Most impressive 1st generation game

[savageone]

If I had to pick just one it would without a doubt be Wave Race 64.

[CosmicMonkey]

Star Fox and Pilotwings on the N64. Yeah, Mario was awesome (and still is) but there's something very, very special about Star Fox. I never really got into the SNES original but the 64 version is one of the best games ever. And Pilotwings is just super-duper awesome.

Sonic Adventure, Power Stone and Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast. The absolutely incredible first level of Sonic whet my appetite, but it was Power Stone that sealed the deal.

Halo and Jet Set Radio Future for the Xbox. Yeah, JSRF isn't as good as the DC original, but it was still a highly enjoyable early Xbox release.

I think Super Mario World and F-Zero showed the power of the Super Famicom at launch. SMW is absolute pure gaming perfection, and a demonstration of Miyamoto-san's genius at his absolute peak. It's still better than most games released in all the years since. SMW > 3D

[scooterb23]

For the simple fact that I have even more fun with the game today than I did when I first played it, and I can't think of another first gen game I can say that about... I vote Air-Sea Battle.

[Steve W]

Electrocop (Lynx)

Dang, you beat me to it. Pretty impressive first gen game, and I never felt like Atari tapped the power of the Lynx like the programmers at Epyx did.

[cityside75]

Although I already gave an answer a couple of years ago, Scooter's response brought to mind another for me to add: Space Battle on the INTV.

The first time I saw Space Battle was in a side-by-side comparison with an Atari (I forget the game) at an audio-video shop in Woodfield Mall back in the late '70's. My parents had just bought the Atari and hidden it in the car for our big family Xmas present, when we happened upon this comparison. We were all blown away by the graphics and sounds of the game and it didn't hurt that the enemy ships looked just like Cylon Raiders. Plus the game was fairly sophisticated for the time and just plain fun.

My dad ended up going back to the car and exchanging the Atari for the Intellivision (and spending more money in the process), and the rest is history.

[Kevincal]

BATTLE ARENA TOSHINDEN had mind-blowing graphics on the PS back in the Fall of 1995.

Destruction Derby on the PS was also very impressive with it's dynamic crash physics.

Virtua Racing Deluxe and Doom on the 32X were very impressive 1st gen games as well. Then again, did the 32X even reach the 2nd generation? ...

Sega Rally on the Saturn... 1st generation? Same with Virtua Fighter Remix?

How about the Jaguar version of Doom?

How about JUMPING FLASH on the PS?

[theghostlyguitarplayer]

Rogue Leader for the Gamecube was absolutely stunning at the time. All that detail, flying smoothly past your fighter, and it played well to boot!

I'll throw another mention out to Super Castlevania IV, while I'm at it. The jump from CVIII to CVIV was one hell of a jump, I've gotta say. Especially where graphics and music were concerned, holy cow.

-Adam-

[Rob2600]

Star Fox and Pilotwings on the N64. Yeah, Mario was awesome (and still is) but there's something very, very special about Star Fox. I never really got into the SNES original but the 64 version is one of the best games ever.

Same here. I thought Star Fox (SNES) was good, but Star Fox 64 is one of my favorite video games of all time. The graphics, music, voice acting, level designs, boss battles...perfection!

Pilotwings 64 was impressive, but I enjoyed the original SNES version more. I can't believe I actually beat it back in 1992. I don't think I'd have the patience today.

I think Super Mario World and F-Zero showed the power of the Super Famicom at launch. SMW is absolute pure gaming perfection, and a demonstration of Miyamoto-san's genius at his absolute peak.

Super Mario World is another one of my favorite games and it impressed me in 1991, but F-Zero, Super Castlevania IV, Pilotwings, and Final Fight completely blew me away.

If I wanted to really impress my Genesis-owning friends, I'd put on F-Zero or Final Fight, not Super Mario World (even though it was an amazing game).

[The 1 2 P]

Dreamcast: Soul Calibur and Sonic Adventure
Xbox: Halo
PS2: Tekken Tag Tournament

[Tony Lama]

Although I already gave an answer a couple of years ago, Scooter's response brought to mind another for me to add: Space Battle on the INTV.

The first time I saw Space Battle was in a side-by-side comparison with an Atari (I forget the game) at an audio-video shop in Woodfield Mall back in the late '70's. My parents had just bought the Atari and hidden it in the car for our big family Xmas present, when we happened upon this comparison. We were all blown away by the graphics and sounds of the game and it didn't hurt that the enemy ships looked just like Cylon Raiders. Plus the game was fairly sophisticated for the time and just plain fun.

My dad ended up going back to the car and exchanging the Atari for the Intellivision (and spending more money in the process), and the rest is history.

Heh, heh ... nice little story there! Just wondering, is this "Woodfield Mall" located in Schaumburg, IL?

I remember going to a Sears in the late 70's with my dad. We happened upon the SEARS TELE-GAMES ARCADE display where I played my first video game ever ... TARGET FUN (AIR SEA BATTLE for you Atari folk). Despite holding the joystick upside down, and the kid next to me scoring way more points, I was in awe! We ended up buying a Tele-Games system a couple weeks later. Thank God I found out it was really a 2600 or my friends would never let me live it down!

So besides TARGET FUN, I'd have to say that BLACK BELT for the Sega Master System, SUPER MARIO WORLD for the SNES, ALTERED BEAST for the Genesis, KEITH COURAGE IN ALPHA ZONES for TG-16, and BATTLE ARENA TOSHINDEN for PS1, had the biggest "WOW!!" factor for launch titles ... IMHO.

[Iron Draggon]

Tempest 2000... I still think it justifies buying a Jaguar, even if you never buy any other game for it... if you must have something else, buy the Jag CD and you'll have all you really need... Tempest 2000 & the VLM... a complete set...

[Zap!]

NES: Super Mario Bros.
Neo-Geo: Magician Lord and Baseball Stars
SNES: Super Mario World
N64: Super Mario 64
Wii: Twilight Princess

[BHvrd]

Tetris on the Gameboy.....oh yeah.

[PresidentLeever]

Going by around a year from the console release:

NES: Super Mario, Excitebike
SMS: Alex Kidd, Fantasy Zone, Choplifter
GEN: Revenge of Shinobi, Herzog Zwei, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Golden Axe
SNES: Actraiser, Super Castlevania IV, UN Squadron, Mystical Ninja. No, not Mode 7 titles.
TG16: Bikkuriman World, Alien Crush, Shinobi
PSX: Wipeout.. I kinda missed out on the rest until Tekken 2, Tomb Raider 2, RE2 etc which were all better than the prequels.
N64: Mario, Wave Race, Star Fox 64

GB: Pinball: Revenge of the Gator, Gargoyle's Quest, FF Legend 2, Tetris
GG: GG Aleste, GG Shinobi, Sonic the Hedgehog
GBA: Bomberman Tournament, ChuChu Rocket, Kuru Kuru Kururin, Tactics Ogre, Wario Land 4, Zone of the Enders: Fist of Mars

[Adol]

September 1997 if I recall correctly.

Also, Sonic isn't a first generation title at all; it was released in '91 whereas the Genesis came out in '89.

In Japan,PSX came out on early December 94, FF7 on last days of January 97...26 months later,yeah

In Japan, Sonic came out near 3 years (June 91) after Mega Drive release (October 88)

SFC had great 1st generation games: Actraisers,Final fight,Super Mario World,F-Zero,Zelda Link to the Past,Super Castlevania IV...

Editamn,didn't realize this post is 2 years old

[Steven]

So we're in general agreement that 1st gen = 1st year of a system's release?

Then don't forget SFII on SNES, as it came out right before the US SNES' 1st year anniversary. The SNES had a ton of impressive 1st-gen titles, as my peers have already listed. Not sure I saw Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts yet, but I consider that an impressive 1st gen title as well. Not the most impressive, but among them. It had incredible graphics and sound particularly for its time. Not what I call a "showcase" title per se, but it was amazing in its own right.

[AMG]

Super Mario 64 pretty much floored me when the game was released. I skipped the PSX at the time, and was upgrading from my SNES to the N64. SM64 was my first real taste of true 3D gaming.

[Zap!]

So we're in general agreement that 1st gen = 1st year of a system's release?

Does it? I thought it meant launch titles.

[tomaitheous]

Does it? I thought it meant launch titles.

I think launch titles = launch titles

When a console comes out, every year since that release is a software generation cycle. So 1st generation software is software that came out within the first year. The Japanese and US/EU release dates tend to muddy the waters a bit. I tend to go with the Japanese release dates for MD,SFC,PCE and US release dates for NES/SMS.

[BydoEmpire]

For me I would say donkey kong for the colecovision When I saw the commercial and played the game it was awesome.

That's a great pick.

I was going to say Rogue Squadron on the 'Cube. It was done of the better games on the system, and was a launch title.