2001: the year of iPods, Wikipedia, and leaving the keys upon the table. It was also the best year in gaming history. Sega went out with a bang, Microsoft entered with a ring, Nintendo got purple and weird, and Sony dominated the living room by letting everyone easily watch The Matrix on DVD. 2001 is also now somehow 25 years ago, which is very upsetting information to share with you. Let us take a look back at 2001 in video games with a slew of classics that are undoubtedly some of the greatest of all time.
20. SSX Tricky
Original release date: November 6, 2001
Man, whatever happened to snowboarding games? What happened to EA is a whole other thing, but for now there’s probably a few of you who almost involuntarily said “EA Sports BIG” when seeing this game. Sorry, we meant:
The thing that makes SSX Tricky such an incredible game is really its personality. Few games since have felt this off the wall and boisterous without feeling forced or a bit quirkchungus really. That and the game’s übertrick system made for an endlessly fun experience in 2001 across every major platform at the time. SSX Tricky gave players ample motivation to explore everything the game had to offer, and it’s not a wonder the game was a success across every platform.
SSX Tricky still looks and plays brilliantly, with its over-the-top tone only adding to the entertainment value. Pick it up today and yep, you will still have a ball.
19. Max Payne
Original release date: July 24, 2001
One of the first games to use bullet-time, Max Payne still whips all kinds of backside after all these years. Although later sequels would improve upon visuals and gameplay, the original Max Payne has one of the best stories of its time. A pulpy and suitably atmospheric noir story works beautifully alongside chucking your grieving pill popping body around smelly corridors.. A dark, gritty graphic novel style also suits this game well, and it’s the hard boiled one-man-against-the-world tone that allows Max Payne to continue to be regarded as one of the best in its genre.
Sure, it might feel a bit basic today, but really, isn’t that why it was so good in the first place? Creator Sam Lake’s facial expressions might be your sleep paralysis demon, but the style here is hard to match. But most importantly, just remember: bullet time is always fun time.
18. Shenmue 2
Original release date: September 6, 2001
2001 was a good year for games, but not a great one for Sega, who exited the console game as Microsoft entered. It wasn’t for a lack of trying though. They did put out some seriously amazing games. Case in point: Shenmue 2 is basically the video game equivalent of Metropolis. Its DNA is in everything.
Acting as basically the blueprint for immersive sandboxes, real-time storytelling, and wrestling with sailors, Shenmue 2 was effectively the perfect follow up to the first game. You could even carry over progress from the first game, which is nuts. It was just more of everything, as you hunted down your father’s killer, one part-time job at a time.
It’s a little rough around the edges nowadays, and kinda crazy slow to actually play, but basically every 3D game you love owes something to Shenmue 2.
17. Pikmin
Original release date: October 26, 2001
Pikmin seemed like an unusual piece of the Nintendo GameCube’s launch library in 2001, but 25 years on, it shows how unique Nintendo’s console truly was. The premise boils down to a real-time strategy game in which you are Captain Olimar, alone and shipless on a hostile and unknown planet. It’s going to take the brightly colored Pikmin creatures, appearing in three distinct colors with differing abilities, to get you back home. Managing these little guys becomes your greatest priority, as you navigate not only dozens of Pikmin simultaneously, but the various puzzles and challenges of this sometimes highly dangerous planet.
Pikmin had an ambitious concept and challenge that asked players to take a relative chance on an unproven universe and characters. It’s worth taking that chance, and it’s not a surprise that Nintendo is still making Pikmin games over 20 years later. It’s baby’s first RTS game but baby, it is still a brilliant game.
16. Sonic Adventure 2
Original release date: June 19, 2001
If your heart just swelled with the memory of the chorus of “Escape from the City” as Sonic blazes downhill in what’s essentially a recreation of San Francisco in Sonic Adventure 2, good news, you’re a million years old. You’re getting on at the speed of sound. It’s only going to get worse from here, but at least Sonic’s 2nd and final Dreamcast adventure is just as much fun as it was several decades ago.
Sonic Adventure 2 gives the iconic Hedgehog a sprawling, fun world to interact with. With “Hero” and “Dark” campaigns that offer the story through good or evil lenses, this last hurrah for the Dreamcast is still one of the better 3D outings for Sonic and the gang. The game handles speed and platforming amazingly well for the Sonic and Shadow campaigns, while the open-ended treasure hunting you get to enjoy as Knuckles or Rogue provides immensely enjoyable variety.
Also, the Chao Garden was just the 3D Tamagotchi you always wanted.
15. Advance Wars
Original release date: September 10, 2001
Advance Wars was surprisingly successful when it was released for the Game Boy Advance. A turn-based strategy game with enough to keep you busy for a long, long time, Advance Wars garnered enthused reviews and sold well enough that Nintendo stepped up releasing strategy franchises that had previously been exclusive to Japan (Fire Emblem would be another). Advance Wars was in fact the seventh game in the series, but only the first to get a release beyond its native country.
Managing weaponry, equipment, resources, and more, Advance Wars challenges you in a variety of ways, including strategies built around subjects like terrain, and even the abilities of the opposing faction. The game never stops being challenging and immersive in its management and strategy elements, even if you only ever play by yourself. It’s also got an absolutely brilliant art style that will always be golden.
14. Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Original release date: March 5, 2001
2001 was such a great year for gaming because it felt like a unique moment in time, a cross-section in history. You still had PS1 and N64 games coming out, but you also had Sega exiting, Microsoft entering, and Rare still working with Nintendo. It’s still nuts that one of their final collaborations had a flower with giant milkers.
Conker’s Bad Fur Day is as much a product of its time as any game here today, and that’s what makes it so notable still. The actual collectathon platforming gameplay is fun but isn’t too amazing these days, but the constant pop culture references, attitude, and fart jokes all scream 2001. Playing this today is travelling back to a simpler time.
Constantly funny with plenty to see and do, Conker’s Bad Fur Day is such a good time that it just gets more and more wild that we’ve only had two games since. And one was a remake!
13. Golden Sun
Original release date: August 1, 2001
Golden Sun wasn’t arguably a standout in the early offerings of the Game Boy Advance, but time has shone a new light on just how good this game really is. The JRPG storyline and even some of the mechanics may feel standard, but there’s something to be said for doing the formula justice in every possible regard.
There’s something instantly accessible about Golden Sun, in which a group of magical teenagers must band together to defeat a powerful common enemy, and there’s always enough going on to keep you locked in. The Psynergy system alone is compelling, with elemental spells that were essential to surviving not only the game’s pretty brilliant combat, but various puzzles and other challenges, too. It didn’t change the genre forever, but it proved these sorts of games still had entertainment and value at a time when other developers seemed to be moving away from them.
12. Gran Turismo 3: A-spec
Original release date: April 28, 2001
Gran Turismo 3: A-spec had to do everything the last two instant classic games achieved, but bigger, better, and with a clear spotlight on the PS2’s hardware capabilities. While the game did not have quite as much stuff as Gran Turismo 2 in terms of cars and tracks, Gran Turismo 3 was determined to make up the difference where it counts.
And there’s no question that Gran Turismo 3 absolutely succeeded with gorgeous graphics, an extremely deep career mode, new courses in the form of Downtown Tokyo and Monte Carlo, and the best driving physics the series had seen up to that point. It was an impressive evolution in its genre, but with a surprising ability to appeal to many casual players. Gran Turismo 4 may be the better racing game, as well as the best racing game ever, but Gran Turismo 3 was an absolute benchmark 25 years ago.
11. Luigi’s Mansion
Original release date: September 14, 2001
The GameCube had a lot to offer from the start. Luigi’s Mansion was a surprising 2001 launch title for the system, giving players a rare chance to control Luigi as the hero of a game that combines Ghostbusters with the first Resident Evil. Confined to a dark, sinister, and elaborately designed mansion, Luigi must solve the larger mystery of how he could have won this place in a competition when he didn’t even enter a contest in the first place. Also, where’s the red guy?
Lighting, music, and atmosphere are still brilliant, with Mario visuals being a surprisingly good match with gothic horror fundamentals. Where the game shines is when you’re catching a variety of ghosts with Luigi’s vacuum,. Along the way you get to explore an incredibly and cartoonishly detailed world, while meeting a colorful cast of haunted characters. Nintendo tried to give Mario fans something very different to do in Luigi’s Mansion and succeed with a charming, challenging, and all round fantastic game.
10. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Original release date: February 27, 2001
The Game Boy Color received a fantastic sendoff in the form of The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. There’s nothing in the Zelda library quite like Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons. Both titles feature Link, and both titles share certain plot points and the ability to find items in one game using passwords given in the other, but these are ultimately two very different adventures.
Oracle of Seasons involves Link using an item known as the Rod of Seasons, which creates interesting puzzle situations that can be remedied by shifting the weather from one season to another. The game has an emphasis on puzzle-solving, whereas Oracle of Ages uses time travel and puts the focus on action. You can play one without the other, but that’s not nearly as much fun. If you miss “simple” Zelda, you simply can’t miss this duology.
9. Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Original release date: December 4, 2001
You’re ten years old. You’ve just opened up your PS2 for Christmas that you never expected. With a belly full of pigs in blankets, you plug your PlayStation 2 to your CRT and slide the Jak and Daxter disc into the tray. You hear some weird psychedelic noise, you wait..and then:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9PTTaf9faM
Cinema. Absolute cinema.
Jak and Daxter took everything that games like Crash and Mario 64 had pioneered and just shined it up real nice. Tiny collectible eggs, open environments, incredible graphics, constant little dopamine rushes everywhere you looked — yeah, this was how you did platformers for a new generation. Naughty Dog: please cheer up a bit and make another.
8. Devil May Cry
Original release date: August 23, 2001
With games like Devil May Cry coming out in 2001, it’s little wonder that the PlayStation 2 dominated this round of the console wars as emphatically as it did. While the game has certainly aged a little, particularly if you come back to it after 5, there’s still something instantly satisfying about picking up the weapons, and of course, the leather jacket of Dante to slay legions of demons. Devil May Cry was groundbreaking stuff from Capcom, with a challenging, combo-based attack style that was easy to learn but infuriating to perfect.
Devil May Cry benefits from a company that knew a thing or two about paying attention to weapon, level, and character designs. The gameplay is a blast for certain, with the grading system giving you lots of room to get inventive in how you take down demons and some of the most brutal bosses of the era, but it’s the details in Dante’s world that make Devil May Cry special and such a landmark in character action.
And it’s also gaming’s happiest little accident.
7. Ico
Original release date: September 25, 2001
Yep, this list really is this stacked. Every game from here on could probably be in the top 20 games of all time.
With an emphasis on immersion and atmosphere, as well as the touching friendship between main characters Ico and Yorda, Ico is still a curiously-chill-yet-extremely-engaging fan favorite. Many PS2 fans still cite this early release in the console’s run as one of the best PlayStation 2 games of all time. For those who haven’t experienced this game for themselves, you’ll be pleased to know Ico still deserves a reputation for its vision. Especially for putting a keen focus on trusting the creativity and decision-making capabilities of the player.
Ico also possesses a visual and narrative charm that you won’t find anywhere else. Minimalism is explored to a startling degree here, with the game taking advantage of the PS2’s power in truly unique ways. Again and again, this game has shown just how important it truly was back in 2001.
6. Super Smash Bros Melee
Original release date: November 21, 2001
Why does the Super Smash Bros Melee esports community continue to endure long after the GameCube itself came and went? While other Smash Bros games have come along, many still regard Melee as the best for its defensive potential, unique multiplayer features, and a degree of freedom in the game’s movement that some argue hasn’t been improved upon to this day. Very little about this game feels dated.
Well, no Minecraft characters on the roster maybe.
Yet this enormously addictive multiplayer brawler stacked with Nintendo icons doesn’t really suffer in the visual department either. It still looks great for its age, and the fluidity of what you see on screen in the heat of combat is as good as the potential of movement itself. This game is still a blast at parties, but there’s a whole other universe still waiting for you if you want to pit yourself against a surprisingly robust world of online competitors.
5. Grand Theft Auto III
Original release date: October 23, 2001
Few franchises have experienced an upgrade as dramatic as the one Grand Theft Auto underwent between Grand Theft Auto 2 and Grand Theft Auto III, which marked a pivotal moment in open world design too. Suddenly presenting you with a complete 3D sandbox in which to carry off underworld missions, indulge in some criminal mayhem and carnage or just be a taxi driver, Grand Theft Auto III felt like something else entirely.
If you wanted to take on everything this game had to offer, including the novel thrill of picking up a part-time job, you could be busy for ages. Or, like me, you could just keep stealing that same Banshee and driving it off of bridges over and over again while getting chased by a tank. Good times. Who knows what open world gaming would look like without this one.
4. Halo: Combat Evolved
Original release date: November 15, 2001
While obviously not as iconic as Blinx, Halo: Combat Evolved proved to be an early success for Microsoft and the Xbox. It’s crazy that this used to be an RTS, but also that is now coming to PlayStation. It would be foolish to dismiss how much this game changed the first-person shooter genre for the better, with many of the advancements and improvements shown in Combat Evolved still being regarded as essentials for a good game.
You can’t ignore how profoundly Halo created an immersive science fiction world that could appeal to sci-fi nerds and Gatorade aficionados alike. Halo: Combat Evolved has everything from a flawless balance between on-foot and vehicular combat scenarios, to a legendary multiplayer, to its absorbing depiction of a multi-side conflict that feels fully fleshed out. This franchise has certainly changed over the years, and some might say it never got better than this.
3. Final Fantasy X
Original release date: July 19, 2001
The first Final Fantasy game for the PlayStation 2 promised a new level of visual sweep and grandeur, and yep, if you were in any doubt that the new generation was about to be a wild one in gaming history, you’d realise your mistake roughly one cutscene in. We’ll never get a generational leap like this again.
Final Fantasy X sees you taking on the role of Tidus, or Tee-dus if you fancy that, a young athlete who finds himself caught between two worlds. But don’t worry, you still find time for some Blitzball. He meets a summoner named Yuna and soon becomes part of the effort to defeat a giant whale.
It’s the singular intimacy we experience with a small cast of characters, as well as a plot that tries to be genuinely cinematic and heartfelt, that gives Final Fantasy X its distinction as one of the greatest RPGs of all time. It arguably has the best cast of any Final Fantasy. Warts and all, and there’s a few, Cloister Trails coughing sounds Final Fantasy X lives up to its pedigree.
2. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Original release date: November 13, 2001
Back in the early 2000s, hype for a direct next-gen follow-up to Metal Gear Solid was considerable. The game players got in November 2001 did not meet those expectations for everyone. Thanks to that infamous bait-and-switch, it would take many years for a lot of people to appreciate MGS2 for what it is: a commentary on sequels, legacy, laughing, and growing fat.
Few games had ever managed to be as meta and prescient as Metal Gear Solid 2, with it managing to predict the future. Really, Kojima provided many warnings for the future, and we’ve listened to absolutely none of what he was was putting out there. As a game, it’s also a fundamental improvement in every way to the original, with FPS aiming, a frankly ridiculous amount of easter eggs, and mandatory golden showers. A bonkers, brilliant sequel that I have 7 different copies of cos it’s my special interest. But the best game of 2001 is, of course:
1. Silent Hill 2
Original release date: September 25, 2001
Will the Silent Hill franchise ever reach the heights of Silent Hill 2? It’s hard to imagine under even the best circumstances because few survival horror games are as haunting as the sequel to Konami’s hugely successful alternative to Resident Evil. And, well, few AAA survival horror games that aren’t remakes get made these days. The game promised another round of emphasis on exploration, story, nightmare visuals, and immensely difficult puzzles, but with all the adding polish that 2001 could provide. It didn’t disappoint, creating a high point in this series and genre that hasn’t been equaled.
From the moment our protagonist James gets a letter from his dead wife telling him to come back to Silent Hill, we know we’re in for something intense and horrifying, and that’s just the bathroom you start in. Keeping the same mysterious atmosphere of immense doom but with expanded gameplay and a much more mature story , Silent Hill 2 grabs early and doesn’t let go. As challenging and effective as the gameplay is, nothing in this game is quite as affecting as the story. The best video game narrative of all time? We’ll let you decide.
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