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Most revolutionary game of the 90s for you personally? Which game blew your mind and broadened gaming as you knew it the most?

Most groundbreaking game of the 90's for YOU?

  • Street Fighter 2

    Votes: 36 4.6%

  • Doom (or Wolfenstein if you played that first)

    Votes: 73 9.4%

  • Mario 64

    Votes: 260 33.3%

  • Final Fantasy VII

    Votes: 104 13.3%

  • Half-Life

    Votes: 61 7.8%

  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

    Votes: 125 16.0%

  • Other (Mortal Kombat, Pokémon, StarCraft, Quake, MGS, Goldeneye, VF/Tekken etc)

    Votes: 121 15.5%
  • Total voters
    780
Nestunt

Nestunt

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,300
Porto, Portugal
I would argue for the combination of FFVII and Metal Gear Solid. The games that get most GOTY accolades even in the last 5 years owe a lot to those two. If not the first, they are the most notorious games to start and meld gameplay with cinematic storytelling.
 
Oaklight

Oaklight

Avenger
Jun 16, 2018
933
Mario 64 paved the way for 3d gaming and established many aspects of 3d game design that we take for granted today. Ocarina of Time however perfected 3d game design at the time and was able to craft a beautiful world and engaging narrative on top of that, so my vote goes there. All those other games are great and influentital in their own way though like FF7 which helped to make rpgs more mainstream in the west.
 
Faceless_Caesar

Faceless_Caesar

Member
Jul 1, 2020
6,531
There are a lot of truly groundbreaking games that were released in the '90s. More than could probably fit into the polls on this site. Super Mario 64, Doom and Quake were probably the most influential.
 
Gusy

Gusy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,068
ForgeForsaken said:
Original System Shock.
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Sysshock.jpg


The only possible answer. What this game did in 1994 was absolutely mind-blowing. Mario 64 reinvented movement in a 3d world.. System shock reinvented 3d games and 3d worlds themselves. Even though System Shock is widely recognized today.. I still feel it doesn't get nowhere near the praise it should.. The same applies to Warren Spector and Doug Church.

Fularu said:
One of the most important game was Robocop 3 for the Amiga/ST by Digital Image Design

It laid the groundwork for 3D fighters,3D first person shooters, free roaming 3D worlds and so on

The 3D engine was also very impressive for 1991
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This is the most interesting answer I've seen so far. I guess that none of the brilliant 3d ideas they had were polished enough to cause an impact. But its a very interesting take no doubt. Love how experimental DID were in the early 90s
 
direct_quote

direct_quote

Member
Oct 25, 2017
809
I did play Doom around when it came out, but I'd have to give it to Mario 64. I remember that having the biggest impact on me. Ocarina of Time would come in second with Doom close third.
 
Matty H

Matty H

Member
Oct 31, 2017
1,107
Resident Evil 2, Metal Gear Solid and Goldeneye all had bigger impacts on me than anything in the list.
Doom is the only game in the list that comes close but I only ever played the Shareware version.
 
Saiyaman

Saiyaman

Member
Dec 19, 2017
1,855
It's hard for me to remember exactly how I felt at that young age, but I believe FF7 left the biggest impression on me as a kid. Super Mario 64 and I have always had a weird relationship where I find the game somewhat fun, but always fight with the controls, and I think that kept the game from ever blowing my mind. OOT was definitely the N64 game that captivated me the most initially (I think MM captivated me even more so later on).

Then comes Final Fantasy 7, though. I had no clue what to expect with the game, just that it a cool boxart. It was probably the first time I played something that didn't feel like a Nintendo product, I guess. I felt like I was truly on an adventure across an entire world; it was badass. I had a whole cast of characters to play with, there was this HUGE interactive story to unfold, and then you have the cutscenes? Bruh, the whole experience and existence of this game BLEW my mind.
 
JamboGT

JamboGT

Vehicle Handling Designer
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
1,446
Gran Turismo, it changed my idea of what was possible with racing games, the number of cars and tracks just seemed so large and diverse. And the idea of using these normal family cars in a game was so different to me.

This may not seem that revolutionary to many people but as a car, racing and racing game fan it was truly mindblowing and has led me to where I am today in my career.

The first time I saw it in a demo disc I ran and got my dad and I wasn't even that young at that stage!
 
MikeProtagonist

MikeProtagonist

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,303
Doom. That and Beneath a Steel Sky made me drop the Amiga and join the PC generation. Star Fox was a warmup, but Doom really blew that away in terms of 3D.
 
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Discontent

Discontent

Member
May 25, 2018
4,232
JamboGT said:
Gran Turismo, it changed my idea of what was possible with racing games, the number of cars and tracks just seemed so large and diverse. And the idea of using these normal family cars in a game was so different to me.

This may not seem that revolutionary to many people but as a car, racing and racing game fan it was truly mindblowing and has led me to where I am today in my career.

The first time I saw it in a demo disc I ran and got my dad and I wasn't even that young at that stage!
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I was actually gonna mention GT in the Other section of the poll cause I remember it being a phenomenon when it released for the reasons you mentioned.
 
Schlep

Schlep

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,772
Out of the available options, I would choose Doom.

But outside of that, I would say it was Subspace/Continuum. Up until that game's release, there were a handful of games with deathmatch or whatnot between 4 or even 8 players. Subspace was the first game with dozens/hundreds of players in the same arena at the same time. Also, it was such a clean implementation of networking code that was light years beyond anything at the time.
 
Poimandres

Poimandres

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,858
Doom for me. I was obsessed. But if you lived through the 90's you saw A LOT. New genres being invented, arcades being otherworldly, the 3D revolution, introduction of online gaming, the break neck pace of tech advances etc.
 

mclem

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,449
I think it's Ultima VII for me. Things like the realisation as I left Trinsic that this wasn't going to segue to a map screen, the entire *world* was at this scale. And then when I discovered baking bread from scratch, or searching through objects within objects, or reading any of the books...

It completely changed the *scope* of what I understood an RPG could be.

Gusy said:
Sysshock.jpg


The only possible answer. What this game did in 1994 was absolutely mind-blowing. Mario 64 reinvented movement in a 3d world.. System shock reinvented 3d games and 3d worlds themselves. Even though System Shock is widely recognized today.. I still feel it doesn't get nowhere near the praise it should.. The same applies to Warren Spector and Doug Church.
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This is definitely right up there, too. And, for that matter Ultima Underworld.
 
RiZ IV

RiZ IV

Member
Oct 27, 2017
802
Mario 64 blew me away. Coming from 2d graphics to Mario 64 was insane. I had seen screenshots but seeing that running in person was something I'll never forget.

But also Phantasy Star Online for introducing me to online gaming.
 

Deleted member 17210

User-requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
11,569
Discontent said:
I can't believe so few people have chosen Street Fighter 2.
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It blew me away as a game but I wouldn't consider it a contender for most revolutionary when there are more innovative games like Ultima Underworld, System Shock, and Super Mario 64 around. Even for its genre, Virtua Fighter brought more newness to the table. SF2 was like SF1 but way more polished.
 

Deleted member 9241

Oct 26, 2017
10,416
EverQuest 1 and I played virtually every game mentioned in this thread.
 
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Discontent

Discontent

Member
May 25, 2018
4,232
NeoZeedeater said:
It blew me away as a game but I wouldn't consider it a contender for most revolutionary when there are more innovative games like Ultima Underworld, System Shock, and Super Mario 64 around. Even for its genre, Virtua Fighter brought more newness to the table. SF2 was like SF1 but way more polished.
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Good points though I would argue the eight character roster is a humongous innovation.
 
metal

metal

Banned
Nov 26, 2020
1,251
Warcraft (Orcs and Humans). Probably what first influenced me to get into fantasy in general. It eventually led to Age of Empires and Starcraft which also had a big impact on me.
 

RunningMan

Member
Oct 29, 2017
217
The obvious answer is Mario64.

But for me, it was Mortal Kombat 3. I was at a water park taking a short break from the slides hanging out in their arcade and I see a large group of people crowded around a brand new arcade machine. It was MK3 and I remember one dude was playing as Smoke and ghosting around the screen. One of my fondest memories.
 
Druffmaul

Druffmaul

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account.
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Oct 24, 2018
2,228
Doom, easily. In the second half of the 80s was when I first started hearing about "virtual reality" and seeing proof of concept demo clips on TV. When I first saw Doom I thought "Welp, here it is, virtual reality. Just like they said." There have been plenty of major milestones since then, but nothing on that level.
 
JahIthBer

JahIthBer

Member
Jan 27, 2018
10,376
Mario 64 or Half Life
In hindsight, so many cinematic scripted games exist now that i think Half Life takes this, 3D platformers died quickly after the 5th gen.
 
i hate cheaters

i hate cheaters

Member
Feb 16, 2018
2,680
doom if i have to pick something i played

civilization if i have to pick something that's responsible for games i've played a lot more of (civilization sequels, the entire 4X genre, age of empires, rise of nations, etc.)
 
GalaxyDive

GalaxyDive

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,659
Hands down Mario 64. Having played tons of SNES (and NES) as a kid, Mario 64 coming around a bit before I turned 10 was insane in how radically different and utterly more it was.

Next in terms of really broadening my horizons would probably be FFVII, though I didn't play that until... the summer of 2000, I think.
 
SpotAnime

SpotAnime

Member
Dec 11, 2017
2,072
Greatest game of the '90s for me was Wipeout, with its design sensibilities and licensed music. Wipeout XL was the better game but Wipeout had better tracks, don't @ me.

But most revolutionary game? I think that has to go to Tomb Raider. Never had I played a game with such verticality and puzzle solving in 3D. Every level just blew me away. That was something I had never seen before.
 
turbobrick

turbobrick

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,064
Phoenix, AZ
From the list I voted Half-Life. I got the game when it came out and it seemed like such an advancement compared to the fps games that were out at the time. I was too young to play Doom when it was new, and we only had a Mac growing up so I didn't play computer games until 1997.

I see a lot of people voting Mario 64, but for me it never really impressed me. I mean it was a cool game, but it just felt like another new game at the time.

Though if I had to choose from something else, maybe Goldeneye for the multiplayer experience that never seemed to get boring. Me and my friends would play that game for hours at a time.
 
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Discontent

Discontent

Member
May 25, 2018
4,232
SpotAnime said:
Greatest game of the '90s for me was Wipeout, with its design sensibilities and licensed music. Wipeout XL was the better game but Wipeout had better tracks, don't @ me.

But most revolutionary game? I think that has to go to Tomb Raider. Never had I played a game with such verticality and puzzle solving in 3D. Every level just blew me away. That was something I had never seen before.
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Yes another poster mentioned Wipeout earlier, that is another one that blew me away. I don't know if it was the first game to use licensed music but it's definitely the first that stuck out to me.
 
SpotAnime

SpotAnime

Member
Dec 11, 2017
2,072
Discontent said:
Yes another poster mentioned Wipeout earlier, that is another one that blew me away. I don't know if it was the first game to use licensed music but it's definitely the first that stuck out to me.
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TBH, the first time I played through Wipeout was on the Saturn, which only had the Cold Storage songs. Those will forever be my Wipeout soundtrack. What made more of an impact to me was the Designers Republic art. Those games bled '90s for that reason alone.
 
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