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2001: The Greatest Year in Gaming
2001: The Greatest Year in Gaming
#Greatest #Year #Gaming
“〚Mild Conviction〛”
A couple years ago, I made a video about how 1998 was the greatest year in video games. But if there’s one other year that could put up a fight, it’d be 2001, the dawn of a new generation of games on new hardware, including the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube.
1998 Video:…
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The graphics were so good around this era. They struck the right balance between creative art design, semi-realism and cartoony 'game-like' graphics. They had detail and charm, not like the ultra-realistic boredom of today. Early 3D worlds have such a surreal, dreamlike feeling to them – it's really cool.
1998*
**FUCK**
I see why people claim 2001 is the only year to challenge 1998. In fact, in terms of raw long term impact I'd say that 2001 easily clears 1998 and arguably is the year that modern video gaming in its current form was born… for better or worse. Just to start this is the year that Sega bowed out and Microsoft jumped in, cementing the three-way console market for the next 20+ years.
Grand Theft Auto 3
And there's also Silent Hill 2, Max Payne, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Halo: Combat Evolved basically releasing within the same six month period? Jesus Christ on a nuclear cracker. To say nothing of others like Devil May Cry, Sonic Adventure 2, and yeah, even Bejeweled should count.
I think in terms of raw quality I'd put 2004 ahead of 2001. That was basically the year everything established in 2001 was perfected. But in terms of impact there's no competition. I don't think we'll ever see a year as much of a transitional pivot as 2001. To the point I'd say that you could almost consider that year to be ground zero (no pun intended) for the shift from what gaming was (heavy focus on cartoony style, platformers, arcade games, boomer shooters, MUDs and early RPGs, clear delineation between consoles and PC, gaming as a niche hobby) vs what gaming has become (heavy focus on maturity and storytelling, shift towards cinematic shooters, revival of classic aesthetics, online gaming and DLC, open world sandbox gaming, gaming as a mainstream industry). Yeah, it certainly started that shift before then, but 2001 was the year everything happened
That was a pretty weak least, heavily biased towards consoles. Not mentioning classics such as AvP 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Serious Sam, D2:LoD, Fallout Tactics, Black & White, and Stronghold is downright ridiculous.
01 had a game for everybody regardless of age and multiple genres. I honestly don't think it'll ever feel like this again. Lowkey 2002 is another goated year if you look at those releases. Great vid man
SA2 and melee came out in 01 any other year could never 😂
YYEEEESSSS!!!!!!
2004
Good vid! I felt the magic!
2007 was the best year since 1998… So I don't see how 2001 can be the best year ever…
2000 was better:
Deus Ex
Baldur's Gate II
Thief II
Diablo II
Icewind Dale
Counter Strike
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Final Fantasy IX
Perfect Dark
Shogun: Total War
Red Alert 2
The Sims
Tony Hawk 2
Shenmue
Jet Set Radio
Crazy Taxi
Vagrant Story
Soldier of Fortune
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Timesplitters
Metropolis Street Racing
No One Lives Forever
Hitman
The variety of genres and art styles is simply astounding. Unlike what we have today…
WRONGGGG
It blows my mind that when I was a kid “mobile gaming” was literally a gameboy advance with 2D pixelated games & a non-usb proprietary charger… watching 240p spongebob episodes in the car was considered ridiculously entertaining & monumentally convenient
so glad you did mention daoc, best mmorpg pvp ever, best game ever
Ugh, such a good year! Thanks for the memories 😊
Would add Rez and Ikaruga to the list for sure. Timeless.
i still remember my father calling my high school to ask to speak to me like something was wrong and instead asking me if we had a ps2. I told him yeah we do and when he got home that night he handed me a copy of GTA 3 he had bought on the way home. He heard about it on the radio and thought it sounded really funny. He sat and watched me play for a bit to figure it out and then asked me to show him how. He laughed his head off just screwing around in the city for like 30 minutes and then never touched it again.
i was stoked about this, but then you just kept listing mid ass games, this list sucks
mario is japanese not italian
1996-2007 gaming peak
1998, 2001/02 and 2004 were all GOATed. God I miss those times.
I do indeed see some good games in this list so I will not insult you
We used to get tons of good games a year. Now we're lucky to get 1 😢
Sega fell off that year
01 through 08 were all amazing years for gaming IMO. Honestly I can't think of a bad year for gaming until the end of the PS3/Xbox 360 era.
Okay I am a HUGE sucker for FFX, but 2001 is easily topped by 2004, 2007, 2011 and 2023
2001 & 2004 can go toe-to-toe with 1998. Hell, the 6th gen itself was the peak of gaming. We haven’t come close since.