The early to mid 2000s was such a special time in the industry. Very nostalgic for me.

1998 will always be my favorite : Zelda OOT, Metal Gear Solid, Half Life, Gran Turismo, Banjo Kazooie, Resident Evil 2, StarCraft, Rogue Squadron, Xenogears, FF Tactics, Parasite Eve

It has to be 1994 for me. I had asked for Super Metroid for Christmas, expecting to only be able to get one game. But I got Final Fantasy 3 and Donkey Kong Country as well. What a monster year for games. I can't even talk about the arcade. The best arcade games of all time got released that year. I must've spent $500 in the arcade that year and I was just a teenager. Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat II, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Dungeons & Dragons, Aliens vs. Predator... it just goes on and on.

I always felt 1998 was one of the best years. Xenogears, Ocarina of Time, Half Life, Starcraft, Grim Fandango, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, Pokemon Red/Blue. Yeah it was just loaded no matter what system you had.

In more recent memory, 2017 was a great year for gaming for me. Zelda BOTW alone would have made it so, but we also had Mario Odyssey, Gravity Rush 2, Nier Automata, Horizon Zero Dawn, and probably many more great games I'm not even aware of!

2007 is my magical year. I was 14 and cod4, halo 3, Mario galaxy, rock band, bio shock, orange box. What a great time

I'm 25 and I totally missed out on the Dreamcast era. Wish I got to experience it. I feel like the PS Vita sort of was my Dreamcast era. A system that has a hardcore following but wasn't widely successful outside of Japan. Great video!

In 2001 I was playing: Max Payne, GTA III, Alien Vs Predator 2, Jak & Daxter, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, C&C Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge, Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2, Pokemon Gold, Gran Turismo 3, Devil May Cry and Resident Evil Code Veronica X . Looking back now 2001 is one of my favourite years in gaming!

I remember playing the European version of Shenmue 2 for 9 hours straight and just being absolutely floored by it. To this day I consider it my greatest video game experience. Absolutely magical time with it.

Silent hill 2 is my favourite game of all time, I just feel like that PS2/dreamcast era was such an important leap for gaming.

Man, it’s really hard to argue that any year was as good as 2001. MGS2 absolutely blew my mind and was the first good game I got for my PS2. We also got Final Fantasy X that year, which was my first FF experience and it also blew my mind. Gran Turismo 3 was another game I poured many hours into. GTA III was a life-altering game for me. Yeah, 2001 is the champ.

I loved my early 1990s. Arcades were awesome during that period. I have had bunch of lousy jobs just only to spend $$ in the arcades & played my Sega Genesis @t home. Good times !

I haven't thought about it too much, but off the top of my head 2011 was an awesome year. Uncharted 3, Mass Effect 2, Portal 2, but above all else, Skyrim and Dark Souls.

PS2 is an era I will never ever forget! The games franchises Halo! So many memories!

Definitely 2001. MGS2, SH2, & Luigi’s Mansion all have an unforgettable atmosphere & style to me. I didn’t even grow up in that era, but they all hold up perfectly to me, especially when playing them on my CRT.

2001 was magical for me, and you recapped that year wonderfully. So many memories.

Amazing memories! I definitely think gaming was at its peak between 1998 to 2003, so many great games and consoles to play them on. It’s a Shame to see the current state of gaming. It just seems so dull now .

This is one of my favorite episodes of yours ever. 2001 was a fantastic year for video games. It makes me think about how many other great years video games had which is a lot.

The years 98 to 01 were something really special for us gamers. I still remember going into Gamestop and seeing all four consoles and looking at all the games for hours.

Lol Johnny nodding at the year was cool. Those little touches is what makes a great video. 2001 bad ass for video games

2001 was my favorite gaming year! Dreamcast with PSO was the biggest, got a PS2, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, and played Xbox at friends' houses. Also got into Sega Saturn that year after having missed it in years past. Sooo many good games and legendary consoles/handhelds that year! Not to mention lots of good anime on Toonami on TV! I still often think back to that year as possibly my happiest time.

The year 2000 was my favorite year in gaming, the Sega Dreamcast Bombarded us with an abundance of good quality video games especially fighters (my favorite genre), and the PS2 was released that year too. I was 16 in the year 2000 and that was definitely a year that amassed so many games in a short period of time on the Sega Dreamcast. It was nonstop, before you could even get half way through a game, another one came out. Yeah 2000 kept me busy and contributed deeply to my experience as a gamer, the nostalgia just thinking about that year is REAL!!!! So many good memories.

I can't pick a single favorite year, but the late 90's and early 2000's will always have a special place in my heart. ❤

What crazy year for games. A lot of great albums came out in 2001 too. The Mario Odyssey Switch bundle launch was probably my personal ‘dark time’ for sure.

Johnny I appreciate just how much you love games. Not a certain genre or anything just games. It's contagious. Thanks for all that you do and happy holidays 🤙

Growing up around this time period was insane, I could not believe the jumps in quality and the amount of games coming out. 2001 was a fantastic year

One of my favorite years of gaming was 2005. So many classics across all platforms from ps2 ,xbox, gamecube and pc.

1997: Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Turok, GTA, Gran Turismo, Colin McRae Rally, V-Rally, Tomb Raider 2, Mortal Kombat 4, Street Fighter 3, Broken Sword 2, Lost Vikings 2, Doom 64, Quake 2, Duke Nukem 2, Bomberman 64, Ultima Online...

Wow 2001 was really a banger. I wish I was into different genres back then like how I am now. I must of not realized how big some of those games were.

98 was the best gaming year of all time in my opinion. OOT and Xenogears omg it was a blast

Im 33 years old, been gaming since i was a toddler and surprisingly one of the better and most memorable years in gaming was in 2017. Breath of the Wild, Horizon, Resident Evil 7, Nier Automata, Mario Odyssey, Cuphead, Sonic Mania, Hollow Knight.

2001 was magical for gaming, I remember getting Metal Gear Solid 2 that year when I got a PS2 in the summer. I also remember Halo on Xbox as well as it got my brother addicted to the franchise. Truly a great time for gaming on 2001.

when i was in college in around 2015-2018, i had just quit playing online games and played so many JRPGs on the Wii U and PS4. It started with Xenoblade X. some of my favorites during that time were Persona 5, Monster Hunter World, Disgaea 5, Zelda BOTW, and the Kingdom Hearts Remasters. I remember being so excited for Kingdom Hearts 3 release when 2.8 came out lol

I loved Waverace on N64, never played the GameCube one though. I wanna say 96 or 98 stood out a lot to me. But 2001 was a beast of a year.

2017 was amazing. Nintendo returned to the gaming landscape with a bang. We got the Nintendo Switch with Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey releasing with it that year. Even the 3DS got awesome remakes in Metroid: Samus Returns and Fire Emblem Echoes. Sega went hard with Persona 5, Yakuza 0, and Sonic Mania. Resident Evil returned to its survival horror roots with Resident Evil 7. Crash Bandicoot was revived from the dead with awesome remakes of the first 3 games from the original Playstation. We got great indie games like Cuphead, Hollow Knight, and Divinity Original Sin 2. We got great action RPGs like Nier Automata, Nioh, and Tales of Berseria. I could go on.

I feel you with Final Fantasy Chronicles. It was my two favorite Snes games in one package back. Though, my favorite gaming year for me, is 2000, when Square released all those great games in the same year. In North America, we got: SaGa Frontier 2, Front Mission 3, Vagrant Story, Chrono Cross, Parasite Eve II, Legend of Mana, Threads of Fate and Final Fantasy IX. It was a great time to be into this stuff.

97 and 98 were also amazing. Not just because of the console releases between saturn ps1 and n64 but also the arcade scene with neo geo, Capcom etc.

It’s crazy to think how many great titles came out in 2001! In retrospect, I was a preteen, had nothing but time, and I played so many of these titles. Good times!

My most memorable year was probably 1996 when the nintendo 64 came out. I still was playing a lot of SNES games and NES games. But the Nintendo 64 was just magic. It was like nothing else.

2018 was a memorable gaming time for me I finished playing Persona 5 and Trails of Cold Steel on top of having a major spinal surgery all in the same year.

Metal Gear Solid 2 is my favorite Metal Gear game! Remember getting it for Christmas and having my mind completely twisted by how good the graphics were. Really enjoyable gameplay and captivating cutscenes.

And there were even more incredible games that year. CvS2 for instance is still one of the best fighters ever made.

nailed it Johnny! 2001. I think that was the year the Nintendo Power Xmas issue came with the orchestratral SSBM sound track too - incredible.

My favorite game year is probably 1995 playing Earthbound then immediately after Chrono Trigger. Hard to beat such an epic combo.

2004. The fall lineup. GTA: San Andreas felt so grand compared to Vice City. Metal Gear Solid 3 gave a great final boss climax. Then I started World of Warcraft about a week after launch because I had to finish MGS. I didn’t think gaming could be much better at the time than the latest GTA and MGS. I was in awe so fast with WoW. My first month with that game felt incredible.

Yeah 2001, 2002 and 2003 were some of the best Videogaming years ever, it felt like everyone was on top of their game back then.

99-01 was the golden age of gaming for sure. MMOs like EQ, Eve Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Planetside. Oh man Planetside, how I miss that game. Then you had stuff like Phantasy Star Online, Xbox Live, Unreal Tournament, Quake, Halo, etc. Good times.

This was definitely my favorite generation of video games. 1999-2006 range

I was like 12 during that sick year, now I'm certainly nostalgic for these classics - even the ones I didn't have. I had a Gamecube, friends had the PS2.

1996 was a memorable one for me. Nintendo 64, NiGHTS into Dreams, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake.

The thing about playing DMC during a dark time where you'd gotten fired from a job brought me back to a similar situation in 2003, except I was playing MGS2 at the time. The whole last part of MGS2, as freaky as it is, freaked me out even more because I was generally freaked out about life.

I loved the Dreamcast. Such an awesome system.

2001 is until this day the best year of my life as a gamer because it was the year I played two of my favourite games of all times; Shenmue 2 and Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast wich is also until this day my favourite console ever.

I was 13 in 2001 and this indeed was the greatest year for gaming.

I feel like the turn of the millenium was the last time there was a huge technological leap that really made new types of games possible and it was amazing to see games come out on PS2, Gamecube and Xbox that I could have never imagined playing on the previous generation. Since then graphics have continued to advance and game design has become more refined, but most modern games still feel like you could have made essentially the same game on PS2 if you just downscaled the graphics enough.

2007. Graduated High School. Halo 3, Modern Warfare, Bioshock, Orange Box, Galaxy, Crackdown, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed and Uncharted 3. So many good games.

For me my best gaming year was around 1994 when my brothers and i got our first home console a Sega master system with Sonic the hedgehog built in, i remember it absolutely blew our minds playing it back then we gradually got different games picked up at bootfairs our favorites were Sonic Ninja gaiden and spiderman.Makes me laugh when you consider how far all the games systems and games have got now but genuinly we were aamazed at the Master system. All the best - Jim

I've been playing video games since 1998, but one of my favorite years was 2011, I had a gaming desktop and Battlefield 3, Witcher 2, and Skyrim came out.

I have always felt that, had the Sega Dreamcast been able to play DVD movies, it would have been more successful. Lord knows that it had an awesome library of great games, plus online play.

Best part of sunday relaxing…. Watching the new HCG VIDEO! Really liking this best summer best year series Johnny!

gamecube and ps2 era was awesome such a turning point in life and gaming bring it back any time

2001 was a fun year in gaming for myself. I was 16 for most of that year but the PS2 and PS1 stuff was mostly what I was playing. Getting my car and being at that age however was the first year, I starting doing things other than gaming.

For me the year was 2016. I skipped the PS3 generation altogether as those were difficult years in my life. Then when I got the PS4 and was looking into what games I could get along with the console, I felt a little alienated because I didn't understand concepts like paying for PS+, DLC, Season Pass, Microtransactions, etc. I ended up taking a shot in the dark and bought Dark Souls 3 on launch knowing only the game's logo. What a lucky shot that turned out to be, that game (excuse the pun) effectively rekindled my love for gaming. It filled me with a sense of wonder and wanderlust, it was just beyond amazing. Since then I've had the opportunity to try franchises what were new to me, such as NieR, Metal Gear Solid, Overcooked, Hue, all really awesome games. Dark Souls 3 will always be that game I look at as a catalyst of sorts, it was even the game that got my spouse into gaming, and since then we've watched each other going through the trilogy one at a time and it was a blast!

2001 was a fantastic year!! But that's definitely not everything. There was also: Zelda - Oracle of Ages/Seasons Ico Jak & Daxter Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Shadow Hearts Ace Attorney was released in Japan But Metal Gear Solid 2 and Silent Hill 2 is what made it such a special year for me!!

I love the early 2000s era of gaming definitely remember getting a gba bundle with super mario world and a dk bobblehead back in 02. I think I was 6 at the time but definitely my first intro to nintendo games.

2001 was a massive year. The biggest games for me that year that i actually played that year was Conker's Bad Fur Day, Onimusha, Twisted Metal Black, GTA 3, and Final Fantasy X

Loved this topic, just an absolute free-for-all for genres and systems to talk about. looking forward to more videos like this!

Boy oh boy, what a year! I was only 17 but played it most of the games, I was trully blessed by the time. Thanks for the good old memories fronm a huge Mexican fan of your content.

The intro of Metal Gear Solid 2 it's so epic

It was an awesome year indeed. Thanks for the nostalgia bro 💪🏽💯🔥

2006 was a mind blowing year for me but I'm a JRPG kinda guy. 2021 has surprisingly been an amazing year as well.

1998 ... my god what a year for Bangers & game changers

2022 is shaping up to be one of those years

In 2001 gran turismo 3 on the ps2 as well, it just raised console driving games on another level

2001 was also Max Payne. The invention of "bullet time".

You hit the nail on the head. 2001 is easily the best year ever for gaming. Silent hill 2 was the first ps2 game I played. My jaw was on the floor with the opening scene. Remember getting GTA 3 and being like what I'm I playing right now. Incredible year

1997 was a pretty great year too. Goldeneye 64, Starfox 64, GTA 3, Diablo. Damn! Also, I would really love a new Wave Race game for Switch.

These videos always make my Sunday morning special.

Happy holidays and I wish for you, Kim, and baby HappyConsoleGamer to stay happy and healthy for your whole lives. Have been a happy subscriber since 2010. Thanks for all the content and to many more, Love you all.😊

1991 forever, not just for games but for music as well

I've never seen your channel before ever so this video is the first I've seen of you and I must say I love your enthusiasm. I was only 3 years old in 01 so no memories from me. I am however playing through many games by order of release. What games I can't play, I read up on and research a bit on. I started with the 5th gen. I'm currently about to wrap up 2002 and move on the 2003. I'm certainly learning a lot from this new perspective in gaming and this video pretty much proved what I was thinking about my 2001 study. Your passion and memories validated what I found while studying 2001 in gaming.

That may be one of my most memorable years as well! Christmas that year I got the og xbox and halo as well as advanced wars! Was planning to setup my Christmas this year with the advanced wars remake and halo infinite but a bummer advanced wars got delayed!

Absolutely unbelievable year looking back. Always the best, Johnny!

I played GTA 3, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear 2, Halo, Silent Hill 2. Gamecube was my first Nintendo console a year later, Rogue Squadron, Shenmue, Final Fantasy 10. Some great games that year and a number I've forgotten. Some fond memories from 2001 when i was in later teens.

I dont recall the exact year, either '97 or '98, but that was the best year for me. I didnt grow up getting new releases. I was always behind. But I remember in one year, due to me mowing lawns for cash, I acquired/ played thru pretty much all the SNES greatest RPGs. Breath of fire 1 and 2, chrono trigger, FF 2 and 3 (4/6), super mario rpg, and secret of mana. (Non-rpg related mega man x). Still own them all to this day, and still some of the best games of all time. And rock'n'roll racing, Best racing game ever.

Holiday 1998 when I was 7 when I got a Playstation 1 for Christmas. It came with the Interactive vol 9 and Playstation underground Christmas vol 1 or 2 demo disc!

the early 2000's were so special. The playstation 2 was my childhood. Metal Gear 2 and 3, Onimusha franchise, Silent hill 2, ratchet and clank, Jak Trilogy, Max Payne. What a system. And the xbox and gamecube meant a lot for me then too

mine is 2015. Witcher 3 , Dying Light , Fallout 4 , Metal Gear Solid V , Batman Arkham Knight , Rise of Tomb Raider , Undertale , Life is Strange , Rainbow Six Siege , Mad Max , Ori and the Blind Forest , Project Cars and many more.

2004 & 2010 were my favorite years. GTA San Andreas, Halo 2, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Red Dead Redemption, & COD Black Ops were all masterpieces.

Amazing memories of MGS 2 in particular. Was so hyped for months. Remember getting zone of the enders for the MGS 2 demo. What an amazing time for games!

Best years in the 21st century the top two that comes to my mind is 2006 (Kingdom Hearts II, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantast XII, Grandia III, Okami, SvR 2007, Bully, etc.) & 2017 (NieR Automata, Tales of Berseria, Persona 5, LoZ BotW, Mario Odyssey, Cuphead, RE7, etc.)

I'm digging the sonic adventure emerald Beach jams! Thanks for the flashback Johnny, it was an amazing gaming year indeed. Great stuff!

1998 and now 2023 🎉too many good games but not enough time😅

I was only 8 years old in 2001, but it stands out as one of the most memorable gaming years of my life. It was the first time I really connected with a group of friends over video games, N64 ones to be specific. It took all of us dumb kids like a year to get through OOT 🤣 we played Smash Bros, Paper Mario, DK64 and a handful of others as well. Such a good, innocent time in my life that centered around gaming and anime.

Early 90s sometime for me, everything was magical then

I would make a case for 1994 and the SNES: Final Fantasy 6, Mortal Kombat 2, Donkey Kong Country, Earthworm Jim, Super Metroid. And Killer Instinct came to the arcades. I had so much fun that year.

This year had a couple of my favourite games of all time - FFX and Silent Hill 2. And the release of my fave console after the Switch - the GameCube. GTA, DMC man. I was in uni too, that year was a write off

Wow! I didn't realize all of those games came out that year! I'd have to say mine is 1990, that's when my parents bought me my NES. :)

For me it was 1998 when i was 14 and i played Half Life, Fallout 2, Starcraft, Grim Fandango, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Dragon Force, Shining Force 3, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, Colin Mcrae Rally, Resident Evil 2, Zelda OOT, F-Zero X and two games i am not ashamed to say...Fifa 98 Road to World Cup and ISS Pro 98 :) 2001 is a close second but i think you missed some games...Skies of Arcadia, Grandia 2, REZ, Project Gotham Racing, Rally Sport Challenge and Gran Turismo 3 :O

this was great! do an episode for each year so many cool memories!