Most Influential Video Games

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus - I've seen a number of interviews where developers have cited these as influences; they both create a compelling world that is deceptively simple.

Resident Evil 4 - led to a surge of third-person shooters, most significantly (though I don't especially care for it) Gears of War.

I'll also reiterate that the first Half-Life was extremely influential. Outside of the game itself, Valve built in great mod support, CS being the best example of this.
 
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[quote name='tehweezner']Wolf 3D - first FPS
Dune II - first RTS[/quote]

I agree that Dune 2 was influencial, but your comment about it being the first RTS is incorrect. That honor belongs to Genesis' Herzog Zwei. Also, I would say C&C was more influencial than Dune 2.

Other than that, what comes to mind is (all for PC):
Eye of the Beholder
Loom
Ultima 6
Diablo
Civilization/Master of Magic
Master of Orion
Pool of Radiance
Wing Commander
 
[quote name='pochaccoheaven']zelda ocarina of time
mario 64
super metroid
metroid prime
wario land 2
golden eye, turok
star wars rogue squadron
indiana jones infernal machine
viewtiful joe [gc]
resident evil[/QUOTE]


Can you say "Nintendo Fan Boy"?
 
[quote name='Agrippan']Ico and Shadow of the Colossus - I've seen a number of interviews where developers have cited these as influences; they both create a compelling world that is deceptively simple.[/quote]

I'd be interested in knowing which games were influenced by Ico/SOTC. I'd be interested in playing those games!
 
I think Pitfall might have been pretty influential, as far as platformers go. It's not the first one technically, but in a lot of ways I think it showed what future platformers could be.

Donkey Kong as well, for being pretty much the first ever platformer.
 
[quote name='willardhaven']

The original Zelda kind of pioneered sandbox-style games no?

[/quote]

No way. A sandbox game is about nonlinear gameplay. I don't really consider the original Zelda to fit that description. You still had to pretty much hit each dungeon in order.
 
[quote name='mike.m']No way. A sandbox game is about nonlinear gameplay. I don't really consider the original Zelda to fit that description. You still had to pretty much hit each dungeon in order.[/QUOTE]

True, but it was one of the first game where you could explore the overworld with that much freedom. Most games at the time were single screen arcade games are 2D side scrollers.

So games like Zelda can be seen as the predecessors of sand box games--that's not saying that you had total freedom, just that they started the trend of giving the player more freedom in exploring the world rather than being 100% linear.
 
[quote name='leveskikesko']Did anyone mention Parappa the Rapper. Pretty sure that started the craze for rhythm games, did it not?[/QUOTE]

Not really... I mean, some people thought it was kinda cool, but I don't think there was a music game craze until Dance Dance Revolution came out... Parappa sorta fizzled... look how many games there are that try to mimic Parappa today.
 
[quote name='Chacrana']Not really... I mean, some people thought it was kinda cool, but I don't think there was a music game craze until Dance Dance Revolution came out... Parappa sorta fizzled... look how many games there are that try to mimic Parappa today.[/quote]

I'm not sure if you are being sarcastic or not. So for the sake of you not being sarcastic, every rhythm game mimics Parappa since its considered to be the first rhythm game.
 
Parappa had some influence for that reason, but I agree with Chac that for a game to be influential it has to be a big hit.

Parappa may have been the first rhythm game, but I'd agree that it was DDR that showed that it could be a huge hit and inspired developers to try to make their own hit rhythm games like Guitar Hero etc.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']Parappa had some influence for that reason, but I agree with Chac that for a game to be influential it has to be a big hit.

Parappa may have been the first rhythm game, but I'd agree that it was DDR that showed that it could be a huge hit and inspired developers to try to make their own hit rhythm games like Guitar Hero etc.[/quote]

I don't necessarily agree with that. Not every influential game has to be a big hit. If Shen Mue influenced GTA, Shen Mue was pretty much considered a giant flop that took Sega out of the console business. If ICO is an influence, that game was not a big hit, it was critically acclaimed.
 
[quote name='mike.m']I don't necessarily agree with that. Not every influential game has to be a big hit. If Shen Mue influenced GTA, Shen Mue was pretty much considered a giant flop that took Sega out of the console business. If ICO is an influence, that game was not a big hit, it was critically acclaimed.[/QUOTE]

Well, either way, I think the introduction of the Bemani franchise was far more influential than Parappa.
 
[quote name='mike.m']I don't necessarily agree with that. Not every influential game has to be a big hit. If Shen Mue influenced GTA, Shen Mue was pretty much considered a giant flop that took Sega out of the console business. If ICO is an influence, that game was not a big hit, it was critically acclaimed.[/QUOTE]

I guess that's true. But I kind of doubt the developers of GTA would list Shenmue as an influence, just like I don't think the developers of Guitar Hero would list Parappa vs.. the more successful rhythm games like DDR that came after it.

And did ICO have much influence? What did it influence other than Shadow of the Colossus which was by the same team?

The point here is this thread is "most influential" games not just games that had some influence. We're talking about games that clearly had HUGE impacts on the industry, and I'd argue that those will most be games that did something new AND where big hits. Rather than little niche games that had some impact on developers of future games.
 
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Final Fantasy VII. That game was too great IMO and really changed my view on things. Although the RPG that made me like them much more compared to before.

PaRappa The Rapper was huge too, since it got me into music game and really paved the way for future music games.
 
[quote name='Chacrana']Not really... I mean, some people thought it was kinda cool, but I don't think there was a music game craze until Dance Dance Revolution came out... Parappa sorta fizzled... look how many games there are that try to mimic Parappa today.[/quote]

Not really.

Parappa wasn't some niche title, it definitely made an impact. Sure, I agree with you that it's not nearly as popular as DDR, but you'd have to be blind to not see that it pretty much was the first game to successfully put out the idea of a music game. Many games to come out like Samba de Amigo, Gitaroo Man, and Space Channel 5 just to name a few had obvious influence from Parappa.
 
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Parappa not influential? What 1990s did you guys come from?[quote name='dmaul1114']I guess that's true. But I kind of doubt the developers of GTA would list Parappa as an influence vs. the more successful rhythm games like DDR that came after it. [/quote]Either something here is going way over my head, or something went way over yours.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']Parappa not influential? What 1990s did you guys come from?Either something here is going way over my head, or something went way over yours.[/QUOTE]

Brain fart/sloppy post as I was heading out the door. Meant to say I don't think the GTA developers would list Shenmue as an influence just like I'd don't think people involved with guitar hero would list parappa as a big influence. Edited the first post to fix that.

And for the first part of your post, I'd agree Parappa was influential, but I wouldn't put it on a list as most influential. It was just one of many early rhythm games (level listed more) that started the ball rolling.

To me "most influential" is a single game that single handidly changes gaming, takes a genre to hit status etc. Not just one piece in a chain of games. In this case those early rhythm games lead to DDR which had more influence and eventually to Guitar Hero which was the most influential as it took rhythm games to mainstream, blockbuster hit status.

People should give games like Parappa it's due as being ahead of it's time, but I don't think it deserves a spot on a most influential games of all time list.
 
Wouldn't you say God of War before God of War 2? Either way, neither were influential at all.

Pong I would say is the most influential game of all time. No pong means no games at all.
 
I am going to take a different approach to this question and look at a game that had a tremendously negative influence. I would say that E.T. for Atari 2600 is one of the most influential games in history because it very nearly killed the entire industry. It is generally blamed as one of the biggest reasons for the early 80's video game industry crash.

Many games come and go that influence a certain gameplay mechanic which then spawns dozens of imitators, but very few games can say that the entire industry they are based in was changed because of them.
 
[quote name='micro44']Many games come and go that influence a certain gameplay mechanic which then spawns dozens of imitators, but very few games can say that the entire industry they are based in was changed because of them.[/quote]

I'm torn on this because I agree with you but, at the same time, I don't. ET was influential in a very negative way but it's more of a coincidence that publishers continue to push big budget titles out the door to ride on the coattails of popular shows, artists, or movies. I don't think there's a single developer out there that thinks, "Hey! Let's try to make another ET! We have the money and there's that empty pond behind the building..."

It couldn't even be considered the first of the major gaming debacles. I think it gets sited mainly for the amazing landfill story. I also wouldn't say that it was the nail in the coffin for the industry in the 80s. It might have contributed, but there were so many other factors involved that I can't agree that it was influential inasmuch that it helped change an industry.

I agree for the very same reason, which makes my head hurt. I'm going to go lie down somewhere. Oh, those evil pits...
 
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