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?