I don't know how to articulate the thread title in a way that doesn't sound stupid. Is there a more elegant way to say "the game that pushes the most powerful hardware the furthest, representing the bleeding edge of video game tech for each year"? Because that's what I'm looking for here. Would appreciate some input if you think there are better choices for any particular year.
1971- Computer Space
Other notable games: N/A
1972- Pong
Other notable games: N/A
1973- Gotcha
Other notable games: Gotcha is pretty much the only game from ’73 that isn’t Pong or a variation thereof.
1974- Speed Race
Other notable games: Slim pickings, but Atari’s Gran Trak 10 is another early racing game.
1975- Gun Fight
Gun Fight was the first game to feature a microprocessor and, I believe, the first game to feature recognizably human characters.
Other notable games: There’s also Taito’s Interceptor, the first arcade flight sim, but there’s no videos of it on Youtube.
1976- Night Driver
Very early scaler game.
Other notable games: ?
1977- Super Bug
Super Bug features smooth multi-directional scrolling about a decade before it would become common on home platforms.
Other notable games: ?
1978- Fire Truck
The follow-up to Super Bug, and a significant improvement in both background detail and the animation of the player sprite. The more famous game of ’78, Space Invaders, also deserves a mention for the sheer number of moving enemies onscreen at one time.
Other notable games: Space Invaders
1979- Speed Freak
Speed Freak features the first-ever true Z-axis in a game.
Other notable games: Starfire, Radar Scope
1980- Battlezone
Battlezone features the first ever fully-navigable 3D environment in a video game, and is generally considered to be the first virtual-reality game.
Other notable games: ?
1981- Turbo
The first of a bunch of Sega scaler games in this thread.
Other notable games: Donkey Kong, Sky Skipper, Defender
1982- Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom
The predecessor to Space Harrier both in gameplay and in visual effects. The scaling is a few notches above anything else from this year.
Other notable games: Pole Position, Tac-Scan, Sub-Roc 3D
1983- I Robot
Highly competitive year, with TX-1 and I Robot being the main contenders. TX-1 has by far the best sprite scaling of any game made up to this time, but I Robot takes the crown due to its pioneering use of polygonal graphics (the first-ever fully polygonal game, in fact.) I’m not sure how to handle the Laserdisc games, as while they do make great use of cutting-edge tech, they’re more like movies than games.
Other notable games: TX-1, Astron Belt, Dragon’s Lair, Major Havoc, Star Wars
1984- TX-1 V8
A strange year, as TX-1 V8 looks exactly like the first game, but this time, there’s nothing much to challenge it. I will give a shout-out to Elite, though; despite being confined to comparatively primitive 8-bit micros, it was more-or-less the first open-world game, featuring by far the largest environment of any game made up to that time, and the first game with free 360-degree player movement on six axes.
Other notable games: Tube Panic, Pac-Land, Elite
1985- Space Harrier
A new board from Sega, and another win.
Other notable games: Hang-On
1986- Outrun
Sega’s scaling tech once again takes a fat dump on every other game.
Other notable games: Thunder Ceptor
1987- Afterburner
The only game that challenged Sega this year was another Sega game.
Other notable games: Thunder Blade
1988- Winning Run
One of the easiest choices in the whole thread. It may seem like it’s several years too early for a fully-polygonal racing game, but here’s Namco on the bleeding edge.
Other notable games: Galaxy Force, Power Drift
1989- Winning Run Suzuka GP
A minor update to Winning Run. No one caught up to Namco this year.
Other notable games: Stun Runner, Hard Drivin’
1990- Galaxian 3
Some may object to Galaxian 3 due to being a laserdisc game, but it still runs on Winning Run tech, which was still hands-down the best arcade board around in 1990. The polygonal tricks seen here weren’t being done anywhere else at the time. The only serious challenger this year was another Namco game on the same board.
Other notable games: Driver’s Eyes
1991- Solvalou
As with Galaxian 3, another Laserdisc game, whose only real challengers were, once again, other Namco games using the Winning Run board.
Other notable games: Starblade, Winning Run ‘91
1992- Virtua Racing
Sega finally caught up to Namco this year, with Model 1 offering the first real step up from Winning Run since 1988.
Other notable games: SimDrive
1993- Daytona USA
Another very easy choice. Model 2 was about an order of magnitude superior to anything else at the time, and so Daytona utterly crushed the competition this year.
Other notable games: Ridge Racer, Virtua Fighter
1994- Virtua Fighter 2
The only serious competitors for ’94 were other Sega Model 2 games. I’m giving the title to VF2, though, because it’s the first game with realistic polygonal humans.
Other notable games: Attack of the Zolgear, Desert Tank, Virtua Cop
1995- Sega Rally Championship
Model 2 kept coasting along this year with no serious challengers.
Other notable games: ?
1996- Virtua Fighter 3
And Sega shoots way out ahead of the pack, again, with its Model 3 hardware. However, it should be noted that Model 3 was the last board of its kind; after 1996, arcade games would never again have a decisive edge over home platforms, as the technological arms race became too expensive, even for Sega.
Other notable games: Scud Race
1997- Harley Davidson & LA Riders
Pretty tough choice this year. Any of Sega’s Model 3 games would be a valid choice. I also included Quake 2 here, which was pretty much the killer app for 3D accelerators on PC. Quake 2 didn’t quite match what Sega was doing in the arcade, but it was clear the gap was closing.
Other notable games: The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Virtua Striker 2, Le Mans 24, Time Crisis 2, Quake 2
1998- House of the Dead 2
Very tough call between Sega’s Model 3 games and Unreal, which was THE technical benchmark for PC gaming in 1998. Anyone care to give their input on this year? Also, I felt Sonic was worth a mention, if only for that whale-chase scene in the beach level.
Other notable games: Unreal, Daytona USA 2, Spikeout, Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)
1999- Outcast
The level of detail in Outcast’s open world was unprecedented at the time, and was extremely demanding for even the most powerful PCs. With that said, it’s a tough choice between this and Quake 3, since they focus on different things.
Other notable games: Quake 3, Nocturne, Unreal Tournament, Dead or Alive 2 (arcade), Shenmue (Dreamcast), Soul Calibur (Dreamcast)
2000- Giants: Citizen Kabuto
As with Outcast, this was a very impressive game in its day for its huge environments with a high level of detail. Very nice textures for 2000, too.
Other notable games: Sacrifice, The Bouncer (PS2)
2001- Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Probably the most competitive year in the whole thread. Really tough to narrow it down to one game. It was a fairly weak year for PC games, and a very strong year for consoles. I’m inclined to give it to RTCW on principle of it being the go-to benchmark at the time, but I could definitely see DOA3 getting the nod here. Serious Sam is mentioned mostly for the huge final battle, which blew my mind back then.
Other notable games: Max Payne, Serious Sam, Dead or Alive 3 (Xbox), Halo (Xbox), Star Wars: Rogue Leader (Gamecube), Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2), Gran Turismo 3 (PS2)
2002- Unreal Tournament 2003
Unreal 2 was the best engine on the market at the time.
Other notable games: Splinter Cell (Xbox)
2003- Unreal 2
See 2002. Unreal 2’s only competition is another Unreal 2 game.
Other notable games: Splinter Cell (PC)
2004- Doom 3
Very competitive year, but Doom 3’s lighting effects were on a whole other level from other games in 2004. HL2 mostly gets on here for its physics engine and facial animation, while Far Cry’s here for having a highly-detailed open world for the time.
Other notable games: Half-Life 2, Far Cry, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
2005- FEAR
Duh. FEAR was the reference point for PC visuals at the time of its release.
Other notable games: Battlefield 2
2006- The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion
The scale and detail of Oblivion was beyond that of any other open-world game at the time. The foliage, in particular, was mind-blowing; all those blades of grass everywhere! Also, a shout-out to Gears of War here, as UE3 was hands-down the most advanced engine at the time, though it was somewhat hampered by being limited to a console exclusive.
Other notable games: Gears of War (Xbox 360)
2007- Crysis
Most obvious choice ever.
Other notable games: STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
2008- Crysis Warhead
Duh.
Other notable games: ?
2009- ARMA 2
One of the hardest years to choose. Crysis remained the benchmark on PCs in 2009, with the market otherwise stagnant. There was no standout mind-blowing game this year. Even so, ARMA 2 was known to be quite demanding on high settings. Any other suggestions? I feel like I’m reaching here.
Other notable games: Mirror’s Edge (PC)
2010- Metro 2033
Crysis was still the most common benchmark in 2010, but Metro at least gave it some competition.
Other notable games: ?
2011- Crysis 2
Crysis takes the crown again, though Battlefield 3 is a close second.
Other notable games: Battlefield 3, The Witcher 2
2012- Far Cry 3
Another game filling exactly the same niche as Crysis.
Other notable games: Max Payne 3
2013- Crysis 3
May as well be a three-way tie here. I could see any of these three games on top.
Other notable games: Metro: Last Light, Battlefield 4
2014- Assassin’s Creed Unity
Perhaps the most lifelike recreation of any historical period to date.
Other notable games: Ryse (PC)
1971- Computer Space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ph5dcoMeTM
Other notable games: N/A
1972- Pong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHsYjWm8XSI
Other notable games: N/A
1973- Gotcha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoDZoZqsHF8
Other notable games: Gotcha is pretty much the only game from ’73 that isn’t Pong or a variation thereof.
1974- Speed Race
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc5_UXYFJZo
Other notable games: Slim pickings, but Atari’s Gran Trak 10 is another early racing game.
1975- Gun Fight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYa0G6KGayk
Gun Fight was the first game to feature a microprocessor and, I believe, the first game to feature recognizably human characters.
Other notable games: There’s also Taito’s Interceptor, the first arcade flight sim, but there’s no videos of it on Youtube.
1976- Night Driver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lArePoulGkg
Very early scaler game.
Other notable games: ?
1977- Super Bug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t2po_qGqnY
Super Bug features smooth multi-directional scrolling about a decade before it would become common on home platforms.
Other notable games: ?
1978- Fire Truck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMol8ES3DGM
The follow-up to Super Bug, and a significant improvement in both background detail and the animation of the player sprite. The more famous game of ’78, Space Invaders, also deserves a mention for the sheer number of moving enemies onscreen at one time.
Other notable games: Space Invaders
1979- Speed Freak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tEgk4-5T-U
Speed Freak features the first-ever true Z-axis in a game.
Other notable games: Starfire, Radar Scope
1980- Battlezone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymrYkbEbnEQ
Battlezone features the first ever fully-navigable 3D environment in a video game, and is generally considered to be the first virtual-reality game.
Other notable games: ?
1981- Turbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am-CB0lo6SQ
The first of a bunch of Sega scaler games in this thread.
Other notable games: Donkey Kong, Sky Skipper, Defender
1982- Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnoEcMbj6FQ
The predecessor to Space Harrier both in gameplay and in visual effects. The scaling is a few notches above anything else from this year.
Other notable games: Pole Position, Tac-Scan, Sub-Roc 3D
1983- I Robot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmvWxG2zvs8
Highly competitive year, with TX-1 and I Robot being the main contenders. TX-1 has by far the best sprite scaling of any game made up to this time, but I Robot takes the crown due to its pioneering use of polygonal graphics (the first-ever fully polygonal game, in fact.) I’m not sure how to handle the Laserdisc games, as while they do make great use of cutting-edge tech, they’re more like movies than games.
Other notable games: TX-1, Astron Belt, Dragon’s Lair, Major Havoc, Star Wars
1984- TX-1 V8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0zfjqHDgFI
A strange year, as TX-1 V8 looks exactly like the first game, but this time, there’s nothing much to challenge it. I will give a shout-out to Elite, though; despite being confined to comparatively primitive 8-bit micros, it was more-or-less the first open-world game, featuring by far the largest environment of any game made up to that time, and the first game with free 360-degree player movement on six axes.
Other notable games: Tube Panic, Pac-Land, Elite
1985- Space Harrier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPkZDlvDsgc
A new board from Sega, and another win.
Other notable games: Hang-On
1986- Outrun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7tZFW4WedI
Sega’s scaling tech once again takes a fat dump on every other game.
Other notable games: Thunder Ceptor
1987- Afterburner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq1rzgWAcVA
The only game that challenged Sega this year was another Sega game.
Other notable games: Thunder Blade
1988- Winning Run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G01FZUtIMX0
One of the easiest choices in the whole thread. It may seem like it’s several years too early for a fully-polygonal racing game, but here’s Namco on the bleeding edge.
Other notable games: Galaxy Force, Power Drift
1989- Winning Run Suzuka GP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCgNU9CZgIM
A minor update to Winning Run. No one caught up to Namco this year.
Other notable games: Stun Runner, Hard Drivin’
1990- Galaxian 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ0usw-L2nI
Some may object to Galaxian 3 due to being a laserdisc game, but it still runs on Winning Run tech, which was still hands-down the best arcade board around in 1990. The polygonal tricks seen here weren’t being done anywhere else at the time. The only serious challenger this year was another Namco game on the same board.
Other notable games: Driver’s Eyes
1991- Solvalou
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LpkhK7QNJk
As with Galaxian 3, another Laserdisc game, whose only real challengers were, once again, other Namco games using the Winning Run board.
Other notable games: Starblade, Winning Run ‘91
1992- Virtua Racing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3PcHBFsjxg
Sega finally caught up to Namco this year, with Model 1 offering the first real step up from Winning Run since 1988.
Other notable games: SimDrive
1993- Daytona USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAcMqFTkAs8
Another very easy choice. Model 2 was about an order of magnitude superior to anything else at the time, and so Daytona utterly crushed the competition this year.
Other notable games: Ridge Racer, Virtua Fighter
1994- Virtua Fighter 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7OYlmdhOZY
The only serious competitors for ’94 were other Sega Model 2 games. I’m giving the title to VF2, though, because it’s the first game with realistic polygonal humans.
Other notable games: Attack of the Zolgear, Desert Tank, Virtua Cop
1995- Sega Rally Championship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6REoftI1lbQ
Model 2 kept coasting along this year with no serious challengers.
Other notable games: ?
1996- Virtua Fighter 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUznrujBk48
And Sega shoots way out ahead of the pack, again, with its Model 3 hardware. However, it should be noted that Model 3 was the last board of its kind; after 1996, arcade games would never again have a decisive edge over home platforms, as the technological arms race became too expensive, even for Sega.
Other notable games: Scud Race
1997- Harley Davidson & LA Riders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMcKS7fSzw4
Pretty tough choice this year. Any of Sega’s Model 3 games would be a valid choice. I also included Quake 2 here, which was pretty much the killer app for 3D accelerators on PC. Quake 2 didn’t quite match what Sega was doing in the arcade, but it was clear the gap was closing.
Other notable games: The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Virtua Striker 2, Le Mans 24, Time Crisis 2, Quake 2
1998- House of the Dead 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68p-TbW3kKs
Very tough call between Sega’s Model 3 games and Unreal, which was THE technical benchmark for PC gaming in 1998. Anyone care to give their input on this year? Also, I felt Sonic was worth a mention, if only for that whale-chase scene in the beach level.
Other notable games: Unreal, Daytona USA 2, Spikeout, Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)
1999- Outcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaHTNj_hSl0
The level of detail in Outcast’s open world was unprecedented at the time, and was extremely demanding for even the most powerful PCs. With that said, it’s a tough choice between this and Quake 3, since they focus on different things.
Other notable games: Quake 3, Nocturne, Unreal Tournament, Dead or Alive 2 (arcade), Shenmue (Dreamcast), Soul Calibur (Dreamcast)
2000- Giants: Citizen Kabuto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoJD2Ox59kw
As with Outcast, this was a very impressive game in its day for its huge environments with a high level of detail. Very nice textures for 2000, too.
Other notable games: Sacrifice, The Bouncer (PS2)
2001- Return to Castle Wolfenstein
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHdBHeDjAY0
Probably the most competitive year in the whole thread. Really tough to narrow it down to one game. It was a fairly weak year for PC games, and a very strong year for consoles. I’m inclined to give it to RTCW on principle of it being the go-to benchmark at the time, but I could definitely see DOA3 getting the nod here. Serious Sam is mentioned mostly for the huge final battle, which blew my mind back then.
Other notable games: Max Payne, Serious Sam, Dead or Alive 3 (Xbox), Halo (Xbox), Star Wars: Rogue Leader (Gamecube), Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2), Gran Turismo 3 (PS2)
2002- Unreal Tournament 2003
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiuJwZGTWF4
Unreal 2 was the best engine on the market at the time.
Other notable games: Splinter Cell (Xbox)
2003- Unreal 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW-xgHsqyDk
See 2002. Unreal 2’s only competition is another Unreal 2 game.
Other notable games: Splinter Cell (PC)
2004- Doom 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4XYT4ZkzOk
Very competitive year, but Doom 3’s lighting effects were on a whole other level from other games in 2004. HL2 mostly gets on here for its physics engine and facial animation, while Far Cry’s here for having a highly-detailed open world for the time.
Other notable games: Half-Life 2, Far Cry, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
2005- FEAR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIKjYzhyZ_M
Duh. FEAR was the reference point for PC visuals at the time of its release.
Other notable games: Battlefield 2
2006- The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsSUWqbGgH0
The scale and detail of Oblivion was beyond that of any other open-world game at the time. The foliage, in particular, was mind-blowing; all those blades of grass everywhere! Also, a shout-out to Gears of War here, as UE3 was hands-down the most advanced engine at the time, though it was somewhat hampered by being limited to a console exclusive.
Other notable games: Gears of War (Xbox 360)
2007- Crysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMHgBplll8Q
Most obvious choice ever.
Other notable games: STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
2008- Crysis Warhead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IinbYssn4kI
Duh.
Other notable games: ?
2009- ARMA 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCFxcsut0-8
One of the hardest years to choose. Crysis remained the benchmark on PCs in 2009, with the market otherwise stagnant. There was no standout mind-blowing game this year. Even so, ARMA 2 was known to be quite demanding on high settings. Any other suggestions? I feel like I’m reaching here.
Other notable games: Mirror’s Edge (PC)
2010- Metro 2033
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtFEbmnXVe0
Crysis was still the most common benchmark in 2010, but Metro at least gave it some competition.
Other notable games: ?
2011- Crysis 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMKx6eW7TzI
Crysis takes the crown again, though Battlefield 3 is a close second.
Other notable games: Battlefield 3, The Witcher 2
2012- Far Cry 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNkpCLIDKj0
Another game filling exactly the same niche as Crysis.
Other notable games: Max Payne 3
2013- Crysis 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqDbQD5Pa2c
May as well be a three-way tie here. I could see any of these three games on top.
Other notable games: Metro: Last Light, Battlefield 4
2014- Assassin’s Creed Unity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp3F_xLKbPg
Perhaps the most lifelike recreation of any historical period to date.
Other notable games: Ryse (PC)