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The 20 Most Innovative Games Ever Made

• By GamePro Staff
• June 10, 2009 11:55 AM PST
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#10: Super Mario 64

Platform: Nintendo 64
Year: 1996

Original review score: 5 out of 5 Stars

Super Mario 64 literally invented the 3D platformer genre, setting the foundation for a hundred games after it, including the use of the analog stick and camera controls.

Why It Was Innovative:

Before Mario 64, Nintendo's mascot remained trapped in the confines of the side-scrolling genre. In 1996, Nintendo pulled off the impossible by successfully having their mascot make the massive leap to a fully 3D game for the first time. With the use of the Nintendo 64's new analog stick, players could make Mario jump, flip, and run like an Olympic gymnast, or move the camera view for a better angle. While Super Mario 64 didn't try a lot of "new" things that players hadn't already seen in a Mario game, what it did do was recreate key features and blow them up to gigantic, larger-than-life proportions. Levels were no long flat, cardboard cutouts littered with power-ups and Goombas, but colossal worlds honeycombed with secrets and collectible items, which added huge incentive to replay levels again and again.

#9: Half-Life

Platform: PC
Year: 1998

Original review score: 5 out of 5 Stars

There's never been anything quite like the original Half-Life, a PC shooter that revolutionized video game storytelling by abandoning the popular concepts of story cinemas and wisecracking one-liners in favor of seamless real-time immersion and a faceless (and therefore universal) protagonist.

Why It Was Innovative:

Rather than making the player a joke-cracking personality ala Duke Nukem 3D, Half-Life developer Valve Software inverted the formula with powerful, genre-rippling results that still thrive over ten years later. The central "hero," Gordon Freeman, has no voice and no personality. Therein lies the genius: Freeman was nothing more than an empty vessel for the player's ego. Wisely, Valve Software then amplified this design decision by eschewing any game element that would shatter their carefully constructed alternate reality. That meant all storytelling and plot developments were seamlessly delivered in real time to the player via survivors of the Black Mesa alien invasion. To this day, Half-Life 's vision of the faceless, often voiceless hero is the de facto standard for much of the action genre, and organic real-time narratives have largely replaced mood-breaking cinematic cut scenes.

#8: Wii Sports

Platform: Nintendo Wii
Year: 2006

Original review score: 4 out of 5 Stars

If Super Mario Bros. helped Nintendo patent the "killer app," then Wii Sports redefined the idea, steamrolling over the 2006 holiday season to become the best-selling game of all time despite being a simple pack-in game for the Nintendo Wii.

Why It Was Innovative:

With Wii Sports, video games had broken the confines of the television set, as the world exploded over the video game accompanying Nintendo's newest console. The Wii's motion controls alone were a huge selling point for the system, but the ease and accessibility of Wii Sports made it a title that literally anyone could pick up and play instantly, even parents and grandparents who had never played a video game in their lives. Surprisingly enough, Wii Sports still outclasses many newer Wii games in raw gameplay value, with responsive motion gestures and appealing gamplay that has propelled the Wii as a sought-after gadget for families, roommates, and couples.

#7: Halo: Combat Evolved

Platform: Xbox
Year: 2001

Original review score: 5 out of 5 Stars

Halo forever changed the first-person shooter genre, but it did so quietly with a host of small, brilliant innovations. Halo proved that hardcore FPS games could not only work, but thrive on home game consoles.

Why It Was Innovative:

Before Halo, console first-person shooters were a dismal affair: the horrid console-based control schemes made the PC the only place to play serious FPS games. Halo changed that attitude almost overnight through a host of subtle gameplay tweaks that are now so popular they're practically universal in the action genre. Halo's recharging shield meter, for instance, allowed players to hang back from the action to restore lost health - a landmark design decision that reduced player deaths and, by extension, frustration. Other trend-setting gameplay elements included the two-weapon carry limit, the emphasis on melee strikes and grenade throwing, and the introduction of drivable vehicles. Throw in a legendary multiplayer mode and dazzlingly colorful visuals and you've got the recipe for an FPS revolution.

#6: LittleBigPlanet

Platform: PlayStation 3
Year: 2008

Original review score: 5 out of 5 Stars

LittleBigPlanet's promise of "user-created content" ushered in a new way of thinking about video games, giving players the tools they needed to easily construct their own playgrounds.

Why It Was Innovative:

Whether you played the excellent pre-built levels or delved straight into the PlayStation Network's populous vault of community-built areas, Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet oozes creativity. A simple Mario-style platformer on the surface, LittleBigPlanet was in actuality a game construction set for the masses. Using a simple pointer-based interface, players could dramatically alter the physics and geometry of any given level quickly and in real-time, even when playing with others. This gave players free reign to build pretty much anything, from an original masterpiece to a tribute to another game. Though the noise far outweighs the signal in terms of downloadable level offerings, LittleBigPlanet's community-centric approach and adorable characters have brought more innovation to the platformer genre than any game since Super Mario Bros 3.

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