The Top 5 most influential games of all time!

[Dones]

In no particular order:

 

Super Mario Bros.

Doom

Street Fighter II

Space Invaders

Tetris

[raindog]

Industry:

 

Tetris (vertically oriented real time puzzle)

Super Mario Bros. (horizontally scrolling platformer)

Doom (FPS)

Space Invaders (vertically oriented shooter)

Street Fighter 2 (2-player fighting)

 

Art form (same 5 genres):

 

Tetris

Pitfall (really the first multi-screen platformer)

Wolfenstein 3D (ok, same people, I know)

Space Invaders

Karate Champ (2-player fighting that predated SF2 by like 5 years)

 

I picked those 5 genres because I think they've been the most inescapable over the last 20 years since gaming started getting mainstream. Yes, Pac-Man spawned a lot of imitators too but apart from shareware and budgetware games, were there really any after about 1985?

 

I'd like to give honorable mention to the first videogame to introduce a recognizable character, which I suppose would be Donkey Kong but I'm actually not quite sure. The Pac-Man monsters had names too, after all.

[Gregory DG]

Yes, Pac-Man spawned a lot of imitators too but apart from shareware and budgetware games, were there really any after about 1985?

Pac-Man is a pretty big omission. Yes, there have been Pac games since 1985. These are just a few of the more recent ones:

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-h...1433700-8600864

 

Some of them (such as the recent Ms. Pac-Man by Atari) are 3D versions of the original with new stuff added.

 

Pac-Man was one of the most influential games ever. If for nothing else, it created the idea of an iconic character or mascot.

[sku_u]

I'd like to give honorable mention to the first videogame to introduce a recognizable character, which I suppose would be Donkey Kong but I'm actually not quite sure.   The Pac-Man monsters had names too, after all.

 

AFAIK, the "mario" character in DK was named Jumpman. He didn't get his name until Mario Bros. Then again, Donkey Kong was the main character.

[bergbros2]

Oh, I forgot a game that was not mentioned but was extremely influential: Populous. Start of the God Game. Even Real time strategy.

[birdie3]

Influential, eh.. I interpret this as "what started it all" so these will be mainly older games.

 

In no particular order:

 

Space Invaders

Pong

Asteroids

Pac Man

Donkey Kong

[Cootster]

These should be games that created entire genres, so:

 

Pac-Man

Ultima

Tetris

Yie Ar Kung Fu (wouldn't have SFII w/o it)

SubLogic Flight Simulator

[mechanized]

There are a lot of Pac-Man related games, even to this day. Most immediately there's Ms. Pac-Man, and then Pac-Man Jr., Super Pac-Man, and more recently Pac-Man World.

 

I'd say it had its hand in a good deal more genres of gaming than would first seem apparent. After Pac-Man, they wanted more games with that Pac-Man spirit, that pick-up-and-play, anyone-can-do-it easy but charming sort of game. It showed the market was truly viable (as noted earlier, Pac-Man really brought video games to the marketplace) and others wanted some of that action. I'd say a lot of that 'Five Minutes to Learn, Years to Master' game philosophy was solidified by Pac-Man.

 

And then there are some more subtle details, that, if not a true influence on gaming as we know it, at the very least correlate to other genres.

 

Collect all the dots to finish the maze? How many games have you played where you need to collect all the thingies to advance?

 

How about those cute Cut-Scenes with the ghost-chases, or Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man meeting? Can you count how many Cut-Scenes you've seen in just the past year's games?

 

What about those ghostly adversaries haunting the mazes, out to send Pac-Man to an early grave? Were these not the first step toward Villainous Antagonists?

 

And that's just three I came up with in a few minutes time, and I'm sure I could come up with others.

[VidGameKing]

why do so many people choose Doom, over WolfD? To be completely honest, Wolf3D came a good 3 - 4 years before Doom. and all doom did was make the Wolf3D engine better! I'd never put Doom on the list, by itself! I'd put DoomGL on the list, because that was the one that sparced the "modern style" FPS with full mouse controll, and 3D rendering via OpenGL.

[Trip_Cannon]

why do so many people choose Doom, over WolfD? To be completely honest, Wolf3D came a good 3 - 4 years before Doom. and all doom did was make the Wolf3D engine better! I'd never put Doom on the list, by itself! I'd put DoomGL on the list, because that was the one that sparced the "modern style" FPS with full mouse controll, and 3D rendering via OpenGL.

 

I agree with that but Doom part one came out only the next year after Wolf3D.. And it was the one that everybody remembers... it jived with the internet boom whereas Wolf3D was popular on the BBSs... Doom 2 outsold Wolf3d 3 to 1 and has been downloaded over 15 million times.

[VidGameKing]

but without Wolf3D there would be no Doom. therefore, the real hero is Wolf3D even if it was less popular.

[PaulEMoz]

Wolf 3D was the first, but Doom opened way more eyes. Looking at it that way, I believe that Doom was a more influential game, even if it wasn't the first of its type.

[desiv]

but without Wolf3D there would be no Doom. therefore, the real hero is Wolf3D even if it was less popular.

 

Actually...

 

Anyone remember Ultima Underworld???

 

See, Wolfenstein's release date is listed as May 5th, 1992.

 

Ultima Underworld's release date? Best I can find is numerous sites that list it as Q1, 1992. Now, math isn't my stron point, but there are 4 quarters in a year and 3 months to a quarter. So, Q1 would be Jan/Feb/Mar...

 

So... Ultima Underworld predates Wolf 3D as a first person 3D game.

 

:-)

 

And for those that listed Ultima I, I'd agree for role playing, although a purist could argue it should be Akalabeth. Gariott's first game. I've played it tho.. And I'd say you're right with Ultima I. :-)

 

desiv

 

p.s. Here's a good quote:

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss shipped in March 1992 - two whole months before John 'Quake' Carmack and Apogee released Wolfenstein 3D - something worth remembering if you assumed that Wolfenstein 'started' the whole 3D revolution.

 

from this page: Games that changed the world- Ultima Underworld

[PaulEMoz]

Was Ultima a FPS though? I haven't played it but I doubt it. Wolf 3D and Doom have inspired every FPS since, Ultima definitely didn't. It was certainly influential, but to a completely different genre of games. First doesn't necessarily mean most influential.

[desiv]

Not Ultima..

Ultima Underworld...

 

Different engines, different style...

 

It was definately a FP game.. FPS??? Well, there wasn't a gun..

 

But you had missle weapons and it was first person, and you could shoot bad guys..

 

It was definately an FPS...

 

I suppose the only problem with it was that it also had a plot. I know that ruins it for alot of FPS fans... :-) :-)

 

Also, the engine had more 3D than Wolf 3D. It had ramps for ups and downs..

 

desiv

[raindog]

Yes, Pac-Man spawned a lot of imitators too but apart from shareware and budgetware games, were there really any after about 1985?

Pac-Man is a pretty big omission. Yes, there have been Pac games since 1985. These are just a few of the more recent ones:

It doesn't count as an influential game if its only imitators are its own sequels, I don't think. Great game? Important game? Absolutely. I also think it's largely responsible for the "cute game", which Nintendo has built an entire empire on, but only in an indirect sense.

[raindog]

These should be games that created entire genres, so:

Yie Ar Kung Fu (wouldn't have SFII w/o it)

Sure you're not thinking of Karate Champ? It came out a year earlier and, unlike Yie Ar, was 2-player simultaneous like SF2.

[VidGameKing]

after installing MS-DOS 6.2 onto one of my computers, and then finding a version of Ultima Underworld I & II I will now officially state that it is in no way similar to Wolf3D at all! it's interface is that of an RPG turn based adventure game. definetly not a first person shooter, whereas you do indeed have a 3D Doungeon veiwing interface, it's just that, just for veiwing, the real gameplay happens in the frame around the veiwer. there were actually several 3D doungeon games made back in the early 90's and alot that do predate Wolf3D but the exicution of the 3D interface where you activly feel like a major aspect of the game is physically movng around was never there. Not until Wolf3D at least.

[VidGameKing]

Dungeon Master on the Apple IIgs was in the same game style of Ultima Underworld. Attached is the new Java re-make of the game, but more or less, it's the same game, just the new version looks better than on my IIgs!

[desiv]

after installing MS-DOS 6.2 onto one of my computers, and then finding a version of Ultima Underworld I & II I will now officially state that it is in no way similar to Wolf3D at all!

 

The question isn't whether or not it's role playing or not.

 

The other games you compare it to are page flip games, not smooth scroll 3D perspectives. You're games are more deriviates of Bard's Tale type games.

 

The question is, is Ultima Underworld a 3D FPS.

 

It is a true 3D engine based First Person game, not just turn left - screen change to new view. Yes, it has a role playing storyline, but so do some of today's hybrids.. TRON 2.0 is a 3D FPS with a full storyline and non-FPS elements.

 

And the question wasn't whether or not Ultima Underworld is like DOOM or Wolf 3D. It's whether or not it used similar tech first.

 

I still maintain it did. Was it as good? No.. Although I think it was a better all around game, just the FPS portion isn't as good. But not being good doesn't mean it doesn't qualify.

 

Maybe it's more fair to say it was so far ahead of it's time that the FPS genre is only now catching up to it! :-)

 

IMHO

 

desiv

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Elite

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Trip_Cannon]

but without Wolf3D there would be no Doom. therefore, the real hero is Wolf3D even if it was less popular.

 

Actually...

 

Anyone remember Ultima Underworld???

 

Actually... If you want to get all technical!

 

Games like Castlemaster and Robocop 3D dated both by a couple years.. They weren't texture mapped like Wolf3d on up, they were polygons.. but they were freescape enviroments.. And I'm sure those two aren't the be all end all... Like cybergoth said, Elite is arguably one of the first 3D shooters as well.. And that game came out in what? '85?

[atari_wizard]

in no order, here is my ten

 

Pitfall II lost caverns

super mario brothers

super mario 3

adventures of link

the legend of zelda

metroid

megaman

mario 64

pole position

mike tyson's punch out!

[PaulEMoz]

You see, this thread isn't about being the first. Ultima Underworld might possibly have been the first to use such 3D technology, but Doom, or maybe Wolf 3D, is/are the games that influenced programmers. 3D first person shooters were for years called Doom clones, not Ultima Underworld clones. So, with regards to this thread about the most influential games of all time, Doom knocks Ultima Underworld into a cocked hat.

[desiv]

You see, this thread isn't about being the first.  Ultima Underworld might possibly have been the first to use such 3D technology, but Doom, or maybe Wolf 3D, is/are the games that influenced programmers.  3D first person shooters were for years called Doom clones, not Ultima Underworld clones.  So, with regards to this thread about the most influential games of all time, Doom knocks Ultima Underworld into a cocked hat.

 

True.. I'll give you that one... Even tho he wasn't first, the true FPS line follows the Carmack stuff..

 

As for the polygon 3D's earlier... I considered those, but the one's I considered weren't first person.. They were machine perspective.. More like Battlezone, Arctic Fox, and Stellar 7. I hadn't thought of Robocop 3D (and I had that one BitD.) .. :-)

 

In fact, if you use MidiMaze (ST) as a missing link, you can trace them all back to PacMan.. :-) :-) :-)

 

desiv

 

Well.. maybe not.. :-)