A trip back to 1996 in gaming history (Part 1)

Being a big year for the space industry with the American Pathfinder launching on its 310 million mile mission to Mars, while kids around the world wanted to be as badass as Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible", 1996 was also big year for the gaming industry. Unlike Tom Cruise himself and the "M:I" franchise - some games just never get old and to this day are as good as they used to be. I found myself lacking knowledge on quite a few games from 1996, as in my posts I rely on my knowledge mostly and turn to external sources to back it up. This is actually exciting, meaning that I can dive into all the titles that I know nothing about! Additionally, this means that your knowledge and thoughts on some games that I noted below are needed more than ever!
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 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 1991 in gaming history

Having that out of the way, let's get started!

• Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars

The game is set in Paris, where George Stobbart is enjoying his vacation. He witnesses a terrorist attack. Dressed as a clown George follows a trail of clues left by the attacker only to find something bigger and more dangerous than he might have thought, something dating back to the Knights of Templar. George teams up with a french journalist Nicole Collard as they follow direction from an ancient manuscript they've obtained, which leads them all around the globe to places like: Paris, Ireland, Syria, Spain and Scotland.

• Vectorman 2

On his way back to Earth his spacecraft was shot down, but he managed to escape death. Being back on Earth he find out that the whole planet is overtaken by giant insects. Now Vectorman will have to re-claim our planet and defeat the "Queen".

• Crash Bandicoot

Somewhere in Australia a scientist named Neo Cortex is conducting tests on a bandicoot he caught, named Crash. He wants to build an army and conquer the whole world. Yet things go out of hand for him and that is exactly where we step in.
I simply have to mention that this is one of my favorite PS games of all time undoubtedly, there are several others that can be added to that list, but those would be covered in later posts in more detail. What would you consider as the (one of) best PS one title personally for you?

• The Adventures of Lomax

• Civilization II

Worth to mention that Sid Meier took no part in creating this game.

• Contra: Legacy of War

The seventh installment in the legendary series, as I can see it - the whole "Contra" thing has long lost its spark by then.

• Front Mission: Gun Hazard

• Command & Conquer: Red Alert

The game takes place some time after WWII. Einstein is working on a time machine, called "Chronosphere" that will be used to go back in time and assassinate Hitler to prevent WWII. Unfortunately this causes totally unexpected consequences - Germany doesn't start a war, indeed, however the Soviet Union, having nothing in its way attempts to conquer Europe. The game is really a modern-day classic by now.

• Dead or Alive

The birth of a populat fighting game franchise.

• PowerSlave

• Death Rally

This is what "Remedy" was about long before Max Pane and Alan Wake came around.

• Diablo

One ofthe best things Blizzard has ever made. This game is too big and too well-known to cover it with a short description, as it would deserve a post of its own, which there are already tons of. Yet if you have any fun fact about the game that you can share with us, we would be happy to see it in the comment section.

• Z

• Duke Nukem 3D

There was nothing technically ground-breaking in the Duke Nukem 3D game, however as FPSes were on the rise back then, this one was a quite well-rounded example of one. I actually remember spending quite a lot of time playing this as a kid (not sure if I should have, lol)

• Silent Hunter

• Metal Slug

A classic shoot-em-up, one of my favorite in the genre.

That's it for the "Part 1" of 1996. While looking through games released that year I found out that many of these games (and the ones to come in part 2) I've never actually played and that is a really pleasant surprise since this means that I have a handful of new gaming experiences to discover. Having that in mind, it would be absolutely amazing if you could share your thoughts and opinions with us, what did you enjoy playing and most of all what would you recommend others to try?

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 1991 in gaming history

Thanks for your time!