Games that, for better or worse, changed the landscape of gaming, invented new genres, had major influences on other games etc.

My shortlist (in no particular order)

  1. Super Mario 64, basically invented 3D platformers, I mean, Nintendo designed the damn controller around that game

  2. Resident Evil 4, all 3rd person action games owe a debt to RE4, and for worse probably, set the stage for brown color palate shooters that dominated the subsequent generation

  3. Doom, the Charlemagne of FPS games, basically every FPS is descended from it

  4. Fortnite, killed the "loot box" style of predatory monetization in favor of the battle pass model that a ton of other games have switched over to, and was a genuine cultural phenomenon

  5. Minecraft, the tsunami of survival crafting games of the 2010s all basically emerged from the shadow Minecraft's popularity

  6. Dune 2, godfather of the RTS genre, no Command and Conquer or Starcraft if Dune 2 isn't a huge success

  7. World of Warcraft, probably the most influential and well known MMORPG of all time, so many imitators tried to take its crown and failed, and was/is a cultural phenomenon

  8. Dark Souls, invented the Soulslike genre, launched the career of Hidetaka Miyazaki, and its considered one of the greatest games ever made

  9. Pokemon Red/Blue, Pokemon is the most profitable media franchise of all time, and Pokemon long served as the flagship of handheld gaming

  10. Breath of the Wild, I kind of wanted to slot Elden Ring in here because I think ER's influence on the open world genre will be felt for years to come but I think its too early to tell. But BOTW was a genre defining open world game, is on the shortlist for one of the greatest games ever made, and even influenced Elden Ring

  • Runcible [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor invented the Nemesis system which we sadly haven’t seen much of in other games.

    They patented it, which is why we haven't seen (and are unlikely) to see adoption or growth of it. Kind of a shame really

    • Ericthescruffy [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      They patented it, which is why we haven’t seen (and are unlikely) to see adoption or growth of it. Kind of a shame really

      The fact that you can patent shit like this is so fucking grotesque and reason enough alone to hate patent law and the idea of intellectual property. Imagine if Capcom had patented "martial arts fighting game with lifebars at the top of the screen" for fucks sake. There's so much fucking potential in the nemesis system that can't be explored because of this sort of greed. It would fit insanely well in an open world shooter like the far cry series, or even Halo infinite.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I don't think you technically can patent it, bc you can't patent ideas or the rules of a game, only processes, but it's probably one of those things where no one wants to risk the lawsuit.