What A Gamer Would Have Gotten For Christmas In 1999

If you haven’t seen it already, TheGamer team have been taking a trip down memory lane and recounting what gamers would have gotten for Christmas over the years. This time, it’s my turn to play tour guide as we venture into a Christmas from my past, only without the creepy Muppet ghosts to accompany us. Actually, they were probably there as The Muppet Christmas Carol was a staple in my household.

TheGamer recognises no Christmas Carol without Muppets.

The year is 1999. The Spice Girls era is winding down but Cher is teaching us there is life after love, and everyone is obsessed with Britney Spears and …Baby One More Time to the point where every girl at school has fluffy pink hair bands. Bucket hats and an abundance of denim are all you see when you leave the house—which sadly has come full circle again—but more importantly, a new craze sweeps the world: Pokemon.

Pokemon Red & Blue

While Americans had already been catching ‘em all for a year, in Europe we didn’t get Pokemon Red & Blue until October 1999, so you can bet it was a high priority item on many a gamer’s Christmas list.

If you had siblings and your parents were clever, they’d ensure there was at least one copy of each in your household. If, like me, you were the only Game Boy gamer in your house, you had to suck it up and accept that you might never get the whole Pokedex.

Spoiler alert, I never completed the Pokedex and eventually one of my brothers overwrote my save file with a new one where they named the protagonist Tw*t.

Game Link Cable

Sadly, I didn’t own one of these until the Game Boy was old news but that didn’t stop me coveting it. I had Pokemon Red. Pretty much everyone I knew had Pokemon Red. But I still wanted a game link cable on the off chance someone at school had Blue so we could trade Pokemon. Alas, it never happened.

Instead, I had to simply live on rumours of this mythical link cable and how you could clone Pokemon if you yanked it out at just the right time during a trade. To this day, I don’t know if that ever actually worked.

Final Fantasy 8

Time to highlight what was top of my Christmas list in 1999: Final Fantasy 8. I even tore out a gaming magazine page about it and gave it to my parents to ensure they got the right game. Don’t worry, they did.

I had played FF8 earlier in the year at my cousin’s house and utterly fallen in love with it. While I’d also played FF7 at a friend’s house previously, it just didn’t grip me in the same way – sorry Cloud stans. FF8 went on to become the first FF game I completed, forever solidifying it as my favourite FF game of all time.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

If you weren’t a skater kid already, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was about to convert you. Suddenly everyone was talking about ollies and heelflips, and apparently being able to nail the tricks in game meant you must be a great skater in person too. It was far from true, but that didn’t stop kids carrying around skateboards but never actually using them in front of others in order to maintain the facade.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was so far up the cool list, even the non-gamers wanted a piece of it. I was never any good at it, yet I still have my old battered copy lurking amongst my games. No, I can’t skateboard in real life either.

Donkey Kong 64

For those who were blessed by the Nintendo gods and their parents, Donkey Kong 64 was perfectly timed for Christmas. To this day, it remains one of the best Donkey Kong games ever made, but if you played it back in ‘99, you were clearly better than the rest of us.

We can only imagine what it would be like if Rare still made Donkey Kong games…

Rollercoaster Tycoon

I was obsessed with Rollercoaster Tycoon on PC. In fact, I’m still obsessed and despite the later and greater versions and reiterations of this genre, sometimes I’ll still go back to this old classic because I like dunking visitors in the water and watching them squirm. Oh, and obviously building attractions and roller coasters.

If Rollercoaster Tycoon wasn’t your PC jam, you may have put Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun or Unreal Tournament on your Christmas list instead. Solid alternatives.

Silent Hill

Who knew that this game would be the start of something that resonated with so many people that it’s lasted over 25 years? To this day, people around the world can’t help but say “It’s like Silent Hill out there” every time it’s foggy. Silent Hill became one of the ultimate horror genre classics, and it spooks me just as much now as it did back in 1999.

Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage (Gateway To Glimmer)

Our favourite purple dragon returned in 1999. In Europe, it was Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer, which I think is the better name, but for the rest of you it was Ripto’s Rage. Whatever you called it, this was a fantastic sequel to a beloved classic, and an instant win if you found it wrapped under your tree. Were you even a real PlayStation owner if you didn’t put this on your Christmas list?

Alternatively, Ape Escape was another fantastic platformer to launch this year that might have made its way onto your Christmas list.

Super Smash Bros.

We all have our favourite fighters, right? We also all have that character we hate that others pick. I was the annoying person who chose Kirby and floated out of reach as I was not skilled enough to stay in close range. Sadly, it never saved me for long.

I used to play this at my friend’s house as she was a Nintendo girlie and I was a PlayStation girlie. We managed to share our love for games and also beat each other up on Nintendo stages every weekend. This was an absolute banger to have on your Christmas list in 1999.

Crash Team Racing

PlayStation may have had giants like Gran Turismo, but we couldn’t help but look at Nintendo fans playing Mario Kart with a little bit of jealousy. We also wanted a fun little kart racer, and Crash Bandicoot was only too happy to deliver with Crash Team Racing. Was it as good as Mario Kart? No. But it was the closest thing we had and was a great pick for when you needed something co-op for the family to play.