What are some western developed games made before 2000 that you liked?

[LoneSage]

Good LoneSage thread

page 3 top post check it

 

[city41]

In the mid and late-90s you start seeing stuff like Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and more teams making good games. Then you have Half-Life, Halo, and GTAIII which changed gaming forever.

But pre-2000, forget about it.

So it turns out mid and late 90s were also pre 2000.

I also disagree. As westerners we only saw a highly curated version of the Japanese library.

 

[LoneSage]

A-OK, it's your opinion, no prob here.

 

[prof]

Arcade-wise, there were some fun western games. Ones already listed like Smash TV, Hard Drivin', Mortal Kombat, and a few others.

But even as a child I could tell the difference in quality between western and Japanese games. It was a chasm, a no-brainer, Olympics and Special Olympics.

On one side you got Capcom, Konami, Nintendo, Sega, Tecmo, Toaplan, Irem, SNK, Square, and on and on and on.

On the other side you got LJN, Acclaim, US Gold, Ocean, Midway and I don't even care to think up any more.

The best of the American or European developers lied in the point 'n click or FPS genres. LucasArts with the revered Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion series (among others) and id Software with Doom and Quake. I recognize those are great games and well-received, but I never liked those genres.

I'm not saying all western-made games before 2000 suck, that'd be retarded. I loved quite a few, like Goldeneye, San Francisco Rush, Donkey Kong Country 2, Spyro 2, and a few more I'm sure I'm forgetting.

But in a choice between Mario and Bubsy, Street Fighter or Way of the Warrior, Contra or whatever dogshit run 'n gunner there was made by non-Japanese, it's just no contest. No contest whatsoever.

In the mid and late-90s you start seeing stuff like Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and more teams making good games. Then you have Half-Life, Halo, and GTAIII which changed gaming forever.

But pre-2000, forget about it.

I'm sure this subject is completely different for our European brothers, who talk about Amiga and other computers, which is something we Americans have no connection with.

I agree with a lot of this, but you seem to be speaking largely from a post-NES/90s perspective. For the guys a bit older than you who grew up prior to the crash, Atari ruled the roost. Having grown up with the 2600, and played at the arcades frequently as a kid, American games were ubiquitous with the hobby. Certainly on equal footing with Japan throughout the 70s and 80s. Classic games like Tempest, Defender, Asteroids, Centipede, Robotron 2084, Q-bert, Missile Command, Joust, Star Wars, Paperboy, and even Ms. Pac-Man vastly improved its Japanese predecessor.

In the PC sphere, I don't know that the Japanese could touch the landmark strategy (SimCity, Civilization, Theme Park) and FPS (Wolfenstein, Doom, Duke Nukem, Quake, Goldeneye, Half Life) games that were being pumped out by western developers during that era dominated anything coming out of Japan. And the games of EA in the 80s and 90s, both PC and console, were among the best on the market.

As far as console platformers, I feel like the output of Rare and Naughty Dog was on equal footing with the Mario and Sonic games in terms of impact/popularity, but then, that's not a genre I've ever cared much for. I did enjoy some goofy American plats on the Genesis during those years such as Earthworm Jim, Boogerman and Ren & Stimpy, but even then, I could tell that they were of a lesser quality than the core Sonic and Mario games.

Where Japan really dominated the western developers was in the stg and fighting genres. I can't even think of any prominent brawlers or shmups, and outside of Turrican, I don't think any run n gun competed. With fighters, only Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct and Primal Rage come to mind as games that rose to similar levels of popularity as the Japanese games.

Considering those are my favorite genres (as well as those of many members here), it's easy to concede that Japanese developed games eclipse their western counterparts on the whole. But I think when you look at the overall gaming landscape, you can see that western games had just as much influence as the Japanese.

All of that said, what's up with Tetris? Russia is Azn, after all.

 

[StevenK]

Oh shit, IK+, and that's even a fighter.

And what was that isometric ninja game, I still think that looks impressive 30 years on.

Edit - The Last Ninja

 

[Yamazaki]

I'd say most of the Build Engine games.

Even stuff like NAM or Redneck Rampage.

 

[Lagduf]

Arcade
Gauntlet II
Gauntlet Legends
Paperboy
Discs of Tron
Missile Command
NBA Jam
Smash TV
MKII
Marble Madness
Defender

Console
Wizards and Warriors
Earthworm Jim
Tomb Raider
Wipeout
Road Rash II
DKC
Duke Nukem 3D
Jungle Strike

Yeah i mention tomb raider sure it has tank controls but i got use to them.I just like the sense of exploration for the first tomb raider and it's atmosphere i been thinking about buying that remastered collection to.

People forget we played the first Tomb Raider using a D-Pad. Hell I played the first Tomb Raider game on the Saturn. Tank controls absolutely make sense given the controls we had at the time.

Didn’t the dual shock come out just prior (or simultaneously) to the release of Metal Gear Solid in 1998?

 

[Tron]

People forget we played the first Tomb Raider using a D-Pad. Hell I played the first Tomb Raider game on the Saturn. Tank controls absolutely make sense given the controls we had at the time.

Didn’t the dual shock come out just prior (or simultaneously) to the release of Metal Gear Solid in 1998?

For msg being the first using duel shock controls uhh maybe i don't know.Using the d-pad sure was clunky for tomb raider since jumping had to be precise,it was pretty much trail and error figuring it out it least for me.

 

[GohanX]

Rare developed a lot of terrible games for the NES as a contractor including all-time turds like Nightmare on Elm Street, the licensed WWF games and Taboo the Sixth Sense. I'm sure the budgets and dev timelines for those games were abysmal but yeah, a lot of Rare's output from that era sucks... people just don't talk about them as "Rare" games.

I'd go so far as to say that overall, Rare wasn't a very good developer. They did well in partnership with Nintendo where Rare was pretty much a second party Nintendo publisher, but Nintendo has a lot of success supervising lesser developers to get great games. Microsoft-Rare went back to being mid.

That said, I do enjoy RC Pro Am and Battletoads/Double Dragon, and Donkey Kong Country is a classic.

 

[greedostick]

I used to think Western developed games were trash back in the day, then I build a Windows 98 machine a few years ago and figured out all the good ones were on legacy PC and DOS.

 

[Lagduf]

What did you have to do back in the day to get a devkit from Nintendo and Sega?

 

[supergoose]

Jazz Jackrabbit (Only had a demo but loved the music and gameplay.)
Day Of The Tentacle

 

[Viewpoint]

Diablo II and the original Raid over Moscow... oh and Secret of Evermore.