Guinness World Records top 50 Influential Video Games in History

[7th lutz]

http://kotaku.com/5160745/super-mario-kart-most-influential-video-game-in-history

1. Super Mario Kart
2. Tetris
3. Grand Theft Auto
4. Super Mario World
5. Zelda Ocarina of Time
6. Halo
7. Resident Evil IV
8. Final Fantasy XII
9. Street Fighter II
10. GoldenEye
11. Super Mario 64
12. Tomb Raider
13. Metal Gear Solid
14. Call of Duty 4
15. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
16. GTA San Andreas
17. Super Mario Bros
18. Zelda: A Link to the Past
19. Gran Turismo
20. Final Fantasy VII
21. Pro Evolution Soccer 4
22. The Orange Box
23. Lego Star Wars Complete Saga
24. Tekken 2
25. Wii Sports
26. Pokemon Red/Blue
27. Guitar Hero
28. Project Gotham Racing 4
29. Super Mario Galaxy
30. Resident Evil
31. Ico
32. Chrono Trigger
33. Gunstar Heroes
34. Soul Calibur
35. Advance Wars
36. Ridge Racer
37. Super Metroid
38. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
39. GTA Vice City
40. BioShock
41. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
42. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
43. God of War
44. Sega Rally Championship
45. Starfox 64
46. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
47. WarioWare Inc
48. Saturn Bomberman
49. Crash Bandicoot
50. Outrun

That list is from the Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer's Edition. That list is terrible imo.

[Solertia]

This list fails so hard... http://www.overclock.net/images/smilies/doh.gif

Edit: I'm raging so hard right now that FFXII and VII are up there but not VI. VI >>>>>>>>>>>> VII > XII

[TonyTheTiger]

I love how Super Mario Bros. is in the middle of the pack. And a few spots beneath Tomb Raider of all things. Scratch that. Beneath Super Mario World. What color is the sky in the world in which this list makes any sense?

[Flippy8490]

This list is completely retarted. HALO???...#6, HAH. Goldeneye 007 definately deserves that spot way over Halo. and how in all the hell is Super Mario Bros. in the middle!? It's like the chief reason games even exist anymore. And Super Metroid should be WAYY further up on the list.... - _ - this dissappoints me.

[thom_m]

And Super Metroid should be WAYY further up on the list.... - _ - this dissappoints me.

That, and it's just ONE spot above SOTN...which is influenced by Super Metroid rather than an influential game, IMO.

[eugenek]

Reason #1,824 that the Guinness World Records are meaningless today.

[Press_Start]

It's like they took a list of popular games and went ini mini miny moe.

I would love to hear the reasoning behind their "expertise" decisions but I fear the sear stupidity of their logic will melt my brain into pudding.

[TonyTheTiger]

A big problem is that this isn't really a topic that could work considering the nature of the Guinness Book. Guinness records should be more concrete than this. A list of best selling games is one thing. A list of most influential requires at least a little bit of subjectivity.

[Superman]

With the lack of games from the 80s and 70s, this list looks like it was made by someone who either: 1. Started playing games in the 90s (or later) or 2. Doesn't play games at all and just did some internet 'research'

[Sonicwolf]

Let me get this straight... Super Mario Kart was the most influential game in history? What in the hell were THEY smoking?

[carlcarlson]

No Doom? No Wolfenstein 3D? Seriously? I don't think I've ever seen a "professional" compile something so utterly wrong.

And how exactly do you measure influence?

[Porksta]

Other than other Mario Kart games, what has been influenced by Super Mario Kart? PocketBike Racer?

[AB Positive]

Where do I even begin?

First how can you have three games from one series - copy pasta releases no less - in the TOP 25?. How do you justify Vice City and San Andreas as two 'influential' releases? They're the same game - different settings. How do they even stand out in their own series, let alone a "Top 50 of all time" anything list. Really?

*sigh*

Not that the GTA games are evil, or bad - they're fun. I won't deny that. But really, when you've played one you've played them all. It's like having Tony Hawk 3 and 4 both be on the list. Arghrargh

[Famidrive-16]

Other than other Mario Kart games, what has been influenced by Super Mario Kart? PocketBike Racer?

Crash Team Racing, Diddy Kong Racing, etc...

I don't think the list is that bad but there really shouldn't be three GTAs there. And Goldeneye needs to be there somewhere too.

edit: darn you AB

[TimeLady]

this list is stupid

If we're going by "most influential", where's Night Trap? E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial?

Wouldn't the original Final Fantasy be more influential than 7 or 12?

Gah *head explodes*

[PSerge]

It's official Guinness World Records are STUPID!!!

[ButtonMasher123]

I got a lot of problems with this list

1. Forget the rankings of these games, does someone want to explain to me why Crash Bandicoot, Super Mario World, Saturn Bomberman, and Sonic 2 belong on the list at all. All these games were nothing but updates to previously established formulas.

2. Does GTA really deserve to be on there three freaking times, one time is just fine.

3. It really gets on my nerves how skewed this list is to modern games. I counted a grand total of 3 games before the 16 bit era on the list(Super Mario, Tetris, and Outrun). Where the hell is Pac-Man, Space Invaders, the original Zelda, and tons of others I can't even think of right now. There is a lot of video game history that happened before 1990 and the list has nothing to show for it.

Anyways its pretty obvious that this list was constructed by some young kid who only got into video games after the year 2000.

[kaedesdisciple]

Um, there's a yellow, round, hungry little fellow here that wants to have a word with those Guinness folks...

[coreys429]

Weird no one has said....Pong? Computer Space? or just as a side note to the list Tennis for Two?

[TonyTheTiger]

Ah well. No use crying over spilled milk. We all know that if the list included random deli meats it wouldn't make it any less accurate. But it's still amusing to see something like the Guinness Book lay this claim.

[Porksta]

Although now that I look again, other then the title, where is "influential" even mentioned? The whole body of the post talks about the Top 25 Games, and even other places (Joystiq for example) are calling it the Top 25 Games Of All Time. So I'm thinking Kotaku just messed the title up.

[sebastiankirchoff]

This looks more like a Top 50 best games instead of the most influential games. I agree with everyone about how crappy this list is.

[otoko]

24. Tekken 2
25. Wii Sports
26. Pokemon Red/Blue


Surprised nobody has noticed this.

[darkhades]

............................................______ __
....................................,.-‘”...................``~.,
.............................,.-”...................................“-.,
.........................,/...............................................”:,
.....................,?........................... ...........................\,
.................../.................................................. .........,}
................./.................................................. ....,:`^`..}
.............../.................................................. .,:”........./
..............?.....__............................ .............:`.........../
............./__.(.....“~-,_..............................,:`........../
.........../(_....”~,_........“~,_....................,:`..... ..._/
..........{.._$;_......”=,_.......“-,_.......,.-~-,},.~”;/....}
...........((.....*~_.......”=-._......“;,,./`..../”............../
...,,,___.\`~,......“~.,....................`..... }............../
............(....`=-,,.......`........................(......;_,,-”
............/.`~,......`-...............................\....../\
.............\`~.*-,.....................................|,./.....\,__
,,_..........}.>-._\...................................|........... ...`=~-,
.....`=~-,_\_......`\,.................................\
...................`=~-,,.\,...............................\
................................`:,,.............. .............`\..............__
.....................................`=-,...................,%`>--==``
........................................_\........ ..._,-%.......`\
...................................,<`.._|_,-&``................`\

[Ed Oscuro]

Seems a little soon to be calling games like The Orange Box "most influential," although I think it will end up being one of 'em for various reasons.

Where's Half-Life? Where's Half-Life 2? Where's DOOM, Wolf 3D, Duke Nukem 3D? Those games alone are more influential than most all this list.

I can understand why they did what they did for the FF games, but man oh man. Where's Ultima?

Bioshock and no System Shock games? No Thief, no...agh

I think RE and Tomb Raider should both probably be over Halo, which has mainly just been "look what happens when you throw money at something!"

[CelticJobber]

This is one of the worst lists I've ever seen. If I didn't know any better I'd think it was a joke. And if its a "most influential" list, aside from the games already mentioned, Mortal Kombat should be on it somewhere.

[The 1 2 P]

The first clue to everyone reading that this list sucks should have been right at number 3. It says: "3. Grand Theft Auto". I'm pretty sure that unless they add the number 3 after the GTA title then it doesn't make any sense. The first GTA was a top down car jacking sim that made very little headway. GTA 3 pioneered the modern era sand box game that has spawned legions of imitators. Although the rest of the list gets pretty ridiculous(Wii Sports??) it all starts at number 3. Because honestly Mario Kart and Tetris were influential. But the first GTA? Fail.

[eugenek]

And Goldeneye needs to be there somewhere too.



Look closer.

[mezrabad]

Just throwing my scoff into the ring. No PONG? No Pitfall? How about Space Invaders, Asteroids or Pac-Man? What about Adventure? (the one involving Colossal Cave)

anyway, shocked and appalled. color me unimpressed.

[tom]

Guinness World Records top 50 Influential Video Games in History:
1. Super Mario Kart

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
BEST JOKE OF THE 21ST CENTURY

[Haoie]

Geez, what's with all the hate? It's just a list.

[apogee_vgc]

Guiness's Washed-Up Records Random 50 Video Games by Someone Under the Influence

[TonyTheTiger]

Geez, what's with all the hate? It's just a list.

It's just funny because this is the Guinness Book which is a rather respected publication. Yet they make up a list that's comparable to somebody's random GameFAQs Top 10.

[The 1 2 P]

Yet they make up a list that's comparable to somebody's random GameFAQs Top 10.

I think it's more akin to someone's Top 50 games list of all time.....based on popularity.

[otoko]

Still surprised nobody else seems to notice that fact that Wii Sports is the 25th most influential game. Right above poke'mon blue/red.

[xDerekRx]

I know its been said many times in this thread

BUT WHERE THE F%$^ is DOOM!!!

Come on people DOOM!! It basically gave birth to popular FPS genre! (wolfenstein as well)

And Half Life influenced modern FPS. And where is NHl 94!)%!

Shakes head.

[CelticJobber]

Still surprised nobody else seems to notice that fact that Wii Sports is the 25th most influential game. Right above poke'mon blue/red.

Even though its not exactly influential on game development, one could argue that Wii Sports and its appeal to casual gamers had a lot to do the Wii's overwhelming retail dominance in this console generation. So its not nearly as bad as putting Mario Kart at the top of their list, IMO.

[Animaniac]

This looks more like a Top 50 best games instead of the most influential games.

That's because it is. Kotaku is taking the list out of context...

It's still pretty bad though imo LOL

[mnbren05]

Shakes head, why GWR finally left the games records etc to Twin Galaxies. Please steer clear in the future for the sake of the children.

[Topodude]

I bought this book and htought it was really interesting, but I agree, imo the list sucks I expected Final Fantasy 7 to be in the top 3 if not the winner, and thought games such as Metal gear solid, Chrono trigger and Shenmue would have been higher, although the list was 'best games of all time, I still dont see how a new game such as GTA4 is better than the other 48/47 games when its of all time, this is more of a now chart, I was really dissapointedwith the list, alot of truly influential games were pushed back for modern favourites

[Gunface]

What about the early generations of games; Atari, Odyssey, Intellivision, Colecovision...don't they count? Wouldn't they be a bit more influential than Wii Sports?!

[Sonicwolf]

Surprised nobody has noticed this.

Wii Sports? What the f*ck!? Seriously! This list should be deleted forever.

[Compute]

It's like one of those surveys where they just keep asking, 'this, or this?' and use the results to compile statistics. I.e. "would you prefer to play super mario kart, or die?" "would you prefer: playing gta OR being punched in the face." "pac man, or a blow job." There is our answer, boys!

maybe they just surveyed at random college campuses.

[k8track]

The list looked pretty accurate to me, just about perfect.

What's a pacman?

[TheGam3r]

but where is pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow on the list?

[Nebagram]

And how exactly do you measure influence?

How much weed you were smoking whilst playing the games on the list?

[ToddofDoom]

Before I make a judgment on Mario Kart being the most influential game of all time I have a few questions.

I honestly do not know the answer to any of these questions. They are yours to answer. In your head or in the thread or wherever you want to answer them really… bathroom stalls, spray painted on overpasses, you know...whatever. Point is I’m trying to open a thoughtful debate: Is it possible that Mario Kart is the most influential game of all time? My instinct tells me that Adventure for the 2600 is the most influential game of all time, but you know…I’m an open-minded guy. I certainly enjoy playing Super Mario Kart.

On to the questions!

Question 1: Is Super Mario Kart the first game (console/otherwise) with split screen multiplayer?

Question 2: Is Super Mario Kart the first game with unlockable content? (Beating 100cc unlocks Special cup, beating Special Cup unlocks 150cc)

Question 3: Is Super Mario Kart the first non-sidescrolling Mario game? Were there any Mario side-scrollers after it? Did Super Mario Kart not influence future Mario titles by proving they didn't have to be 2D sidescrollers? Is it possible Super Mario Kart influenced future Mario Brothers titles more than Super Mario Brothers influenced Super Mario Kart? (Holy crap that was more than one question.)

Question 4: How many console games before Super Mario Kart let you save your “high scores” or in this case Time Trials times?

Question 5: How many games before Super Mario Kart had a built in balancing system that adjusted to your skill level and allowed you to make mistakes or helped you make up for a lack of skill either against the computer or against a rival human player? (The items in question mark boxes)

Question 6: Is Super Mario Kart the first successful game with popular franchise video game characters in a style of game different than those that made them popular? (Sidescrolling characters is a racer) Proving that characters could branch out and do something different?

Question 7: Was this game not beloved by both sexes? It was one of the first games I remember girls at my school liking. I do not recall that many girls asking me what my favorite level in Super Mario Brothers was or which Pac-man ghost was my favorite.

Question 8: Would Super Mario Kart not be the same game if you changed what drivers were in the carts and changed the question mark items to fit another setting?

Question 9: If it did have different or original characters would it have sold as well? Is this proof of Mario’s influence on consumers or Mario’s influence on Super Mario Kart?

Question 10: Super Mario Kart created a genre and has been the most successful series in that genre for about 15 years. How many other games can make that claim?

That’s all my questions about Super Mario Kart.

Now here is a bit about Wii Sports: Super Mario Brothers is so beloved because it was a quality game that was released with a system. Wii Sports is a quality game released with a system. For many people the Wii is their very first game system or the very first game system they have found enjoyable. Therefore it is not unreasonable to assume that Wii Sports will be the “Super Mario Brothers” of the large number of players that are experiencing an enjoyable video game experience for the first time.

Wii Sports will be beloved by many, and claimed overrated by some. I can only imagine the outrage a list like this with Super Mario Brothers near the top would have caused on an online forum in 1987. I am sure there were droves of arcade buffs who were disgusted at NES, probably. I don’t know. Maybe people were more tolerant and respected other peoples’ opinions back then? (unlikely)

[k8track]

Question 1: Is Super Mario Kart the first game (console/otherwise) with split screen multiplayer?

Don't know if it's the first, but Ballblazer (Atari 5200) did precede Super Mario Kart.


Question 2: Is Super Mario Kart the first game with unlockable content? (Beating 100cc unlocks Special cup, beating Special Cup unlocks 150cc)

This is harder to nail down; it could be interpreted ambiguously. Would you count the second quest in Pitfall II (Atari 5200/8-bit) as being unlockable content? I would.


Question 3: Is Super Mario Kart the first non-sidescrolling Mario game?

Technically no; Wrecking Crew was vertically-scrolling.


Question 6: Is Super Mario Kart the first successful game with popular franchise video game characters in a style of game different than those that made them popular? (Sidescrolling characters is a racer) Proving that characters could branch out and do something different?

How about Mr. Do!? He went on to star in Mr. Do!'s Castle, Mr. Do!'s Wild Ride, and Do! Run Run, all totaly different from each other.


Question 10: Super Mario Kart created a genre and has been the most successful series in that genre for about 15 years. How many other games can make that claim?

Pac-Man and Space Invaders?

[ToddofDoom]

Thanks for the imput k8track. It was practically impossible to find any information on stuff like "What was the first game to use split screen for multiplayer?" and such.




This is harder to nail down; it could be interpreted ambiguously. Would you count the second quest in Pitfall II (Atari 5200/8-bit) as being unlockable content? I would.



I agree. One could argue that when you beat or clear a level in a game you "unlock" the next level. I just tried to think about things that Mario Kart did that I may have not have seen before. (Does the stuff in Pitfall II stay unlocked after you turn the power off?)




How about Mr. Do!? He went on to star in Mr. Do!'s Castle, Mr. Do!'s Wild
Ride, and Do! Run Run, all totaly different from each other.



That does depend on by "popular franchise character". Before Mario Kart I never saw them stick Pac-man in a game where he wasn't running around a maze eating stuff. (be it 2D or isometric)

I am not sure I would throw Mr. Do in the same boat as Mario or Pac-man or Donkey Kong. I don't think he had reached the point of being a gaming icon before they released those games. Would you throw him in that boat?

I guess my line of thought was that maybe designers were affraid to put Pac-man in a game where he wasn't running around a maze eating stuff or whatever. I guess now that I think about it Nintendo was never afraid to stick Mario in anything. He was in several games before Super Mario Brothers.

There was that Megaman game for the Famicom that was like a board game too, but they never released that in the States and I have no idea how popular it was. Super Mario Kart sold 8 million copies. I know that money shouldn't really decide what is influential but money tends to influence game production companies.




Pac-Man and Space Invaders?



Have there been any great Pac-man and Space Invaders titles recently? I haven't seen a new Pac-man game in a while. Pac-man Vs. for the Gamecube was the last one I saw. I know there have them for download on X-box live and such too.

Did Pac-man invent a genre? After all the "running around collecting things in a maze" angle hasn't been tapped for a while. Although I suppose that would be open to interpretation. In most action or platform games you are avoiding one thing while trying to obtain another thing. You have to be a little more abstract when comparing older titles to newer titles because they were so technologically simple by comparison.

It makes a game like Pac-man where you are running around in a maze doing stuff hard to compare to a game like Doom where you are running around in a maze doing stuff. (Honestly sometimes I love to imagine a Pac-man FPS where he is running around the maze blasting ghosts with a shotgun. It seems so absurd it makes me laugh inside my brain)

Although, I stated that I thought off the top of my head that Adventure was the most influential game. Now that I think about it you are basically running around a maze collecting stuff and avoiding things, just like in Pac-man. You could say Adventure was largely influenced by Pac-man. Therefore you could make a case that Pac-man was more influential then Adventure. However, it does tend to lead itself around in circles a little sometimes.

Space Invaders did sort of create a genre I guess (space shooter) but I don't think it has dominated the competition since it came into existence. Think about Gradius, Galaga, etc.

[k8track]

(Does the stuff in Pitfall II stay unlocked after you turn the power off?)
No, there's no battery, password, or memory card save, so in that sense it's not really "unlockable", i.e. stays unlocked from that point on. You have to do it from scratch every time.


Before Mario Kart I never saw them stick Pac-man in a game where he wasn't running around a maze eating stuff.

Actually, there was Kickman, and I was going to mention it; Pac-Man is in that game, but he isn't a playable character. It's not a maze game (it's in the "Kaboom/Avalanche" genre, but with a twist), but Pac-Man does eat balloons.


Pac-man Vs. for the Gamecube was the last one I saw. I know there have them for download on X-box live and such too.

Yeah, those were the very games I was thinking of when I typed that. Also the new Space Invaders game for the DS. It's not like they were dominating those genres all along; more like they kept popping up every so often like 13-year cicadas (but slightly more often).


Did Pac-man invent a genre?
Yes, absolutely, unequivocally yes.

[ToddofDoom]

No, there's no battery, password, or memory card save, so in that sense it's not really "unlockable", i.e. stays unlocked from that point on. You have to do it from scratch every time.



Would you consider the content in Pitfall II a secret then or an unlockable? I know that Zelda also comes to mind. You know, once you run through the game once you unlock "hard mode" and it stays unlocked.

I had no idea Pac-man made cameos. I think you could make a solid case that Pac-man and Space Invaders are more influential than Super Mario Kart. I think you could also make a good case that Adventure was more influential than Mario Kart or at least more innovative. I think a game like Zork was pretty influential too, but I'm not sure if you could consider it a true "video game" (text game, no graphics). Basically in a lot of ways, Adventure took a game like Zork or Advent and gave it graphics and excitement.

My mind just keeps thinking: There must be something, you know? Some reason that "gaming and industry experts" picked Super Mario Kart. Unless they just made a list of about a hundred games and let drunken monkeys throw darts at them. I keep searching for some argument that could be made to put it high on a list, not at the number one spot but high. That people are not morons and would not have picked "Super Mario Kart" unless they had a good reason.

I need it; proof that humans are intelligent and not just psychotic apes who taught themselves to talk, drive cars, and wear pants.

[tom]

Answer to Question 1:
No
the popular Epyx Pit Stop II split screen multi player way back in 84 (There were many others way before SMK even on Amiga)
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c173/thomasholzer/Pitstop_II_Spanish.jpg

[tom]

Answer to Question 7:
More girls liked SMW than SMK

As for being first, Centipede was coined a 'female' game, as many girls loved it, according to history

[tom]

Answer to Question 10:
Enduro, Pit Stop, Pole Position, those games started that genre.

[tom]

Answer to Question 9:
Mario did help sell that game, obviously. If it were Super Luigi Kart it wouldn't have shifted half as much carts.

[ToddofDoom]

Question 7:
More girls liked SMW than SMK

As for being first, Centipede was coined a 'female' game, as many girls loved it, according to history

Wasn't Centipede designed by a woman? (Dona Bailey)

I know it isn't the first "female" game, but it was the first console game that I recall girls liking as a kid. I don't recall any of them liking Super Mario World or Super Mario Brothers. These were 3rd and 4th graders mind you, not teenagers or fully grown women or anything.

Super Mario Kart might have just been the big fad at my school at the time...I dunno.

Now that I think about it Spy vs. Spy for the NES had split screen multiplayer too and I played that before Super Mario Kart.

[tom]

Answer to Question 4:
Saving your score on carts was invented on Epoch CassetteVision's game Dragon Slayer (on home computers could could save your high score on racing games before SMK).

[tom]

Answer to Question 6:
True, no other character than Mario had such a career changing role over the years:
carpenter, plumber, space man, racing driver etc....see answer 9, again that (Mario) name shifted carts, not the game. Luigi couldn't have done it.

[tom]

Answer to Question 2:
Popeye had (sort of) unlockable power-up (punch the spinach to get strong)

[tom]

Answer to Question 3:
Alleyway

[grolt]

Such a joke. How is Tekken 2 at 25 for totally random? If you're going to throw on a 3D fighter then it at least should have been one of the Virtua Fighters. Hell, even Tekken 3 blows the second away, and considering they went with popular sequels rather than breakout games (RE IV, FF XII) that pick makes no sense. Not that this pedestrian list should even be picked apart in the first place.

[Sonicwolf]

Question 1: Is Super Mario Kart the first game (console/otherwise) with split screen multiplayer?

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 predated Super Mario Kart by 1 year and has splitscreen also.

[grolt]

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 predated Super Mario Kart by 1 year and has splitscreen also.
Yeah, I'm sure there are a ton of examples of split-screen play before MK. Super Monaco GP immediately comes to mind, which was ported to the SMS/Genesis in 1990.

[fahlim003]

+1. At least they still serve up the old wtf pie to dig into. Really disapointing list needless to say.


Reason #1,824 that the Guinness World Records are meaningless today.

[grolt]

Question 6: Is Super Mario Kart the first successful game with popular franchise video game characters in a style of game different than those that made them popular? (Sidescrolling characters is a racer) Proving that characters could branch out and do something different?

Actually, Sega went down that path with their 8-bit mascot for Alex Kidd: BMX Trial for the Japanese Master System back in 1987. It never came out here because of its use of the unreleased Stateside paddle controller. There was also a Fantasy Zone spin-off with the controller called Galactic Protector, where instead of being a straight shmup it was more a protect the object kind of game. If you want to discount those because they didn't make it to the States, then Alex Kidd: High-Tech World should probably count for something, since it's predominately RPG influenced and nowhere even close to the previous games in the series.

[TheRealist50]

April fools day comes 1 month early for the people at Guinness because this can't be more then a joke.

[k8track]

Hey Stonic,

I figured there might have been some maze games with a "collect the dots" kind of goal that preceded Pac-Man, but what I was thinking was that it added the whole "power pellets/turn the tables" thing (and a few other elements) which solidified it into a distinct genre, brought it into focus, and spawned and inspired a flood of games.

Thanks for mentioning those, though, I will check them out on MAME!

[ToddofDoom]

You didn't stipulate originally that a game had to be as popular as Pac-Man or Mario ;) But obviously Mr. Do was popular enough to spawn 3 completely different sequels.

Questions 8 and 9: These are hypothetical questions that can only have hypothetical answers ;)



I didn't stipulate that a game had to be as popular as Pac-man, and they don't really. I am just not sure Mr. Do did the same thing that Mario Kart did. Are three totally different sequels the same thing as establishing a reputation for your character in one type of game then switching to another type of game?

Just because they are hypothetical doesn't mean you can't consider them. I would think that proof of Mario's influence over consumers is at least somewhat tangible. I remember the old legend of Super Mario Brothers 2.

Nintendo guy 1: Oh gez. This Doki Doki Panic game...I don't think we can get Americans to buy it.

Nintendo guy 2: Let's just put Mario in it. Then everyone will buy it.

Nintendo guy 1: Great idea! Super Mario Brothers 2 is too hard for them anyway.

Nintendo guy 2: Yeah, running around as Mario throwing onions. They'll be happy.

Anyway, great information Stonic.

[emceelokey]

Most influential is an opinion. How can a world record be based on opinion?