Classic Games
The titles that pushed boundaries and defined genres.
1942
Vertical shooter classic
1942 established Capcom's shooter pedigree with vertical scrolling World War II aerial combat, spawning a long-running series and countless imitators.
Advance Wars
Turn-based tactics perfected
Advance Wars distilled turn-based strategy into accessible perfection, with commanding officers adding personality and asymmetric powers to military tactics.
Adventure
The first action-adventure
Adventure for Atari 2600 created the action-adventure genre and contained gaming's first Easter egg, hidden by developer Warren Robinett.
Adventure Island
Hudson's tropical platformer
Adventure Island sent Master Higgins running through tropical stages, constantly eating fruit to maintain stamina while skateboarding and throwing axes at enemies.
After Burner
Arcade combat at Mach 2
Yu Suzuki's 1987 fighter jet spectacular put players in a rotating cockpit for the ultimate arcade power fantasy.
Age of Empires
History in real-time
Age of Empires brought historical civilisations to real-time strategy, spanning Stone Age to Iron Age while teaching players history through gameplay.
Age of Mythology
Gods and monsters
Age of Mythology applied the Age of Empires formula to Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology, adding god powers and mythical units to the historical RTS template.
Aladdin (Genesis)
Disney animator collaboration
Virgin Games' 1993 Genesis platformer featuring actual Disney animator involvement, creating one of the most visually stunning 16-bit games and the definitive licensed game template.
Alex Kidd
Sega's first mascot
Alex Kidd served as Sega's mascot before Sonic, starring in platformers that combined action with rock-paper-scissors boss battles and vehicle sequences.
Alien Breed
Top-down terror
Alien Breed channelled Aliens into a top-down shooter, combining claustrophobic corridors with relentless xenomorph hordes across the Amiga and beyond.
Alien: Isolation
Perfect organism
Alien: Isolation recreated the original film's terror through an unkillable xenomorph with adaptive AI, proving licensed games could achieve artistic excellence.
Altered Beast
Rise from your grave
Altered Beast launched with the Sega Genesis, featuring a resurrected centurion who transformed into powerful beasts by collecting spirit balls while fighting through ancient Greece.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Sanity system horror
Amnesia stripped players of weapons entirely, creating pure helplessness horror where darkness itself became a threat and looking at monsters drove you insane.
Another World
Cinematic gaming redefined
Eric Chahi's Another World used rotoscoped animation and vector graphics to create a wordless cinematic experience that felt like playing a film.
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
Industrial fantasy
Arcanum blended steampunk technology with traditional fantasy magic, creating a world where dwarven factories competed with elven sorcery and player choices genuinely shaped the narrative.
Arkanoid
Breakout evolved
Taito's 1986 update to Breakout added power-ups, enemies, and boss battles, perfecting the paddle-and-ball formula.
Art of Fighting
Spirit gauge innovation
Art of Fighting introduced the spirit gauge and scaling sprite technology while establishing characters who would become SNK crossover staples.
Assassin's Creed
History as playground
Assassin's Creed blended historical settings with open-world action, creating a franchise spanning centuries of stealthy parkour and hidden blade combat.
Asteroids
Vector perfection
Asteroids combined vector graphics, momentum-based physics, and endless challenge into one of gaming's most influential and enduring arcade experiences.
Atic Atac
Top-down dungeon exploration
Atic Atac trapped players in a haunted castle, searching for key pieces while managing depleting food supplies and avoiding supernatural horrors.
Attack of the Mutant Camels
Jeff Minter’s camel-powered shooter
Released in 1983, Attack of the Mutant Camels turned the VIC-20 and C64 into neon arcades with absurd humour and serious bite.
Bad Dudes
Presidential rescue mission
Bad Dudes vs. DragonNinja asked players if they were bad enough to rescue the President, delivering side-scrolling beat-em-up action with ninja enemies and memorable one-liners.
Baldur's Gate
D&D revival
Baldur's Gate revived computer RPGs with faithful AD&D rules, memorable companions, and an epic Forgotten Realms adventure that proved the genre could thrive on PC.
Balloon Fight
Aerial combat
Balloon Fight pitted players against balloon-wearing enemies in floaty aerial combat, featuring physics-based movement that clearly inspired by Joust but added its own Nintendo charm.
Banjo-Kazooie
Collectathon perfected
Banjo-Kazooie refined the 3D platformer with charming characters, interconnected worlds, and a sprawling collectible hunt that showcased Rare's mastery of the genre.
Batman (Ocean)
Licensed game done right
Ocean Software's 1989 Batman tied to Tim Burton's film and defied licensed game expectations with quality platforming and faithful adaptation.
Battletoads
Rare's brutal brawler
Battletoads combined beat-em-up action with varied gameplay and punishing difficulty, showcasing Rare's technical prowess on the NES.
Battlezone
Vector 3D warfare
Battlezone pioneered first-person 3D combat using vector graphics, placing players inside a tank with a periscope viewfinder for a uniquely immersive arcade experience.
Beatmania
DJ simulation
Beatmania created the rhythm game arcade phenomenon with its DJ controller interface, spawning Konami's Bemani division and influencing music games worldwide.
Beneath a Steel Sky
Cyberpunk meets adventure
Revolution Software's 1994 point-and-click adventure set in a dystopian Australian future, featuring art by Watchmen's Dave Gibbons and later released free on GOG.com.
Berzerk
Robot maze shooter
Berzerk combined maze navigation with frantic shooting against robots, featuring synthesised speech that taunted players with 'Intruder alert!' and 'The humanoid must not escape!'
Beyond Good & Evil
A cult classic adventure
Beyond Good & Evil combined action, stealth, and photojournalism in a unique sci-fi adventure that became a cult classic despite commercial struggles.
Bionic Commando
Grappling hook action
Bionic Commando replaced jumping with a grappling arm, forcing players to master swinging mechanics while fighting through enemy territory in this distinctive action platformer.
BioShock
Would you kindly
BioShock brought immersive sim design to mainstream audiences through Rapture's fallen utopia, combining philosophical themes with shooter accessibility and a legendary twist.
Black & White
God game evolved
Lionhead's Black & White combined god game mechanics with an AI creature that learned from player behaviour, representing Peter Molyneux's ambitious vision for emergent gameplay.
Blaster Master
Tank and soldier hybrid
Blaster Master combined side-scrolling tank gameplay with top-down on-foot sections, creating a unique exploration action game as Jason searched for his pet frog.
Bloodborne
A hunter must hunt
Bloodborne is FromSoftware's gothic horror action RPG, featuring aggressive combat and Lovecraftian themes, exclusive to PlayStation 4.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Spiritual successor to Castlevania
Bloodstained is Koji Igarashi's Kickstarter-funded return to the Metroidvania genre he helped define at Konami.
Bomb Jack
Platform precision
Bomb Jack combined precise platforming with strategic bomb collection, challenging players to defuse explosives across famous world landmarks.
Bomberman
Strategic destruction
Hudson Soft's Bomberman perfected competitive multiplayer through simple mechanics: place bombs, avoid explosions, eliminate opponents.
Bonk's Adventure
PC Engine mascot
Bonk's Adventure starred a bald caveman who attacked with his enormous head, serving as the TurboGrafx-16's mascot platformer in competition with Mario and Sonic.
Boulder Dash
Dig, collect, survive
Boulder Dash combined puzzle-solving with real-time physics, creating a uniquely tense experience where every move could trigger a deadly cascade of falling rocks.
Breakout
The brick-breaking classic
Atari's influential 1976 arcade game that spawned an entire genre and was famously prototyped by Steve Wozniak.
Broken Sword
George Stobbart, reluctant hero
Revolution Software's Broken Sword series revived point-and-click adventures with globetrotting mysteries, witty dialogue, and hand-drawn animation.
Bubble Bobble
Now it is the beginning of a fantastic story
Taito's 1986 arcade classic turned cooperative bubble-trapping into one of gaming's most joyful experiences.
Burnout
Crash aesthetics
Criterion's Burnout series transformed racing game crashes from failures into spectacular slow-motion rewards, pioneering destruction physics and aggressive driving mechanics.
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
Post-apocalyptic brawling
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs brought the Xenozoic Tales comic to arcades, combining classic Capcom beat-em-up action with dinosaurs, muscle cars, and environmental themes.
California Games
Beach sports collection
California Games captured 1980s West Coast culture with six sun-soaked events including surfing, skateboarding, and hacky sack, becoming Epyx's most successful sports compilation.
Cannon Fodder
War has never been so much fun
Sensible Software's controversial action game combined accessible squad tactics with an anti-war message, remembered as much for its poppy controversy as its addictive gameplay.
Captain Commando
Capcom's mascot brawls
Captain Commando assembled a bizarre team—a mummy, a ninja, and a knife-wielding baby in a mech—for four-player beat-em-up action that showcased Capcom's arcade excellence.
Castlevania
Gothic horror on the NES
Konami's vampire-slaying platformer combined deliberate combat, horror atmosphere, and memorable music into an NES classic.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
The metroidvania origin
Symphony of the Night transformed Castlevania from linear action to RPG-infused exploration, co-defining the metroidvania genre with its interconnected castle.
Cave Story
One man, five years
Daisuke Amaya's 2004 freeware action-platformer, developed solo over five years, that helped ignite the modern indie game movement.
Celeste
Precision with heart
Matt Thorson and Noel Berry's 2018 precision platformer that combined brutal difficulty with an affecting story about mental health and self-acceptance.
Centipede
Trackball precision
Centipede combined fast action with strategic mushroom management, becoming one of gaming's first hits with female players thanks to Dona Bailey's design sensibility.
Chase H.Q.
Ram the criminals
Chase H.Q. combined OutRun-style racing with vehicular combat, tasking players with chasing down criminals and ramming their cars until they surrendered.
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
Cooperative Disney action
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers delivered excellent two-player cooperative platforming, with the chipmunk duo throwing boxes, apples, and each other through colourful stages.
Choplifter
Hostage rescue helicopter
Choplifter pioneered the rescue-focused shooter, tasking players with piloting a helicopter behind enemy lines to save hostages while battling tanks, jets, and anti-aircraft fire.
Chrono Trigger
Time's masterpiece
Chrono Trigger assembled Square's dream team to create the definitive JRPG—time travel done right, multiple endings earned, and combat that respected players' intelligence.
Chuckie Egg
Eggs, ladders, perfection
A&F Software's 1983 platformer that became one of the BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum's defining games, featuring tight controls and addictive egg-collecting gameplay.
Civilization
One more turn
Sid Meier's Civilization let players guide a society from the Stone Age to the Space Age, creating the 4X genre and one of gaming's most addictive formulas.
Colossal Cave Adventure
The first adventure game
The 1976 text adventure that invented an entire genre, combining cave exploration with fantasy elements to create interactive fiction.
Columns
Sega's puzzle gem
Columns challenged players to match coloured jewels in vertical columns of three, becoming Sega's answer to Tetris and a pack-in title for the Game Gear.
Comix Zone
Living comic book
Comix Zone trapped its creator inside his own comic, with gameplay moving between panels, tearing paper for weapons, and fighting drawn enemies in a stylish beat-em-up.
Command & Conquer
Real-time strategy refined
Command & Conquer popularised real-time strategy with accessible base-building, resource harvesting, and FMV cutscenes that brought personality to warfare.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Hell march
Red Alert reimagined World War II with Tesla coils and time travel, delivering faster gameplay and the iconic Hell March soundtrack while spawning its own beloved sub-series.
Commando
One man army
Capcom's vertical run-and-gun became an arcade staple and spawned one of Rob Hubbard's most beloved C64 soundtracks.
Company of Heroes
Tactical WWII
Company of Heroes revolutionised RTS with cover mechanics, squad-based infantry, and destructible environments that made World War II combat tactically meaningful.
Contra
30 lives to save the world
Konami's run-and-gun classic defined cooperative action and immortalised the Konami Code.
Counter-Strike
Terrorists win
A Half-Life mod became gaming's defining tactical shooter, spawning a competitive scene that helped establish esports as we know it.
Crash Bandicoot
Sony's mascot contender
Crash Bandicoot delivered tight 3D platforming through linear obstacle courses, positioning the spinning marsupial as PlayStation's answer to Mario and Sonic.
Crazy Taxi
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Crazy Taxi combined frantic arcade driving with time-pressure gameplay and an unforgettable punk soundtrack, becoming one of Dreamcast's most recognisable titles.
Crystalis
Post-apocalyptic action RPG
Crystalis delivered Zelda-style action RPG gameplay in a post-nuclear setting, featuring elemental swords, challenging combat, and a surprisingly ambitious narrative for the NES.
Cybernoid
Pirate plundering perfection
Raffaele Cecco's brutally difficult shooter showcased technical mastery and Jeroen Tel's pounding SID soundtrack.
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance to the beat
Dance Dance Revolution transformed rhythm gaming into physical performance, creating arcade spectacles and home fitness phenomena through its iconic dance pad interface.
Darius
Triple-screen shooting
Darius brought triple-screen spectacle to arcade shooting, featuring massive aquatic-themed bosses and branching stage paths across an enormous playfield.
Dark Souls
Prepare to die
Dark Souls refined FromSoftware's Demon's Souls formula into a genre-defining action RPG known for challenging combat, interconnected world design, and cryptic storytelling.
Day of the Tentacle
Time-travelling comedy
Day of the Tentacle sent three friends across American history to stop a purple tentacle's world domination, delivering LucasArts' most inventive puzzle design and sharpest writing.
Daytona USA
Rolling start
Daytona USA delivered exhilarating arcade stock car racing with the Model 2's texture-mapped graphics and an unforgettable soundtrack that players sang along to.
Dead Cells
Roguevania
Dead Cells merged roguelike permadeath with Metroidvania exploration, creating fluid combat and persistent unlocks that made each death feel like progress.
Dead or Alive
The counter system
Tecmo's Dead or Alive introduced reversals and holds to fighting games, creating a rock-paper-scissors flow that distinguished it from competitors.
Defender
Complexity at speed
Eugene Jarvis's Defender broke every rule of early arcade design—five buttons, a scrolling playfield, a radar scanner—and became one of the highest-grossing arcade games ever made.
Defender of the Crown
The Amiga's showcase
Cinemaware's 1986 strategy game demonstrated Amiga graphics that seemed impossible, even if gameplay didn't quite match.
Deluxe Paint
The pixel artist's canvas
Electronic Arts' Deluxe Paint defined digital art on the Amiga, creating the pixel art that filled a generation's games.
Demon's Souls
The one that started it all
Demon's Souls established the formula that would define the Souls-like genre, with deliberate combat, interconnected levels, and punishing difficulty.
Deus Ex
Player choice perfected
Deus Ex merged first-person action with deep RPG systems and conspiracy narrative, offering unprecedented player freedom in how to approach every situation.
Diablo
Action RPG perfection
Diablo distilled dungeon crawling to its addictive essence—click enemies, collect loot, descend deeper—creating an action RPG template that spawned an entire genre.
Dig Dug
Underground inflation
Dig Dug combined maze creation with unique combat as players tunnelled through dirt, inflating enemies until they popped or crushing them with falling rocks.
Dishonored
Revenge solves everything
Dishonored revived the immersive sim with supernatural abilities, player choice, and levels designed for creative problem-solving in a plague-ridden steampunk empire.
Dizzy: The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure
An eggy hero cracks the budget charts
Codemasters and the Oliver Twins built a puzzle-platform franchise around a lovable egg and some fiendish inventory riddles.
Donkey Kong
The game that made Nintendo
Shigeru Miyamoto's 1981 arcade debut introduced Jumpman (later Mario), invented the platformer genre, and saved Nintendo's American division.
Donkey Kong Country
Pre-rendered revolution
Rare's Donkey Kong Country brought pre-rendered 3D graphics to the SNES, revitalising both the aging console and Nintendo's forgotten ape with stunning visuals and tight platforming.
Doom
Hell's shareware sensation
Doom didn't invent the first-person shooter, but it perfected and popularised the genre, spreading across office networks and defining PC gaming.
Double Dragon
Beat-em-up perfected
Technos' 1987 arcade brawler codified the belt-scrolling beat-em-up, letting friends punch through gangs together.
Dr. Mario
Prescription puzzling
Dr. Mario applied falling-block puzzle mechanics to virus elimination, creating Nintendo's answer to Tetris with accessible two-player competition.
Dragon Age: Origins
Dark fantasy returns
Dragon Age: Origins revived classic CRPG design with tactical combat, origin stories that shaped your character's perspective, and a morally grey world where every choice had consequences.
Dragon Quest
Japan's national RPG
Dragon Quest established Japanese RPG conventions that would dominate console gaming, creating a cultural phenomenon that still causes school absence spikes on release days.
Duck Hunt
Zapper light gun action
Duck Hunt bundled with the NES and Zapper light gun, challenging players to shoot ducks while enduring the mockery of the infamous laughing dog.
DuckTales
Capcom Disney magic
DuckTales combined Disney charm with Capcom's platforming expertise, sending Scrooge McDuck pogo-jumping through non-linear stages in search of treasure.
Duke Nukem 3D
Attitude-laden action
Duke Nukem 3D brought personality to first-person shooters with its wisecracking hero, interactive environments, and level design set in recognisable real-world locations.
Dune II
The RTS template
Dune II established the real-time strategy genre template, introducing base building, resource harvesting, tech trees, and unit production that every RTS would follow.
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty
RTS genesis
Dune II invented the real-time strategy template—harvesting resources, building bases, training units—that Command & Conquer and every subsequent RTS would follow.
Dungeon Keeper
Evil is good
Bullfrog's 1997 strategy game that inverted the RPG formula—you played the villain, building dungeons to thwart heroic adventurers.
Dungeon Master
Real-time revolution
FTL's 1987 RPG abandoned turn-based combat for real-time dungeon crawling, creating the template for action-RPGs.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Gaming's most notorious failure
The rushed 1982 Atari 2600 game that became synonymous with the video game crash - not because it caused it, but because it symbolised everything wrong with the industry.
EarthBound
Quirky Americana
EarthBound rejected fantasy conventions for suburban America, pizza deliveries, and psychic kids, hiding emotional depth beneath absurdist humour and influencing indie RPGs for decades.
Elevator Action
Spy building infiltration
Elevator Action sent players into a thirty-floor building as a secret agent, riding elevators and escalators while collecting documents and shooting enemy spies.
Elite
The galaxy in your bedroom
David Braben and Ian Bell's 1984 space trading game offered an entire galaxy on a single floppy, inventing the open-world genre.
Elite Dangerous
Galaxy reborn
David Braben's Elite Dangerous revived the legendary space trading franchise with a 1:1 scale Milky Way galaxy, proving procedural generation could create universes.
Excitebike
Motocross and track building
Excitebike combined responsive motocross racing with a track editor, letting players create and share custom courses while managing engine temperature through strategic turbo use.
F-Zero X
Speed at 60fps
F-Zero X prioritised performance over visual fidelity, delivering 30 vehicles racing at 60fps with aggressive AI and a death-defying sense of speed.
Fable
Choices and consequences
Lionhead's Fable promised a world that reacted to every player choice, delivering an accessible action RPG where moral decisions shaped character appearance and world reputation.
Fallout
Post-apocalyptic freedom
Fallout dropped players into an irradiated wasteland with unprecedented freedom, letting them talk, fight, or sneak through a retrofuturistic world shaped by their choices.
Fallout: New Vegas
The house always wins
Obsidian Entertainment's New Vegas brought choice, consequence, and sharp writing back to the Fallout series in this beloved Mojave wasteland RPG.
Fantasy Zone
Cute-em-up shooter
Fantasy Zone combined side-scrolling shooting with a shop system and pastel aesthetics, pioneering the 'cute-em-up' subgenre with its colourful, whimsical approach to the shooter formula.
Fatal Fury
SNK's fighting foundation
Fatal Fury established SNK's fighting game legacy with multi-plane combat and characters who would define the company's crossover universe for decades.
FIFA
Licensed football dominance
FIFA leveraged official licenses and annual iterations to dominate football gaming commercially, becoming EA's most valuable sports franchise despite gameplay debates.
Final Fantasy
Square's desperate gamble
Final Fantasy was meant to be Square's last game. Instead, it saved the company and launched one of gaming's most enduring franchises.
Final Fantasy Tactics
War of the Lions
Square's tactical RPG combined isometric grid combat with a dense political narrative, becoming one of the PlayStation's most beloved strategy games.
Final Fantasy VII
RPG goes mainstream
Final Fantasy VII brought Japanese RPGs to Western mainstream audiences with cinematic FMV, a memorable cast, and an industrial fantasy world that sold millions of PlayStations.
Final Fight
Capcom's beat-em-up benchmark
Final Fight refined the beat-em-up formula with three playable characters, memorable enemies, and polished combat that established Capcom's dominance in the genre.
Fire Emblem
Tactical RPG with consequences
Fire Emblem combined tactical combat with permanent death, creating emotional stakes where fallen units stayed dead and every battle decision mattered.
Flashback
The CD-ROM game on cartridge
Flashback delivered cinematic rotoscoped animation, a complex sci-fi narrative, and demanding platforming that made it feel like a Hollywood production.
Football Manager
The beautiful spreadsheet
Sports Interactive's Football Manager series let players manage every detail of a football club, creating obsessive depth that has consumed millions of hours.
Frogger
Look both ways
Konami's 1981 arcade hit turned crossing the road into an art form, spawning countless ports and cementing the grid-based action genre.
Full Throttle
Biker adventure
Full Throttle put players in the leather jacket of biker gang leader Ben, framed for murder in a stylish adventure that prioritised atmosphere and attitude over puzzle complexity.
Galaga
Galaxian evolved
Galaga refined the fixed shooter formula with challenging attack patterns, the revolutionary capture mechanic, and addictive score-chasing that kept arcades profitable for years.
Galaxian
The diving aliens
Namco's 1979 space shooter that evolved Space Invaders with diving enemies, individual AI, and RGB colour graphics - the true ancestor of Galaga.
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
SNK's masterpiece
Garou: Mark of the Wolves refined SNK's fighting game craft into a competitive masterpiece with the T.O.P. system and Just Defend mechanics beloved by enthusiasts.
Gauntlet
Warrior needs food badly
Atari's four-player dungeon crawler ate quarters by design and spawned a genre of cooperative action games.
Geometry Wars
Twin-stick perfection
Bizarre Creations' Geometry Wars helped launch Xbox Live Arcade and proved that small, focused games could thrive in the digital marketplace.
Ghosts 'n Goblins
This game is hard
Capcom's brutal 1985 platformer sent Arthur through graveyards and dungeons in his underwear, teaching patience through punishment.
Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Arthur returns
Ghouls 'n Ghosts refined the punishing action of Ghosts 'n Goblins with improved controls, new weapons, and the infamous requirement to complete the game twice for the true ending.
Gods
Bitmap Brothers perfection
The Bitmap Brothers' 1991 platformer combined puzzle-solving, combat, and their signature metallic aesthetic.
Golden Axe
Fantasy brawling
Golden Axe brought fantasy to the beat-em-up genre, combining hack-and-slash combat with rideable beasts and screen-clearing magic.
Golden Sun
Handheld JRPG ambition
Golden Sun brought console-quality JRPG production to Game Boy Advance with impressive visuals, Djinn collection, and puzzle-heavy exploration.
GoldenEye 007
Console FPS revolution
GoldenEye 007 proved first-person shooters could work on consoles, combining licensed gameplay with innovative multiplayer that defined countless gaming nights.
Gone Home
A story told through exploration
Gone Home pioneered the environmental storytelling genre, letting players piece together a family's story by exploring an empty house.
Gradius
The shooter that defined a genre
Konami's pioneering side-scroller introduced the power-up bar, the Moai heads, and gaming's most famous cheat code.
Gran Turismo
The real driving simulator
Gran Turismo brought simulation racing to consoles with unprecedented car authenticity, physics modelling, and a license structure that taught players to drive before letting them race.
Grand Theft Auto
Top-down transgression
DMA Design's Grand Theft Auto established open-world crime gameplay from a top-down perspective, creating a controversial franchise that would reshape the industry.
Grand Theft Auto III
3D crime sandbox
Grand Theft Auto III transformed the series into a 3D open world, creating the modern sandbox crime game and establishing Rockstar as industry leaders.
Granny's Garden
Educational terror
The 1983 BBC Micro educational adventure that traumatised and educated a generation of British schoolchildren.
Grim Fandango
Art deco afterlife
Grim Fandango merged film noir with Día de los Muertos mythology in a 3D adventure following travel agent Manny Calavera through the Land of the Dead.
Guitar Hero
Rock star fantasy
Guitar Hero brought rhythm gaming to Western audiences with its guitar controller and rock soundtrack, creating a cultural phenomenon before the genre's collapse.
Gunstar Heroes
Treasure's explosive debut
Gunstar Heroes announced Treasure's arrival with relentless action, combinable weapons, and technical wizardry that pushed the Mega Drive far beyond its assumed limits.
Hades
Roguelike narrative
Hades proved roguelike structure could serve narrative, weaving Greek mythology through runs where death advanced the story and relationships persisted across attempts.
Half-Life
Narrative FPS revolution
Half-Life transformed first-person shooters through seamless storytelling, scripted sequences, and intelligent AI, proving the genre could deliver cinematic experiences without cutscenes.
Half-Life 2
Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman
Valve's Half-Life 2 redefined first-person storytelling with physics-based gameplay, facial animation, and the Source engine that powered a generation.
Halo: Combat Evolved
Xbox's killer app
Bungie's Halo launched with the Xbox and proved console shooters could rival PC games, establishing a franchise that defined Xbox gaming.
Hang-On
Arcade motorcycle racing
Hang-On pioneered the full-body arcade experience with its motorcycle cabinet, letting players lean into turns while racing through scenic courses at impossible speeds.
Hard Drivin'
Polygon pioneer
Atari's Hard Drivin' brought filled polygon 3D graphics to the arcade, creating a driving simulation that felt startlingly real for 1989.
Head Over Heels
Two heads are better than one
Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond's isometric masterpiece split control between two characters with complementary abilities.
Hitman
Assassination sandbox
Hitman transformed contract killing into puzzle-solving, giving players elaborate sandboxes where disguises, timing, and creativity determined how targets met their end.
Hollow Knight
Bug souls
Hollow Knight delivered a vast, melancholic Metroidvania through hand-drawn insect kingdoms, challenging combat, and secrets that rewarded dozens of hours of exploration.
Homeworld
Space opera RTS
Homeworld brought real-time strategy into three dimensions with a persistent fleet, haunting atmosphere, and the emotional journey of a civilisation seeking its origins.
Hotline Miami
Do you like hurting other people?
Dennaton Games' Hotline Miami combined ultraviolent top-down action with surreal narrative and pulsing synthwave to create an unforgettable fever dream.
Ice Climber
Vertical platforming
Ice Climber sent Popo and Nana hammering upward through icy platforms, breaking blocks and avoiding enemies in vertical-scrolling cooperative platforming.
Icewind Dale
Combat-focused dungeon crawl
Icewind Dale used the Baldur's Gate engine for a different purpose—a combat-heavy dungeon crawler where players created their entire party and fought through the frozen north.
Impossible Mission
Stay a while... stay forever!
Epyx's 1984 platform puzzler combined speech synthesis, smooth animation, and devious puzzles in one unforgettable package.
Inscryption
The cards are lying to you
Daniel Mullins' Inscryption begins as a cabin-escape card game and becomes something far stranger, subverting expectations at every turn.
International Karate+
Three fighters, one screen
System 3's fighting game sequel added a third simultaneous fighter, creating chaotic competitive brilliance.
Jackal
Jeep rescue action
Jackal sent players driving military jeeps through enemy territory, rescuing POWs and battling through vertically scrolling battlefields in intense cooperative action.
Jet Set Radio
Cel-shaded rebellion
Jet Set Radio pioneered cel-shaded graphics while delivering stylish inline skating and graffiti culture, creating an aesthetic that defined Dreamcast's creative ambition.
Jet Set Willy
The mansion that never ends
Matthew Smith's sprawling sequel to Manic Miner let players explore a massive mansion—bugs and all.
Jetpac
Ultimate's debut
Jetpac launched Ultimate Play the Game with addictive single-screen action, challenging players to build a rocket while fighting aliens across increasingly difficult waves.
Joust
Competitive flying
Joust replaced shooting with jousting physics, pitting players against enemies and each other on flying ostriches in one of gaming's most original concepts.
Judge Dredd
I am the law
2000 AD's future lawman appeared in numerous games, from early 8-bit action titles to arcade shooters, with varying degrees of quality and authenticity.
Karateka
Cinematic martial arts
Karateka pioneered cinematic game design with rotoscoped animation, dramatic camera angles, and storytelling techniques that Jordan Mechner would later refine in Prince of Persia.
Katamari Damacy
Roll up the world
Keita Takahashi's Katamari Damacy tasked players with rolling up everything from thumbtacks to continents, creating joy through absurdist escalation.
Kid Icarus
Greek mythology action
Kid Icarus blended vertical platforming with Greek mythology as the angel Pit escaped the Underworld, combining exploration, RPG elements, and punishing difficulty.
Killer Instinct
Ultra combo
Killer Instinct combined pre-rendered graphics with an innovative combo system, creating Rare's answer to the fighting game boom with spectacular audio-visual presentation.
King's Quest
Sierra's fairy tale
King's Quest pioneered graphic adventures with animated characters exploring fairy tale worlds, establishing Sierra as the adventure game company and Roberta Williams as its creative force.
Kirby's Dream Land
Pink puff debut
Kirby's Dream Land introduced the adorable pink hero with his signature inhale ability, delivering accessible platforming that welcomed newcomers while hiding surprising depth.
Knight Lore
The isometric revolution
Knight Lore's Filmation engine brought 3D perspective to 8-bit gaming, creating a visual style that defined British game design for years.
Kung-Fu Master
Beat-em-up template
Kung-Fu Master established the side-scrolling beat-em-up formula, sending a lone martial artist through floors of enemies to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend.
Landstalker
Isometric adventure
Landstalker delivered Zelda-style adventure from an isometric perspective, challenging players with tricky platforming and puzzle-solving across a treasure-hunting quest.
Laser Squad
Foundation of tactical combat
Laser Squad pioneered the turn-based tactical combat genre, laying groundwork for X-COM and modern tactical RPGs.
Leisure Suit Larry
Adult comedy adventure
Leisure Suit Larry followed a hapless lounge lizard's romantic misadventures, bringing adult humour to adventure games while hiding surprisingly clever puzzles behind age verification.
Lemmings
Let's go!
DMA Design's 1991 puzzle phenomenon challenged players to save suicidal rodents through clever skill assignment.
Life Force
Organic shooter
Life Force (Salamander) alternated horizontal and vertical scrolling as players flew through a massive alien organism, featuring cooperative play and Gradius-style power-ups.
Life is Strange
Time-rewinding drama
Life is Strange combined episodic narrative with time manipulation mechanics, exploring teenage life, friendship, and consequence through player choice.
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
What if history had magic?
Black Isle/Reflexive's Lionheart combined Fallout-style SPECIAL character creation with an alternate history where the Crusades released magic into the world.
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Animal transformation dreams
Little Nemo: The Dream Master let players feed candy to animals and ride them, gaining unique abilities to explore dreamworlds in this charming Capcom platformer.
LittleBigPlanet
Play, create, share
Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet gave players tools to create and share their own levels, establishing user-generated content as a pillar of modern game design.
Lode Runner
The original level editor
Lode Runner combined puzzle-platforming with a level editor that let players create and share their own challenges—a template for user-generated content decades before Minecraft.
Lumines
Puzzle synaesthesia
Lumines merged falling-block puzzling with electronic music, creating a PSP launch title where gameplay and soundtrack became inseparable experiences.
Lure of the Temptress
Revolution begins
Revolution Software's debut combined point-and-click adventure with innovative NPC routines, setting the stage for Beneath a Steel Sky and Broken Sword.
Madden NFL
If it's in the game, it's in the game
EA's Madden franchise has dominated American football gaming for over three decades, becoming synonymous with the sport itself.
Maniac Mansion
Point and click pioneer
Maniac Mansion established the point-and-click adventure genre with its SCUMM engine, multiple playable characters, and irreverent humour that defined LucasArts.
Manic Miner
Twenty screens of madness
Matthew Smith's 1983 platformer brought precise jumping and memorable music to the Spectrum, launching a legend.
Marble Madness
Isometric racing
Marble Madness challenged players to guide a marble through isometric obstacle courses against the clock, pioneering the trackball racing genre with Atari's FM synthesis sound.
Mario Bros.
Before the Super
Nintendo's 1983 arcade game that introduced Luigi, established Mario's plumber identity, and pioneered simultaneous two-player cooperative (and competitive) gameplay.
Mario Kart 64
Four-player mayhem
Mario Kart 64 brought kart racing to 3D with four-player split-screen multiplayer that made it a defining social experience of the Nintendo 64 era.
Mario Tennis
Camelot's court
Camelot Software's Mario Tennis combined accessible controls with surprising depth, creating Nintendo's premier sports franchise outside of Mario Kart.
Mass Effect
Commander Shepard's galaxy
Mass Effect built a science fiction universe rivalling Star Trek in depth, letting players shape Commander Shepard's personality and relationships across a trilogy where choices carried forward.
Mega Man
The Blue Bomber
Capcom's 1987 NES platformer introduced weapon-stealing mechanics and non-linear stage selection, launching one of gaming's longest franchises.
Mega Man 2
Blue bomber perfected
Mega Man 2 refined everything from its predecessor, delivering tight platforming, memorable boss battles, and one of gaming's greatest soundtracks.
Metal Gear Solid
Tactical espionage action
Metal Gear Solid reinvented stealth gaming with cinematic presentation, codec conversations, and fourth-wall-breaking moments that made players feel like action movie protagonists.
Metal Slug
Run-and-gun perfection
Metal Slug delivered exquisitely animated run-and-gun action on Neo Geo hardware, combining Contra-style gameplay with cartoon visuals, vehicle combat, and dark military humour.
Metroid
Alone in the dark
Nintendo's atmospheric action-adventure introduced Samus Aran, non-linear exploration, and the template for an entire genre.
Metroid II: Return of Samus
Handheld isolation
Metroid II brought Samus's exploration to Game Boy, tasking players with exterminating the Metroid species across the labyrinthine caves of SR388.
Metroid Prime
First-person isolation
Retro Studios translated Metroid's atmospheric exploration into first-person, creating one of the GameCube's defining experiences.
Micro Machines
Tiny cars, giant fun
Codemasters' 1991 top-down racing game featuring miniature vehicles racing across household environments—breakfast tables, pool tables, and garden paths.
Microsoft Flight Simulator
The sky above your desk
The Flight Simulator series set the standard for aviation simulation across four decades, from 1982's wireframes to 2020's planet-scale photorealism.
Minecraft
Block by block
Minecraft's procedural voxel world and creative freedom made it the best-selling game of all time, transforming indie development and spawning an entire genre of survival crafting games.
Missile Command
Cold War defence
Missile Command captured nuclear age anxiety in game form, challenging players to defend cities against relentless ICBM attacks using limited anti-missile batteries.
Monty on the Run
Freedom for Monty
The C64 platformer became legendary for Rob Hubbard's six-minute loading theme—a SID chip masterpiece.
Moon Patrol
Parallax pioneer
Moon Patrol introduced parallax scrolling to arcade games, creating an illusion of depth as players drove a lunar buggy across the moon's surface, jumping craters and shooting enemies.
Mortal Kombat
Finish him
Mortal Kombat shocked arcades with digitised violence and fatality finishers, sparking controversy that led to the ESRB rating system while building a fighting game empire.
Myst
CD-ROM phenomenon
Myst dropped players onto a mysterious island with no instructions, selling millions of copies and proving that atmospheric puzzle games could find mainstream audiences.
NBA Jam
Boomshakalaka
NBA Jam abandoned basketball simulation for two-on-two arcade mayhem with impossible dunks, burning basketballs, and commentary that entered the cultural lexicon.
Nebulus
The tower that turned
John Phillips' 1987 tower-climbing game created the illusion of 3D rotation on 8-bit hardware through clever programming.
NetHack
Ascension or death
NetHack expanded Rogue's foundation into one of gaming's deepest systems, where almost everything interacts with everything else across decades of community development.
Neverwinter Nights
Dungeon master's toolkit
Neverwinter Nights shipped with a complete toolset that let players create and share their own D&D adventures, spawning a modding community that outlived the game's commercial lifespan.
NHL '94
Hockey perfection
NHL '94 achieved sports game balance that kept players returning decades later, with responsive controls, the one-timer mechanic, and gameplay that transcended its era.
Ninja Gaiden
Cinematic action
Ninja Gaiden combined brutal difficulty with pioneering cutscenes, telling a revenge story through animated sequences that elevated NES storytelling.
No Man's Sky
Redemption through persistence
Hello Games' No Man's Sky launched controversially incomplete but became gaming's greatest redemption story through years of free updates that delivered on original promises.
Out Run
Drive into the sunset
Sega's 1986 arcade racer combined stunning visuals, branching routes, and a Ferrari Testarossa into the definitive driving fantasy.
Outlast
Night vision nightmare
Outlast thrust players into a nightmare asylum armed only with a camcorder, creating found-footage horror gaming that became a streaming sensation.
OutRun
Driving into the sunset
OutRun defined the arcade racing experience with its branching routes, iconic Ferrari, and unforgettable soundtrack, creating the template for aspirational driving games.
Pac-Man
Gaming's first icon
Namco's 1980 maze-chase created gaming's first mascot, transcended arcades into mainstream culture, and taught the industry that characters sell.
Pac-Man (Atari 2600)
The other crash catalyst
The notoriously poor 1982 port of Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 that sold millions yet disappointed everyone - a cautionary tale of overproduction and compromised quality.
Panzer Dragoon
On dragon wings
Panzer Dragoon combined rail-shooter action with a haunting post-apocalyptic world, establishing one of the Saturn's most distinctive franchises through atmosphere and artistry.
Paperboy
Suburban chaos
Paperboy turned newspaper delivery into an obstacle course of dogs, cars, and lawn ornaments, with the unique goal of delivering papers while causing maximum property damage.
Paradroid
C64 strategy welded to arcade reflexes
Andrew Braybrook’s 1985 masterpiece blended shooter action with territory control aboard a hijacked robot freighter.
PaRappa the Rapper
I gotta believe
PaRappa the Rapper pioneered the modern rhythm game with call-and-response gameplay and paper-thin visual style that influenced a generation of music games.
Parodius
Gradius meets absurdity
Parodius parodied Konami's own shooters with penguins, octopi, and Las Vegas showgirls, combining tight Gradius gameplay with surreal Japanese humour.
Perfect Dark
GoldenEye evolved
Perfect Dark built on GoldenEye's foundation with simulant bots, weapon customisation, and Counter-Operative mode, pushing the N64 to its absolute limits.
Persona
Face yourself
Persona spun off from Shin Megami Tensei to explore teenage identity through Jungian psychology, blending dungeon crawling with social simulation in modern Japanese settings.
Phantasy Star
Sega's epic RPG
Phantasy Star brought Japanese RPG excellence to the Master System with 3D dungeons, a female protagonist, and science-fantasy storytelling that rivalled anything on Nintendo's platform.
Pillars of Eternity
The Kickstarter resurrection
Obsidian Entertainment's crowdfunded Pillars of Eternity revived the classic isometric RPG, proving appetite remained for deep, text-heavy adventures.
Pirates!
Caribbean open world
Sid Meier's Pirates! created open-world gaming in the 17th-century Caribbean, combining ship combat, fencing, trading, and exploration in a seamless sandbox adventure.
Pitfall!
Swinging into history
David Crane's jungle adventure sold four million copies, proved third-party games could be best-in-class, and defined the platformer before Mario existed.
Planescape: Torment
Narrative transcendence
Planescape: Torment asked 'What can change the nature of a man?' and delivered gaming's most celebrated narrative through an immortal protagonist exploring questions of identity and mortality.
Planetfall
Floyd's sacrifice
Steve Meretzky's Planetfall combined Infocom wit with genuine emotional impact, featuring a robot companion whose fate became gaming legend.
Pokemon
Gotta catch 'em all
Pokemon created a global phenomenon through monster collection, strategic battling, and social trading that transcended gaming into multimedia dominance.
Pokémon Gold & Silver
The perfect sequel
Pokémon Gold and Silver expanded the formula with day/night cycles, breeding, and a post-game return to Kanto that doubled the adventure's scope.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Roguelike meets Pokemon
Chunsoft's Pokemon Mystery Dungeon combined the roguelike dungeon crawling of Shiren with Pokemon collecting, creating an unexpectedly emotional series.
Pokémon Red & Blue
Gotta catch 'em all
Pokémon Red and Blue created a global phenomenon through monster collection, trading via link cable, and version exclusives that made social play essential.
Pole Position
Racing revolution
Pole Position established the behind-the-car racing perspective and sprite scaling techniques that defined racing games for a decade.
Pong
The game that started an industry
Two paddles, one ball, endless quarters—Atari's Pong proved video games could be a business and launched an industry.
Populous
Playing god, literally
Bullfrog's Populous invented the god game genre, letting players reshape terrain and guide followers to dominance in a battle of divine powers.
Prince of Persia
Rotoscoped elegance
Prince of Persia pioneered fluid rotoscoped animation in games, creating a cinematic platformer where precise movement through deadly traps became an art form.
Pro Evolution Soccer
Beautiful game simulation
Pro Evolution Soccer prioritised gameplay authenticity over licenses, creating a football simulation beloved by purists who valued how it played over whose names appeared.
Punch-Out!!
Pattern-based boxing
Punch-Out!! challenged players to read opponent patterns and counter with precision timing, turning boxing into a puzzle game starring the undersized Little Mac against memorable caricatured opponents.
Puyo Puyo
Chain reaction mastery
Puyo Puyo combined falling-block puzzling with chain reaction mechanics, creating a competitive puzzle game that became a Japanese phenomenon and Sega staple.
Puzzle Bobble
Aim and match
Puzzle Bobble transformed Bubble Bobble's dragons into a colour-matching shooter, creating an accessible puzzle format that spawned countless imitators.
Q*bert
Isometric hopping
Q*bert challenged players to hop across pyramid cubes while avoiding enemies, becoming an arcade icon with distinctive visuals and synthesised swearing.
Quake
True 3D arrives
Quake brought true 3D graphics and online multiplayer to first-person shooters, establishing the technological and competitive foundations that define the genre today.
R-Type
The Force is with you
Irem's 1987 shooter combined beautiful sprite art with the innovative Force pod, creating the definitive side-scrolling shooter.
R.C. Pro-Am
Isometric racing
R.C. Pro-Am delivered addictive isometric racing with weapons and upgrades, showcasing Rare's technical prowess on the NES with smooth scrolling and detailed graphics.
Raiden
Vertical shooting perfection
Raiden distilled vertical shooting to its essence: satisfying weapons, challenging patterns, and two-player co-op that defined arcade shooting for the early 1990s.
Rainbow Islands
The story of Bubble Bobble 2
Taito's 1987 sequel transformed Bub and Bob into human form, swapping bubbles for rainbows in vertical platforming perfection.
Rampage
Monster destruction
Rampage let players become giant monsters destroying cities, punching buildings, eating people, and battling the military in gleeful urban destruction.
Rayman
Limbless platforming hero
Rayman introduced Ubisoft's mascot through gorgeous 2D animation and challenging platforming, evolving from solo adventure to cooperative chaos.
Repton
Boulder-dodging on the Beeb
Superior Software's Repton series challenged BBC Micro owners with boulder-physics puzzles and spawned one of the platform's most beloved franchises.
Resident Evil
Survival horror defined
Resident Evil codified survival horror with fixed camera angles, limited resources, and the Spencer Mansion's interconnected puzzles, creating a genre that terrified millions.
Reversi
The flip side of strategy
Victorian board game Reversi—later trademarked as Othello—became a computer gaming staple, teaching territory control and forward thinking.
Rez
Synaesthesia in digital form
Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Rez fused rail shooting with electronic music, creating an audio-visual experience where gameplay and sound became inseparable.
River City Ransom
Beat-em-up meets RPG
River City Ransom combined side-scrolling brawling with RPG progression, letting players buy food, learn techniques, and build stats while punching through gang-controlled streets.
Road Rash
Combat racing
Road Rash combined motorcycle racing with vehicular combat, letting players punch, kick, and club opponents while tearing down Californian highways.
Robot Odyssey
The hardest game ever made
The Learning Company's notoriously complex 1984 puzzle game where players programmed robots to escape an underground city.
Robotron: 2084
Twin-stick perfection
Eugene Jarvis's Robotron: 2084 defined twin-stick shooting with its dual-joystick controls, relentless enemy waves, and the desperate goal of saving the last human family.
Rock Band
Start a band in your living room
Harmonix expanded the Guitar Hero concept to full bands, letting four players perform together on drums, bass, guitar, and vocals.
Rocky's Boots
Logic gates for children
The Learning Company's 1982 game that taught Boolean logic and circuit design to children through engaging puzzles.
Rogue
The original permadeath
Rogue created the roguelike genre with procedurally generated dungeons, permadeath, and ASCII graphics, establishing design principles that would influence games for decades.
RollerCoaster Tycoon
Theme park management
RollerCoaster Tycoon let players build elaborate theme parks with custom coasters, achieving remarkable depth through code written entirely in assembly language by one developer.
RollerCoaster Tycoon
Theme park simulation perfection
RollerCoaster Tycoon let players design theme parks with intricate coaster construction, all coded in assembly language by one developer.
Rolling Thunder
Stylish spy action
Rolling Thunder combined cover-based shooting with stylish spy aesthetics, tasking players with infiltrating enemy strongholds while managing limited ammunition.
Rygar
Diskarmor warrior
Rygar combined side-scrolling action with overhead exploration sections, sending a warrior with a yo-yo-like shield weapon through mythological landscapes.
Sabre Wulf
Ultimate's jungle adventure
Sabre Wulf combined smooth scrolling, vibrant graphics, and expansive exploration in a hostile jungle, establishing Ultimate's reputation for technical and design excellence.
Salamander
Gradius goes co-op
Salamander brought simultaneous two-player action to Gradius-style shooting, with direct power-ups replacing the selection bar and organic alien environments.
Sam & Max Hit the Road
Freelance police
Sam & Max Hit the Road followed a dog detective and hyperkinetic rabbity thing across American roadside attractions, delivering surreal comedy through LucasArts' refined adventure formula.
Samurai Shodown
Weapon-based precision
Samurai Shodown emphasised single decisive strikes over combo chains, creating a tense, methodical fighting game set in feudal Japan with distinctive SNK artistry.
Scramble
Side-scrolling pioneer
Scramble established the side-scrolling shooter template with fuel management, terrain navigation, and multiple weapon types that defined the genre for decades.
Secret of Mana
Action RPG harmony
Secret of Mana delivered real-time combat with three-player co-op on SNES, combining action gameplay with RPG progression in a vibrant world of Mana and ancient civilisation.
Sega Rally Championship
Surface matters
Sega Rally Championship introduced surface-dependent handling to racing games, with tyres responding differently to asphalt, gravel, and mud in genre-defining rally action.
Sensible Soccer
Beautiful simplicity
Sensible Software stripped football to its essence—tiny players, aftertouch, and pure competitive joy.
Shadow of the Beast
Parallax perfection
Shadow of the Beast showcased the Amiga's graphical power with unprecedented parallax scrolling and atmospheric visuals, becoming a system-selling technical demonstration.
Shenmue
Living world pioneer
Shenmue created an unprecedented living world with day/night cycles, weather systems, and NPC schedules, pioneering open-world design at enormous cost to Sega.
Shin Megami Tensei
Negotiate with demons
Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei series offered darker, more mature JRPGs where players recruit demons, make moral choices, and navigate post-apocalyptic Tokyo.
Shining Force
Tactical RPG warfare
Shining Force brought tactical RPG battles to the Mega Drive, combining Fire Emblem-style grid combat with explorable towns and a diverse army of recruitable characters.
Shinobi
Ninja arcade action
Shinobi established Sega's ninja franchise with tight platforming, hostage rescue missions, and the devastating ninja magic attacks that cleared screens of enemies.
Shovel Knight
NES perfection, modern design
Yacht Club Games' 2014 action-platformer that captured the NES aesthetic perfectly while incorporating decades of design lessons.
Silent Hill
Psychological horror
Silent Hill shifted survival horror from action to atmosphere, using fog, radio static, and psychological terror to create dread that lingered long after the game ended.
SimCity
City building pioneer
SimCity invented the city-building genre, letting players zone, build, and manage urban development while balancing budgets, traffic, and the occasional disaster.
SimCity
Urban planning simulation
SimCity let players build and manage cities from scratch, pioneering the simulation genre with its open-ended gameplay and systems-driven urban development.
Skate or Die
EA skateboarding
Skate or Die brought skateboard culture to home computers with five competitive events, attitude-filled presentation, and the rebellious spirit that defined 1980s skating.
Skidmarks
Blitz Basic racing
Acid Software's top-down racing game that proved Blitz Basic could produce commercial hits, featuring split-screen multiplayer and satisfying physics.
Snake
Nokia's killer app
Pre-installed on Nokia phones, Snake became one of the most-played games in history, demonstrating that compelling gameplay needs minimal technology.
Snake Rattle 'n' Roll
Isometric snake action
Snake Rattle 'n' Roll challenged players to guide hungry snakes through isometric worlds, eating pellets to grow long enough to reach the exit scale.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Speed kills (Nintendo's dominance)
Sega's blue blur gave them a mascot, a marketing weapon, and the game that made Genesis a genuine threat to Nintendo.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Gotta go fast
Sonic the Hedgehog established SEGA's mascot and created a new approach to platforming focused on speed and momentum.
Soul Calibur
A tale of souls and swords
Soul Calibur perfected 3D weapon-based fighting with eight-way movement and the Dreamcast port that many consider the greatest launch title in console history.
Space Channel 5
Up, down, up, down, chu, chu, chu
Space Channel 5 blended rhythm gameplay with 1960s retro-futurism, creating a stylish musical experience that epitomised Dreamcast's creative experimentation.
Space Harrier
Into the Fantasy Zone
Space Harrier pioneered the into-screen shooter with sprite scaling technology, sending players flying through surreal landscapes at unprecedented speed.
Space Invaders
The game that conquered Earth
Taito's 1978 arcade phenomenon created the shooter genre, caused a coin shortage in Japan, and proved games could be cultural events.
Space Quest
Sci-fi comedy adventure
Space Quest followed hapless janitor Roger Wilco through comedic sci-fi adventures, parodying Star Trek, Star Wars, and science fiction tropes with Sierra's punishing puzzle design.
Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe
Ice cream! Ice cream!
The Bitmap Brothers' violent future sport combined pinball physics with tactical team management.
Spelunky
Roguelike platformer
Spelunky fused roguelike principles with platformer action, proving procedural generation and permadeath could work in real-time gameplay and inspiring a generation of roguelites.
Splatterhouse
Horror beat-em-up
Splatterhouse brought slasher film aesthetics to arcades, with a hockey-masked hero fighting through grotesque monsters in one of gaming's first explicitly horror-themed brawlers.
Spy Hunter
Vehicular espionage
Spy Hunter combined vertical scrolling driving with James Bond gadgetry, letting players deploy oil slicks, smoke screens, and missiles against enemy vehicles.
Spy vs Spy
Split-screen sabotage
Spy vs Spy adapted the MAD Magazine comic strip into simultaneous split-screen gameplay where two spies set traps, searched for items, and raced to escape before each other.
Spyro the Dragon
Colourful 3D platforming
Spyro the Dragon offered open 3D worlds to explore, combining flame breath, charging attacks, and gem collecting in a family-friendly platformer that showcased PlayStation's capabilities.
SSX
Snowboarding spectacle
SSX combined arcade snowboarding with massive tricks, vibrant presentation, and a boost system that rewarded stylish play, defining extreme sports on PlayStation 2.
Star Fox
Super FX revolution
Nintendo's 1993 SNES rail shooter that used the custom Super FX chip to bring filled polygon 3D to consoles, created in partnership with Argonaut.
Star Fox 64
Do a barrel roll
Star Fox 64 delivered cinematic rail-shooter action with full voice acting, branching paths, and the first Rumble Pak support, creating an endlessly quotable Nintendo classic.
Star Raiders
The first space combat simulator
Atari's groundbreaking 1979 space combat game that defined the genre and demonstrated what the Atari 400/800 could achieve.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Choose your path
KOTOR proved Star Wars could transcend action games, delivering a narrative RPG where player choices determined whether you saved the galaxy or ruled it through the dark side.
StarCraft
Asymmetric RTS perfection
StarCraft delivered three radically different factions in perfect balance, creating an esports phenomenon that dominated competitive gaming for over a decade.
Starglider
Filled polygons on 8-bit
Argonaut's 1986 3D combat flight game that brought filled polygon graphics to home computers, establishing the studio's reputation for technical wizardry.
Street Fighter
The fighter that started it all
Capcom's 1987 arcade fighting game that introduced special move inputs and laid the groundwork for Street Fighter II's revolution - even if the original is largely forgotten.
Street Fighter II
The fighting game revolution
Street Fighter II created the competitive fighting game genre, revitalised arcades, and sparked console wars as Sega and Nintendo fought for the best port.
Streets of Rage
Genesis brawling
Streets of Rage delivered console-exclusive beat-em-up excellence with tight combat, memorable music by Yuzo Koshiro, and cooperative gameplay that rivalled arcade offerings.
Strider
Futuristic ninja action
Strider delivered acrobatic ninja action across a dystopian world, with Hiryu's plasma sword slicing through enemies as he climbed walls, hung from ceilings, and flipped through the air.
Suikoden
108 Stars of Destiny
Suikoden adapted the classical Chinese novel's structure to JRPG form, tasking players with recruiting 108 characters to build an army and headquarters against tyranny.
Summer Games
Epyx Olympic excellence
Summer Games brought Olympic events to home computers with polished presentation, national anthems, and multiplayer competition that defined Epyx's sports game formula.
Sunset Riders
Wild West run-and-gun
Sunset Riders brought Contra-style action to the Wild West, with four bounty hunters chasing outlaws through saloons, trains, and frontier towns in colourful arcade action.
Super C
Contra's intense sequel
Super C continued Contra's run-and-gun action with new weapons, overhead stages, and relentless alien battles, maintaining the series' reputation for demanding cooperative gameplay.
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
SNES platforming punishment
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts continued Capcom's legendary difficulty with gorgeous 16-bit visuals, the double-jump, and the requirement to complete the game twice for the true ending.
Super Mario 64
3D platforming born
Super Mario 64 invented 3D platforming with its revolutionary analogue control, dynamic camera system, and open-ended level design that gave players unprecedented freedom of movement.
Super Mario Bros.
The game that defined gaming
Bundled with the NES, Super Mario Bros. rescued the American games industry and established the vocabulary of platform game design.
Super Mario Bros. 3
NES platforming perfected
Super Mario Bros. 3 expanded Mario's abilities with suits and power-ups, delivering eight diverse worlds and becoming the NES's defining platformer.
Super Mario Land
Mario's handheld debut
Super Mario Land brought the plumber to Game Boy, adapting the formula for portable play with unique vehicles and Gunpei Yokoi's design sensibility.
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Wario's debut
Nintendo R&D1's Super Mario Land 2 expanded Game Boy Mario with larger sprites, non-linear world selection, and the villainous debut of Wario.
Super Metroid
The perfect formula
Nintendo's Super Metroid refined the exploration-action formula to near perfection, becoming the template against which all Metroidvanias are measured.
Super Robin Hood
Codemasters’ budget swashbuckler
The Oliver Twins’ Super Robin Hood packed platforming, traps, and treasure into a £1.99 cassette that made them household names.
Supreme Commander
Strategic zoom
Supreme Commander delivered Total Annihilation's spiritual successor with revolutionary strategic zoom, letting players seamlessly transition from individual units to entire theatre overview.
Syndicate
Corporate dystopia
Syndicate combined real-time tactics with cyberpunk atmosphere, letting players control a squad of augmented agents in missions of corporate warfare.
System Shock
Immersive simulation pioneer
System Shock combined first-person action with RPG systems and environmental storytelling, creating the 'immersive sim' template that influenced Deus Ex, BioShock, and countless others.
System Shock 2
Horror in space
System Shock 2 merged RPG systems with survival horror aboard a derelict starship, influencing BioShock and establishing the template for narrative-driven immersive sims.
Tales of Phantasia
Linear Motion Battle
Tales of Phantasia pioneered real-time JRPG combat with the Linear Motion Battle System, launching a franchise that would span decades with its action-focused approach.
Tekken
3D fighting evolution
Tekken brought accessible 3D fighting to arcades and PlayStation, with limb-based controls and juggle combos that created an alternative to Virtua Fighter's technical demands.
Tempest
Vector tube shooter
Tempest pioneered 3D perspective in arcade gaming, sending players down geometric tubes to blast emerging enemies in one of Atari's most visually striking creations.
Tempest 2000
Llamasoft’s neon rebirth of an arcade classic
In 1994 Jeff Minter reimagined Atari’s vector shooter for the Jaguar, delivering a rave-worthy soundtrack and hypnotic visuals.
Tetris
The perfect game
Alexey Pajitnov's falling-block puzzle conquered the world, sold the Game Boy, and proved games could transcend language and culture.
The 7th Guest
CD-ROM's killer app
Trilobyte's haunted house puzzle game showcased CD-ROM technology with full-motion video and helped establish the multimedia PC era.
The Binding of Isaac
Tears and trauma
The Binding of Isaac wrapped roguelike mechanics in disturbing religious imagery and bodily horror, achieving massive success through endless item combinations and dark humour.
The Chaos Engine
Steampunk shooter
The Chaos Engine combined top-down shooting with character selection and cooperative play in a Victorian steampunk world, showcasing the Bitmap Brothers' design excellence.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Alien world
Morrowind dropped players into Vvardenfell's alien landscape without hand-holding, trusting them to find their own path through a world of giant mushrooms, enslaved races, and dying gods.
The Hobbit
The revolutionary text adventure
Melbourne House's 1982 text adventure that pushed the genre forward with independent NPCs, a sophisticated parser, and a living world that changed whether you interacted with it or not.
The House of the Dead
Aim for the head
Sega's 1996 arcade horror shooter that combined B-movie zombie aesthetics with light gun gameplay, spawning a beloved franchise.
The King of Fighters
Team battle royale
The King of Fighters united SNK's fighting game universes into team-based tournaments, creating an annual franchise with deep mechanics beloved by competitive players.
The Last Ninja
Isometric excellence
System 3's martial arts masterpiece combined isometric exploration, combat, and Ben Daglish's legendary SID soundtrack.
The Legend of Zelda
A world to explore
Miyamoto's action-adventure masterpiece gave players an open world, battery-backed saves, and a sense of discovery that defined a genre.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Open air adventure
Breath of the Wild reinvented the Zelda formula with emergent gameplay, physics-based puzzles, and unprecedented freedom in a vast open world.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Dream island adventure
Link's Awakening brought Zelda's exploration to Game Boy with a surreal island setting, memorable characters, and a bittersweet narrative that transcended hardware limitations.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
3D adventure perfected
Ocarina of Time translated Zelda into 3D with revolutionary Z-targeting, context-sensitive controls, and a time-spanning narrative that set the template for 3D action-adventure games.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Cel-shaded seas
Wind Waker divided opinion with its cartoon aesthetic but delivered timeless visuals and ocean exploration that endure better than any realistic alternative.
The Oregon Trail
You have died of dysentery
The 1971 educational game that taught American children about westward expansion while killing their virtual families with disease.
The Secret of Monkey Island
Mighty pirate adventure
The Secret of Monkey Island perfected the point-and-click adventure with witty writing, memorable characters, and puzzles that challenged without frustrating.
Theme Park
Build your dream park
Theme Park put players in charge of designing and managing an amusement park, balancing ride construction, staff management, and guest happiness.
Thief: The Dark Project
Stealth game pioneer
Thief invented the first-person stealth genre, making shadows, sound, and patience more important than combat in a dark fantasy world of guards, monsters, and valuable loot.
Thrust
Gravity is a harsh mistress
Jeremy Smith's physics-based game brought Gravitar-style gameplay to home computers with brutal precision requirements.
Thunder Force
Mega Drive shooting excellence
Thunder Force evolved from free-scrolling computer game to Mega Drive showcase, with Thunder Force III and IV delivering some of the finest 16-bit shooting action.
Time Crisis
Take cover!
Namco's revolutionary 1995 light gun game that introduced the cover mechanic, transforming arcade shooters into tactical experiences.
TMNT: The Arcade Game
Four-player perfection
Konami's 1989 four-player beat 'em up that became the gold standard for licensed games and arcade co-op, proving that treating licenses seriously produced excellence.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Light and shadow
Splinter Cell defined stealth through its light meter mechanic, putting players in darkness as Sam Fisher navigated geopolitical intrigue with lethal precision.
Tomb Raider
Action archaeology
Tomb Raider sent Lara Croft exploring ancient tombs with athletic platforming and puzzle-solving, creating gaming's first female icon and defining 3D action-adventure.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Skateboarding revolution
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater transformed skateboarding into accessible gaming with intuitive trick systems, iconic level design, and soundtracks that defined a generation.
Total Annihilation
Scale warfare
Total Annihilation introduced true 3D terrain, streaming economy, and unprecedented unit counts, pushing RTS toward grand-scale conflict that StarCraft deliberately avoided.
Track & Field
Button-mashing Olympics
Track & Field transformed athletic events into frantic button-mashing competitions, destroying joysticks and creating a multiplayer party game phenomenon.
Transport Tycoon
Build your network
Chris Sawyer's Transport Tycoon let players build transport empires across procedural landscapes, inspiring dedicated fans who maintain the game to this day.
Turrican
German engineering, Amiga power
Manfred Trenz's run-and-gun showcased Amiga capabilities with massive levels, smooth scrolling, and Chris Hülsbeck's thunderous soundtrack.
TwinBee
Cute vertical shooter
TwinBee pioneered the cute-em-up genre with its colourful aesthetic, bell-juggling power-up system, and two-player cooperative shooting featuring adorable bee-shaped ships.
Ultima
The RPG that defined them all
The Ultima series established computer RPG conventions from character creation to open worlds, with Ultima IV pioneering ethical gameplay and virtue systems.
Unreal
Visual spectacle
Unreal showcased unprecedented visual technology with vast outdoor environments, coloured lighting, and detailed textures that pushed PC gaming into a new graphical era.
Uridium
Side-scrolling speed on the C64
Andrew Braybrook’s Uridium pushed the Commodore 64 to deliver blistering horizontal shooters with cinematic flair.
Vagrant Story
Lea Monde's depths
Vagrant Story delivered Shakespearean drama and intricate weapon crafting in a dungeon crawler that demanded mastery, earning perfect scores while remaining defiantly uncommercial.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Flawed masterpiece
Bloodlines shipped broken but brilliant, capturing the World of Darkness with unprecedented atmosphere and reactivity before patches and mods revealed the masterpiece underneath.
Vectorman
Pre-rendered Mega Drive
Vectorman brought pre-rendered 3D graphics to the Mega Drive through a robot hero made of spheres, showcasing impressive visuals in Sega's battle against the next generation.
Virtua Cop
The polygon shooter
Sega's 1994 arcade light gun game that pioneered 3D graphics in the genre and introduced target prioritisation mechanics.
Virtua Fighter
3D fighting born
Virtua Fighter pioneered 3D polygon fighting games with realistic martial arts, spawning a genre and establishing Sega's arcade dominance in the early 1990s.
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
Blizzard's strategy debut
Warcraft brought real-time strategy to fantasy, establishing Blizzard's flagship universe with humans versus orcs warfare and accessible multiplayer competition.
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
Greed is good
Wario Land transformed Mario's antagonist into a playable anti-hero, replacing precision platforming with treasure hunting and shoulder-charging through a greedy adventure.
Wasteland
Post-nuclear party
Interplay's Wasteland created the post-apocalyptic RPG template that would later inspire Fallout, featuring party-based combat and a persistent, reactive world.
Way of the Exploding Fist
One-on-one combat perfected
Melbourne House's 1985 fighting game brought martial arts to home computers with smooth animation and precise controls.
Wing Commander
Space combat cinema
Wing Commander combined cinematic storytelling with space combat simulation, pioneering narrative-driven action games and pushing PC hardware to its limits.
Wings of Fury
Pacific carrier combat
Wings of Fury delivered intense World War II carrier aviation with satisfying bombing runs, strafing attacks, and carrier landings across the Pacific theatre.
Winter Games
Cold weather Olympics
Winter Games brought snow and ice sports to home computers with seven events including ski jumping, bobsled, and figure skating, continuing Epyx's successful Olympic formula.
WipEout
Anti-gravity cool
WipEout combined futuristic anti-gravity racing with designer aesthetics and electronic music, establishing PlayStation's identity as the cool gamer's platform.
Wizardry
JRPG ancestor
The 1981 Sir-Tech dungeon crawler that defined first-person RPG mechanics and directly inspired Dragon Quest and the entire JRPG genre.
Wizball
Colour restoration odyssey
Sensible Software's surreal shooter paired innovative gameplay with Martin Galway's dreamy SID soundtrack.
Wonder Boy
Skateboarding through danger
Wonder Boy combined platforming with constant forward momentum, as the skateboard-riding hero raced through jungle stages collecting fruit to maintain vitality while rescuing his girlfriend.
Worms
Artillery warfare
Worms transformed artillery games into a cultural phenomenon, combining destructible terrain, creative weapons, and squeaky-voiced invertebrates into multiplayer mayhem.
Wrecking Crew
Demolition puzzles
Wrecking Crew challenged Mario to demolish walls in the correct order, combining puzzle-solving with action as enemies interfered with the destruction.
X-COM: UFO Defense
Tactical + strategic mastery
MicroProse's 1994 strategy masterpiece that combined turn-based tactical combat with strategic base management, creating one of gaming's most influential and beloved franchises.
X-COM: UFO Defense
Tactical alien defence
X-COM combined base building, resource management, and tense turn-based tactics in a fight against alien invasion that spawned a legendary strategy franchise.
Xenogears
Philosophical mecha
Xenogears fused giant robot combat with Jungian psychology, Gnostic mythology, and questions about God, consciousness, and human nature—ambitious beyond its troubled production.
Xenon 2: Megablast
Bitmap Brothers' shooter
Xenon 2: Megablast combined vertical shooting with upgrade shops and a licensed Bomb the Bass soundtrack, defining the Bitmap Brothers' style.
Xevious
Vertical shooting refined
Xevious established templates for vertical shooters with its dual weapon system, detailed scrolling landscapes, and mysterious alien aesthetic that influenced countless games.
Yakuza
Like a Dragon
Sega's Yakuza series blended crime drama with absurdist side content, creating urban sandboxes where brutal combat coexisted with karaoke and arcade games.
Zaxxon
Isometric space combat
Zaxxon pioneered isometric 3D in arcade shooters, challenging players to navigate fortress walls while managing altitude in a visually groundbreaking experience.
Zork
The great underground empire
Zork defined text adventure gaming with its sophisticated parser, witty writing, and sprawling underground world, establishing Infocom as the master of interactive fiction.