# The 18 Most Influential Video Games of the 1990s

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

*By YPB Team · Published September 22, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-18-most-influential-video-games-of-the-1990s*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

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

Tags: games, 90s, franchises, classics