You may not know their names, but these largely forgotten games changed gaming forever.
The history of gaming is often charted by citing milestone releases.
We love them, you love them, and weve all talked about them.
Not just lesser releases, mind you, but games that changed the industry in many ways.
Today, were going to look at a few of those games.
It also invented now common conceptssuch as cheat codes.
To be fair,Colossal Cave Adventureis a well-known game by those who follow the evolution of the industry.
The result of that experiment wasDeath Race.
That sudden influx of attention proved to be a net positive forDeath Races fortunes.
Gradually, more games would follow in its wake.
NATO Commander (1983)
NATO Commandertasks players with commanding NATO troops in Europe.
In many ways,NATO Commanderfeels likeCivilization: Origins.
UnlikePac-Man, though,Tower of Druagafeatures some slightly more traditional fantasy/RPG elements.
It inspired Japanese studios to develop games likeYS,Hydilide, and, eventually,The Legend of Zelda.
While this game has aged rather poorly, it was an undeniable light bulb moment for the industry.
Who would ever play something like that?
Well, Will Wright for one.
WithoutLittle Computer People, we may have never gotten one of the biggest and most successful PC games ever.
Power Drift (1988)
Poor Sega.
Their history is filled with undeniably innovative games that were eventually overshadowed by someone elses work.
Even still, its shocking thatPower Drifthas pretty much been lost to time.
Power Driftis widely recognized as the first Kart Racing game ever.
That honor is so much more than a technicality.
Perhaps Sega needed to put some licensed characters in this game.
The Manhole (1988)
1988sThe Manholeis an utterly bizarre experiment.
It certainly doesnt hold up very well in most respects.
The Millers even later stated thatMystwas really the adult version oftheir previous works.
Its a strange legacy for one of the most obviously influential titles in gaming history.
Even the earliest MOBA developers have citedHerzog Zweias an influence.
Perhaps most impressively,Herzog Zweiremains a genuinely enjoyable strategy game to this day.
Yet, this is the game that paved the way for the entireResident Evilfranchise.
In fact,Resident Evilwas initially conceived asaSweet Homeremake.
Its influence is undeniable, but I could honestly use a few more Sweet Home-like games in my life.
The company got its foot in the door withCommander Keenbefore the innovativeWolfenstein 3Dpaved the way forDoom.
Somewhere along the way, though, this 1991 game somehow got lost in the shuffle.
Its a lost stepping stone.
Searching for Neverwinter Nights wont immediately bring it up.
Even Neverwinter Nightsvideo game wont get the job done right away.
By the time it was shut down in 1997, it already felt like a memory.
It seems that shockingly few people played this puzzle game when it was released in 1994.
Had this game been released under slightly different circumstances, it could have been aTetris-level hit.
Its a simple, nearly perfect set-up that is seen as the undisputed standard of the genre.
However, that wasnt always the case.
As such, it was really the first console FPS title that was properly designed around that control scheme.
The Mark of Kri (2002)
The Mark of Kriis one of the great What if?
Thats not how things worked out, but at least this games influence is still being felt.
Kill Switch (2003)
The developers ofKill Switchhad an idea.
More specifically (and more importantly), they decided to releaseGeometry Warsas an Xbox Live Arcade game.
Maybe, but that same description could also be used to describeInfiniminer.
Not long after, he decided he was going to base his next game off of it.
