Support NeoGAF

[djplaeskool]

Final Fantasy XI

Runner up:
Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II

 

[CJCW]

Metroid Prime for sure. I first played it a few years ago but it hold up tremendously. REmake is a very close runner up. Also liked Sly, Vice City, Burnout 2, and THPS 4 (which is sadly ignored between 3 and THUG).

 

[PillarEN]

Mafia (PC). I've played through at least half a dozen times.

Runner up would be Metroid Prime. And I say that even though I played it for the first time about 3 years ago on the GameCube.

 

[GustyGardner]

It's quite hard to go back to the first -- and even the second -- just due to how much more limiting the gameplay is. For the first, no upgrading weapons or weapon modifications. For both, no strafe (at least I'm pretty sure there was none for the second, and I just played it last year). Even two upgrades seems limiting in Going Commando.

And I wasn't a huge fan of the arena in 2, particularly compared to 3, which was excellent.

I take no joy saying any of this! =(

Yeah, many share that point of view and upgrading the weapons in the later games is such a great feeling that it does feel sorely missed in the first game. 2 does have strafing btw, it's just the first one where movement is much more clunky.

 

[balohna]

Metroid Prime.

Great year though, lots of other games could have easily been my choices in lesser years.

 

[pswii60]

Jet Set Radio Future
Maximo
Ratchet & Clank
Metroid Prime
Phantasy Star Online

Amongst others. Great, diverse year.

 

[Theslammer]

Ratchet and Clank followed by Smackdown Shut your Mouth.

Smackdown: SYM has the best story mode I've played in a wrestling game alongside No Mercy's excellent story mode.

 

[letmetrythisname]

Sid Meier's SimGolf

 

[Van Bur3n]

Gotta go with Morrowind. Was the ultimate sandbox RPG experience with a unique fantasy world to boot. Thinking about it just makes me want to play it again (despite its age).

Metroid Fusion is a very close second though. I actually prefer 2D Metroid over the Prime games, and Fusion was perhaps my favorite of them. Or maybe Zero Mission. Hmm. You should get to 2004 so I can say Zero Mission!

 

[Slammin_Hammon]

Gotta be Metroid Prime for me.

 

[Samanosuke Akechi]

Wow that's a tough question. So many that year, just like the year before it.

Metroid prime.
Sly cooper
Onimusha 2
Kingdom Hearts
Super Mario sunshine
Atv off-road fury 2.
Tekken 4
Maximo
GTA vice city

I'd probably have to go with sly cooper as my fav for that year. But Onimusha 2 is right behind it.

 

[BashNasty]

Warcraft 3 for me. What a classic.

 

[tootie923]

Eternal Darkness took RE-style gameplay and made it crazier.

Honorable mentions:
REmake
Metroid Fusion

 

[finley83]

Timesplitters 2 for me. Metroid Prime would be it, but I couldn't stand the controls and only really loved it with the Wii pointed in Trilogy. TS2 still looks, sounds and plays amazing to this day and has never been bettered in my opinion.

 

[runnin_blue]

Have to be Metroid prime at number 1. No explanation necessary.

Medieval: Total War is second for me. I've sunk thousands of hours into it & still play it to this day. I feel like Total War games became too complicated for me after this release.

Mafia in third place. I feel this game is underappreciated. Amazing game. (Why isn't it available on a digital platform? FFS.)

 

[NoPiece]

Great year with many worthy games (Eternal Darkness, Vice City, Metroid Prime), but Battlefield 1942 has to be number 1. Not only fun, but really was mind blowing at the time to integrate vehicles, planes, ships, and people all on the same map. IN the past things like that Battleship offshore has been static props, BF1942 not only made interactive, but you could sail it around and bombard the shore. Had a great sense of scale, and the moddability gave it life for years.

 

[Theslammer]

Timesplitters 2 for me. Metroid Prime would be it, but I couldn't stand the controls and only really loved it with the Wii pointed in Trilogy. TS2 still looks, sounds and plays amazing to this day and has never been bettered in my opinion.

Its map maker really set it apart for me. It was weird going back and not having a jump button, but it was cool to get creative and make normal maps and just plain weird maps in that game. It certainly extended its replay value.

 

[Bishop89]

Age of Mythology
Armored Core 3
Battlefield 1942
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Medal of Honor: Frontline
Ratchet and Clank
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
TimeSplitters 2
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

my top games for the year

 

[rottendevice]

I'm going with the popular answer and saying Metroid Prime.

But Shenmue II deserves a nod as well.

 

[BasilZero]

For me it was Kingdom Hearts 1


Its funny now looking back, when I first heard about it, I thought to myself it was a horrible idea.


Ironically KH has become one of my most favorite franchises - its in my top 5

 

[AaronMT86]

Gotta give it to Warcraft 3

 

[Anustart]

Super Mario sunshine. Played it the most by far.

Vice city second, then prime.

 

[Musolf815]

Sly Cooper for sure. So many happy memories with that game.

 

[iconoclast]

dodonpachi DAI-OU-JOU

 

[added_time]

Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing and Eternal Darkness all came out in the same year?!? No wonder I mostly played Gamecube back then.

 

[WilsonX100]

kingdom hearts no doubt. although it took me until lke 2009 to finally beat it. id always restart and get stuck and not go back to it.

and sly cooper! one of the few games i can run through fairly quickly.

 

[KKRT00]

Medal of Honor Allied Assault, i played this game for 3 years like 2-3h per day on average!
Other ones Morrowind and Jedi Outcast.

What a year.

 

[BuckRobotron]

A strong year, mostly an Xbox one for me. Will go with JSRF (which along with PGR and Panzer Dragoon Orta is what sold me on Xbox). Orta would have been it but I see that was January '03.

But then Genma Onimusha is what got me into the whole Onimusha series and is still a favorite, neverbmind REmake on GC...definitely a strong year.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Damn, MP is gonna be 15 years old

 

[sixteen-bit]

VF4 or Metroid Fusion get my pick

 

[Neptonic]

Metroid Prime
one and done

 

[antitrop]

Dungeon Siege
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Resident Evil Remake
Rez
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

 

[Lord Griegous]

100% Morrowind. It was my first Elder Scrolls and game of that decade for me

Nothing more to add. Still the Best Elder Scrolls by a wide margin.

 

[NoeinJ]

Morrowind, best elder scrolls game. After they announced that ESO's next expansion is morrowind, I started thinking about getting ESO. So many good memories.

Runner ups are Metroid Prime, Sly Cooper and GTA:Vice City.

 

[Castorp]

i like mario sunshine, metroid prime, and resident evil remake, a lot.
But Morrowind was so great, and still is for me (big nostalgia). Oblivion and skyrim were so bad after that.

so: Morrowind

 

[rottendevice]

huh. I thought Sunshine was a launch title for some reason...

1. Super Mario Sunshine
2. Metroid Fusion
3. JSRF

Remember, we got Luigi's Mansion at launch on GCN. Not a bad game, but not a Mario 64 sequel!

 

[applesaucejaxon]

I honestly don't know how I can pick a favorite from 2002. Looking at that list, and some of my all time favorites are on there.

To pick one...
Gonna go with my gut...

Eternal Darkness

 

[JMY86]

Morrowind no question. I spent more hours than I can count playing that amazing game, it is still my favorite Elder Scrolls game even though I put far more hours into Oblivion and Skyrim ...

 

[IC5]

I built my first gaming PC that year. I played a bunch of stuff on it. Dungeon Siege was fun. Splinter Cell was pretty. Some great games which were from previous years.

Morrowind delivered on the promise of PC gaming. I got lost in that game. A huge, beautiful, alien, handmade world. So much to see and do. Lots of stuff to tweak. But also slightly awkward to play, which somehow kind of made it better. It's the type of game where you can do weird stuf like look at the sky----and climb rocks better. It's a videogame. I love it.

 

[WooHooAlex]

Kingdom Fucking Hearts. Not even close.

 

[TFGB]

Dark Chronicle (Japan)

 

[XgorreKrusadeX]

RE remake, Star Fox Adventures, Super Mario Sunshine, Eternal Darkness, Star Fox Adventures, Metroid Prime....What A YEAR to have a Gamecube. And they had equally good multiplattform games (MoH Frontline, Spider-Man The Movie, THPS4, Fifa 2003, Time Splitters 2)... Anyone had a GCN exactly that year? (i had a Dreamcast, and the most recent games that i enjoyed in that year were Headhunter (2001) and Capcom vs Snk 2.

 

[Zasa]

Morrowind, easily. Poured so many hours into that game. All time great imo.

 

[RBIYF]

Easily my favorite game of 2002, and quite possibly of all time:

 

[Trogdor1123]

Metroid prime or wc3, hard to say really...

 

[carda114]

Metroid Prime for sure. Kingdom Hearts, Eternal Darkness, Metroid Fusion, MGS2 Substance, Ratchet and Clank, and Super Mario Sunshine are all serious contenders though.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

I was scrolling through the list, carefully pondering which game I would choose and then I saw the words Metroid Prime.

Didn't even bother scrolling past M.

 

[Theslammer]

For someone who's only played one Elder Scrolls game (Skyrim): I've noticed Morrowind has a following. What do some of you guys like about that game above Oblivion/Skyrim?

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Meh. Virtua Fighter 4, probably.

 

[Oneself]

So difficult.

Contra Shattered Soldier

Runner-ups:
SOCOM
Maximo
NFS HP2 on PS2 especially