1996 I'll never forget it.... actually I was only 2 in 1996 and don't remember any of it really but I have an interesting question for you guys on Iconera who do!
Which year was more boundary breaking?
1996: The year of the N64 which was a graphical beast but also constrained by some questionable choices, Also Super Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot, Resident Evil, Quake, Soul Edge, Pilot Wings 64, and lastly the Apple Pipon
Super Mario 64 has been a very influential game and even Dan Houser, the producer of GTA III (one of the most influential games of the 2000s) said that anyone that makes 3D games and say they didn't borrow from Super Mario 64 and the N64 Zelda's is straight up lying!
Tomb Raider has also been a pretty influential game as well and very ground breaking
Resident Evil 1 greatly expanded the survival horror genre
Crash and the attitude of it's commercials mocking Mario was awesome
In Japan you had Mario Kart 64 launch in 1996 but 1997 for the rest of the world
or 2005 The year of:
1. Resident Evil 4 - One of the most influential third Person Shooters ever, was a bench mark for cinematic gaming for it's time and helped introduced Quick time events to mainstream gaming for better or for worse (God of War which came out about 2 months later also helped with QTE's as well)
2. The launch of God of War
3. The PSP (Besides Japan which got it in December 2004) Broke a lot of new ground for handhelds and I would argue made people started taking handheld titles as possible GOTY contenders. Also one of the first widescreen devices I can ever recall seeing. Lastly it's multimedia capabilities were way ahead of it's time.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is an amazing example of how insane it was seeing a handheld play PS2 level games. Also I believe Liberty City Stories had some upgrades from Grand Theft Auto III which is very impressive for an handheld game even if it released 4 years after GTA III.
Also The PSP would get an online store in 2006 but that doesn't count for 2005.
4. Also in handheld gaming, The DS got the launch of Nintendo WiFi on November 14th, 2005 along side Mario kart DS
5. The Xbox 360, The first system meant for HD gaming, yes the original Xbox had 720p capabilities for certain titles and the Xbox 360 launch models didn't even have a HDMI port if I remember correctly but the 360 was no doubt a monster for a while there. I believe if you wanted wifi as well on launch Xbox 360 models you had to buy and adapter as well. Also the Xbox 360 still used memory cards while the Wii and PS3 would go on to use more open ways of saving games just a year later in 2006, It's also funny how the Wii and PS3 would be self loading disc trays as well
Also while Xbox Live Arcade launched in 2004 for the original Xbox, The Xbox 360 Version that launched day one on the Xbox 360 on November 22nd, 2005 was intergraded into the Xbox dashboard itself which I think is pretty notable.
Lastly for the Xbox 360 I want to point out that while the PS2 did Backwards compatibility much better and even the PS3 as well I think it's worth pointing that Halo 2 running on it runs at 720p on Xbox 360 which would make it one of the most noticeable Backwards compatibility boosts ever and very similar to what we see with PS4 to PS5 BC and Xbox one to Series X/S BC. it's just a shame that a lot of BC Xbox games on Xbox 360 have so many issues tho.
6. Shadow of The Colossus
7. Guitar Hero
8. Fahrenheit/indigo Prophecy
9. The rise of blue ocean strategy games from Nintendo such as Nintendogs. Brain Age, Trauma Center: Under the Knife (Electroplankton was 2005 in Japan)
10. Animal Crossing: Wild World being the first Animal crossing on Handheld and blowing up the previous games on Gamecube, N64, and even the sequel on Wii never blew up so i think making the first Animal Crossing on handheld had a huge impact for the franchise
11. Lastly the Gameboy Micro was this year and while not very impactful I still think it is very similar to the mini consoles we have today, just a shame that it is a handheld that is miniaturized so you have to deal with a tiny screen.
you also had other games like Condemned and F.E.A.R release in 2005
So pretty much it's a battle of the 3D revolution vs the Evolution of Third Person Shooters, HD Gaming, and Portable gaming
Which year was more boundary breaking?
1996: The year of the N64 which was a graphical beast but also constrained by some questionable choices, Also Super Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot, Resident Evil, Quake, Soul Edge, Pilot Wings 64, and lastly the Apple Pipon
Super Mario 64 has been a very influential game and even Dan Houser, the producer of GTA III (one of the most influential games of the 2000s) said that anyone that makes 3D games and say they didn't borrow from Super Mario 64 and the N64 Zelda's is straight up lying!
Tomb Raider has also been a pretty influential game as well and very ground breaking
Resident Evil 1 greatly expanded the survival horror genre
Crash and the attitude of it's commercials mocking Mario was awesome
In Japan you had Mario Kart 64 launch in 1996 but 1997 for the rest of the world
or 2005 The year of:
1. Resident Evil 4 - One of the most influential third Person Shooters ever, was a bench mark for cinematic gaming for it's time and helped introduced Quick time events to mainstream gaming for better or for worse (God of War which came out about 2 months later also helped with QTE's as well)
2. The launch of God of War
3. The PSP (Besides Japan which got it in December 2004) Broke a lot of new ground for handhelds and I would argue made people started taking handheld titles as possible GOTY contenders. Also one of the first widescreen devices I can ever recall seeing. Lastly it's multimedia capabilities were way ahead of it's time.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is an amazing example of how insane it was seeing a handheld play PS2 level games. Also I believe Liberty City Stories had some upgrades from Grand Theft Auto III which is very impressive for an handheld game even if it released 4 years after GTA III.
Also The PSP would get an online store in 2006 but that doesn't count for 2005.
4. Also in handheld gaming, The DS got the launch of Nintendo WiFi on November 14th, 2005 along side Mario kart DS
5. The Xbox 360, The first system meant for HD gaming, yes the original Xbox had 720p capabilities for certain titles and the Xbox 360 launch models didn't even have a HDMI port if I remember correctly but the 360 was no doubt a monster for a while there. I believe if you wanted wifi as well on launch Xbox 360 models you had to buy and adapter as well. Also the Xbox 360 still used memory cards while the Wii and PS3 would go on to use more open ways of saving games just a year later in 2006, It's also funny how the Wii and PS3 would be self loading disc trays as well
Also while Xbox Live Arcade launched in 2004 for the original Xbox, The Xbox 360 Version that launched day one on the Xbox 360 on November 22nd, 2005 was intergraded into the Xbox dashboard itself which I think is pretty notable.
Lastly for the Xbox 360 I want to point out that while the PS2 did Backwards compatibility much better and even the PS3 as well I think it's worth pointing that Halo 2 running on it runs at 720p on Xbox 360 which would make it one of the most noticeable Backwards compatibility boosts ever and very similar to what we see with PS4 to PS5 BC and Xbox one to Series X/S BC. it's just a shame that a lot of BC Xbox games on Xbox 360 have so many issues tho.
6. Shadow of The Colossus
7. Guitar Hero
8. Fahrenheit/indigo Prophecy
9. The rise of blue ocean strategy games from Nintendo such as Nintendogs. Brain Age, Trauma Center: Under the Knife (Electroplankton was 2005 in Japan)
10. Animal Crossing: Wild World being the first Animal crossing on Handheld and blowing up the previous games on Gamecube, N64, and even the sequel on Wii never blew up so i think making the first Animal Crossing on handheld had a huge impact for the franchise
11. Lastly the Gameboy Micro was this year and while not very impactful I still think it is very similar to the mini consoles we have today, just a shame that it is a handheld that is miniaturized so you have to deal with a tiny screen.
you also had other games like Condemned and F.E.A.R release in 2005
So pretty much it's a battle of the 3D revolution vs the Evolution of Third Person Shooters, HD Gaming, and Portable gaming
