Most Influentual games?

[Alienblue]

I was thinking today, what were the most INFLUENTIAL videogames of all time... not IMPORTANT as in Technology, like "Tennis for two" "Tic tac toe" or Space War", but the games that inspired new generations of people to play. Here's my list:

1.PONG: First game to get non-computer geeks to play!
2. PAC-MAN : First COMMERCIAL Success, Space Invaders was big
but it did not inspire CARTOONS, TOYS, Etc...First game
to attract large numbers of women, too!
3. Pitfall/Super Mario Bros. Pitfall introduced this genre but SMB refined it by adding identifiable cartoon characters. Pitfall harry was just a stick-man, MARIO & LUIGI were like Pac-Man, markatable! Sold the NES and brought games back; inspired games that continue to this day!
4. Tetris: First hugely successful COMPUTER game/PUZZLE game. Turned millions of non-gamers into ADDICTS! (:
5: Castle Wolfenstein 3-D/DOOM: First "3-D" FPS games. First blood and guts/ gore games. Began the "3-D" revolution that continues to destroy all fun gaming (personal opinion)

Those are my picks. We welcome yours.

[Michael Danehy]

[QUOTE=Alienblue]I was thinking today, what were the most INFLUENTIAL videogames of all time... not IMPORTANT as in Technology, like "Tennis for two" "Tic tac toe" or Space War", but the games that inspired new generations of people to play. Here's my list:

1.PONG: First game to get non-computer geeks to play!
2. PAC-MAN : First COMMERCIAL Success, Space Invaders was big
but it did not inspire CARTOONS, TOYS, Etc...First game
to attract large numbers of women, too!
3. Pitfall/Super Mario Bros. Pitfall introduced this genre but SMB refined it by adding identifiable cartoon characters. Pitfall harry was just a stick-man, MARIO & LUIGI were like Pac-Man, markatable! Sold the NES and brought games back; inspired games that continue to this day!
4. Tetris: First hugely successful COMPUTER game/PUZZLE game. Turned millions of non-gamers into ADDICTS! (:
5: Castle Wolfenstein 3-D/DOOM: First "3-D" FPS games. First blood and guts/ gore games. Began the "3-D" revolution that continues to destroy all fun gaming (personal opinion)

Those are my picks. We welcome yours.[/QUOTE]

Some additions to your list...

Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat: Fghting games revitalized arcades in the early 90's, and the genre has been no less successful on consoles.

Solitaire and Minesweeper (Windows): No joke. People who otherwise hate computer games play these out of boredom. I bet they're two of the most played games ever.

Dance Dance Revolution: Brings a more physical aspect to gaming and has become very popular. I've yet to try it myself.

[Steerforth]

Super Mario 64 - Never has one game broken so much new ground, you would have thunk it would have took 3 or 4 sequels to get so many ideas into a game, and it is pretty and polished too. My all time favorite game, ironically I hated it when it first came out, because it was 3-d. Years later I gave it a chance, and man, was I missing out. Still play regularily today, the most fun game I have ever played.

Wii Sports - I hope it becomes a very influential game because it is the poster child of having a very focused vision of a game, keeping things simple and refined until they are perfect. Everything in this game works great, the physics are true, the games are fun, the controls work great. The best multiplayer game by far, I think ever. Too many games try and fail to do too much, Wii Sports rose way above that. This game got decent reviews at launch, but will grow bigger and bigger until people realize it is a 10 in a few years. Also introduced Miis, which have made every game I have played them with more fun. Baseball especially, because it is a kick to see which of your random creations will show up for a pickup game of baseball.

BTW, my record for a 9 hole game of golf is -4, can you top that!?! 

[feilong801]

I think you are in for good times then. EA is putting out their "Playground" game soon, which is their take on Wii Sports. There are definitely other attempts coming down the pike also.

-Rob

[Steerforth]

If EA can even come CLOSE to Wii Sports, I wil be much amazed. I know they are currently probably the best 3rd party Wii publisher, but I am still prejudiced against them, maybe I ain't fair. Maybe Wii playground will amount to something.

P.S., they should have opted for Mii support on that game, their charachters look  chessy.

[Luke]

I agree with the top 4. Number 5, I would probably replace with The Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy. Just because I think those games really kickstarted the whole RPG craze.

I could be wrong though. I actually know very little about RPG's.

[soporj1]

Space Invaders, hands down.

For those of us that remember, it seemed every game in the arcades after Space Invaders was released was a rip-off/homage. Just go look in MAME at how many of these space shooters came out.

This was the game that invented the concept of player "lives", rather than a timer.

This was the game that created a Yen shortage in Japan.

The home version was the first "killer app" for the Atari 2600.

This is the game that inspired the greatest arcade game ever: Galaga.

Without Space Invaders, there would be no video game industry as we know it today. The other games mentioned in this thread wouldn't even exist (except Pong, of course).

Game over.

[Michael D]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Grand Theft Auto 3 yet.  Of the more recent games (read: those released this decade), there's no question that GTA 3 paved the way for open world, do whatever you want games. 

On top of that, it's been the inspiration (or was copied) for many different games, like the True Crime games, The Simpsons: Hit and Run, the Destroy All Humans games, the Spider-Man games since 2004, The Godfather, and many others.      

[a1]

[QUOTE=Steerforth]If EA can even come CLOSE to Wii Sports, I wil be much amazed. I know they are currently probably the best 3rd party Wii publisher, but I am still prejudiced against them, maybe I ain't fair. Maybe Wii playground will amount to something.

P.S., they should have opted for Mii support on that game, their charachters look  chessy.
[/QUOTE]

I'd argue that Ubisoft is the best 3rd party publisher. They've made the most original efforts for the Wii, and both Red Steel and Rayman sold very well.

[Mephisto]

"Yar's Revenge" I just got a hold of it & it is a great game.