by radjoshcon
The Besties podcast recently wrapped up their required reading list of games from 1980 to 2020. They picked 25 total games across that time that they felt created a "syllabus for Video Games 101." Their list is pretty good overall, but there are a couple issues that I have with specific picks and their overall methodology that I would like to address. The list below is my revised list based on their original 25, with a couple of games swapped out for what I consider to be better examples to build a canon of video games.
When building the list, Chris and Russ of The Besties split games up into 5 year chunks and attempted to select 2-4 games in each 5 year period. I generally agree with this approach because I believe it is important to have a list that spans both the technological and design spectrum going all the way back the the beginning of modern video games. I have a minor gripe with the rigidity of number of games per time chunk, but that is easily addressed by revising the list once each time span is considered on its own. You'll see in my full list that I considered updated versions/sequels to games already on the list and ended up making a few swaps that should provide a better base of knowledge for our reader.
The area where I disagree the most with The Besties' list is how little they prioritize the importance of actually playing the video game in order to understand its place and influence. For example, World of Warcraft is difficult to place on this list. It did revolutionize MMOs and had a massive impact on the industry for years after its release. However, playing World of Warcraft now does not fully convey that impact or help the player understand how important the game was at the time. This has the potential to be an issue for a few other multiplayer/games-as-a-service type games on this list as time passes since so much of the importance of those games is the social/cultural impact they had at the time.
I'll save the rest of my gripes for the specific game writeups. I really do think that Chris and Russ did a great job with this list. For games that are slam dunks, I won't have much to add, but for the games that I replaced and a few other close calls, I will add my thoughts below.
Here are the games that I cut from the original list. Why and what for will be detailed in the entries below.
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Outer Wilds
Demon's Souls
World of Warcraft
Grand Theft Auto 3
Stardew Valley
Showing 1-10 of 25 items
Tetris is one of the biggest slam dunks on this list. The gameplay is immediately understandable and engaging no matter which of the many versions is being played. It is incredible that from Tetris DMG to Tetris Effect, the core gamplay has remained the same. Tetris pushed every puzzle game designer since to come up with something as pure and nobody has taken the crown.
Pac-Man is a great example of cultural importance with how huge it was in arcades and how it led to console ports with wildly varied quality. It is also examplary of arcade gameplay of the '80s.
Must have a 2D Mario on this list and they nailed the game feel and level design from the start.
If there could only be one Zelda game on this list, the original would not make the cut. Breath of the Wild or maybe even Ocarina of Time would be better solo examples of the franchise's influence. Thankfully, there is no such restriction and thus The Legend of Zelda and Breath of the Wild form fantastic bookends for this list.
I almost cut SimCity from this list, but its influence reaches a lot further than I initially realized. There are the obvious throughlines of the Cities and Anno games, but there are also parts of SimCity in building sims like Factorio, Frostpunk, and Steamworld Build. Even Minecraft takes some inspiration from this game. This also makes for a great reading list game since it is on the simpler side and therefore much more accessible.
A Street Fighter game absolutely belongs on this list. I considered changing this to Street Fighter 4 since that game is the final form of SF2 in terms of gameplay. Ultimatley the influence of Street Fighter 2 and the fact that it is still played as a competitive game today keeps it on the list.
Doom's influence on the FPS genre is undeniable. It is also an interesting experience from a tech perspective to play this game and then compare it to some of the other first-person games that come later on this list.
Not much to say about Super Metroid. This game (with some credit to Metroid before it) spawned an entire genre and it is difficult to appreciate the games made today without experiencing the original.
Chrono Trigger is a singular piece of art created by a team of the best video game designers, composers, and artists of their time AND it is also a videogame-ass video game that provides all the meaty RPG systems that one expects from the best JRPGs out there. The most complete package of the first 20-ish years of video games.
Super Mario 64 is crucial to understanding movement and level design in 3D platformers. We don't appreciate how important the controls are for the future of any game with 3D movement. Without Super Mario 64, 3D platformers would have controlled like Bubsy 3D a lot longer than any of us would have liked.