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[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.

[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: k: That was one hell of a post! k:

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.