15 Impactful Video Games That Forever Changed The Industry

Every few years, gamers are able to see something special: a game that truly breaks the mold. These titles aren’t afraid to try something new and usher in new innovations that make gaming better than before. 

Not every innovation becomes successful, of course, but some go well beyond success by changing the rules and expectations of gamers forever. Find here a collection of the most groundbreaking video games in history

1. Super Mario Bros. (1985)

From the very beginning, Mario and Luigi never lost their grip on video game relevance. While some Super Mario Bros games have performed better than others, the lovable flavor of platforming goodness that these Italian plumbers bring to the table remains top-tier.

It all started with the original Super Mario Bros. from 1985, as arcades and Nintendo Entertainment Systems became graced with Mario’s first grand adventure. The jumping, plopping on enemies’ heads, and hoarding as many power-ups as possible laid the groundwork for countless platformers that would follow, most of which still owe their very DNA to Nintendo’s dynamic duo. Few groundbreaking video games can boast as much.

2. World Of Warcraft (2004)

While the dawn of online gaming emerged prior to World Of Warcraft, Blizzard’s iconic MMO can still be described as the primary harbinger of the online age.

A fleshed-out fantasy world with scads of lore, an excellent roster of interesting characters, a bottomless well of stats and abilities to master, and an endless gameplay loop solidifies World of Warcraft as an iconic gaming juggernaut. The monthly subscription fee weeded out the casuals while also providing Blizzard a consistent stream of income with which to support the game long-term with subsequent updates and expansions. So, just as the always-online persistent world design shook up what groundbreaking video games could be, the subscription model also reworked how publishers could finance them.

3. Minecraft (2011)

Minecraft took off over a decade ago with its signature contrast of simple graphics and deep gameplay and continues to propagate even now. An abundance of user-generated content combined with excellent back-end support has evolved the Minecraft experience in a slow but steady way, and revolutionized gaming in the process.

Games had not let players loose in such a massive sandbox with so many moving parts prior to Minecraft, but now one cannot browse Steam without stumbling across oodles of similar games. The interlocking mechanisms with tools, weapons, enemies, resources, metals, magic, and more set the stage for players to have any kind of endless adventure they want. Still, players with a more traditional mindset can strive for universal goals like defeating Endermen, taming horses, producing crops, reaching the Nether, and even defeating a hidden dragon. Or, of course, just traveling around with aimless wander.

4. Grand Theft Auto 3 (2001)

Grand Theft Auto had its fans with the original two entries (both groundbreaking video games in their own right), but Grand Theft Auto 3 would set the gaming world ablaze. Finally, a video game would realize the ultimate crime-spree fantasy.

Despite feeling quaint by today’s standards, the third mainline GTA game remains an impressive experience with a large open-world, tons of well-realized characters, expansive arsenal, and outstanding production values across the board. Bringing the camera down to the perspective that most action games used at the time also became a startling innovation, and one that would stick to the franchise to this day.

5. Metal Gear Solid (1998)

Plenty of games had told captivating stories when Metal Gear Solid reached store shelves, but never had a story of this caliber been combined with such innovative gameplay, cinematic cinematography, and excellent voice acting.

Metal Gear Solid, somehow, remains one of the groundbreaking video games in the medium today with its iconic characters and emotional range that drifts into comedy, tragedy, science fiction, and more with shocking ease. The control scheme and camera angles have not aged as gracefully as its other elements, but make no mistake, this experience holds up much better than most games from its time.

6. Sonic The Hedgehog (1991)

Forged in the fires of competition with Nintendo’s Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog embodies the very antithesis of Nintendo’s Italian plumber with attitude, speed, and more attitude. Dripping with ’90s style, Sonic put Sega on the map with millions of gamers who otherwise might not have ever considered leaving the safety of their NES. Many of them stayed with Sega going forward, and it would be a few more years before Nintendo could undo the damage done by the blue blur.

Sonic’s colorful characters, wild-level variety, and extraordinary soundtrack ran circles around the competition for a long time and shifted the focus of the 16-bit generation toward dazzling effects and higher-octane action.

7. Guitar Hero (2005)

Guitar Hero belongs to an elite group of groundbreaking video games that won over millions of gamers and converted casual and non-gamers into die-hard fans. The well-curated licensed music, intuitive guitar controller, and great game design all came together in perfect harmony to provide a delightful party game.

Playing along to iconic tunes with friends in a simplified way struck a nerve with kids, teenagers, and adults across all walks of life and before long the game became a staple at parties and gatherings everywhere. Guitar Hero went on to spawn several sequels, most of which sold well and even inspired another enterprise with the Rock Band series.

8. Fortnite (2017)

The future of the battle royale genre and free-to-play format remains uncertain today, but a handful of success stories continue to breathe some hope for burgeoning developers. The megahit Fortnite remains one of the most successful video games of all time, not just because of any one element, but the combination of approachable gameplay, inviting art style, and innovative building mechanics that lets players cobble together various structures to aid them in taking out the rest of the lobby.

Fortnite now finds itself with several modes and even additional full games on the way, turning the game into more of a platform, but the stickiness of the original experience cannot be understated. Dropping dozens of players into the same map with randomized weapons and resources holds up as a formula that no other game, despite many trying, has been able to duplicate.

9. Portal (2007)

Using one’s mind in conjunction with first-person shooting often becomes a recipe for success, as the first-person perspective lends itself well to environmental puzzle-solving.

No game can attest to that fact better than Valve’s Portal. An instant classic, Portal puts players in the shoes of a test subject as they try to escape a sprawling facility designed to bring their minds to their limits. Shooting an entry portal and an exit portal makes up the entirety of what the player can do in Portal, and yet, the game never seems to run out of ways to make that simplicity feel engaging and satisfying with each new area. As new hazards and more complex levels get introduced, the players’ path to success begins to narrow, forcing them to think and innovate their way to the end. Such simple mechanics might not seem like the stuff of groundbreaking video games, but anyone who has played Portal or its sequel will attest: there’s no other game like it.

On top of that, Portal’s story, while minimal, proves an interesting narrative that contextualizes the experience well and has inspired countless puzzle games since.

10. Tetris (1984)

The granddaddy of all puzzle games remains Tetris. While many versions and iterations of Tetris have emerged over the last 30+ years, that core gameplay of finding the right spot for each and every jagged piece remains the core of why they all work.

Catchy Russian-themed music drives the player along as the blocks move faster and the challenge mounts. On paper, it might not sound like the stuff of groundbreaking video games, but in practice, few games achieve a similar level of that addictive “one more game” vibe. Having at least one version playable on just about every console ever, Tetris remains ubiquitous in gaming. Games like Klax and Columns would come along and offer their own version of this sort of thing, but the king remains, far and away, Tetris.

11. Pong (1972)

The original two-player groundbreaking video game experience, Pong, brought families, friends, and enemies together and popularized the concept of video games as we know them today.

Knocking a pixel back and forth with bigger pixels worked for Pong, and introduced the world to the concept of competitive video gaming. At first, Pong could only be found on standalone machines, but it would see cartridge versions on other consoles and even reboots and remakes well past its heyday.

It might not command the attention it once did, but, if I stumbled across today, the simple fun of seeing who’s paddle misses first remains a good time.

12. Resident Evil (1996)

Resident Evil sought to bring horror out of the cinemas and into gamers’ living rooms, and it excelled beyond anyone’s imagination in 1996. The Sega Saturn and PlayStation both got versions of it, but thanks to the skyrocketing success of Sony’s console, the game got a lot of eyeballs on it in a short amount of time.

Mixing combat, heavy narrative, intense resource management, and tense atmosphere, Resident Evil’s cutting-edge experience planted a new flag for gaming. Full of memorable moments, cheesy one-liners, and terrifying enemies, Resident Evil made a fan out of most who played it regardless of whether or not they completed it, and when the next couple of sequels emerged, it became clear that this franchise would not only find great success but spawn an entirely new genre. Successors like Silent Hill, Fear Effect, Parasite Eve, and others would do their own thing with the foundation laid by Resident Evil, many of which would blaze their own trail of success thanks to Capcom’s ingenuity.

13. The Legend of Zelda (1986)

Linear platformers, beat ‘em ups, and shooters remained all the rage back in 1986, but The Legend of Zelda would disrupt that trend out of nowhere on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Hidden paths, RPG elements, and a compelling story elevated this game above its peers, putting even its closest competitors to shame in terms of notoriety and sales.

Link’s adventures continue today, perhaps in a better fashion than ever. All RPGs of today owe a little something, not matter how small, to Nintendo’s breakout RPG masterpiece.

14. Shadow of the Colossus (2005)

By 2005, the PlayStation 2 had flexed most of its muscles. Countless racing games, action games, and shooters pulled off some impressive feats on the hardware. Late in the PS2’s life, though, Team Ico revealed one more thing the PS2 could do, and it still impresses today.

Climbing up massive creatures that have more in common with mountains than typical creatures found in video games proves a great hook for Shadow of the Colossus. Going the extra mile, though, Shadow has an entrancing story, a fascinating world, and immense levels of satisfaction in exchange for taking down the game’s mammoth colossi.

Few games have attempted to succeed Shadow of the Colossus outright, but many have borrowed its atmospheric tone, perpetual vagueness, and epic vibe for their own purposes, and the medium remains better for it.

15. Doom (1993)

Doom‘s mission: Shake up the shooter genre permanently. The iconic PC game turned console tour de force of the mid-90s sent shockwaves across the medium, with knockoffs popping up far and wide for many years. Even today, the 2D style and fast-paced area shooting action lives on in the emerging “boomer shooter” space, while Doom continues to push the envelope with its newer entries.

Combining a 3D space with 2D visuals remains the genius secret sauce that makes Doom a lion among groundbreaking video games, and also makes it playable on consoles that players still find surprising to see it on. Anemic by today’s standards, Sega’s 32x, Nintendo’s SNES, and even Atari’s Jaguar all had respectable ports of the game that would no doubt be hidden from prying parents and sticky-fingered friends across the world. The innovative gameplay of Doom became eclipsed by its focus on violence and gore, which would drive parents nuts, thus adding to its appeal. Now, countless violent shooters with similar mindsets can be found, all of which owe a lot to Doom.