The Most Influential Computer Games of All Time

[darkagn]

Hi all,

I was wondering what everyone thought were the most influential computer games of all time? It doesn't matter what platform, but I thought I'd break it down into genres, so here are some that I thought might be considered:

First Person Shooter: Unreal Tournament / Doom
Real Time Strategy: Warcraft / Age of Empires / Command & Conquer
Turn-based Strategy: Heroes of Might and Magic
Role Playing: Diablo / Baldur's Gate / Elder Scrolls
Racing: Gran Turismo / Mario Kart
Action / Adventure / Puzzle: Impossible Mission / Broken Sword / Myst
Sport: EA's FIFA Soccer
Platform: PacMan / Donkey Kong / Super Mario Brothers
Fighting: Mortal Kombat / Street Fighter
Horror: Resident Evil / Silent Hill
Crime: Grand Theft Auto

Any thoughts, comments or suggestions?

[DimaYasny]

Civilization, Tetris, Prince of Persia (the first one), Wolf3D, Street Fighter, Digger, Dave

[Ancient Dragon]

I agree PacMan, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, Doom and Diablo were probably the most influential to the gaming industry. Most of the others were probably very good games but did they have all that much influence on the way gamers wrote games in the future ?

[DimaYasny]

remembered a couple more: LSL, Loom, Kyrandia, all those old Sierra quests - Quest for Glory, Police Quest, Space Quest...

UFO - another game that kept me captive for a few months.
Wing Commander, especially Privateer and Armada
and who remembers UGH! ? :)

[jwenting]

THE most influential game of all time must be the original Pong.

For RTS games, the most influential ever is Total Annihillation. It redefined the genre when it was released in 1997 (I believe it was, maybe late 1996) and set the standard to which RTS games are measured to this day.

[pty]

THE most influential game of all time must be the original Pong.

For RTS games, the most influential ever is Total Annihillation. It redefined the genre when it was released in 1997 (I believe it was, maybe late 1996) and set the standard to which RTS games are measured to this day.

I'd actually nominate Dune 2 as the most influential RTS; although TA brought 3D to the table.

Others that would be on my list are:

Civilisation
Super Madio Bros
Sim City
Mario 64
Elite
Tetris
Dragon's Lair
Doom
Half Life
The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time

I realise that many of these aren't the first of their genre but they are the ones that stand out

[twosocks]

Ultima online
and portal

amazing games :P

[darkagn]

I'd actually nominate Dune 2 as the most influential RTS; although TA brought 3D to the table.

Others that would be on my list are:

Civilisation Super Madio Bros Sim City Mario 64 Elite Tetris Dragon's Lair Doom Half Life The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time

I realise that many of these aren't the first of their genre but they are the ones that stand out

I forgot the Simulation genre, of which SimCity would certainly be the forerunner. And Civilisation was certainly a good call for the Turn-based Strategy genre.THE most influential game of all time must be the original Pong.

For RTS games, the most influential ever is Total Annihillation. It redefined the genre when it was released in 1997 (I believe it was, maybe late 1996) and set the standard to which RTS games are measured to this day.

Yes, I forgot TA so that's fair. Along with Pong, perhaps Space Invaders?

Also, I forgot the MMORPG genre. I haven't really played any in this category, but may I suggest EverQuest and World of Warcraft?

[Infarction]

RTS = Starcraft. 'Nuff said.

[darkagn]

RTS = Starcraft. 'Nuff said.

Hi Infarction and thanks for the input to this discussion,

I agree that Starcraft is a fantastic RTS, but the reason why I included Warcraft in my original list and not Starcraft was that I thought that Starcraft was pretty much the same game just with slight variations for Sci-Fi as opposed to Fantasy.

[jwenting]

Starcraft was relatively poorly received and considered by many a ripoff of Total Annihillation.
The only reason it survived longer was the demise of CaveDog, the creators of Total Annihillation.

[Ravenous Wolf]

i also have to say warcraft. reason being that it influenced most rts games for decades. but if i were to be asked favourite i have to say age of empires rise of rome.

other influential games i would say are street fighter, karate master, pacman, wingcommander, mechwarrior or earthsiege depending on which came first.
reason same as above. these games began a certain trend which persisted in other games for some time afterwards.

i am tempted to add double dragon to the list as well.

[DimaYasny]

and don't forget golden axe! :D

[twosocks]

I replayed star craft the other week, its amazeing to see an old game liek that still keeping my entertained years on

[vegaseat]

I know this dates me, but SimCity and Railroad Tycoon were neat games in the early days of gaming. I still like to play a mean game of Age of Empires II (Age of Kings), must be my second childhood!

[Sturm]

Obviously the most influential computer games of all time were/are rogue and rogue-likes, such as NetHack, Moria, SLASH'EM, ADOM, etc. The level of depth found in these games is rare even in modern rpgs and mmorpgs.

[madoverclocker]

my votes are gonig to starcraft and half life

i'm supprised that there hasn't been much mention of half life, it really took fps to the next level. doom and unreal made the genre really popular but half life brought a great story line, puzzles, and a great game engine together. before half life fps's were just "run 'n' gun" games.

[Ravenous Wolf]

my votes are gonig to starcraft and half life

i'm supprised that there hasn't been much mention of half life, it really took fps to the next level. doom and unreal made the genre really popular but half life brought a great story line, puzzles, and a great game engine together. before half life fps's were just "run 'n' gun" games.

could be because the issue is influence and not popularity. that is why i said warcraft and not age of empires. we are looking for games which had a profound and lasting effect on the gaming industry. at least i think. :-)

[darkagn]

could be because the issue is influence and not popularity. that is why i said warcraft and not age of empires. we are looking for games which had a profound and lasting effect on the gaming industry. at least i think. :-)

Yes that is what I was wanting to discuss, RW.

An RTS that was rather different to most was Battle Realms where you could only advance past a certain 'level' of soldier by skirmishing, rather than relying on being solely the fastest resource gatherer. The system never really caught on in the genre however, so I didn't include it in my original list.

[JustinNH]

What's the difference between turn based and rpg?
And FIFA Soccer as the most influential sports game??? Just curious as to how you came to that conclusion.
First Person Shooter: Doom / Quake
Real Time Strategy: Legend of Zelda
Turn-based Strategy: Risk (hehehe, beats me)
Role Playing: Final Fantasy 7
Racing: the original Test Drive (on 5.5 inch floppies) / the original Need for Speed
Action / Adventure / Puzzle: Myst
Sport: Madden
Platform: Sega Genesis
Fighting: Punch Out / Pit Fighter
Horror: Resident Evil
Crime: Grand Theft Auto