1994: Sega NHL '94 is simply the greatest video game ever. My college roommate had a TV, and I had a Sega Genesis & NHL '94. At any given time between 9am and 10pm, 7 days a week, there were usually 2 to 6 people in our room playing that game. I'd leave for class with a bunch of folks watching or playing, coming back three hours later to find a completely different group worshipping at the shrine of NHL '94.I think you can make a solid case for NHL 94 as best game ever--I was much younger when I played it, but I had the similar experience of playing this game for hours, day in and day out, every day (esp. in the summer). I'd go down to my friend Raja's house and I'd play as the Red Wings (Yzerman, Federov, Chelios, and fucking Coffee? Goodnight) and he'd play as the Kings (Wayne was a sentimental favorite) or Blackhawks (Roenick was a monster, as was Belfour). He beat me most of the time, but I beat him enough to where it was competitive and fun to play. Man.
To be fair, I haven't played many of the later generation sports games...for instance, I've never played any of the Madden games. So maybe there's someone out there who knows better.
