing out with a different combat system, which wasn't turn-based. Do you remember the titles I noted above? Did you realize they were connected?
- Kirby's Adventure
A platform game released for the NES system. Second game in the series, after a successful debut on the Gamoboy. I didn't yet make a post about 1992, which is when the first game was out, so I'll say it here - Kirby as we know was firs a dummy character used while developing the game. Kirby wasn't always Kirby - he was first Popopo and the game was "Twinkle Popo" or "Tinkuru Popo" - "giggles in English". Are you a Kirby person? Be sure to let us know!
- Stronghold
A city building sim kind of game. I just made a post about 2001, when the "new" Stringhold RTS was released, however I was not able to find any traces of the two being related even distantly.
I don't know much about this game so I will just add a Gamespy quote: "Cities could quickly become very difficult to manage, but those players who became fans swore that the game was one of the most addictive management simulations they had ever played".
- Sam & Max Hit the Road
Another LucasArts quest released during their high times. This is one of those games that I've never played and prople keep telling me how good it is - what can you say about this one?
- Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
An adventure game which was designed, written and directed by the same person - Jane Jensen.
- Syndicate
A real-time tactical game released by Bullfrog, first game in the series.
- X-COM: UFO Defense
Everyone knows and loves the X-COM UFO series (if you don't they you should better start!). So I will not go into detail about what the game is. Released for the PS1 in 1995. The game was often mentioned as one of the best video games ever made, including IGN ranking it as the best PC game of all time in 2007. What is the best X-COM game for you?
- Super Bomberman
Released of the SNES system - the first Bomberman game in the series, as well as that it is the first ever SNES game to feature a four player mode. Why I loved these early Nintendo games is that even something simple gameplay-wise as Bomberman still has a cool plot behind it. Which was the first Bomberman you've played?
- Ultima VIII Part Two: Serpent Isle
When I got to Ultima I immediately thought about @nleseul and his Ultima gameplay posts (an older Ultima, but still), perhaps he can drop some knowledge about it. The first installment in the core Ultima series that takes place outside of Britannia.
- Warlords II
Have anything to share bout Warlords II?
- Zombies Ate My Neighbors
A run and gun kind of game developed by LucasArts for the SNES system. The game did not have great commercial success but is often praised for its style and humor. A sequel (Ghoul Patrol) was released a year later.
That is all all I have for 1993! Everything iIthought was worth mentioning fit into one post this time. Having just one post for a year - seems odd for me and I think there might be loads of neat games that I might have missed, so we would all love if you could let us know what 1993 games you like the most, especially if I missed to mention some of them.
I also noticed that posts about more recent times like 2000 and 2001 seem to be more popular than going slightly deeper into the past, what do you think? Which ones you find more interesting?
A trip back to 2002 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 2001 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 2001 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 2000 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 2000 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1999 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1999 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1998 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1998 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1997 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1997 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1996 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1991 in gaming history
Thanks for your time!
OMG I loved playing DOOM and Mortal Kombat 2 some of my favorite games to date. Could never finish them though.
mortal kombat snes days were a good laugh..
Day of the tentacle <3
Haven't heard of Secret of mana, big fan of FF1 and FF2(The psp remakes are great, original with extras). And Sam and Max :D
What a cool series this is ! So many forgotten gems haha
Happy you like it! There's more where that came from.
I'll make sure to definitely check out that game that you are working on too.
Mileena is my go-to girl for MK. Zombies Ate my Neighbors was one of the best SNES co-ops. Why did they have to go fudge up the Mana remake?
DOOM!!! Endless hours spent on that game. We had 2 computers in the house and my dad had networked so me and my buddies spent many a friday and saturday night co-oping and deathmatching away. Side-scrolling Duke Nukem was classic and of course Mortal Kombat II was as well. Myst was too slow for my tastes back then and I had Virtua Figher on PC . . . before they had good gamepads or even good communication between gamepads and PCs. Fighting games were absolute shit on a PC. Street Fighter 2 was even worse...
Release the Kraken! You got a 12.17% upvote from @seakraken courtesy of @emtecks!
1993 was a banner year for gaming all around. Secret of Mana, Doom, and Mortal Kombat II pretty much consumed my life, and as soon as I got a Gameboy and Link's Awakening, it was all over. :)
Just going to comment on a couple of the games that I have some familiarity with:
DOOM was an instant classic, but the reason the original trilogy (DOOM, DOOM II, Final DOOM) still has staying power to this day is because of the modding community that sprouted. Try playing a custom map megawad along with the Aeons of Death weapons/enemies megawad in a DOOM II source port (e.g. GZDoom) -- hours of fun times are ahead.
Secret of Mana was a fun action RPG to play in its original form on the Super Nintendo. I've heard that later ports of the game were not so good. But it was the sequel, Seiken Densetsu 3 (which to this day still hasn't received an official release in the U.S.) that is considered to be the masterpiece of the series.
I think I'm going to take your Doom advice right there!
I see the list of your games and I want to return to play some of them, it is true that there are some that I have not played yet and I am surprised by the truth, so many games that I still have to play.
in this case, Super Bomberman was very addictive for me, it was simple, fun and sometimes frustrating hahaha
Yeah :) each time I make a list, I usually end up going back to some of those games