10 Video Games That REVOLUTIONIZED Genres 

Gameranx revolutionised my RU-vid experience

SimCity almost singlehandedly created the city building genre and it also gave rise to The Sims series, which is also its own genre. I legitimately don't know if there are any other gaming series that on its own created two game genres

People don't remember this as much, but the genre wasn't originally called 'first-person shooter' originally the genre was called 'Doom Clone'

Re4 is the reason over the shoulder third person shooters exist. It influenced so many things from game mechanics like inventory, quick time events, shooting. It’s a shame that it is not on this list.

The original Gran Turismo was a revolution in racing games. It was realistic, there were so many cars, and it inspired realistic racing sims ever since. Great list!

Portal revolutionized the 3D puzzle genre, and there are tons of well-regarded puzzle games that are clearly heavily inspired by it. The Talos Principle, Antichamber, The Turing Test, Q.U.B.E., The Entropy Center, Desordre to name a few.

Half-Life 1 was the game that made people realize that FPS games can be cinematic and have a compelling story. And Half-Life 2 had ridiculously good graphics for the time that the graphics still held up after a whole decade and a half.

I can't believe Goldeneye for the N64 wasn't on this list. It was a revolutionary FPS.

Max Payne with Bullet Time, I had never seen it done before that, and they did it very well.

I don’t think I’ve ever been as wowed by a game as I was by GTA3 back in 2002. It was a game changer in so many ways. It changed everything. It’ll always have a place in my heart.

The original Legend of Zelda. I remember it the first open world game I played, where you could explore the whole world immediately. The inventory screen, to assign an item to the not-sword button, seemed very novel at the time too.

It was not the ARMA, it was “Operation Flashpoint” who revolutionized the army simulation. But perfected in ARMA. For the second list; Alone in the Dark, Zack McKraken, Test Drive, Another World, Privateer, Command and Conquer, Fallout, UFO Enemy Unknown and Pirates could be on the list.

Super thumbs up for not forgetting about Thief. It and Looking Glass Studios often go unrecognized or forgotten as revolutionizing stealth games. No it was not the first game that had stealth. But it was the first game built explicitly for stealth and introduced mechanics that stealth games still use today. I am talking about the use of shadows and sound as stealth elements. The sound propagation still to this day was the best a game has ever had.

I remember when Doom came out it was the greatest thing I had ever seen. The only games I had seen up to that point were maybe a few NES games like the original Mario Bros. My friend had Doom on his parent's computer when we were kids but he never wanted to play it while I was visiting him at his house so I only got to see it in short bursts which was frustrating. 😂

Batman: Arkham Asylum is on my list because it really made "superhero" games a lot of fun!! The combination of an incredible story and animations, this gem gave us a great combat, puzzle, and stealth systems. Also, this was the very first game that I had played that caught me off guard with the epically surreal Scarecrow missions (which Far Cry 3 also did a great job on constructing trippy environmental animations). Mercenaries also because of the destruction physics!! I just wish that we had more games like Mercenaries, Red Faction and Just Cause to utilize the great destruction physics that these game had.

Was hoping Resident Evil 4 was on the list. That game's 3rd person over the shoulder view worked so well which aided the story, atmosphere, presentation, aiming mechanics, everything. So many great new games like God of War, Dead Space or Last of Us cited that game as an influence.

I'm very happy to see Thief get the recognition it deserves! We don't often see criminal anti-hero games that have you save the world/city without a focus on combat.

Half-Life 1&2 are easily the GOAT for me, they had infinite replayability due to the modding scene that lead to many stand alone games being developed from later. And to a lesser extent, Starcraft 1&2 for similar reasons with the Custom maps.

HL 2 was amazing on release, the graphics and physics were amazing for the time period of games.

Final fantasy set the bar for RPG stories for many years, whether it's FFIV and FFVI's complex narrative, FFVII and FFVIII's introduction of 3D graphics and cutscenes, or FFX's introduction of voice acting (for every character) on console, and further games have made other great leaps. There's a case to be made for the franchise revolutionizing games, but it's tough to nail down just one game that did it.

I would put Ocarina of Time on this list considering it started 3rd person melee combat with a targeting system.

Castlevania Symphony of the night was revolutionary for ita franchise, It brought itself to next level approaching Metroid fare. Dont forget that OST, never heard before.

I’ll never forget Christmas morning, 1996, when I opened my new N64 and put Mario 64 on for the first time. My parents were there of course, and this was the only time I ever heard my dad say “wow” about a video game. It really was a huge jump in technology to be able to roam freely around a 3D environment.

Borderlands taking the Diablo formula and applying that to a first person shooter was insane. If they didn't invent the looter shooter then they were definitely the first ones to bring it to that level. Nowadays the looter shooter can be overdone but it was mind-blowing when BL1 came out

HL2 definitely had great butt physics

Mass Effect 1-3 changed my whole gaming outlook.

World of Warcraft: Everquest is the reason there is an MMO genre, but Wow changed the genre. (For good and for bad) After Wow every MMO had to be World of Warcraft. Wow almost became too revolutionary because MMOs have become so influenced by Wow that they are now formulaic. So many just follow the 'Wow' formula.

I feel like FF7 and The Sims deserve to be on a part 2 list of these types of games. Also props for mentioning Halo. I think a lot of people forget before Halo controls on an FPS were awful on controllers. The systems used in Halo are still used to this day on every shooter. And before Halo 2 we had to look through lists of servers to find people playing the game mode we wanted to play. Halo 2 was like "nah, you want to play team snipers, just click right here and we'll put you on a team against another team and start the match." That shit was awesome.

Forgot to mention that with Halo 2, they invented the lobby/ party system where you can take your friends between customs and matchmaking without having to disband when switching modes. Which Bungie also was the first to implement sbmm and ranked matchmaking in a video game.

There are a lot of other games that revolutionised gaming, on the stealth side, Tenchu was up there with MGS and Thief, criminally underrated nowdays but also came out in the same year. Also no mention of Street Fighter 2 or Virtua Fighter? Those set the molds for 2D and 3D fighting games. This could be taken further with the original Resident Evil which took the concept of Alone in the Dark, made it flow better and worked great as a horror game. Like I said, there's A LOT to unravel on this topic.

Street Fighter II For starters, Capcom figured out how to make fighting controls work with the six-button and joystick layout control, a vast improvement over Street Fighter. Then there were different playable fighters with their own unique fighting styles. It also made pvp very accessible for fighting games.

Need For Speed: Underground (PS2) revolutionized the arcade racer genre. It absolutely crushed every arcaderacer that came before, with way more customization, an open world (inspired by GTA, as you mentioned), and even a decent story (which most racing games prior didn't even bother with). Even visually, it looked amazing for the time. It's one of those rare games which was so good that to this day people still use it as the genre benchmark (along with Midnight Club).

Can't help but make two nominations for part 2 of this: Pilotwings for SNES, just blew me away and made me skip a few days of work/sleep in fascination and obsession in its day. Also Assassin's Creed 2, the historical education and exploration/immersion was a revelation for me. Great job as always!

GameRanx revolutionized my gaming news.

Street Fighter 2 was a revolution when it hit the arcade scene back in the 90s. Growing up during that time period I remember vividly how popular, and ultimately how influential that game was. I was seriously shocked not to see this one on your list, as it arguably not only created a whole genre, but was influential for many, many years following, all the way up until present day. If/when you do a part 2 to this list, this is one title that definitely needs to be on there.

Civilization. Their 4x style is everywhere. The tech trees even speeads to other genres. Assassin's Creed. Stealth, story and open world elements are found in almost every game nowadays. Medal of Honor. This was everything. The split screen multiplaye, the dramatic story, and the gameplay. So many all nighters with friends playing these. Without its success COD and Battlefield wouldnt be what they are. Shadows of the Colossus. The insane huge boss battles done right with platforming. Awesome list guys. Those are a few games thst have had major impact of my life and the games i play.

Doom ( or Quake) and Unreal Tournament were the two head to head competition at its time. Both really great games. UT99 GOTY edition is still active to this day with players online. Can't count the hours I've spent on that game and designing multiplayer maps for the community.

Gran turismo revolutionised the racing game genre it is a must mention on a list like this

Racing games that changed the genre for me were GranTurismo and Colin McRae Rally. Zelda Ocarina of Time changed the 3D RPG genre and the game still holds its own today. Tomb Raider was huge when it first released, it mixed 3D platformer, RPG and action all into one and i loved it.

Love the channel and these lists are fun to have on in the background as I play games. You can tell though that these guys tend to play more first person/third person games, and not so many strategy games. Starcraft 1 could have easily been the number one spot on this list. It wasn't the first RTS, but it was the first game to become a major e-sport and that lasted for decades. It also insofar as I know introduced map editors to RTSs, which allowed for people to start creating custom maps and game modes. This feature going forward is what gave rise to the MOBA which has taken over the esports scene.

GTA3 should’ve been number 1. Every game is open world now (to the point where it’s kinda a bad thing) and GTA3 is the reason. Mario 64 is iconic, but I don’t know if it had the same impact as GTA3. Great vid either way

Gran Turismo and Street Fighter 2 revolutionized their respective genres

Awesome video!!! I seriously dig these video game history type videos. It’s cool to learn about the games I’ve missed over the years

I honestly don't know the history but I'm surprised no MMO made the list considering how big they are now. The first one I played was Phantasy Star online on Dreamcast but I know stuff like Ultima came well before that, just don't know which one was first or any of the history really. Got fully addicted to wow when it came out though.

I don't know how many here remember HL2, but let me tell you.. When it launched on Nov 16 2004 (19 year anniversary!), we were floored by it. We haven't seen anything like that before!

I was 17/18 when the original Demon's Souls came out (I know that the vid is talking about Dark Souls) but I can't help but think about the conversations taking place at the time when Demon's Souls came out. It was virtually the only RPG everyone talked about at the time and I remember how older generations were complaining that games were getting easier - only for Demon's Souls to come out and kick everyone's ass. Also, I have to give you much respect for mentioning Killswitch. I remember seeing the trailers for that game and always wanted to buy it (but couldn't since I was like 14 at the time). It looked so cool and refreshing compared to what I was used to from other 3rd person shooters. That game definitely doesn't get enough love.

Doom was also the reason Windows became the go to for PC Gaming, Microsoft had just released DirectX in 1995 and after ID Software refused a purchase offer from Microsoft, Microsoft developed a port of Doom for the PC with the project being spearheaded by none other than Gabe Newell, the success of DirectX made developers jump to Windows

So happy you mentioned Thief I was waiting for that one. Splinter Cell, Syphon Filter piggybacked off of its stealth concept while adding more killkillkill unlike Thief but man. You nailed it. Wish people would create more strictly stealth games.

The original Resident Evil 4 popularised the "over-the-shoulder" camera angle and revolutionised third person shooter genre.

It’s amazing to think back to the time we played these games as a kid and not realizing just how influential to the industry they were.

Deus Ex has to be in this conversation. Until I played the original Deus Ex I never realized how much RPG leveling, skill, and inventory systems belonged with FPS action and cinematic storytelling. This one was a big game-changer for me.

Take a shot of alcohol every time he says "Crack the code, figure it out"

Two gameranx videos make me want to revolutionize that upload schedule ❤❤❤

Surprised that Tomb Raider is not on the list. Years ahead of its time, ground breaking action adventure game with a female protagonist. The very definition of revolutionary.

That thumbnail tho...has revolutionized my Gameranx video experience!!

I think Myst also revolutionized the puzzle genre, pulling it into a first-person perspective that utilized visual and audio clues into solving its sometimes obtuse puzzles. Games like The Witness, The Talos Principle, and even Portal owe their style of puzzles to that equal parts frustrating and rewarding gen of the early 90's.

Final Fantasy 7 revolutionized JRPGs. The cutscenes, the ATB system, characters and dialogue. There is a reason that game is being remade into a brand new trilogy

I'm surprised quake from round the time doom and Duke nukem came out in the mid to late 90s doesn't get more love. Also, as a fps time splitters 2 was such a wicked single and multiplayer game

I remember being at the hospital when I was kid cause my baby brother had a rare form of cancer. While he was going through treatment there was a game room nearby that had a Nintendo 64 with(you guessed it)Super Mario 64. Ever since I’ve played video games, not only because they’re extremely fun. I started playing them cause they were a great distraction from all the hardships and drama happening around me. It was something I could get lost in and I could always try again if I failed. You guys bringing up Super Mario 64 gave me a lot of nostalgia, thank you Gameranx!

I remember playing Driver 2 as a kid, and fantasizing about thing that would be cool to be able to do in the game. Then GTA3 dropped. Kids today won’t experience this kind of gaming magic

Street Fighter 2 not being on this list is criminal activity. It literally revolutionized the fighting game genre.

Mirror's Edge's influence CANNOT be overstated even though the IP itself is gone. Every FPS to this day still use its motion mechanics. Amazing game and sequel.

Thief and especially Thief 2 were amazing for me because they weren't just "a stealth level" in an otherwise "normal" FPS. I don't consider there being a worthy replacement until Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - because for the most part, in either game, if you got caught, you could either run away to re-hide, or you could go HAM. So many games between those two demanded you be 100% stealthy and getting seen was usually game over. I was never so disappointed as playing the more recent Thief game, as it felt like a lot less than what it should have been. I'd actually call Dishonored more like the original Thief 2, if you ignore the fantasy spells and stuff

Most people aren't aware that Sony's 'The Getaway' preceded GTA3 in the open world genre. It was actually planned to be the launch title for the Playstation 2 in 2000, but was delayed instead.

Neverwinter Nights should be on this list as well. While Baldurs Gate came first, including the toolset with NWN, and even having a strategy guide for it brought modding to the masses.

I think Zelda: OoT got overlooked here. It's open world-ness but areas being off limits until you had equipment from earlier areas. Upgrading your quiver or bomb bag to hold more. The ripples of which we see in every game today. Searching far and wide for 100 gold skulltulas and all the heart pieces. Epic cut scenes. Epic story. A final boss fight that was incredible. Changed the RPG genre forever imo.

Shadow of the Colossus with its Boss fight and World Building. It also was credited for acknowledging Video games as an art form

Demon's Souls revolutionized gaming, the fact that they have a genre called "Souls like" should qualify them for this list alone.

Gta 3 melted my mind when I first played it, can't think of another game that has ever made such a giant leap forward from the rest like that did.

Half Life 2 changed everything for me when it came to immersion. Games became 10x more immersive thanks to Valve and HL2 (and later, The Orange Box) because of its physics, graphics, story and world all perfectly blended together. And I agree with Thief changing/creating the Stealth genre. Those games were a huge risk and niche but it's thanks to them that we got Splinter Cell and Hitman

Metal Gear Solid in Christmas of 98 was so absolutely unforgettable, I don’t think an Action Game has had as big an impact since?! It was so Amazing, totally blew all of us away back then because nothing had ever been that close to Big Budget Movies!! The introduction, I remember it like it was yesterday.. the music grabs you and pulls you in and it is just such an amazing experience all around!

I think DOTA deserves a mention here, as it basically revolutionized the MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) genre of games, and led to the creation of massive games like League of Legends.

Maybe there was something before but i feel like mass effect really revolutionize hmm shall we say decision-making? What are the simple fact that you can actually build your relationship to your companions and it really spans Beyond just one game. Regardless of the controversial ending of the third one, I found myself extremely attached to these characters and I wanted to know what was going to happen to them during the story and in the next installment. And almost every single one of them just had such life to them.

The Ultima games I would argue were what made RPGs into the genre it is today. The single player games were years ahead of their time, giving us non linear open world games with full day/night cycles and NPCs that had their own lives and schedules.

Fun way to end up in the ER: take a shot every time Jake says "They cracked the code, they figured it out."

What about Final Fantasy Vii? It paved the way for Turn Based Rpgs.

Deus Ex should’ve been on here, it revolutionized immersive sims and the concept of multiple ways to deal with a situation, also multiple dialogue options

For me I think it was Unreal Tournament followed by Quake 3 Arena, to me they were the games that introduced me to Area Shooters.

Final Fantasy 7 should have been on this list. That game completely transformed gaming and turned rpg into a mainstream genre.

I would have put Ocarina of Time in Dark Souls place. The 1v1 lock on system is directly inspired by 3D Zelda on the N64. OOT completely changed the gaming landscape and how devs have tackled making every 3rd person game ever since.

NFSUG2 and MW 2005 also revolutionized story based fun racing games with a story. They made racing games popular and known within the gaming community.

IMO. you should've expanded the top by adding games such as : - Quake (Full 3D fast FPS) - Myst (Unique story with intimidating puzzles) - Blood Omen ( the lore, voice acting and being a shameless boilerplate for anti-hero games) - Red Faction ( Full destruction) - Silent Hill 1 (Atmosphere) - Super Castlevania 4 (The precursor of what an anthology is supposed to be) - Tomb Raider (It speaks of itself) Great video

I thought that Batman Arkham Asylum would be on that list. I would argue that some of the Arkham games' DNA can be found in the newer Spiderman games.

Also Morrowind was a huge leap to me, in the sandbox open world genre with complex story content, which was optional.

I love how Demon's Souls wasn't "mainstream" because it was "only on PS3". You realize the PS3 ended up selling more units than the 360? And that was with so many customers re-buying 360's after their consoles broke...again. No, the 'Soulslike' phenomena began with Demon's Souls. Period. Theresa a reason is was remade for PS5. Props for including Killswitch. That game is crazy underrated. As for Thief, I think you were on the right track when you mentioned in the original Metal Gear games on MSX. Those games REVOLUTIONIZED stealth. Thief refined it. MG was so revolutionary that when those games came to the NES, I had no idea wtf was going on. They were so far ahead of their time. Looking back, I realize how amazing and fresh they were. MGS was indeed revolutionary. I was absolutely blown away playing that game on PS1. Halo 1 was so much fun playing the co-op campaign, and Halo 2 was truly revolutionary for online multiplayer.

I am most definitely NOT getting tired of these ‘souls like’ games considering just how good Lies of P was, please keep them comin.

You mentioned Halo revolutionizing CONSOLE multiplayer shooters, but I feel Quake 2 was the game revolutionized multiplayer shooters in general. I was big into Quake 2 multiplayer in 98 and 99.

How was World of Warcraft not on this list! It was literally the most popular game in the world in the late 2000's it had over 12million active players. It completed changed the way mmo's were made. Things like not getting punished for dying, and instanced dungeons/raids. Tons of things! Game is huge and still very very popular today.

I was surprised to not see a mention to Portal, but I guess I just love the series, the writing and the puzzles.

Great list! There are many other games that could potentially be included in future entries. *The Legend of Zelda* (open-world adventure) *Mario Kart* (cart racing) *Harvest Moon* (farming/life-sim) *Castlevania: Symphony of the Night* (metroidvania) *Civilization* (turn-based strategy) *Age of Empires* (real-time strategy) *UFO: Enemy Unknown* (tactics) *Tony Hawk's Pro Skater* (extreme sports) Just a few of many, I'm sure!

Loved the video! For the part 2, I think that street fighter 2 should be on the list for the fighting game genre. Thanks to this game we have the half circle motions and charging inputs that are being used until this day.

System Shock 2, F.E.A.R. and Resident Evil 4 have been so important for video games history!! pioneers for genre evolution, A.I. in enemies, and overall game mechanics!!

Good video. Seeing all these just brings back so many memories!

"Killswitch was the first cover based shooter." Operation Winback: "Am I a joke to you?"

Maybe (some of these) not genre defining but some of my fondest memories include -Driver (PS1) -Medal of Honour (PS1) -Super Mario 64 (N64) -Perfect Dark (N64) -GTA 3 (PS2) -Ico (PS2) -Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) -Halo (Xbox) -RE4 (GameCube)

ARMA literally gave birth to the Battle Royale genre since Playerunknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) started as just a mod for ARMA 3, such as DayZ (which was a mod for ARMA 2). The BR genre popularized the most with H1Z1, which had it's Battle Royale mode based on ARMA 3's PUBG mod, and soon later we had PUBG standalone and Fortnite. And I don't know it for a fact, but I suspect ARMA 3's PUBG mod was inspired by Hunger Games, which also had it's representation in games, I remember the fever that Hunger Games were in Minecraft multiplayer servers. BR is quite similar to HG, in fact it's basically the same thing, but in BR you start falling from the air and you don't have a feast in the "spawn", or even a proper spawn area itself.

And with halo 1&2, the fact that you could decimate waves of alien trash all while listening to a godly guitar solo in the background is just a whole new level of badass at the time

i remember playing killswitch when i was like in grade 3 or 4, the blind fire mechanism just blew me away loved every bit of it

There are ton of games that I would add to this list, which we kinda just overlook. PROJECT FEAR was incredible when it came out, it changed the way lighting and shadow works, it added destructible environment and what seem to be very advanced AI,. When it comes to AI, it wasn't highly advanced but it gave illusion that it was, and I am very surprised many games didn't copy this style. Civilization 4 and Heroes of MnM 3 popularized their respective genres, Diablo 2 and Starcraft perfected and popularized their respective genres, and C&C 95 (Tiberian Dawn) was the first to gave us that fast-paced RTS genre. Sure RTS existed before, but it was more slow pace like Age of Empires 2, C&C95 gave us that lighting fast couple-of-minute-matches that dominated 90s RTS scene. Then came Warcraft 3, which pushed RTS games once again. Batman Arkham Asylum was first Batman game that didn't suck ass, it was HUGE. I am sure there are many more, we could make entirely new list of such games, it's just that lot of these title we kinda take for granted these days. I know Blizzard is now shit, but I am old enough to remember the times when Blizzard could do no wrong and you were 100% sure their new game will be worth your money.

13:00 - Thank you for showing love to Jumping Flash. It definitely was ahead of its time.