THE MOST IMPORTANT GAMES EVER

[RCM]

MADE! Check this link:

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3116290

I read a couple of their selections. Not too impressed by the content. Nothing I didn't really know. If you're looking for videogame gospel check out Leonard Hermans amazing book "Phoenix." If you're in the know you already have read it of course!

They haven't named all of the most important games. I wonder what other games will make the cut. I bet Grand Theft Auto does by their criteria. WHat do you all think?

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[Half Japanese]

It seems like every mag/site takes turns doing this sort of feature every year or so. Actually, there must be some sort of communication between them ("You got to do it last year, are we cool to go ahead this year?"), because you never really see two of them do it at the same time. I think Gamespy was the last to do something of this sort, where they tease you with 10 or so at a time then have a big finale that assures them hatemail for a solid month. I say make your own 50, as each person is different anyway. Remember, all those pages have ads... ;)

[AB Positive]

Remember when we tried to do this?

Remember how it didn't work?

Yeah... :D

-AG

[SegaAges]

everybody knows that the most important games ever are:
no one can stop mr. domino (ps1)

mr. mosquito (ps2)

just kidding, hehehe

[Graham Mitchell]

I don't know about this list...I mean, arguably these are all good games that were charting new territory with their releases, but a lot of them also catalyzed the release of a lot of garbage and rip-offs. It could be the fact that because I've seen all the junk that people now praise (for no good reason) I know have a distaste for the games that are said junk's progenitors.

I'm probably different from most people, but when a game sells a billion copies and I'm overexposed to it (like Super Mario 3, GTA, Mortal Kombat) I quickly lose interest in it. It's not always that way (I love all the Metal Gears and Castlevanias) but it often is. A lot of these games (the Atari Coin-Op games from the early '80's excluded) seem to fit that description.

[Kid Ice]

No Tron? No Defender?

Hmmmm

[davec]

nice to see Herzog Zwei get a pop. And I am so glad that the writer highlighted the garbage review that Herzog Zwei got from the geniuses at EGM. I guess that the EGM morons were too engrossed with the latest side scroller to bother with a creative/innovative title like HZ. I don't believe they reviewed the Genny version of Populous but I'm sure they would have hated it. Too weird! Too boring!

[Lone_Monster]

Yeah, E.T. for the Atari 2600 is really important. I mean, what would we do without thousands of Atari cartidges buried in New Mexico?

[LazingBlazers]

Since it looks like they're sort of going in chronological order, any side bets that Double Dragon or even Renegade will make the list? I doubt it. :o

[PS2Hawk]

No
Super Mario bros
Super Mario RPG
Super Mario 64

[ubersaurus]

Remember when we tried to do this?

Remember how it didn't work?

Yeah... :D

-AG

I do..there's just too many fantastic games to cut a list down to 100.

[RCM]

I think the point of this list is to go over games that impacted the industry. It's clear that a few of the games arent so great but they made an impact according to them. I find it funny that they talk about "Space War." I am willing to bet they have never played it on a PDP-1. Not that they exactly had to, but it always helps to play a completed game before you talk about it. I guess they could have played an emulated version, but it wouldnt be the same. Sorta how Defender isnt the same using a D-pad.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[Ed Oscuro]

No
Super Mario bros
Super Mario RPG
Super Mario 64
I'll agree with SMB and Super Mario 64. Not RPG. Put Donkey Kong Country in there instead.

The big shame is - no Higginbotham Tennis? :(

[junglehunter]

I'm sort of puzzled about the E.T. being on that list too. If they are talking about the most important games impact-wise, then why would you want to list games that had a negative impact? Might as well add Enter The Matrix while they're ahead....

err...I mean behind. :P LOL

[DStriemer]

Too many people get caught up on the fact that ET (the movie!!!) was a defining part of pop-culture in the early 80's. The game on the otherhand....most definately was not.

[Ed Oscuro]

The list is about the most important games, and their impact on the industry. What I don't understand is how you guys can say this - maybe you made a point of not reading the article? If you had, I would suspect nobody would still be saying this nonsense. ET remains by far one of the most important games ever in that it showed how putting out poor product will catch up with you in the end.

[Graham Mitchell]

[/quote]The list is about the most important games, and their impact on the industry. What I don't understand is how you guys can say this - maybe you made a point of not reading the article? If you had, I would suspect nobody would still be saying this nonsense. ET remains by far one of the most important games ever in that it showed how putting out poor product will catch up with you in the end[quote]


I see your point...I definitely see relevance in the Game and Watches...did anybody else IMMEDIATELY think of playing Game and Watch Donkey Kong when they announced the DS? That's a big part of why I want a DS! The industry now wants to explore something that they left by the wayside 20 years ago! If Franz Ferdinand can ape Public Image Ltd. 25 years down the road, why can't Nintendo rekindle their own ideas?

I think everybody has a different idea of what "important" means to them, and that was one of my original annoyances when I scanned through this article, because they do try to show the lineage of influences, and where they started. I just think that maybe more people wish those points of origin were something else.

Maybe they already have a resident evil thing, I don't know, but I'm sure they will. Sweet Home will definitely not be mentioned, for example.

Everybody's kind of gotten into bashing on these sacred cows; normally I encourage that because they make more money than they're worth. But unfortunately it's money that talks in this business. If Capcom figures out you'll buy games with blood and gore in them, you'll get about 90 new games with blood and gore in them. It's a circular argument, and you all know the answer, and it's past my bedtime.

love ya! :beaten:

[Daria]

Yeah, E.T. for the Atari 2600 is really important. I mean, what would we do without thousands of Atari cartidges buried in New Mexico?

They list it because it's a well known chapter in video game lore. Just about every internet geek knows the story by now, and the cartridge filled landfill has become something of a legend.

Did the game have any real impact on the industry? No. It's just another shitty movie license. But I'd say the game has some importance in video game history.

[Milk]

I love how they damned Rogue with faint praise in the side bar. "Yeah, it created an entire genre, but it's just a boring hack 'n' slash". Couldn't they have found someone who actually understands those kind of games? Going into Rogue killing everything is about as smart as going into a first person shooter, guns blazing.

[Ed Oscuro]

Did the game have any real impact on the industry? No.
Uh, yeah, it had MAJOR impact on the industry...bit of a bad choice of words here. "Video gaming history" means absolutely nothing without an industry of some sort to back it up, yes? Unless everybody made them in their spare time, that is...in which case there never would've been an E.T. in the first place LOL

This topic is now :beaten:

[DStriemer]

The list is about the most important games, and their impact on the industry. What I don't understand is how you guys can say this - maybe you made a point of not reading the article? If you had, I would suspect nobody would still be saying this nonsense. ET remains by far one of the most important games ever in that it showed how putting out poor product will catch up with you in the end.

Actually, I for one do read. On top of that, I think the articles reasoning that the mass-production of ET had anything to do with Atari's troubles(no matter how minute), or the videogame crash seems contrived. I mean, this is hardly a lesson that had never been learned before in any other part of the entertainment/pop culture industry.

Don't dismiss people as ignorant of something just because they do not agree with you.

Thanks.

[Daria]

Did the game have any real impact on the industry? No.
Uh, yeah, it had MAJOR impact on the industry...bit of a bad choice of words here. "Video gaming history" means absolutely nothing without an industry of some sort to back it up, yes? Unless everybody made them in their spare time, that is...in which case there never would've been an E.T. in the first place LOL

This topic is now :beaten:

Actually no it didn't have a major impact. As the article said ET didn't kill the Atari with it's bad sales, but it didn't help them either. But it's certainly a memerable event.

I'm tired, and I'm not arguing with you. I didn't exactly say anything that was untrue but you insisted on picking apart my post anyway. I hope it was fun.

Edit: Actually after rereading your post you seem to be under the impression I was somehow disagreeing with you. When actually I didn't even read your post in the first place. So yeah... yes releasing shit did bite Atari in the ass. And it was important and shit happened. Hurrah! You win a cookie!

[Ed Oscuro]

Actually, I for one do read. On top of that, I think the articles reasoning that the mass-production of ET had anything to do with Atari's troubles(no matter how minute), or the videogame crash seems contrived.
Then I'm sure you'd be able to explain how the significant impact landfilling those millions of E.T. cartridges seems less than solid. I'm sure Atari claimed a tax writeoff, but how far will that take you? What's more, the bad rep Atari garned as a direct result of E.T. is less than "contrived." It haunts the industry to this day, really, though the suits aren't always aware of it. However - as the article itself states with the line "E.T. certainly wasn't solely responsible for Atari's downfall; the company's demise was a gradual implosion" - it's true the game is merely a "symbol" of what's wrong in the "status quo," and the article does state that


The simple fact is that no other game more effectively represents everything wrong with the early American gaming industry than E.T. It's less of an influence [emphasis in the original, and still ignored by readers] than an indicator of an unfortunate status quo.

So really you're against the article for all the wrong reasons.

In conclusion, I <3 being a bastard.

[LAGO]

Don't forget about the 2600 version of Pac-Man. That game has got to have a spot in every gamer's library ... probably at the bottom of a tradebox or used to steady the table/desk your Atari might be sitting on but it still has a place damn it!

err ... yeah I mean that game didn't help Atari's image either ... a little off-topic but I was feeling sorry for E.T.

[DStriemer]

And so it was written on the sacred tablets...... LOL
What exactly is the impact of putting a few million carts in a landfill...sure soccer moms might have rolled their eyes as they heard of yet another way video games are "bad", but other than that....I'm sure nobody really cared, the money was already lost and videogames were already a multi-billion dollar industry. An inventory dust-off like this is hardly a backbreaker.

As far as bad rep....how often does 1 bad game, or even a series of bad games by any company stop you from buying the next great one they put out. Every entertainment company in the world would be bankrupt, if "bad rep" had this much weight. Even corporately bad rep would not have mattered. All of the videogame companies that had a chance at all of making it had enough money to weather the storm and those that didn't weren't looking for loans and handouts, they just wanted out with whatever profits they could carry with them. Ie. Mattel.

One bad marketing move, and the collapse of a whole industry(and the most successful company in that industry), is a coincidence. Any impact this one game or marketing move made is most likely negligable in the final consequences. Every new industry enjoys a huge tidal wave of success followed by a massive failure.(take automobiles and computers for example) A few million carts, worth no more than a few million dollars is worth about 10 people in upper management. They were a large company and could have cut back and still easily survived. The only thing significant about his game or it's involvement in anything remotely important is that they couldn't find anything better to do with these things than put them in a dump. If that makes it worthy of any top whatever list other than one by green peace....I'm amazed.

Anyways......I agree with a lot of the other games on there....

[Avatard]

Dune 2 should be on there without a doubt. The first RTS game like Warcraft and Starcraft, and it was really fun. I don't know how many hours of my young life I spent playing that game and yelling "WORM SIGN!".

Maybe I missed Wolfenstein on that list, but it should be there also.