I had a thought earlier today, and I'm looking for others to help me flesh it out.

I began thinking of all the genres that Western developers had created (or at least championed) before Japanese devs. In other words: genres that Western developers were principally responsible for creating. This is the list I came up with over the last decade and a half:

1. Real Time Strategy
2. First Person Shooter
3. Sandbox games
4. Western-style "choice" RPGs such as Fallout or Oblivion

You can argue that the fourth doesn't really count as a new genre, if you'd like, but I think WRPGs are distinct enough to warrant the title.

And then I realized: every single one of these genres began their life on the PC. Orcs and Elves, Wolfenstein/Doom, Grand Theft Auto, Oblivion/Fallout: these were all PC titles first and foremost.

So, that's the point I'm making here, and I'm hoping someone can either support it, or refute it. Can anyone think of any genres that Western developers created, and began their life on consoles first? I'd really love input if anyone can think of something!  

Just a thought; Wouldn't you need to be an old Japanese gamer to have a chance of actually refuting them, since odds are if they were, it wouldn't have come overseas?

Point and click adventures like Monkey Island were created by western developers?

 Good point, but those started life on the PC as well :p

 Again, the criteria I'm looking for are:

1) A genre originally created by a Western developer

2) That genre/game did not begin its life on the PC, but on a console.  

I believe the 2D sidescrolling shooter was created by western developers for the arcade. Same thing with sports if you consider Pong the first sports game. I could be wrong on both accounts though.

This is pretty idle, pointless speculation unless somebody does some concrete research. that being said, i'm too lazy to even hit my shortcut to "google", so it won't be me

Actually as strange as it sounds Western developers are responsible for pretty much creating jrpgs. The Ultima series and Wizardry series heavily influenced jrpgs (in fact Ultima 3: Exodus pretty much laid almost all the groundwork itself for jrpgs).

*Edit: Oops I didn't realize you were talking about things that began their life on consoles in the West rather than on PCs.

Oldest RTS I can think of:



I loved this game when I was like 5-6. Of course, I was too young to know what the hell I was doing, and thus lost miserably to the AI. :P

Racing games?

The problem is that the PC/computers was the dominant platform for Western developed games for a long time, so it's a crucial factor in genre establishment in the West.  You all but have to figure it in. The western genres that thrive today on consoles have origins on the PC: FPS, RPG, 3D action/adventure, action RPGs/dungeon crawler. Hell, the PC inspired genres that are major in Japan today. RE and survival horror from Alone in the Dark, DragonQuest/Warrior and JRPG from Ultima, Wizardry, and Might and Magic, Metal Gear from Castle Wolfenstein, Tactics RPGs from the various PC turn based strategy games.

And let's not forget about all the classic western developed arcade games that influenced and inspired gamers and developers alike.  Games like Gauntlet, Defender, Pitfall, etc.