Guinness World Records names its 50 most influential games of all time |
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Guinness World Records EIC Craig Glenday put together an unspecified group of industry experts to form a judging panel and rated the most influential games of all time. So who makes it to the top of their list? Keep your favorites in mind, then find out on the list below.
| 1. Super Mario Kart | 26. Pokemon Red / Blue |
| 2. Tetris | 27. Guitar Hero |
| 3. Grand Theft Auto | 28. Project Gotham Racing 4 |
| 4. Super Mario World | 29. Super Mario Galaxy |
| 5. Zelda Ocarina of Time | 30. Resident Evil |
| 6. Halo | 31. Ico |
| 7. Resident Evil IV | 32. Chrono Trigger |
| 8. Final Fantasy XII | 33. Gunstar Heroes |
| 9. Street Fighter II | 34. Soul Calibur |
| 10. GoldenEye | 35. Advance Wars |
| 11. Super Mario 64 | 36. Ridge Racer |
| 12. Tomb Raider | 37. Super Metroid |
| 13. Metal Gear Solid | 38. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night |
| 14. Call of Duty 4 | 39. GTA Vice City |
| 15. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 | 40. BioShock |
| 16. GTA San Andreas | 41. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic |
| 17. Super Mario Bros. | 42. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening |
| 18. Zelda: A Link to the Past | 43. God of War |
| 19. Gran Turismo | 44. Sega Rally Championship |
| 20. Final Fantasy VII | 45. Starfox 64 |
| 21. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 | 46. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion |
| 22. The Orange Box | 47. WarioWare Inc. |
| 23. Lego Star Wars Complete Saga | 48. Saturn Bomberman |
| 24. Tekken 2 | 49. Crash Bandicoot |
| 25. Wii Sports | 50. Outrun 2 |
My first reaction was, "WTF?!" While I really enjoyed Super Mario Kart in the SNES days and spent countless hours playing and mastering it, I don't believe it should even be in the Top 10, much less #1. What's Street Fighter II doing all the way down at #9? I firmly believe it made a hell lot more influence than that, it was the springboard for modern fighting games! Then again, that's just me.
There are a lot more titles and ranks up there that I couldn't believe my eyes seeing, but I'm sure you guys have a lot to say about that list. There wasn't any info given on the criteria on which the judging was made. One thing's for sure, I'd like to know more about this group of "industry experts."
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Comments [refresh]
COD4 It isn't that influential. It's the one that is influenced by multiple games. It IS perfect though!
ummm i dont thinks so.... list isnt well made.... alot of good games there.... but how is wii sports ahead of so many games.... i mean come on... and gaylo ahead of goldeneye? i mean seriously... and there was no need for more then one gta listed in there.... but on the bright side.... love seeing gunstar heroes in there... one of the most underated games ever and glad to see it made the list... if you havent played it, buy it on the vc.... money well spent... i would of had it in the top 15
was the first modern racing game thats why
I see a couple of FPSs on the list, but where the heck is Doom? It's the granddaddy of ALL FPSs. It's the game that originally defined the genre.
Sure, I know some of you will say Wolfenstein3D came first, but nobody even knew about it until Doom came along with all of its awesomeness. People wanted more and "discovered" Wolf3D. Unfortunately, it just wasn't as fun after playing Doom.
Anyway, Doom belongs on the list because it influenced every FPS that exists today.
Modern in what way? If anything, Mario Kart proved that racing games didn't have to be 'race from point A to point B'. You could have fun in between by pummeling your opponents.
Then again, Road Rash has this concept too, so Mario Kart isn't even original. It's just a "G" rated Road Rash. :/
I agree that this is not the best list at all...
It seems like it is just a list of the favourite games of whatever "industry experts" that they chose...
Influential by definition means that the games would have had to inspire future generations of games...
In that regard, I don't think they should have chosen ANY games from the current generation of systems...
I really don't see how Wii sports has influenced any other games....it was new and maybe revolutionary, but so far hasn't been very influential.
Also, yes DOOM should be in the top 5, as it has influenced a decade of first person shooters....
Where is Counterstrike, it is why games like COD4 exist...
Resident Evil 4 was more influential than the original ? Really ? Without the original #4 wouldn't exist....
Same with super mario world, without the original, it would not exist....and seriously, mario 1 should be #1 just because of how it influenced the entire video game market...
gahh, I could go on like this for awhile, but you guys get my point...
what about Burnout, Crysis, Duck Hunt, Doom, World Class Track Meet, and Turok?
or powerstone would have been up there, also.
WTF!!!!! That is just Effen discusting!
None of them, Maze War was the influence for every FPS, even for Wolf3d and Doom..
Good old times.. anyway..
btw.. Influential in which way?, video games evolution or most remembered ?
also.. wtf?? 3 gta's ?? Where is Contra, Puzzle bubble, Ultima, Pitfall, Starcraft, SimCity.......etc
Seriously WTF?!?!
There is no way FF12 should even be on this list FF7 yes hell before i would have put FF12 i would have put the original FF... What a bogus list someone really doesn't know video games at all or even anything about influential. But whatever we all know which games should be on here and what shouldn't
"Industry experts" are'nt experts.
Super Mario has to be at the top. But if we are truly talking influential... where is Pacman? You have to include the games that drew people into the arcades in the 80's (which really started it all). How about Asteroids? Space Invaders? Finally, the Orange Box is not a game...it's a collection that we all appreciate but it's not a game. There's nothing influential about a good deal.
Halo needs to be bumped down quite a few spaces...taking what shooters had been doing for ages and carrying that experience over to a console isn't that huge of a feat...
FF7 is still one of the most played re played and still bought games...ever!
COD4 is still considered to be top dog shooter
Mario is old skewl but still not as good as sonic
but where is like other people say HALO or Mortal Kombat?
And just to piss people off mario is a *****git XD
SONIC PWNS!
ok. no Shadow of the Colossus. xD
I think we should put together our own list and combine with other large reputable gaming sites like gamefaqs, to put down the actual truth.
Eg. why is tekken 2 on there and not virtua fighter? I prefer tekken, but it was inspired by virtua.
And where is space invaders? frogger? pong? Captian Commando? after burner.. etc etc..
I don't think it's fair to put in anything new in this list, unless it truly was influential (eg wii sports, wii fit, LBP)
either way, some of the new stuff is so new that it has yet to influence a new gen or games.. so it can't count.. yet.
and when making this list, if your 14 now, you need to get on the wikipedia and do some research! Us oldies know what really influenced what.
this list made me lawl.
Was that list made by a 4 year old who thinks he's cool or something. OK, 6 games which influenced todays games and their genre's.
1. Alone in the Dark (Survial Horror Starter)
Without this no Resident Evil
2. Wolf3D/Doom (FPS Starter)
Cmon thats all I have to say.
3. Command and Conquer (RTS Starter)
Made RTS games what they are today.
4. Super Hang On/Road Rash 1/2/3 (These were the biz before granturismo existed)
5. Sonic 2 WTF. Sonic 3+Knuckles (that truley made platform games into adventures)
6. Metal Gear (1988)
Without this I doubt anyone would have thought of this idea because most game developers are full of themselves and up theyre own a' holes
None of the games in this list are influential. None of them. These are just the "experts" favourite games. Yeah the have the write to call themselves experts the stupid f'ng dumb arses.
Actually Resident Evil 4 destroyed a genre so that shouldnt even be in the list.
WTF The Orange Box, I didnt even see that. FFS if compilations counting they may have well said "sega collection" (megacd/segacd).
pokemon1?!? wtf did that influence? more pokemon games?
This list was definitely made by morons, but who says it's in order.
nowhere that I could see stated that this was even 1-100; one being the most influential.
This could just be a (really bad) list of 50 influential games in no particular order. Or, I'm just an idiot....
O well... I really don't care anyway.
What about Space Invaders and Pac Man?
All FPS are basically the same game really. just different weapons and scenery.
How could they have left out C+C?
I'm a little surprised that there was not mention of Duke Nukem or Ace Combat.
No Ace Combat + No HAWX.
Where do Solitaire and Minesweeper come in?
Yup....this list is *****ing stupid is all I can say....
It seems like they didn't even pay attention to arcade games or PC games.....yet failed to specify that it was maybe "console" games, but even then they left out coleco, atari and amiga....which really influenced the idea of getting video games into the home and out of the arcade....than it was Mario bros that cemented it....
Guiness book should still to factual records, that can be measure in distance or with a stopwatch.....stay away from video games....you know ***** all....as do your "experts"
You are right....this list sucks major dank on so many different levels....
ff12 was rubbish, dis list is bs jsut cus of that -.-!, ff10 shuda been there lol
The list is made up of only console games....so that's why no doom or CS or tiefighter or what have you....still doesn't explain lack of atari or coleco....
Also the quote below kind of explains their reasoning....although they should rename it from "most influential" to "whatever sells most or gets most recognition by the mediocre public"
"The team said they picked Super Mario Kart for the top spot because it is the best-selling racer on the SNES, the GameCube and the DS. Tetris, a good choice for number two, was selected because it is available on at least 50 different gaming platforms. And Grand Theft Auto holds the record for the most controversial series of games."
Most stupidest logic ever.....mariokart was a different game on each of those platforms......ugh, f&cking idiots....Tetris...although amazing and warranted a spot in the top 5....should not get that spot bases purely on the fact that it's made it onto 50 diff platforms....
By these "Experts" fuxing stupid ass logic....Mcdonalds should be seen as the most influential cuisine in all of world history.....because lot's of people eat it everyday and it's sold in every country. Sorry....I never hear anyone asking for some home cooked Mcdonalds.....
Final Fantasy XII before VII. Thats just an insult.
Halo in front of Street Fighter 2. lol
who-ever works at guinness doesn't play video games.
Although some of the choices make perfect sense, others make the list a joke
Crysis? turok? world class track meet? why??
this list is so wank.
i fail to understand what influence did god of war and ff12 have. they are great games, but by no means influential. i don't see anything that both of them added to the genre that would appear in many other games.
god of war was an excellent game, but it did not invent anything new. it was just very well done, with decent story backing it.
maybe if ffxii had a bit more polish, it would be influential. the game had a great potential be an rpg with a really deep and elaborate story. but somewhere in the half of the game, i started feeling that something was going wrong. the plot pretty much fell apart, many things were left undeveloped - especially the background of each character.
ffxii started off in such a great way. also the entire playthrough (just the main story, not including optional sidequests) was way too short to be enjoyable.
ico - an original creation indeed. but what influence did it make? maybe it inspired okami, graphically?
also tetris - a legendary game, but i don't know what it was that influences other games? maybe if it was considered a "mother of logical games" - then i'll agree.
i have no idea what key was followed to make that list, but it just doesn't make any sense. few games are worth being there, though. but not all of them.
FFVII(FF7) Was THE greatest game and i am still starting over from disk one to replay through it. i have beaten this game many times and still love it. it should be at least #2.
lolz pokemon isnt even that good...
How could they forget Postal 2?!
why is ffXII even on this list...and before ffVII!! they need to switch these 2, and remove the "II" from XII....and like others have said, where is pac man?? another classic that needs to be up there is mortal kombat...Others may think differently, but these are my thoughts...
The list is right. Especially the top 10. Personally I enjoy F-Zero more than Mario Kart, or more than any other racer tbh, but I agree that it started something big with racers. Previously they had much straighter tracks and were all built using a ray-casting like engine. Mario Kart completely bucked that trend.
Though I also think Goldeneye should be above Halo. Even though the singleplayer of Halo 1 was much better than Goldeneyes, and the multiplayer better on Goldeneye.
Many good games on that list. Probably many here won't like it because it's not PSP centric, or even Sony centric.
it looks more like a list of copied games. i supose anyone will argue that pac-man and space invaders just had to be in any list of influent games... though, they werent necessarily widely transformed in random games like tetris was, for example.
i know it's beside the point, but i would give up any other game over god of war
Donkey Kong
Pac-Man
Doom
LoZ
FFVII
LoZ OoT
Super Mario Bros.
Original Sonic
Final Fantasy 1
Grand Theft Auto
Ok, this list IS NOT made by an expert, but a GAMER!!!
I tink this list best refects what games have influenced their future offspring the most. Games like DOOM set up the FPS stage, GTA opened the idea of games beyond obvious fiction. Games like LoZ and FF opened in depth stories their first time around, and opened true 3D for consoles when the time came.
So there's my list, one which the experts will never understand.
No one is saying these games were'nt great games, but people are puzzled over the one word: influential.
Was Final Fantasy XII or Halo THAT influential over games afterwards. Well, Halo I give credit. It spawned several retarded offspring which the younger gen seem eager to soak up into their brains, with results.
Pokemon is AMAZING!! And that isn't sarcasm.. I spent more time playing Pokemon Red than I spent on any two video games combined. Man.. I had Pokemon Red for my Gameboy Pocket.. then I started playing it on my Color when it came out, and by the time Advance rolled around I was using GameShark and exploits to see what I could do!
cod4 made a kid run away and die i think it is pretty influencial
This list is fu**ed!
Honestly:
Super Mario Galaxy
The Orange Box
LoZ Links Awakening
StarFox 64
PES4
PGR4
Don't deserve to be on the list at all!
and Tetris would beat mario kart all over the place.
dah da da da da dah nah lol genesis
great list, but i agree that it seems to be a little out of order. for me, castlevania would be like #3
So, where's Dragon Quest?
It's like they let a drunken monkey decide.
Here's my take on 20.
1. Gameboy Gallery 5 Games in 1
2. Animal Crossing
3. Super Smash Bros. Melee
4. Super Gameboy
5. Goldeneye
6. Super Mario Bros. 3
7. Sim City
8. The Pagemaster
9. Star Fox
10. Super Mario RPG
11. Wario Ware Twisted
12. Donkey Kong
13. The Orange Box
14. Spectre
15. Sim City
16. Wario's Woods (SNES)
17. Doom
18. Castelvania 3
19. Earthbound
20. Harley's Humongous Adventure
Because Crysis is super bad @$$
Turok had awesome weapons
World class track meet can help you lose weight (better than a Wii)
what happened to all of the capcom fighting games? remember marvel vs capcom 1 and 2?
Some people disagree with a company's list of top games.
no one mentions mortal kombat?
probably the biggest reason we have game ratings now and no one not even QJ users bothers to mention it?
bah...
ahahah FFXII ahead of street fighter II. They should rename this list "Games that are pretty good in no particular order"
Good games, but they're mostly just Nintendo which isn't fair. Though I will say that Harley's Humongous Adventure is *****ing fantastic.
full of fail.
Completely out of order, and some of these don't even belong here.
CoD 4? Who could this possibly be influential to? 9 year olds that played while they're siblings/parents weren't home?
Warcraft, Chrono Trigger, POKEMON, Zelda, Command and Conquer, Starcraft, Crash Bandicoot, Bomberman (Snes and N64), Ridge Racer? Some of these are in here, but they should definitely be considered for the top 10 (or 20). These either started new game genres or set a higher bar.
Only 2 positions I can somewhat agree with are 1. Super Mario Kart and 2. Tetris
Duck Hunt was the first Fps.
I see they wrote Starfox... I'm quite sure they should replace that -fox with "-craft"; as well as move the listing to the the top 3.
I mean... Starcraft ONLY influenced a whole *****ING COUNTRY!!!! (South Korea, I'm look at you).
Well Doom roots is the PC and as you can see this list is for console. Not perfect, but a list.
uhuh sure. more like, "the top 50 games that guiness record writers are still playing"
Pokemon IS huge. It started millions of kids into RPG gaming, and gaming in general.
So many of my friends who weren't gamers bought a gameboy and only ever owned Pokemon red or blue. At least half of those kids still play the series today.
While I agree that FFXII probably shouldn't even be on this list, I find FFVII isn't really that "influential" more than FF1 through 6 which each added it's own to the concept of what FFVII turned out to be. All VII really added was 3D and for most people it was the first FF they ever played.
Actually, most of the titles on this list are bogus. Super Mario Kart was influential, but nowhere near #1. Doom or Wolf3D should've been on the list and higher than Goldeneye(but it still on the list).
Super Mario Bros. should've been higher than World. Possibly in the top 3.
I almost think that they just got a bunch of game devs or game reviewers to say what their favorite games were...
Games that are copies of games should not be chosen for the fact that those copies are implemented from original games. And where the F*** is Super Mario Brothers and Pacman? Those are original games that influenced future generations. That list is crapped out.
comments made in this thread show the lack of gaming knowledge of many QJ viewers. This list is pretty good, and if you've played many games and set fanboyism aside you would know.
Yes, Mario Kart can be considered the most influential game of all time, from influencing the porting many series (some unimaginable) to the racing genre, examples such as Sonic R, Disney racing games, the FF chocpbo racing game, and many others. From giving popularity to the racing genre which wasn't so popular. From popularizing the item/powerup system which is now available in many games. Pioneer in 3d-like racing game. Influencing Nintendo in showing them that they could take their game characters and port them to different game style/genres different from their roots. And really I could name many more reasons why Mario Kart is the most influential game in gaming history.
Many of you criticize Halo but it was indeed very infleuntial. You should all remember that Halo popularized the self-regenerating health bar. It saved a console from complete failure, and because of it the 360 became a market possibility. It redefined online multiplayer experience and has became the most popular online multiplayer game on gamig consoles. It paved the way to giving life to xbox live which influenced sony's PSN (fanboys here forget that).
Also, someone posted that pokemon red/blue shouldnt be on that list. I would have give it a higher spot. It influeced the RPG genre a lot and challenged the linearty of many RPGs of the time. It stole the hearts of many gamers and paved the way to the gaming series that has sold more games throughout history (yeah, over 200 million pokemon games have been sold) and has sported the most games (theres like 30 different pokemon games). It gave the Pokemon series an even bigger popularity than it had befor and helped it turn to a phenomena (even now pokemon is still selling lots of merchandise). It gave the Gameboy Color a big boost in popularity, enough to make it immune to competition in the handheld gaming market (and easily fending off the neo geo color, ect.). It also popularized handheld multiplayer competition and interaction (remember playing aainst your friends and trading pokemons?). Lets not forget it brought the biggest amount of of people into gaming and if it wasn't for that game there wouldn't be so many gamers at all.
Yet, the list is not perfect... I fail to see Ultima, which was the greatest pioneer of MMORPG. Starcraft 64 also deserves a spot, becuz of the way it has influenced the RTS genre. Also, FF12 though influential shouldn't be on that list as I can think of over 100 more influential games. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 shouldn't be on the list either. Doom is missing, and is probably one of the 20 most influential games on all time. I fail to see Metal Gear for the PS1... And Chrono Trigger should be up in the 10 most influential games, not 32...
is number 13...and i dont think they'd put the PC version as influential
I stopped reading when you listed GameFAQs as a reputable site.
i didn't even take the order of the games into any consideration.
i mean, you cannot toss a platformer and rpg into the same box, can you? the best way would be to order them in alphabetical order.
seriously The Legend of Zelda (1986) should be number one for reviving the videogame market from the crash of 83'.
How can you say that Halo influenced goldeneye?
this list does it many times.
IMO it is too broad of a catagory and your reteric for assigning numbers isn't provided.
Are we suppost to buy the book?
Oh well...I guess we will just have to talk about it.
Who cares though?
I might if I agreed that the list wasn't crap.
Whose with me?
Doom really set the theme and gameplay style for all FPS's coming after it. Not to mention the content of the game REALLY shook the entire industry. That should really be on the list..
The only thing Mario Cart influence was how Nintendo does business, namely put Mario in front of various sports titles. Seriously, the only game I can think of that Mario Cart influence was Burnout.
They really should define what these games are influencing, business models, other games, peoples lives, etc.
Lol Halo
First off, joemantana03: if you don't think that Pacman and Space Invaders were "transformed in random games", you either have a very bad memory, or are too young to know. Back in the 80's, those 2 games were copied EVEN MORE than Tetris. Just look at the ROM's available in MAME, to get an idea. There were so many unofficial rip-offs, official rip-off variations, extensions, sequels, etc. etc. ....that it makes all the Tetris knock-offs look like there's room to embellish some more. :-O ...BUT, you make an EXCELLENT POINT: how in the world can the list of "50 Most Influential Games of All Time" not include PacMan or Space Invaders .... or Doom or Quake, for that matter? ....And (really), "The Orange Box" is in the top 50, but not Half Life, itself? ---That's like saying, "Half Life and Half Life 2 sucked balls. But, .... when they wrapped-'em up together in one package with Portal ....now you're talkin' influential!" :-( ...One more thing: how is any serious Gamer supposed to take a list seriously that has "Lego Star Wars Complete Saga" listed at number 23 (*before* Tekken, God of War, Outrun, Starfox, and Guitar Hero --to name just a few) ????
I never heard of someone killing his parents to play Goldeneye.............
I say if anything PONG! To be completely neutral! WTF........I call Bull$hit!
This list is totally screwed up. It should be called 50 Most influential console games of all time.
This comes to show that industry experts don't know what their talking about. In fact, they left out the arcades and computers.
What about these games which were very influential on games:
Pong (jump started the video game industry)
Space Invaders
Pac-Man
Ultima
Wizardry (one of the first 3D games)
Mystery House (first graphic adventure game)
Maniac Mansion (first point and click game)
Super Mario Bros
Wolf3D/DOOM (pioneered the FPS genre)
Alone In the Dark (grandfather of survival horror. Without this game, there wouldn't be Resident Evil)
Bard's Tale (one of the first 3D games to use bitmapped graphics)
Impossible Mission (Commodore 64. One of the first computer games to have voices)
Seriously,
This list is way to screwed up. They only listed newer games and forgot about the older games that changed the game market. One of the only older game listed is Tetris.
I bet you that the industry experts based their list on the sales of the games in the list and not on their influence.
where the hell is doom
oh and xophaser
even though it was on PC first
it was ported to almost system at the time
they should take tekken 2 and all the other games that come out on arcade first then later ported to console
they cant omit doom it was on ps1 as well as a host of other consoles
i think before we all go, this list is this and that.... i dont even see in what way the influence is based on...
i mean i can see games like Conker, being HUGE on that list... but clearly its based off something very stupid
No love for the Freeman? Where is Half-Life 2 (Set standard for next-gen shooters) and Half-Life (Set standard for games that don't suck.