What was your most anticipated game release ever

[MajinRyu]

Shenmue II, I waited 2 long years

[Riptwo]

MK2 for SNES. When I was a kid waiting for this game, I called the video game shop so often to find out if it arrived that the store broke release date just to shut me up. Good times, good times.

[Despair]

Well, Seeing Diablo 2 as one of the games mentioned, reminded me of my own anticipation of original Diablo. I was extremely excited about that game, and was counting days till its release. It was beginning of my D obsession, that lasted for the next 6 months

[SMBChick]

Donkey Kong Country...

I know, I know... it's not a likely choice, but the day I got it was the best game day ever.

[Tsubaki]

Realistically, it's probably some of the popular choices here.

Super Mario 3 for the reasons Videodrone mentioned. I also watched the Wizard in the theater just to see SMB3 :P

Street Fighter II SNES because I went to the arcade every day after school, and the chance to have a home conversion? I was totally all over it. Quite possibly the game that I had the most play-time with ever.

But one I can really attest to is Grandia II. Really... Grandia is simply my favorite game of all time. And the fact that a sequel was coming out was a dream come true. I ended up buying the import at a local store for about $80 because I wanted it in my hands the day it came out, versus $60-65 from an online store where they'd ship it from Japan to east coast (NCS/VGD), only to send it back to west coast to California where I live. I beat the game in 5 days and I loved every moment of it. Was I disappointed? Oh yeah, sure. It didn't end up being half the game Grandia was, in game length and also the dumbed-down gameplay. But it was still pretty darn fun, hokey story elements or no.

[James]

Lunar 2, Sega CD. I really liked Lunar 1 and everything in the game looked amazing. Not only did it not disappoint, it exceeded every expectation.

Other runners up would be Rez, Alundra, Serious Sam: Second Encounter, and Steel Battalion. Sadly, I think I like having Steel Battalion more than I actually enjoy playing it, but then again I love having it.

There's only a few right now I actually am hyped for- Zelda looks great and Serious Sam 2 will be along in a while. Can't really think of anything else now that the holiday releases are done. Then again, my Game of the Year for '02 came out in February/March with no advance hype at all- Gitaroo Man.

James

[xS]

Originally posted by Briscobold
Scratch that shit- this is what I meant to say:

The next Castlevania game.

Werd.

As long as if it's not portable.o_O

Mine was Zelda:TOOT I think.

[Yoshi]

Street Fighter II on Genesis, since there was no way I was bastardizing the best arcade game ever made with that horrid SNES dogbone.

[Tracer]

Sonic the Hedgehog.  That's about it.

[MVS]

I'd have to go with GTA VC. I just wanted that game, plain wanted it. It was the only game that made me wish I was in the industry, just to play it that much sooner.

It's a good game, actually started playing it again, but it was a disappointment for me, and could not live up to the hype that I had for it.