What makes something the "best"?
In today's entertainment-driven society, video games have earned a firm stakes in the collective consciousness of our culture. Millions and millions of players around the world enjoy home console gaming, creating massive demand for the innovations of the industry.
Among the countless thousands of titles released, most have been forgettable. Some, however, have enjoyed widespread recognition and popularity, whether as epic solo adventures or enjoyable party pastimes.
But which games are truly the best? New lists are provided every year, renewed the tired debate. Individual players have distinct tastes, causing some games to be both widely loved and broadly despised. While some have sold more units, been skillfully developed, or sport cutting-edge graphics, a few games have transcended the idea of a "game" and shifted entire paradigms. These selections have pushed the envelope of creativity and penetrated popular culture as a whole.
1. Pong
Entire other articles have been written concerning Pong. The relevant summary is this: Pong was the first true game to enter arcades and be played on a mass scale. Its controls are instantly intuitive and its premise immediately competitive. While other electronic gaming ventures, such as text-based programs on computers, had already existed, Pong was the first concept that proved video games could be a legitimate, viable, marketable fiscal force. Its effect will be felt for every generation to come, and all future video games owe their availability to its legacy.
2. Pac-Man
If Pong was the birth of video gaming, Pac-Man was its toddling maturity. Arcades soon became hang-outs for gamers, and they basked in a golden age of titles such as Defender, Asteroids, Sinistar, and others. With the advent of the high-score chart, replay value was added, as people kept pumping quarters into the machines to keep their initials at the top of the scores.
Pac-Man exploded onto the scene as a superstar. It was quirky, it was creative, it was competitive, it was unique, it was memorable, it was great. Perhaps its lasting legend, though, lied in its titular character, as it was the first game to feature a recognizable cartoon that stood as an icon. Several sequels throughout the years attested to its lasting power.
3. Super Mario Brothers
Soon, the Atari brought the arcades home, and now everyone could play their favorites right on their television. However, before long, third-party developed inundated the market with a glut of inferior titles, failing to persuade consumers to continue purchasing cartridges. In fact, for a period in the early 1980's, the video game industry was in real danger of crashing and dying.
Then the Nintendo Entertainment System arrived. Nintendo had the wisdom to enforce their game development more strictly, but this had one obvious potential pitfall: If Nintendo's own games were poor, the system would pass into irrelevant obscurity.
Super Mario Brothers would erase all doubts. With its colorful graphics, distinctive characters, extended scrolling play, imaginative world, and perfect difficulty level, Mario leapt into the beginning of his incredible journey as a pillar of the gaming community. The NES attained remarkable popularity and almost single-handedly saved the video game industry, thanks to a pair of plucky plumbers.
4. Goldeneye
Console gaming continued to carved its niche into the global entertainment scene. Other systems were available, along with an ever-expanding library of games. Soon, 64-bit gaming hit the scenes, and with it came true three-dimensional play, with rendered polygons.
On PC, titles such as Doom proved the health of first-person shooters, and that they could especially be enjoyed in a multi-player format. When Goldeneye was developed by Rare for Nintendo 64, it jolted all comers with its immense quality and sheer replay value. Tournaments were held, and it was named Game of the Year even by cross-genre standards, coming ahead of board games, card games, et cetera. First-person shooters had now entered the arena of console gaming, despite detractors who said it would be impossible to do so.
The significance of Goldeneye was that it paved the way for the first-person shooter to become one of the most popular, best-selling types of game a player could experience. If there is any doubt as to the importance of Goldeneye, one only has to refer to the success of Halo as the killer-app hallmark of its effect on consoles everywhere.
5. Wii Sports
If you have ever played the Wii, your first try at it was probably wielding a controller for its Sports title. Wii Sports is a package of several games, each brilliantly simple yet fiercely competition-inducing, and well-accessible to all ages. Although it has limited depth and certainly cannot stand as a pinnacle of immersive hobbyist gold, it has made two important points concerning the future of electronic gaming.
First, whereas the first video game consoles showed that arcade units could be enjoyed in the home, Wii Sports proved that absolutely anything could now be played on a console system. Sports such as tennis, bowling, et al are usually reserved for play elsewhere, but they could now effectively be brought into the living room, opening up limitless more possibilities.
Secondly, Wii Sports stood as the first flagship title for the Nintendo Wii, which in itself was a risky maneuver on Nintendo's part. The Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 certainly stand as worthy, even arguably better competitors, but the Wii proved that unexpected invention in video games, such as pervasive motion-sensitive controls, could catch on for the general family gamer. If moving your hand moves your character's hand, then what next? The Wii stands as a testament to virtual reality, and a possible precursor to our video gaming future.