Games of the Decades.

[Aswald]

1970s.
1980s.
1990s.
and now, the 2000s.

It's hard to believe that there are now three entire decades between Space Invaders and the present. But, there it is.

In each decade, there were certain games that more or less defined that era, or had some truly significant impact.

Which would you choose?

There are no restrictions here, except that it must be a video game, be it arcade, computer, home console, or, in later years, the Internet.


For me:

1970s: While Pong did start it all, the long-gone Flux magazine was probably right to choose Space Invaders as the #1. This was the game that guaranteed video gaming was here to stay, and was one of the first to put you in a situation that could "only happen in what would eventually be called Cyberspace."
So...Space Invaders.


1980s: Pac-Man. Not only because it was one of the most popular games of all time, but it showed that odd and cute games could make a massive profit, too. Mario, Sonic, Crash...you'd better thank that little yellow solid-colored fellow.

1990s: This is a toss up for me, and a bit tricky, since I was never really into 1990s gaming as much. Still, I would choose Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario. In the case of Sonic, that little blue speedster was probably the reason Sega became a big name in home gaming at that point (the SMS held less than 10% of the late 1980s market, but the Genesis did much better), and proved that Nintendo was not invincible. Doesn't he have a cartoon series even today? I remember one from years ago where he and a flying fox were fighting some invaders of their cutesy world. That character must have made Sega filthy rich.
Mario? Because of Mario 64. The 32-Bit era was starting to look like a more flashy rehash of the 16-Bit Era...which was mostly a rehash of the 8-Bit Era. Then came Mario in a game that actually made use of the more avanced technology: an immersive, true 3-D game. It went beyond anything Rescue on Fractalus could hope to do. At last- a real reason for the 32-Bit Era to exist.

2000s: O.K., I'm really going out on a limb on this one, but I'll choose DOA Volleyball. For one thing, I know very little about that decade's games, even compared to the 1990s (I haven't even set foot in an arcade in at least 8 years), but there is another reason...
Technology and society interact, one affecting or more accurately magnifying the other. The porn industry, for example, was actually a fairly petty industry until the 1970s. Why? What changed? The VCR, of course. Now it was easy to distribute and view porn films, unlike previous decades. Don't let older generations fool you into thinking that they were more wholesome; if you check the back of the Movies Unlimited catalog, you'll see such movies from long ago. It's just that the TECHNOLOGY, or more precisely, the means, to see them, were awkward at best. It was a matter of access.
Print made porn more accessible. Film made it move. The VCR and cable (then satellite, then the Internet) all made it more accessible than ever.
But video gaming lagged behind, because it hadn't been around as much. True, even the CV and 5200 could've produced good images, but technical limitations would not have allowed much of anything.
With DOA Volleyball, although not pornographic itself, it was finally obvious that home consoles, available for a fraction of the money 1970s VCRs cost, could not only produce good sound and visuals, but allow interaction and control, too. It was also mainstream.
I don't call this a good thing, or a bad thing- it just is. Keep in mind that I'm 43, and was there to see what amounts to an astonishing amount of change in these things. From that perspective, it's both amazing and a bit frightening. What's next?

[chrisbid]

decades are poor time markers for video games

the 80s had the vcs and the nes
the 90s had the 16 bit wars and the playstation
the 00s had two distinct generations

[Aswald]

To a point, true, but if there are news events of the decade, movies of the decade, people of the decade, then let's try video games. Since (I assume you mean this) there are different eras of gaming within a decade- the 1980s alone went from the VCS/CV to the NES and maybe the beginning of the 16-Bit Era, it'll be that much more interesting a topic. Do you go solely by technology, popularity, companies, genres, landmarks, or by some combination, as I did?

Hey- it's just subjective. What would you consider "the game of" a particular decade? Choose any reason, there are NO restrictions on the why!

[kupomogli]

1990s. Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together

Regardless whether you're talking about the PSX version in English or the SNES version Japanese only, that's my pick.

[tom]

1972 Magnavox Odyssey
After that everything else falls into insignificance.

[tom]

Mario 64 was not making use of the more avanced technology: an immersive, true 3-D game.
This was already done on PCs years earlier. Probably in the arcades as well.

[buzz_n64]

Mario 64 was not making use of the more avanced technology: an immersive, true 3-D game.
This was already done on PCs years earlier. Probably in the arcades as well.

What PC games? Myst, Doom, Mech Warrior, Warcraft?

[tom]

What PC games? Myst, Doom, Mech Warrior, Warcraft?

Or take Alone in the Dark (1992)

[Richter Belmount]

My game of the decade , I have no mouth and I must scream goes further than xenogears , silent hill or bioshock in terms of story.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[boatofcar]

I'll play. These are the most influential games of each decade, not necessarily the best.

1970's - Space Invaders. First true mega hit, showed video games were here to stay and could compete against pinball machines. Sold a ton of VCS's, ensuring the future of the console game. Runner up: Pong, for all the obvious reasons.

1980's - Super Mario Bros. First game that offered a similar experience to arcades in terms of graphics, yet was not an arcade port. Showed what console games could do better than arcade games. Runner up: Pac Man, for the same reasons Aswald mentioned.

1990's - Doom. Although not the first FPS, it created the genre. Game that popularized LAN and internet play. Runner up: Mario 64. Although 3D platformers might have been done earlier, this was the first time it was done well enough that everyone could appreciate it and enjoy it.

2000's - Grand Theft Auto III. Opened up the world in a way no other game had. Runner up: Duke Nukem Forever. A cautionary tale.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Hmm... I'll do two seperate lists. One for Arcade games and the other for Console games.

Arcade:

1970's- Asteroids. Why I love Asteroids and can't stand to play more than 2 minutes of Space Invaders doesn't seem logical at first. But the ease which you can pick up and play Asteroids may have a lot to do with why I like it. Space Invaders has always been too difficult for me too enjoy immediately. Also what about that vector monitor? If you haven't played a dedicated Asteroids machine, you'll have never seen the unique charm a vector offers. Watching a video or playing it in MAME isn't the same. The look of a vector can only be achieved on a vector, period.

1980's- This is a hard one. The 80's saw the introduction of a continue-to-play style of game, so the emphasis shifted from player skill to "Insert coin to continue." So is it better to go with Donkey Kong or Double Dragon? Galaga or 1943? And as far as being purely iconic, does it get more quintessential than Pac-Man? Well because I still see this game in far more locations(resturaunts, bars, etc.) than any other game from the 80's I'll have to go with Ms. Pac-Man.

1990's- This decade is all over the place, so I'll have to go with a more subjective choice. Only because it's a game I played often as a kid, Captain America and the Avengers. I loved the beat-em-up style and special powers all the characters had. Shooters from this era are way too hard to be enjoyed but by only the most hardcore of players. I don't really like racing games that much, and I've never been good at fighters. If I were to go with a more populous choice, I might say Street Fighter 2. Mostly because of it's emphasis on head-to-head competitive gaming, and secondly because these games were everywhere. Street Fighter II's seem to be the most common (conversion) arcade cab still found for sale from the 1990's.

2000's. Is there really anything from this decade that isn't just a minimal improvement from something from the 90's? It seems there's always something better on the consoles anyway. Unless you like to spend $4 on some VR bullshit, then there's not much here.


Consoles:

1970's- Pong. There were many Pong clone consoles available. As a child it's the first console I ever played. My dad owned one, and my brother and I would sit there and "bloop" the "blorp" back and forth for hours. It doesn't get any more primitive than this.

1980's- Super Mario Bros. While technically Donkey Kong first introduced the character as "Jumpman," Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. rocketed the character of Mario from stardom to mega-stardom. He's still cranking out good today (I've been told) unlike his bluer, more pointed competition from yesteryear.

1990's- Goldeneye. It was my first FPS and I'm sure was a lot of other people's first as well. It brought a good First Person shooter to the masses. While PC's had been doing this stuff for a while, and there were plenty of Dooms and Dukes on consoles already, the depth of gameplay Goldeneye offered seemed superior to the offerings of consoles up to this point. This is the game that got many people hooked on the FPS.

2000's- Grand Theft Auto 3: San Andreas. While technically the first is most influential, this game was the perfection of a formula. So many things to do, so many places to go, so many people to kill, this game had it all. Violence was cranked to 11, and you could fly a harrier above the clouds and parachute from it- for fuck's sake. It's the best of the series, even with the introduction of part 4.

So yeah, that's my long-winded take.

[AB Positive]

My game on the decade , I have no mouth and I must scream goes further than xenogears , silent hill or bioshock in terms of story.

This post deserves an internets for winning.

IHNMAIMS - weird acronym, creepy story, great game.

[jb143]

For me, the first things that come to mind for the 90's are Doom and Tomb Raider. Even people who never play games are familiar with them and they each broke new ground in their own way.

[Richter Belmount]

Yeah I love it , they should be willing to hire better writers in the game industry so we can have more games like it.

[Sosage]

Boat of Car pretty much nails it.

As for the OP, the choices make sense except DOA Volleyball. Oh boy. Really bad volleyball game. Really nice female polygons. Beachspikers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_Spikers), which released around the same time, was the better volleyball game (if not THE best imo). It had chicks also. Not as nice as DOA though. :P

As for social impact, the most it made was giving game journalists ammunition for snarky headlines about boobies...and making me embarrassed to actually take the game to the register (I had to order it online).

Sorry. GTA3, like it or not, was the watershed moment of that decade.

Edit: Goldeneye for the 90's...no way. Street Fighter II over Goldeneye every day of the week. I've gotta say it: people that like GE tend to be people that did not know any better going in. It was a lot of people's first multiplayer FPS. So it comes off as this fantastic experience. Rightfully so. Everyone's first multiplayer FPS experience tends to be very, very fun. In reality: there were way better choices if you were willing to drop the controller for KB/Mouse and it did not have the impact people want to say it did on the industry. On that last point, I'm not denying that it had an impact, it had some, but Halo wound up being the bigger moment where the FPS on console idea really gained legs. GE was poised to be that title to blow up the idea, but it fizzled. It's influential for sure, but not THAT influential.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Edit: Goldeneye for the 90's...no way. Street Fighter II over Goldeneye every day of the week. I've gotta say it: people that like GE tend to be people that did not know any better going in. It was a lot of people's first multiplayer FPS. So it comes off as this fantastic experience. Rightfully so. Everyone's first multiplayer FPS experience tends to be very, very fun. In reality: there were way better choices if you were willing to drop the controller for KB/Mouse and it did not have the impact people want to say it did on the industry. On that last point, I'm not denying that it had an impact, it had some, but Halo wound up being the bigger moment where the FPS on console idea really gained legs. GE was poised to be that title to blow up the idea, but it fizzled. It's influential for sure, but not THAT influential.

If you read my post, you'll note that I was excluding PC games. I've never been a PC gamer, and never will- a lot of people are like that. As far as Goldeneye "fizzling," I'm not sure what you mean. Anyway you have your opinion and I have mine, I'm not really about to get into an internet "my game is better than your game" argument.

Even Wikipedia lists it as a turning point in console FPS games... so I'm not really the only person who thinks the way I do.



The first landmark, best-selling console first-person shooter was Rare's GoldenEye 007, based on the James Bond film and released on the Nintendo 64 in 1997. Highly acclaimed for its atmospheric single-player levels and well designed multiplayer maps, it featured the ability to aim at a precise spot on the screen, a sniper rifle, the ability to perform headshots, and the incorporation of stealth elements.[1][13][40][41]

[Sosage]

If you read my post, you'll note that I was excluding PC games. I've never been a PC gamer, and never will- a lot of people are like that. As far as Goldeneye "fizzling," I'm not sure what you mean. Anyway you have your opinion and I have mine, I'm not really about to get into an internet "my game is better than your game" argument.

Even Wikipedia lists it as a turning point in console FPS games... so I'm not really the only person who thinks the way I do.

This isn't an Internet "my game is better than your game" argument. It's a "your game is overrated and wasn't that influential" debate. AKA "damn it...someone always has to say 'GoldenEye' when we have these discussions...who was it this time?".

What I meant by fizzled was that it could have been a lot more influential for its time (or as influential as people want to say it was), but it fell way short. I'm not sure how else to explain the use of "fizzled".

Wikipedia is written by thousands of Joe Blows, with every slightly good game having a paragraph using words like "landmark" and "highly acclaimed". With that said, it was highly acclaimed. It was a good game. Landmark is pushing it. GE being a game of the decade is, sorry, ridiculous.

P.S. It isn't good form to claim you don't give a crap about the conversation, then decide to engage in the discussion anyways by tossing in something like a copy/paste from wikipedia in the next paragraph. You either care or you don't.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

P.S. It isn't good form to claim you don't give a crap about the conversation, then decide to engage in the discussion anyways by tossing in something like a copy/paste from wikipedia in the next paragraph. You either care or you don't.

I AM an internet Joe Blow with an opinion- just as you are. My word isn't any more of a final say than yours.

Here's a relevant source...

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060901/quantum_07.shtml

Anyway I'm done, you win. I didn't post in this thread for an internet jerkoff to tell me my opinion is ridiculous. Also trolling isn't good form either.

[Sosage]

I AM an internet Joe Blow with an opinion- just as you are. My word isn't any more of a final say than yours.

Here's a relevant source...

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060901/quantum_07.shtml

Anyway I'm done, you win. I didn't post in this thread for an internet jerkoff to tell me my opinion is ridiculous. Also trolling isn't good form either.

Ok. I troll because I disagree with you and make actual points trying to discuss the topic while you get, what? Oh. You get angry, take what I say completely out of context (Joe Blow) and keep telling me how you're "above it". Did you want to discuss video games or not? Who is trolling who here now?

Should we start over? Let's try and start over: GoldenEye is overrated and is no where near any sort of "(fill in blank) of the decade" (unless you fill the blank with "N64 FPS"...N64 FPS of the decade? Why not!). It was a mediocre FPS whose only contribution was good console controls. It barely influenced Halo 1 via its control scheme, which in turn really jump started the industry to flood FPSs on console.

I do not agree with your opinion and I think it being mentioned in the context of a watershed moment, let alone a decade inspiring game, is ridiculous.

Please retort without being all angry. Or am I still trolling? Or are you over the entire discussion? Or did you want to misinterpret something I said in this post? Or can we just part ways and agree we disagree? Do you like me? Circle Y or N.

[buzz_n64]

Or take Alone in the Dark (1992)

Really? Alone in the Dark, a better 3D experience than SM64? Please, I played that on 3DO and was not impressed, but maybe the PC version was better.

[Aswald]

What game you choose for whatever reason counts, so this is one of the few times where ANY answer counts.

I could've chosen CV Pepper 2 for the game of the 1990s. How? It was a terrible time in my life, and I was trying to hold everything together back then- around that time, I found a CV for sale at a local garage sale. After setting it up, and, after years, firing up...PEPPER 2! The colors, the music (Alfred Hitchock theme, anyone?)...it was pure better days from years before magic.

So Goldeneye is as good as Mario 64, or Time Killers, or Xenogears, or Sonic- it's strictly up to you.

[Aswald]

Mario 64 was not making use of the more avanced technology: an immersive, true 3-D game.
This was already done on PCs years earlier. Probably in the arcades as well.


But in home consoles?