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[woxel1]

I think Doom is probably the best example of an influential game since its shareware model and garage-developed quality (as well as the programmer as celebrity) is more prevalent than ever. However, I'd like to nominate the game Myst as being the most important game of the 90's, for setting the follow benchmarks:

1) Graphics: a push toward photorealism (pre-rendered or otherwise), setting the bar for home entertainment.

2) Popularity and Sales: the best selling PC game until 2002, when it was supplanted by the Sims. It is also something a cultural touchstone, having penetrated the mainstream more successfully than its PC brethren.

...and more controversially...

3) The simplification – or dumbing down – of a player's ability to make meaningful choices in the context of the game: the advent of the binary of good & evil, and the beginning of the end of "pure" adventure games.

---

You know, because I feel like there's a give and take to this. A design choice works in one game, so you start to see it spreading across different titles. Except that in the end, you're just fooling around with the same mechanics but only with a different appearance each time. We look to these "important" titles for the next new thing, but they end up corrupting the marketplace.

 

[A Black Falcon]

Their weren't that many 3D platformers before Mario 64, I can only think of two: Bug and Jumping Flash. Out of those two Jumping Flash was the only one that I would call a true 3D platformer, Bug was essentially a game on rails, where you could travel to the left and right of the screen only if the game let you, the same is true for Crash Bandicoot. As for Jumping Flash, man playing that thing today is slow and painful...

There was Bubsy 3D too, released only very shortly after Mario 64, if you need some more proof of how important the game was for the industry...

And really, of course, it's not just about 3d platformers, it's about 3d games in general. Mario 64's design had a huge influence on the industry as a whole I'd say, in its genre particularly but also beyond it. I do think Doom was the more influential title, by a small margin, but not by too much.

 

[Zeliard]

Doom had lots of mods, huge numbers of them. Sure, Quake had even more that were even more ambitious because of all the things the engine could do that Doom couldn't, but don't understate how many big mods were out there for Doom, for everything from Barney Doom to Chex Quest to that Aliens mod or whatever to just maps and such... Doom was the game that brought modding into the FPS genre, not Quake.

I wasn't trying to trivialize Doom's modding scene or at all saying that Quake was the first shooter with mods. I was simply saying that Quake had considerably more full conversions/partial conversions/movies/etc than Doom, and yes that was greatly aided by its (revolutionary) engine. Doom had plenty of mods, but the only thing Doom did to the extent of Quake was custom maps. Quake had a lot more to work with, and it did.

I would also say that Quake had a considerably stronger influence on online gaming, which has gotten quite popular over the years and is growing at a precipitous rate. Doom had a powerful LAN scene and certainly introduced us all to the great fun of blowing the hell out of each other in deathmatch, but Quake took that shit online and worldwide and made it spectacular, ultimately having near countless game modes due to its customization (server runners could very easily and heavily tweak such things as gravity, which introduced quite a bit of unique fun to some of the maps).

And while "esports" hasn't gotten terribly big (other than in Korea), you can effectively mark the start of it with the Red Annihilation Quake tourney, back in 1997 (where Thresh famously won Carmack's Ferrari).

 

[DarthButcher]

 

[ZealousD]

so, I'm assuming by Doom you guys mean Wolfenstein.

No, I mean Doom.

Wolfenstein was most certainly the first, but the only game it influenced was... Doom. The template for the FPS shooter genre in the 90's came from Doom, not Wolfenstein.

 

[∀ Narayan]

It's Quake.

If you disagree, you are ignorant to all of the things which Quake either introduced or validated.

3D engines.
3D accelerators.
Online play.
Client-server architecture.
Modding.
Brown, brown, brown.
The engine as a product.
The FPS as the dominant gaming genre.

Even goofy shit like speed runs.

Quake is the grand daddy of modern gaming.

Pretty much what I was going to say.

It's the right answer.

 

[A Black Falcon]

I wasn't trying to trivialize Doom's modding scene or at all saying that Quake was the first shooter with mods. I was simply saying that Quake had considerably more full conversions/partial conversions/movies/etc than Doom, and yes that was greatly aided by its (revolutionary) engine. Doom had plenty of mods, but the only thing Doom did to the extent of Quake was custom maps. Quake had a lot more to work with, and it did.

I would also say that Quake had a considerably stronger influence on online gaming, which has gotten quite popular over the years and is growing at a precipitous rate. Doom had a powerful LAN scene and certainly introduced us all to the great fun of blowing the hell out of each other in deathmatch, but Quake took that shit online and worldwide and made it spectacular, ultimately having near countless game modes due to its customization (server runners could very easily and heavily tweak such things as gravity, which introduced quite a bit of unique fun to some of the maps).

And while "esports" hasn't gotten terribly big (other than in Korea), you can effectively mark the start of it with the Red Annihilation Quake tourney, back in 1997 (where Thresh famously won Carmack's Ferrari).

Quake just worked on what Doom had already done, though. The original thing is the bigger step, usually, not the evolution of it... Quake had mods? Doom had them first. Quake had online? Doom popularized modem play. Etc. Of course Quake was important, but in terms of impact, it was nothing compared to Doom, cultural impact particularly (I don't think anybody could debate this aspect of it, which I think should matter at least some in this subject) of course but in terms of influence on gaming as well.

Doom's engine also was licensed out -- Heretic, Hexen, etc. Id did this from the beginning though, with how Apogee used their Commander Keen engine in Bio Menace and then the Wolf 3D one in Blake Stone and (highly modified) in Rise of the Triad, so that wasn't new in either Doom or Quake. What was new with Doom was the user modding, and active support for it.

(Oh, what kind of online play did Quake 1 have, exactly?)

No, I mean Doom.

Wolfenstein was most certainly the first, but the only game it influenced was... Doom. The template for the FPS shooter genre in the 90's came from Doom, not Wolfenstein.

That's not true, Wolf 3d was actually pretty influential. It was a great game when it came out. Besides the use of its engine in Blake Stone and such, there was also Ken's Labyrinth for instance, and I know there were more... but Doom came out just a year and a half after Wolf 3D. It wasn't long before that came out and really exploded things. But Wolf 3D absolutely set the stage.

(And I know that even Wolf 3D wasn't id's first first person game... but it was their first really successful one, at least.)

 

[XanatharDeath]

Alone in the Dark

And, of course :

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

I *wish* Mario 64's influence had been bigger.

If we continued to get 1 platformer for every 3 First-Person Shooters released to this very day, I would be one happy man.

 

[Petrie]

OP is impossible to answer without clarification, do you mean game of the 90's that is still the most influential towards gaming today, or the game that most influenced gaming in the 90's? These 2 answers will be totally different.

 

[Phreak47]

Did anyone say Wolfenstein 3D? Because many said Doom, but the former really introduced the first person shooter.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Did anyone say Wolfenstein 3D? Because many said Doom, but the former really introduced the first person shooter.

That is true, but it was 'Doom' that popularized it.

For instance, 'Final Fantasy VII' wasn't the first RPG ever, but it was certainly the one that brought it to the masses.

Also, the original Mario wasn't even the first scrolling platform game. But it is given credit for catapulting the platforming genre.

 

[GCX]

In terms of direct influence Mario 64 probably takes the cake. Sure, many were already moving towards the same direction as SM64 but it just did so many things right (camera control, analog control, 3D level design, etc.) other developers had pretty much no choise but to copy what SM64 had archieved. Its influence shows pretty much in every modern 3D game.

 

[Shard]

Yeah, because analog controls didn't exist before Mario (or the N64).

Okay, this needs to be responded to, yes, it is true that Nintendo didn't invent Analog Sticks or anything; they were however the company to get it right with one key change, snapback or recentering.

 

[sprsk]

Oh so now Mario 64 is to be taken as the predecessor to Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, God of War, and Godhand?

Please. The only thing Mario 64 even brings to these games is the 3D camera, at best.

Open world 3D games?
Hello?

Also, stop confusing being first with being influential.

 

[SomeDude]

If were going to go by pure influence then it would unquestionably be doom.



The massive FPS train hasn't stopped at all since then.

 

[phisheep]

Different answers depending what we mean by ‘influence’.

For influence on the world outside gaming (games that the general public get to hear of, that are referred to most often in the mainstream media): Pokemon, Quake, GTA

For influence on the market for games – what people buy and play them: Doom, Ocarina, Myst

For influence on game developers: Mario 64, Doom, Final Fantasy

 

[StuBurns]

Wolf3D or Mario 64, both completely changed game design and shaped 95% of what is released to this day.

Much like Halo and GTA3, I couldn't say which is more important, but both are worthy of the title I would think.

 

[VALKYRAY]

king of fighters 97,98

 

[hertog]

For me it was FFVII, it got me into rpg's and made rpg's available in Europe. And to this day it's stll my favourite genre.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Rise of the Triad,

I loved this game, I want to play it now.

Side note, can't believe the shitty opinions expressed in this thread.

 

[Haruspex]

People think in such linear ways, just because FPS are in vogue at the moment it doesn't necessarily mean that an FPS is the most influential game of the 90s.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

People think in such linear ways, just because FPS are in vogue at the moment it doesn't necessarily mean that an FPS is the most influential game of the 90s.

They've been in vogue for 16 years.

 

[mavs]

The other thread specified influence on games, but this one doesn't. Mario 64 would be my choice for the first. Quake defined a genre (it superseded Doom completely, so it's my pick for FPS) but SM64 defined how we played almost everything after its release. It's the reason why the D-pad is like an appendix on the N64 controller.

However, if we're simply talking influence as the impact the game made on people, there is one Game of the 90s:

It's hard to come up with metaphors that properly describe how big that game was.

 

[Sydle]

Mario 64 is the only right answer.

 

[XanatharDeath]

Alone in the Dark is the only right answer.

.

How can a game that literraly invented the survival-horror genre not be considered as the most influencal game of the 90's ?

 

[TacticalFox88]

Super Mario 64 is pretty much the reason every game we play right now exists.

 

[benny_a]

.

How can a game that literraly invented the survival-horror genre not be considered as the most influencal game of the 90's ?

Now that's just a weird thing to say.

Premise:
Genre A has been invented in the 90s by game X
Genre B has been invented in the 90s by game Y

if A > B then X > Y

In english terms: If one genre is bigger than the other, the game that invented that genre is the most influential.

This is of course abstract, and now you can look at what you mean by "bigger". Amount of games, amount of combined sales, amount of combined players. Or go with something subjective and say what kind of genre you like the most, which wouldn't be true for everyone. The above facts would be, though.

 

[Xenomorph]

Wolfenstien.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Unlike the 00s where everything has really funneled down to a much smaller level of genetic variation, so to speak, the 90s still had a ton of different forces to raise the entire landscape of ideas with throughout the decade. Doom and Quake were arguably the most instrumental in widespread adoption of 3D in software as well as one of the primary movers and influences on 3D accelerated hardware and the speed of adoption of faster, better CPUs and more memory. Still, I would hesitate to say that one or the other was the most important or influential of the 90s. It's a difficult decade to feel very sure of just one title being so affecting to the rest.

 

[XanatharDeath]

Genre A has been invented in the 90s by game X
Genre B has been invented in the 90s by game Y

Super Mario 64 didn't invent the plate-forming genre. It refined the good old plate-forming genre in 3D.
Alone in the Dark invented a genre.

Anyway, I'm not saying that Super Mario 64 was not a milestone (it definitely was), but I keep on thinking that Alone in the Dark deserves this title. Or maybe Doom. Or Ultima Underworld.

 

[Johann]

The other thread specified influence on games, but this one doesn't. Mario 64 would be my choice for the first. Quake defined a genre (it superseded Doom completely, so it's my pick for FPS) but SM64 defined how we played almost everything after its release. It's the reason why the D-pad is like an appendix on the N64 controller.

However, if we're simply talking influence as the impact the game made on people, there is one Game of the 90s:

It's hard to come up with metaphors that properly describe how big that game was.

I think we looked at Pokemon's influence on game design, we would be hard pressed to find a monster collecting trend on the same level as the FPS or the standard JRPG. It had a a number of clones, such as Demikids and Dokapon, that have come and gone in popularity. The highlight would be the Megaman Battle Network games, which had a 'defeat and collect them all' goal and would later come in multiple versions to encourage trading. I don't consider Monster Hunter as a clone since it goes off the training/breeding aspect visited in earlier games such as Tamagotchi or the Princess Maker games.

However, if we were looked at it's cultural and industry impact, it's practically peerless. It's basically Nintendo's personal Fort Knox that has basically paid for Nintendo's risks either through it's dependable fanbase or the money it brings in. The successful anime adaptation went on to inspire a lot of monster-based shounen anime. The whole merchandizing aspect of the brand basically makes it the Star Wars of the videogame industry.

Most importantly, it made the handheld what it is today. The handheld was typically dumping ground for shovelware or bite-sized versions of console games. Pokemon leveraged the convenience and social aspect of handheld gaming into a one of a kind hit. It's surprise handhelds, especially the DS, have become so huge because of the unique games available on those platforms.

 

[DDayton]

The 90s is far too large of a period (spanning multiple game system generations) for a single game to dominate as most influential.

With that given, though, I'd say that the mid/late 90s had major influence from:

* Super Mario 64 -- this really brought in the era of well-done 3rd person 3D games. Everything else before it just looked clunky, as did most of the stuff following it for a few years.

* Resident Evil -- while it was based, to a degree, on Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil spawned a new, booming "survival horror" genre and had influence in Hollywood.

* Pokemon -- I don't think this can even be vaguely contested.

 

[Raist]

This makes no sense except if you consider at least one game per genre.

Anyway, I'll add Sim City. Haven't seen it mentionned at all, which is a shame. Ok it was released in 89 but still.

edit: Also, Dune II. And GT, maybe.

 

[nightez]

It is Super Mario 64. The first game to get the 3rd person perspective, and the game-play right. This is the game that single-handedly redefined 3D. Its influence has touched everything from Adventure games, 3rd person shooters, to puzzle games and RPG's. Honourable mentions must go to Pong, Pac Man, Tetris and Marios Bros.


....

 

[MisterHero]

Only one can defeat the Pikachu and it is the Mario

HOWEVER

Should the day come, I, for one, will bow to our new Mii Overlords

This makes no sense except if you consider at least one game per genre.

Not entirely. Apparently the multiple missions per stage in GoldenEye came was credited to Super Mario 64 by its director. Mario 64's innovations aren't entirely based on platforming, but the mechanics that were introduced to make it work or was a result of that work (ex: the sense of freedom in SM64's stages and hub > Ocarina's more seamless overworld).

Lots of innovations can transcend genres

 

[CultureClearance]

That is true, but it was 'Doom' that popularized it.

For instance, 'Final Fantasy VII' wasn't the first RPG ever, but it was certainly the one that brought it to the masses.

Also, the original Mario wasn't even the first scrolling platform game. But it is given credit for catapulting the platforming genre.

What does popularity have anything to do with influence? It's typically the less popular things that persuade people/developers to make more popular products from the template of the under-appreciated product...aka influence. Doom has waaay too much influence from Wolfenstein to be considered anything but proof that wolfenstein was a highly influential game of the 90s.
Mario is a different story. It actually did its own thing and was like no other side-scroller of its time. The Wolfenstein->Doom comparison is more like saying Mario 3 was the most influential game of the 80's but not Mario 1. I don't care how much more Mario 3 sold and that it has more content...mario 3 is 95% influenced by mario 1.

And you guys are acting like wolfenstein was an underground game or something. It was a big hit. Thus, they made Doom.

 

[ZeroGravity]

Super Mario 64. Its influences can be felt in most every 3-D game that followed.

 

[water_wendi]

It wasnt the first FPS, but im going to have to go with Wolfenstein 3D. Even dropping FPS gameplay, it was the first mainstream hit (along with MK) where violence and blood was a big draw.

 

[CultureClearance]

For how many years were other FPSs simply called "Doom clones"? And plz don't call it FPS shooter. Basically, your whole argument boils down to "Wolf was first." WW2 themed etc don't really compare to what Doom did. I mean, Wolf didn't even have height differences on its maps!

How many people make Doom clones now? Nobody. The ultra-violent, super speed monster killer fps genre is over. And things that Doom did were just simple progressions of what wolfenstein started. Height differences? Slow down there my head is spinning.
And I can only think of a handful of "doom clones." If you guys are talking about cash-cow 90's imitation being "influence' then the right answer is mario 64 or Street Fighter II. The amount of mario 64/SFII clones that came out in the 90's dwarfs that of dooms influence.

 

[Diablos]

Can't be just one.

Doom
Sim City
Street Fighter II
Final Fantasy VII
Mario 64
Metal Gear Solid

These games did so much for the genres they represented. Their influence is undeniable.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

What does popularity have anything to do with influence? It's typically the less popular things that persuade people/developers to make more popular products from the template of the under-appreciated product...aka influence. Doom has waaay too much influence from Wolfenstein to be considered anything but proof that wolfenstein was a highly influential game of the 90s.
Mario is a different story. It actually did its own thing and was like no other side-scroller of its time. The Wolfenstein->Doom comparison is more like saying Mario 3 was the most influential game of the 80's but not Mario 1. I don't care how much more Mario 3 sold and that it has more content...mario 3 is 95% influenced by mario 1.

And you guys are acting like wolfenstein was an underground game or something. It was a big hit. Thus, they made Doom.

Yes, but everybody played both Mario 1 and Mario 3. Mario 3 was just an extension of the influence that the first Mario started. Wolfenstein wasn't some underground game, true, but it didn't resonate with people the same way that Doom did.

Tell me this. What is the most influential RPG ever made? Here's a hint: It wasn't the first one ever made, I can tell you that.

Yes, Wolfenstein is credited with creating the formula from which the whole genre is based on. But it was actually Doom that brought the genre mainstream acceptance.

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

Doom or Quake. Pick one.

The notion that Quake is the one game to not only validate online multi-player gaming but also the one that validated the need for graphics cards can't be stressed enough. This game defined 3D graphics to this day.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Doom/Quake most definitely spearheaded online/LAN play as a big time thing as well as user customization/mods. Of all the games that I can think of that might fit the bill for the question posed by the topic, those two are the only ones that rise faster and further than any of the others. Not discounting all the other possibilities and their contributions, though.

 

[Oli]

I guess Mario 64, since it introduced so many staples of 3D gaming.


I wonder what people will look back and think was the most important/influential game of 2000-2010. I guess if motion controls really take off then perhaps Wii Sports? I guess it's possible.

 

[bernardobri]

Another World