IGN's Top 10 Most Influential Games

[jyoung]

Being the first to do something doesn't mean shit in terms of influence.

Influence is nothing more than getting other people to do what you're doing. Therefore, the most "influential" games are simply the ones whose formula/template has been copied the most.

[Frogacuda]

Yes, it's the question of direct influence vs indirect influence.

Something like MIDI Maze is extremely influential because the games that DID popularize the genre were heavily based on it. If you trace the influence of FPS deathmatching back you can connect the dots directly to MIDI Maze even though a game might be imitating Doom or Quake.

There are firsts that aren't influential, though. I don't think Alpha Waves ever influenced much beyond Geograph Seal and Jumping Flash. Jump Bug was the first scrolling platformer, but no one really copied it in any way that you could say with confidence.

Basically, some firsts are Columbus, and lead the way for an entire population, and some of them are Leif Ericson who discovered America 500 years earlier and just looked around, left and didn't come back.

[Thief Silver]

True enough, but what about the games they copied from? Should their influence be noted or should it just be the ones that got copied from with the most attention.

Outdone by Frog.

[Frogacuda]

I'd also like to point out that this list is somewhat obsessed with games that are influential right this moment. I guaruntee you Colossal Cave Adventure, which served as the foundation for hundreds of games if not more, influenced a lot more games than GTA3. Those games just aren't en vogue at the moment.

I just watched the feature. It was decent, honestly, except it goes back and forth between saying "There were later games that popularized blah blah but this game started it." and then other games it'll say "There were games that started it first but this is the game that popularized it." So which one matters?

Also the case it made for Half Life is really bad. It just doesn't belong within a mile of this list, and I love the game.

[Finch]

The most influential games list is

what yoshi says
what neozeed says
what frogacuda says
what no one should really care about unless it's 4:27am and you're really just passing time because you just woke up in front of the toilet and you don't know how you got there and you really just can't get back to sleep.

[Yoshi]

The most influential games list is

what yoshi says
what neozeed says
what frogacuda says
what no one should really care about unless it's 4:27am and you're really just passing time because you just woke up in front of the toilet and you don't know how you got there and you really just can't get back to sleep.

IBTN

[Anthony]

I think Dune II was a good choice.

[Drewbacca]

Even if the list was 100% accurate and everyone agreed with it I still couldn't be bothered to care.

[Cheebs]

Karate Champ? Influential? Has there ever even been another game where movement and attacks were controlled by the combination of two joysticks and no buttons?

OK, I'll give Smash TV and Total Carnage, but they don't seem influenced by Karate Champ anyway.

I mean, I like Karate Champ and all but the concept was dropped like a sack of injured skunks. I don't see the influence.

[Frogacuda]

Karate Champ? Influential? Has there ever even been another game where movement and attacks were controlled by the combination of two joysticks and no buttons?

OK, I'll give Smash TV and Total Carnage, but they don't seem influenced by Karate Champ anyway.

I mean, I like Karate Champ and all but the concept was dropped like a sack of injured skunks. I don't see the influence.

Right, because there was nothing else in the game. It was just a black screen with one guy on it and two joysticks, right?

In fact, Street Fighter wasn't influential either, because no other game has Dhalsim in it.