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10. Metal Gear Solid


Metal Gear Solid is one of the most innovative and important games of all time for many reasons, particularly because it broke the fourth wall of gaming. Though it's not always a popular example, the mind-bending fight against Psycho Mantis epitomizes the impact of Metal Gear. It was one of the most interesting and amusing boss battles of all time; Psycho Mantis "read" your moves from the controller, making him unbeatable. To win, you had to switch your controller to the 2nd port. Weird, wacky, but downright innovative, Metal Gear Solid re-introduced game designers and gamers to the notion that a game could innovate in this day and age above and beyond graphics and level design.

9. GoldenEye 007


Hands-down, the console killer app of the 90's, the best game ever licensed from a film, and still arguably the best console first-person shooter of all time, Rare's GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64 silenced the naysayers who believed the FPS would never transcend mouse-controlled computer platforms. It also established split-screen head-to-head gaming as a viable, compelling scenario, thus paving the way for a little franchise we like to call "Halo."


8. The Sims


The highest-selling computer game of all time, Will Wright's masterpiece finds its strength in its malleable nature, since this "life simulation" can be so many things to so many people. Whether you're looking for a challenging game of balance and endurance, an exercise in raising pets, or an architecture and decorating exercise, you're bound to find something compelling in The Sims or its multitude of expansions, spin-offs, and sequels. A rare match of style and substance, and absolutely a threshold step in the history of gaming.


7. Wolfenstein 3D


As revolutionary as any title in the history of the medium, Wolfenstein 3D introduced gamers to a whole new perspective in shooting-first person -- at a time when static sprites dominated flat, Super Mario-driven gaming. Wolfenstein 3D launched id, the most influential developer in the 90's rush of first-person shooters, and allowed John Carmack to bust the door open with Doom and Quake. This title was as big a step in video games as sound or color in motion pictures.


6. Pac-Man


Originally launched in 1979, Namco's Pac-Man quickly became the most popular video game of all time. Pac-Man launched a global phenomenon, featuring the medium's biggest star character (and Mad Magazine's Man of the Year 1982). The title also gave birth to the 80's arcade culture while riding a wave of merchandising that reached Saturday Morning Cartoons, toys, pajamas and Pac-Man Fever, a beloved Top 40 record. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Pac-Man must have one hell of an ego -- the format was borrowed, evolved or outright stolen by dozens of imitators, and remains a staple of arcade collections and mobile time diversions today. Though its gameplay heritage doesn't influence many games anymore, it's hard to imagine another game ever having the global impact of Pac-Man.


5. Super Mario 64


This Nintendo 64 launch title arrived in the fall of 1996 as a herald of the future: Never again would the beating heart and soul of video games live in two dimensions. Another title masterminded by Shigeru Miyamoto, Super Mario 64 utilized the Nintendo 64's unique controller's delicate touch to deliver an unprecedented amount of control, from Mario's cautious footsteps to a mini-stick dedicated solely to camera manipulation. Super Mario 64 also perfected the hub-based system of linear level evolution, allowing the player to re-enter levels with new powers and skills to explore new areas, a concept which dominated console games for the generation.



4. World of WarCraft


In years to come, this title may very well bound to the top of this or any list considering monumental achievements in gaming. With a worldwide player base topping eight million, World of WarCraft was the breakthrough mainstream massively multiplayer game, and the exact moment when video gaming became a social exercise by necessity. Incorporating the best of so many influences, WoW takes only moments to learn, but offers an astoundingly complex, ever-expanding world that remains accessible thanks to its evolution bite-sized increments. Simply put, the whole world is playing WoW, and gaming will never be the same.

3. The Legend of Zelda


The Legend of Zelda was a breakthrough when it was released in America in 1987, and quickly became the first mainstream RPG video game hit. It also began one of the most innovative and influential gaming dynasties of all time and, along with Super Mario Bros., rescued the industry from the devastating effects of the crash of 1983.
The is the masterpiece from the master, the most important game from industry legend Shigeru Miyamoto, who has had a hand in creating many, many landmark titles in video game history. The Zelda cartridge was distinguished by a golden casing, and was the first to include a battery pack for saving your progress, helping establish the game as a monumental milestone for the NES. But this was no simple cosmetic slip and bait: The game itself is perhaps the most influential RPG ever made.
A classically structured fantasy tale, Zelda put you into the green moccasins of Link, the young pauper destined to assemble the TriForce and use its power to overthrow the diabolical Ganon and save the princess Zelda. With so many now-classic features that instantly became go-to RPG conventions even in modern titles like World of WarCraft and The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Zelda can be considered the Casablanca of video games. And somehow, each new sequel retells the same story while delivering status quo-shattering breakthroughs. Later incarnations, like 1991's SNES entry A Link to the Past, were lauded as masterpieces, and some consider Zelda's 1998 installment The Ocarina of Time to be the best video game ever made. And the ball keeps rolling: Last year's GameCube and Wii Zelda title, Twilight Princess, has established that console as a major force against its overpowered competition while also redefining the way we interface with a video game.
Look back on the history of video games, and realize how many times the industry took a step forward wearing shoes emblazoned with the Legend of Zelda logo. This is where it all began.
2. John Madden NFL Football


Electronic Arts has established an empire as the most successful third party games publisher of all time, and they've done it squarely on the shoulders of their infinitely successful Madden NFL franchise -- the top-selling series in gaming history and most important weapon in the console wars for more than a decade. Last year alone, Madden was the top-selling video game of the year, and fueled EA's power moves to secure the exclusive rights to the NFL while granting a gigantic boon to the Xbox 360 by agreeing to work with Microsoft's Xbox's Live service (thereby forcing the mighty Microsoft, or allowing them, to cease their own sports line).
Ironically, the title owes very little of its success to its namesake. In fact, association with the game (which first launched for the Apple II in 1989, and moved into console domination in 1992) has made the actual John Madden far more known and respected than he ever was within the world of pro football. But John Madden's fame and the video game's influence rose together through generations of technology, and a cultural touchstone was created in the fusion. John Madden indelibly became the voice of video game sports the game incorporated his actual voice in 1996. Now, those vague comments, questionable insights and bizarre thought processes are a beloved part of millions of armchair quarterback's favorite moments every year.
Revenue and respect from Madden has allowed EA to dominate the video game market share and elbow their way into some of the most valuable rights on the market, including Harry Potter, James Bond and those nigh priceless exclusive pro sports rights. No game in history has sold as many consoles as Madden, and the end of this franchise's domination is nowhere in sight.

1. Grand Theft Auto III


In everyone's life, there comes a time when you can confidently point to an Earth-shifting cultural change and just know. Elvis Presley didn't merely alter the landscape of rock, he changed music. Star Wars didn't influence genre films or set precedents in science fiction, it changed movies. Forever. And in that same way, Grand Theft Auto III changed video games because its influence will extend to almost every genre of games, possibly forever.

Sure, folks took umbrage at the game's pervasive violence, questionable ethics, and potentially terrifying impact on society. But nobody can deny GTA III's revolutionary impact on game design. When Grand Theft Auto III landed in October of 2001, it instantaneously dated every game that came before it. The open-ended sandbox design of GTA III was a masterstroke, allowing the player an unprecedented degree of freedom to play as they choose. Whether following the main plot or ignoring it, players were free to indulge in any number of diversions at whatever level of morality they found comfortable. Suddenly, level-based gameplay -- an unspoken contract between gamer and game designer for more than 20 years -- was laughably antiquated. Even the hub-style launching points popularized by Super Mario 64 felt old and dusty. Simply put, GTAIII redefined how games are played, serving as a wake-up call to an industry that had had for years fallen into a safe, sleepy rhythm. GTA III's lesson? That creative boundaries must be attacked with the same vigor as technological hurdles.
After GTA III, everything from Tony Hawk to fighting games, shooters and even the Simpsons franchise went back to the drawing board. No other game in the last 20 years has had more impact than Grand Theft Auto III. It radically evolved the bond between gamer and game, in the process changing everything about how games are made and played.

So...do you agree? What would you change?