Every now and then, a video game is released that changes the industry.
Everyone remembers the first time they booted up Super Mario 64 and started to run around and jump through the castle courtyard. It introduces something new that revolutionizes video games, forever changing not just how we play them but how we approach them.
These games are the standard bearers of their genre, bringing games into the future.
It’s hard to envision a world without them: imagine a world without Donkey Kong; there’d be no Mario, no platforming genre, and who knows how many games we wouldn’t have today. The same can be said for Grand Theft Auto III: what would games look like today if we never got to take those steps in the 3D open world of Liberty City back in the day?
While these types of games are less common today, there are plenty of titles in gaming’s past that fit this description.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane and reminisce about video games that helped set a new industry standard.
The grandfather of the FPS genre
Doom (1993)
Doomisn’t the first FPS in gaming history, but it’s absolutely the most important and innovative.
Wolfenstein 3D walked so Doom could run.Doom’sfast paced gameplay, well designed levels, and an iconic arsenal of weaponshave helped it become a timeless classic.
Yet despite all this, the advancement in multiplayer gaming helped make Doom such an iconic, innovative game. Not only was this a title worth playing over and over, you could keep coming back with your friends.
In a way, it’s funny that id Software successfully rebooted the franchise in 2016 by returning to its roots. Doom has always worked best when the gameplay is about shooting first and never asking questions.
9Half-Life
Maybe Black Mesa…
Like Doom,Half-Lifehelped innovate the FPS genre for a new audience and era in gaming. Unlike Doom, it does this through great storytelling.
This was the next big leap forward, not just for FPS games but gaming as a whole.Half-Life’s incredibleinnovations in mechanics, narrative development, in-game engines, and enemy AIall set the foundations for gaming today.
We take for granted how well developers can immerse players in their games, but this was a new concept in 1998. Sure, we saw other games combine gameplay and storytelling from this era, but Half-Life did that on top ofeverything else.
Every modern-era game, FPS or otherwise, owes its success toValveand what they did with Half-Life. There’s a reason why fans are desperately waiting for Valve to release Half-Life 3. Not only do they want to finish the story, but they want to see how Valve can push the envelope forward.
8Donkey Kong
An arcade legend
Donkey Kong
We’ll talk about Mario in just a bit, but first, we need to discuss its predecessor.
The originalDonkey Kongis one of the most important video games of all time, contributing several vital innovations and setting countless industry standards that would forever shape the future of gaming.
Everyone knowsthis is the first video game that featured jumping, not only helping to give birth to the platforming genre but opening a new way to play games like never before. Believe it or not, though, Donkey Kong did so much more than just adding the ability to jump.
10 Best Donkey Kong Games Ever Made, Ranked
The King of the Jungle and his crew have had many adventures, but the best Donkey Kong games don’t monkey around.
You know the iconic music as Donkey Kong moves through, but there’s a story present here as you’re rooting for Mario to climb the level and rescue the princess. It creates an emotional investment that wasn’t present in other games.
Donkey Kong forever changed the game, and it’s important that we pay it the respect it deserves.
7Super Mario 64
It’s-a-me!
Super Mario 64
I mentioned it in the opening for a reason.Super Mario 64brought the platforming genre into the world of 3D gamingand we’ve never looked back since.
Like many of you, I spent hours running around that castle courtyard, trying to see how high I could jump and how far I could venture, only to realize that there was an entire game waiting inside if I ventured into the castle itself.
Countless 3D platformers from the past tried to emulate the success ofMario 64, but many have failed.
Nintendo itself recognizes the success the impact Super Mario 64 had and has tried to replicate it with other 3D games likeSuper Mario Odyssey.
6Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
A modern crafting miracle
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Honestly, you could pick several entries from theLegend of Zeldafranchise here. Ocarina of Time transformed the action-adventure genre as Mario 64 did for platforming. Many argue that Breath of the Wild would be the more revolutionary pick, but I’m going with its sequel,Tears of the Kingdom.
Tears of the Kingdom expands on Breath of the Wild, making the Switch launch game feel like a fancy tech demo. The expanded world of Hyrule, including the sky above and caverns below, has never felt bigger. It’s a wide open world waiting to be discovered.
Yet despite all that success, my favorite aspect of Tears of the Kingdom is the crafting system.Simply put, it shouldn’t work on a technical level. Many have cried at the Switch’s outdated hardware, and yet here’s Nintendo making fools of us all.
There is so much to see and do in Tears of the Kingdom that it stands in a league of its own in open world gaming. It’s an achievement other games look up to, and I can’t wait to see how Nintendo tops it.
5Street Fighter 2
The fighting king
Street Fighter 2
Fighting gameswere never the same afterStreet Fighter 2. The game is still, in the eyes of many, the standard to which all other fighting games are judged.
At the time of release,Street Fighter 2’s roster was deep, complete witha variety of fighters, each with their own playstyles and moves to learn. It helped add a new dynamic to fighting games: you’d have to learn each individual matchup and adapt strategies based on who you’re playing and who you’re squaring up against.
As a result, it created a multiplayer phenomenon unlike any other game of its time. Arcades were filled with players crowding around the Street Fighter II cabinet, waiting their turn to do battle with the best in their local scene.
That multiplayer fever translated to the home consoles, even influencing how console makers would develop their controllers to make sure they were able to deliver an authentic Street Fighter II experience.
4Grand Theft Auto 3
A whole new open world
Grand Theft Auto 3
The impact ofGTA 3delivering a living, breathing, 3D open world is still felt today. You can argue that it’s this game, not Super Mario 64 or DOOM, that set the most important new standard in gaming history.
Rockstar’s ability to craftLiberty City in a 3D open world delivered an experience unlike any other, and it’s one they’ve continued to build upon today. It helped give rise not just to the popular GTA clones over the past few decades, but changing the way we see action games.
10 Games That Started Their Own Genre
If it weren’t for games like Rogue and Super Metroid, gaming wouldn’t have nearly the massive breadth of genres it does.
Every action title was now compared to GTA 3. It needed a world worth exploring, complete with characters, side quests, and plenty of space to mess around and do whatever you wanted. Some of my favorite moments back in the day were when my friends and I were just messing around in Liberty City, doing whatever we wanted until we died and had to pass the controller.
Grand Theft Auto III’s impact on the video game industry is still felt today; every modern action franchise, whether it’s from Rockstar, Ubisoft, EA, or Activision, owes it all to this timeless classic.
3The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Give it the respect it deserves
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Everything I just said about Grand Theft Auto III and action games applies toMorrowindand the RPG genre.
Bethesda was no stranger to delivering expansive, open worlds worth exploring. The originalElder Scrollsgames, while dated, still hold up surprisingly well. They’re missing something, though, and it’s Morrowind that delivers that something.
From its incredible personality,unlike any other Western RPG, the skill system that lets you become stronger than a god, and the ability to doanything you wantedgave players an incredible amount of freedom. It’s something that RPGs are still judged by to this day (looking at you, Avowed; people often complained that there’s not enough freedom in the game).
Morrowind is one of the best Elder Scrolls games ever made. It’s unique, it’s original, and without it, the acclaimed Western RPGs we know and love today wouldn’t exist.
The father of the RTS
We’ve talked about the birth of the FPS, the platformer, and 3D open worlds. Now, it’s time to bring up the birth of the real-time strategy.
1992’s Dune II introduced the hallmark of countlessRTSelements still present today:the fog of war, resource gathering, micromanagement, basebuilding, it’s all hereand, believe it or not, in a state that feels very similar to modern RTS games today.
Genre classics such as Warcraft: Orcs & Humans owe more inspiration to Dune II than you realize; the game literally copied the artwork from the game, with Blizzard redesigning the assets!
For younger games who may not remember what it was like back in the day, a lot of your favorite strategy games can be traced back to the impact of Dune II.
While the game came out for the Amiga, it was remade for Windows in 1998 as Dune 2000.
1World of Warcraft
20 years going strong
World of Warcraft
While World of Warcraft certainly wasn’t the first MMORPG in history (that title arguably goes to 1997’s Ultimate Online),it was the first to break it into the mainstream.
During its heyday in the mid to late 2000s, it was hard to not find any gamer spending their time in Azeroth. Blizzard was able to find the right balance between accessibility and authentic RPG experience.
Sure, there’s plenty of your typical end-game content designed around dungeons, raids, and PVP, but as we’ve learned with Classic and Hardcore World of Warcraft, it’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey.
World of Warcraftworks best when you’re venturing off the beaten path, creating organic moments with friends or even strangers, and making your own content.
There may not be loot or treasure waiting for you around the corner, but that doesn’t matter.You’re just curious to see what lies behind the pack of level 60 elites, and no matter what you find, it’s worth the adventure.
World Of Warcraft Classic: Every Tank In Wrath Of The Lich King, Ranked
There are a handful of tanks for players to use in WoW Classic, The Wrath of the Lich King. Here’s a look at all of them, ranked.
