The most influential games of all time

[Lee]

I have quite the list here of some of the most influential games of all time, so with that I will be presenting it to the people of WZ. Kind of a history lesson for those who don't have a clue.

So first off I will start with the game that inspired me to start this thread. One time I was in Game (a video games shop in the UK) and the guy in front of me was bringing back "Wolfenstein" for the Xbox360, he said to the clerk "It seemed to be a rip off of COD" the clerk then replies "Yeah I thought the same" needless to say they both got an earful. So here we have the first makor first person shooter of all time (Yes I know about maze sheesh):

Released in 1992, Wolfenstein brought FPS's the the world on a major scale, for the year after it spawned numerous clones of this rather innovative style of gameplay. A simple plot of escaping a castle and overthrowing the Nazi regime (incidentally it's the third in the series). This game had some major influence accross the board. Nice and simple it worked.

Lets turn it up a notch. Same company (id software) decide to make the same sort of game, but oomph the graphics. Add to that much improved visuals and a sci fi/horror setting. We have Doom.

Doom is to this day one of the most popular games of all time. I don't need to tell you of its influence on titles like Goldeneye, like COD, like Medal of honor, like Duke Nukem, Quake, Rainbow Six, Resident evil etc etc.

So to start off we have:
Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. Much more games will follow.

 

[Pekoe Boulevard]

I would have to say Mortal Kombat, as it was really the first game out there for consoles and arcades to show a very brutal side of the martial arts games that we were accustomed to at the time, and it ushered in the BLOOD and GORE era that really revolutionized video gaming and it's effects can still be seen in video games today.

 

[Lee]

I would have to say Mortal Kombat, as it was really the first game out there for consoles and arcades to show a very brutal side of the martial arts games that we were accustomed to at the time, and it ushered in the BLOOD and GORE era that really revolutionized video gaming and it's effects can still be seen in video games today.

I have a lot more games to come. Motal Kombat however isn't on that list. I'd hardly say it brought in a Blood and gore era of video gaming. You had lethal enforcers come out the month before that was pretty similar with blood and gore. They took Street fighter II and added blood (which we had seen in games at the time, including wolfenstein), nothing too exciting about that for it to be deemed an influential game.

 

[goodlay]

I have to say Super Mario 64. Before SM64, the closest thing we had to a 3D platformer was Crash Bandicoot, but that wasn't anything to what SM64 would bring. The idea of exploring a vast and lush 3D world had never been executed so perfectly. It set the standard for so many games we've seen since then, that have tried to top the standard that SM64 set.

Im kind of biased because it's one of my favorite games of all time, but you can't deny the impact that it had on the gaming industry. I still play it occasionally today, because running and jumping around in SM64 is just so damn fun. Not to mention the whole Luigi mystery was awesome and finding Yoshi on top of the castle was just badass.

 

[ABMorales787]

One I feel will most likely go unappreciated has to be Soul Reaver. This game featured CG animation that made people drop their jaws. This is the game that showed what the Playstation could do and layed out the foundation for future games. Games like Final Fantasy VII, Legend Of Dragoon and many other alike. Not to mention how it took the 3D gameplay style by the horns with its complex puzzles and huge world.

 

[Lee]

I have to say Super Mario 64. Before SM64, the closest thing we had to a 3D platformer was Crash Bandicoot, but that wasn't anything to what SM64 would bring. The idea of exploring a vast and lush 3D world had never been executed so perfectly. It set the standard for so many games we've seen since then, that have tried to top the standard that SM64 set.

Im kind of biased because it's one of my favorite games of all time, but you can't deny the impact that it had on the gaming industry. I still play it occasionally today, because running and jumping around in SM64 is just so damn fun. Not to mention the whole Luigi mystery was awesome and finding Yoshi on top of the castle was just badass.

As if I'd miss Nintendo's influence, that will be looked at

One I feel will most likely go unappreciated has to be Soul Reaver. This game featured CG animation that made people drop their jaws. This is the game that showed what the Playstation could do and layed out the foundation for future games. Games like Final Fantasy VII, Legend Of Dragoon and many other alike. Not to mention how it took the 3D gameplay style by the horns with its complex puzzles and huge world.

Soul Reaver isn't on my list for the simple fact that it was released two years after FFVII which I feel had the bigger influence of the two of the gaming market. FFVII is on my list, but Soul Reaver is a pretty damn good game. Just not too influential.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Great thread, Lee. I look forward in particular to what you'll have to say about FF7. As for Wolfenstein.... There is certainly no doubt that every modern FPS game should thank Wolfenstein because without it they might not exist. Its influence was shown in Doom, like you pointed out. FPS games that came afterwards such as Goldeneye or Halo would be drastically different without Wolfenstein having come out first due to the major influences it had on the genre, it does not always get the credit that it deserves.

 

[Trill Co$by]

I have a lot more games to come. Motal Kombat however isn't on that list. I'd hardly say it brought in a Blood and gore era of video gaming. You had lethal enforcers come out the month before that was pretty similar with blood and gore. They took Street fighter II and added blood (which we had seen in games at the time, including wolfenstein), nothing too exciting about that for it to be deemed an influential game.

This might be true, but look at the reception MK games get as opposed to any other fighting game. MK series has proven they're a consistent fighting game title as they have out lasted countless others... most notably (for me) would be Killer Instinct.

Sure MK may not have brought blood into games, but it did bring the deaths of video games into a new era. I mean it was different than the fire and they explode or the jump on their head to make them explode sequence. MK brought us vicious death scenes that was just unarguably influential to the gaming industry.

Plus, imo, MK revolutionized the graphics of fighting games. The first MK game's graphics (at the time) was amazing.

 

[Kashagi]

This might be true, but look at the reception MK games get as opposed to any other fighting game. MK series has proven they're a consistent fighting game title as they have out lasted countless others... most notably (for me) would be Killer Instinct.

Sure MK may not have brought blood into games, but it did bring the deaths of video games into a new era. I mean it was different than the fire and they explode or the jump on their head to make them explode sequence. MK brought us vicious death scenes that was just unarguably influential to the gaming industry.

Plus, imo, MK revolutionized the graphics of fighting games. The first MK game's graphics (at the time) was amazing.

I fail to see how we could attribute Mortal Kombat to influencing creative deaths in games, although I would say it is true, why is that important? Video game deaths and their creativity is not really something to write about compared to a game such as Wolfenstein 3D which made popular the FPS genre, or a much better fighting game called Street Fighter 2, which set the standard for what a great fighting game could be.

I am a tad biased because I feel Mortal Kombat is one of the most overrated series in videogames, but other then the creative ways of killing each other off (or not), how is this game influential? It was a ok fighting game with one particularly great game and then a continuing decline from then on. I just dont think being creative in that sense is enough to warrant an honour for its influence. Not when Street Fighter 2 is right there. Come to think about it, I am beginning to wonder if maybe it should get the praise your insisting for creativity.

I present to you, Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight. A Game that came out the year before Mortal Kombat, in which a dragon could bite you in half into a bloody mess (just like Mortal Kombat!), where a mud man can drag you underground to suffocate to death, where you can literally splatter across the ground in a mess of blood from the club of a troll, where decapitations between players are expected, where a player can be impaled on a spear and then stood up, to die slowly. Thats not to mention the countless other ways to die in the game, my favourite being hung from a tree by the tail of a monster.

Sure the game isnt as well known and certainly shouldnt go on this list either, but it was released before Mortal Kombat and had plenty of creative deaths, I doubt I have even mentioned a quarter of them here. Check that game out, its short lived but well worth the time spent.

I am sorry, but I just dont think Mortal Kombat deserves to be on any videogaming list other then most contriversal or most overrated.

 

[Lee]

Allright Nintendo's turn...ladies and gentlemen: Donkey Kong

The video games crash of the early 80s caused the second generation of games consoles to come to an abrupt end, video games was an almost dead medium in North America, certainly in Europe. However there was something going on over in a place called Japan.

Step forward the Nintendo corporation and their young man Shigeru Miyamoto. Nintendo had previously attempted to break into the NA market and failed drastically with the Radar Scope, so they stepped up and decided to make a game based on the famous Popeye the sailor man. Here they would have Bluto kidnap Olive Oyl and Popeye climb some ladders to rescue her, however the license deal fell through. The decision by Nintendo was to then change the characters...Bluto became and ape, Olive Oyl became Pauline and Popeye became a carpenter dressed in red of Italian descent who was eventually named Mario.

This game opened the doors for Nintendo in NA, with that came the NES and Sega did the same. This was a huge boom period for video games and has gone down as the game to save the industry.

So what happened next? Super Mario Bros

I think IGN summed it up best "Making a list of how many games were influences by SMB is like trying to make a list of how many movies were influenced by Citizen Cane"

The diverse set of enemies, the side scrolling platform style, precise controls, huge array of levels, some damn good secrets, Controlling speed and distance. SMB had it all, and it is for that why it is listed in the most influential games of all time, it's looking a little dated now but my word it's still fun to play!

You'd think Miyamoto having two games on my list was good enough, there's another two by him!

 

[Lee]

This game I hold that every single person who has ever played a video game has played this at some point. It's on cellphones, it's on fb games, it's on flash games, it's had countless clones/remakes but the one we all know and love was on the wonderful GameBoy.

Spoiler

I have found 50 variants, roughly that carry the Tetris name, plus the likes of bejewelled/Dr Mario are heavily influenced by this.

Add to that the classic 'tetris effect' which is a real life condition where people put shapes together in their minds.

In January 2010, it was announced that Tetris has sold more than 100 million copies for cell phones alone since 2005. Tetris itself sold 35 million for the Gameboy, and another 35 million for NES/Atari and what have you.

The influence of this game is phenomenal pretty much giving us the hand held console genre and making it popular.

It's best summed up in a quote by publisher Henrik Rogers ""I always thought that every game has a certain shelf life," he says. "In the early PC business it would take somebody else a year to copy your game, so I thought we had a year or two before somebody came up with a better Tetris."

"You know what? They tried. But in 25 years, nobody has."

 

[Lee]

Next up is one that holds a place in my heart!

Simply put this game released in 1986 has had such a major influence on games it's unbelievable. To my knowledge it was the first console game to allow you to save data rather than using passwords. Wiki sums up the influence on gaming as this:

The Legend of Zelda is considered a spiritual forerunner of the console role-playing game (RPG) genre. Though its gameplay elements are different from those of typical computer or console RPGs, its bright, anime-like graphics, fantasy setting, and musical style were adopted by many RPGs. Its commercial success helped lay the groundwork for involved, nonlinear games in fantasy settings, such as those found in successful RPGs, including Crystalis, Soul Blazer, Square's Seiken Densetsu series, Alundra and Brave Fencer Musashi. The popularity of the game also spawned several clones trying to emulate the game.

Add to that the multiple sequels that exist with sales figures of around 60million of the series, a tv show and heck even Cody Rhodes wears the triforce on his boots!

Do you think Zelda was influential? If not which game was MORE influential on the genre?

(Next up will be Dragon Warrior and FFVII)

 

[Loveless]

As far as influence on modern games, I'd say Tomb Raider. As far as I remember it was the first game to really create an explorable, interactive 3D world. You could see it's influence in everything that followed afterwards from Metal Gear Solid, to Soul Reaver to eventually Grand Theft Auto 3.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

If this isn't the most influential game ever made, then I don't know what is.

Pong was the first video game to be comercially successful. It practically brought in the Video Game Era. It was also one of the earliest arcade games as well. Released in 1972, you've just got to admire how far the gaming industry has evolved since this came out.

It's addictive, it was original, it was practically the first.

 

[Mr. PPV]

In 1986, Enix released what is, in many ways, the most influential role-playing game of all time. The game was Dragon Quest, or as it is known in the US, Dragon Warrior. Before Dragon Quest, many RPGs were overly complex, so with this game the developers aimed to create a game that would be enjoyed by young and old alike. Enix probably never knew how influential its game would be.

Although Dragon Warrior did not find a US release until 1989 on the NES, the game has left many marks that can still be seen on nearly every RPG released today. The simple bitmapped and tiled 2D graphics of Dragon Warrior have been used in countless RPGs to this day. It was not until consoles began dabbling in 3D that RPGs moved away from this graphical approach. The classic top-down perspective is nearly always a dead giveaway of an RPG.

The Dragon Warrior series has had a huge effect not only on Japanese RPGs but also on Japanese culture in general. Even today, the release of a new chapter in the series is a major event. Fans of the series will line up for days in advance, forsaking school and work just to be one of the first to get their hands on the game.