System: Sony PlayStation Release date: 1998 Metal Gear Solid on the PlayStation is the game that made stealth cool, made cutscenes feel like proper cinema, and made an entire generation genuinely afraid of a cardboard box. This Metal Gear Solid title from Konami dropped Solid Snake onto Shadow Moses Island with a simple brief -…
System: Super Nintendo Entertainment System Release date: 1994 Super Metroid on the SNES is the game that dropped you on a dead alien planet, handed you no map and no hand to hold, and somehow made you feel like the cleverest person alive for finding your own way through it. This Super Metroid title picks…
System: Sony PlayStation Release date: 1996 Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation is the game that gave Sony’s console its own mascot to plant firmly on the shop shelf next to Mario and Sonic. This Crash Bandicoot title from Naughty Dog took a genetically mutated marsupial with a bad haircut and a worse attitude, dropped him…
System: Nintendo 64 Release date: 1996 Mario Kart 64 on the Nintendo 64 is the game that turned four controllers and one console into a proper household war. This Mario Kart 64 title took everything brilliant about the SNES original and gave it a full jump into 3D, complete with genuinely varied tracks, a properly…
System: Nintendo Game Boy Release date: 1992 Kirby’s Dream Land on the Game Boy is the game that introduced the world to gaming’s most cheerful little pink puffball – and thirty years on, absolutely nobody has managed to make anything quite that likeable since. This Kirby’s Dream Land title arrived on a grey brick screen…
System: 3DO Release date: 1994 Gex on the 3DO is the game that decided a wisecracking gecko with a chip on his shoulder was exactly what the platforming genre needed, and the 3DO’s CD-ROM drive was exactly the tool to deliver it. This Gex title launched as a genuine 3DO exclusive before later finding its…
System: Commodore Amiga Release date: 1989 Shadow of the Beast on the Commodore Amiga is the game that made every Amiga owner’s mate come round just to watch the parallax scrolling, whether or not anyone actually intended to play it. This Shadow of the Beast title from Psygnosis wasn’t really trying to be a great…
System: Commodore Amiga Release date: 1992 Zool on the Commodore Amiga is the game that turned a bag of Chupa Chups into one of the most ferociously fast platformers the format ever produced. This Zool title arrived courtesy of Gremlin Graphics with a single, unapologetic mission – beat Sonic at his own game on hardware…
System: Sega Master System Release date: 1988 Double Dragon on the Sega Master System is the port that had absolutely no right to be as playable as it turned out – and yet here we are. This Double Dragon title took Technos Japan’s legendary 1987 beat-em-up – the one that defined a genre, invented co-op…
System: Sega Mega Drive Release date: 1994 Micro Machines on the Mega Drive is the game that proved the best racing title on a 16-bit console didn’t need to feature full-size cars, realistic physics, or a single straight piece of road. This Micro Machines title took Codemasters’ brilliant top-down racer and gave it the Mega…