Games That Were Innovative and/or Ahead of Their Time
Commented chronological lists on innovative and/or ahead of their time games based on my own research and comments from various gaming forums. I'm using original release dates here.
Usually the source is the game itself, but I have occasionally taken information from a blog or from Wikipedia. Thanks to the Hardcore Gaming 101, Good Old Games, r/retrogames and GameFAQs communities for their suggestions and corrections, and to GaminGHD for the inspiration!
If you prefer an article/blog format focusing on one mechanic at a time, you're in luck - I'm slowly turning all of these into a blog series as well.
1960s-1970s Games WIP
Arcade (ARC, 1980s)
Western PCs (1980s)
Japanese PCs (1980s)
Microsoft/Sanyo MSX
Nintendo NES/Famicom
Sega Master System/Mark III (SMS)
NEC PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 & PC Engine CD (PCE & PCE CD) WIP
Sega Mega Drive/Genesis & Mega CD & 32X (MD & MCD) WIP
Nintendo Game Boy & Game Boy Color (GB & GBC) WIP
Arcade (ARC, 1990s) WIP
Western PCs (1990s) WIP
Japanese PCs (1990s) WIP
Nintendo Super NES/SNES/Super Famicom (SNES) WIP
Sega Game Gear (GG) WIP
Sega Saturn (SAT) WIP
Sony Playstation (PS1) WIP
Virtual Boy (VB) WIP
Nintendo 64 (N64) WIP
Neo Geo Pocket & NGPC
Sega Dreamcast (DC) WIP
WonderSwan & WSC
Arcade (ARC, 2000s) WIP
Western PCs (2000s) WIP
Playstation 2 (PS2) WIP
Game Boy Advance (GBA) WIP
Nintendo Gamecube (NGC) WIP
Microsoft Xbox (XB) WIP
Nintendo DS WIP
Sony PSP WIP
Xbox 360 (XB360) WIP
Playstation 3 (PS3) WIP
Nintendo Wii WIP
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Dead End Innovations - Things new games gave up on WIP
Usually the source is the game itself, but I have occasionally taken information from a blog or from Wikipedia. Thanks to the Hardcore Gaming 101, Good Old Games, r/retrogames and GameFAQs communities for their suggestions and corrections, and to GaminGHD for the inspiration!
If you prefer an article/blog format focusing on one mechanic at a time, you're in luck - I'm slowly turning all of these into a blog series as well.
1960s-1970s Games WIP
Arcade (ARC, 1980s)
Western PCs (1980s)
Japanese PCs (1980s)
Microsoft/Sanyo MSX
Nintendo NES/Famicom
Sega Master System/Mark III (SMS)
NEC PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 & PC Engine CD (PCE & PCE CD) WIP
Sega Mega Drive/Genesis & Mega CD & 32X (MD & MCD) WIP
Nintendo Game Boy & Game Boy Color (GB & GBC) WIP
Arcade (ARC, 1990s) WIP
Western PCs (1990s) WIP
Japanese PCs (1990s) WIP
Nintendo Super NES/SNES/Super Famicom (SNES) WIP
Sega Game Gear (GG) WIP
Sega Saturn (SAT) WIP
Sony Playstation (PS1) WIP
Virtual Boy (VB) WIP
Nintendo 64 (N64) WIP
Neo Geo Pocket & NGPC
Sega Dreamcast (DC) WIP
WonderSwan & WSC
Arcade (ARC, 2000s) WIP
Western PCs (2000s) WIP
Playstation 2 (PS2) WIP
Game Boy Advance (GBA) WIP
Nintendo Gamecube (NGC) WIP
Microsoft Xbox (XB) WIP
Nintendo DS WIP
Sony PSP WIP
Xbox 360 (XB360) WIP
Playstation 3 (PS3) WIP
Nintendo Wii WIP
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Dead End Innovations - Things new games gave up on WIP