Yeah Quake was fun, that was 1996. I never tried Quake III.
14 years ago,
Rollcage, released in 1999, an arcade-style racing game, is not a realistic simulation like today's car racing games. It featured impossible racing action (driving on walls and ceilings), indestructible cars (with weapons), and spectacular crashes. The graphics still look good. I still have the CD. I installed it on my current computer (last year) and it was running so fast, it was impossible to play. I've been meaning to try one of those apps that are supposed to slow down it's execution rate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollcage_%28video_game%29
Going back 20 years ago,
The Doom series, started in 1993, and the Duke Nukem series, started in 1991, consumed a ton of my time. I remember going to work groggy after staying up all night killing 'bad guys' and searching for hidden items (mostly better weapons).