12 Games That Defined Their Genres

[The Escapist Staff]

12 Games That Defined Their Genres

Some games innovate enough to create an entire genre.

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[Nazrel]

Actually there were games where you couldn't see your opponent before the computer did it. They were called fog of war games, you had 2 boards with one side set up on both of them. You need a GM to tell you when and what you saw of the enemy.

 

[Tiamat666]

I think you missed the Sim City/Settlers/Caesar/Populous type, real-time "build and expand" games.

 

[AgentBJ09]

Ultima was always fun. The only annoying part was having to buy food all the time.

Still, when the first real game in the series, which had the typical medieval setting, makes you rescue a princess after becoming a Space Ace by shooting tie-fighters in order to find a time machine to kill an evil wizard... Ah.

So much of that game was nuts because of the end game parts, but worth every second of playtime.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I think you missed the Sim City/Settlers/Caesar/Populous type, real-time "build and expand" games.

Just a derivative of the Four-X style of game, no?

 

[morbidpixie]

Ahem... Wolfenstein 3D did it. Not Doom. Doom had the multiplayer, so you could say it was the start of FPS Multiplayer. But Wolfenstein 3D was the "put you inside a person's head".

 

[John Funk]

Ahem... Wolfenstein 3D did it. Not Doom. Doom had the multiplayer, so you could say it was the start of FPS Multiplayer. But Wolfenstein 3D was the "put you inside a person's head".

We're differentiating from the first true one and the one that *defined* the genre. It's why we chose, say, Street Fighter 2 over Street fighter.

 

[Pocotron]

Is it bad I've never played any of those games besides Tetris?

 

[MintyNinja]

I was honestly expecting Grand Theft Auto to be on this list. Don't know what to think now that it's not there. meh.

 

[omicron1]

Actually there were games where you couldn't see your opponent before the computer did it. They were called fog of war games, you had 2 boards with one side set up on both of them. You need a GM to tell you when and what you saw of the enemy.

For a well-known example, Battleship probably qualifies, no?

I think you missed the Sim City/Settlers/Caesar/Populous type, real-time "build and expand" games.

Just a derivative of the Four-X style of game, no?

Heck no. They aren't even related to RTS games, most of the time - they're closer to the "Tycoon" genre than anything else.

A couple of other genres might need defining: The scrolling shooter, the MMO (as differentiated from the RPG), the JRPG (which I see as completely different in design from Western RPGs), and the Action-Adventure game. (Which has become a pretty standard, unique, and easily-identified game type, despite being an amalgam of multiple other genres)

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Ahem... Wolfenstein 3D did it. Not Doom. Doom had the multiplayer, so you could say it was the start of FPS Multiplayer. But Wolfenstein 3D was the "put you inside a person's head".

We're differentiating from the first true one and the one that *defined* the genre. It's why we chose, say, Street Fighter 2 over Street fighter.

That. Wolfenstein started it, but Doom was the one that really set the standards from then on.

 

[Valagetti]

What about GTA III n' sandbox games?

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Ahem... Wolfenstein 3D did it. Not Doom. Doom had the multiplayer, so you could say it was the start of FPS Multiplayer. But Wolfenstein 3D was the "put you inside a person's head".

We're differentiating from the first true one and the one that *defined* the genre. It's why we chose, say, Street Fighter 2 over Street fighter.

On that thought, do we include racing with a sports start, or is this a sampling of genre-definers?

 

[FalseMemorySyndrome]

I agreed with Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark, though I thought including both was simply a way to avoid bickering.

Everything else I didn't really have a opinion about.

 

[Fledge]

Diablo 2?

 

[Stilt-Man]

Excellent read! Thanks for putting this together! Really makes me want to fire up my old DOS computer.

 

[Greg Tito]

I was honestly expecting Grand Theft Auto to be on this list. Don't know what to think now that it's not there. meh.

We specifically only wanted to highlight specific genres in our genre wheel. While Grand Theft Auto 3 was definitely a game that spawned many imitators, it is a mixture of different genres like driving, brawler, shooter and RPG. Open world or sandbox games aren't a genre but more of a quality that some games have.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

I truly agree with Resident Evil, That game totally defined it.