[Closed] seminal computer games

For me it was super mario 64. I did not believe 3d would actually work or look as real but i was stunned throughout the whole fantastic game.

if someone was slating computer games (saying they weren't a viable form of art/for kids e.t.c) i would show them these games to prove them wrong

Good shout on KnightLore - I was going to go for Sabre Wulf. If we're on Speccy games then Hungry Horrace has to be in there and Jetpac.

Later 8 bit? Operation Wolf:

and The Last Ninja

Zelda, Ocarina of Time

Super Mario N64

Manic Miner

Doom

Half Life 2

Tomb raider

Goldeneye

Half life 2

I suspect age may skew people's opinions here...

Galaxian..... Fantastic

Love these threads as they remind me of so many great games I'd forgotten about.

In the arcade:

Asteroids,Defender,Star Wars,Road Blasters

At home:

Elite

Lords of Midnight on the speccy.

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Original GTA

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Original Halo

Hmm.

Pong
Elite, clearly
I'd say GTA III but if we're talking seminal it might have to be Driver
Maybe Populous
Sim City
Not HL2 - HL1 more seminal but I'd nominate Counterstrike

And.. not a game as such, but the original Playstation.

Hmmm,

From my perspective it's got to be;

FF7
Metal Gear Solid on the original PlayStation
Halo (the first one)
Quake
C&C Red Alert
Goldeneye
HL1 and 2
Doom
Zelda, Ocarina of time
Mortal Kombat on the Mega Drive
Pro Evo on the original PlayStation (IMO the best football game ever, all others after were total pish and FIFA gets worse every year)
Call Of Duty - Modern Warfare

EDIT: Totally agree, games now are pretty poor in compared to old school games. Yes they look gorgeous now but they're too easy, too short and aimed at 10 year old screaming kids playing online.

Lords of Midnight +1200 warriors and 1200 riders. Incredible game, got it on my phone now. I can't remember where my car keys are but I do remember all the keyboard shortcuts and where to find the Utarg of Utarg...

I don't know just how influential Final Fantasy 7 was? Amazing, sure, but the series was already pretty well set on its course.

Herzog Zwei and Dune 2...

The Mass Effect series.

Populous
Civilization
Galaxian
Defender/Orbiter
BattleZone
Pole Position
Road Rage
Half Life
Elite
Halo
Asteroids

It wasn't so much that FF7 was influential, it certainly defined the JRPG genre and so many games since then are compared to it and take influences from it. It was almost certainly the FF game that put the series on the map for so many gamers. Plus many of the new FF games have been very poor since FF7, 8 and probably 9 but 7 is still the best out of the series.

Edit: If we want to get in to influential games then IMO I'd say Halo and to a lesser extent COD have defined what FPS games are for so many players in comparison to the likes of Doom, Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem or Quake ever have. Just look at the sequels, merchandising, TV series, books etc. they've spawned.

If it's cultural phenomenon's then surely World of Warcraft tops the bill there as I think at one point they had over 10m active subscribers and more recently League of Legends.

HL1 and 2

Wait. How can HL2 be seminal if HL1 is also seminal? It's logically impossible. Are we all clear what seminal means?

Fallout 3
Fallout: New Vegas
Gran Tourismo

Are we all clear what seminal means?

I was going with 'related to semen'.

If you use the alternative 'highly original and influential', then HL1 and 2 were both this, given that HL2 was a major advance on the first one.

Carmageddon

seminal
?s?m?n(?)l/
adjective
adjective: seminal

1.
strongly influencing later developments.
"his seminal work on chaos theory"
synonyms: influential, formative, groundbreaking, pioneering, original, creative, innovative; More
imaginative, productive, major, important
"her paper is still considered a seminal work on the subject"
antonyms: irrelevant, unimportant

I only have it on screen because I googled it first before posting 😳 under normal circumstances posting definitions makes you a **** but I think it's OK when you didn't know either.

Also

2.
relating to or denoting semen.

So Tomb Raider

If we are going with definition 2 then I think the thread is probably closed with Tomb Raider for most guys on here of a certain age 😆

Doom, couldn't stop playing it even though it scared me witless.

Seminal (to me) means starting something new - a new idea or concept. HL2 is the same concept as HL1 by definition.

Well then really every single game made since the first ever computer game can't be classed as seminal as all others that followed are basically following the same format of providing entertainment/enjoyment via a computer if you apply that logic molgrips as every game since then has improved on the original concept of a computer based game.

Well then really every single game made since the first ever computer game can't be classed as seminal as all others that followed are basically following the same format

I disagree. The first text adventure, that was seminal. Nothing had been done before. There are different genres of game, and there has to be a first one in each genre.

Wolfenstein 3D for example. Not technically the first FPS but it started the genre proper. Or Doom, because it had multiplayer deathmatch.

For me it was Doom, I even upgraded the ram thing in my 386/486 computer thing to play this free game.

Everything about it at the time was so addictive, I still enjoy playing it on my phone now!!

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Bones that's a great selection.

Seminal also means it has great influence so yes both HL games could be classed a seminal as they both had a massive influence on the FPS genre IMO

Edit: Is that third pic desert strike? I loved that on the mega drive 🙂

Wolfenstein 3d = the path to Doom...
Jet Set Willy, platform genius...and childhood giggling at the name!

explore here for classic games, as well as modern, all run from inside your browser 🙂

[url= https://archive.org/details/internetarcade ]Arcade games in your browser[/url]
[url= https://archive.org/details/tosec ] old machines emulation[/url]
[url= https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games ]DOS games and software emulation[/url]
[url=classicpcgames]PC games in brwoser[/url]

edit: zaxxon sucked all my 10p's when i was young

Roughly in order of my playing them, and since realise how game-changing (ha!) /seminal they were:

Star Raiders (Atari 400/800 etc)

Star Wars arcade game. (Cockpit design, seated, stereo speakers behind, flight yoke, gorgeous vector 3d graphics) - you still get attacked by nothing more than what look like animated asterisks, but the flying and blasting) experience was sublime - I swear I felt every judder dodging walls on the Star Star)

Tomb Raider. Nuff said.

Shadow Of The Colossus

For tablet/touch games I have only ever been struck with one that I keep going back to for its elegant seemingly impossible pairing of zen-like calm and sometimes intensely perplexing puzzles. A go-to game with astonishing replay value that yrs of my playing, forgetting, returning, and playing again with just as much gusto bears out.

of a slightly more modern era
Doom
Goldeneye
Half Life 2

Desert Strike! I'd forgotten about that, thanks Bones. Brilliant game.

Bones is on the money. I'd like to add

Donkey Kong
Doom
Streetfighter 2
Virtua Racing
Gauntlet

so many more...

which reminds me, Gunship 2000!!! Properly seminal. The first (and arguably the only), really playable helicopter combat and strategy game.

Yeah baby!

hungry horace

[I]explore here for classic games, as well as modern, all run from inside your browser

Arcade games in your browser
old machines emulation
DOS games and software emulation
PC games in brwoser

edit: zaxxon sucked all my 10p's when i was young
[/I]

/calls in sick tomorrow and Friday.

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These are the ones that immediately come to mind.....

Game Boy;
Tetris
Super Mario Land 2

Playstation;
Final Fantasy 7
Xenogears
Wipeout 1-3 (PSX)
Ridge Racer

Mega Drive;
Sonic 2 and 3 (Mega Drive)
Streets of Rage 2

Dreamcast;
Crazy Taxi
Shenmue 1 + 2

PC Games;
Deus Ex
Half Life 1 + 2
Doom

Gamecube;
Metroid Prime series
Resident Evil 4
Timesplitters 2

No time for games nowadays. I did have an Xbox 360 for a bit just to play Bioshock but I found that, apart from the awesome graphics, modern games aren't as fun. Might be a nostalgia thing though.

I'm not picking on you, but just for example

Mega Drive;
Sonic 2 and 3 (Mega Drive)
Streets of Rage 2

Not only was Sonic 2 a sequel, Sonic was Sega's direct and blatant attempt to create a Mario-esque franchise. And Streets of Rage, was Sega's fairly blatant rip off of Final Fight which was a Snes marquee title and was just too complex to port to the megadrive at the time.

So seminal is a contentious term isn't it 🙂

Descent. Any of them.
Total Annihilation.

Seminal also depends upon how old you are and what genre of game you like... mine is FPS.

Scramble and Defender were my arcade games of choice.

Doom and wolfenstien 3d... rewrote the rule book.

HL1 was the first totally immersive game for me... the sound was like nothing before. CS introduced online play.

HL2 in 2004 was the worst thing that happened to me. I clocked up some ridiculous hours on HL2 Death Match. Utterly addictive.

After that, Far Cry 1.

All these raised the FPS bar with each release. Whih makes them seminal to me.

Currently wasting my life away with TF2 MVM.

Yie Ar Kung-Fu

Every fighting game after this is a direct descendant.

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End of thread 🙂

fasternotfatter
Yie Ar Kung-Fu

Every fighting game after this is a direct descendant.

It's not a question of what came first though (and Yie Ar Kung-Fu wasn't even first, Karate Champ probably was) it's perhaps more a question of what's been influential. In terms of one v one fighting games the only question worth asking is Streetfighter or Streetfighter 2.

Streetfighter wasn't a huge hit, but established a lot of the special moves and fight dynamics which were refined and improved in SF2. Streetfighter 2 was such a gigantic hit that every fighting game since owes it a huge debt (or does it owe Streetfighter?). It was a gigantic worldwide smash hit and spawned a ton of blatant imitators.

Even when we got into 3d fighters with Virtua Fighter and Tekken the combat was still owes a lot to SF2.

Nick is that from a binatone?

*Erratum - neglected to mention title of the zen puzzle I was wittering on about: Quell.

PS How could I forget GTA San Andreas

Nick is that from a binatone?

I'm not into games these days but the one that I used to play the most as a 'youth' was outrun. Absolutely classic driving game 🙂

I saw an arcade version at a lazier quest type place i took my sin to for a birthday party recently. It looked just as blocky as ever

It's an Atari 2600. I had one too.

I can't believe no-ones mentioned Lotus Esprit on the Spectrum which was essentially GTA (the billion dollar franchise) in a previous form...

Lost a vast number of days to Desert Strike and Operation Wolf.

Can still hear the noise of the SAMs in Desert Strike and it's still horrible.

N64
Zelda Ocarina of Time
Perfect Dark

PC

COD 2
GW
EVE Online (Best ever if you want it to replace RL)
BF3

what was the arcade one where you had 1 ship and invaders came down in waves and curls and if you got through you had could then dock with another of your ships and end up with 2 ships for the next level and i think i remember you could have like 3 or 4 docked ships fighting the invaders

was it something like galaga or galaxians?

Football Manager
Elite
pac man
Tank - atari 2600

I think my biggest wow moment from any game, was the sheer scope of star wars galaxies when I first logged on. I'm a big SW fan anyway, and suddenly there was this living, breathing galaxy in front of me. Amazing game, never had anything like it since.

Started off on Corellia and ran the entire length of the map to Coronet. Randomly getting stopped and searched by Storm Troopers on the way down.

I haven't seen a mention yet for Ultima Underworld, upgraded my PC froma 286 to a 386 just to be able to play it. A great many all night sessions were spent on this.

X-Wing.
Destroyer of joysticks the world over.
Nothing beat actually being able to switch S-foils to attack position, then switching shields to double front.
I'm tempted to dig out the 486 just to give it a blast.

I'm tempted to dig out the 486 just to give it a blast.

You don't need to, you can just buy it again;

[url= http://www.gog.com/game/star_wars_xwing_special_edition ]GoG[/url]

It used to be freely downloadable like a lot of old games and then someone realised there was a market in selling them and bought up the rights!

If we're talking seminal then Xenon 2 earns a place based on music Bomb the Bass's track certainly raised the bar.

Bomb the Bass's track certainly raised the bar.

Ever notice the similarity between Megablast and the Assault From Precinct 13 theme, incidentally?

Ah so that's where the sample came from, not watched Assault on Precinct 13.

May not be seminal but I loved this game (is there a modern equivalent?)...

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Don't know gameplay wise but if you're after Robotech inspired planes that transform in to robots then Strike Suit Zero looks good.

Atari's Transformers for PS2 was freeeeking sweeeeet and just super-playable. maybe not quite seminal, but definite greatness achieved here.

Looking Glass Studios 'Flight Unlimited II'. Incredible for its time, and still the most immersive straight flight sim IMO.

Mario Kart (any generation of it)
Speedball 2

While GTA3 was a jaw dropping experience compared with anything before it, I think Vice City nailed it with the atmosphere/story behind it.

Bones wins for putting moonstone in. I'd also add the secret of monkey island

Tekken? Lost a vast amount of time to this with my old flatmate and some herbal remedy*.

Bit annoying the syndicate image stopped working and I can't edit my post, so:
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Also tempted to add Revenge Of Shinobi and a Battlefield game 😕

Just thought of one that I reckon definitely influenced other games in terms of its scope and gameplay - Castle Quest

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Quest_%281985_video_game%29
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Has to be

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And this one...can still remember the music to this day:

Spent about 10 years waiting for this to be made.

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