YAT50L (Yet another Top 50 list...)

[Sniderman]

The Top 50 Most Important Videogames (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3116290)
Not "best." Not "worst." But MOST IMPORTANT. Seems like a pretty solid list to me. Read. Discuss.

[Arcade Antics]

No Robotron:2084? Demerit.

No VidKidz game at all? 3xDemerit.

[Gapporin]

I didn't think Battlezone was very influencial. Same with Faceball 2000 (They are fun to play, I agree, just not very ground-breaking).

The Macintosh isn't a game. Technical foul.

Otherwise, the list seems very sound. Of course, except for the glaring omission of Robotron, as has been said before.

[tholly]

27. John Madden NFL Football (1990: Genesis)



a sports game....the list could have done without that....what a waste of a spot where ANYTHING else could have went

[hezeuschrist]

The piece on ET is fairly informative and interesting. Glad to see that made the list in the midst of all the great games.

[Arcade Antics]

27. John Madden NFL Football (1990: Genesis)



a sports game....the list could have done without that....what a waste of a spot where ANYTHING else could have went

I disagree - for most important, one could even argue that there aren't enough sports games on the list. 8-)

Nitpick department: I love the Star Wars arcade game, but one of the top 50 most important? Sheesh! Drop Star Wars and add Robotron:2084 or Defender. :)

[PDorr3]

I dont understand why halo would be in the top 50, it is in no way the 50 most important game ever, sure maybe for xbox since it was the only good game at launch, its just a repetitive FPS that does nothing new. Im not hating on xbox, I love xbox, and halo is a good game, but no way does it deserve to be on there.

[tholly]

I dont understand why halo would be in the top 50, it is in no way the 50 most important game ever, sure maybe for xbox since it was the only good game at launch, its just a repetitive FPS that does nothing new. Im not hating on xbox, I love xbox, and halo is a good game, but no way does it deserve to be on there.

wrong....and i dont need any info to back that up...your view is just wrong....it could have been higher even...

[Cauterize]

28. Sonic the Hedgehog (1991: Genesis)

Without a doubt, one of the most important games ever!

[PDorr3]

I dont understand why halo would be in the top 50, it is in no way the 50 most important game ever, sure maybe for xbox since it was the only good game at launch, its just a repetitive FPS that does nothing new. Im not hating on xbox, I love xbox, and halo is a good game, but no way does it deserve to be on there.

wrong....and i dont need any info to back that up...your view is just wrong....it could have been higher even...

just my opinion on the game. It just felt like another normal FPS to me. And you cant tell me my view is wrong because its just an opinion

[tholly]

I dont understand why halo would be in the top 50, it is in no way the 50 most important game ever, sure maybe for xbox since it was the only good game at launch, its just a repetitive FPS that does nothing new. Im not hating on xbox, I love xbox, and halo is a good game, but no way does it deserve to be on there.

wrong....and i dont need any info to back that up...your view is just wrong....it could have been higher even...

just my opinion on the game. It just felt like another normal FPS to me. And you cant tell me my view is wrong because its just an opinion

i know i know...i was just being an ass....


ps.... halo rules LOL

[PDorr3]

I dont understand why halo would be in the top 50, it is in no way the 50 most important game ever, sure maybe for xbox since it was the only good game at launch, its just a repetitive FPS that does nothing new. Im not hating on xbox, I love xbox, and halo is a good game, but no way does it deserve to be on there.

wrong....and i dont need any info to back that up...your view is just wrong....it could have been higher even...

just my opinion on the game. It just felt like another normal FPS to me. And you cant tell me my view is wrong because its just an opinion

i know i know...i was just being an ass....


ps.... halo rules LOL

no problem :)
I know halo is a good game in alot of respects, hell I was in love with it the first time I played, but when it comes to being called the best game ever, I get mad. Thats not the case here though.

Anyway back on topic. I am not one of those people who support GTA3, hell I dont even own the game! But the game definitly deserves to be higher than 48 as it has done so much to influence games of today. It also reinvented the term of free roaming.
I usualy never talk good about GTA3 and so on but I do give it props for being a very important game. (note, the only bad thing that comes out of it are all of the GTA wanna be clones.... :/ )

[rick24890]

Goldeneye anyone? Surely an amazing FPS (my personal favorite, but its also was my favorite game when i really got into gaming)


P.S. My first post, wooo

[classicb]

Game Informer magazine did this list back in the October 2004 issues as a top 25 most influential games of all time. IMO a much better list with 25 fewer spots and doesn't leave out Tecmo Bowl :angry:

[-hellvin-]

Even though they aren't amazing games I think Duke Nukem 3D and Night Trap are pretty worthy, being that they were both pretty early controversial games.

[towerofsong]

website won't load for me...grrrr
stupid laptop

[Kid Ice]

There is another thread on this exact list if anyone cares to look for it. I searched "most important" and "most influential" but those give a zillion hits. I very specifically remember a discussion on this list though.

EDIT: found it

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40664&highlight=important+list

[SoulBlazer]

Read the articles for each of the games chosen, people. They explain and defend WHY the games were chosen.

I agree with about 95 percent of the list.

I also would have added the original Final Fantasy to that, and Panzer General to that list as well.

But bless their hearts for including MULE! :D

[squidblatt]

I'd mess with the order of a lot of those titles, but they're all pretty good. I agree that Halo doesn't belong, though. It may be important for establishing the Xbox as a presence, but we've yet to see whether that presence will be significant beyond one generation.

I'd say Super Sprint or Defender should take its place.

[zmweasel]

I'd mess with the order of a lot of those titles.

From the intro: "We're working in a roughly chronological order rather than according to any sort of ranking."


Game Informer magazine did this list back in the October 2004 issues as a top 25 most influential games of all time. IMO a much better list with 25 fewer spots and doesn't leave out Tecmo Bowl

Agreed.

-- Z.

[imanerd0011]

I realize that I am very biased, but how is Super Mario Bros. number 17 ??? It should be either number 1 or 2 in my opinion. If it wasn't for that game, the whole gaming industry would have died, so I would say it is VERY important! Personally I think there are way too many pre NES games on the list, or at least those games were rated too high. I think Pac-Man should be higher than 10 as well.

[whoisKeel]

I think there should've been either Quake or Descent in there, just because they were the 2 first 3D games to be truly 3D. (ie, in doom you can't climb up a set of stairs, turn around, then be directly on top of where you were on the bottom level). Quake was also the first game (that mattered or made it fun) to feature online multiplayer. I still remember playing the shareware on 56K...and it was bliss.

[PDorr3]

I realize that I am very biased, but how is Super Mario Bros. number 17 ??? It should be either number 1 or 2 in my opinion. If it wasn't for that game, the whole gaming industry would have died, so I would say it is VERY important! Personally I think there are way too many pre NES games on the list, or at least those games were rated too high. I think Pac-Man should be higher than 10 as well.

they did say that they listed them in a somewhat chronological order, Im curious to see what a TRUE most important game list would be in no time order.

[Anthony1]

27. John Madden NFL Football (1990: Genesis)



a sports game....the list could have done without that....what a waste of a spot where ANYTHING else could have went


That is freaking blashphemy that you would say that such a game is a waste of a spot.

Shame on you!

Shame on you!


Madden '93 for the Sega Genesis is the best football game ever. But without the first John Madden Football for the Genesis, there wouldn't have been a Madden '93. I still remember the day that the very first Madden came out on the Genesis. I had only had TV Sports Football for the TurboGrafx-16 for a few weeks, just starting to get used to that game, and then Madden shows up out of nowhere and totally destroys every football game previous. After playing that game for like 3 minutes, I felt like I could cry because it totally shattered TV Sports Football and made that game meaningless. I had just bought TV Sports Football only about a month or less prior.


But the bottom line is that Madden changed everything.

[Nature Boy]

a sports game....the list could have done without that....what a waste of a spot where ANYTHING else could have went

You *did* realized that "One on One" was a sports game as well, right?

The game that leapt out at me as not belonging was Herzog Zwei. All the others I've heard *tonnes* about - HZ has never registered with me. On the whole I like the list though.

[bargora]

Herzog Zwei was probably the first instance of a real-time strategy game, long before the Warcrafts and Command and Conquers. Since RTS makes up such a huge segment of the PC game market, I can see why they'd include great grand-pappy.

Of course, they probably also explained all of that much more cogently in the article.

[WanganRunner]

Super Mario Bros. definitely deserved a higher spot on the list....

Talk about shaping the industry...

I fail to see why Battlezone ranks so high....

EDIT: I've never actually played Spacewar....always wanted to.

[tholly]

Super Mario Bros. definitely deserved a higher spot on the list....

Talk about shaping the industry...

I fail to see why Battlezone ranks so high....

EDIT: I've never actually played Spacewar....always wanted to.

they arent in ranked order

#1 doesnt necessarily mean its the best

[Daria]

What about Nighttrap or Mortal Kombat for their roles in ushering in ESBR ratings?

Seems to me an important game doesn't necassarily mean they're any good. As ET is a prime example.

I'd also love to argue Final Fantasy 7, but as craptastic as the game really is it was a major player in the shift from RPGs as a niche American market to a mainstream genre.

[IntvGene]

First of all, this list gets all muddled up by adding hardware to it. How can you pick the Game & Watch series and the Mac, and leave out the C64?

Faceball and Super Mario Kart are a little bit of a stretch... especially considering some of the previously mentioned arcade games that are missing.

Jet Set Radio is very influential to me. The style, the graphics, the music are all there. It was ahead of its time, and I think quite influential. M.U.L.E. is another nice pick.

It's also a little weak on the PC/Computer games. But, the list isn't terrible.. it's not nearly as bad as that IGN one (Wave Race 64 as #33 in the top 100 LOL )

[Nature Boy]

Herzog Zwei was probably the first instance of a real-time strategy game, long before the Warcrafts and Command and Conquers. Since RTS makes up such a huge segment of the PC game market, I can see why they'd include great grand-pappy.

Yeah I read that. But like I said, I still never *hear* about HZ like I do Warcraft and C&C. Which makes me wonder if they're more important than HZ if only because they brought the genre into the mainstream.

[Lady Jaye]

It's supposed to be in a roughly chronological order, which is why SpaceWar! comes first. (and after reading the article, I see why they made the analogy to Counter-Strike, ie. the moddng community)

I like how, for Pong, they wrote: "Developer: Atari, from an idea by Ralph Baer". Giving credit where it's due is a good thing.