Editorial: Top 5 games of 2000

Published January 1, 2016

This entry is part 12 of 26 in the series Top 5 Games of the 25 Years The views contained in this article are that of the author and should not be taken as the opinion of Geek Node as a publication.

Before I jump into this week’s list, I’d like to thank you for reading it. I have a lot of fun putting these articles together and I appreciate you taking the time to read them. Lets get into it:

Tekken Tag Tournament (PS2)

We’re starting this list with my favourite Tekken game and the first of many PS2 games to feature in my ‘top five’ articles. My first memory of the game was actually on an episode of the inaugural Big Brother South Africa. I wasn’t jaded back then so I was really chuffed that gaming was getting mainstream coverage – now I realize it was a promotional spot. One of best things about this game was Tekken Bowl, a perfectly functional bowling game – I spent more time playing that than every Virtua Fighter ever released.

WWF No Mercy (N64)

WWF No Mercy is often hailed as the best wrestling video game ever made, and it’s not hard to see why. The game abandoned the clunky controls of WWF Attitude, added a lot more superstars to choose from, and introduced ladder matches to wrestling games. This was huge, mostly because Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon’s ladder match from Summerslam 1995 was a large part of my nineties nostalgia. I will do a Geeknode feature on my top five wrestling games, and WWF No Mercy will definitely be in it.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 (PSX)

The last great PS1 game, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 took the original winning formula and enhanced it in every possible way (adding create a skater and skatepark, manuals to link tricks and grinds). Tony Hawk Pro Skater is actually one of the highest rated video games of all time (coming in second after Nintendo’s masterpiece, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time). Think about that for a moment – that means that this game has a higher rating than all the GTAs, all the Super Mario games, Half-Life 2 and Red Dead Redemption.

TimeSplitters (PS2)

Another launch title, Timesplitters was created by Free Radical Design, mostly made up of ex-Rare people, which meant that the game felt a lot like Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark. The first person shooter had you travelling through a century (1935 – 2035), killing a whole host of eclectic individuals, and the best thing about it was that you could play co-op (granted, it wasn’t as good as Rainbow Six Vegas was in co-op, but it was welcome nonetheless).

Metal Slug 3 (Arcade)

This is the first year that my list includes a game from five different platforms. 2000 was one of those crossover years (like 2005 or 2013) where one platform was dominating over others. I had the pleasure of replaying Metal Slug 3 last year (it’s available on the PSN Store for around 70 rand) and while it’s not as great as I thought it was (the zombie bits were a miss), back in the day, when I was moving away from arcades (mostly because arcades turned into this gimmicky dance dance arena auditoriums), Metal Slug pulled me back in.

Here are some titles that might have made the list had I played them:

Diablo 2

Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Spiderman

To ensure consistency, here are the rules I follow when compiling these lists

I will only write about games I’ve played Even though I played most of these games a few years after they released, I will stick with the year they were released (otherwise this list will be all over the place)

Due to the second rule, it does mean I won’t be able to list gems like Super Mario Brothers and Circus Charlie

This entry is part of 26 in the series Top 5 Games of the 25 Years << Editorial: Top 5 games of 1999 Top 5 games of 2003 >>

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MJ Khan

Gaming / Entertainment Author at Geek Node

A veteran gamer and award-winning strategist, MJ enjoys eating chocolate eclairs and watching WWE. He completed his Masters coursework on videogame theory and enjoys writing about representation in games.