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The 18 Most Influential Video Games of the 1990s

by YPB Team

Ten years that invented most of what games still do. Some of these changed a genre; one of them changed the law.

  1. Doom — ranked #11
    Doom
    id Software's 1993 shooter, which gave the genre its template and shareware its biggest success.
    1000pts
  2. Street Fighter II — ranked #22
    Street Fighter II
    Capcom's 1991 fighter, credited with creating the modern fighting game and head-to-head competitive play.
    733pts
  3. StarCraft — ranked #33
    StarCraft
    Blizzard's 1998 strategy game with three genuinely different factions, and a national sport in South Korea.
    646pts
  4. GoldenEye 007 — ranked #44
    GoldenEye 007
    Rare's 1997 shooter, which proved a console could do first-person multiplayer in a living room.
    607pts
  5. Tomb Raider — ranked #55
    Tomb Raider
    Core Design's 1996 adventure and the first action game built around a woman as its lead.
    516pts
  6. Half-Life — ranked #66
    Half-Life
    Valve's 1998 shooter, which told its story inside the game world instead of between levels.
    515pts
  7. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time — ranked #77
    The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
    The 1998 adventure that introduced Z-targeting and set the shape of 3D action games.
    461pts
  8. Final Fantasy VII — ranked #88
    Final Fantasy VII
    Square's 1997 role-playing game, the one that made the genre mainstream outside Japan.
    461pts
  9. Super Mario 64 — ranked #99
    Super Mario 64
    Nintendo's 1996 launch title that worked out how a camera and an analogue stick should behave in 3D.
    400pts
  10. Pokémon Red and Blue — ranked #1010
    Pokémon Red and Blue
    Game Freak's 1996 pair of games that built trading and collecting into the design itself.
    329pts
  11. Sonic the Hedgehog — ranked #1111
    Sonic the Hedgehog
    Sega's 1991 platformer, built as the speed-based answer to Mario and the face of the console war.
    329pts
  12. Resident Evil — ranked #1212
    Resident Evil
    Capcom's 1996 horror game that named the survival horror genre.
    248pts
  13. Gran Turismo — ranked #1313
    Gran Turismo
    Polyphony's 1997 racer that made simulation-grade driving a mass-market proposition.
    248pts
  14. Myst — ranked #1414
    Myst
    Cyan's 1993 puzzle game, the best-selling PC game of the decade and the CD-ROM's showcase.
    248pts
  15. Quake — ranked #1515
    Quake
    id Software's 1996 shooter, fully 3D and the foundation of online deathmatch and esports.
    248pts
  16. Metal Gear Solid — ranked #1616
    Metal Gear Solid
    Konami's 1998 stealth game that treated cinematic direction as a core mechanic.
    248pts
  17. Mortal Kombat — ranked #1717
    Mortal Kombat
    Midway's 1992 fighter, whose violence triggered the US Senate hearings that produced the ESRB.
    248pts
  18. The Sims — ranked #1818
    The Sims
    Maxis' 1999 life simulator that brought a huge new audience to PC gaming.
    0pts

#Games275#90s153#Franchises128#Classics492

Comments

Two of these eighteen were built against each other one year apart, and only one of them ended up creating a ratings board: https://youpick.best/articles/mortal-kombat-vs-street-fighter-ranked

YP
ypb-team·1h ago·
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