Thank you IGN. Thank you for informing gamers with your extremely unthoughtful list of the most influential of all time. Of the 10 games, there are only 3 that you could argue as being influential. The other games are simply the very first game of their genre. Wow, big shocker.

Here’s an important tidbit of information. The Model T Ford was the most influential automobile. While we’re at it, The Wright Brothers made the most influential aircraft, Alexander Graham Bell made the most influential Telephone, and Pong was the most influential video game - wait where’s Pong on this list? Oh… it’s not.

IGN’s list ranks in as follows (with important key commentary by me in between):

10. Space Invaders

I honestly can’t criticize this choice too much. I mean, it did cause a coin shortage in Japan. While this might not have made my list, it probably should have. Space Invaders was the first game to spawn high scores. I guess MLG, WoW Ladders, and CAL all owe something to the spawning of Video Game competition from a vertical line shooting up the screen plowing in to a mix mash of rather large square pixels.

9. Ultima

Well hmm, the questionable choices begin. I know Ultima has a lil cult following, but I almost get the impression that someone just went and slammed the first RPG they remember on to the page. IGN claims that Ultima was a direct influence on Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Elder Scrolls, Baldur’s Gate and well pretty much any RPG you like apparently has to thank Ultima. Final Fantasy 7 should be the most obvious choice in the RPG category, if you chose to go that route.

Final Fantasy 7 revolutionized the RPG genre. People will look back on FF7 to this day and still talk about how it was the best game RPG they’ve played. It was a basis for people to create games in the future, and brought tons of new players to a genre they may not have tried. Of course Final Fantasy 7 wasn’t a game out of the blue, and it was based on other elements. But no game had a bigger impact on the RPG market than FF7 - not Ultima.

Either way, I haven’t begun to get angry about this list yet. You could technically argue for one or the other.

8. Karate Champ

Karate Champ? WTF? Hey don’t get me wrong, I pumped a few quarters in to this odd game (there were no buttons, only two joysticks!). I had a little fun kicking in some face. Most influential? I have to see what IGN said about it…

Before Street Fighter was declared the ruler of fighting games, it spent some time training with Karate Champ. Technos’ martial arts cabinet established and popularized the one-on-one fighting game with a side perspective.While not the first game to utilize this scenario, it was the first to become popular and likely the first to be seen in the U.S. The two combatants sport white and red gis — the same worn by Street Fighter’s Ryu and Ken.

I get it. Fighting Games. This is the first one. Apparently that makes it the most influential. There is no way that Karate Champ had more influence over the video game industry than Street Fighter 2. There is also no way that Capcom created Ken and Ryu based on the 2 idiots in Karate Champ.

7. Tetris

Ok now I’m really starting to see a trend here. Someone came along and wrote down on the genres of Video Games, and then wrote down the first one. How long until we see Doom on this list? No wait… Wolfenstein 3d - it’s got to be soon.

Truthfully how can you argue with Tetris. It spawned 9 thousand sequels, and 9 hundred thousand near clones. I can’t tell you many times I’ve explained a puzzle game to someone and have them say “Oh, so it’s like Tetris?”.

6. Super Mario Brothers

Wolfenstein 3d? What was I thinking. Super Mario 1 should have been what I was thinking about. Super Mario 3? Pshhh, what is that. Mario 1 is the true influential game.

People bought NES’s for Mario 1. Mario 1 is considered one of the greatest games of all time right. Or no wait, was that Mario 3. Oh yeah it was Mario 3.

I think the people at IGN are confusing inventing and creating with influence. Just because it was first, doesn’t mean it was the most influential. Now let’s see whats up next.

5. Wolfenstein 3d

Damn I’m good! This wasn’t even on the first page! I actually predicted it - not because I thought it was more influential than Doom 2, or Half-Life… but because it was first. What about Maze War, or 3d Monster Maze? Weren’t those essentially the same game but came out first? Uh oh, no one tell the content editor at IGN.

What could possibly be next? Hmm.. it must be either Ultima Online or maybe Warcraft.

4. Dune 2

Oh damn I forgot about Dune 2. I would never make it as a writer for IGN. Imagine how silly I would look if I picked Warcraft as being more influential than Dune 2. I mean common, Dune 2 came out in 1992 while Warcraft came out in 1994. Man… I would never be able to live that down in the office! I would be a mockery!

Ultima Online are you next?

3. Super Mario 64

Hmmm. This has caught me off guard - partly because it wasn’t the first platform game, but more so because it might actually be a good choice. Something is wrong here, this list is looking somewhat proper.

2. Ultima Online? No… Half-Life

Now I’m really confused. I mentioned this earlier as a great choice and now it’s on the list. Half-Life was the most influential FPS of all time no question. The entire mod community spawned from this game. One could argue that map editors for Doom were truly the beginning - and they would be right. But were talking influence remember? Not inventors.

Number 1 has to be Ultima Online. I mean, I know its an inventor of the genre, but it was completely revolutionary. A game you have to pay monthly for? But why? A game that brought thousand of players together? I mean common, it spawned Lineage 2 and WoW, the most popular games of all time? You couldn’t just ignore this can you?

1. Grand Theft Auto III

Well I guess you can ignore it. GTA3 isn’t a bad choice by any means. But where is Ultima Online? Maybe since they put Ultima they figured that it covered all the games that followed it. I mean it’s not like they put in Mario 2, Mario 3, Super Mario World, Mario 64 - oh wait. What the…

Well I supposed I could overlook GTA3 because it basically spawned the most controversy ever. It drew attention to violence in video games, it made it a hot topic, lawsuits, lawyers, politics - and on top of that it’s a very cool game!

Let’s see what they have to say:

Not many games can claim to have spawned entire genres, buzzwords, and cultural phenomena. Grand Theft Auto III threw gamers into the sandbox and gave them the keys to a living city.

Never before had we felt so much freedom in a game world. We could work our way through the non-linear story — or not. The game offered an unprecedented amount of side-missions, mini-games, and free play opportunities.

Many other “sandbox” games followed in the wake of GTAIII: Saint’s Row, Crackdown, True Crime, and Scarface, to name just a few. The driving aspects led to titles like The Getaway series and The Simpson’s Hit and Run. The term “GTA clone” is commonly used to describe the many titles that copy GTAIII’s open-ended gameplay and criminal scenario.

Apparently it is the most influential game because you can walk around and bust into any car you want. I don’t know if this is the exact reasoning behind why I would call it influential. I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

Now for the real list. The only list that matters. The 10 most influential games in Peppercorn Nation.

11. Lethal Enforcers (because I truly can’t figure out how to cut it, but I have 11 and it needs to stay)
10. Space Invaders
9. Warcraft
8. Street Fighter 2
7. Half-Life
6. Tetris
5. Final Fantasy 7
4. Super Mario Brothers 3
3. Dance Dance Revolution
2. Ultima Online
1. Grand Theft Auto 3 - for totally different reasons than IGN’s choice

Honourable mentions go out to Pac-Man for the Atari and E.T. for the Atari. Who ever said influential games had to be positive? These games showed devs what not to do. Pong should also be mentioned just being the first one… oh well.

Read the IGN story here.