Agent X
Member
1) Platformer
Space Panic (Universal, 1980).
2) Role-Playing Game (don't bother with your personal interpretation of what this is, otherwise feel free to group it into JRPG and WRPG, or further into SRPG, turn-based, ARPG, etc.)
No idea.
3) Racing (Any specific kind, simulation, arcade, futuristic, water, air, kart)
Space Race (Atari, 1973).
First 3D racer: Night Driver (Atari, 1976).
4) First-Person Shooter
I'm tempted to say Star Raiders (Atari, 1979) which literally fits the definition of "first-person shooter," though maybe not the way people are thinking (you're flying in a spaceship). There was probably something before this, though.
5) Music/Rhythm Game
No idea.
6) Rail Shooter
I'm not really sure how this is being defined. If you want to count games that have an interactive background, then Xevious (Namco, 1982) would be a good candidate. There were several other shooters before it that had non-interactive scrolling backgrounds.
7) Traditional Adventure (like Grim Fandango)
Colossal Cave (Will Crowther and Don Woods, 1976).
8) Action/Adventure (like Zelda)
Adventure (Atari, 1980).
9) Vehicle Combat (land, sea, and/or air.)
Spacewar (Steve Russell, 1961).
10) Sports (Any individual simulation, "extreme", arcade, etc. title)
Tennis for Two (William Higinbotham, 1958).
11) Real-time Strategy (or turn-based)
No idea.
12) Simulation (like Sim City, Flight Simulator, etc.)
Too broad. Since most video games could be broadly defined as "simulations," I'd go with Tennis for Two (William Higinbotham, 1958).
First flight simulator with some degree of realism: Flight Simulator (SubLOGIC, 1977)
13) MMORPG
No idea.
14) Puzzle/Party
Not sure. Several early Atari 2600 games (Brain Games, Codebreaker, Hunt & Score) could qualify for puzzle games. I think the Fairchild Channel F and Magnavox Odyssey 2 had a few, also.
For fast-action puzzle games, I can't really think of anything earlier than Zenji (Activision, 1984), but there probably were others.
15) 2D Fighter
Karate Champ (Data East, 1984) is the type of fighting game most people think of, probably the first to simulate martial arts with multiple moves. Before that, you could look at boxing games like Boxing (Activision, 1980) and the unreleased Atari arcade game that it was derived from.
16) 3D Fighter
4D Boxing (Electronic Arts, 1990).
17) Beat em' Up
Kung-Fu Master (Irem, 1984).
18) Light gun game
One of the games on the Magnavox Odyssey system.
19) Traditional Shooter
Space Invaders (Taito, 1978).
20) Stealth Action
Castle Wolfenstein (Muse Software, 1981)
Plus any other genres that strike you as important. Name as many or few as you feel like. Argue about dates and contributions, or don't. Have fun thinking back on the true pioneers of the gaming industry.[/QUOTE]
Space Panic (Universal, 1980).
2) Role-Playing Game (don't bother with your personal interpretation of what this is, otherwise feel free to group it into JRPG and WRPG, or further into SRPG, turn-based, ARPG, etc.)
No idea.
3) Racing (Any specific kind, simulation, arcade, futuristic, water, air, kart)
Space Race (Atari, 1973).
First 3D racer: Night Driver (Atari, 1976).
4) First-Person Shooter
I'm tempted to say Star Raiders (Atari, 1979) which literally fits the definition of "first-person shooter," though maybe not the way people are thinking (you're flying in a spaceship). There was probably something before this, though.
5) Music/Rhythm Game
No idea.
6) Rail Shooter
I'm not really sure how this is being defined. If you want to count games that have an interactive background, then Xevious (Namco, 1982) would be a good candidate. There were several other shooters before it that had non-interactive scrolling backgrounds.
7) Traditional Adventure (like Grim Fandango)
Colossal Cave (Will Crowther and Don Woods, 1976).
8) Action/Adventure (like Zelda)
Adventure (Atari, 1980).
9) Vehicle Combat (land, sea, and/or air.)
Spacewar (Steve Russell, 1961).
10) Sports (Any individual simulation, "extreme", arcade, etc. title)
Tennis for Two (William Higinbotham, 1958).
11) Real-time Strategy (or turn-based)
No idea.
12) Simulation (like Sim City, Flight Simulator, etc.)
Too broad. Since most video games could be broadly defined as "simulations," I'd go with Tennis for Two (William Higinbotham, 1958).
First flight simulator with some degree of realism: Flight Simulator (SubLOGIC, 1977)
13) MMORPG
No idea.
14) Puzzle/Party
Not sure. Several early Atari 2600 games (Brain Games, Codebreaker, Hunt & Score) could qualify for puzzle games. I think the Fairchild Channel F and Magnavox Odyssey 2 had a few, also.
For fast-action puzzle games, I can't really think of anything earlier than Zenji (Activision, 1984), but there probably were others.
15) 2D Fighter
Karate Champ (Data East, 1984) is the type of fighting game most people think of, probably the first to simulate martial arts with multiple moves. Before that, you could look at boxing games like Boxing (Activision, 1980) and the unreleased Atari arcade game that it was derived from.
16) 3D Fighter
4D Boxing (Electronic Arts, 1990).
17) Beat em' Up
Kung-Fu Master (Irem, 1984).
18) Light gun game
One of the games on the Magnavox Odyssey system.
19) Traditional Shooter
Space Invaders (Taito, 1978).
20) Stealth Action
Castle Wolfenstein (Muse Software, 1981)
Plus any other genres that strike you as important. Name as many or few as you feel like. Argue about dates and contributions, or don't. Have fun thinking back on the true pioneers of the gaming industry.[/QUOTE]
Bullfrog as well