YEAH, Shogo was awesome, i still remember when i got to play a demo from some kind of PC Magazine long time ago, and was blown away. Man this thread, makes me go places.
Too many to list, back then they were making Real games.
EDIT: Thinking about my favorite list is depressing. Games were so much better back then, and I really don't think it's a "Rose Tinted Glasses" thing either. Front Page Sports: Football was so advanced, still more advanced than any football game made today. All of the great Sierra/Dynamix games....such an exciting time /sigh
Diablo 2 came out mid-2000 and LOD came out 2001. I said Diablo 1 because I follow the rules of the threads that I post in. If it was "Best PC Game up to and including 2000" I would have said Diablo 2 and if it was "Best PC Game up to and including 2001" I would have said Diablo 2: LOD.
Many of the games were also original ideas even if the execution wasn't that great by today standards.
It is hard to keep producing original ideas but the improved (sometimes they aren't improvements, quite the opposite) are something already seen so they lose some of the impact less polished but original games had.
Also 50-60 great games in a decade of gaming is only 5-6 games a year (which probably is better than we get now per year).