The 1990s were a decade of innovation a🎐nd change which was hugely important in gaming. Throughout it we saw three generations of consoles, each one making huge leaps in terms of technology. We also saw several new genres of game popularized.
Back in 1990, the 16 bit console was king. This fourt♚h generation of consoles comprised the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, the Super Nintendo, the Neo Geo, and the Game Boy. The rivalry between Sega and Nintendo sparked the second major console war and a battle for 2D supremacy.
Fast forward to 1993 and the 32/64 bit era began as the evolution from 2D and cartridges to 3D and CDs began. The ⛦defining consoles💧 for this generation included the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Nintendo 64, one of the last cartridge based consoles in production.
Finally in 1999, the sixth generation began with the Sega Dreamcast, the first console to feature a built-in modem and web brows꧟er as well as a full SD res🧜olution.
Alongside these technological changes, gamiꩵng itself evo💞lved and grew. The first-person shooter, real-time strategy, and survival horror genres were all popularized and defined during this time.
While there were many amazing games released back in the 1990s, some of them had a much wider influence than others. In t🐟his list, I have chosen the ones which I feel were the most important. From those which heralded the beginning of much loved franchises, still going strong some 20 years later, to those which set a bar for titles to come. Here are the 30 most important 90’s video games of all times, ranked by year.
30 Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon🥂 And The Blade Of Light (Released April 1ꦦ990)
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon And The Blade Of Light is the first title in the fantasy tactical role-playing game franchise Fire Emblem. The series currently comprises of 15 main games and 3 spin-offs, the most recent of which was released in 2017, with a new title, Three Houses, set to release later this year.
Initial sales of the game were slow, but it built up into a huge phenomenon and launched the popular series🌱. After the hype built up many began to credit the game with popularizing the tacticꦡal role-playing genre.
29 🤪 Sonic The Hedgehog (Released June 1991)
Back in the 1990s the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo and their respective games and consoles was huge. Sonic The Hedgehog was created after Sega requested a mascot type character that could compete with Nintendo’s Mario. The first few Sonic The Hedgehog games focused on the high-speed platform genre.
As the 1990s moved on so did Sonic and the 2D fast paced side scroller gave way to Sonic Adventure in 1998, the first 3D Sonic game. Since then, Sonic has gone frꩲ♕om strength to strength both in solo games and alongside his one time rival Mario.
28 Final Fant๊asy IV (Rไeleased July 1991)
Final Fantasy IV was one of the first role-playing games to feature such a complex and involving plot. It also included several features which went on to become staples of both the Final Fantasy series an💜d RPGs in gen𒀰eral. These include the active-time battle system and unchangeable character classes.
The series remains hugely influential and, in January 1997, it broke new ground again when Final Fantasy VII became the first title in the series to use 3D character mod🅠els and full motion video. To this day it is considered a🌳 landmark title and one of the greatest games of all time.
27 🔥 Street Fighter II (Released August 1991)
Street Fighter II is often credited with being the yard stick for the one-on-one fighting genre. It popuജlarized fighting games and went on to become a system seller for the SNES console.
At an arcade 🅘level, it contained the most accurate joystick and button controls seen at the time. This enabled players to reliably executeไ multi-button special moves and combos, which later became a fighting game staple. It was also one of the first player vs player games.
A true game changer which (once adjusted for in🥃flation) remains one of the highest-grossing video gꦿames of all time.
26 🐼 ꦯ Sid Meier’s Civilization (Released September 1991)
Sid Meier’s Civilization is a turn based strategy game. It focuses on exploring, expanding and developing an em💦pire over a large time scale. It was the first game to have such huge scale and complexity.
The first installment in the series, which is still going strong today, had its flaws but it was a solid base upon which the franchise was built. It also had a strong influence on other important strategy games of the time including Alpha Centuri and Age Of Empires.
25 ♌ Super Mario Kart (Released August 1992) 𝔉
Super Mario Kart is not only an incredibly fun game to play, but it was a key title in the Mario series. It spawned the kart racin𝓡g sub-genre and also marked the successful transition of Mario away from being simply a platform game character.
Mario Kart has since become a popular franchise in its own right and is often considered a staple of Nintendo’s consoles. Both the original and several sequels have enjoyed critical and commercial success and to this day there 💜are numerous other kart-racing games which use its model.
24 Virtua Racing (Released August 1992) ﷺ
Virtua Racing began life as a proof-of-concept application for a new 3D-graphics platform. It got such a great reception that it was developed into an arcade title. While some games, such as Winning Run and Hard Drivin’, had used 3D graphics before, Virtua Racing vastly improved upon this.
The polygon c✃ount was much higher than other games of the tiღme and the addition of a better frame rate added scene complexity. It also contained multiple camera angles and 3D non-player characters which added a depth never before seen in racing games. The title set the foundation for 3D racers.
23 Mortal Kombat (Released October 1992) 🥂 𝔍
Mortal Kombat is the arcade fighting game which spawned the hugely popular franchise of the same name. It was released under a storm of controversy thanks to its graphic content which used realistic digitized graphics. W☂hat made it controversial also made it appealing.
The unique finishing moves in particular helped the title stand out from the crowd. Mortal Kombat became a best seller🔥 and remains one of the most popular fighting games ever, spawning not just sequel൩s but also several spin-offs and a movie.
22 NBA Jam (Released February 19♏93)
NBA Jam is one of the first arcade basketball games and also one of the earliesဣt to feature NBA-licensed teams and players. It was incredibly popular and, in 1994, became the highest-earning arcade game of all time.
The game paved the way for a new wave of sports games based around fast, action-packed gameplay and exaggerated realism. This model, which NBA Jam followed, would later be used for other successful sports games based on foot🗹ball, hocke🥀y and baseball.
21 👍 Doom (Released December 1993) ♋
A first person shooter, considered to be one of the most significant and influential of all time, Doom started out life as shareware. It was later sold at retail where its graphic content and imagery made it the subject of controversy. The game’s first 9 levels were played by an estimated 15-20 million pe꧃ople.
It popularized the first-person shooter genre and was pioneering in the areas of immersive 3D graphics and networked multiplayer gaming. It also allowed support for ♚customized add-ons and modifications.