The 1990s were a pivotal decade for the gaming industry. The video game crash of 1983 was still fresh in the mind of many, while some people were skeptical that the success of the NES was a one-off. Thankfully, the 1990s hit the ground running with the release of the SNES, which was followed by a handful of other excellent consoles like the PlayStation 1, Dreamcast, and Nintendo 64.
Although these '90s consoles provided the platform for great things, it was the games themselves that made them shine. The vast majority of gaming releases in the '90s featured a mascot character or hero as the leading star, many of which are still among the most iconic names in gaming today.
8 Spyro The Dragon
The original Spyro the Dragon was released in 1998 and, like many late-90s platformers, took a leaf out of Super Mario 64's book with open levels that contained numerous challenges to complete and collectibles to find. Spyro's second adventure, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (also known as Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer), was released in 1999 and expanded upon the series with a larger story, more side objectives, and new abilities.
Spyro's third adventure was released just outside of the '90s in October 2000 and topped off the PS1 trilogy with another excellent outing.
7 Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic The Hedgehog was created by Sega with one clear goal in mind: replace Mario as gaming's number one mascot character. This was one of many ways that Sega tried to knock Nintendo off their perch, which included their famous marketing slogan for the Sega Genesis, "Genesis does what Nintendon't."
Sonic and Sega may have failed in their objective, but the blue hedgehog still gave '90s gamers some wonderful memories, particularly with Sonic Adventure and the original trilogy.
6 Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong's first appearance came in 1981 with the iconic arcade game of the same name that also featured the first appearance of Mario (more on him later). A handful of other Donkey Kong games were released in the years that followed before the franchise went on a 10-year hiatus following 1984's Donkey Kong Hockey.
Although there were a handful of fantastic Donkey Kong games in the '90s, 1994's Donkey Kong Country on the SNES stood out above the rest. Donkey Kong Country set an incredibly high bar for side-scrolling platformers, one that some argue still hasn't been topped.
5 Crash Bandicoot
When the PlayStation 1 was first released, Sony had the intention of gearing the console towards more mature gamers than what Nintendo and Sega were marketing to. Despite this, Sony knew that not having a mascot character would be a risk, so Crash Bandicoot was unofficially given the role.
Although the original Crash Bandicoot game shows its age today, it was a huge hit at the time. The game featured corridor-style levels, a form of platforming that still to this day hasn't been well-replicated by any other franchise. Crash received a trilogy of platforming games in the 90s, along with an excellent kart racer with unapologetic similarities to Mario Kart.
4 Solid Snake
Solid Snake differentiates himself from most other characters on this list with his realistic appearance. As mentioned before, Sony were marketing their PlayStation 1 to mature audiences, something that Snake embodied in 1998's Metal Gear Solid.
Metal Gear Solid wasn't only an important release for showing mainstream audiences that gaming wasn't just cartoony characters and platforming; it was also important for its revolutionary stealth gameplay and in-engine cinematic cutscenes, which were groundbreaking at the time.
3 Lara Croft
The first Tomb Raider game was released in October 1996 and was fundamental to the rise of female protagonists in gaming. The series' Indiana Jones-inspired action-adventure gameplay, historical fantasy setting, and mix of gunfighting and puzzle-solving have been replicated in numerous games since the first Tomb Raider's release, making the franchise one of the 1990s most influential.
2 Link
Link featured in not one but two of the greatest games of all time in the '90s with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which is still the highest-rated game on Metacritic, both releasing in the decade - along with the critically-acclaimed The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.
A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time were both groundbreaking releases at the time and are still influencing numerous games today, over 20 years after they first hit stores.
1 Mario
There's a good chance that no gaming character will ever have a better decade than Mario in the 1990s. Like Link, Nintendo's mascot featured in two of the greatest games of all time with Super Mario World and Super Mario 64, the latter of which was revolutionary for its open 3D levels.
Along with the Super Mario games, there were also a number of Mario spin-off releases in the 90s, including Dr. Mario, Mario Kart 64, Mario Party, and Super Smash Bros.