Topic: Your top 3 games that define each 'Generation'

With the lines now blurring between generations of consoles and games seemingly just getting 'higher' resolution, Wider Colour Gamuts/Contrast Ratio (HDR) and/or (maybe) Object based Audio (Like Atmos, DTS-X) rather than any fundamental 'leaps' - like the jump from 2D to 3D or from simple beeps to Digitised Speech to CD quality Audio. Sony have confirmed that PS5 will be coming, maybe not soon but chances are its not going to offer much more than 4k HDR with Atmos and maybe Higher Frame Rates (HFR) or different target frame rates other than 30fps or 60fps with Game VRR, it seems that there isn't really anything fundamentally 'new' to bring anymore - Ultra realistic visuals?

I know some games have very realistic looking environments, vehicles, etc - even animals too and Humans are looking 'almost' real but as far as game-play goes, the games themselves aren't breaking new ground - not like we used to see. I know the games often had more colours, better pixel counts. better audio too but the N64 (for example) gave us a 'true' 3D feel and the analogue stick added the finesse in control. PS1 (for example) also gave us true 3D but also pushed Consoles to an Adult audience and the CD quality Audio too. The original Xbox brought us Online gaming and a certain game led the way.

However this is what the consoles brought to each new generation but if you had to pick 3 games to define each generation, the games that you ultimately think best represented each generation, What's your top 3 games to you and Why?

Please just pick 1 generation at a time and the top 3 games that you think ultimately define that generation.

PS1/N64/Saturn era

FFVII while not that good graphically by modern standards at its release it showed just what 3D games and what the new consoles were capable of

Mario 64 showed that platforms can work in 3D and work well and that Analogue sticks were pretty much needed for 3D games

Metal Gear Solid it showed that 3D games can be atmospheric, tell a compelling story (by the standards of the day) and be cinematic

The 6th Generation (PS2, OG Xbox, Gamecube era)

In no particular order.
Halo: Combat Evolved - Halo has to be one of the most defining game of this era. Its Campaign at the time was ground-breaking from the big open expanses rather than more corridor shooters before it and the control scheme proved that more complex FPS games could work on consoles. Its Online MP was also ground-breaking for consoles and you can't argue its importance to MS in establishing the Xbox brand.

Grand Theft Auto 3 Another of the best games of this generation. It was the first 3D open world game of the GTA franchise and changed the gaming landscape forever with its immersive open world sandbox. I know that Vice City and San Andreas may have been better in some ways but without 3, these wouldn't have been so successful and 3 is still, in my opinion, one of the most significant releases of that generation.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic This has to go down as one of the best games of that generation and best RPG's of all time. From the audio, to the characters, from the story with its plot twist to the sheer scale of it. Not only is it one of the top defining games of this generation, its still one of the best Star Wars games of all time too...

These 3 games for me define the 6th generation.

@Rudy_Manchego Please just pick 1 generation at a time and your reason why these define that specific generation to you. No reason you can't pick another generation with additional posts but just pick 3 from 1 era at a time.

Thank-you

@BAMozzy Only time. So I have deleted. Sorry for misreading.

@Rudy_Manchego No probs - look forward to seeing which gen you pick first and why those games defined that gen for you...

Pre 1984

Space Invaders - Due to the game speeding up making it harder as you go, this was completely unintentional due to less sprites populating the screen. Spawned the whole shmup genre.

Star Wars Arcade - the first true film game conversion which played amazingly. Full 3d made this game a standout for years to come.

Rogue - For its huge random level setups and spawning a whole genre still going to this day.

I purposefully haven't picked Pacman, as although it was a trailblazer for marketing and mass market appeal with the Pac being the first video game mascot, the gameplay was a natural evolution of moving objects in 2d around a screen. Same goes for pong, it was one of the first, but again I feel a natural evolution of moving simple sprites around. Star wars, Space Invaders and Rogue all required expert crafting for the time and real out of the box thinking to develop.

Edit) missile command had been replaced by star wars arcade, I didn't know that came out before 1984. Tough to See missile command go but star wars is far too good, possibly the best game up until the mid eighties.

@themcnoisy Good choices - you could have had Donkey Kong, Asteroids and one of my personal favourites - Star Wars instead of Pacman - the wire frame version where you flew an X-Wing - The game that ate more of my 10p's than any other... LOL

6th Gen (Dreamcast, Gamecube, Xbox PS2)

Soul Calibur — The arcade final comes home. This was the first game I can remember that looked just like the Arcade when it was ported to the home console.

Shenmue — First open world game of its kind that I can think of and at the time one of the most expensive games at the time. This was one of the first games I can remember that made me feel like I was playing a movie.

Halo — You have to give credit were credit is due. As much as what GoldenEye did for the FPS genre on home consoles Halo did that and more. It also proved that MS could hang in the home console business as well.

@BAMozzy star wars was excellent, way ahead of its time. I'm going to edit that in.

@themcnoisy Totally agree. Pac-man though would have to be included somehow because of the universal appeal and the between-level animations. I know it was quite basic - but it also made it easy to make for hand-held devices and like I said it also had such universal appeal - not just in terms of genders (males and females playing it) but also people of all ages too...

Still its your choice - Star Wars came out in 1983 (I believe)

Ok, going 16 bit as well.

1) Street Fighter 2 - arcade play at home in its purest.
2) Mario Kart - again, defined local multiplayer and spawned countless imitators.
3) Super Metroid - really, in my mind, the birth of so many titles since that have copied the mechanics. I'd even say it influenced games like the Souls series.

These are taken from a largely western perspective, I know some would add some RPG titles as being hugely influential but I don't have much experience of those.

@JoeBlogs Great list!!

I looked at last gen and opted to leave it because there are far too many 'defining' games for me. I'd argue though that 'Uncharted' (Probably Uncharted 2) was more a defining game than Last of Us in my opinion. I know that maybe LoU was arguably better (although I struggled to care about Joel which made it difficult to play and the game-play was a bit repetitive) but Uncharted was the first game that really gave us 'real' characters and LoU was just the evolution of what ND started with Uncharted. Still can't argue against the Last of Us as a defining game but whether it would be in my top 3 or not, I personally think I would have to go for Uncharted (maybe 2?). Its certainly worthy of being in the 'best' games of the generation but I do think that Uncharted gave us something we hadn't seen on the previous gen and LoU was just an evolution of this. However that would be from my perspective and appreciate and respect your choices.

I also struggled to leave games like BioShock, Dead Space, MGS4 (even though I don't like the game, what it achieved was outstanding and even by the end of the gen, very few games to match up to those visuals.) You also have games like ES4: Oblivion, Fallout 3, CoD4: MW, GTA5, Mass Effect trilogy, Gears of War (it certainly changed the 3rd Person Cover shooter), Assassins Creed (2), etc. I found it incredibly difficult to just pick 3 from this generation.

@JoeBlogs CoD4:MW I think really propelled the online gaming to the next level. For those on Xbox, it really sold Gold, the Live service. I know on PS3 it was free but I am sure CoD led the way on Sony's system too and arguably changed the gaming landscape - not necessarily for the better as almost every game then tried to shoe horn some 'online' component and its virtually killed the couch co-op (not that I am bothered about that myself). You could make a case for BO2 but again that was due to the evolution of that generation of CoD that Modern Warfare laid out. Kill streaks, customisation etc all started with CoD4. Advanced Warfare wasn't really of that generation either. I know it was released on last gen, but it was also current gen and actually sold nearly double on current gen than last gen - PS4 sales alone are nearly as high as both the 360 and PS3 sales combined!

Portal 2 is another game that could be a defining game for that era - but would it make the top 3? Maybe for some people...

I'm gonna tackle the PS2/XBOX/GAMECUBE era.

First of all GTA Vice City, whilst 3 set the stall out for the series success this is the one which seemed to really take off and was one of the first games I remember being sold out at launch. It also has one the greatest casts in video game history and truly mixed Hollywood with our little hobby, the game taking inspiration from Scarface with its story and that magnificent 80's soundtrack.

Halo, now it's not hard to imagine a world today without Xbox had this game not existed, it really was that important. Not only that almost every FPS since for better or worse has adopted its blueprint. This game truly redefined what we came to expect from a console shooter with intelligent enemies, huge environments and vehicles and silky smooth controls, which is still largely the basis for Destiny today.

Finally I'll go for Gran Turismo 3 A-spec, a racing game that's advert consisted of a parked car and still sold ridiculous numbers. Partly because it was so beautiful but mainly we already knew how great the driving would be and so it proved with everything from a silly number of Mazda mx5's to high performance sports cars, from 3 laps to 24 hour races (seriously who did those?), this is still a high point for the series

8 bit

Now this is really hard, so many games to choose from.

Elite - The first true open do what you want game.

Gauntlet - The first 4 player arcade game and the ultimate coop experience.

Lord's of midnight - A huge RPG npc recruitment game, mind blowing for the time and made by a dude I had a drink with one time.

16bit Era

Street Fighter 2 Not being a fan of fighting games, this maybe a surprise but I still can't omit this as one of the most defining games of that Era. The fact its still popular today and its formula has been copied by countless others over the years. Maybe its a more advanced and evolved from games like Yie Ar Kung Fu or Way of the Exploding Fist but you can't deny 2 in particular has had a major impact on gaming and particular the 'fighting' genre so this has to be one of the defining games of this generation.

Zelda: A Link to the Past A game that has stood the test and really defined the template of what a Zelda game should be. It almost a modern game given a 16bit make-over and its influence can be seen in countless games since its release. A mix of dungeons which are challenging without being tedious, and every puzzle's difficulty is carefully crafted. The story is basically one giant fetch/rescue quest but it's completely devoid of filler.

Super Mario Kart What more needs to be said. Another game that spawn multiple clones - almost every system had to have their 'Mario Kart' - so much so that the 'cute kart racer' became a tired concept and basically disappeared now from the mainstream - although 1 has survived and remained strong - Its no surprise that is Mario Kart and still uses the same basic principals that this game defined.

It was not easy to pick 3 with Games like Donkey Kong Country, Super Metroid, StarFox, Chrono Trigger, Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage 2 (Sorry @themcnoisy), OutRun, Fantastic Dizzy (only because Dizzy was better known on home computers rather than the 16bit era consoles), Road Rash etc...

@KratosMD I chose mine based on impact. That said, I can only frame it via my own opinion and what I saw around me. There a probably more impactful games then Mario Kart but when it was released, my experience is that everyone was just playing that game to death but that is just my recollection.

Rose tinted specs and all that

@KratosMD Pretty much. The first couple were good, but I'm seeing games like Soul Calibur? Red Dead? Fantastic games no doubt but just the best of a similar bunch.

@KratosMD I'd say Destiny is a good choice for current generation. It's the best of a number of online only "service" games that have taken off in recent years. I'd say last generation perhaps Gears of War, while it wasn't the first cover-based TPS so many games that followed stole that mechanic.