5 Games From the 1990s You Forgot Were Awesome

The 1990s were filled with great games. Many of those went on to become hit series. From Sonic the Hedgehog to Mortal Kombat to Resident Evil, the ‘90s were instrumental in building several all-time series. However, many of the era’s best games have been forgotten over time. There are dozens of games that fit that bill, so think of the games below as a representation of the era. I’ve selected games from some of the most important genres of the era that players just don’t talk about anymore. Hopefully, that changes soon, but for several of these, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Here are five awesome ‘90s games that deserve more love.

5) Wetrix

• Release Date: June 12th, 1998
• Platforms: Nintendo 64, PC, Game Boy Color, Dreamcast

When the local video store closed in my hometown in the late ’90s, my grandpa went out and bought as many N64 carts as he could get his hands on because he knew I loved games. Somehow, in that collection of 20 or so carts, there were two copies of Wetrix.

You might wonder why anyone would need two copies of Wetrix, and I really didn’t, but having two copies meant I could spread the good word of Wetrix on the playground without worrying that a friend would “permanently borrow” my copy.

Wetrix is a weird mish-mash of Tetris and more complicated puzzle games. You’re given chunks of water that drop onto terrain. You want to keep the water on the level, so you’ll also need to use blocks to raise and lower the terrain, creating valleys for the water to safely sit in.

It didn’t sell well, but Wetrix is one of the more inventive puzzle games of the era. The PlayStation 2 sequel, Aqua Aqua, is also worth playing, but it came out in 2000, so it narrowly misses this list.

4) Road Rash 2

• Release Date: December 1992
• Platform: Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Game Boy Color (2000)

Electronic Arts knew it had something great on its hands with the first Road Rash. Obstensibly a motorcycle racer, Road Rash added the ability to use clubs to knock your opponents off track, clearing the path for you to win the race.

That extra layer of violence made fans fall in love with the first game, and the sequel upped the ante. Most importantly, you could now jump into split-screen mode and race with your friends. EA also added a few extra wrinkles to keep combat racing fresh. Now, you had access to a nitrous boost and a chain to supplement the first game’s clubs.

The series went on to have several more entries, but nothing has topped the second Road Rash. Unfortunately, the two attempts at a spiritual successor (Road Redemption and Road Rage) have failed to capture the magic.

3) Wing Commander

• Release Date: September 26, 1990
• Platforms: MS-DOS, SNES, Amiga, CD32, Sega CD, Mac, Windows

Wing Commander is the most popular game on this list, and it’s not close. Chris Roberts’ acclaimed first game went on to spawn a media franchise. There were ten more games, a novel series, a TV series starring Mark Hammill and Malcolm McDowell, a 1999 film with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard, and a collectible card game.

With all that, you might be surprised to learn that the last Roberts-led Wing Commander came out in 1996. And the last Wing Commander, in general, launched in 2007. It’s a bit strange that we’ve never seen another Wing Commander game in the years since.

Well, maybe it’s not that strange. After finishing Wing Commander 4, Roberts went on to make two more space sims in Starlancer and Freelancer. Then, he announced Star Citizen in 2011. That game quickly became one of the biggest Kickstarter success stories of all time. Fourteen years later, it’s still in active development, but the single-player version, Squadron 42, is supposedly launching in 2026.

2) Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

• Release Date: December 10, 1998
• Platforms: N64, PC

Turok 2 has a few warts. The inconsistent frame rate can be frustrating, and it uses fog to hide its poor draw distance. That said, there’s something about seeing a Cerebral Bore in action that makes you forget any of Turok 2‘s technical issues.

The legendary gun fires a homing missile that latches onto your enemy’s head. Then, it drills into their skull, showing you in grisly detail their brain matter spewing across the floor. Look, GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark might be better shooters, but they were never as cool as Seeds of Evil.

For what it’s worth, Turok has tried to stick around in the years since. There was a middling shooter on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. And a chibi-style action/adventure that’s based more on the original comics. Both of those are better left forgotten, but hopefully, the upcoming Turok: Origins will recapture the cool-factor of Seeds of Evil.

1) Primal Rage

• Release Date: August 1994
• Platforms: Arcade, Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, SNES, MS-DOS, 32X, 3DO, PlayStation, Jaguar CD, Amiga, Saturn

Primal Rage might be the most ’90s game ever. It launched at the height of fighting games’ popularity, following in the footsteps of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter 2. And thanks to Jurassic Park’s chart-topping release in 1993, dinosaurs were more popular than ever.

Primal Rage mixed dinosaurs with a solid fighting game, and the result was a huge success for Atari. It quickly became one of the top games in the arcade, and Atari went on a marketing blitz. In fact, it’s fair to say Primal Rage was more of a success in merchandising than game sales.

There were action figures and a comic book, both of which sold so well that Atari started working on a sequel in 1995, despite the console ports of the first game being lackluster. Primal Rage 2 was planned to expand to six buttons and up the roster from seven to 17. Unfortunately, it never saw the light of day outside of emulators. That said, Atari still wanted to make money, so the second game’s story was adapted into a 1997 novel written by John Vornholt.

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