Gaming is still a relatively young form of entertainment, though it has skyrocketed in prominence since its inception to the point where it is now one of the largest forms of entertainment in the world. While many modern releases incorporate various gameplay mechanics, art styles, and genres, games from the past would predominantly feature just one or two core ideas. This may sound rudimentary, but designers were constantly finding ways to make their games stand out with unique concepts.
Through these unique ideas that would differentiate their games, every once in a while, a designer or development team would stumble on a gameplay mechanic that would birth an entire genre, influence thousands of games, and perhaps even play an indirect part in offshoot genres and subgenres.
The designers or development teams behind the following games on this list may not have known it at the time, but they were creating the foundations of some of gaming's pillars.
Updated March 7, 2023 by Adeolu Adeoye: There are many games that are generally agreed to be the originators of a genre. Oftentimes, the genre is even named after the game that created it. Even though the industry is still as strong as it has ever been, genre-defining games are very rare. At most, a new title might come across that tweaks a classic formula, but it is almost impossible for a modern project to create something entirely fresh. What titles did just that?
8 Monster Hunter – Hunting
While the "action game" genre was alive and well by the time 2004’s Monster Hunter was released, the project's unique focus on longer fights against a cast of boss-level enemies set it apart from the crowd. Capcom's game was the origin of the hunting subgenre of action games that went on to birth other titles like Dauntless, God Eater, and the newly released WIld Hearts.
Although relatively popular, this subgenre is still quite small, and the games in it are few and far between. Even though some highly regarded projects have hit the market, Monster Hunter is still regarded as the king of the genre and the title that all other members get compared to.
7 Space Invaders
Shoot-em-ups are a subgenre of shooting games that put the action on a larger scale. Usually, they involve a craft of some kind flying through a stage while firing bullets to take out swarms of incoming enemies or giant bosses. It is itself a progenitor to ‘bullet hell’ games.
This genre can be traced back to the iconic Space Invaders, which was first released in 1975. In it, players took control of a small spacecraft firing on invading aliens that slowly descended from the top of the screen. This genre would go on to birth games like Gradius and Ikaruga, but it is somewhat niche nowadays.
6 Donkey Kong – Platformer
Although the 1978 action game Frogs was the first to have a jumping mechanic – a core component of platformers – Donkey Kong was the first true platformer. Not only did the game birth the platforming genre, but it also gave the popular style of game two of its most notable characters right off the bat with Mario and Donkey Kong.
The game uniquely features Donkey Kong as a villain and tasks players with climbing ladders and avoiding barrels as Mario to save Pauline, who Donkey Kong has captured.
Mario would, of course, go on to become gaming's biggest icon, thanks to the character's trademark Super Mario series and a multitude of spin-off and party titles like Mario Kart, Paper-Mario, and numerous sports games. As for Donkey Kong, the born-again-hero peaked with Donkey Kong Country, a game that has been remade and re-imagined on multiple occasions.
5 PUBG: Battlegrounds – Battle Royale
Battle royales are a big genre nowadays. They are large-scale multiplayer games in which players compete to be the last person standing at the end of a match. Battle royales have seen many iterations over the last decade, from shooters like Fortnite to platformers such as Fall Guys and even puzzle games like Tetris 99.
Technically, battle royales started off as mods for games like Minecraft, having been inspired by films like Battle Royale and The Hunger Games. However, PUBG was the first dedicated battle royale game and launched the genre into its modern-day popularity.
4 Metroid & Castlevania – Metroidvania
No prizes for guessing which two games inspired the aptly named Metroidvania genre. Metroid and Castlevania were both released in 1986, just one month apart from each other, and collectively laid the genre's foundations. The Metroidvania genre is distinguishable for featuring large world maps that are interconnected and initially filled with inaccessible areas that players will be able to explore once they gain abilities like double jumping or underwater swimming.
The Metroidvania genre is predominantly known for 2D side-scrollers, but there have been examples of 3D Metroidvanias over the years, such as Batman: Arkham Asylum and the Metroid Prime series. Those looking for modern Metroidvanias to play are in luck, as the genre is still going strong, with critically acclaimed games like Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Guacamelee! 2 being recent successes.
3 Demon's Souls – Souls-Like
The Souls-Like genre is by far the newest on this list. As the name suggests, the genre originated with the Souls games, which were developed by FromSoftware and include Demon's Souls and the Dark Souls trilogy. FromSoftware's Souls style can also be seen in some of their other releases, namely Bloodborne, Elden Ring, and to a lesser extent, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
The Souls-Like genre is defined by its environmental storytelling, punishing difficulty, interconnected areas, and emphasis on boss fights. Many studios have tried to capture the magic of the Souls series, with Salt and Sanctuary and Nioh being successful examples.
2 Rogue – Roguelike
Rogue first hit stores in 1980 and was released on a plethora of consoles, including Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and various PC systems. Rogue tasks players with fighting their way through enemy-infested levels to reach the bottom level of a dungeon to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor before returning to the top. The game features procedurally-generated levels, permadeath, and numerous helpful items to collect along the way, which are all staples of the roguelike genre.
The roguelike genre is thriving today, with Hades, Dead Cells, and the recently released Rogue Legacy 2 all being commercial and critical successes that are helping the genre continue its push into the attention of gaming's mainstream audience.
1 Wolfenstein 3D – First-Person Shooters
Though id Software's 1993 masterpiece DOOM was the game that popularized first-person shooters, it was another id Software release, Wolfenstein 3D, that is credited with kickstarting the genre. The game was originally going to be a 3D remake of the stealth title Castle Wolfenstein, but the development team instead chose to make a game that was fast-paced, action-packed, and violent to differentiate it from other PC games at the time.
Since the release of Wolfenstein 3D in 1992, the first-person shooter genre has sky-rocketed in popularity to become one of gaming's most recognizable and profitable genres. The Wolfenstein and DOOM series are still going strong today, while franchises like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Halo have raked in eye-watering sums of money in the gaming industry.