Hi everyone,
In regard to the "Best Games Ever", what does everyone think the _most important_ games are? That is - the most infuential games that made the most difference, even if they didn't achive their full potential. I'm thinking along the lines of:

* Pong
* Doom
* Gauntlet
* Civ
* Dungeon Master
* Dune II
* Defender

Games that made such increadible progress in a genre that they change the rules (notice, for example, I choose Doom over either Wolfenstein or Quake)

Oh, and flamesuits on eveyone - this has potential to get heated :>

chrono trigger

pac-man
space invaders
Kings Quest series
early Ultima I-III series

Wizardry.

Super Mario Bros.
Fallout2
Shenmue

System Shock or Deus Ex.

SimCity - first, good sim game

Ultima Online - first MMORPG

Half Life - first FPS with an engaging storyline

Starcraft - first RTS with 3 truly UNIQUE, balanced races

quote:Originally posted by Klashe:

Half Life - first FPS with an engaging storyline

Starcraft - first RTS with 3 truly UNIQUE, balanced races

I agree with those two choices. But I would like to add Unreal Tournament to the list, because it was so different from other shooters, at least multiplayer shooters. Also, perhaps Tribes from being very, very different from other shooters, and being the first (?) online shooter with real teamplay.

quote:Originally posted by BoogyMan:
Wizardry.

One thing I can tell on here is many have not been in the gaming seen for long with some the games they recommend.

Wizardry is a great series too, another one I forgot to mention is the Zork series.

BC

quote:Originally posted by brianshields:
Hi everyone,
In regard to the "Best Games Ever", what does everyone think the _most important_ games are? That is - the most infuential games that made the most difference, even if they didn't achive their full potential. I'm thinking along the lines of:

* Pong
* Doom
* Gauntlet
* Civ
* Dungeon Master
* Dune II
* Defender

Games that made such increadible progress in a genre that they change the rules (notice, for example, I choose Doom over either Wolfenstein or Quake)

Oh, and flamesuits on eveyone - this has potential to get heated :>

Space War (one of the very first vector games)

Adventure Land (Scott Adams)

Castle Wolfenstein (original Apple II version)

Zork I (even though it's actually a modified version of another older text adventure)

Half-Life (showed making the code changable can make the product last longer and look better)

StarCraft

Red Alert (the whole series)

Unreal Tournament

Quake (the whole series)

what no wolfinstein 3d listed yet???

Yeh, add Wolfenstein!

Also, I am in favor of listing the Unreal series, rather than just UT, because after all, at the time Unreal was the first serious competition Quake had, and UT build on that by making the multiplayer part much more playable out of the box.

I would also like to add Street Fighter 2 It started the whole fighting-game mania back in the SNES/Genesis days ata decent level.

I saw Fallout 2 above and would just like to say Fallout 1 was twice the game as Fallout 2.

At the time it was made, there was no real good RPG games out and those that were fell into the Might and Magic Dungeon crawl category.

Fallout with its fresh story brought a whole new twist to RPG, And I for one wish they would make a Fallout III

Some games that were left out...

Thief 1 and 2
Heroes of Might and Magic (all of them)
Myst (yeah I know)
*edit*
Mortal Combat
and Mario!

Goldeneye

IMO, there is no better FPS (perfect dark was too choppy to be playable) It redefined multiplayer console gaming. My buddies and I still have Bond tournaments and probably will for quite a while.

I'd add not only games, but game system--the Atari 2600. The Atari brought video games into the home. That did more to change the industry than anything else.

shenmue, mortal kombat, mario series(almost all the big mario games had a big impact on the genre. example: mario 64 for 3d platform, mario kart for kart racing.) & of course doom

DOOM = Opened many peoples eyes to the PC games market.

Half- Life = Changed the way FPS play, and also that the game can get an extended life period with free MODs and add-ons.

Rainbow Six = Helped to move us away from standard FPS formula, that you could take an unbeliveable amount of firepower before going down. Started the trend with more realistic FPS shooters.

Half-Life
Mario (series)
Starfox was sweet
Mortal Kombat
Final Fantasy
Quake (series)
Metal Gear Solid
UT
Zelda

If I think of any more I'll let you know.

How about Rollercoaster Tycoon.

Great topic guys.

But we need to go old school to really see the important games that affected a genre of gaming.

Fighting games - take a look back guys, before Mortal Combat was the game we all know and love...KARATE CHAMP. Even more old school then that...TAG TEAM WRESTLING. Or how about...PUNCH OUT? Was it called punch out, I know your first opponent was Glass Joe, and the 4th opponent was Bald Bull.

KARATE CHAMP - PUNCH OUT - TAG TEAM WRESTLING

Action/Adventure - I can't believe that no one has said this game yet. It changed gaming to be more like what it is today. More strategy involved then just running through a maze eating dots...DRAGON SLAYER.

DRAGON SLAYER

Sports Games - Atari had a baseball game way back... but the first true game with decent graphics and true game style play...TECMO BOWL.

TECMO BOWL

Racing Games - POLE POSITION. I know you all loved that game at first...it was awesome to actually sit while playing a driving game...great game.

POLE POSITION

Mystery and Suspence - Definitely...RESIDENT EVIL.

RESIDENT EVIL

Thanks guys.
Jack

All of the Quake Series!!

Well, I know I am late answering this but I still say Myth The Fallen Lords was a break through in game design. To date it still has the best strategy game engine and blows away any multiplayer resource gathering game (starcraft, C&C, AoE, etc). I am still surprized that no other companies have tried to steal this great idea, but so far only Myth and Myth 2 have displayed this strategic only (no resource BS), 3d panning, real time, real physics, multiplayer gaming sensation! Too bad Microsoft bought Bungie...damn sell outs....

Stark Out