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
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