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[Ritzboof]

i feel like its a bit arbitrary to come up with a single game for every decade that had the biggest impact on the industry. a lot of games changed video games in a lot of different ways, and the amount of shit that was released and made changes to the industry between the 90s and the 00s really isnt something you can round up to say one title won each decade

a lot of games were game changers for specific genres, too. the success of some games mightve generated trends that developers and publishers follow to make money, but there are a lot of other games that have also set standards that their respective genres follow to this day

Spoiler

i didnt read through the whole thread because its late so im sure im the only one that thinks this obv

 

[twobear]

00s is WarCraft III (foundations of the MOBA genre) and WoW (massive cultural phenomenon and blueprint for virtually every post-WoW MMO). Sorry for your faves!

 

[NippleViking]

Minecraft's spot is going to be taken by BotW.

No way. I adore BotW, but it's going to be a very long time before anything tops the effect Minecraft had.

It created an enormous trend in crafting/survival games, energised the Early Access model, massively stirred the indie market, bolstered and shaped the now huge 'Let's Play' medium, and brought it to totally new demographics like never before.

It might not mechanically be influential, but as a cultural and industry phenomenon, its effect is palpable.

 

[Tortahegeszto]

It IS really hard to choose just one game for a decade.
So my method would be choosing the most dominant genres or more like trends and what game encompassed the most of it's traits soon enough. Going by this logic i'd say the following titles are absolutlely not the best games of their decade.
70's - one screen arcade fun: Pong
80's - sidescrollers: Super Mario Bros.
90's - Now it's starting to get hard, since it's a bit of a transition between still very popular sidescroller stuff, and the dawn of 3D games. Also PC become a bit more competent as a gaming device, having more colours and some sounds finally. And that leaves me with the choice of Doom.
2000's - Let's be honest, we should split this in two. We had a brand new console gen right in the middle of it and it shows. The first half should belong to Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for starting the ww2 shooter bandwagon by basically the later developers of Call of Duty and the second half the age of the chest high walled cover shooters under the banner of Gears of War. But since i gotte choose just one, I'm going with Killswitch. Simply because it's a 6th gen title, while it greatly influenced what came after with it's cover system.
2010's - It didn't come out of the blue. There were multiple games of this kind before. But by now: Everything. Is. Openworld.
You uncover parts of the maps by getting in contact with a certain object in it, getting experience to spend skillpoints and while you're at it craft something before you flush your junk at a vendor just to do even more fetches before inching ahead a bit in the story from time to time. My pick is Farcry 3.

 

[petran79]

So how is it influential then?

FWIW I do remember it, but I hadn't thought about it in years. Falcon 4 came out in 1998 and is still being played today, it was the definitive combat flight sim of the 90's and 2000's.

Influential does not always mean popular

Developers usually think 10 years ahead of players and journalists, so I wouldnt be surprised to see even more scrapped ideas.

 

[KKRT00]

Its too hard to do it with one game.
Tetris was as influential as Pong.
Ultima Online was as influential 90s, as WoW was in 00s.
LoL is the biggest of all time, so it definitely deserves a spot in 00s
etc

-----

Minecraft's spot is going to be taken by BotW.

Joke post? :>

 

[MiamiWesker]

The OT has it all right. I don't think there is a better argument.

 

[SuperGamer]

1970s:
1. Space Invaders
2. Pong
3. Galaxian

1980s:
1. Pac-Man
2. Super Mario Bros
3. The Legend of Zelda

1990s:
1. Street Fighter II
2. Doom
3. Virtua Fighter

2000s:
1. Grand Theft Auto III
2. Resident Evil 4
3. Wii Sports

2010s:
1. Dark Souls
2. Minecraft
3. Skyrim

 

[Raven117]

1970s:
1. Space Invaders
2. Pong
3. Galaxian

1980s:
1. Pac-Man
2. Super Mario Bros
3. The Legend of Zelda
4. Ultima

1990s:
1. Street Fighter II
2. Doom
3. Final Fantasy VII
4. Zelda OOT

2000s:
1. Grand Theft Auto III
2. Resident Evil 4
3. Wii Sports
4. Morrowind

2010s:
1. Dark Souls
2. Minecraft
3. Skyrim

A few additions

 

[mokeyjoe]

I think the only one I wholeheartedly agree with is Doom.

There were too many new genres born in the 1980s to just pick one. Super Mario Bros doesn't seem right when you look at everything else. It's not wrong either... just that there was too much stuff that appeared for the first time to single it out.

I'd also make an argument for Space Invaders over Pong. Even though Pong was first, I think Space Invaders would have more influence down the line, shooting things, single player, hi scores etc. It just feels like a particular template was laid down in Space Invaders.

 

[Sephzilla]

The 90s is Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Third person action/adventure titles still pull influence from that game.

 

[jroc74]

This is a really difficult question

Op is correct

I agree with both of these.

I think the only one I wholeheartedly agree with is Doom.

There were too many new genres born in the 1980s to just pick one. Super Mario Bros doesn't seem right when you look at everything else. It's not wrong either... just that there was too much stuff that appeared for the first time to single it out.

I'd also make an argument for Space Invaders over Pong. Even though Pong was first, I think Space Invaders would have more influence down the line, shooting things, single player, hi scores etc. It just feels like a particular template was laid down in Space Invaders.

And this.

 

[Asmodai48]

The 90s is Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Third person action/adventure titles still pull influence from that game.

Err unlike Doom?

Also replace Gta with WoW in 2000s imo.

 

[Jack The Nipper]

1970s:
1. Space Invaders
2. Pong
3. Galaxian

1980s:
1. Pac-Man
2. Super Mario Bros
3. The Legend of Zelda

1990s:
1. Street Fighter II
2. Doom
3. Virtua Fighter

2000s:
1. Grand Theft Auto III
2. Resident Evil 4
3. Wii Sports

2010s:
1. Dark Souls
2. Minecraft
3. Skyrim

I have to say some shooters over pong is a right call. 2010's I just feel I don't care about those type of games honestly.

I think Mario (nes) is ahead of pac man etc as it is what the entire nes/16 bit generation came to when it came to the biggest games. From sonic, aladdin , battletoads and mixing in shooting with those in contra, metroid etc

 

[Ensoul]

That is a good list. Mine is a little different.

1970s: Pong is a good one.

1980: pac-man. This game had a huge influence on the 80s arcade scene. It lead to toys, cartoons, clothes and even food.

1990s: Street Fighter II. That lead to a 10 year fighting game craze. I believe that lead to companies trying to get onboard with the fight games scene which lead to Virtua Fighter, Tekken, and Mortal Kombat.

2000: Has to be COD. No explanation needed.

2010: Minecraft.

 

[PantsuJo]

1970s:
1. Space Invaders
2. Pong
3. Galaxian

1980s:
1. Pac-Man
2. Super Mario Bros
3. The Legend of Zelda

1990s:
1. Street Fighter II
2. Doom
3. Virtua Fighter

2000s:
1. Grand Theft Auto III
2. Resident Evil 4
3. Wii Sports

2010s:
1. Dark Souls
2. Minecraft
3. Skyrim

Agree on this list.

Especially on Resident Evil 4, it basically invented a new genre (sort of) for horror games.

 

[jroc74]

Err unlike Doom?

Also replace Gta with WoW in 2000s imo.

Yea, I can see DOOM more so than OoT for the 90's.

Again, hard question.

 

[The Broken Ska Record]

I kinda feel like Pac-man should be on the list instead of SMB. He was the first breakout video game character that penetrated the mainstream.

 

[jroc74]

Tetris's influence is being understated in this thread. It did for handheld gaming what Pac Man did for arcades. I'd go so far as to say that today's pick-up-and-play games on handhelds and smartphones are indebted to it.

Damn, this too.

I have to go back and actually read this thread from the beginning, lol.

 

[Succinct Verbosity]

While Doom is really important given how it defined one of the most prevalent genres in modern gaming, I feel like Mario 64 was an absolutely necessary stepping stone for all of 3D gaming. Action adventure games, modern rpg's and other platformers... All of them have their basis in how Mario controlled in a 3D space.

 

[PastorOfMuppets]

I feel like a lot of people are sleeping on Counter-Strike. That game literally re-mapped the direction of the multiplayer FPS. It also serves as the basis for a lot of modern day FPS'.

• First game to find a balance between the arcadey nature of arena shooters and ultra-realistic combat sims like Rainbow 6
• First popular game with limited weapon selection. Only 3 weapons and a few grenades
• Pioneered the loadout screen.
• Introduced the concept of levelling to the multiplayer FPS.
• First popular modern military shooter.
• The multiplayer maps of COD are pretty much lifted directly from Counterstrike in terms of design philosophies. Small, tight maps with a few tightly contested chokepoints.

 

[Stiler]

70's - pong
80's - Mario Bros
90's - Half Life
00's - DOTA for Warcraft III.

I wanted to include GTA , it was a toss up, you had GTA Which influenced many other open-world style games, but DOTA spawned a whole new genre which is, all of these years later, the most popular type of game in the entire world (league of legends).

 

[Rezae]

I could perhaps argue a few other equivalent choices that differ from the OPs, but all-in-all, that's a great list OP.

 

[DieNgamers]

1990s: There were many influental games. nintendo had a run:
Super Metroid Added this one because every second game is a Metroidvania nowadays.
Zelda Ocarina of Time - Blueprint for 3D action adventures
Super Mario 64 - Blueprint for a new generation of 3D games in general. Some revolutionary mechanics in this one.

2000s:
Resident Evil 4 <- Yeah, you really can't understate its importance.

2010s:
Dark Souls
Minecraft

A few additions.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I agree with OP's list except for the 2010's. Doom was way more influential than SF2.

I'm going to say Dark Souls.

Also, someone said Super Metroid for the 90's. Are you nuts?

Dark Souls should be the most influential, but sadly it isn't.

 

[Tadaima]

GTAIII was no doubt extremely influential, but it comes nowhere near to the level of influence of Wii Sports. It influenced hardware and software and introduced potentially hundreds of millions to the world of video games.

 

[BigDes]

I feel that if we are going to include Minecraft because of how it galvanised the indie scene then we need to replace it with Braid.

Yes, Minecraft is a titanic force and has sold twice as many copies as there are planets in the galaxy etc but it was Braid that really kicked off the indie games being a thing thing.

 

[Host Samurai]

Resident Evil 4 in the mid 2000's. It set the standard for all of the TPS over the shoulder shooting games that we see today Before RE4 TPS games played totally different.

 

[Forsaken82]

Halo 2 over Gears. Think about how influential it was with Live and their matchmaking when you play games like Overwatch, CoD, TitanFall today.

I wouldn't view Halo 2 as a good thing. Playlists have hurt multiplayer IMO and that's due to the socalled evolution of matchmaking.

The introduction of Playlists has resulted in split communities and forgotten game modes.

 

[Cranster]

Agreed. MS and Xbox defined console shooters and matchmaking. CoD and every shooter since lends itself to Bungie and MS groundwork.

Agreed. Without Halo the FPS genre and the console industry would be a much different place than it is today. Halo 2 also layed the groundwork for online matchmaking and was the first record breaking mainstream launch event in the videogame industry.

In level of influence, Halo > Call of Duty. WoW, GTA and Halo were the 3 most influential games of the 2000's.

 

[Barry Burton]

1970s: Pong
1980s: Super Mario Bros.
1990s: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2000s: Grand Theft Auto III and Call of Duty 4

 

[mokeyjoe]

While Doom is really important given how it defined one of the most prevalent genres in modern gaming, I feel like Mario 64 was an absolutely necessary stepping stone for all of 3D gaming. Action adventure games, modern rpg's and other platformers... All of them have their basis in how Mario controlled in a 3D space.

It's not just that though. Sure, Doom defined a genre but it's influence spread through all of gaming and beyond.

Before Doom, the games market (the mass market at least) was largely aimed at children, it was essentially a toy market. Now a lot of people would point at the PlayStation era as the one which would successfully target adults as a major demographic, but Doom was there first. For all its juvenility, Doom in many ways opened the door for a new era of games aimed squarely at an older audience.

But with this it also became the poster child of violent videogames throughout popular culture. It was the 'murder simulator', and rightly or wrongly it's groundbreaking use of 3d opened up a debate on violence and realism that is ongoing.

In addition it was the game that really sold the IBM PC a viable gaming platform. It was the final nail in the coffin for competing platforms, if they couldn't do Doom, then what was the point? Doom ushered in the golden age of PC gaming and also laid the groundwork for what that meant. It pioneered online multiplayer and embraced modding, laying down the template for what a PC should be, regardless of genre.

Doom was in many ways the first 'modern' video game. Of course there are many titles that changed gaming, but Doom is one of the few titles that actually changed gamers - how they were viewed and how they viewed themselves.

 

[HiiiLife]

I feel like this would be easier if we can specify genres instead of downright giving one title to a decade.

 

[bs135]

For the 90s I have to go with Super Mario 64.

It was also the biggest WOW moment I have ever had in gaming.

 

[Cranster]

1970s: Pong
1980s: Super Mario Bros.
1990s: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2000s: Grand Theft Auto III and Halo

Fixed.

 

[Menome]

90s is definitely Doom. I don't think the younger folk realise what that game did to put FPS games on the map. It literally came from nowhere, stepped over its limited peers and showed everyone what the medium could do. It directly paved the way for the slew of legendary FPS games that came afterwards, and put multiplayer FPS' on the map.

Also, during the 90s, FPS games weren't called FPSes. They were 'Doom clones'. That's how much it ruled the roost at the time.

 

[SuperGamer]

Some explanation for each of the top choices in my previous post:

1970s - Space Invaders
While Pong was the first hit, it wasn't that original (see Magnavox Odyssey Tennis) and it was fairly niche at the time. What established video games as a mainstream industry was Space Invaders, which launched the golden age of arcade games. It was also more original, set the template for action games as a whole, was the first killer-app (for the Atari 2600), and introduced many game designers (like Miyamoto, Kojima, Romero and Carmack) to video games.

1980s - Pac-Man
It was the basis for many things that are now commonplace in video games, such as power-ups, level design, cut-scenes, pre-defined protagonist, individual enemy AI, action chases, hardware sprites, female audiences, etc. It also inspired the likes of Donkey Kong, Pac-Land, Tower of Druaga, Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Metal Gear, Wolfenstein, Doom and GTA.

1990s - Street Fighter II
It established the fighting game genre, became a pop culture phenomenon, revived the arcade industry, was the basis for combo systems, and was the basis for melee combat systems in modern action games. It also popularized competitive multiplayer, inspiring e-sports and Doom's online multiplayer deathmatch. Its violence also laid the groundwork for Mortal Kombat (which inspired the creation of the ESRB), while its detailed sprite animations laid the groundwork for Virtua Fighter's revolutionary 3D polygon characters.

2000s - Grand Theft Auto III
This one needs no explanation.

2010s - Dark Souls
It created its own genre, the Soulslike, a rarity in this decade. It also revived the classic emphasis on difficulty and challenge, inspired a greater emphasis on the combat system, and introduced a new form of online gameplay. Its influence can be seen in many games, ranging from Journey and Shovel Knight to Witcher 3 and Nioh. It also influenced online features of the PS4.

 

[Goldenroad]

I agree with your list OP. GTA III is not one of my favorite games, or even series', by any stretch, but it is the very reason we have all the 3D open world games that we have today.

 

[eot]

Influential does not always mean popular

Developers usually think 10 years ahead of players and journalists, so I wouldnt be surprised to see even more scrapped ideas.

Come on though, this is an obscure game in a dead genre. EF2000 is not the most influential game of the 90s, or even the most influential sim of the 90s.

 

[Nanashrew]

Minecraft's spot is going to be taken by BotW.

People might see BotW as a source of inspiration but the source of inspiration for the type of adventure Fujibayashi wanted this Zelda to be came from Minecraft and Terraria.

So I think Minecraft will remain the most influential of the 2010's.

 

[SuperGamer]

People might see BotW as a source of inspiration but the source of inspiration for the type of adventure Fujibayashi wanted this Zelda to be came from Minecraft and Terraria.

So I think Minecraft will remain the most influential of the 2010's.

I haven't seen them ever citing Minecraft or Terraria as influences. The influences they cited were the original NES Zelda and Skyrim. And the game's physics engine, chemistry engine and multiplicative gameplay were inspired by real life.

 

[NewGame]

There is no 'single' game of a generation, it's a collection of a dozen or more titles.

 

[eggandI]

The 00s could easily be any one of GTA3, WoW, COD4 or AssCreed 1 and you wouldn't be wrong

2010s is definitely Minecraft #1 and League of Legends #2

 

[Ganrob]

2000s: Grand Theft Auto III - Popularized the open world sandbox, licensed music/radio, geared gaming more towards adults

You must be console only.

 

[Anticol]

80s - Super Mario Bros

90s - Final Fantasy VII

00s - Call of Duty Modern Warfare

10s - GTAV

Contemplated replacing MW with Resident Evil 4 but the lasting effects of MW are still felt to this day.

They are talking about influential not popular, what is influential about GTAV?

 

[Temp_User]

This is hard . . . .

80's - Super Mario Bros. There were sidescrollers before but this was the game that pulled the industry back from the brink of extinction after the '84 videogame crash

90's - Virtua Fighter 2. There were 3D games and "3D" games before but it was this game that hammered home the fact that 3D is the way of the future.

00's - World of Warcraft. There were MMO's and online multiplayer-extensive games before but it was this game that made online-multiplayer pervasive.

10's - Angry Birds. There were indie games and mobile games before but it was this game that proved that mobile games are profitable.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Modern Warfare has some claim to the 2000s

Or Halo

Even CoD had the two weapon system and regenerating health after Halo did it.

 

[jdstorm]

Saw a GDC talk on youtube yesterday with BotWs designers talking about gamedesign.

2010s is going to be Breath of the wild for 2 reasons

1. The Idea of a Chemistry engine. Not sure thats ever been done before.(like a physics engine but used to calculate object states)

2. The first real example of interconnected multiplicitive gameplay.

As for the others

2000s Warcraft 3

90s too many to list lets say Half Life since without it we dont have Steam, Team Fortress, LoL, Cinematic Action games, mods

Edit: happy to say Doom since HL used the Quake Engine which was a doom followup. Seems a nobrainer.

80s Hydlide. The First to scale open world game

70s Pong. Its basically the blueprint for every fighting game in existance. Among other things.

 

[MagnoSauce]

Ico might be the game that most influenced the decade after its release.

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

Snip