When were video games at their best?

[Chicken Drummer]

In your opinion

I would say in the middle of the 2000s , world class.

[Cæli]

games reached a peak on 2D with the snes during the 90s
then 3d came, big games came, and then games more or less copied it and iterated it
maybe from an objective point of view 3d video games peaked in quality with the year of the release of wow and resident evil 4;
with the spread of unreal engine/unity games lost soul with standardized (and ugly in my opinion) atmospheres and lightning, which is a chance as it allows us to have more time to experience worthy games, you couldn't keep up with all worthy games otherwise

it seems that quality is correlated with technical limitations; when there is technical limitations, the designers have to put more effort in the creation process and it seems that it results more into quality/historical creations; when there is not, gameplay seems to be the main focus but the other things are rather cheap on average

[dwightyo39]

games reached a peak on 2D with the snes during the 90s

I personally had more fun with my NES than any other console, but Genesis and SNES had their gems.

Castlevania SotN is still my favorite 2d game.

[Nutri]

They where the best during the time that the person you are asking the question was at it’s peak of their gaming enthousiasm.

I am pretty sure current games are ‘better’ than the NES or 486 games could name here.

[Dread Pirate Phayde]

I'm not sure I could pick one system era, so I'd have to go with the SNES to PS2 era, for consoles.

Modern games are impressive and all, but having to install, patch, or update what seems like every time you turn it on keeps me from playing all the games I still buy, I don't have the fastest internet (or long patience these days), so when I see a multigig update, I just turn it off, and then there are the microtransactions.

[Sanguinerd]

Mid 00s probably. At any rate, definitely before streaming became a thing.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I'd say now, contemporary. Most of the games from when I was a kid were rudimentary, or unplayable to me due to motion sickness. Nah, the best gaming experiences I've had began 2007 and onward.

[monkfailz]

[/IMG]

When I was a kid playing them.

[McNeil]

2000's as a whole was probably peak gaming. So many great games to name that are still played today, you had a lot of developers that were legit passionated about their games and didn't always prioritise maximising their profits. Not much of these microtransactions, cash shop, day one DLC. Instead we were getting proper expansions and sequels.

[Fencers]

1990- 2000. That period saw the release of almost every major hardware and gameplay innovation within the medium that still exists today in next-generation titles.

This 10-year span also saw, in aggregate, the highest quality titles relative to any other years. The business was killing it almost weekly for 10 straight years.

[Blueobelisk]

There has to be a scientific way of approaching this. For each year, sum up the scores of all games released. Add up the top 3 for each genre and top 3 overall, and subtract points for any of those that have microtransactions.

Under those rules, it's probably like like early 2010s.

I think games now are okay, there just aren't a lot of good ones. The vast majority of actual gamers* want single player experiences without microtransactions. It just doesn't happen at the AAA level often these years. Especially not across multiple genres.

* people who buy a console to just buy FIFA every year aren't actual gamers

[spalernTJ]

I think my peak was around early 2000; Dark Chroincle for the PS2, Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's call, World of Warcraft, original star was battlefront, Star wars: Jedi Academy... Definitely my favorite games, all from around 2002-2004

[Swnem]

I always say the Playstation/saturn/n64 era. The advent of 3D brought about a plethora of new gaming experiences while still offering the 2D ones.

I would say the only comparable time was when gaming first emerged.

Since then, every gen basically copies the concepts and improves graphics, animations, sound, presentation and refined the gameplay, but essentially it's been the same games.
So, yes, that gen was the bonanza of gaming. We likely won't have that again until we make a holo deck or something.

It's also what Nintendo tries to recapture with their "gimmicky" hardware.

[Torzz]

Mid 80s had some gems, Wonderboy, Paper Boy, original Super Mario Bros.
Early 90s for all the SNES/genesis games Street fighter, mortal Kombat, sonic and the new Mario games, Super Mario kart being an all time great
1996 with Mario 64 and 4 player Mario kart 64, golden eye was also on heavy rotation.
Around that same time quake was released on PC. Many many hours were spent playing quake 1+2 up til around 2000.
Very late 90s to early 2000s the Tony hawk's Pro skater games on PlayStation were my go to games.

Then wow arrived and ruined lives with its addiction

[keldarepewpew]

I would say now.

[bledgor]

90's, so many classics, Super Mario RPG:LotSS, Chrono Trigger, Earth Bound, and many more SNES classics. Follow that up with N64 and playstation dropping games like ogre battle 64, Grandia, FFVII, Resident Evil, Tony Hawk Pro Skater. From 90-00 you just had it all.

[Mirishka]

Now, and it isn't even close IMO.

For all the fun I had playing Mario Bros and Punch-out! back in the 80's, or the swathe of incredible 2D games in the 90s, they simply do not compare to experiences like Horizon Zero Dawn/WoW/RDR2/TLoU/Control/Breath of the Wild, etc. That isn't to put down older titles or consoles - for their time, some of them were downright magical. But for me that time has passed, and that's okay because I will always cherish the memories I have of those games.

[Pandragon]

SNES era: Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, A Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, Illusion of Gaia, Lufia, Breath of Fire, Star Ocean, Any game with Secret in the title, just to name a few.

[n7stormreaver]

Right now.

[PenguinChan]

Overall now is better. But if you're talking the 'magic' and originality forming around gaming in the earlier era of consoles? That'd be late 80s into mid 00's. It's extremely difficult in the gaming market right now to make another Warcraft, Halo, Grand Theft Auto, etc. and have it be iconic enough to stand out.