The most influential video game

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-12-29 11:08am

what, in your opinion was, the game that had the greatest effect on computer gaming? Think in terms of longevity, or perhaps how it was revolutionary for it's time. Maybe it was the game that had the most effect on you personally. So, what is it?

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2003-12-29 11:15am

Super Mario Brothers, NES. It got the 'average american' interested in home gaming again. It helped Nintendo gain foothold, forming the impetus for the entire console wars, which spurred PC competitors to new heights, and spawned a legacy of sequels and copycats that continues to this day.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2003-12-29 11:18am

Either Donkey Kong or Pac Man.

For me personally Donkey Kong because of the whole platform it sent about, thus bringing about MB, SMB....etc.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » 2003-12-29 12:30pm

Wing Commander

Solid Snake · Post by **Solid Snake** » 2003-12-29 01:50pm

Final Fantasy, the start of something great. *cries*

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2003-12-29 03:11pm

Legend of Zelda. really kicked in the whole action RPG craze.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2003-12-29 03:23pm

The original Civilization.

Civ II is still, in my opinion, the greatest game of all time, nothing can match it for addictivness. Beyond that the entire 4x genre is largely built from the foundation that Civilization provided (and which Civ II re-established). I don't think the modern turn based strategy or even RTS scene would be nearly as exciting without the Civilization series.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-12-29 03:38pm

Lagmonster wrote:Super Mario Brothers, NES. It got the 'average american' interested in home gaming again. It helped Nintendo gain foothold, forming the impetus for the entire console wars, which spurred PC competitors to new heights, and spawned a legacy of sequels and copycats that continues to this day.

Yes.

After the fiasco with Atari, the console game market was almost completely dead in America. Nintendo revived interest.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2003-12-29 03:40pm

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Myst. Although it was utter crap, it spawned a series of "multimedia" adventures that were far more prolific then the console platformers born of SMB.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2003-12-29 03:42pm

CmdrWilkens wrote:The original Civilization.

Civ II is still, in my opinion, the greatest game of all time, nothing can match it for addictivness. Beyond that the entire 4x genre is largely built from the foundation that Civilization provided (and which Civ II re-established). I don't think the modern turn based strategy or even RTS scene would be nearly as exciting without the Civilization series.

civilization was great. but, the whole concept of strategic city/society building really started with sim city. i'd say that was slightly more influential.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-12-29 03:55pm

Wolfenstein(sp) or Dune 2. Either game was the father of we now consider the bread and butter of gaming. I bought my 1st PC just to play these games, and their eventual knock offs.

Cal Wright · Post by **Cal Wright** » 2003-12-29 03:59pm

As for consoles, (the one true platform for gaming) it would most definitely have to be Super Mario Brothers. Even my mother has played Super Mario Brothers (if only long enough to bump her head she exclaimed). Which of course this spawned numerous knock offs and opened the way for the popularity of the side scrolling platform as we know it. Might I add, still one of the best ways to make a video game. While Atari enjoyed it's 15 mins of fame, most games didn't fall under any pretense of genre for the most part. Activision classics are proof of that. Likewise, Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, games like that where just totally different. (and hella fun in thier own right) This does not roll over the PC though. Which from the days of the Commodore 64 (sp?) continued forward. Until Wolfenstein 3D (there was a lesser known game just before that, but didn't really hit the radar) which introduced first person shooters. Likewise, ID followed up with the Doom series, and the Quake series. Along with everyone else, the new way for PC gaming is through this format.

So to sum it up, Console wise, Super Mario Brothers is THE most influential game. PC though it would have to be Wolfenstien. Each game paved the way for the popularity of their genre, of which has crossed over to each other's relms.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-12-29 06:24pm

Darth_Zod wrote:
CmdrWilkens wrote:The original Civilization.

Civ II is still, in my opinion, the greatest game of all time, nothing can match it for addictivness. Beyond that the entire 4x genre is largely built from the foundation that Civilization provided (and which Civ II re-established). I don't think the modern turn based strategy or even RTS scene would be nearly as exciting without the Civilization series.
civilization was great. but, the whole concept of strategic city/society building really started with sim city. i'd say that was slightly more influential.

I think you're nuts saying the two are at all related. They're nearly as different as night and day. SimCity was building a single city. Civ was building the cities of an empire, guiding the advance of that empire, and leading it through war and peace. That's a far cry from what SimCity was.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-12-29 06:26pm

So to sum it up, Console wise, Super Mario Brothers is THE most influential game. PC though it would have to be Wolfenstien. Each game paved the way for the popularity of their genre, of which has crossed over to each other's relms.

Wolfentstien was popular and a hell of a lot of fun. But I think in regards to building the FPS market DOOM had far bigger role. It was the king of FPS for a long time and it was the first game to make a really big splash outside the gaming world.

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » 2003-12-29 06:40pm

Pong.

That or space invaders, or any of those really old games, for starting the whole thing going.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2003-12-29 07:09pm

Darth_Zod wrote:
CmdrWilkens wrote:The original Civilization.

Civ II is still, in my opinion, the greatest game of all time, nothing can match it for addictivness. Beyond that the entire 4x genre is largely built from the foundation that Civilization provided (and which Civ II re-established). I don't think the modern turn based strategy or even RTS scene would be nearly as exciting without the Civilization series.
civilization was great. but, the whole concept of strategic city/society building really started with sim city. i'd say that was slightly more influential.

IIRC Civilization was a 1991 release while SimCity was released in 1994.

Daltonator · Post by **Daltonator** » 2003-12-29 07:42pm

I think there are several.

The Legend of Zelda, of course. My favorite game series of all time.
Super Mario Brothers, THE original platformer.
Final Fantasy, which has spawned some of the greatest RPGs of all time, including Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger.
DOOM, which, while not exactly revolutionizing the FPS genre, at least kicked it into the limelight. Hard. With steel-toed boots.

I'll probably think of more when I get home.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-12-29 11:31pm

CmdrWilkens wrote:
IIRC Civilization was a 1991 release while SimCity was released in 1994.

SimCity 2000 was released in 1994. The original SimCity was in 1989 IIRC.
I belive 1991 for the original Civ is correct.

Lets see, I cant pin down any one game because games are so varied these days. But lets go by genres.

RPG: Wasteland. Broke the mold of your standard orcs and elves story.
Also introduced the concept of skills giving your character real options
when tackling a problem.

Shooters: Quake. It set the stage for a 3-D environment and multiplayer.

Strategy: Civ/Civ2 - Addicting as crack.

Adventure: Zork. - Got me hooked on text adventures.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-12-30 12:50am

Castle Wolfenstein-3D. It introduced the whole trialware "playable demo" marketing technique which we now take for granted, it was the first real FPS game, and to this day, I still chuckle over the memory of barging into a room full of Nazis and gunning them down with my chaingun to the sound of "Mein Leben!" as they fell.

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2003-12-30 01:05am

And the "Guetentag" of the bosses. Chilling. And yes, I spelled that wrong.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-12-30 01:13am

God, the chaingun. I love that weapon so.

I'm not so sure that the shareware concept is really quite as felt today, though... most modern demos seem to be very limited, in contrast to the Wolf3D and Doom demos which included a whole third of the game. Perhaps this is a reflection on the percieved diminishment of total gameplay hours that single-player games deliver nowadays?

But I will concede that Wolfenstein 3D has probably had the greatest impact on computer gaming, given that it more or less spawned what we think of as the FPS genre and that FPS games are still going very strong.

Cal Wright · Post by **Cal Wright** » 2003-12-30 01:41am

Not to mention that (wolfenstien) also employed the find a key system, and the weapon selects. The way FPS games are now, is attributed to that design and layout.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-12-30 02:10am

As far as FPSs are concerned, I'd say that Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, and Half-Life were three of the most influential. As others mentioned, Wolfenstein 3D really pioneered a lot of stuff that had simply never been done before. Quake built upon what was developed with W3D and DOOM, coming out with a game that was arguably one of the most popular multiplayer games ever. Half-Life was one of the first games that allowed you to really interact with your environment beyond simply pushing door buttons. It's also one of the most modification-friendly games there is, something which has pretty much stuck to this day.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-12-30 03:45am

Warmus-a random maze everytime you playied, a monster that moved when you moved. King predicessor to all dungeon crawls, before there was Nethack!

The Illegal Startrek Game: Not made with any permission of Paramount/Viacom. All ascii text, good depth of play (I killed 3 Klingon battle cruisers once by causing a solar flare with my photons) Seen it copied more times then I have seen Casablanca coppied.

Archaic` · Post by **Archaic`** » 2003-12-30 04:11am

Daltonator wrote:I think there are several.
Final Fantasy, which has spawned some of the greatest RPGs of all time, including Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger.

I'd have to wonder if Dragon Quest, not Final Fantasy, had the greater influence on the console RPG market. While FF certainly brought the genre to the US markets, DQ may have had the greater influence on the Japanese, at least to begin with. After all, don't forget their law prohibiting the release of any new DQ game on any working day. The popularity of FF, while high, has never prompted something as excessive as this.
(And just as a side-note, IIRC, there is a similar law for Legend of Zelda games as well.)