PixlBit

Between the Super Nintendo in the early half of the 90s, and the PlayStation in the later half, the 90s sure were a great time for gaming!  I was also reviewing games for The Dallas Morning News in 1998, so that was fun.  Looking back on release dates for 1998, there sure were some monumental games released then.  You have deserving GOTY titles ike Ocarina of Time and Banjo-Kazooie.  And let's not forget honorable mentions like Spyro the Dragon and Brave Fencer Musashi.  But for me, my Game of the Year for 1998 would've been Klonoa: Door to Phantomile on the PlayStation, which was released in March 1998 in the US.  From the colorful worlds to the made up language and the sad ending, Klonoa really made an impact on me!

Stage Select: 

1998 Games of the Year

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Visually impressive, with plenty to do and an extremely high level of polish. Not only unmatched by anything else released in 1998, but largely unmatched by anything released in 5th gen. 

2. Xenogears. A demo was included as a surprise bonus with Parasite Eve, which got me interested. Xenogears quickly became one of Square's most memorable games of the generation, with its lengthy (if sometimes cutscene-heavy) story, interesting characters, and mech combat. The only downside was Disc 2, but I was invested enough in the world to stick it out to the end. Unfortunately, the team apparently used Disc 2 as a model for the development of Xenosaga, which would become one of my biggest disappointments of 6th gen. Thankfully, they completely turned the ship around with Xenoblade, which I felt was the Xenogears successor I had wanted all along.

3. Resident Evil 2. Capcom's best offering of the generation. Took everything that made Resident Evil good and cranked it up to 11, with two character paths that required their own discs, and two of the most memorable playable characters in the franchise's history. I can still hear the save room theme in my head.

4. Parasite Eve. A Square horror RPG set in New York City with nods to Final Fantasy here and there. Nowadays it's faded into obscurity, but it was a pretty big deal then, enough that Madonna was said to have sought the US movie rights to it. Square also used it to develop the graphics they would eventually use for FF8 and FF9. Two other reasons this game was memorable to me was the Xenogears demo that came with it that sold me on Xenogears, and it was the first game I ever pre-ordered.

5. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon. This was my favorite third party N64 game, not that the pool of third party N64 games was all that big. Still, it had great music, charming graphics, and it did 3-D Zelda before Ocarina of Time did. My most wanted NSO N64 game is Mystical Ninja.

Cage Match: 

Dunno. I definitely like Shaq better, but Kobe played a better game, so I'm going to have to give it to Kobe's game.

STAGE SELECT:
You know, all the classics.  Metal Gear Solid.  Pokemon Yellow.  Thief: The Dark Project.  3D Frog Man.  Wetris: Tetris but damp.  Arm Joe starring Mr. 24601 himself, Jean Valjean.  Gex: Enter the Gecko.  Iggy's Reckin' Balls again.  Oh shit, Quest 64!

CAGE MATCH:
I was researching this and, right there on Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside's Wikipedia page it says, "Due to licensing agreements, a fictional player named 'Roster Player #98' is used in [Michael] Jordan's place." SO - MY - VOTE - GOES - TO - ROSTER - PLAYER - 98.