Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - The Most Influential Games of All Time - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp — go to http://betterhelp.com/kindafunny to get 10% off your first month. Thank you for the support! Run of Show - - Start - Housekeeping - It’s Time to FINISH THE STORY - The Most Influential Games of ALL TIME - Ads - The List - Ranking the List Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yo, what's up? Welcome to Kind of Funny Gamescast for Thursday, April 10th, 2025. I'm one of your host, Blessing, Adi O.A. Jr., joining me is Lil Croy Poppy, Tim, Ma, Fuggin, Gettys. Here's the thing, bless. Yesterday, me and you did an amazing episode of the Kind of Funny Games cast, where we found a video game music quiz, where every 10 seconds, a different video game song would play, 100 different songs ranging from very easy to very hard. We ran out of time because we had a big co-lab stream with Giant Bomb playing Monocon, That was a blast. You could check out the video on YouTube now.

But because of that, we didn't get to do the very hard, the final 20 video game songs. So before we get into today's topic, after you get through the housekeeping, I think we got to do a quick lightning round just to see what we had left. See, I'm scared because I think for yesterday's episode, not to spoil it for me, but we started off very strong, obviously, because it goes from very easy to very hard. By the time we got through the latter half of that episode, it was a struggle with us. We hit a wall. We started struggling by normal.

Yeah. So my fear is that we're very hard, we might not even get any. I mean, as long as we get one, I will chalk it up as a win. I like that goal. Because, like, yeah, we ended up getting 31 correct. But then once it got post easy and normal, we only got one right. God. So we have 20 left.

Wait, didn't I get one more? I thought I got like two back to back. I got, I wrote down one and a half. Okay. Well, I think that one of those were still in the easy or normal area. Oh. It was like once we got to hard, we're in a bad. place. But anyways, we'll get to that in a sec.

Remember, this is Kind of Funny Gamescast. Each and every weekday, we don't run you through the nerdy news because you do the last show. We get together and talk about the biggest reviews, previews, and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and on Podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the Kind of Funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts, excuse me, to get all of our shows ad free, watchers, recording them live and get a daily exclusive show. For a chance to be a part of the show, some of your thoughts and opinions as YouTube

Super Chats as we go. Housekeeping for you, Friday, we kick off the Elder Scrolls Online podcast, a kind of funny gamescast limited series. You can join Greg, Mike, Zenimax Online Studios director, Matt Fyroar, and the Elder Scrolls Online Game Director, Rich Lambert, as they start an unflinching four-part show about the highs, lows, successes, and failures of the 10-year-old game. Greg calls it the deepest dive of his career,

and it all kicks off Friday, tomorrow, as your normal games cast. as well as the Elder Scrolls online YouTube. We never get this level of depth from developers, so don't miss it if you want to know how games really get made and keep going. Remember, we're an 11-person business, all about live talk shows. You got KHD right before this, which was more of that Nintendo Switch 2 News, then after this episode of Gamescast, you're getting the stream, which is Mike and Kevin playing blueprints.

On KHD, I started to hint toward the idea we might switch it up. I got the confirmation that we're not playing that game today, but we might be playing it later on. The Blueprint stream should be good though. Kevin and Mike play in a puzzle game. Oh, nothing can go wrong. And it's one of the best games of the year.

And so you're definitely going to want to check that out. And I can't wait to see Mike. Mike playing Blueprints is like the most like... With Kevin Backseat Gaming. With Kevin Backseat gaming, especially because it's way more of a Kevin game, I think, than a Mike game. But I am fascinated to see how Mike tackles it.

You're going to want to check that out right after this episode. If you're a kind of funny member, you can get today's Gregway from Mike. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Anatoly Ost, Delini Twining. Carl Jacobs and Omega Buster. Ted Air brought you by BetterHelp, but we'll tell you about that later. For now, let's start with topic of the show.

So before we get to the shit list, we and you, we might shit the bed. We might shit the bed. We got to try to get one of these, everyone. We're going to lightning through it. We're not going to pause. Oh, we're not pausing. No pausing.

No pausing. We're going straight through this thing. The final 20. We both walked in. At zero? No. I'm record. Oh, no way I fucked up on Mir's Edge.

I would have not got this. I should have known better. If it was the vocal track. Mario Sunshine. Astro Boy on the Game Boy Advance. Colt Classic. Oh, shit. Bastian.

Cyclones too. Oh, Simbolemy Park. I said it yesterday. You did say it yesterday. I don't know. The Final Fantasy 15 demo. Where you're in the bedroom. Oh, little nightmares.

Yeah, I would never have gotten this. I love the word etude. Oh. I mean, Red Die Red Dead Redemption. Severed. Oh, I don't fuck was severed, too. I don't remember this. This is so hard.

Metroid. Dred. I was also supposed to thinking Metroid dread. Yep. Come on, let's go. We got one. We got one. Oh.

Is this dock? No, this isn't dokey, dokey, is it? I mean, I'm going to say dokey, dokey. Wiki Literature Club. Now I was way off. I've not heard this one. This is the first game I haven't heard of. That looks kind of cool, though. Tacking the power of Juju. Ha ha. Fuck yeah.

Oh, so close. Jack 2. Can you imagine if it was tacking the power. God damn, Ju-Ju. So close. This recently played Jack 2 and I could not clock that. This is some winter music. This is winter level. Gex. I think it's like a festival. What is? Valkyria Chronicles.

This has such winter bulbs. It's like a racing game. I mean, it's not... It's so not Diti Kong racing, but that's what I'll say. Ah. Puyo Pollo. See, this is where I would have said Shadow Colossus. I'm going to say...

Ori. It has to be there eventually. Don't... Crospunk. No. Man. Broken H. Oh.

You know, I've always wanted to play Ushito Blade. I was looking at some clips the other day. I was like this game, it's fucking dope. Oh, a Capcom fighting game. Enter the gungeon. Yeah, this is very hard. Resident Evil. Near a Replican.

Shenmoo. Wow. I thought it was the save room in Resident Evil. DK64. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. It's not. Radiant Historia. Oh, it was on the tip of my tongue.

How could I forget? Game of Thrones, Tail Tail. Bad guess. It's hiding. Oh, chants of Sonar. Wow. That is impossibly different.

The last story on the Wii. It's got to be there eventually. Oh, shit. Crow country. Crow country. What? What? Putting that on the video game music

makes insane work. I don't have anything. Really? Interesting. Bless. I would not have placed it. I mean, this does not sound like. Yeah.

I mean, that sounds like last list, but it's not, right? I will say last list. What is that? I can't read it. I can't read it. It won't let me click off this thing. Hide. Let's see if I can hide.

Joe to go. Okay. Interesting. Okay, we got one. We got one. That was impossible to hard. That was impossibly hard. The thing is, you know, it's always that value time about this yesterday doing game showdown.

It's hard to, like, get ones that are reasonable for people to guess, but still exciting and, like, challenging. So it's not just, like, the most. obvious shit. Yeah. But I feel like we need to find something with some type of parameters of like, all right, here is just a bunch of classic Nintendo games. And we need to say like what is the song.

You know what I mean? Like it's from this level. I don't know. There has to be something like we, there needs to be a level of understanding of we know these things. It's almost like the categories are more so. Ubisoft, Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox. It's most easy to heart.

Because like what's hard to these guys or what's normal to these people, apparently making this thing. Not normal to me. Yeah. Because God dang. I think we did pretty good overall, though. Yeah, because what? You said, how many did we get?

We ended up getting about, about 34 out of 100. It was like half of what I predicted. Yeah, because I predicted 80. I mean, I thought America was going to be hard. I was saying we should go for 25, so, you know, we're overachieving, according to me. Yeah, well, congratulations to us. Congratulations to us. We should do this again.

Yeah. If chat, if people come across, like, other versions of these that are. Let us know. Yeah, let us know. send them to us. Yeah, blue sky to them or tweet them at us or whatever. And like, yeah, I'd want to do this again. I love that. Yeah. All right, Tim, this topic of the show, today's a shit list. Of course, shitless is where I go online. I find a top 10 list. I bring it back to you and bear it.

And we judge it for the audience amusement. Here's the thing. This is one that I didn't go out and seek. This is one that sought us. The streets were calling out our names. We're saying, bless. Tim, Tim, Tim, what do you say? Jubei. It's the main character. It's the main to Anandhi Musha, too. You're a fucking nerd. One of my only memories of that gave is the, because the mom, his mom is like a ghost, and she just keeps me like,

Jube, Juveh. See, my version would be heavy rain where somebody had a bug online. Have you seen this video? Somebody had a bug where they kept pressing the button and they kept calling Jason for way longer. Horridious. But yes, this list sought us.

It is, actually, I don't even know, I don't even have the full title here. If I click into the article, it's not going to spoil the thing, right? No, it shouldn't. Perfect. It's from, it's from Bafta?

So it's from Bafta. No way. So this is a big deal. This is official official. These people know what they're talking about. It's a list of the most influential video games of all time. The most influential video games of all time. I feel like often we need to define the lists before we get into it of what's that even mean, right?

Are we talking best? Are we talking top? Are we talking favorite when it comes to these top ten lists? Yes. Most influential. That means that these games, every game on this list, all 10 of them, need to influence video games in a major way, in a top way, some would say. In a top way.

Do you want to know how many games are actually on the list? Yes. 21. Oh, okay, 21 games on a top 10 list. Are they ranked? That's my type of list. Yes, they are. Oh, they're ranked.

That's where the spice begins, everybody. Oh, this will be a fun one. I've only looked at the 21st spot after that, because I wanted to check ahead just to make sure what the vibe was. Gotcha. Oh, this is perfect. 21 ranked? I didn't even realize they're ranked. All 21 ranked are just the top top.

ranked in a bunch of honorable mentions. No, the ranking starts at 21. Okay. All right. Let's throw the games out. Would it be fair to say that this is an easy list to make? Yes. In my head, this is an easy list to make.

I think so too. I think that this is an easy list to make with what? 60 plus percent accuracy. Yeah. Right? Like, I feel like there might be somethings we don't get or there might be a different version of a thing that we say, but like, I do think that there is a canon. 21 is such a specific

It's such a specific number Yeah I feel like if you're making a list of 21 Everything there has to be like okay Like this fits Yeah Like we made a list of games Then whittled down to what matters most

And then that was the number This was the 21 mark So yeah let's just start naming things Super Mario Brothers See this is where we get tricky Because how many Mario games Let's stick with Mario Let's start with Mario

Mario 64 And let's see Mario 64 I also reading This first blurb it does say to reflect the medium's universal impact ahead of the 21st BAFTA game awards we asked the public a provocative question what is the most influential

video game of all time fucker the public okay well that does change things so to read I'm going to read the whole first blurb right words by Chris Schilling video games influence on popular culture has never been more prevalent their effect is visible and audible in today's music

across the world's TV and cinema and on the catwalk on the catwalk on the catwalk Even your favorite language learning and fitness apps feature progression systems and rewards popularized by games. Okay, I see where they're going. To reflect the mediums universal impact ahead of the 21st BAFTA game awards.

Oh, that's how they get the 21. The 21st BAFTA game awards. I take back what I said earlier. We asked the public a provocative question. What is the most influential video game of all time? So then, I wonder if it's not ranked? I wonder if it's like they asked 21 people. Oh, let me read on.

As more than one responder said, it's unfair to have to choose just one. You pick the pioneers that shaped their early days of the medium, the innovators that were ahead of their time, the ones that proved formative to your own creative journey, or simply the ones that made you most emotional. As might be expected, among the extraordinary number of responses received was a staggering variety of games, ranging from titles that launched the industry to contemporary giants released mere months ago.

The top 10 alone spans multiple genres, from platformers to shooters, sandbox adventures to simulations. Without further ado, here are the public's top 21, each of which, it's fair to say, has had a seismic impact on games and those who play them.

I don't think it's 21 people. I think there's probably like a poll. Yeah, they just pulled and then... Yeah. Okay. Okay, so Mario Wise, Mario 1, Mario 64. I think that's it. I agree.

I think we only see 64. That would be an insane thing to do. I mean, if you want to keep it one per franchise, I'll say 64. Yeah. I mean, Mario, Super Mario Brothers won. I know. Yeah, but like... This is an example. If they don't have both,

fuck this list. I don't think you get both. That's, but they're so different. Actually, no, I think you do. I think you're right. They're entirely different and like legitimately are the most influential games of like those genres and time periods. Yeah. I think... Mario saved the industry.

The argument I would make would be, if you were to do one per franchise, which I think for this you shouldn't. But if you were to, I think maybe you keep some Mario Brothers, and then instead of Mario 64, you do like Zelda Ocarina or something. Something like that is the Z targeting. Yeah.

Yeah. Something else that had like a, yeah, big impact on 3D. Yeah. GTA 3. Ryan that down. Tetris, Pong. Yeah.

I mean, Pong needs to be on this list. Pong might be number one on this list. Pong, Tetris, yes. Yeah, GTA3 is a great poll. Pactress. man? Yes, or Miss Pac-Man just because of the modding and stuff, like that that might

be the... Yeah. But one of the two. I'm right now Miss Pac-Man. Halo. Halo's complicated, because I think Doom, right, for Doom or Wolfenstein for first-person shooters. Yeah, I was also going to throw a golden eye in there too. But I think Halo also,

like the story Gary always says where he wasn't sold on like first-person shooters on a console and like He played it and he was like, oh, shit, I understand it. Like, I think that sticks in a lot of people's head. So I would be surprised if Halo 1 was not on here. So Halo 1 is interesting because it, like to what Barrett saying, it kind of defined console twin stick shooting, like dual stick shooting, not twin stick.

And then Halo 2, having online. Yeah. You know. I mean, you can encapsulate so much by just saying Halo 2. But like, also, this is fan. voted. You gotta keep that in mind of like, what would people say? I guess if you ask somebody

because I think the question they asked people are, what is the most influential video game of all time? Which I think does paint this a bit different, right? Street Fighter 2. Yeah, see, now we're cooking. Now we're cooking. They said up to games from just a few months ago. Yeah. Portal?

Yeah, I could see it. Yeah. Quirtle or Half-life. Half-life. Something in that family. I would say half-life. life probably more likely. Yeah. But like if you asked, did they say people on the street? No, they said,

what did they say? Who did they say they're asking? We asked, they just said they asked the public. Yeah. Dark souls. Not demon souls, dark souls. Dark souls, that's good.

Final Fantasy 7. Metal Gear Solid. Metal Gear Solid should be on this list. Metal year solid, yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, yeah. Final Fantasy 7, it's a tough one. Final Fantasy, Seven, I think, does, I mean, has a strong chance.

In fact, I'm going to say yes. This is a public poll, yes. But what did it influence? People's shout is. No, but really, though. You know, like, that to me is like the, I feel like Metal Gear Solid is a better example of what we would be saying, Final Fantasy 7 influenced. Mm-hmm. I think Final Fantasy 7 in particular influenced mainstream awareness of JRPs in America, specifically.

specifically. Yeah. Yeah. Like that was like a huge kind of moment. For sure. I'm going to write it down. I think Final Fantasy 7, just based off of popularity alone.

Yeah. I think that's a more of a contender. Someone in chat also pops up Pokemon. I don't think so for some reason. It's a rough one because again, like what are we talking about like influential? But I do think that, I mean,

Pokemon, everything you just said about Final Fantasy 7, that you could apply to Pokemon. And then also when you're talking about a public poll? Like, what are the answers that, like, pulled, people that are filling out a poll are going to say,

right? Like, when this is a public thing, when it's a vote thing, I think Pokemon just has the popularity. And it did influence a lot in terms of mechanics and the training and community and all that stuff. And even, like, if you want to take it into, like, even just how you franchise a video game and, like, spin that into different products

and make it a thing that's bigger than just the system. You won't be over. Fortnite. Minecraft Fortnite Minecraft both have to be there I'm just trying to think of genres now right because it's like cool

fighting game Street World Warcraft Okay yeah World Warcraft for sure For sure So far we have a pretty good list Yeah Because we've written down

Let me count how much we've written Rogue Oh yeah Wait what do you say Barrett Rogue Oh yeah Okay Yeah

I mean That might be too in the weeds Like nerdy Because I don't know if like For a public Public poll. Again, public poll, like, do people know that, like, rogue-like and rogue light are specifically based off a game called rogue?

Yeah. I mean, I wonder if then you get Hades as an answer. Or Rogue legacy. Rogue legacy definitely. I mean, Rogue legacy would be such a banger. But I think for the popularity thing of it, for people that are feeling out of poll, when you think of the last five years of Rogelites and, like, how Rogelites have accelerated, I think a lot of people would attribute that to something like Hades.

That's fair. Yeah. This one is a little weird, too, but I think. limbo like being a breakout hit a smaller times

see over that I would say Super Meatboy yeah I think one of those three yeah I'm gonna say Limbo slash Journey

I mean if we're gonna do that it might as well be Cave Story Cave Story biggest first indie game really I put Limbo slash Journey slash Meatboy

slash cave story is one entry Sims Is that influential or is that just impactful? That's, yeah, I think that's a good distinction there. Yeah. Yeah, man, it starts getting tough.

Because, yeah, I like, I like the genre thing of, you know. Is there like an influential sports game? There's a lot of them, I feel like, a lot of choices. There was that, what was the football game? It was like not madden. It was like NFL 2K, 2K5. That was the big one because that also online and all of that stuff. Like that could be there.

But it depends on like how, what would talk about? Again, what is the influence? Like, what is the thing that they're introduced or not introducing, but like, emblematic. Did we say Last of Us? No. Oh. I can see Last of Us on there. Yeah.

But I don't know. Like, I feel like that would be a, a poor choice when it's like, well, the answer is uncharted then. Like, because we're talking influence. It's like, last of us exists because of Uncharted in a direct way of like. style of game. It's similar in the conversation of Rogue and Hades, right? Like, yes, Last of Us exists because of Uncharted, but then the kind of tone and depth of the Last of Us, I think, really skyrocketed this focus in on cinematic storytelling

in video games past the summer blockbuster popcorn flick that Uncharted was. Yeah. To spoil a little bit of my naughty dog video. and so I do think in terms of storytelling in video games I think Last of Us is probably on there

more likely than Uncharted Yeah because I don't think I don't think you get a modern god of war Without LastWest right Like you don't get that from Uncharted I don't think you get like A lot of modern Sony I think comes more from LastWis than Incharted

Even though you get Las Was because of Uncharted And also I would even like put in I mean we didn't say Resident Evil 4 Oh definitely But like Resonel 4 I think almost equally influences a Last West as much as an Uncharted does. I mean, we got,

if I, if I write Reson Evil 4 and Last Plus, that brings us to 20. So we just need one more game. Sonic the Hedgehuck 3. What's a game that's like emblematic of open world? I mean,

GTA 3. Yeah, but like that's sandbox. You know what I mean? I feel like we, like we talked about Assassin's Creed. Sandbox game. Yeah.

And there was like, there was a shift to open world where it like really changed. the real answer probably is Assassin's Creed 2, but Skyrim. Skyrim might actually be the public answer. That's actually a really good answer. Yeah, that's a good call. Super Metroid.

Ooh. Yeah. I mean, in Castlevania. Yeah, but Super Metroid is like, that's where Metroidvania comes from. Because like Metroid 1, sure, but like Metro Metro. But what do you people think of first? Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night? Super Metroid.

Really? Yeah. Symphony of the night, I think, is all things to consider. fairly niche. Yeah, that's more a nerdy pick. Okay. I mean, that's 22. I feel good about that.

I mean, I'm sure, are there any major things we're missing before we hop into this? Because right now, to read it through, what I have written down, I have Super Mario Brothers, Mario 64, GTA, 3. Do we even say Zelda Ocarina? At one point, I said it, but I said it, but I didn't write it down. I'm going to write down Zelda Ocarina. Yeah, it should be. So Mario Brothers, Super Mario Bros. Mario 64, Zolda Arcreina, GTA3, Ponger.

Tetris, Miss Pac-Man, Street Fighter 2, Half-Life, Dark Souls, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy 7, Pokemon, Fortnite, Minecraft, World of Warcraft, Hades, Limbo slash Journey, slash Meat Boy slash Cave Story. One of those. NFL 2K5,

Resum Eagle 4, last of us, Skyrim, Super Metroid. We're missing mobile games. Sure. Which one? Angry Birds? Candy Crush. Angry Birds or Candy Crush. I think both are great answers, and I feel like that's their the match three still has such a chokehold on so many people you know yeah yeah candy

let's go candy crush that i think's the right move it makes never forget having to do guides for candy crush at igon for like a month i really questioned my career decisions for that i had to do where's the water something also i do want to shout out pub g oh pub g dude yeah you put fortnight i actually think it's pub g in tom i think well i think both of them yeah yeah you're right i mean nowadays Because PubG had an influence on, like, accelerating the battle reaels genre. But Fortnite, I think, is beyond that, right? Like, Fortnite is, it's battle royale, but also it's, like, monetization and all that stuff. Yeah, you're right.

So all I, all I, I, all I, PubG under Fortnite. Only because the opening thing says, uh, contemporary giants released mere months ago. I'm trying to think of, like, what came out? Astrobat. That's not influential, you know? They have, like, what else? What's in about last year? Could it be metaphor?

What's it in? Yeah, and I think like games that are coming out mere months ago, it's like too early to say that they're influential because we don't know what the impact on it is. Well, I think that's where the bullshit comes in. Oh, God. You know what I mean? It's the public.

Yeah, because I mean, technically what, like there's nothing that would have came out a few months ago that would be influential by now. Also, did we say Balders Gate 3? No. I think you get Baldur's Gate 3 on that list. I mean, have we seen that influence anything? Yeah.

If we're going that rabbit hole, that it's like Cotor, you know? Yeah, but like they're saying the spans everything. Like, Baltimore's Gate 3, I can see being influential. You know what I mean? Like, I think it will in the long run. I wonder, I mean, I, like, that'd be cool, but I don't know, man. Just, and I'm only putting that because they say, like, this is, like, spanning up until maybe even a few months ago. So, like, there has to be something.

If I'm picking one game for the last couple years, it'll be BG3. Or Eldon Ring. Eldon Ring, yes But even that Influential is a weird one But Yeah, just for recent games You know

Yeah If there had to be a recent game I think Eldon Ring But I also Struggle to Think about like What that actually means Yeah

All right Because if every list is just popular games Then it doesn't matter You know what I mean But anyway Let's get into it Before we move on Somebody said Balatro

Could that be it? I don't know I mean, again, I feel like these recent games, it's impossible to talk about influence because we don't know what it's going to influence or how it's going to. Unless time travel. Think about it during this ad break. Of course, Patreon.com slash kind of funny, YouTube.com. So it's kind of funny games, Spotify and Apple Podcasts where you can go to get the kind of funny membership, which allows you to get shows ad free. And speaking of ads, let us tell you about our sponsors.

This episode is brought to by BetterHelp. We all know that therapy can feel like a lofty investment. but we also know that there's nothing better to invest in than yourself. The state of your mind is just as important as for physical health. Let's talk numbers. Traditional in-person therapy can cost anywhere from 100 to 250 per session, which adds up fast. But with BetterHelp online therapy, you can save on average up to 50% per session. Therapy should feel accessible, not like a luxury.

With BetterHelp, you pay a flat fee for weekly sessions, saving you big on cost and on time. Some of my best friends use BetterHelp and love how helpful it can be for learning positive coping skills and how to set boundaries. It empowers you to be the best version of yourself and it isn't just for those who've experienced major trauma. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Your well-being is worth it. Visit BetterHelp.com slash kind of funny to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P-com, slash.

Kind of Funny. Betterhelp.com slash Kind of Funny. And we're back. I want to shout out the chat that says we forgot to mention Breath of the Wild. Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one. But yeah, that's nuts on our part.

But yeah, I would put that in there if we're talking about recent stuff. Climbing. Yeah, I mean, honestly. Yeah. Breath of the air conversation. Yeah, that's. Look, here's the thing.

I'm about influence. There are multiple Breath of the Wild likes. We see games and we're like, oh, it looks like Breath of the Wild. All the freaking time. Yeah. Whether that's visual style or gliding or climbing.

It might not have been the first to do it, but it's the one that did it that way. Yeah, Kabob's in chat says, I disagree with Breath of Wild. It didn't influence anything. Cabobs, I'm tired of your anti- Breath of the Wild fucking campaign. Also, aren't you a fan of Immortals Phoenix Rising, the game that is just a lesser breath of the wild? No, no, no, they made that in a silo.

They didn't play Breath of Law. No. They made that have their own brains. People at UiSof were sitting there, and they're like, yo, what if he made a game that was open world, it had puzzles, and looked exactly like this other game. We haven't seen this other game though. You know what I mean? Where Ubisoft? Like no.

Cababs. I had a dream that I quit this job, put jobs in general. And all I did was go on a quest once the switch two comes out to 100% Breath of the Wild and Tears the Kingdom. That's all I did with my life. Fuck it. Good for you. It's a good dream. Good for you. I had a dream last night that they announced Joker for Smash. And then I woke up and I was like, oh, Joker's already in Smash. That's how good Smash Ultimate is.

That's how Good Smash Ultimate is. Smash Ultimate, everyone. That's how good Smash Ultimate is. I was so hyper in dream. I had a dream about a memory. Hell yeah. Let's hop into this list. Of course, this is coming from bafta.org.

All right. Let's do it. Let's do it. Number 21. Interesting. Grand theft auto. Okay. I disagree with this.

Okay. In 1997, Dundee's DMA design produced one of the great success stories of the British video game industry. GTA wasn't the first. game to let you play the bad guy, but it was the one that popularized the idea of video games letting you indulge in transgressive acts across a realistic urban sandbox. No, this is a bad pick. It's a bizarre pick, but I'm not mad at it yet. I'm mad at it.

Because think about it, you don't get GTA 3 without GTA. That's taking this whole thing too far. That's going too far. We're getting rogue on this list. I mean, we might get rogue on this list. I don't know if I respect Grand Theft Auto 1. If we are going to like Like not only are we looking at the fucking

Like you know the bottom of the of the tree We're digging underneath and looking at the roots To see where everything truly comes from I don't know I could see this is a weird pick But also yeah if we get rogue If we're talking about Pong If we're talking about the fucking roots of everything That's not influence though

That's not the thing that influenced I'm not mad yet I'm not mad yet Reverse Nepo shit Nepo shit Queen, Tim. Yes. Nepo Queen.

And number 20, Skyrim. Yep. So far. I mean, GTA is weird. But I'm not mad at Skyrim. Two things into the list. I'm pissed off about the first one. Because everybody was like, everybody was making it seem like entry by entry.

This shit was going to be a trash fire. No, man. Skyrim is one of the very few games that any games media person that was at that E3 when they showed this has a memory of how it took every. everything over. Yeah. Like this game was different. Remember 11, 11, 11?

Yeah, man. We're never going to get that again. No, that's how time works. Like, oh, never by that doesn't work. I was going to say like a 22, 22, 22, 22. Nope. No, that's not. Yeah, we're never going to get that again.

The one and only. Damn, that's crazy. I remember watchmen. They were a 369 to him. I remember that. Did we not get a 12, 12, 12? People didn't want to release on December 12th. Wasn't that the end of the world?

Uh, by the Mayans? Yeah. It was some time in this. How was the Mayan apocalypse? Yeah. Which didn't happen. Also, like, what happened to Kony? Remember Kony?

Why'd you say that as if it's a looming threat? It could be. I didn't get an update on him. Is he around still? Like, should we be doing something about Kony? All right. Holy fuck. And number 19, we got Ransop 303.

That's awesome. GTA 3 is number 19. And GTA 1 is number 21. Why would you even put them this close together? This is so, that's bizarre. That's bizarre. I mean, I'm happy it's here.

Yeah. This is the way the votes came down. Even with the way one was talked about, like no. I don't stand by that. See, here's the thing that I'm curious about. You asked the public.

You're so caught up in this public thing. Well, no, because like, do you know what it is? It's because I do all the kind of feudy polls. and I sift through the answers. I get it.

And so often, when people write into polls, they don't know how to write in for accuracy. And so I, did my thing unplug? Okay. And so I will have to assume when they write in, like, Final Fantasy, sometimes depending on the question, I'm like, oh, they mean Final Fantasy 7.

Like, I just got to assume that they actually mean this other thing. And as someone who does the game of the year, like all that stuff, it's just like, sometimes the math just fucking maths and it's weird. Yeah. So I'm like, with this poll, did you guys see a bunch of people riding with Grant Deft Auto?

Then he went, all right, Grant Debtoto 1 is the one. When you know in your head that they actually meant Grant DeVoto 3? They're more responsible. I'm just saying. And not. Unless they're using AI to compile this shit. Shit, shit. I'm just saying.

It's happening more and more. And number 18, we got Dark Souls. Makes sense. Makes sense. Absolutely. So far, numbers 2019 and 18. It's a good top 20. I'll say that.

It's a good top 20 so far. Even though GTA3 should be in top five. We didn't talk about it. That should be at least top 10. Yeah, for sure. That should be higher than Dark Souls. Yeah. Even though Dark Souls, it should also be higher, I think.

But, all right, that's number 18. At number 17, Final Fantasy 7. Interesting. Can you read it? Yeah. Arguably no game has more completely justified Sony's decision to take console gaming from cartridges to CDs with the original PlayStation. that additional storage didn't just allow

Final Fantasy to move from 2D sprites to 3D polygons It afforded Square Inix the opportunity To tell an emotive tale via expansive Cutsenes. That it has required More Than 2 games to Remake Speaks volumes to the legacy of its story Which more than a quarter century on Features one of the medium's most famous and heartbreaking deaths.

I don't know that I stand with this for influence, man. What did they just say about influence? What's any of that? What did this influence? I mean, I guess I think it is that line between influence and impact. Because I think this is probably one of the most

impactful games of all time. And I think that's almost like what they're talking about here a bit more. Because I understand what they're driving at as far as like what you can do with CDs and what Final Phase and Seven was able to do with the CD, right? And then also when we have the game being remade over the course of a decade right now, right?

Like that is a franchise or that is a game entry. And that it has, yeah, become a franchise, right? It has stayed. It has permeated. I mean, but just thinking about, like, what games did it influence and what, what did the game itself influence? I don't know that I literally, like, look at things and go, oh, man, it's Final Fantasy 7. It's Final Fantasy, sure, as a franchise, but, like, I don't know.

I mean, part of me also wants to say, like, could Final Fantasy 7 just also be the Final Fantasy pick, talking about even just the GRPG pick, talking about how big GRBGs are in the gaming space? But if that's the case, in the way that you have GTA and GTA3, It's like, are you just going to put Final Fantasy 1 there then? Maybe. Maybe. Dragon Quest 1. Persona 1. At number 16, we got Balders Gate 3.

I think this is too early to say it's influenced anything. Yeah, me too. I think it's the best iteration of this type of CRPG, but... Dungeons and Dragons influence on games is incalculable. Larian Studios, multi-award winner, the latest and perhaps greatest of all D&D inspired adventures is the new standard by which all tabletop-inspired RPGs will be judged.

Beating out Nintendo's astonishing tiers of the kingdom to multiple game of the year prizes is the least of its accomplishments. Actor Neil Nubin, who plays the unforgettable Osterian rightly points out that its depth of interaction, romances, and also friendships, storytelling, and freedom have helped legitimize games as an art form. Okay, well, I disagree with that last part.

I don't think Baltimore's E.3 is the reason why games are in art form. No, I don't agree with this. That's a quote. I'm with you guys that is way too early. I do think like if you had to pick something for the last few years that is going to end up being one of those ones that we talk about. Yeah, Balders Gate 3. I think Balders Gate 3 is right next to Elton Ring

in like Refle Wild for that stuff. I would hope. I just think that that's the type of easier said than done type thing. If we're talking about what's going to be the downline influence of Baldur's Gate and you're telling me that it's going to be incredibly well-realized characters and story and stuff, it's like, all right. I think so. lofty-ass thing to be inspired to do.

Yeah, but I think it's more so... But I think it's more so... I think it's more so, like, depth of writing and how you tackle characters and, like, how you, like, tackle RPG interaction. Like, Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the rare RPGs, where legitimately I'm like, oh, this is an RPG. This is a game where I feel like I'm actually role-playing these characters,

and I'm actually, like, I feel like I am a character in this story. A lot of other video game RPGs almost see, like, they're role-playing as tabletop RPGs, if you know what I mean, It's like, all right, cool, I got choices, but I know how limited this is. I just, my only stance on this is I think Baldur's Gate is too good and too unique of a unicorn in this situation that, like, I just don't see that happening. Interesting.

I can see people trying, but like, Super Metroid is and Symphony of Night are impactful because, or influential because they've influenced other games that, like, are able to, like, match that energy and, like, do things. We'll see. I just think that that's, like, it might be too good. It might be too much of a new standard that no one of. else is going to be able to hit. I think there's not going to be another, oh, I'm not going to say there's not going to be another. I think more AAA and more RPGs in general going forward are going to have to look at

Balder's Gate 3 in like their design. And like, all right, how do we make a, how do we make an RPG, a AAA RPG that's going to actually live up to the standards that people have now because of Alder's Gate 3? Yeah. I legitimately think that going forward like any AAA developer making one of these games has to look at this. But we'll see. Again, this is a weird one because it is so early that it's hard to argue that it belongs on this list.

But since they're trying to span up until modern times, I'm not as mad at it. At number 15, we got World of Warcraft. Yep. Makes sense. Makes total sense. Surprise it's not higher. Here's the thing. It's like when these pop up and it's like, oh, I don't even need the explanation.

Yeah. We know. We know. And number 14, we got Metal Gear Solid. Mm-hmm. People were acting like this is a crazy list. Man, what's that mean for the time parts? That's, oh, man.

And number... Yeah, because Metal Gear Solid makes so much sense. Totally. Yeah. At number 13, we got Pong. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it makes sense. And number 12, we got Tomb Raider.

Interesting. Very interesting. Can you read the blurb on this one? because I immediately don't agree. Only a handful of characters transcend video games. The likes of Sonic, Mario, and Pikachu are almost universally recognized, and Lara Croft belongs on that short list. The intrepid archaeologist was born out of necessity.

Designer Toby Gard wanted to make an Indiana Jones-like game, but it would have been too costly to create two playable characters. Guard stuck with his preferred choice, and the result was a new gaming icon. As actor Jane Perry explains, quote, Lara opened the door for strong female characters in games. She's a positive role model for everyone and a true hero, end quote. This seems like a bit of a stretch. Like, what did that say about what this list is actually about?

Not much. I do think an argument could be made. I don't agree with it for this, but like could be made of Tomb Raider does have a, if not unique, rare ability to transcend being more than just a game. like everybody knows Tomb Raider in a way that is only can be said about things like Mario or Pikachu

that's very impressive for the type of game that it is and all of that stuff and like the Angelina Joe Lee movies were like real movies huge deals outside of video games but there was also an interest

because of what it was so I don't know maybe that influence is like oh video games cannot be just video games and characters can be more but like I don't know I see it.

I respect it being on the list. I think seeing it above some of the other things we've seen so far is a bit questionable. Yeah, that's my thing is. I'm starting to feel like this isn't ranked. Like, even if they say it is. Like, we're just, when we're talking about things like influence, it's hard to rank influence, right? True. Yeah.

Because we're not just talking about like the quality of the game or all that. It's like literally like ranking on the list. I almost just feel like this list shouldn't have been ranked. I feel like. I'm with you as far as if I was making this list, I probably wouldn't have ranked it just for the nature of it to what you're saying. I look at this in the same vein as Final Fantasy 7 where

I think this is more impact than influence. Snowbike Mike in the chat says Tomb Raider has to be on this list 100%. Mike, if you have an argument, I'd love for you to come in here and explain it. He really loves the second movie. Because I... What's that should call? Cradle of filth?

Cradle of no way. It's cradle of filth. But yeah, I think this is, I think Tomb Raider is impactful as hell, right? It goes back to the Final Fans of 7 thing. It goes back to the thing we're saying of like everybody knows what Tomb Raider is everybody knows who Lara Croft is right you want to talk about yeah opening doors for more female characters to be in video games

I think maybe you can make that argument right like I think there are things you can say regarding how big of a franchise Tomb Raider is even but like it and maybe it's like it checks enough of those boxes where it makes it the best case scenario for one game representing

multiple of those things because like even for like the translation through to other mediums I feel like it could make the argument for like a Mario or a Sonic or a, I mean, Pikachu would be, Pokemon would be the number one for me to pick of like, oh,

a transcendent franchise. But yeah, I'm not, I'm not mad at it on this list. Based on it being most influential, I'd move it down. Like, I think this could have been number 21.

But I'm not, I'm not necessarily blown away by it being on this list. Number 12 is kind of high. But yeah, I'm with you of like, maybe this shouldn't be a ranked, list. And number 11, we got

Tetris. Hell yeah. Oh, one I forgot to mention Mortal Kombat. That should be here. You know, I was thinking about that. I think Street Fighter 2 is probably the, if we're going to just have like a finding game representative. Yeah. See, I was thinking more ESRB. Okay.

Like the, I mean, again, back into the conversation of Tomb Raider and all that shit, right? Like, transcendent franchise. Everybody knows Moral combat but then also yeah actually influenced the ESRB ESRB stuff that's that's actually yeah that is the definition of influence they all take that yeah

and number and also shout out to Tetris but actually no I was gonna answer my own question I was gonna be like what has Tetris influenced but there are so many Tetris like video games and then also it influenced the success of the Game Boy and so I can't look past that and also just

video games maturing as a medium as well at number 10 we got the Sims. Yeah, you called it out. Here you go. Interesting. Can you read this one? Having simulated a city, Will Wright, and Maxis decided to zoom in

and let you take control of its inhabitants. The result was effectively a virtual doll's house that lets you set your own goals for your characters. Would you give them a better life or turn their world into a waking nightmare? The Sims expanded the medium's audience, attracting more casual and female players, and later providing a safe space,

for LGBTQ plus players to express themselves. As voter Anna Higgs explains it, it was a quote, a God game that became a social phenomenon. It brought joy and made us all feel a bit more in control of our lives, even if the baby was on fire on the kitchen floor, I quote.

You know what? I feel like we should have had more conviction with the Sims when we talked about it earlier. Because yeah, definitely like when you look at even just things like Animal Crossing and all the like the cozy sim games and all that stuff, like I feel like there's multiple forks in the road.

that to some extent can easily be traced back to Sims, and the people that like Sims like all of these new types of games. Is Sims before, was that before, GTA3? It was, right? It must have been very similar timing, right? Like the late 90s? Yes, because the first Sims was on.

98? I know it was PC, but was it on Super Nintendo? No, I'm thinking of SimCity. No, you think SimCity, yeah. Which was a Nintendo published game. Wow. The Sims was 2000, and from what our, GTA3 was 2001. Gotcha, gotcha.

Okay, well, around same time. Because I was going to say, like, I think the sandbox elements of what makes them special, right? Like, that is also part of why we revere a game like GTA3 and like how that permeates. I think the sandboxiness of like, I'm going to trap this person in a pool, watch them drown. Like, be a little game letting you do that. It's crazy. For sure. At number nine, we got Half Life 2.

Again, I don't understand why people were so mad at this list. And I don't want to, I know I'm saying that too early. There's still a lot of game. There's still a lot of game left on the board. I mean, there's eight left, right? But I'm not mad at this.

What are we missing? Yeah, let's go back to our list. What are Mario? I mean, there's no Mario, there's no Zelda. Have we gotten GTA through on this list?

Yes, we got it was number 19. I mean, we got Pong, we got Tetris. We've not seen Pac-Man, but like, cool. Street Fighter 2. Let's see.

Did we get Dark Souls? Yeah, Dark Souls was on here. Dark Souls on there. We got Metal Gear Solid. we got FF7 We've not seen Pokemon yet We've not seen Fortnite We've not seen PubG Minecraft

We saw Did we see World Warcraft? Yes No Hades Limbo Journey, Meatboy Cave Story We've not seen any of those No sports games yet

No RE4 Lastless We've seen Skyrim No Super Metroid No Candy Crush We've seen Baldus Gate 3 And no Breath of Wild Okay

Yeah I mean So there's a lot left There is a lot less. That they can leave out. But depending on what they choose to leave out here, I could see this landing. Well, so what's interesting about Half-Life 2 here is like, okay, cool, what's the influence of it? I feel like it would be here for kind of the story-based first-person shooter campaign. But then there's also the kind of like the physics side of it, right?

Like I think that Half-Life 2 is influential because it is kind of where gaming meets tech and like pushing tech forward. And yeah, I feel like you can really. kind of like draw lines between a lot of very successful games that came after to Half-Life-2. You can say Half-Life-1 as well, but I do think Half-Life-2 was a demonstrable step up in a way that actually mattered. It felt like a big technological leap for what gaming can be. And I think that Half-Life 2 and like the Orange Box in general kind of, I think, imagine very much inspired a generation of game developers to make games. Good call.

At number eight, we have Super Mario 64. Love seeing, my guy. We cooking. We cooking. And yeah, eight, I mean, that's good. I think it could be higher, but I think this is good as well. Yeah, not seeing the top five definitely feels weird, but. Yeah.

I don't think, I don't think we see Super Mario Brothers one out here. Yeah. Simply crazy. I mean, we'll see. I think that's nuts. If Mario 64 at number eight makes me think that maybe you got Mario Bros. Super Mario Brothers at one or two. I mean, Molly Brothers is number one.

Like, if this is a ranked list, like, I think just surely by definition of what we're talking about. Yeah. We'll see. At number seven, we got. What? Kingdom come to live. No fucking shot.

I need you to read each and every word. No fucking shot. Okay, now I get why the, oh, what the fuck? Yo, what influence has this had? Tim, kind of funny, he's fucked up. we didn't play this game I saw the Reddits I saw the comments

I saw everybody We didn't play the first true masterpiece of 2025 yet We should have played this video What the What What? They put it right above

Mario 64 Oh my god Oh wait I need you to read it Plus I need you to read it Not even two months old The most recent entry in our list Has clearly attracted

A Vocal and supportive fan base offering a handcibly rendered and wonderfully open-ended sandbox where you're free to shape every man where you're free to shape every man apprentice, Henry, as you please. Deliverance to's commitment to authenticity, found favor among voters. The word immersive showed up in more responses than for any other game. If its future impact has yet to be determined, this historical RPG has already left a mark on its players.

As one put it, quote, it gives me hope for the future of gaming. Oh, great. There's no chance that this game is on most influential game list in five years. You don't think so. No. I think it definitely has an audience. People who've played it really fucking love it. But in terms of being influential, I feel like what this game does, there's been so many games before that have done that.

What is this game doing differently and new that's going to inspire a next generation of video games? That's like a big question, right? I'm going to play. especially it being too much, two months old. It's very much like, okay, yes, a bunch of... To be, I want to take devil's advocate here. Think of all the games that have been influenced by Kingdom Come Deliverance, too. You know?

Like, think about this. Shut up, plus. That's hilarious. This definitely feels like a, like, uh, they knew about this poll and like the entire fan base came in because they're upset that, you know, us and other outlets haven't covered it. every single day of every single hour. So they're like,

we need it to be on this list and voted the fuck for it. You know? All right. Damn, that's such a, man. That's tough, man. Because I was, honestly, I was gonna defend the fuck out of this list,

even though it has, it's had some slip-ups. I was going to go to bat. This is one of those ones where one entry, a singular entry, can just ruin an entire list. Yeah, I'm not going that far

because I still think that this is a good list. I'm taking out the ranked aspect of it in my mind, because I think that that is, it's silly and like easily, no one will ever agree about that stuff. GTA 1, no. Kingdom come deliverance, no. Baldersgate 3, I'm on a wait and see.

I get it, but we'll see. Yeah, it's too early. Besides that, I think this list is kind of our list, but hey, we have six more to go, so let's see. Let's see. And number six, Minecraft. Yep. What is great.

I'm laughing because you sandwiched kingdom come deliverance to, between Mario 64 Minecraft Yeah But yes This makes sense Shout out Minecraft And number five The Legend of Zelda

Ocrowean of Time This list is so funny Because it's so good It's such a left turn And they're just weird ass choices Like it's like you have like It's like you have a friend That's in your close friend circle

Where you're like you've known him for years And like oh man I rock with this guy And they just say something Racist against the most random group of people And you're like wait What did this happen? When did you start liking those folks? Why would you say those words?

Hey, Barry, can you do me a favor? What? I have a conspiracy theory. Can you go back to the beginning on the list? And I want to see how they spell out Grand Theft Auto. Okay, there's Grand Theft Auto. Can you go down in 19? Grand The Dole.

Okay, my theory was going to be one of them said GTA once a Grand Theft Auto. There's going to be some fucking SEO shit. Oh, I see. Kingdom come deliverance. Everyone's searching for it. Yeah. Let's put it there. But no, that theory has been debunked.

Spooning case has been there blessed. I'm glad that's resonating with you, chat. All right. All right. That was number five. At number four, Half-Life one. Cool.

All right, double-dipping. Okay. Not mad at it. I mean, I'm a little mad just for like, I guess, you know what? But again, I was saying, Half-Life One, in terms of the single-player story campaign, like, that they fucking did it. Two, the tech.

pushing the tech forward man that changed things that opened game design see i feel like we could have consolidated here a little bit we coulda but i'll let us slide i think you gave such a good argument for half-life too that i'm not as mad as i would have been and and earlier we were saying or i was saying that um we have um pac-man miss pacman it's like the modding scene like half-life created counter-strike you know what i mean portal like all of these things came from this game so we're down to top three. There's three spots left on the list.

Are there things that we need to see in this top three? Super Mario Bros. If you're having GTA and GTA 3, and if you're having Half-Ly-Wing 2, you got to have Super Mario Bros. What are the two other games, do you think? I feel like they've got all the ones that I'm like, if they don't fucking have this,

I'm going to punch somebody besides Mario. Resonable 4. You got to have Resonimo 4. Honestly, you need Street Fighter 2. If you don't have Street Fighter 2, that's insane. I don't think we see Street Fighter 2 Think about arcades

Think about what it did for multiplayer Think about just character select screens Health bars like Yeah Yeah Fortnite we still haven't seen Oh wait we've not seen Fortnite No

Fortnight's number one There's no battle royale You're right Fortnight number one Super Mario brothers number two Combos Dude Street Fighter 2 better fucking be there I'm gonna say

My prediction I'm gonna say Resident Evil 4 Instead of Lasos I'm gonna say In fact I'm going to reorder my thing because I actually have a little bit of trust in them. So I'm going to say number one is going to be Super Mario Brothers. I think number two is going to be Fortnite.

And number three is going to be Resonial 4. Ooh, you didn't even get Call of Duty. Do we think Black Myth Wu Kong shows up on the session? No. No. No. I get where your heads out there, but call of duty, actually, you're fucking right. Yeah. Modern Warfare, that should be on the list. Really should be on the list.

All right, let's get to number three. All right. And number three, we got Super Mario Brothers. All right. I can't hate this list. Yeah. I can't hate it. They did good.

I didn't do the perfect job. You're speaking, you're speaking soon here. I'm a little early. There's still two more spots left. There is. Two more spots left. There is. But hey, like, they're checking all the boxes.

They're checking them, man. They're checking them. And number two, we got Doom. Okay. Okay. I'm not mad at that. Okay. I'm not mad.

So I feel like with the. last couple choices that we just saw. It's like, all right, it sucks that we're not also going to get, Breath of the Wild, or this or that, or whatever, the halos and all that. But it's like, I can see what they're trying to do. At least we got Keen & Con Deliverance. Again, not every choice has been perfect,

but overall, I think it hit where it needed to hit. And like, if you're not going to have a halo on here, which again, to me is a little crazy, like Doom, if you want to take it all the way back, right? Like we were saying at the top of the show here, Doom fits that mold in terms of first person.

shooter. Yeah. Number one. Number one, we got. Don't fucking shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up. No fucking shot. We got Shenmu. Okay. What Shenmu fan made this list? This is crazy.

No, well, okay, first time, I want to say Shenmoo with number one is wild work. This is, this is insane behavior. Like, somebody needs to get checked hard. Having said that, I knew he was going to say. Having said that, I just who's going to say having said that? Y'all don't know. Y'all don't fucking know.

Shenmu was incredible influential. This game deserves to be on this type of list. This game was so open. You go out there talking to people getting stories and all this stuff, like so ahead of its time. And I definitely, we've heard so many different developers legitimately cite Shenmu as why they make their game design choices and all that stuff.

Yes. I think Shenmu deserves a spot on this list. Number one, hell no. Number 20? Sure. That's where I'm at. You know what? You know what fair?

You know what fair? Like there's a lot for Shenmoo of like game design where you look at it. Like playing Shenmoo one nowadays, you're like, whoa, they were doing games like this back then? There's so much here. What did what do they say about it though? They said a surprise number one in some respects. So yeah, this is definitely ranked. And yet, you Suzuki's 1999 opus increasingly feels like the original blueprint for the dynamic detailed settings that we have since become, since settings.

That has since become the expected norm at gaming's bleeding edge. Settings used in such industry titans like Grand The Auto and Assassin's Creed franchises. The phrase, living, breathing world, might be a marketing cliche today, but when Shenmu arrived, it accurately described the game's astonishingly vivid rendition of Yokosuka, where a taciturn hero, Rio Hazuki, searches for his father's killer. And more than anything, this influenced Mega-64 to make one of my favorite mega 64 sketches of all time. Rocco walking around

the streets looking for the man that killed his father. You don't get better than that. That's straightforward but absorbing revenge plot played second fiddle to simple pleasures of inhabiting such a convicting urban space with its own timetable. Non-player characters were granted lives of their own and so Rio

would have to fit into their routines and rituals. In both its embrace of a slower-paced lifestyle and its use of an in-game clock to dictate the player's activities, it could be seen as a precursor to Animal Crossing or Starry Valley. The quieter moments and otherwise noisy blockbusters, such as Uncharted 4, The Lastest Part 2, and God of War surely took their cues from Suzuki's game.

And its spirit lives on through the increasingly popular Yakuza-like-a-Dragon series, which similarly encourages you to slow down every now and again. Shemu may have struggled commercially on release, but if it felt out of step with its peers, that's only because it marched to its own leisurely rhythm. And as we all know, the genius of the true pioneer, is often only appreciated after the fact. Its unique appeal is summed up by voter Jesse Strife. Quote,

I played this game when it initially launched, and even now, I've yet to encounter another game quite like it. Shenmu holds a special place in my heart, end quote. The Lou in the chat says Shenmoo started QTEs, confirming what I thought, but wasn't sure about it. Yeah, great write-up.

I actually think that that's awesome. And yeah, them bringing up all the animal crossing and all just like the side quest inside it. Yes. Like Shenmoo at that time was such a thing of like, a game you can just live in and like actually just live in it. Number one is insane. Like, and more than that, like, I don't even think

I can stand by an argument of top ten. Here's the thing. That right of moved me. Yeah. I started tearing up a little bit. I was like, damn, I gotta play Shenmoot. The shit sounds fucking innovative. Oh my God, that's so freaking funny.

Bear, you had something to say. No, I was just saying it's insane. I was just backing up what Tim was saying Listen, I fuck with that write-up so hard That I might almost You might almost get a thumbs up for me But not quite It's there are too many mistakes on this list

Too many missteps I won't even say mistakes Because all this stuff is purposeful These aren't mistakes These are missteps Yeah, I'm with you I'm still giving you a thumb up Not two thumbs up

I'm not enthusiastic about it We always say We like one list have something to say Yeah And you can't tell me this list Didn't have something to say With Shenmu at number one And they tried backing it up

They showed their homework. I just feel like the omissions here, right? Street Fighter 2 to me is the biggest omission and a battle royale. Yeah. No, no Fortnite feels incredibly off. And again, this is a fan pole thing, like the same on the BFTAs necessarily. But like, I think no Fortnite is kind of wild. BG3 here over a Breathful Wild, if you want to talk about more recent type games.

I know Breath of Wall is 2017 now. But even still, like, that feels a bit off. No Reson 8 will 4 feels a, a bit off. Yeah, that's wild stuff. There's too many omissions plus weird inclusions like Kingdom Come Deliverance to. That makes me have to give the thumbs down.

Yeah, I have to give the thumbs down as well. Like, again, it's like almost there to being a thumbs up. But yeah, like, Kingdom Come Deliverance to being above, what was it, Mario 64? Yeah. No Super Metroid either. Feels odd. Oh, yeah, man. Yeah.

Just a lot of weird omissions here. even though a lot of the inclusions I do think are good. Like this had way more good inclusions than I would have thought based on how people were talking about it and it has like, I mean,

95% of the inclusions are actually pretty good here. You know, I'm not mad at it. And we call them. Yeah, like, you know, Mario 64, Half-Life Sims, like Ted, like, this is a good, even Tomb Raider. I'm like, you know what? I'm not mad at that.

There's so many good, there's so much good here, but it's the bad that's fullest a bunch for me. Yeah, hey, that happens. Tim, this has been another episode of the kind of funny. games cast. This has been another episode of the shitlist.

And let me tell you, the shitlists always delivers. Not a bad episode of the shit list. That's true. That's true. Of course, each and every weekday, we get together and talk about the biggest reviews, previews, and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and on podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad-free, watchers accord them live, and get a daily exclusive

show. Catch today's KHD on YouTube or podcast services and know that until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you.