The best (most influencial) games ever

[Draggar]

OK, I've put together a list of what I think are the most influencial games are. Now, I'm not going by what was most popular, what got the highest ratings with PC gamer and other magazines. I'm going by which games pioneered new technology and set the standard for all future games.

The top games are

Doom / Catacomb
It is hard to say which one deserves this honor. While Doom had the funding and promoting that made it extremely popular, Catacomb did come out first, just didn't get promoted too well. Both are virtualy the same game, except Doom is more modern, while Catacomb was more medievel.
This first person shooter style was one of the first for the PC system that used the high resolution graphics that maxed out our systems. Friends of mine went out and bought top of the line computers, with all out surround sound systems just for their Doom enjoyment. They thought the best thing was looking down the barrel of your own shotgun while you tookout the enemy troops.

Donkey Kong
Yes, that old Atari 2600 / Coleco game. Not that the game itself pioneered anything, but the sequals did. Super Mario Brothers was Nintendo's first big hit. Yoshi's island was a big hit for the Super Nintendo. Super Mario cart was a big one for the N64. How much longer will it last? I can't think of any game that still has direct sequals coming out almost 25 years later. Can you?

Ultima
When Origin software came out with Ultima, it didn't do too well. They released 2, 3, 4, and 5. None did well either. They did good enough to keep them alive, and the engine it ran off of was very good, but the graphics wasn't there. They revamped the while project, and released it for Nintendo (Ultima Underworld) and also released Ultima 6 - The False Profit. New engine, great graphics (for what was available then). Origin was able to pump out 2 more Ultima games, and 2 online games before scraping the project. Not only that, after Ultima Underworld was released for Nintendo, another company came out with a very similar game, called Final Fantasy. There was no doubt, Ultima Underworld was a main influence with it.

Honorable Mentions
Sim City / Civilization
These two games, very similar yet very different, set the standard for Sim games. I've seen countless games based on the same concept.

Pong
How could I leave out the game that started it all?

Combat
That game we got for "free" with our Atari 2600s. The first game that you tried to kill your opponent. Used either tanks, bi-planes or jets. And with options such as bounce shots and invisibility, you couldn't beat it.

Test Drive
I feel this game, when it came out for the Commodore 64, set the standard for all future car racing games.


What do you all think? Agree? Disagree? Have additions? Think I'm smoking some serious crack?

[Outcoded]

Think you'll find Wolfenstein 3D came out first.

[Matridom]

[quote]Originally posted by Draggar:
<strong>
Doom / Catacomb
It is hard to say which one deserves this honor. While Doom had the funding and promoting that made it extremely popular, Catacomb did come out first, just didn't get promoted too well. Both are virtualy the same game, except Doom is more modern, while Catacomb was more medievel.
This first person shooter style was one of the first for the PC system that used the high resolution graphics that maxed out our systems. Friends of mine went out and bought top of the line computers, with all out surround sound systems just for their Doom enjoyment. They thought the best thing was looking down the barrel of your own shotgun while you tookout the enemy troops.

</strong><hr></blockquote>

This should actualy be castle wolfenstein, it's the game that launched first person shooters.

My game of choice are console style RPG games.. Final Fantasy comes to mind for that..

[korpse]

Don't forget Zelda...

[Draggar]

[quote]Originally posted by Matridom:
<strong>

This should actualy be castle wolfenstein, it's the game that launched first person shooters.

My game of choice are console style RPG games.. Final Fantasy comes to mind for that..</strong><hr></blockquote>

Oh, yeah, not what I think about it, I remember having that on my C=64, side A Commie, side B Apple...

Final Fantasy is great, but the original one was way too much like the Ultima games. A lot of fantasy RPG games used a similar interface.

Zelda - forgot that one, but really hasn't spawned much, just a binch of sequals, and has only been around what, 15 years? Donkey Kong takes the cake at over 25 years.

[Sowulo]

I think King's Quest (the original) which shipped bundled with Tandy computers in the '80s might have been responsible for introducing the most home PC enthusiasts to gaming beyond the simple arcade stuff....

[TrackMan]

i remember reading in a computer gaming magazine that there was a pong-like game that that started the whole thing, the idea for pong was taken from it. the same guy who invented this was the guy who invented the gaming light gun.

[Gollo]

Can't forget Myst

[gxavier]

Duke Nukem 3d.

It brought the idea that FPShooters shouldn't just be mindless slaughter, but mindless slaugher with a twist of humour. :D

Half Life

relatively modern, but it definately brought about a new type of FPS, one with an actual story. Ill never forget playing Halflife. Ever.

Warcraft

set the stage for real time strategy. Set into motion one of the greatest and most prosperous game series ever. Brought about StarCraft which is still in the top 5 best selling games each week, when its over 2 years old.

Command & Conquer

same as above.

[EvilCabbage]

Way of the exploding fist.

Bomberman

Bombjack

Street Fighter

Pacman

Joust

[Stalemate]

<a href="http://agents.www.media.mit.edu/groups/el/projects/spacewar/" target="_blank">Space War</a> - I believe this was created even before Pong.

<a href="http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/arcade/ag1176.php" target="_blank">Zaxxon</a> - Got the ball rolling for "3D" action.

[MacGyver]

Space invaders and ZORK

[Lycia]

You guys are forgetting Wizardry for RPGs and X-Wing and Tie Fighter for PC..X-wing brought back the Space Sim and Tie Fighter made it fun to be the bad guy!

[EvilCabbage]

[quote]Originally posted by Lycia:
<strong>You guys are forgetting Wizardry for RPGs and X-Wing and Tie Fighter for PC..X-wing brought back the Space Sim and Tie Fighter made it fun to be the bad guy!</strong><hr></blockquote>

W00t!!! Tie Fighter still rocks my world :D

Its a little scary when I add up all the time Ive spent playing games over the years... heh..

[AlleyCat]

King's Quest on 5.25!

[Budd]

Tecmo Super Bowl for the NES is hands down the greatest video game ever made. graphics aren't all that great, but it made up for it in controls and fun levels. great great game.

[Fubarian]

aw now c'mon.....don't forget super mario bros!!

[Cygnus]

when it comes to driving games I would have to say pole position started that rolling big time.

with FPS it was Wolfenstien.

Im up in the air on flight sims but Wing Commander has gotta be up there for either that or adventure.

[Cygnus]

hehe, "up in the air on flight sims"...I made a funny! :D

[Fierce]

The all-time favorite...Pac-Man!

The original Sim City for SuperNintendo

Mario Brothers

Dune

Spy Hunter

[Imagenatas]

The seventh Guest! And Phantasmagoria!

[Darksteel]

I know that it's somewhat modern but i think fallout was a milestone for rpg gaming. I'm not sure if it was the first of its kind or not (well, wasteland, but that was so old) but it really brought a whole new genere to mainstream gaming. Think of all the games that are done in the fallout style now: fallout 2, arcanum, baldurs gate 1&2, pool of radiance, planescape torment, icewind dale, neverwinter nights, etc.

Quake I think is fairly innovative as well. The first fps I've seen that was really 3d, as opposed to doom, wolfenstein, and duke nukem's psuedo 3-d. I think that in time Deus Ex will prove to be a very important step in the blending of fps's and rpg's. Oh, I can only hope.

[Draggar]

[quote]Originally posted by Fubarian:
<strong>aw now c'mon.....don't forget super mario bros!!</strong><hr></blockquote>

Super Mario Brothers, Mario Brothers, etc.. are all spin offs from the original Donkey Kong. ;)

[Draggar]

[quote]Originally posted by Darksteel:
<strong>I know that it's somewhat modern but i think fallout was a milestone for rpg gaming.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
I forgot about that one, good call...


[quote]<strong>
Quake I think is fairly innovative as well. The first fps I've seen that was really 3d, as opposed to doom, wolfenstein, and duke nukem's psuedo 3-d. I think that in time Deus Ex will prove to be a very important step in the blending of fps's and rpg's. Oh, I can only hope.</strong><hr></blockquote>

True, Q3 is a real 3D 1st person shooter, but Doom / Catacomb etc.. were first, and pioneered the 1st person shooter style game to a new leel.
As for Deuces Ex, I've heard that was incredible, we'll see. Maybe we could give Thief an honorable mention (similar setting I've heard)?

[Sowulo]

Just thought of another one....

Populous by Electronic Arts.

This one is the first of all the SIMS games.....

[TrackMan]

[quote]Originally posted by Buddy Holly:
<strong>Tecmo Super Bowl for the NES is hands down the greatest video game ever made. graphics aren't all that great, but it made up for it in controls and fun levels. great great game.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I agree, the SNES version just isn't the same.

[Darksteel]

Actually I meant original Quake, not quake 3. but then as I think about it again I suppose it really wasn't that influential itself. It was more of a stepping stone rather than a driving force.

[Spaceman Spiff]

[quote]Originally posted by Darksteel:
<strong>Actually I meant original Quake, not quake 3. but then as I think about it again I suppose it really wasn't that influential itself. It was more of a stepping stone rather than a driving force.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I disagree about Quake not being a driving force. Up until then, the better games were "2½-D", using sprites to represent objects. Quake showed that true 3-D could be done, although it was very rough. It wasn't until Quake2 that game producers started switching over to true 3-D, and now everybody uses true 3-D.

Of course, it took Wolfenstein 3-D to demonstrate a player could move through a three-dimensional world. So, it too was a pioneer in gaming.

Isn't it interesting that id remains at the cutting edge of the gaming world? Keep up the good work, id... :)

[DSTech]

Ah, the memories.......I used to love to go grocery shopping with my mom cause Jewel/Osco had the first stand-up arcade game that I had seen, the original Space Wars, not the Atari2600 one (kinda looked like what Adept linked to only the ships where the triangle-like thingy from asteroids and a StarTrek looking thingy). After that, the computers that got me into computers in the first place, Radio-Shack TRS-80 Models 1 & 3, with Lunar Lander. Then of course Pac-Man, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Galaga, Star Wars, and eventually Donkey Kong, Pole Position, and Dragon's Lair, and the slew of other Stand-up/Sit-down arcade games (Hell, I even ended up working at Showbiz as a gameroom Technician for a year.)

Okay, to return to the topic after stretching it a bit......How about Intellivision Dungeons & Dragons? Or Loderunner on the AppleIIc and HardHat Mac on C-64? Getting a bit more modern, I'd hafta include Total Annihilation for strategy games, Might and Magic games for role playing, and definately X-Wing/Tie fighter series of games as well as Wing Commander and Privateer for space sims. Also Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe for flight sims. Oh how I could go on......

Jeeees, I'd hafta agree with EvilCabbage about time spent gaming :D

Oh, also about Quake, who else remembers when QuakeGL came out and really revved things up with the 3D world of gaming?

Hehe, I still have a Magnavox Oddessey console packed away somewhere..... :p

[confus-ed]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by EvilCabbage:
<strong>Its a little scary when I add up all the time Ive spent playing games over the years... heh..</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">LOL. Me too :rolleyes:

But no-one said C&C though I guess Sid Meyer gave them the idea, and what about Ping! didn't that start it all.....

[silencio]

DSTech beat me to Space Invaders (the original). There was one at the local bowling alley. It was in chinese or maybe japanese but that didn't matter.

But, I didn't see anyone mention da da da da...

PONG

Was there anything before pong? I had pong on my Coleco. I can't remember what the model of the Coleco was but it was shaped like a triange and had a shooting game on one side, pong on another, and a driving game on the last. I found it in the closet a couple weeks before xmas. I was playing it when my Mom and Dad came home and never noticed they were home til they walked in the door... Wow. Talk about pissed.

[Stalemate]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by iateyourcat:
<strong>...But, I didn't see anyone mention da da da da...

PONG

Was there anything before pong? I had pong on my Coleco. I can't remember what the model of the Coleco was but it was shaped like a triange and had a shooting game on one side, pong on another, and a driving game on the last. I found it in the closet a couple weeks before xmas. I was playing it when my Mom and Dad came home and never noticed they were home til they walked in the door... Wow. Talk about pissed.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">That thing was addictive for sure!

But before that was Space Wars, a type of "Asteroids" if you will where 2 players could challenge each other around a black hole.

I think the first prototypes of that one were developped on oscilloscopes. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />

[Commander Klarg]

I can't believe that nobody's mentioned Diablo. Or Master of Orion.

Does anyone remember an old text game called Apple Adventure? I wasted many hours playing that. :D

[Six Eyed Smily]

hmmm at deus ex... i think system shock 2 did that, and before it.

the original elite was definatly a pioneer - along with the original railroad tycoon (still play that one sometimes!)

they should make all these old games freeware, as it would attract publicity attention to the developers, and people would still enjoy playing them now i think.

[Lycia]

No one mentioned Wizardry..I played that on an Mac IIC

[Spaceman Spiff]

IBM JumpMan... :D

[firemonkey]

what about a early role playing game that invlved cheating, stealing, guns, shooting stuff, and white water rafting? Those of you true gamers should know what game I am taking about, Oregon Trail the original for Apple IIe (btw they are up to like version 7) That was a classic and if you were good you could beat it in 30 min.

what a stroll down memory lane :)

[Darkstar]

I think Baldur's Gate set the standard for RPGs, but Final Fantasy I for the old NES is the best RPG ever. I play it on my Ipaq now.

[Antimatter]

Elite started the 3-d space sims, did it not?

[dr_jones]

Dungeon master, midwinter,carrier command and virus kinda did it for me... the days when 3d started to make its self known....good old atari st..
Then back again to missle command, pac man, space invaders... atari console again

then msx and konami catridges.. far better than spectrum or commadore.

Pc's.. half life, jedi knight, system shock 2, grand theft auto, carramgedon... man the lists goes on..
Grand theft auto 3.. what an improvement to midtwon madness/ driver

[NeuromancerIV]

WHAT!!??

No one has mentioned WING COMMANDER The game that MADE space fighter combat sims? Or Wing Commander 2, the first real space combat sim with DIGITAL voices of your enemies crying out in fear you you shred their fighter with moving cinematic cut scenes? or Wing Commander 3 the first true interactive movie/ space flight combat sim. You can thank Chris Roberts and Origin for pioneering all the lovely movie style games, bringing Hollywood to your gaming experience. <do i seem a touch, obessed with the this series?> I wont even go into WCIV or Prophesy..

Hell, every time there was a new WC game, and my PC couldn't play it well,I knew it was time to upgrade! WC was the driving force for me to really delve into technology.

[Can't Catch Me]

A

game

where

noone

will

catch

me

[Mayet]

All the old amiga games inc Tank
funny enough some are being re-released now 10 years down the track for PC's..

Duke Nukem
Commander Keen
Donkey Kong
Kiss Pinball
Space Invaders
Galaga
Pac man
all the atari collection of games
Doom
Wolfenstein
Command and Conquer

and there is heaps of others

can't forget Quake though

[Lt. Cmdr. DaTaMan]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Fierce:
<strong>

The original Sim City for SuperNintendo

</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The original Sim City was written for the Apple PowerMac (the one with the small 10 inch screen built in) It predated SNES Simcity by about a year I think...

[d65536]

What about Wasteland? That one was pretty cool. It was one of the first 16 color EGA compatible games I had. Along with Leisure Suit Larry.

[SCHTUDE]

I thought X-Com was one of the all time greats.

Ghengis Khan for the Nintendo was the best stratagy games for a LONG time.