During the past two decades in the evolution of Gaming there have been gazzilions of high quality games that cater to all kinds of gamers which fall under different Genres.
These 10 Games are quite possibly the most critically acclaimed iterations which not only kick started the multi-million selling franchises but also defined and gave birth to their respective genres, which wouldn’t have existed without these high quality games.
Link: http://geniusanime.com/2011/09/16/top-10-genre-defining-game-franchises-of-all-time/
(Sorry i did a really poor job posting this thread correctly)
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Number 10 - STREET FIGHTER
Genre - Fighting
Street fighter is quite possibly the game that immediately comes to mind as soon as the term Fighting is heard. Thats exactly what Genre defining game means.
SF is series of Fighting games developed in Japan in which players pit the video games’ competitive fighters from around the world, against one another, each with his or her own unique fighting skills.
Number 9 - SILENT HILL
Genre - Survival Horror
No matter how many Survival horror games you have played, nothing feels as nostalgic or as fleshed out Psychedelic, bizarre mess as the original Silent Hill on the Playstation 1. There was a Survival horror uproar following the release of this game with a boatload of Survival horror games one after the other.
We can still remember the ever spine-tingling Siren and radio sounds from SH1 which doesn’t cease to let go of our cerebrum once in a while. The opening soundtrack, the Haunted school and amusement park, the clearly fleshed-out well developed characters and voice actors, blood stained piano and rooftop puzzles and immense boss fights everything fits in so perfectly and flawlessly like in a jigsaw puzzle making one hell of a joyride which lasts in memory forever.
Number 8 - TOMB RAIDER
Genre - Adventure/Treasure hunting
Lara Craft has become one of the Legendary gaming characters ever since the release of the highly popular gaming franchise since the past decade- Tomb Raider
During the PS1 era TR was one and the only Third person Action adventure games which laid a milestone having vast fully explorable environments, intricately designed puzzles, traps, tigers, treasure hunting and the ever gorgeous female protagonist, Lara Croft.
Number 7 – GRAN TURISMO
Genre - Racing Simulator
The original Gran Turismo was one of a kind console Racing simulator developed by Polyphony Digital and first published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 1997 for the PS1.
After five years of development time, it was well-received publicly and critically, shipping a total of10.85 million copies worldwide as of April 30, 2008, and scoring an average of 95% in GameRankings aggregate. Even since then the game has started a successful Racing Franchise, and to date has spawned over 10 Spin-offs and sequels.
Number 6 - Grand Theft Auto
Genre - Sandbox style, Action Adventure
Grand Theft Auto was first developed by DMA Design (now Rockstar North), and published by Rockstar Games. It was the first huge successful sandbox game that would later become an iconic franchise for Rockstar.
The game’s concept and gameplay, coupled with the use of a 3D Game engine for the first time in the series, contributed to Grand Theft Auto III‘s positive reception upon its release; it became 2001′s top selling video game and is cited as a landmark in video games for its far-reaching influence within the industry. GTA III‘s success was a significant factor in the series’ subsequent popularity and numerous iterations with GTA: Vice City, San Andreas and GTA IV selling Millions of copies and gaining critical acclaim.
Number 5 - GOD OF WAR
Genre - Hack and Slash, Action Adventure
God of War is an Action adventure game that made its first apperance on the Playstation 2. It released in March 2005. It was the first game to be released in the God of War franchise.
Loosely based on Greek Mythology, the game focuses on Kratos and forms part of a saga with vengeance as a central theme.
The game received universal acclaim from critics. It received aggregate scores of 93% from Gamerankings and 94/100 from Metacritic. The game has also won over a dozen “Game of the Year Awards”.
GOW III was stunning graphically and the sense of Scale was mind-blowing.
Number 4 - METAL GEAR SOLID
Genre - Tactical Espionage action
Metal Gear Solid has become the staple Stealth action franchise on the Playstation since the past 3 generations. It has successfully garnered critical acclaim for having one of the most well thought out Story-lines in the history of gaming with every iteration bringing in so much new content to the constantly evolving franchise.
The original Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation 1 was an instant classic and by far the best game in the franchise which was spread over 2 Discs. For the first time in the franchise the game featured cinematic Cutscenes rendered using the in-game engine and graphics, as well as voice acting in numerous codec sequences.
Metal Gear Solid follows Solid Snake, a soldier who infiltrates a nuclear weapons facility to neutralize the terrorist threat from FOXHOUND, a renegade special forces unit. Snake must liberate two hostages, the head of DARPA and the president of a major arms manufacturer, confront the terrorists, and stop them from launching a nuclear strike.
Metal Gear Solid was a commercial success, shipping over 6 million copies worldwide. Upon release, it was one of the most rented games, and topped sales charts in the United Kingdom.
The Playstation 3 Exclusive, Metal Gear Solid 4, boosted the PS3 in Japan where the sales skyrocketed shortly after release and received a Perfect score of 10/10 from both IGN and Gamespot.
Number 3 - HALO
Genre - Sci-Fi First person Shooter
Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 consolereleased on September 25, 2007.
The player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier, as he battles the Covenant.
The game featured vehicles, weapons, and gameplay not present in previous titles of the series, as well as the addition of saved gameplay films, file sharing, and the Forge map editor—a utility which allowed the player to perform modifications to multiplayer levels.
Halo 3 grossed US$300 million in its first week. More than one million people played Halo 3 on Xbox Live in the first twenty hours. As of January 3, 2008, Halo 3 sold 8.1 million copies, and was the best-selling video game of 2007 in the U.S. Definitely a Genre-defining feat.
There have been multiple sequels all of which have been very successful apart from ODST which received a lukewarm reception.
The Halo franchise has also became one of the most well known FPS games ever with its huge reception it gets everytime a new sequel/prequel is announced.
Number 2 - MARIO
Genre - Platformer
What do we have here…? Its Mario people. Gaming wouldn’t have existed without the existence of this Sheer masterpiece Platformer in the 80′s(1985 to be precise) when it caught the Gaming Industry with a Huge BOOM.
In Super Mario Bros., the player controls Mario, as he travels through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist Bowser.
For over two decades, Super Mario Bros. was the best-selling video game of all time (before being outsold by Nintendo’s own Wii Sports in 2009), and has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.
The game’s theme music by Koji Kondo is recognized worldwide, even by those who have not played the game, and has been considered a representation for video game music in general.
Mario has become a universal character and synonymous with Nintendo. His popularity is unrivaled and the genres he is in help keep that unique, colourful style fans love about Nintendo games.
There have been 250+ games based on Mario franchise.
Number 1 - FINAL FANTASY
Genre - JRPG(Japanese Role Playing Game)
This game definitely deserves to stay at the Top of the Countdown not because it is the best among the other games. The Japanese Role playing games hitting Western store shelves these days is more or less because of the Overwhelming response and Fandom this game generated when it first hit the Western shores in 1997.
Final Fantasy 7 is the first in the series to use 3D computer graphics, featuring fully rendered characters on pre-rendered backgrounds, and was the first game in the main series to be released in Europe.Development of Final Fantasy VII began in 1994 and the game was originally intended for release on the SNES, but was later moved to the Nintendo 64. However, since the Nintendo 64′s cartridges lacked the required storage capacity, Square decided to release the game for the PlayStation instead.
The game was designed and produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi, while the actual direction was done by Yoshinori Kitase. The music was scored by Final Fantasy veteran Nobuo Uematsu, while the series’s long-time character designer, Yoshitaka Amano, was replaced by Tetsuya Nomura.
It has successfully shipped 10 million copies worldwide as of May 2010, making it the best-selling title in the series. Final Fantasy VII received significant praise upon its release for its graphics, gameplay, music and story.
It has retrospectively been acknowledged as the game that popularized the role-playing video game genre outside of the Japanese market and definitely deserves the top spot.
