Which Games' Erasings Would Cause The Biggest Domino Effect?

[Randoman]

And to make this interesting and unredundant, let's ban Pong from this, seeing how no video games would've existed at all without its creation. At least, I'm pretty sure no video games would exist without Pong.

Pac-Man, Donkey Kong (the arcade version), Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Kart, Doom, Ultima (I think that was the first game that resembled a traditional RPG), Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat come to mind right now. I'm pretty sure there's more. Pac-Man because it got a lot of people into video games during its time, Donkey Kong because that's when Nintendo (arguably the biggest game developer in history) made it big in the industry of video games, Super Mario Bros. because it's success was a factor to stopping the video game crash of 1983, Super Mario Kart because so many kart racers were based off the Mario Kart formula, Doom because it popularized the FPS genre (no Doom likely means no Halo, CoD, etc.), Ultima because it's the first traditional RPG (if there was another RPG before it please tell me so I can fix this), Street Fighter because it made the fighting genre mainstream, and Mortal Kombat because it's violence resulted in the ESRB being created.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Randoman

[HongLei]

world of Warcraft shutting down triples the suicide rate in the population

No LoZ Ocarina of Time :/ that game changed so much with its 3d adventure. It doesn't even look to out dated today.

[Celice]

The Puzzle game. It's pretty dead now, but it was a popular element in ANY kind of game.

[Swordsalmon]

And to make this interesting and unredundant, let's ban Pong from this, seeing how no video games would've existed at all without its creation. At least, I'm pretty sure no video games would exist without Pong.

Pong wasn't the first video game.

If Super Mario Bros wasn't developed, I doubt that the video game industry would've been revived in the West. It was the reason the NES sold, after all.

[Tangerine]

Dragon Quest is an obvious one.

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

Not the biggest domino effect, but one that is still big:

Goldeneye N64.

Despite the success of Doom, console FPSes at that time still sucked. Without Goldeneye N64, FPSes would still be a "PC-exclusive" genre.

I don't like console FPSes anymore, but that doesn't change anything.

Edited March 26, 2012 by BLS

[Celice]

Dragon Quest is an obvious one.

Quelle horreur! To think, other than the obvious JRPG struts, the word 'hoimi' may never have come to be...!

[Gone2Ground]

Wipe out Dune.

See no other RTS ever make it succesful.

Watch no other RTS be successful, watch no Blizzard.

Watch no Blizzard, watch no WoW.

Watch no WoW, watch no The Old Republic...watch third Knights of the Old Republic game.

*Looks at DeLorean, then at copy of StarCraft*

Sorry, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, pal.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Gone2Ground

[Randoman]

Dragon Quest, completely forgot about that one. Even if Ultima was first, Dragon Quest popularized the RPG genre in the east.

I also forgot to add Tetris and Final Fantasy as well.

And how could anyone forget, E.T. for the Atari 2600. I wonder how it would've affected the video game crash of 1983 (or if it would've been stopped altogether without its release. Probably not, seeing how all games in general had bad quality at the time from what I heard).

Pong wasn't the first video game.

Alright then, what was it?

I'm bringing this quote from another thread since it getting off topic in that thread while it's perfectly on topic here.

Compared to something like Pong? Yes, it wouldn't. Surely, it would have a domino effect (as I said myself - there's a reason why Mario kind of became the mascot of videogaming), but it wouldn't logically implode everything. Even because most non-platformer genres don't give a damn about Mario.

We can both agree on Pong's erasal causing the biggest domino effect.

...but, I don't think you're aware of the video game crash of 1983, and how Mario and Nintendo fit into it. I wish I had a good video to show you so you'd know the details (this link is a good read, but a long one). I suppose you want the short version: game developers for Atari in 1983 started focusing more on the quantity of games over the quality, North America/Europe grew to hate games as a result of quality being compromised, and the game industry there came to a halt as a result so barely anyone bought video games anymore. Japan however, continued to develop games with much success and with lots of consumers. When the NES was developed, Japan wanted to bring it over to North America/Europe, but was afraid to due to North America/Europe still being lukewarm to gaming. Nintendo marketed it as an Entertainment System instead of a game system so people wouldn't turn it down because of their lukewarmness to gaming. They also marketed it with a robot named R.O.B. so that people would think it's a toy and not a game, and would be more willing to buy it. Those tactics worked quite well, but not as well as packing the NES with Super Mario Bros., a game that was revolutionary for its time in terms of graphics, control, and level size. The gaming market in North America/Europe was restored as a result and the video game crash came to an end.

...I suppose you'll argue that another game company and game could've just as easily gotten North America/Europe to start liking video games again. but in terms of game companies out there that could've done that, North American/European game companies had a bad reputation during the video game crash and likely wouldn't have been able to revitalize the game industry because of that. As for non-North American/European game companies that could've revitalized gaming in the west, there weren't any that were prominent enough to do that besides Nintendo (Sega made the Master System and released it in the US in 1986, only as a result of the video game market being restored). As for another game besides Mario revitalizing gaming, I already said before that other games and game series likely could've done it as well (like Zelda, Metroid, Contra, and Mega Man), but I doubt that they would've gotten as many people into gaming as Mario (due to Zelda and Metroid being too easy to get lost and stuck in and Contra and Mega Man being too hard). If you can think of another game series that could've gotten as many people into gaming as Mario, I'm all ears.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Randoman

[Dark Sage]

Wasn't the first game called Computer Space or something? I dunno, my video game history is rough.

[fuzz94]

The very first Final Fantasy, not only did it lead to a very long list of Final Fantasy games as well as Kingdom Hearts, anything created by Square Enix after Final Fantasy would have never came into existence because they almost closed down.

[Tangerine]

The very first Final Fantasy, not only did it lead to a very long list of Final Fantasy games as well as Kingdom Hearts, anything created by Square Enix after Final Fantasy would have never came into existence because they almost closed down.

You mean SquareSoft. Enix would have been fine alone, it'd just be much smaller if not for the merger. If SquareSoft died because FF was not created, Enix would still be alive today.

I don't think FF counts, because it is largely inspired by DQ. DQ is what would create that domino effect, not FF. DQ has the distinction of being the first console-style RPG and the one that popularized the genre (not inspired by Ultima, which is a PC-style RPG). It's also still the best selling RPG series in Japan, not FF. DQ7 sold better than even FF7 in Japan, by over a million copies.

If any game in the FF series deserves to be mentioned here it's 7, as it popularized the console-style RPG in the west. Of course, since we're talking domino effects, you could again attribute that to DQ for inspiring the creation of FF.

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

Wasn't the first game called Computer Space or something? I dunno, my video game history is rough.

It's called "Spacewar!" But there was a CRT amusement device that was made in 1947. Spacewar was made in 1961.

[TheEnd]

...but, I don't think you're aware of the video game crash of 1983,

You start your argument with a faulty premise...

Japan however, continued to develop games with much success and with lots of consumers.

... then kill most of it, by admitting that game development wouldn't take that much of a blow (western games and platformers aside, there probably wouldn't be much of an effect)...

If you can think of another game series that could've gotten as many people into gaming as Mario, I'm all ears.

.. settling with "Mario's merit was introducing westerners to videogames!"

So, basically. What would go?

Popularity in the west (Japan doesn't care)

Platformer tropes (other genres don't care)

Mascots (which ties to popularity)

Western developers (tied to popularity as well - less gamers = less people and less money in the industry)

Even as a Sega fanboy, I can't bring myself to saying Mario's disappearance would even alter the balance of forces in the console wars - as saying Nintendo triumphed because of Mario alone is downright hilarious. So that's staying, too.

Chances are we'd have a pretty different videogame scene in the west, sure. Perhaps it would be more strongly arcade-based, with racing and fighting games in the lead. Probably it would be even more niche, pricier. Or just delayed a few years. Meanwhile, Japan would keep rocking. And one day, the internet would happen...

Or everyone would be playing Tetris instead of Mario! Being of Russian make, it'd turn all those American children into communists, resulting into a wildly different end to the Cold War!

[Biabarr]

I think the original Mario game, because if that didn't exist, Nintendo may have just returned to making cards, and therefore, we would have no Nintendo today. And seriously video games - any Nintendo influence = bad

[MacLovin]

How about.

**erases the existence of FE.

**SF ceases to exist

Wonder what would happen if bishounen games ceased to exist......................

[Randoman]

... then kill most of it, by admitting that game development wouldn't take that much of a blow (western games and platformers aside, there probably wouldn't be much of an effect)...

Umm... reduced gaming popularity in the west is "not much of an effect" on game development? That's a pretty significant portion of the world.

And how is the video game crash of 1983 a faulty premise?

And I said before, I'm not saying that Nintendo succeeded because of Mario alone. Mario still played a significant factor in Nintendo's success.

Gaming probably would've been reintroduced in the west without Nintendo (although it wouldn't be as prevalent or as up to date as the east), I'll give you that.

[The_Purple_Knight]

Weaponlord , system shock , Wolfifstein , quake , dragon quest , fire emblem (surprisingly) , tactics ogre , resident evil . I don't know enough about Gaming history to think of any others .

[The Spanish Inquisition]

And how is the video game crash of 1983 a faulty premise?

I'm pretty sure The End meant the premise that you assumed he wasn't aware of the crash.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure that FPSers never would have been as popular without the success of Goldeneye, which (I admit I'm making an educated guess here) probably wasn't as popular in Japan.

I mean, really, how popular is James Bond in Japan, as compared to US/UK? Goldeneye was produced by Rare, a British company, and probably would not have been produced in Japan.

Sure there were arcade shoot'em ups and the 2-D scrolling shooters, like mega-man and metroid, but none had the feel of an FPS like Goldeneye had.

Let's not forget that American culture produces big, action-packed movies with tall, muscular men wielding machine guns and the like, not so much in Japan.

Thus, FPS games required the American market to thrive.

So what's my point? Mario->American Market->FPS

You could argue away all of this by grouping FPS under Western games and platformers, but the bloody, gory parts in gaming wouldn't have survived as strongly with neither the FPS or the American market.

[Loki Laufeyson]

If Super Mario Bros wasn't developed, I doubt that the video game industry would've been revived in the West. It was the reason the NES sold, after all.

This. There would have been no real recovery from The Great Crash of 1983. At least not the same way.

[TheEnd]

Umm... reduced gaming popularity in the west is "not much of an effect" on game development? That's a pretty significant portion of the world.

As far as console games are concerned? Not much effect, I say. Most of those are Japanese, especially in the previous generations.

And how is the video game crash of 1983 a faulty premise?

I'm pretty sure The End meant the premise that you assumed he wasn't aware of the crash.

This.

And I said before, I'm not saying that Nintendo succeeded because of Mario alone. Mario still played a significant factor in Nintendo's success.

Gaming probably would've been reintroduced in the west without Nintendo (although it wouldn't be as prevalent or as up to date as the east), I'll give you that.

I can agree with the not-so-prevalent part, but I'm not so sure about the not-up-to-date. Sure, there would be hilarious delays for years, but... once the internet kicked in, there could just be a "jump".

Take the FE series, for instance. NoA noticed it could mean money for them on FE7. What did they do? Release 7, ignore the rest. I could easily see a scenario like that happening to gaming as a whole - companies focusing on bringing over the latest stuff from Moonland and leaving aside a gap of say, 10 years aside. And it could take a while to fill that gap, even underground, as console emulation quite probably wouldn't be as advanced.

[Randoman]

Oh, you're talking about console game influence from the west. I thought you were talking about how much people are into gaming in the west (I still think that being drastically reduced in an alternate future is a pretty big change in the gaming industry, even without considering the direct and indirect effects it'd have on the gaming market).

So what's my point? Mario->American Market->FPS

Wow, I never thought of it that way.

Make sure Mario doesn't exist, and FPS's wouldn't have ever gotten the popularity they have today. I probably wouldn't do that tradeoff though, even if I do find the FPS fanbase quite ridiculous at times.

[dondon151]

chess

rock paper scissors

[General Banzai]

Super Mario Bros, probably

dat crash of 83

[Dark Sage]

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