these titles were ahead of the curve you
ratted us out didn’t you welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’ll be
counting down our picks for the top 10
video games that were before their time
yes get moving for this list we’re
looking at games that dared to try
something new but either didn’t catch on
with the gaming crowd right away were
hindered by the technology of the time
if you’re looking for games that did
become trendsetters and revolutionized
the industry be sure to check out our
list on the top 10 revolutionary video
games number 10 Pokemon snap this on
Rails first-person photography game for
the n64 would have benefited from social
media think about it it’s gameplay
required you to take photographs of
Pokemon with extra points given if you
caught them in special poses like a
surfing Pikachu naturally you’d want to
send your shots to your buddies but to
do that you had to bring your gaming
cartridge to a certain blockbuster store
in your area for printing you can even
bring your snap cards to a participating
blockbuster video and print out stickers
of your favorite does it look like
they’re coming out today
odd luck the 2007 Virtual Console
re-released did feature the ability to
save your photos to an SD card but
that’s still not very practical
especially if your game data was also on
that card
what number nine Shenmue II I ain’t
afraid of him I could take this geek
Triple A titles have come to rule the
gaming landscape and this open world
action-adventure game for the Dreamcast
arguably had the first triple a budget
costing 47 million to make I you seem
troubled I am this wouldn’t have been so
bad if it hadn’t completely bombed at
the retail seeing as there was very
little market for it on the doomed Sega
console I wish time I just stand still
this is a bit of a shame since it was
one of the earliest games where you
could interact with nearly everything in
the world and featured real-time weather
effects a feature that was unheard on at
the time number 8 win back covert
operations known as operation when back
in Europe the cobber system in Gears of
War was cool but we can’t imagine cliffy
B designing it without the influence of
this third-person shooter for the n64
and later ps2 it was the first title of
its genre to feature such a system as a
core mechanic anticipating it by a few
years
your pistol also came with a sweet laser
sight for aiming a mechanic later seen
in games like Metal Gear Solid 2 and
Resident Evil 4 number 7 Deus Ex the FPS
was a fairly linear genre up until this
game which reinvented it with some use
of nonlinear missions it also wasn’t
afraid to mix Jara’s as it introduced
some pretty restrictive RPG elements as
well don’t believe me it’s all in the
numbers most importantly though
aspects of the story could change based
on your conversations and how violent
you were predating the multiple
narratives later used by developers like
telltale in their Walking Dead series
among others you’re certainly quicker on
the uptake and your brother Paul ever
was thanks even with all the
advancements in the genre to date few
games can match the amount of variables
and possible outcomes that the game has
anticipated and planned for dodging
analogs were supposed to be badass
killing machines guess I was wrong guess
so
number 6 Metal Gear
despite kicking off one of the most
storied franchises in gaming history and
being an early entry in the stealth
genre the game was let down by the
hardware of the time it was originally
for the msx2 and the computers weak
Hardware limited how many bullets and
enemies would be on screen preventing
mastermind Hideo Kojima from making the
action game he had always envisioned not
only could the titular Metal Gear not
even move during the final fight but the
dialogue had to be severely abridged to
make up for the lack of memory
kijima would eventually get the chance
to add a lot of dialogue in his later
games though
number five star siege tribes although
this title initiated the legendary
series of squad based FPS PC games
we can’t help but wish that had come a
little bit later
it featured online only gameplay at a
time when gamers were confined by 56k
modems making for substantial lag not to
mention in 1998 the concept of an online
only game was pretty ambitious as many
gamers were still apprehensive of online
play in spite of this limitation the
game became a pioneer of vehicle based
and class based combat plus that skiing
mechanic just can’t be beat number four
Phantasy Star Online yet another title
whose online features were also hindered
by the 56k modem era this MMORPG was
arguably more influential since it
allowed cooperative gameplay on the
Dreamcast at a time when online
interaction on console was mostly
limited to competitive modes
there were mmo’s out already for PC but
this was on a console remember Sega
announced that it would within the year
create a new world it innovated even
further by allowing you to find people
to cooperate with through its Lobby
system and letting you trade guild cards
with them which let you email them
whenever you went online
Phantasy Star Online the gaming
revolution comes in the year 2000 number
3 hunter
Grand Theft Auto was crucial in gaming
history for its open-world mission-based
gameplay but it and it’s precursor body
harvest were technically already aping
this action-adventure game for the amiga
it had 3d graphics and with sandbox
style like GTA and the combination of
these features makes it strikingly
modern by today’s standards particularly
since it came out at a time when 2d
games were still the norm also like GTA
you could choose how you got around be
it by Jeep boat or helicopter most
impressive of all this game was put
together by a single guy named Paul
Holmes
not too shabby compared to the huge
development teams needed for today’s
triple-a productions number two Jurassic
Park trespasser technology available
when this FPS game was released wasn’t
quite prehistoric but it did limit it
from reaching its full potential
it’s engine was the first to use ragdoll
physics and it’s dinosaurs had movement
algorithms allowing their animations to
be calculated in real time 13
unfortunately many computers of the time
weren’t powerful enough to faithfully
render the game to make matters worse EA
rushed the game onto store shelves to
coincide with the VHS release of the
lost world Jurassic Park
forcing a lot of features to be cut and
not leaving enough time to iron out many
of the colossal bugs before we get to
our number one pick let’s take a look at
some honorable mentions
number one elite topping off our list is
a space simulator for various home
computers which wasn’t quite as
futuristic as its sci-fi setting but it
certainly came close the open-ended
gameplay of its eight procedurally
generated galaxies paved the way for
space combat games and sandbox style
adventures like its 3d graphics with
their hidden line removal were
revolutionary for the time remember this
was 1984 were talking about Return of
the Jedi had come out only one year
earlier on top of that one feature that
everyone remembers was that to travel
between stars you had to use a
hyperspace jump and the title felt like
a hyperspace jump for gaming
do you agree with our list how
unprofessional what game do you think
came too soon for its own good
for more revolutionary top 10s published
every day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com I have your word yeah you
know what I’ll do if you don’t show
ratted us out didn’t you welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’ll be
counting down our picks for the top 10
video games that were before their time
yes get moving for this list we’re
looking at games that dared to try
something new but either didn’t catch on
with the gaming crowd right away were
hindered by the technology of the time
if you’re looking for games that did
become trendsetters and revolutionized
the industry be sure to check out our
list on the top 10 revolutionary video
games number 10 Pokemon snap this on
Rails first-person photography game for
the n64 would have benefited from social
media think about it it’s gameplay
required you to take photographs of
Pokemon with extra points given if you
caught them in special poses like a
surfing Pikachu naturally you’d want to
send your shots to your buddies but to
do that you had to bring your gaming
cartridge to a certain blockbuster store
in your area for printing you can even
bring your snap cards to a participating
blockbuster video and print out stickers
of your favorite does it look like
they’re coming out today
odd luck the 2007 Virtual Console
re-released did feature the ability to
save your photos to an SD card but
that’s still not very practical
especially if your game data was also on
that card
what number nine Shenmue II I ain’t
afraid of him I could take this geek
Triple A titles have come to rule the
gaming landscape and this open world
action-adventure game for the Dreamcast
arguably had the first triple a budget
costing 47 million to make I you seem
troubled I am this wouldn’t have been so
bad if it hadn’t completely bombed at
the retail seeing as there was very
little market for it on the doomed Sega
console I wish time I just stand still
this is a bit of a shame since it was
one of the earliest games where you
could interact with nearly everything in
the world and featured real-time weather
effects a feature that was unheard on at
the time number 8 win back covert
operations known as operation when back
in Europe the cobber system in Gears of
War was cool but we can’t imagine cliffy
B designing it without the influence of
this third-person shooter for the n64
and later ps2 it was the first title of
its genre to feature such a system as a
core mechanic anticipating it by a few
years
your pistol also came with a sweet laser
sight for aiming a mechanic later seen
in games like Metal Gear Solid 2 and
Resident Evil 4 number 7 Deus Ex the FPS
was a fairly linear genre up until this
game which reinvented it with some use
of nonlinear missions it also wasn’t
afraid to mix Jara’s as it introduced
some pretty restrictive RPG elements as
well don’t believe me it’s all in the
numbers most importantly though
aspects of the story could change based
on your conversations and how violent
you were predating the multiple
narratives later used by developers like
telltale in their Walking Dead series
among others you’re certainly quicker on
the uptake and your brother Paul ever
was thanks even with all the
advancements in the genre to date few
games can match the amount of variables
and possible outcomes that the game has
anticipated and planned for dodging
analogs were supposed to be badass
killing machines guess I was wrong guess
so
number 6 Metal Gear
despite kicking off one of the most
storied franchises in gaming history and
being an early entry in the stealth
genre the game was let down by the
hardware of the time it was originally
for the msx2 and the computers weak
Hardware limited how many bullets and
enemies would be on screen preventing
mastermind Hideo Kojima from making the
action game he had always envisioned not
only could the titular Metal Gear not
even move during the final fight but the
dialogue had to be severely abridged to
make up for the lack of memory
kijima would eventually get the chance
to add a lot of dialogue in his later
games though
number five star siege tribes although
this title initiated the legendary
series of squad based FPS PC games
we can’t help but wish that had come a
little bit later
it featured online only gameplay at a
time when gamers were confined by 56k
modems making for substantial lag not to
mention in 1998 the concept of an online
only game was pretty ambitious as many
gamers were still apprehensive of online
play in spite of this limitation the
game became a pioneer of vehicle based
and class based combat plus that skiing
mechanic just can’t be beat number four
Phantasy Star Online yet another title
whose online features were also hindered
by the 56k modem era this MMORPG was
arguably more influential since it
allowed cooperative gameplay on the
Dreamcast at a time when online
interaction on console was mostly
limited to competitive modes
there were mmo’s out already for PC but
this was on a console remember Sega
announced that it would within the year
create a new world it innovated even
further by allowing you to find people
to cooperate with through its Lobby
system and letting you trade guild cards
with them which let you email them
whenever you went online
Phantasy Star Online the gaming
revolution comes in the year 2000 number
3 hunter
Grand Theft Auto was crucial in gaming
history for its open-world mission-based
gameplay but it and it’s precursor body
harvest were technically already aping
this action-adventure game for the amiga
it had 3d graphics and with sandbox
style like GTA and the combination of
these features makes it strikingly
modern by today’s standards particularly
since it came out at a time when 2d
games were still the norm also like GTA
you could choose how you got around be
it by Jeep boat or helicopter most
impressive of all this game was put
together by a single guy named Paul
Holmes
not too shabby compared to the huge
development teams needed for today’s
triple-a productions number two Jurassic
Park trespasser technology available
when this FPS game was released wasn’t
quite prehistoric but it did limit it
from reaching its full potential
it’s engine was the first to use ragdoll
physics and it’s dinosaurs had movement
algorithms allowing their animations to
be calculated in real time 13
unfortunately many computers of the time
weren’t powerful enough to faithfully
render the game to make matters worse EA
rushed the game onto store shelves to
coincide with the VHS release of the
lost world Jurassic Park
forcing a lot of features to be cut and
not leaving enough time to iron out many
of the colossal bugs before we get to
our number one pick let’s take a look at
some honorable mentions
number one elite topping off our list is
a space simulator for various home
computers which wasn’t quite as
futuristic as its sci-fi setting but it
certainly came close the open-ended
gameplay of its eight procedurally
generated galaxies paved the way for
space combat games and sandbox style
adventures like its 3d graphics with
their hidden line removal were
revolutionary for the time remember this
was 1984 were talking about Return of
the Jedi had come out only one year
earlier on top of that one feature that
everyone remembers was that to travel
between stars you had to use a
hyperspace jump and the title felt like
a hyperspace jump for gaming
do you agree with our list how
unprofessional what game do you think
came too soon for its own good
for more revolutionary top 10s published
every day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com I have your word yeah you
know what I’ll do if you don’t show
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