Another year, another reflection on another batch of video games... but this year is different. Because 2018 was the best year for video games ever.

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Contender: 1982

Yars’ Revenge was one of the most beloved console originals of a generation and the Atari 2600's most best-selling original game.

“ Other classics include Chopper Command, Atlantis, River Raid, Demon Attack, and Starmaster.

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Don’t believe me? Take a close look at the chief contenders below and make up your own mind... but watch out, because 2018 was pretty nuts. Please note that this timeline has a strong American bias since it mostly reflects US release dates... awesome developments in Japan, Europe, and elsewhere that didn’t have an immediate impact in the US aren’t covered here. That means a lot of important contributions to Japanese and UK gaming history have to wait until they have an impact on the American market. We’re looking at you, Rare.Below is a list of the best years in gaming history, all leading up to the spectacular 2018.By 1982, video games had gone mainstream. The American arcade was near its domestic zenith. The list of arcade cabinets distributed in ‘82 is a murderers’ row of classics: Ms. Pac Man, Pole Position, Dig Dug, Q-Bert, Robotron, Joust, Time Pilot, Tron, Mr. Do, Sinistar, Donkey Kong Jr, Jungle Hunt, Popeye, Tron, Moon Patrol, Xevious, Kangaroo, and Burger Time, among many others.Coleco joined the home gaming fray with a brand new next-gen console, the Colecovision. Aimed at producing high-quality home arcade ports, Colecovision was far more powerful than its chief American competitors. The pack-in home version of arcade smash hit Donkey Kong was an instant system seller, and Coleco also saw excellent 1982 ports of Zaxxon, Lady Bug, Venture, and other classics. Rival Intellivision also released several stellar games in 1982, including Beauty and the Beast, Night Stalker, Utopia, Shark! Shark!, and the first licensed Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game for consoles.

Assembly-language programming made great strides on the popular Apple II, resulting in fast-action games like Choplifter that would previously have seemed unimaginable on five-year-old hardware, paving the way for a new wave of originals the following years.

Contender: 1983

“ Arcades were magnificent pleasure domes of breakthrough technology.

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Contender: 1990

“ In an age where Nintendo ruled the world of gaming, 1990 was peak NES.

10 Best NES Games of All Time 11 IMAGES

Meanwhile on home computers the state of gaming was maturing past the wild west years. Seminal RPGs Ultima and Wizardry both released their first sequels, taking the first steps in transforming these influential early adventures into lasting franchises. Stellar ports of arcade games began to appear with great frequency on home computers, including the lauded Frogger for Atari 800 and Omega Race on the VIC-20. Big Five’s original Miner 2049er came to the popular Atari and TRS-80 line of home computers, and legendary designer Jeff Minter continued his career in earnest with several new Llamasoft software releases for VIC-20, including the mind-blowing Gridrunner. Infocom told new stories in Planetfall and Deadline and wrapped up the original Zork trilogy with Zork III. And the best-selling gaming PC of all time launched in the Commodore 64 Arcades were magnificent pleasure domes of breakthrough technology. 1983 brought the world Atari’s Star Wars, one of the most impressive and fun cabinets of all time. Dragon’s Lair roared into arcades with lovingly-rendered Don Bluth animation that seemed like something straight out of the future. Also making their first appearances in arcades were classics like Mario Brothers, Crystal Castles, Spy Hunter, Star Trek, Congo Bongo, Discs of Tron, I, Robot, Major Havoc, Gyruss, Tapper, and Mappy.And on the home computer front, 1983 was probably the best year of them all. A massive price war drove consumer costs for computers to levels so low that many families were able to pick up their first PC, and most chose the game-friendly Apple, C64, and Atari lines. Newcomer EA published several of eight-bit computing’s all-time greats in their debut year: Archon, M.U.L.E., Realm of Impossibility, Pinball Construction Set, and One on One. Fast-paced early platforming action games like Jumpman and Lode Runner pushed the boundaries of what computer games could do. Sierra revolutionized adventure games with King’s Quest and Dark Crystal, and Richard Garriott’s RPG powers reached new heights in the revolutionary, party-based Ultima III, while the original Wizardry trilogy wrapped up with its third installment.A refueled Sega had come back swinging the previous year with the new Genesis, and in 1990 it offered plenty of new reasons to buy the box that did what Ninten-didn’t: the incredible RPG Phantasy Star II, the cutting-edge shooter MUSHA, the genre-defining RTS game Herzog Zwei, a great home port of Strider, and the first console Madden game ever. But Nintendo countered with the late 1990 release of their own 16-bit console and accompanying classic Super Mario World, F-Zero, and Actraiser.

A very small and isolated group of enthusiasts were discovering that the bleeding-edge world of CD gaming was freaking awesome while playing Ys and Valis on their TurboGrafix 16s.

Contender: 1998

“ 1998 was probably the most important year ever for the lasting legacy of handheld gaming.

All 20 Games on the PlayStation Classic 21 IMAGES

Over in computer-land, the Microsoft juggernaut was strangling practically all competitors. The Apple II line enjoyed its last gasp of gaming relevance in the quirky and intriguing The Immortal, and America’s lonely Amiga owners were playing the superb Turrican, but for most of us here in the states it was a PC world. LucasArts took a lot of the pain out of adventure games and made us all laugh out loud with Monkey Island. The revolutionary seamless open world of Ultima VI changed the way designers approached RPGs for a generation, and , and Sid Meier made us feel like Railroad Tycoons. Dynamix’s The Red Baron redefined combat flight sims, then Wing Commander took the already-popular genre straight into outer space.The best Final Fantasy game of them all descended in glory upon an unsuspecting PlayStation in 1998 in the form of Final Fantasy Tactics, and some folks even found time to play it between their time with classics like Einhander, Resident Evil 2, and Mega Man Legends. But even Tactics was culturally eclipsed by the unexpectedly impressive series reboot Metal Gear Solid, a game so distinctly flavorful, wacky, and wonderful that it became a cultural touchstone for generations to follow. Also, Suikoden II came out, was the best game of the year, and nobody cared... and I’m still bitter about that.Meanwhile, depressed Saturn owners were getting the last gasp of joy out of their much-maligned mechanical monstrosity with the superb Panzer Dragoon Saga and their import copies of Radiant Silvergun. Dusty N64s nationwide were hauled back out of closets to play a new series called Mario Party, a new Star Wars game called Rogue Squadron, and a new Zelda where Link played this weird flute thingy. And while I hate to mention it, a crappy overrated Mario 64 clone about a bear and a bird came out and some misguided people liked it.

Resident Evil 2, Metal Gear Solid, Suikoden II, Final Fantasy Tactics, Starcraft, Fallout 2, Unreal, Grim Fandango, Mega Man Legends, Thief, Baldur's Gate, Spyro the Dragon, and so much more.

Contender: 2007

“ The Nintendo DS began to establish its place in history as a hardcore niche and RPG powerhouse.

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“ Rock Band redefined party games and Assassin’s Creed was born on PlayStation and Xbox.

Contender: 2017

Every Modern IGN 10/10 and Where to Play Them 23 IMAGES

“ The Switch opened the floodgates of indie gaming on the go.

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“ PUBG and Fortnite helped popularize a little game mode called Battle Royale...

And the Winner... 2018

“ 2018 was a year of comebacks, re-imaginings, and some startling new ideas.

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“ A few games were so creatively original they defied genre conventions.

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“ 2018 was a year when games felt hopeful, straining against tradition at the cusp of something new.

On the PC front, things were somehow even better: Starcraft, Unreal, Grim Fandango, Rainbow Six, Fallout 2, Delta Force, Tribes, Thief, and Baldur’s Gate were all born. Oh, and also Half-Life.But even PCs didn’t have the year that Nintendo did with their handheld thanks to somebody harnessing a rarely-used link cable feature on the nine-year-old Game Boy hardware that allowed for a cute little trading game called Pokemon to become a multimedia sensation for decades.On the cross-platform front, things got even better as Rock Band redefined party games and Assassin’s Creed was born on PlayStation and Xbox. And PC and console-owners alike rejoiced at the release of The Orange Box, a package including a reissue of Half-Life 2, a new expansion, and a new Team Fortress alongside one of gaming’s most enduring works of art: Portal.Remember when everybody thought Switch would flop? It wasn’t all that long ago that the hybrid handheld seemed doomed to the dustbin of Nintendo’s less-catchy ideas alongside the Virtual Boy and Wii U gamepad. But when you launch with the greatest Zelda of them all, and follow up with the spiritual superb sequel to Mario 64, suddenly the strange form factor and lack of Netflix support seemed to mean a lot less.And though the 3DS was rapidly overshadowed by its new big brother, Nintendo also managed to give us a superb 2D Metroid as a parting gift.Premium mobile games made a strong comeback, with storytelling delights like Florence alongside super-solid arcade games like HAL’s Part Time UFO and the surreal puzzles of Donut County. We Switched our way to the best Smash Brothers ever, returned to the Kanto Region, and learned we could take pretty much all of our favorite indie games on the road with us. PC gaming likewise flourished in the indie space with delightful new classics like Return of the Obra Dinn. Only the poor Xbox felt a little left behind, its lean exclusive offerings partially mitigated by its ever-growing and excellent backward-compatibility library.

Jared Petty produces Red Dead Radio: The Read Dead Redemption Podcast , the quiz show Contestants Are You Ready , the video essay series Hop, Blip, and a Jump , and the storytelling podcast Pockets Full of Soup . He's a host at Kinda Funny Games and a frequent contributor to IGN. He wants to write one of these for every year. Follow him on Twitter @pettycommajared and on Instagram @pettycommajared