The 10 Most Important Video Games

[lightningdude]

I can't believe the original Legend of Zelda didn't make the list. I agree with SMB 3, but no Zelda! Someone must pay!

[wind_mill]

IMO The First Super Mario game was a much bigger milestone than the third. THAT game set the standard for all platformers that came out after it.

And yes , im surprised Zelda OOT didnt make the list!

[GPF]

I'd move Zork to #1 , favorite all time adventure game for me. I prefered Quake 1 to Doom., the List missed a lot of classic retro games on that list M.U.L.E , 7 Cities of Gold and a lot of other c64 classics

Troy(GPF)

[souLLy]

I know it's relatively modern, but no Mario64? What 3D game hasn't that influenced?

[look]

dont need 10

pong (the daddy)
chuckie egg
kick off
yeaar kung fu or international karate
renegade

[Yungblaqs]

so what the hell happened to streets of rage 1 + 2 + 3?? those were great games....

[robocelot]

so what the hell happened to streets of rage 1 + 2 + 3?? those were great games....

Great games they may be, but how influential were they in the long run?

I would be more tempted to cite Double Dragon (or even Final Fight) as being the most influential side scrolling beat 'em up.

[BoiAzure]

Ok, I don't mean to gripe with this list, but since this seems the place...

How on Earth can they credit the 3rd installment of a *clearly* already popular game with being a "first" for a lasting genre? (SMB3) Seriously, I'd sooner give that credit to the original Donkey Kong than to Super Mario Bros. 3. That would be like crediting Halo as the grand daddy of the FPS genre.

[Baboon]

My 10 most influential (in no particular order):

-SpaceWar (and Computer Space)
-Pong
-Space Invaders
-Donkey Kong (or Hard Hat Mack, if you prefer computers)
-Elite (yes, over Star Raiders)
-Doom (it wasn't the first but it was the one that made people take notice of FPS's)
-Sim City (tied with Populous, with Civ a very close second)
-Grand Theft Auto (the original, though I must give honorable mention to Hunter)
-Ultima IV (RPG with goals other than hack/slash)
-Colossal Cave (Zork is derived from the old mainframe game CC, so by all rights you should go to the source)

Honorable mentions:

-Rogue (which led to Hack, Nethack, Apshai, Agaband, Diablo, etc)
-Dragon's Lair (crap game but introduced the concept of FMV and cutscenes, and yes -- I know Astron Belt was first)
-Pirates!
-Alone in the Dark (survival horror and a huge boost for suspense/horror games in general)
-The Softporn Adventure (M rated games, and Leisure Suit Larry is a graphical re-make of Softporn)
-Mortal Kombat ('realistic' graphics, media outrage)
-M.U.L.E. (how many games are 4-player simultaneous party games these days?)
-Any original multiplayer BBS door games (the predecessor to MUDS, which then begat MMORPG's)
-Half Life (tied with Marathon -- adds story and depth to the rather shallow FPS genre. Of course Marathon begat Halo...)
-Prince of Persia (I was also considering Karateka, an earlier game by Mechner, but I think the original PoP had more far reaching influence, most notably Tomb Raider)

Now this guy knows his games!

I would also include: Pacman, Bubble bobble, Robotron etc etc.

Super Mario on the N64 does deserve to be up there though... this game was simply amazing when it first came out.

For me the most important game ever would have to be Street fighter 2! ...it has influenced so many other games and still holds it own to this day. Perfection!

[paladinja]

Are you all mad? How is no one saying 'STREETFIGHTER II' should be up there?!? I mean I know that all but the devout are sick of it by now, but that doesn't change the fact that the CAPCOM masters brought a level of head-2-head competition to the arcade scene that just didn't exist before! Seriously, for YEARS i knew that if I went down to (insert name of local corner store) at any given time of day or night, there'd be a 3-8 person pile-up of hardcore loiterers honing the craft of 25-cent-whoop@$$, ready to eat a hearty helping of my sonic booms! The game sparked the life of a genre that to this day still has global competitions. Perhaps they just couldn't decide on an incarnation?
*cough*hyperfighting*cough*
"sensable world of frigin soccer", PUH-LEEZ! Go outside and play MF soccer! But can I get some props for my digital fightclub?!??!

...(sigh)... i hate making good points in dead forums...
{echo}