1996 is the year that video games were entrenched as the future of entertainment. Perhaps it is difficult to appreciate that now, looking back two and a half decades later, from a period of time where visual fidelity has begun to tip perilously into the uncanny valley. The truth is, it's difficult to overstate just how important the spiky, polygonal games of 1996 were to shaping gaming as we know it today.
It's the year that the RPG was made accessible. In early 1996, Pocket Monsters: Red and Green made its debut in Japan – you might know it better today as Pokemon Red and Blue. Pokemon set the precedent for what a true video game phenomenon would look like, a multi-billion dollar franchise that has permeated through every crevice of modern culture. And it all started here, with two companion games that are now considered to be the best-selling role-playing games of all time. With this Game Boy exclusive, Nintendo sought to make a complicated genre compatible with players of all ages, and its success propelled over 31 million trainers on a quest to be the very best, like no one ever was.
While Nintendo was busy changing the face of entertainment at the beginning of 1996, it was altering the course of 3D gaming by the end of it. The N64 launched and with it came Super Mario 64, one of two archetypal platformers to release in 1996 that drew up the blueprints for 3D camera and character control. The other was Core Design's Tomb Raider, introducing the world to Lara Croft – one of gaming's most important and enduring icons.
Speaking of icons, 1996 also heralded the debut of Crash Bandicoot: the biggest mascot of the PlayStation era, and the first blockbuster from Naughty Dog, establishing the studio as one of the most reputed outfits operating under the Sony Interactive Entertainment banner. That same year, BioWare, Bizarre Creations, and Remedy Entertainment all made their debuts with Shattered Steel, Formula 1, and Death Rally – important first steps before big things.
Quake arrived from id Software and set a new benchmark for the arena shooter, entrenching the undeniable allure of the multiplayer deathmatch in stone for future generations. The strategy genre settled into a new rhythm with the release of Civilisation 2 and Command & Conquer: Red Alert, while survival horror was given a new lease on life with Resident Evil – one of the most popular and malleable franchises in video game history.
The games of 1996 still have a massive impact on those that we play today. It set the template for 3D gaming, it introduced us to characters that have transcended the barriers of interactive entertainment, and pushed game design forward in a way that is difficult to conceptualize now, so many years removed. 1996 is the best year in gaming because, without it, the games we play today just wouldn't be the same.
Games that defined 1996
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