1984: Elite

1985: Ultima 4

1986: The Legend of Zelda

1987: Final Fantasy

1988: Mega Man 2

1989: TMNT & Golden Axe

1990: Secret of Monkey Island

1991: LOZ: A Link to the Past

1992: Wolfenstein 3D

1993: Doom

1994: X-Com: UFO Defense

1995: Chrono Trigger

1996: Duke Nukem 3D, Diablo

1997: Goldeneye 007, Final Fantasy 7

1998: Ocarina of time, Half-Life, Metal Gear Solid, and Starcraft

1999: Planescape Torment, THPS, GTA2, Unreal Tournament, System Shock 2, Smash Bros, EverQuest, Homeworld, and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

2000: Deus Ex, Diablo 2, The Sims, Baldur’s Gate, and Majora’s Mask

2001: Halo, MGS2

2002: Vice City, Morrowind

2003: Wind Waker, KOTOR

2004: San Andreas, Half-Life 2, Halo 2, and WoW

2005: RE4, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus

2006: Bully, Wii Sports, Saints Row, Just Cause, and Dead Rising

2007: Bioshock, Portal, TF2, and Mass Effect

2008: Fallout 3, MGS4, and GTA 4

2009: Demon’s Souls, Arkham Asylum, Prototype, Borderlands, L4D2, and Minecraft.

2010: Red Dead Redemption

2011: Skyrim, Dark Souls, Portal 2

2012: Dishonored, Far Cry 3, Xcom: Enemy Unknown

2013: GTA5

2014: Dark Souls 2

2015: Bloodborne, MGS5

2016: Stardew Valley, Dark Souls 3

2017: Breath of the Wild

2018: RDR2

2019: Sekiro, Death Stranding, and Fallen Order

2020: Hades, HL: Alyx

2021: Disco Elysium

2022: Elden Ring

2023: Baldur’s Gate 3 and Tears of the Kingdom

2024: FF7 Rebirth and Helldivers 2

2025: Expedition 33 and Hades 2

2026: Nothing has come out this year that I truly appreciate. Yet. Most of the ones I want to try I haven’t played yet.

I am compelled to disagree that Banjo Kazooie holds up better than The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time for 1998. That’s crazy talk.

I am interested in doing this but do not have the time currently. Ill come back to this later.

EDIT: Here is my own list, limited to games I have actually played. I guess this would be my “Game of the Year” list for the following years, again, from games I have played. Although I tried hard to limit it down to just one game.for each year, sime year were more stacked than others (and this really hurt sometimes). If multiple games are listed, they are considered close to equal in the order they are listed, with first being the highest and each subsequent being like half a point below its previous.If its not on this list, either I didn’t play it, or I don’t consider it to be equal to or better than what I put here:

• 1981 - Defender
• 1982 - Q*bert
• 1983 - Fortress of Narzod
• 1984 - Knight Lore
• 1985 - Super Mario Brothers
• 1986 - The Legend of Zelda
• 1987 - Dungeon Master
• 1988 - Snatcher (the later SEGA CD version is objectively better in nearly every way)
• 1989 - Tetris
• 1990 - Super Mario World
• 1991 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• 1992 - Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
• 1993 - Brandish 2: The Planet Buster
• 1994 - Super Metroid, Policenauts
• 1995 - Panzer Dragoon
• 1996 - Yu-No: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World
• 1997 - GoldenEye 007, Quake II, Mega Man Legends
• 1998 - The Ledeng of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Half-Life, Panzer Dragoon Saga
• 1999 - Silent Hill, Shenmue, System Shock 2, Age of Empires II, Dino Crisis
• 2000 - The Operative: No One Lives Forever, Vagrant Story
• 2001 - Halo Combat Evolved, Silent Hill 2, Shenmue II, Super Smash Brothers Melee
• 2002 - Metroid Prime, Resident Evil (Gamecube remake), The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Steel Battalion, Panzer Dragoon Orta, MechAssault, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
• 2003 - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy, F-Zero GX, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 (yeah, it released in 2003)
• 2004 - Halo 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II, Need for Speed Underground 2
• 2005 - TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (unironically a peak game in 2005), Star Wars Republic Commando,
• 2006 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Battlefield 2142, Metroid Prime Hunters
• 2007 - Halo 3, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, Project Gotham Racing 4
• 2008 - Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Rock Band 2, Mirror’s Edge
• 2009 - Demon’s Souls
• 2010 - Halo Reach, NieR (Gestalt), Battlefield Bad Company 2, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, Infinity Blade (yes, the mobile game)
• 2011 - Dark Souls, Minecraft, Portal 2, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Earth Defense Force Insect Armageddon
• 2012 - Forza Horizon
• 2013 - Battlefield 4
• 2014 - Dark Souls II, Halo 2 Anniversary (Campaign, as part of Master Chief Collection), Destiny, Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc, Danganronpa 2 Goodbye Despair,
• 2015 - Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain, Yakuza 0, Life is Strange
• 2016 - Dark Souls III, Factorio, Divinity Original Sin II, Stellaris (its very different now, in a better way IMO)
• 2017 - NieR Automata, Doki Doki Literature Club!, The Coma: Recut,
• 2018 - Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Forza Horizon 4, Deep Rock Galactic, Kingdom Come Deliverance
• 2019 - Risk of Rain 2, Code Vein, Death Stranding
• 2020 - Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur’s Gate III, Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, Genshin Impact (it was fun for a while)
• 2021 - Valheim
• 2022 - Elden Ring, Goddess of Victory NIKKE (I am completely serious with this pick)
• 2023 - Metroid Prime Remastered, System Shock Remake (I actually backed this game on Kickstarter at one of their higher tiers)
• 2024 - Helldivers 2
• 2025 - Elden Ring Nightreign
• 2026 - (I haven’t played any games that released this year that were good enough to be in this list)

You know, writing this all out, gaming really does suck these days. The 90s-10s were absolutely STACKED with bangers.

Man that seems like a lot of work lol

Many of these games were before my time. I had some older cousins and family friends that let me borrow them. Consoles I’ve owned are NES, SNES GC, Switch 1, PS2, XB360, XBOne, and XB S/X. These are the years the games were published and I am including only makes i have played and enjoyed. There are many other flops or unremarkable games from my past.

1985 - SMB, Duck Hunt, Gradius

1986 - Solomon’s Key

1987 - Punch Out, Double Dragon, Mega Man

1988 - SMB 3, Bayou Billy, Mega Man 2

1989 - Adventures of Lolo, Dragon Spirit

1990 - Mega Man 3

1991 - Super Mario World, Gradius 3

1992 - Super Mario Kart, TMNT Turtles in Time

1993 - Alfred the Chicken

1994 - Donkey Kong Country, Super Punch Out, Mega Man X

1995 - Donkey Kong Country

1996 - Kirby Super Star, Mega Man X3

1997 - Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye 007

1999 - Jet Force Gemini, RE2 (N64), SSB

2001 - SSB Melee, MGS 2, Silent Hill 2, GTA3

2002 - RE Remake, RE Zero, Time Splitters 2

2005 - Resident Evil 4 (PS2)

2006 - Lost Planet

2007 - COD4 MW

2008 - COD WaW, Gears 2

2009 - COD MW2, Resident Evil 5, BM Arkham Asylum

2010 - Red Dead Redemption, Battlefield Bad Company

2011 - Gears 3, BM Arkham City

2012 - BL2

2013 - BM Arkham Origins, GTA 5

2015 - BM Arkham Knight

2018 - PUBG (XB), Red Dead Redemption 2

2019 - Destiny, COD MW, RE2 Remake, STJ Fallen Order

2021 - RE Village

2023 - RE 4 Remake, Dead Space Remake, Dredge, STJ Survivor

2024 - Another Crabs Treasure

2025 - ARC Raiders

2026 - RE Reqium (Enjoying so far, need to see how the relativity is still)

deleted by creator

As in, list from memory? List games that you actually played? Or just games you think are good?

1997 - GoldenEye

The last 40 years are a blur, and I honestly don’t know what year any games came out. I could guess a range, but that’s about it.

If we’re talking old games that hold up, I would put Rogue (1980) and Nethack (1987) on that list. Rogue is like the basis for 60% of the gaming industry, and Nethack is still being actively developed.