12 Games That Defined Their Genres

[Pipotchi]

Jeez I played nearly all these games, I feel old right about now.

I miss X-Com its one of the few games on this list that genuinely hasnt been bettered.

 

[ManiacEskimo]

I wouldn't say Civilization defined Grand Strategy as a whole, merely only the grand strategy games that are similar to Civilization. There are plenty of great grand strategy game that are nothing like Civ (ie Hearts of Iron II).

 

[Albino Boo]

I expected Elite to be in there. It was the first sandbox 3d space fighter/trader sim. Ok these days its a niche market but Eve is just elite online.

 

[Nurb]

RIP Origin. We will never again fly as a space fighter pilot in another Wing Commander

 

[Ohlookit'sMatty]

Ah so many good memoires, so many great games! I have not needed out all day. Think it's time to set up the SNE and get my freak on.

-M

 

[PunkRex]

So THATS why people have been ripping their hair out over the new X-Com game, its basically doing a Fallout, I see. Still I loved the new Fallout and Im really interested in the new X-Com game.

Im quite young in gaming terms (20... or 21 I forget) and my first console was a PS1 so I dont know about most of these holy relics but I shall show my respect were due.

"Oh mighty ancestors may your ideals and originality shine upon your children and in turn let their greatness pass on to our minds and thus we shall then go on to spread it to others.

Press X to jump."

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

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

I think, and I may be wrong here, that first came from M.U.L.E.(83), but it's sort of twinned with the Civilization tree.

 

[greenflash]

What about all the tiny sub ganres like DOTA or TD games?

 

[p3t3r]

what about stealth games. or does everybody know that was Metal Gear

 

[BlindMessiah94]

A pretty rounded and diverse list, and I understand most of the choices even if I don't agree with them....


but seriously, Guitar Hero? I hardly think it "defined a genre" simply by being a music game. Just because it spewed a bunch of clones like Singstar doesn't make it a definitive game. Almost every other game you listed created a great foundation in which designers have used as a foundation to make some awesome games within the genre. Granted there are a lot of clones. For every Deus Ex there are a hundred other generic FPS'. But what has Guitar Hero inspired besides essentially more drunken karoakesque games? Correct me if I'm wrong...

 

[vxicepickxv]

I think the list of games I didn't play is shorter than the list I did.

The list I didn't play is Dance Aerobics(Never had a power pad), Herzog Zwei, John Madden Football(At least not until the 06' game), and Alone in the Dark.

I know X-Com is about 5 bucks on steam, but I haven't seen any of the others for sale.

 

[wulfy42]

Diablo should have been included...probably the first one although the second really defined (and created) the genre. It could be argued that games such as Gauntlet where a prelude to Diablo (which pretty much upped the RPG aspects of gauntlet big time) but honestly a list that does not include an action-rpg game at all is missing something.

As far as guitar hero.....um what about DDR? I mean way before guitar hero was around DDR was, and it was super popular as well. It might not have started the whole music/rythm based genre but I would argue it was the most popular game of it's time and without it Guitar Hero would never have existed.


As far as using Ultima instead of say Wizardry or Bards Tale (or having both in there)....well I guess thats up to opinion. I can see having Zork included for text based adventures..they have stayed around forever...and really it was one of the founding games that opened the way for so many others.

As far as the Castle Wolfienstien vs Doom.....they totally called that right. Castle Wolfienstien was not nearly as good as the original Apple 2c game in my opinion (played kinda like the old arcade game Berzerk in many ways)....and it was missing alot of the draw doom had. It might have been the first, but Doom was WAAAAY more popular and the multiplayer was a huge HUGE H..U...G...E aspect of that. We played so many hours with our computers all hooked up together blowing each others heads off over and over again....great times.


Would have liked to see 3d platform games included as well. Really is a different genre then just the platform (SMB is the perfect choice for that though...it was freaking awesome).

I think Zelda might have been mentioned though as well. It really started off the whole action/adventure genre and it also was INSANE for it's time. I played that to death.

Super Mario Brothers and Zelda......both were life changers for me.

As far as MMO's they really started with muds and to a lesser extent bulliton boards before that (Crossroads etc) but your right Evercrack was the first big one. That being said, as sad as it is, World of Warcraft could be the only clear winner for MMO that defined the Genre. Even though Dark age of Camelot and Everquest along with tons of others did it first...WoW mostly clones them.....it grabbed the interest of millions and kept it. It deserves recognition for that even if I don't think it's nearly the best MMO out there.

So many good games over the years. Many of the games on your list deserve to be there for sure. Some I don't agree with quite as much and some games are not there that I certainly think should be. It's hard to really make a list of just 12 games though...so many have had a pivotal role in the gaming industry. I still play many old games just because they were so fresh and new to me back then. So many games now are just remakes with a few changes and better graphics. I'm old school....graphics really are not that important to me.

 

[92Sierra]

Battlezone! I have always wondered what that tank game I played way back when was! I now have a name for it!

 

[Starke]

RIP Origin. We will never again fly as a space fighter pilot in another Wing Commander

I'm pretty sure... well, I know there were first person flight games well before that. I vaguely remember playing something called Skyfox [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyfox] on the Apple IIe as a kid. But, yeah, something on the flight sim/dogfighting/whatever games probably should have been included.

 

[ekimekim]

I don't know if I'd call X-Com genre defining, because I've never seen any other game like it. That may just be a lack of exposure on my part, though.

I bought X-Com on steam about a year ago and I love it. It can be very frustrating sometimes but I love it.

 

[Worgen]

no listing for starcontrol 2?

for shame

although I suppose its one of the games thats pretty much stand alone since really there isnt much else out there like it

 

[Mookalakai]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the first third person shooter game was? Or at least the genre definer.

 

[Slaanax]

I wanted to see some Master Of Orion 1 or 2 on the list for space conquest games, but I guess Civilization covers that style of game.

 

[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.

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.

Thanks for pointing that out, I never really considered it an amalgamation of other genres before but it makes sense. Where is this Genre Wheel? It's probably something I should see after all these years.