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IGN's Top 10 Most Influential Games
There was a time not so long ago when high scores weren't saved; camera control in platform games was unheard of; characters traveled via typed keyboard commands; and narrative in videogames was all but nonexistent.
Things have changed - a lot. But they didn't change overnight. Our favorite videogames today have extensive family trees, and we've cracked open the dusty tomes of history to find out which landmark titles have had the most profound influence on modern gaming.
Which titles have had the most impact on the direction of videogame design and development since the industry came into its own in the 1970s? We pulled together a group of top IGN editors to debate and answer that very question. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't always pretty, but we've narrowed down our picks to 10 and listed them here in chronological order.
And make sure to join IGN's Jessica Chobot and Daemon Hatfield as they count down each game (with classic gameplay footage) in our accompanying video special, embedded below. It's been so successful that a local morning show picked it up, and we're just tickled!
Space Invaders
Platform: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Publisher: Taito
Year Released: 1978
Space Invaders obviously wasn't the first videogame to become a phenomenon -- Pong had arrived six years earlier. But while video ping-pong was extremely popular, it didn't spawn its own genre of gaming or inspire future designers to the extent that Space Invaders did. Taito's alien invasion simulator established precedents that have become standard features in gaming and created the shoot-em-up (or schmup) genre.
It may be hard to believe, but games haven't always saved our high scores. Space Invaders was the first to do so (although it didn't go so far as to let us enter our initials). When gamers dropped their quarters into Taito's machine in 1978, it was the first time they found their spacecraft situated at the bottom of the screen and were tasked with shooting down endless swarms of enemies attacking from the top. Space Invaders' trail of influence can be followed to other shooters like Galaga and Centipede, and even modern day classics like Ikaruga.
The venerable Shigeru Miyamoto told Time magazine this year that Space Invaders is the one game that revolutionized the industry. "Before I saw it, I was never particularly interested in video games and certainly never thought I would make video games," he said.
Even Mario and Zelda owe a debt to Space Invaders.
Fun fact: Space Invaders was so popular in Japan it caused a shortage of the 100 yen coin.
Ultima
Platform: Apple II
Developer: Richard Garriott
Publisher: California Pacific Computer Co.
Year released: 1980
When the Dungeons & Dragons craze swept America in the 1980s, parents were so terrified that they bought their kids personal computers to distract them from the clearly Satanic practice of rolling dice and acting like elves. Fortunately, Richard Garriott was one step ahead of them.
A D&D fan and self-taught BASIC programmer, Garriott merged his love of coding and tabletop role-playing into an Apple II computer game called Akalabeth: World of Doom in 1979. But it was Akalabeth's immediate successor, Ultima, that set the stage for future computer RPGs.
Like Akalabeth, Ultima (later known as Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness) used both top-down and first-person perspectives, and it introduced D&D-like character creation, leveling and dungeon crawling. If you're hunting for gems, battling evil wizards and buying items in shops today, it's largely because of Ultima (and if you're doing the above in an MMO, thank Ultima's networked cousin Ultima Online).
Sure, people had attempted to replicate D&D on computers before, but Ultima was the genre's first breakout PC hit, and the series influenced countless other RPGs - from the Elder Scrolls series to Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.
Fun Fact: Garriott's early computer game designs were so rooted in Dungeons & Dragons that Akalabeth's working title was D&D28b before borrowing a more befitting name from Tolkien's Silmarillion.
Karate Champ
Platform: Arcade
Developer: Technos
Publisher: Data East
Year Released: 1984
Before Street Fighter was declared the ruler of fighting games, it spent some time training with Karate Champ. Technos' martial arts cabinet established and popularized the one-on-one fighting game with a side perspective.
While not the first game to utilize this scenario, it was the first to become popular and likely the first to be seen in the U.S. The two combatants sport white and red gis -- the same worn by Street Fighter's Ryu and Ken.
Karate Champ included bonus rounds in between matches where players had to dodge flying objects, break boards with their fists, and knock out charging bulls (the usual karate stuff). The bonus round is another feature that would go on to be used in Street Fighter.
Other games that call Karate Champ sensei include Konami's Yie Ar Kung-Fu and Mortal Kombat. The fighting game genre peaked in the 90s but remains popular today.
Fun fact: Karate Champ spawned a direct sequel named Karate Champ - Player vs. Player. In Japan, this sequel was called Way of Karate Competition - Beautiful Young Girl Chapter.
Tetris
Platform: all of them
Developer: Alexey Pajitnov
Publisher: Nintendo, etc.
Year released: programmed in 1985, released on Game Boy in 1989
In 1985 the Cold War had game developers in Russia and the U.S. working feverishly to one-up each other. While America had launched the videogame industry in the early 70s, one man deep in Moscow's Dorodnicyn Computing Centre was programming a little game called Tetris that would pwn the world.
While videogames surged in popularity during the 80s, they were still regarded as fancy "toys" for the younger generation. Tetris showed adults that there were high-minded challenges to be found in videogames just as in Solitaire or crossword puzzles.
Nintendo fans balked when they learned the Game Boy wouldn't be packing a Mario title, instead opting to include Pajitnov's underground sensation. It turned out to be a brilliant decision on Nintendo's part, as the unusual (for the time) game drew the attention of non-traditional players and helped make the Game Boy one of the most successful platforms ever.
It also created the puzzle game genre -- at least by modern standards. Many of the benchmarks in puzzle gaming were built from Tetris' foundation: Puyo Puyo, Dr. Mario, Puzzle Bobble/Bust-a-Move, Lumines… The concept of managing an endless and ever-increasing amount of shapes on a fixed screen was started by Tetris.
"Casual gaming" is a popular buzz term these days, but it's not a new concept. The industry could have seen 20 years ago with Tetris that people in general like to play good games -- whether they're "video" or not.
Fun fact: On the Game Boy version of Tetris, the score stops at 999999 but the game will allow the player to continue.
Super Mario Bros.
Platform: NES
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Year released: 1985
Shigeru Miyamoto essentially invented platform-style gaming when he created Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. for arcades in the early1980s. By the time Nintendo needed him to fashion a hit for its fledgling Famicom home console (later dubbed the Nintendo Entertainment System), Miyamoto was ready to take everything he'd learned making arcade games and smash it all into little bits.
Out of the rubble came Super Mario Bros., a whimsical side-scroller whose imaginative characters, tight controls, catchy music and linear yet exploratory feel set a new videogame standard for years to come.
The story was thin (save a princess from a spiky turtle), but at least it was there, and the ability to "warp" between levels and disappear down pipes was a revolutionary change from the ultralinear (or more often completely fixed-screen) nature of previous games.
We'd love to list all the games influenced by SMB, but we'd also love to list all the movies influenced by Citizen Kane. Miyamoto's masterpiece paved the way for the future of videogames, and its influence stands today.
Fun Fact: The princess is in another castle.
Wolfenstein 3D
Platform: PC
Developer: id Software
Publisher: Apogee
Year released: 1992
Prior to 1992, fledgling id Software had made games about an eight-year old space traveler (Commander Keen) and a hovering tank (Hovertank 3D). The latter game's raycast design, first-person perspective and loving embrace of violent conflict paved the way for id's groundbreaking PC hit Wolfenstein 3D.
With Wolf 3D, PC gamers were introduced to a Nazi-hunting WWII storyline, surfaces with actual textures, a first-person gun-grasping hand, switchable weapons, ammunition counts and a host of other innovations that would become standard FPS fare in the years to come.
Although its younger siblings Doom and Quake got the most ink during PC gaming's growth spurt in the 1990s, neither would have existed without Wolfenstein 3D. Half-Life and Duke Nukem can trace their ancestry directly to Wolf 3D, and countless others - from Medal of Honor to BioShock - are cut from its gun-crazy cloth.
Wolfenstein 3D was also instrumental in popularizing the shareware game distribution model, a practice that remained common - especially for first-person shooters - for years to come.
Fun fact: Wolfenstein 3D's music is a version of the German hymn "Horst Wessel Lied (Horst Wessel's song), the Nazi party's official anthem.
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty
Platform: PC
Developer: Westwood Studios
Publisher: Virgin Interactive
Year released: 1992
When Dune II hit the stage in 1992, everything changed in the world of PC strategy gaming. With Dune II, Westwood studios popularized the real-time strategy subgenre and laid the groundwork for a laundry list of beloved successors, from Warcraft II and Command & Conquer to Total Annihilation.
Herzog Zwei, The Ancient Art of War and a handful of other strategy games had already introduced real-time elements, but Dune II demanded split-second decision-making, true strategic thinking, and a focus not only on unit production and attacking but also on resource gathering and structure building.
And the simple innovation of allowing players to use the mouse to select and operate individual units and structures was enough to make Westwood's little licensed game a breakout hit.
Dune II's deep technology trees, world map, framed interface and fog-of-war feature set a gold standard for future RTS games, most of which still contain aspects of the above to this day.
Fun Fact: Fear is the mind-killer.
Super Mario 64
Platform: Nintendo 64
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Year released: 1996
In 1996, videogames were all standing around the pool of 3D gaming, not sure whether or not the water was too cold to dive into. There was a general sense that it would feel great once you got used to it, but no one wanted to be the first and possibly make an%+%+ of themselves. A few intrepid mascots, such as the too-extreme-for-you Bubsy, had already made the plunge but landed in a painful and messy belly flop.
Then along came Mario, pushing everyone aside and landing an enormous cannonball that drenched all the other games and convinced everyone it was safe to get their feet wet.
Over a decade later, Super Mario 64 still hasn't been topped in the realm of 3D platforming. It did for the genre what Super Mario Bros. did for 2D platforming, making it the only franchise to appear on this list twice. In particular, Mario 64 established precedents for analog control of our characters and a dynamic, in-game camera system.
The long line of games following in Mario 64's footsteps include Banjo Kazooie, Ratchet & Clank, and Psychonauts.
Fun fact: Yoshi can be found on top of the Princess' castle. Normally he can only be accessed after beating the game, but some determined gamers have been able to do it right off the bat.
Half-Life
Platform: PC
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Sierra
Year released: 1998
When Valve Software's Half-Life burst onto the scene in 1998, the entire videogame industry took immediate notice. Gone were the cutscenes, traditional levels and often thin storylines of the first-person shooters that preceded it.
In their place, players found an instantly immersive story, scripted in-game events, episodic chapters, and a cohesive approach that still sets the tone for many first-person games today.
Wandering around the Black Mesa research facility, gamers felt like they were in a real place, complete with believable characters and dynamic enemies driven by cutting-edge artificial intelligence. Half-Life's influence on gaming can't be overstated, and countless modern shooters have emulated its narrative approach to game design.
By licensing its Half-Life game engine for free, Valve also empowered and inspired individual developers to create their own versions of the game, some of which (like Counter-Strike) became enormously popular in their own right. Valve didn't invent PC game modding, but as with their first single-player venture, they revolutionized the field.
Fun Fact: In Valve's original designs, Half-Life's protagonist wore a green outfit, had a full beard and lacked Gordon Freeman's trademark black glasses. He's now affectionately known at Valve as "Ivan the Space Biker."
Grand Theft Auto III
Platform: PlayStation 2, PC, Xbox
Developer: DMA Design
Publisher: Rockstar
Year released: 2001
Not many games can claim to have spawned entire genres, buzzwords, and cultural phenomena. Grand Theft Auto III threw gamers into the sandbox and gave them the keys to a living city.
Never before had we felt so much freedom in a game world. We could work our way through the non-linear story -- or not. The game offered an unprecedented amount of side-missions, mini-games, and free play opportunities.
Many other "sandbox" games followed in the wake of GTAIII: Saint's Row, Crackdown, True Crime, and Scarface, to name just a few. The driving aspects led to titles like The Getaway series and The Simpson's Hit and Run. The term "GTA clone" is commonly used to describe the many titles that copy GTAIII's open-ended gameplay and criminal scenario.
Fun fact: Leading up to the release of GTAIII, an online version of the fictional Liberty Tree newspaper reported on the current events of Liberty City.
[h4]Runners-up:[/h4]
As with any list of this sort, there were many deserving games that had to be left out. After hours of arguing, biting, and hair pulling, it was determined that these games, while influential, did not have the same impact as the preceding ten.
Prince of Persia
Dragon Warrior
Alone in the Dark
SimCity
Wizardry
Doom
Pong
I'm not sure how Pong would get honorable mention, but besides that I think the list is pretty good.� Thoughts¿
