ah 1993. it’s hard to believe it’s been
a whole 10 years since what do you mean
it’s been three decades
outrageous indeed it might have been a
little while since the year 1993 but
that doesn’t mean that we’ve forgotten
all of the great video games at this
particular 12 month period had to offer
and we’re back yet again to tell you all
about the very best if you’ve seen any
of the best of videos before then it’s
likely you’ll know the drill but for any
newcomers here are the rules a game is
eligible for one of these lists if it
was released in the year in question
this case 1993 in at least one territory
and received a minimum of seven
professional reviews we exclude ports
re-releases and collections from these
rankings unless they’re significantly
different from the original but don’t
worry we’ll cover them in the list
pertaining to their initial release got
all of that good I’m Ashton from triple
jump and here are the 10 best games of
1993. number 10 Simon the Sorcerer PC
86.25 we’re kicking off today’s list
with a bit of point-and-click fun
courtesy of developer and publisher
adventuresoft who are perhaps most
famous for well this actually released
in September 1993 Simon the Sorcerer
somewhat unsurprisingly tells the story
of Simon no not that one a 12 year old
boy who after receiving a dog for his
birthday ends up summoning a portal to
another world there are several more
steps between the two occurrences which
are indeed related but I don’t want to
be here all day talking about the plot
the game was largely inspired by Terry
pratchett’s Discworld series of novels
whilst also parodying the likes of The
Lord of the Rings The Chronicles of
Narnia and several popular fairy tales
although some Outlets were a little
disappointed with Simon the sorcerer’s
controls and the linear nature of the
gameplay these issues weren’t enough to
spoil the title and it received heaps of
praise for its Sumptuous background
grounds Dean Evans of Cu amiga’s words
not mine wacky tongue-in-cheek humor and
engaging puzzles I can honestly say I’ve
never heard a video game described as
Sumptuous before I suppose that’s the
first time for everything number nine
Doom PC
86.67 we’re a little shocked at the
original Doom which is considered by
most to be one of the four fathers of
the modern FPS didn’t get a higher
review score sure 86.67 is not to be
sniffed at but we’d always assume the
game would average somewhere in the 90s
clearly critics in 1993 were super harsh
Doom exploded onto the scene around 18
months after in software’s previous FPS
Triumph Wolfenstein 3D and blue play as
a way with its fast-paced demon slaying
action inspired by Dungeons and Dragons
Evil Dead 2 and Aliens Doom puts players
in control of doomguy a Space Marine
stationed on Mars who must fight his way
through hordes of invading demons from
hell the graphics high up 10 gameplay
and level design were all praised by
critics and looking at the game
retrospectively many video game
journalists agree that Doom really
pushed the envelope when it came to
video game immersion some critics did
complain that the gameplay was somewhat
repetitive and In fairness they’re not
wrong but if you’re after a bit of heart
racing mindless shooter fun then even
these days you can do far worse than
pick up a copy of Doom number eight
Secret of Mana SNES
87.28 we’re turning our attention now to
the classic RPG developed by Square Enix
or simply Square as they were at the
time Secret of Mana was a follow-up to
1991’s saikon densetsu or Final Fantasy
Adventure Mystic Quest or Fire Kingdom
setsu Final Fantasy guide them before
they get multiple tons of titles about
this and was released across North
America and Japan in 1993 before making
its way to the pal region the following
year the game follows the exploits of
three young boys who after pulling a
rusty sword from a stone and
accidentally eating a whole bunch of
monsters we’ve all been there set out on
a quest to re-energize The Sword and
ultimately Stave off the threat of an
Empire that seeks to conquer the world
unlike other role-playing games of the
time battles were real time rather than
turn-based incorporating a ring command
mechanic which pours the actions in our
place to make decisions mid-battle
critics had bucket loads of praise to a
secret of manner commending its Graphics
combat system and overall quality of the
gameplay I’m not sure what the Secret of
Mana is but the devs certainly knew the
secret to making a good RPG number seven
gun star Heroes Mega Drive 87.6 percent
hope you’ve bought some nice comfy
trainers with you because we’re about to
get our run and Gun on don’t worry I’ve
bought some plasters in case anyone gets
a blister Gunstar Heroes focuses on the
titular gun Stars a Duo who throughout
the game used their acrobatic prowess
and experience with firearms in order to
prevent an evil empire from getting
their hands on a bunch of powerful gems
yikes there surely were a lot of
Nefarious Empires floating around the
early 90s weren’t there gameplay wise
gun star Heroes task players were
shooting their way through a whole bunch
of enemies across seven different stages
though while some stuck with the
traditional Run and Gun formula others
plonked the character into a
minecart-like vehicle a spaceship and
even a board game the game went down
incredibly well with critics who were
impressed by gun star Heroes as
fast-paced action and the wide variety
in the level design the game was
wonderfully chaotic from beginning to
end which was what made it so exciting
and is no doubt part of the reason why
it was awarded game fans Game of the
Year Accolade and why it’s been ported
to more consoles and you can shake a
stick at number 6. Star Fox SNES 88
sadly spoiler alert there’s no Mario on
our list today but that doesn’t mean
we’re not getting a visit from our pal
Shigeru Miyamoto who made his mark on
the year 1993 with brand new IP Star Fox
although Star Fox might not be
Nintendo’s most popular franchise of all
time it’s still got a whole Army of fans
around the world and as recently as 2017
players have gotten to enjoy new entries
into the series the original Star Fox
landed on the SNES between February and
June 1993 depending on where in the
world you lived and put players into the
somewhat furry shoes of volpine
protagonist Fox McLeod as he and the
rest of the Star Fox team attempted to
defend their Homeworld corneria from the
invading forces of big bad Andros the
rail shooter plonked Fox and by
extension the player into a spacecraft
and in each level it was up to them to
shoot down enemies and defeat a Boss by
the end of March 1993 Star Fox had sold
over 1.7 million copies across Japan and
North America making it up until that
point at least the fastest selling video
game launch in North America there
really is Little Wonder the gameplay was
highly addictive the central characters
were both adorable and badass in equal
measure and the 3D Graphics were
groundbreaking not a bad effort for a
fox in overalls number five Disney’s
Aladdin Mega Drive
88.33 these days movie time titles can
be counted upon to be pretty Naf but if
you look back far enough into the annals
of video game history you’ll find one or
two gems case in point Disney’s Aladdin
A platformer developed by virgin games
USA for the Mega Drive not to be
confused with Disney’s Aladdin A
platformer developed by Capcom for the
SNES everybody clear good we’ll crack on
then based on the 1992 animated classic
of the same name Disney’s Aladdin
followed the plot of the film and tasked
players with side scrolling their way
through a bunch of agrabar themed levels
collecting apples golden icons gems and
much much more as they went Not only was
Disney’s allowed in a commercial success
selling over 4 million copies worldwide
making it to the third best-selling Mega
Drive game of all time but it also
received a great deal of praise for its
gameplay and even won awards for its
animation which was created for the
first time in video game history by hand
drawing each frame you might say that
this particular movie tie-in game was
One Jump Ahead of the competition you
know like the song
okay I’ll see myself out number four
Luna the Silver Star Sega CD 88.4
percent clearly the secret to being a
successful game in 1993 was simply
sticking the word star somewhere in the
title because that’s three we’ve had now
although it was originally released in
Japan in mid-1992 Luna the Silver Star
didn’t make its way to North America
until December of the following year
which means that it gets to enjoy a spot
on today’s list according to its
creators the game was designed to be a
different kind of RPG by making use of
the at the time up and coming CD-ROM
technology unlike many of its peers Luna
the Silver Star featured high quality
audio full motion video and voice acting
which for a game of the time was quite
novel The Game centers on Alex a young
boy with dreams of becoming a Great Hero
upon discovering an ancient dragon Alex
and his friends find themselves on a
journey across the world to gather the
power to become the next dragon master
all in the hopes that they might save
the world critics lauded the title
praising its graphics music and story
and despite some complaints being
leveled at its combat system which a few
found dull it was still considered to be
one of the finest RPGs of the Year
number three The Legend of Zelda Link’s
Awakening Game Boy
89.82 Hey look everyone it’s Shigeru
Miyamoto and friends back with another
smashing 1993 title I don’t know where
they find the time the Legend of Zelda
links Awakening originally started out
as a project that aimed to Port A Link
to the Past from the SNES to the Game
Boy but it eventually grew in scope and
a new game was born the fourth
installment into the Legend of Zelda
franchise was the first that had ever
been released for a handheld system and
unlike its predecessors it didn’t take
place in Hyrule and featured neither the
Triforce nor Princess Zelda herself
instead Link’s Awakening saw the
eponymous protagonist stranded on an
island and task players with exploring
fighting monsters and solving puzzles in
order to collect musical instruments
that would awaken the wind fish and
allow link to escape Link’s Awakening
received critical Acclaim with some even
going as far as to call it the best Game
Boy game ever and it’s really not
surprising the story was engrossing and
the gameplay was hugely engaging there
were some complaints leveled at the
monochrome Graphics though the blame
there lies largely at the game boy’s
door and at the controls but all in all
Link’s Awakening was a solid adventure
for anyone looking to get to their Zelda
fix on the go number two Gabriel Knight
sins of the fathers PC 92.8 percent this
isn’t the first time that we’ve seen
novelist Gabriel Knight on one of these
lists as the follow-up to this
particular title was featured in The
Best of 1995 video though that game the
Beast Within A Gabriel Knight mystery
only made it to number six and whilst it
was great it wasn’t quite as good as its
predecessor Gabriel Knight sins of the
Fathers as you can probably guess the
game focuses its attention on the
titular Gabriel a struggling writer who
begins investigating a series of murders
in New Orleans in order to gain material
for his new book whilst on the trail of
the killer however he finds that he’s a
descendant of a German family who were
involved with hunting down Supernatural
forces and you thought your relatives
were weird Gabriel Knight sins of the
fathers did not do very well
commercially but it was a hit with the
critics mostly because of the fact that
it was genuinely scary the tense
atmosphere had been masterfully created
and blended with a story that kept
audiences hooked from beginning to end
it seems like the only sin here was the
fact that hardly anybody played the damn
thing and number one Maniac Mansion 2
day of the tentacle PC 95 you know big
franchises are all well and good but we
must admit that it is nice to see a game
that isn’t Mario metroid or The Legend
of Zelda in the number one spot for once
developed and published by LucasArts and
directed produced and designed joined by
Tim Schaefer and Dave Grossman of The
Secret of Monkey Island Fame Maniac
Mansion 2 day of the tentacle was the
sequel to the 1987 graphic adventure
Maniac Mansion players took control of
Bernard Bernoulli and his two friends
Hoagie and Laverne and were tasked with
solving puzzles and using time travel to
explore different periods throughout
history in order to stop the evil purple
tentacle from taking over the world yes
the premise was Bonkers but somehow it
worked critics barely had a bad word to
say about day of the tentacle lording
everything from its humor and voice
acting to his interface and design it
was an improvement over its predecessor
in every way and this is reflected in
its average review score sadly day of
the tentacle didn’t fare particularly
well commercially but all is not lost
because the remastered version is
available on Steam so now might be a
good time to go and show this
underappreciated classic the love that
it deserves
What are the most interesting games in 1993
ah 1993. it’s hard to believe it’s been
a whole 10 years since what do you mean
it’s been three decades
outrageous indeed it might have been a
little while since the year 1993 but
that doesn’t mean that we’ve forgotten
all of the great video games at this
particular 12 month period had to offer
and we’re back yet again to tell you all
about the very best if you’ve seen any
of the best of videos before then it’s
likely you’ll know the drill but for any
newcomers here are the rules a game is
eligible for one of these lists if it
was released in the year in question
this case 1993 in at least one territory
and received a minimum of seven
professional reviews we exclude ports
re-releases and collections from these
rankings unless they’re significantly
different from the original but don’t
worry we’ll cover them in the list
pertaining to their initial release got
all of that good I’m Ashton from triple
jump and here are the 10 best games of
1993. number 10 Simon the Sorcerer PC
86.25 we’re kicking off today’s list
with a bit of point-and-click fun
courtesy of developer and publisher
adventuresoft who are perhaps most
famous for well this actually released
in September 1993 Simon the Sorcerer
somewhat unsurprisingly tells the story
of Simon no not that one a 12 year old
boy who after receiving a dog for his
birthday ends up summoning a portal to
another world there are several more
steps between the two occurrences which
are indeed related but I don’t want to
be here all day talking about the plot
the game was largely inspired by Terry
pratchett’s Discworld series of novels
whilst also parodying the likes of The
Lord of the Rings The Chronicles of
Narnia and several popular fairy tales
although some Outlets were a little
disappointed with Simon the sorcerer’s
controls and the linear nature of the
gameplay these issues weren’t enough to
spoil the title and it received heaps of
praise for its Sumptuous background
grounds Dean Evans of Cu amiga’s words
not mine wacky tongue-in-cheek humor and
engaging puzzles I can honestly say I’ve
never heard a video game described as
Sumptuous before I suppose that’s the
first time for everything number nine
Doom PC
86.67 we’re a little shocked at the
original Doom which is considered by
most to be one of the four fathers of
the modern FPS didn’t get a higher
review score sure 86.67 is not to be
sniffed at but we’d always assume the
game would average somewhere in the 90s
clearly critics in 1993 were super harsh
Doom exploded onto the scene around 18
months after in software’s previous FPS
Triumph Wolfenstein 3D and blue play as
a way with its fast-paced demon slaying
action inspired by Dungeons and Dragons
Evil Dead 2 and Aliens Doom puts players
in control of doomguy a Space Marine
stationed on Mars who must fight his way
through hordes of invading demons from
hell the graphics high up 10 gameplay
and level design were all praised by
critics and looking at the game
retrospectively many video game
journalists agree that Doom really
pushed the envelope when it came to
video game immersion some critics did
complain that the gameplay was somewhat
repetitive and In fairness they’re not
wrong but if you’re after a bit of heart
racing mindless shooter fun then even
these days you can do far worse than
pick up a copy of Doom number eight
Secret of Mana SNES
87.28 we’re turning our attention now to
the classic RPG developed by Square Enix
or simply Square as they were at the
time Secret of Mana was a follow-up to
1991’s saikon densetsu or Final Fantasy
Adventure Mystic Quest or Fire Kingdom
setsu Final Fantasy guide them before
they get multiple tons of titles about
this and was released across North
America and Japan in 1993 before making
its way to the pal region the following
year the game follows the exploits of
three young boys who after pulling a
rusty sword from a stone and
accidentally eating a whole bunch of
monsters we’ve all been there set out on
a quest to re-energize The Sword and
ultimately Stave off the threat of an
Empire that seeks to conquer the world
unlike other role-playing games of the
time battles were real time rather than
turn-based incorporating a ring command
mechanic which pours the actions in our
place to make decisions mid-battle
critics had bucket loads of praise to a
secret of manner commending its Graphics
combat system and overall quality of the
gameplay I’m not sure what the Secret of
Mana is but the devs certainly knew the
secret to making a good RPG number seven
gun star Heroes Mega Drive 87.6 percent
hope you’ve bought some nice comfy
trainers with you because we’re about to
get our run and Gun on don’t worry I’ve
bought some plasters in case anyone gets
a blister Gunstar Heroes focuses on the
titular gun Stars a Duo who throughout
the game used their acrobatic prowess
and experience with firearms in order to
prevent an evil empire from getting
their hands on a bunch of powerful gems
yikes there surely were a lot of
Nefarious Empires floating around the
early 90s weren’t there gameplay wise
gun star Heroes task players were
shooting their way through a whole bunch
of enemies across seven different stages
though while some stuck with the
traditional Run and Gun formula others
plonked the character into a
minecart-like vehicle a spaceship and
even a board game the game went down
incredibly well with critics who were
impressed by gun star Heroes as
fast-paced action and the wide variety
in the level design the game was
wonderfully chaotic from beginning to
end which was what made it so exciting
and is no doubt part of the reason why
it was awarded game fans Game of the
Year Accolade and why it’s been ported
to more consoles and you can shake a
stick at number 6. Star Fox SNES 88
sadly spoiler alert there’s no Mario on
our list today but that doesn’t mean
we’re not getting a visit from our pal
Shigeru Miyamoto who made his mark on
the year 1993 with brand new IP Star Fox
although Star Fox might not be
Nintendo’s most popular franchise of all
time it’s still got a whole Army of fans
around the world and as recently as 2017
players have gotten to enjoy new entries
into the series the original Star Fox
landed on the SNES between February and
June 1993 depending on where in the
world you lived and put players into the
somewhat furry shoes of volpine
protagonist Fox McLeod as he and the
rest of the Star Fox team attempted to
defend their Homeworld corneria from the
invading forces of big bad Andros the
rail shooter plonked Fox and by
extension the player into a spacecraft
and in each level it was up to them to
shoot down enemies and defeat a Boss by
the end of March 1993 Star Fox had sold
over 1.7 million copies across Japan and
North America making it up until that
point at least the fastest selling video
game launch in North America there
really is Little Wonder the gameplay was
highly addictive the central characters
were both adorable and badass in equal
measure and the 3D Graphics were
groundbreaking not a bad effort for a
fox in overalls number five Disney’s
Aladdin Mega Drive
88.33 these days movie time titles can
be counted upon to be pretty Naf but if
you look back far enough into the annals
of video game history you’ll find one or
two gems case in point Disney’s Aladdin
A platformer developed by virgin games
USA for the Mega Drive not to be
confused with Disney’s Aladdin A
platformer developed by Capcom for the
SNES everybody clear good we’ll crack on
then based on the 1992 animated classic
of the same name Disney’s Aladdin
followed the plot of the film and tasked
players with side scrolling their way
through a bunch of agrabar themed levels
collecting apples golden icons gems and
much much more as they went Not only was
Disney’s allowed in a commercial success
selling over 4 million copies worldwide
making it to the third best-selling Mega
Drive game of all time but it also
received a great deal of praise for its
gameplay and even won awards for its
animation which was created for the
first time in video game history by hand
drawing each frame you might say that
this particular movie tie-in game was
One Jump Ahead of the competition you
know like the song
okay I’ll see myself out number four
Luna the Silver Star Sega CD 88.4
percent clearly the secret to being a
successful game in 1993 was simply
sticking the word star somewhere in the
title because that’s three we’ve had now
although it was originally released in
Japan in mid-1992 Luna the Silver Star
didn’t make its way to North America
until December of the following year
which means that it gets to enjoy a spot
on today’s list according to its
creators the game was designed to be a
different kind of RPG by making use of
the at the time up and coming CD-ROM
technology unlike many of its peers Luna
the Silver Star featured high quality
audio full motion video and voice acting
which for a game of the time was quite
novel The Game centers on Alex a young
boy with dreams of becoming a Great Hero
upon discovering an ancient dragon Alex
and his friends find themselves on a
journey across the world to gather the
power to become the next dragon master
all in the hopes that they might save
the world critics lauded the title
praising its graphics music and story
and despite some complaints being
leveled at its combat system which a few
found dull it was still considered to be
one of the finest RPGs of the Year
number three The Legend of Zelda Link’s
Awakening Game Boy
89.82 Hey look everyone it’s Shigeru
Miyamoto and friends back with another
smashing 1993 title I don’t know where
they find the time the Legend of Zelda
links Awakening originally started out
as a project that aimed to Port A Link
to the Past from the SNES to the Game
Boy but it eventually grew in scope and
a new game was born the fourth
installment into the Legend of Zelda
franchise was the first that had ever
been released for a handheld system and
unlike its predecessors it didn’t take
place in Hyrule and featured neither the
Triforce nor Princess Zelda herself
instead Link’s Awakening saw the
eponymous protagonist stranded on an
island and task players with exploring
fighting monsters and solving puzzles in
order to collect musical instruments
that would awaken the wind fish and
allow link to escape Link’s Awakening
received critical Acclaim with some even
going as far as to call it the best Game
Boy game ever and it’s really not
surprising the story was engrossing and
the gameplay was hugely engaging there
were some complaints leveled at the
monochrome Graphics though the blame
there lies largely at the game boy’s
door and at the controls but all in all
Link’s Awakening was a solid adventure
for anyone looking to get to their Zelda
fix on the go number two Gabriel Knight
sins of the fathers PC 92.8 percent this
isn’t the first time that we’ve seen
novelist Gabriel Knight on one of these
lists as the follow-up to this
particular title was featured in The
Best of 1995 video though that game the
Beast Within A Gabriel Knight mystery
only made it to number six and whilst it
was great it wasn’t quite as good as its
predecessor Gabriel Knight sins of the
Fathers as you can probably guess the
game focuses its attention on the
titular Gabriel a struggling writer who
begins investigating a series of murders
in New Orleans in order to gain material
for his new book whilst on the trail of
the killer however he finds that he’s a
descendant of a German family who were
involved with hunting down Supernatural
forces and you thought your relatives
were weird Gabriel Knight sins of the
fathers did not do very well
commercially but it was a hit with the
critics mostly because of the fact that
it was genuinely scary the tense
atmosphere had been masterfully created
and blended with a story that kept
audiences hooked from beginning to end
it seems like the only sin here was the
fact that hardly anybody played the damn
thing and number one Maniac Mansion 2
day of the tentacle PC 95 you know big
franchises are all well and good but we
must admit that it is nice to see a game
that isn’t Mario metroid or The Legend
of Zelda in the number one spot for once
developed and published by LucasArts and
directed produced and designed joined by
Tim Schaefer and Dave Grossman of The
Secret of Monkey Island Fame Maniac
Mansion 2 day of the tentacle was the
sequel to the 1987 graphic adventure
Maniac Mansion players took control of
Bernard Bernoulli and his two friends
Hoagie and Laverne and were tasked with
solving puzzles and using time travel to
explore different periods throughout
history in order to stop the evil purple
tentacle from taking over the world yes
the premise was Bonkers but somehow it
worked critics barely had a bad word to
say about day of the tentacle lording
everything from its humor and voice
acting to his interface and design it
was an improvement over its predecessor
in every way and this is reflected in
its average review score sadly day of
the tentacle didn’t fare particularly
well commercially but all is not lost
because the remastered version is
available on Steam so now might be a
good time to go and show this
underappreciated classic the love that
it deserves
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