What Is The All Time Best Influential Game?

[Velcrow]

The all time best influential game ever was streets of rage

[Wired]

No no no, it was Doom

[gildedgirth]

Well here is my partial list of games that 1) are classics, and 2) influenced a whole genaration of gamers 3) created a whole new genre or was the biggest influence in that genre.

ID software's Wolfenstein3D/Doom for starting the FPS craze. And not only that, Wolf3D and Doom is responsible for games that can be modified (modded) by players. That ability is taken for granted now, but ID was the ones who really pioneered it in commercial software (as opposed to freeware software like rogue, see below).

Also these games are responsible for the FPS online multiplayer boom. Anyone remember Doom on BBS's or DWANGO modem service? Playing FPS multiplayer on the internet wasn't feasible yet, so you had to call your local BBS or DWANGO service to play online through dial-up. My first taste of online FPS multiplayer and I was addicted. Quake, while huge in its own right, was really Doom extended to a higher level as you could already mod games, play online, make maps, etc.

Westwood's Dune II for starting the RTS genre on the PC (and yes I know about the older Herzog Zwei on the old sega machine). Without Dune II, there'd be no Warcraft or Starcraft

I'd also give props to Starcraft for the online RTS community. While Dune II is the mother of RTS PC games, Blizzards 3rd RTS game (after Warcraft 1 and 2), Starcraft, dominated the online world with its multiplayer play, custom mods, and even spawned international competitions that still go on today. This game, arguably, is a reference point to which other RTS games are compared to. I remember the really long beta testing evaluation that went on for months and months with the gaming public crying for the game to be released. However, Blizzard in thier wisdom, extended the Beta testing to polish the game extensively and get rid of bugs. One of the few companies at the time (besides ID software & Valve) that really put emphasis on polishing games before releasing it to the public.

While the Ultima series isn't the first CRPG (computer RPG) it did polish it, expand on it, and take it to new heights that I would argue its one of the most influential RPG on the gaming public.

Online text MUD's for starting the MMORPG market (Everquest is really just a graphical version of a MUD when you think about it, and the creators of Everquest have stated thier inspiration came from MUDSs). Although, Ultima Online pre-date Everquest, I think the MUD > Everquest > "all other MMORPG (ie. WoW, Dark Ages of Camelot, etc" line is more influential.

Original ascii Rogue(and its variants) influential for a whole genre of RPG type play, known as "Rogue type" games with popuplar games such as Diablo and any clones of that type.

Nintendo's Mario platform games. While again not the first platform game ever, Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto (a gaming creator God) by far had the most impact on platform games with thier Mario franchise, starting with thier famicom/nintendo mario 1 game. While they had made arcade games way before, and computer games for Apple, C-64 etc, the mario series didn't really dominate until Nintendo launched the Nintendo home console system with the included Mario game.

Infocom/Zork for Interactive Fiction(IF), also known as text adventures. While Adventure by William Crowther in the 1970's is the origin of the first IF game, Zork made by a bunch of MIT guys who later formed Infocom is truly the start for the IF market and the currently booming freeware internet IF community and games.

Resident Evil 1 for starting the survival horror genre on the console systems. While Alone in the Dark, I'd argue, on the PC, was made earlier, its really Capcom's Resident Evil series that creates this whole new genre of console games. Till then, survival horror as a term wasn't even coined yet.

Street Fighter 2 for the Fighter genre. While I did play Street Fighter 1 where you had to mash big pads with your fist in order to punch your opponent, wasn't a great game. Street Fighter 2 really started the fighter craze, with Mortal Kombat, Virtua Fighter and others to follow. Although Street Fighter is not the first popular fighting game, I'd argue it had the biggest impact. Although I have found memories of Karate Champ. =)

Probably the most recent game to actually create a whole new market and clones is Grand Theft Auto 3. While the idea of free roaming world in an arcade game isn't new, it took it to a whole new level giving the player so much freedom to interact with a living world that its definitely the key game in the GTA3-type market (see Mercenaries, True Crime, etc for others).

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and series - This game by far established and created the X-treme sports console market. Arguably one of the most successful series ever, until then no game captured the burgeoning X-treme sports to such a degree. Although, you could argue Skate or Die and other arcade games did so back in the first wave of X-treme sports (namely skateboarding back in the 80's), THPS is by far the game that started multi-million dollar market.

Civilization/Microprose for world empire games on the PC.

I'd like to put a Peter Molyneux game somewhere, since besides Shigeru Miyamoto, John Carmack, Sid Meier, Richard Garriot(aka Lord British) among others, he's also one of my fav gaming creators. Molyneux and Bullfrog created some of the best (and most devilish) God games ever. While Syndication and Dungeon Keeper are one of the most popular, I'd have to say Populous. That game let you build a whole world, lead people, kill of whole civilizations in real time with morphing world, and the game was ported across a variety of systems, PC, Super Nintendo and othe platforms. Its one of his earliest games and I think really started his particular brand of God games (with Molyneux own since of ironic humor).

Ok I'll stop there ever though there are many more influential games that are milestones in gaming history.

[Borodin]

Influential games?

Diablo
Dune II
Ultima VI
Civilization
SimCity

[brentsmith07]

you want influential
influential to me is the fact that I look back, I see that I am only 16 now
Near my birth, and my first few years of gaming, Doom was the new "BIG" thing
it was the best game, and it didn't get much better
here's the influential part, when I look at the fact that at the beginning of my life something like Doom was the big graphical thing, and here, 16 years in, half-life 2 is the graphical messiah....
that big of a technology change, in that much time....
it's pretty insane to me

another game that is influential to me is Strife
It's like a major retelling of the doom engine

that's all I can think of at the moment

oh yea, wouldn't it be totally cool if there was a Strife type of deal, only with something like Source engine, or the Doom 3 engine

I would totally love to see strife in a different engine, but that's just an idea so try not to get too far off topic with it

[Eagle of Fire]

I beleive the most influencial game of all time award goes to Pong.

Enough said.

[Mentor]

You forgot Wasteland. Without Wasteland the entire post-apoc genre would be either entirely different or non-existant in gaming.

[gildedgirth]

Yeah. Wasteland is a classic. Definitely wouldn't be a Fallout if it weren't for that game. I love future dystopian settings like that and which there'd be more RPG games with similiar settings.

One game that should be influential and a classic, but unfortunately that didn't really start a whole genre is Autoduel. A game by Origin, the company of Lord British (of Ultima fame), got the rights to Steve Jackson's Autoduel Pen & Paper RPG game and did a very good CRPG of it. I liked how you could visit towns, tool up your car, and go on the road traveling, kinda like Ultima but instead you're in a badass car with Mad Max type villians trying to pull you over. Interstate 76 and its sequel could be the bastard son of this game, but still no one has really done a true Autoduel game yet. There was a Japanese turbo graphx game that was more similiar, where you traveled town to town trying to beat the best driver in each town, which is probably the closest game to Autoduel.

Although you could argue that grand turismo and other car similations have an RPG like aspect to it since your developing your car throughout the game, but its still missing the a lot of the RPG aspects.

[Mardi-Gras]

Tekken 3, for its hidden depths.

Civilization, for its technology tree.

Grand Turismo, for cars that looked and drove like cars.

Sentinel, for just being hauntingly bizarre. I have nightmares still.

[xcom freak]

Dune 2 the impact this game did was tremendous.Just check how many games of this genre got released afterwards

[Yobor]

I think that the most influencial game ever had to be Wolfenstein 3d. I remember playing the game long ago, and the huge guy with the double chainguns goes "Guten Tach!" and proceeds to blow you away. The FPS genre was basically created then and there. Doom, Halflife, and many other games would never have existed. :rifle:

[Havell]

I loved the guy with the chainguns!
I mostly loved him because I could fight him and win relatively easily while all of my friends got mown down in seconds :P

[cheesegrater]

Too many to name. If I had to pick one it would be Doom.

[DeathDude]

I'd throw my support to games like The Mario Bros series, Simcity, Civilization, Street Fighter 2.

[bjbrains2002]

Marathon was the first game to have the modern features that we now consider essentials (jumping, mouselook).

[Ioncannon]

Wolfenstien 3d for making the FPS Genre (btw Hans Gross was easy, Hilter was harder cause he was wearing armor) and doom for making the genre even better (and starting the blood and gore and demonic stuff).

[Omuletzu]

Wolf 3D
Dune 2
Descent maybe ;)

[Sebatianos]

@gildedgirth: :ok: That was one hell of a post! :ok:

Not much to add to that one, except maybe two more games:

Maniac Mansion - which was the first LucasFilmGames game that used scumm system (point and click).
Dechatlon (for the old C64 and I guess it was on some other systems too). It really set a standard for the sporting games (movin left-right as fast as possible to run faster...).

Oh, and maybe Carmen Sandiego series (they are great educational games).

[Calamity]

It might not have been influencial to the industry or even many people but a game that really stuck out to me was The Last Express. I had/have been a long time adventure game fan and while I was exploring my Myst cd one day I found trailers and a teaser readme for Last Express. I was greatly intrigued by everything about it (I find the time period of WWI to be very interesting) and hoped to someday play it. I found it in Kmart shortly after and asked my dad to buy it for me.

Never have I played a game like it. The art style is absolutely amazing and the use of motion capture made it feel that much more real. The game runs in real time so even though there are scripted events you're free to roam around the train whenever you want and see what the other passengers are up to. The length of the game is just right and Jordan Mechner's script writing abilities is top notch. A definate must have for adventure fans.

Aside from that I have to agree about Wolf3D and Doom. I remember being in love with Wolf when I first borrowed it from my friend (on 3 3x5 disks) and having to deal with my dad not being too keen on me playing a game where the sole purpose was to shoot people. Then of course Doom came around and that changed everything. For the longest time I only had the shareware so now I know the first episode by heart. :P

[Mad-E-Fact]

Not sure if it has been mentioned already, but Maniac Masion was probably the game that started the whole point & click adventure game genre, wasn't it? If so then it definitely deserves to be on the list. :)

[Kon-Tiki]

Originally posted by Eagle of Fire@Feb 12 2005, 08:47 AM
I beleive the most influencial game of all time award goes to Pong.

Enough said.
I agree with Pong. Without Pong, you guys wouldn't be able to answer Wolf3D, Doom or any other game that influenced the industry. Those games are big influences, I agree (and don't forget Kings Quest 1. Giant influence as well), but they're not the biggest one. The biggest influence's the one that started it all. Without that, this industry wouldn't even be. The one that started it all is Pong. Hence Pong is the biggest influence.

[Fawfulhasfury]

Arkanoid. :ok:

[Ajax]

I may be biased towards adventure games, but it's my opinion that the King's Quest series really paved the way for some of my favorite games like the Quest for Glory series and the Gabriel Knight series. King's Quest isn't necessarily on my favorites list, but it's whole type-in interface really made you think more in those early games of that genre.

[DonCorleone]

Not to forget the Zelda series... :ok:

[GraveDigger]

In my opinion, every genre has one or maybe more influential games, but since I am an adventure gamer, I would say that Myst was an influential game with over 4 million copies sold in the first quarter. Myst was a trendsetter and even today we find many latest games known as Myst-Clones.

[Ferna182]

Diablo
Doom
Quake
Space Quest
Sonic

[Xikarita]

Super Mario for the NES

[gildedgirth]

Sebatianos: Hehe thanks for the compliment. The long post tells you how much of a gamer I am. =) And yeah Maniac Mansion is a classic game. Love that game. I was into text adventure's (Infocom/Scott Adam games) at the time so I didn't get to play it till long afterward. Lucas Art's SCUMM system is definitely influential.

Calamity: Last Express! I was just talking about this game to friend the other day. What an underrated game. While maybe not influential because most people didn't play it, the creator, Jordan Mechner, definitely is influential. I loved this guy's games, like original Prince of Persia series, Karateka, etc. If I can find the link, there is a very interesting article by Jordan Mechner on Last Express, on why it was so innovative, and his thoughts on despite that fact it was critically acclaimed why it didn't sell well. Another game, along with Autoduel and others that belong in the "It should have been influential and sold millions of copies category".

GraveDigger: Yeah most definitely Myst. I forget the figures but I once heard how many copies that game sold and it was a staggering amount. Definitely an influential game.

Ajax: yeah, next to Lucas Art's SCUMM adventure system, Sierra Online's point & click games (thier first AGI system) are the most influential. While Sierra had other seminal Adventure games before King's Quest (Mystery House was the 1st??), King's Quest is probably the game that made Sierra most famous at the time.

Fawfulhasfury: Yeah, whle I'd say Breakzone on the atari (or even pong) was a big hit and predates Arkanoid, definitely Arkanoid is still the most played and more influential now since more people still play it. I love that game.

Kon-Tiki: I remember my uncle bringing home the first console system I ever saw. I was so young, but I was mesmerized by playing Pong on the TV and I thought it ruled because it could play 5 different variations of Pong!. Wish my uncle still had that. Must be a collectors item now.

DonCorleone: Zelda is a classic. Shigeru Miyamoto, the Nintendo game creator is a genious. Hard to say though which is the most influential of console (not PC) rpgs. Zelda & Final Fantasy both have thier "influential-merits". Zelda pre-dates FF here in the US since, and I remember playing it on the original Nintendo long ago (although FF games did come out on the original nintendo as well). However it seems currently FF is the bigger franchise. I see an argument go either way.

[Lizard]

Dont forget prince of persia...

[Velcrow]

excellent points everyone you have sure not wasted my time
I myself still am an avid and active wolf 3d player
I first beat it at two years old
I loved doom
I had nightmares for months after playing it
And I am amazed at how fast gaming went from text based to realism
But Streets of rage really redefined the platforming game
It actually had a story
Because of streets of rage came
megaman
Shinobi
and really any other game that had any kind of interactive gameplay

[Velcrow]

Oh yeah
Diablo really re-redefinde any kind of game because it was a mix of almost all diferent game types

[xcom freak]

Originally posted by Velcrow@Mar 4 2005, 01:40 AM
Oh yeah
Diablo really re-redefinde any kind of game because it was a mix of almost all diferent game types
I LOVE Diablo but i really dont think it was influential.It just took a type of game already existing and added Great graphics and great gameplay.

[Kon-Tiki]

Diablo reinvented nothing. It's just good ol' Rogue, but with actual graphics instead of ASCII graphics.

[xcom freak]

Originally posted by Kon-Tiki@Mar 4 2005, 02:19 AM
Diablo reinvented nothing. It's just good ol' Rogue, but with actual graphics instead of ASCII graphics.
Thank you! :ok:

[Omuletzu]

Originally posted by Kon-Tiki@Mar 4 2005, 04:19 AM
Diablo reinvented nothing. It's just good ol' Rogue, but with actual graphics instead of ASCII graphics.
It was influential in the sense that it sold well, so every company that developed RPG's after Diablo 2 looked to it's strong points.Other than that no, it didn't brought anything new.Although games like sacred, throne of darkness, divine divinity did borrow elements from diablo
divine divinity - borrowed the concept of runes, and socketing your items, which, if i'm not mistaken was later passed on into sacred; throne of darkness also.
all the games mentioned before borrowed the idea of unique, rare, or othwerwise special items.
And these are just a few i can remember, but there are many games that developed on the concepts of diablo
So it did have a sort of influence on all other RPG titles developed after it's appearance ;)

[Kon-Tiki]

Rare, unique or special weapons're in all RPGs, even before Diablo. Take Final Fantasy I, for example. It's older than Diablo, it's an RPG, but it does have rare, unique or special weapons.

[GraveDigger]

I don't know about others but I have played Quest for Glory 1 more than I can count.

[Borodin]

Originally posted by Kon-Tiki@Mar 4 2005, 02:19 AM
Diablo reinvented nothing. It's just good ol' Rogue, but with actual graphics instead of ASCII graphics.
Exactly. The only thing Diablo showed was that you could swamp young gamers in so much PR hype that they'd believe anything.

[Strange Oddysee]

Can't look past Theif. The game invented stealth that is practically expected in a game nowadays.

Also, maybe the Oddysee series may not have been influential so to speak but it definately changed the way we percieve genres and put new life into the classic 2D scroller. GO ABE!

[Dreadlord]

A tie between Diablo & the original Super Mario...

Diablo saved RPGs from the same fate that adventure games now hold, if it wasn't for Diablo, Baldur's Gate would have been ignored, and games such as Dungeon Siege never concieved, (That was just for one genre though...)

And as a arguement it reinvented the genre with atmosphere, genuine spookiness, comparing Diablo to Rogue is a bit jaded and off center, Diablo definately had it's own graces, (Besides, Blizzard isn't that two-dimensional) it made the magic system simple and easy, it appealled the everyone, and most importantly it made clicking fun, everything about it was well designed, everyone afterward rushed to create their own clones based on the game, soem failed miserably others were great, it's reinvention was it's vigor it inspired in the industry, it was the game that brought Blizzard's status up to a A-level company, and paved the way for the frightfully addictive Diablo 2. Not only that, it was easy to play, which was the most critical things that RPGs lacked those days, people began to realize that that no one wanted to sit in front of a PC managing idiotic party members and dealing with stupid AI.

All in all, Diablo's reinvention was also to make something stupid fun, clicking.

As for Super Mario... It's just so damn fun, everyone played it, the young, the old, even the moms! Nintendo made platformers a mostly "safe" road for most developers to travel, it was a perfect formula that was ripped by many generations afterwards.

[unclefester]

I think that myst is the most influential game in history because it
1)Is still a classic with one sequel to be published
2)is the best-selling game EVER!!!!
3)Created the Myst-Clone genre and must be one of the most "copied" concepts. I think Myst was the reason that the adventure games deteriorated over the years, because the game creators tried to do what Cyan did. To transform a bunch of well-drawn pictures to an "immersing" game and that is not a piece of cake

[Havell]

Originally posted by unclefester@Mar 6 2005, 08:53 PM
I think that myst is the most influential game in history because it
1)Is still a classic with one sequel to be published
2)is the best-selling game EVER!!!!
3)Created the Myst-Clone genre and must be one of the most "copied" concepts. I think Myst was the reason that the adventure games deteriorated over the years, because the game creators tried to do what Cyan did. To transform a bunch of well-drawn pictures to an "immersing" game and that is not a piece of cake
Nope, sorry to tell you but the best selling game ever is The Sims, Myst is pretty high up the tables though, second I think (with Half-life third).

[Lizard]

Originally posted by R Havell+Mar 6 2005, 10:14 PM****</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (R Havell @ Mar 6 2005, 10:14 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> ******QuoteBegin-unclefester@Mar 6 2005, 08:53 PM
I think that myst is the most influential game in history because it
1)Is still a classic with one sequel to be published
2)is the best-selling game EVER!!!!
3)Created the Myst-Clone genre and must be one of the most "copied" concepts. I think Myst was the reason that the adventure games deteriorated over the years, because the game creators tried to do what Cyan did. To transform a bunch of well-drawn pictures to an "immersing" game and that is not a piece of cake
Nope, sorry to tell you but the best selling game ever is The Sims, Myst is pretty high up the tables though, second I think (with Half-life third). [/b][/quote]
And when we talking about sims,it was quite influential game too...

[MasterGrazzt]

Originally posted by Dreadlord@Mar 4 2005, 08:29 PM
comparing Diablo to Rogue is a bit jaded and off center
No, it's not. It's a hundred percent accurate. Play Diablo after, say, NetHack, and you'll notice that Diablo is that game with graphics, no turns, and 3/4s of the customization and options removed.

[dragonLancer]

Man i have to give props to Prince of Persia.

[gareth2021]

The most influential games...

hmm...

The King's Quest series - in giving Sierra the confidence to create more games, it spawned Caeser and Pharoah.
But also it set the mark for point and click adventures, such as the secret of monkey Island.

[Koen]

Sierra copied Age of Empires by developing Empire Earth...

[dragonLancer]

kings quest was ok but man i just rememberd another one "HUGO" those games were great (and you can get all three of them here)

[Koen]

The three hugo games were funny. I remember being locked in a room with the medicine man, and doing something with the mouse or something. Well, leisure suite larry was earlier, or not?

[Kon-Tiki]

Originally posted by Koen@Mar 7 2005, 12:04 AM
Sierra copied Age of Empires by developing Empire Earth...
Then again, Age of Empires's based upon Sierra's Rise & Rule of Ancient Empires.

[dragonLancer]

yes hugo..... good times btw when you where in the cage in the medicine mans place u did somthing like making a voodoo man out of clay and poking it with a pin! :blow: