Most influential games ever?

[#1]

Quote from: Galdere

Pong, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Elite, Civilization, Monkey Island 2, Wolfenstein 3D, Dune 2, Championship Manager, Lemmings, Baldur's Gate 2, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft... just off the top of my head. Any of them could replace half of the choices on that list as being in the most influential imo. That list has too many recent games and is console biased. Wouldn't call myself an expert if I'd compiled it. Influential isn't just the most popular, it's what effect it has on gaming as a whole or society. EDIT: Orbey, I agree with the list that the original GTA was more influential than any of the sequels. It was revolutionary.

Spot on. I was thinking the same. How could you miss Space invade for goodness sake... or Pong. One you did miss was Pacman. Although an Arcade game I can image the early days without it.
This is a pure shame.

[#2]

Going to have to agree with most of the preceding points made.
Mine would be:
Wolfenstein 3D, Street Fighter 2, Pacman, Pong, Space Invaders, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy (yes the first one), Zelda, Super Mario Bros, Sensi Soccer, Championship Manager and good call Mr Zubel, Commander Keen.

[#3]

Not going to draw up a whole list, but clearly the biggest influential game on myself and I would argue on the gaming industry (in the UK at least) has to be Elite.
Just about all space games owes something to Elite, and arguably a lot of 3D games in general must have borrowed something from it. Possibly even MMORPGs in so much as Elite was an early example of a game with a (seemingly) massive universe. Single player at the time, but how many really wished they could play that universe with other people?
The many footie manager games over the years wouldn't exist without the original Football Manager for the ZX81, Spectrum, BBC, C64, etc, etc. All of them are basically the same game just with more content and complex options.
I could reel off hundreds of games that influenced me in the arcade, but mainly by influencing me to waste my money in my youth 
However king of those games for me has to be Star Wars (graphically an influence on Elite perhaps?). Of course there are the classics like Asteroids, PacMan,  Space Invaders etc.
What about text adventure games? Forerunner to a vast array of adventure games over the years (Myst for example), Colossal Cave (or 'Adventure' as the original version was called) has to be up there in the top 10 of influential games surely! Spawned an industry for years of text adventure games, which later moved into graphical adventure games. Most of the console games of running around with a character, picking up objects and using them in various locations are all based on this one game.
I would suggest the iconic Ultimate games, e.g. Knight Lore. Very influential on myself, but not sure they really influenced much else. Would love to see more games of that style though.

[#4]

Nethack -> 10rogue -> Omega, if we're talking text terminal games.  I actually found a copy of Omega last year and played it for weeks
Another one I missed off the list would probably be Rick Dangerous.  You can play it as a flash game now which I only just found out.  Bang goes the next few days while I go retro gaming
Yet another one would probably be Battle of Britain or Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe - both Lucasarts combat flight sim releases which I vaguely remember losing many hours of my life on.
must... stop....
B.

[#5]

Errr thanks for posting that Barry
Had an Atart 2600 and NES when I was young so missed out on the Amiga stuff but am now hooked on Rick Dangerous (though not that good it appears yet)

[#6]

Agree with all the classics from adeywoo and Galdere... amiga-wise I was also quite into gunship 2000, the original X-com, Bloodnet, Supercars 2, going further back theres also Lords of Midnight, Skool Daze, Paperboy, hypersports.  I think we also missed Double Dragon.  Nowadays its just WoW.  More than DIY, paying attention to the g/f, keeping the house tidy, etc etc etc

[#7]

And who can forget Mindscape / Bullfrog:  Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight, Dungeon Keeper, and Syndicate.  I'd give my eye teeth for a MMO version of Syndicate.  Speaking of which, KOTOR/KOTOR2 were ace and have an upcoming MMO.
Hmm.  And Diablo (1).  Winner of my first £350 phone bill.  Christ.

[#8]

Have to agree that Pac Man, Paperboy and Diablo should be contenders for that list.
Thinking as it's a Guiness Book of Records Gamers Edition thing, it's meant for young teenagers christmas stockings, so if they haven't heard of them they aren't of interest.
Hence the selection perhaps. Also to wind up codgers like ourselves.
Ah well, back to Empire TW...

[#9]

Lets see...
Super Mario Kart - obviously influenced by Super Mario and car driving games so is itself influenced by other games, so shouldn't be number 1
Tetris - like the Rubik's Cube, deserves to be up here, completing the game on the hardest level was blooming hard, but you got to see a gameboy space shuttle lift off!
GTA - it set the scene for violent driving, but Micro Machines already did the top down, why isn't micro machines in the list?
Super Mario World - Platformer, could argue Dizzy did it first, although SMW was much faster gameplay
Zelda - top down rpg, probably deserves to be here
Halo - No, No and No, its influenced from the original games, Doom, Wolfenstien just in a Sci-Fi setting!  Half Life was much more of a genre setter
RE4 - Is that code veronica?  Or the over the shoulder?  It could be argued that its influence is from RE/Silent Hill, not a genre setter, more a game in an already established genre set by RE/SH
FF12 - No, it takes aspects from FF11 and is a hollow experience
SF2 - Yes, gotta agree with this because I remember hours spent in the arcade burning my thumbs on the controls and still sucking at the game!
Goldeneye - again, FPS so influenced by earlier FPS
SM64 - its super mario, its influenced by... not an influence to!
TR - yes, ground breaking visuals and gameplay
MGS - was if memory serves, originally a game on the MSX computer, a top down platformer so yeah, it could be a genre setter
COD4 - no idea
Sonic - battled with Mario, faster gameplay maybe a genre setter or could just be a faster version of Dizzy
GTA SA - hrm, the music, the cars, not sure
SMB - Yep, maybe, Dizzy?
You could go on and on and on,  What is most apparent about this list is not the games that are there, but the games that are not there.  No elite, no WoW although without Lineage or that one who's name escapes me, there would be no WoW.
No elite = no space trading games (X/X2/X3/Eve)
No Doom/Wolfenstien = no FPS (Quake/HL/Halo)
No JRPG (Japanese RPG) = no Japanese RPG's (FF/Suikoden/DQ)
No MMORPG = no WoW/Lineage/FF11
The list omits way too many games which have influenced genres, its a terrible list with games that are influenced by other games, TES:IV is based on TES, so why not Morrowind which was much bigger, Bioshock but no System Shock on which is was based, no Doom no Quake no Wolfenstien, terrible terrible and just to be sure, terrible!

[#10]

A game I really wish Nintendo would port to the DS (as I'm sure the hardware is more than capable of handling it) is Killer Instinct from the SNES.
Was the one game I could give my mate (who was more of a gamer than I was) a darn good thrashing on, as used to know all of the combo key combinations for Cinder

[#11]

i dont agree with the list but nor do i agree with a lot of the comments here... surely an influential game isn't necessarily the one which does something first? ie. halo and call of duty 4 might have been late to the party compared to wolfenstein 3d or quake but both have had just as much influence in the way in which first person shooters are played on consoles, and the way in which consoles are now played online? this thread seems to just be list-your-favourite-games-here. to say Dizzy (which was awesome) has exerted more influence on the video game industry than Super Mario Brothers because it 'did it first' (which it didn't incidentally) is madness!
problem: the list shouldn't read '50 most influential games ever'- more like at this moment in time... arguably Bioshock is currently one of the most influencial games out there - along with Portal being held aloft as the way in which storytelling should be used in games. read also Oblivion, God of War, Wii Sports, Metal Gear Solid, final fantasy 7 - all still being aped.
brain training on the DS currently influences the video game industry more than Elite.

[#12]

Wow.... so many games, so many varying opinions.. lol
Here's my list for what its worth and to provoke some response. In no particular order, games that influenced me as a gamer and shaped my tastes in gaming.
Frontier.  Elite started it, but in my opinion, Frontier opened it up considerably with package and military missions and sooooo huge.
Bank Panic.  simple, easy to learn but a swine to master. look it up and then MAME it 🙂
Populous.  Has just been re-released for the Nin DS... great move!
Pac-Man..  Wac-a-wac-a-wac-a
Doom, do I need to say anything?  (PS1 version for the much improved and atmospheric audio, how is a crying baby in a dungeon setting so chilling!)
Street Fighter 2.  6 buttons.... 5 fingers..... a fistful of 10p's gone!
Manic Miner... frustrating as hell.... "But must have just one more go!"....
Ranarama (speccy).  Puzzles, frogs, Magic...
Harry Potter and the philosophers stone..  Nah... just kiddin! 
R-type.  The powerups, Big guns!
Mr Do.  addcitive and hypnotic
Gran Turismo.  The driving game I always new was out there somewhere.
Unreal Tournament (1st).  my first online experience... blew me away!
Wii Sports, Bowling.  In real life, my ball spins to the left... and it does in Wii Bowling... Bugger! no longer can I be better on the video game than real life!  I actually played 10 pin bowling in the local alley at christmas for the first time in 3 years, and 10 months of Wii bowling actually noticably imrpoved my real game from a 110 average to a 170 average!
AudioSurf. A rythm game that uses your own MP3 collection an integral part of the gameplay.. genius... and very addictive. Opened my mind to Guitar hero et al.
Command and Conquer. The daddy of RTS and still going strong in all its sequels. Quite a feat.
Tetris.  I have had this on my:  IBM Pc, Amiga, Atari ST, Game Boy, Nintendo DS, Watch (nintendo branded tetris watch!), mobile phones, (the last 3 phones I have bought Tetris for it), Wii, laptops and even a version on my PDA,  Its a must have for 2 minutes or 2 hours!.
Late entry, but Burnout Paradise PC.  Great visuals, accurate crash physics, (with PyhsX enabled!), open world where you have to drive to the start of the races not just click start, addictive game that makes me brace for impact everytime I make someone 'Burnout'.  Restored my faith in Driving games after the likes of Need for Speed and Juiced!

Is there a thread for the worst games? 🙂

[#13]

What a completely ridiculous list.  No Warcraft or Starcraft?  No Wolfenstein 3D or Thief as others mentioned?  What about Manic Miner or Jet Set Willie? Championship Manager?  Sim City? There's also no mention of any of the Ultimas, nor Rogue nor World Of Warcraft.  Clearly, this list wasn't even shown to one expert, never mind compiled by a judging panel of them. Castlevania?! Crash Bandicoot? Ludicrous.

[#14]

on the racing simulation front i would say ridge racer and then GT and demolation derby on the damage front and everything else that follwed after GT has bein improving on than fomula.
thats from my youngish point of view correct me if there was a previous game to these on the C 64 ect.

[#15]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_Drive_(video_game)
I remember playing that... just a few thousand times
B.