While Hong-Kong was re-claimed by the Chinese and your sister was out on a date watching "Titanic" others were saving up pocket money to buy a Nintendo 64. You simply cannot disagree that 1997 was a fantastic year for gaming. Why exactly? That is something we'll have a look into below.
Before I carry on with this I'd like to note that it'd be really cool if you reading this would share your thoughts and opinions on the games I highlighted below as I (and probably most other people) am not well familiar with all of them and might have totally missed the awesomeness of some or even generally missed to mention some cool games released that year.
Some other years I already covered, be sure to open them up in a new tab while reading this one.
A trip back to 1999 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1999 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1998 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1998 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1997 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1996 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1991 in gaming history
Having that out of the way, let's kick thing off!
- Final Fantasy VII
The story tells us about a group of eco-terrorists called "AVALANCHE" who hire the game's protagonist - Cloud Strife to fight a huge corporation planing to completely drain their planet's natural resources. Like most FF games, this one is a gem.
- Claw
Brave captain Captain Nathaniel Joseph Claw finds himself imprisoned by Cocker-Spaniards (oh the punz).
- Ignition
A fun little racing game by Virgin Interactive.
- Dreams to Reality
A first-person shooter brought to us by Cryo Interactive.
- Nightmare Creatures
Kalisto Entertainment released a survival-horror, which I personally remember having a lot of fun with. However reviewing the game now I realized that it didn't get many positive feedback back in the day. Do you remember this game, did you like it? Or was it just me?
- Fighting Force
A brilliant beat-em-up type of game, with the ability to interact with the environment (to a large extend) as a cherry on top!
I even remember beating this game together with my mom! (that's not a mom joke, that actually happened)
- Need for Speed II
I don't think the second one got even close to outperforming what the original NFS was, but still quite a decent one.
- Take No Prisoners
The game is set in a post-apocalyptic San Antonio, Texas where you need to retrieve a crystal that would protect you from radiation.
- Mageslayer
A top-down slasher, the first game of this kind that I ever actually played.
- Shadow Warrior
A proud example of an old school FPS.
- The City of Lost Children
- Interstate '76
Activision releases a vehicular combat game, might have been inspired by Twisted Metal's 1995 success.
- Krush, Kill 'n' Destroy
A delightful RTS by Beam Software.
- Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
I can say for sure that anyone who played this back in the day remembers the crawling feeling of despair while being lost in an ever-foggy rendering jungle and simply not knowing where to go. Nevertheless having dinosaurs as your enemies in an FPS seemed like a breath of fresh air back then.
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Castlevania: Dracula X sequel, I can surely call this one my favorite from the series.
- Doom 64
A new installment in the legendary Doom series, released exclusively for the N64 by Midway Games.
- The Last Express
A quest game designed by Jordan Mechner (he also created Prince of Persia).
- Theme Hospital
A hospital management simulator by Bullfrog Productions (I just love those Bullfrog games) with a good portion of "specific" humor.
- MDK
An abbreviation for Murder, Death, Kill.
And now I think it's time to wrap up my "Part 1" for 1997, I truly did not expect that this year would have so many awesome titles, so I had to spend a good few hours lining them up. 1997 was requested by 
If you would like to see a similar post about some specific year, let me know and I do it as one of my next posts.
In the meanwhile be sure to check out other years I've done so far and share any thoughts, memories you have about the titles I noted above.
A trip back to 1999 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1999 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1998 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1998 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1997 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1996 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1991 in gaming history
Thanks for reading!