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00:01Welcome to MojoPlays and today we're looking at games that not only influence the genre when
00:06they're released, but are still influencing games released today. These are 20 retro games with the
00:10most influence on future games. Let's go! Before we continue, we publish content all week long,
00:16so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get notified of our latest videos. Super Metroid.
00:30Modern exploration-heavy games owe an enormous debt to Super Metroid. Instead of constantly
00:35telling players where to go, it trusted them to learn the world, remember blocked paths,
00:39and return later with new abilities. That loop of exploration upgrades and backtracking became one
00:44half of the entire Metroidvania genre, influencing everything from Hollow Knight to Ori and the Blind
00:49Forest. Its environmental storytelling was just as important. The world felt hostile and mysterious
00:54without needing endless dialogue boxes explaining every room. Even the way abilities gradually transform
00:59how you move through old areas still feels really, really modern if you go back and play it today.
01:09Metal Gear Solid
01:17Few games made sneaking around feel as cool as Metal Gear Solid. Hideo Kojima had already
01:22experimented with stealth back on the NES, but the original PlayStation finally gave him enough power
01:27to go completely mad with his ideas. And go mad, he did. It's Kojima, what did you expect?
01:32Solid Snake became the perfect action hero for a story packed with global conspiracies,
01:36ridiculous super weapons, unforgettable villains, and enough cinematic drama to fill several movies.
01:41More importantly, the stealth mechanics changed how action games could work. Instead of charging into a
01:46room, players were encouraged to watch patrols, avoid detection, and think before moving.
01:50That influence can be felt in later series like Splinter Cell, Assassin's Creed, and even Hitman.
01:56It also launched its own epic series. Well, except for Survive, but still launched its own epic series.
02:15Final Fantasy
02:17Final Fantasy
02:31Final Fantasy VII was the moment JRPGs stopped feeling niche and suddenly became something everyone
02:36was playing, even the cool kids. Earlier entries had already built a strong following with Nerds
02:40Like Me, especially Final Fantasy VI with Nerds Like Me, but this was the one that truly exploded,
02:45particularly with Nerds Like Me. Its 3D presentation, huge world, and cinematic storytelling
02:50made it feel far bigger than most RPGs people had seen before. Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, and Sephiroth quickly
02:56became gaming icons, while moments like Aerith's death and the final confrontation with Sephiroth stuck with
03:01players for decades. It also helped prove that games could deliver stories with cinematic scale.
03:11Half-Life
03:11Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System.
03:16This automated train is provided for the security and convenience of...
03:20Releasing the same year as Metal Gear Solid, Half-Life changed expectations for first-person shooters
03:25by making the world around the gunplay matter just as much as the gunplay itself,
03:30proving that 1998 was a hell of a year for gaming. Valve built Black Mesa as a believable place,
03:37filled with scientists, machinery, and small environmental details that made everything feel
03:41connected. Then the experiment goes wrong and the whole facility collapses into chaos. That opening
03:45remains one of gaming's great set pieces, because it turns a routine work day into complete disaster
03:51without breaking immersion. The game also pushed visuals, physics, and environmental storytelling forward
03:56in ways that felt genuinely new in 1998. FPS's that tell deep stories have become the norm since Half-Life.
04:08He tried to warn them!
04:10Shenmue
04:11Ah? Ine-san! Ine-san!
04:16Walking around Yokosuka was the real magic of Shenmue. Ryo Hazuki may be searching for his father's killer,
04:22but the revenge story often takes a back seat to simply existing in a place that feels really, really alive.
04:27Shops open and close, NPCs follow routines, time passes, and you regularly have to work around the
04:33schedules of the people in the game. That sounds ordinary now, but in 1999 it was pretty much
04:38astonishing. You can see its influence in everything from Grand Theft Auto and Like a Dragon to slower,
04:43routine-driven games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. Shenmue was expensive, slow, and commercially
04:49troubled, but it understood something early that other games didn't. Sometimes, the world itself doesn't
04:54have to be fast. It can be real.
04:58Strike.
04:59But I'm not as good as father was.
05:02EverQuest
05:05Before World of Warcraft swallowed the MMO world, EverQuest was showing players what a massive online
05:10fantasy universe could look like. Honestly, World of Warcraft owes a lot to EverQuest. Released in 1999,
05:17it helped popularize the idea of thousands of people sharing one persistent 3D world, forming guilds,
05:23tackling raids, and building entire communities around the game. Those systems became standard
05:27for the genre, but at the time, they felt groundbreaking. EverQuest could be brutally
05:31demanding, yet that difficulty also made teamwork and social connections matter far more than anything
05:36had made them matter before. Amazingly, it is still playable today, with a loyal fanbase keeping
05:41it alive and thriving. Modern MMO players may not talk much about it, but if you play RuneScape,
05:46you should probably bow down to the goat.
05:53Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow
06:00Few games have ever turned such a simple idea into something so enormous. Pokemon Red and Blue
06:06combined collecting, battling, and trading with a cast of creatures practically designed to end up on
06:10lunchboxes, cards, and bedroom walls. The formula was unusual enough that even decades later,
06:15no major franchise has truly replicated its exact appeal. Plenty borrowed the monster-catching idea,
06:21but none became Pokemon. The games also proved how powerful a multimedia strategy
06:25could be for games expanding into anime, toys, trading cards, clothing, basically every form of
06:31merchandise imaginable. That success changed how publishers thought about building franchises,
06:35for better, but also for worse. Tomb Raider
06:52Lara Croft did not just become popular, she escaped the medium entirely. Like Mario,
06:58Sonic, and Pikachu, she became recognizable even to people who barely played games. I mean,
07:02my mum knew who Lara Croft was, and she thought Zelda was the little green guy. The character began
07:07with designer Toby Gard's attempt to create something with an Indiana Jones flavor, but production limits
07:13meant choosing one lead instead of two, and Lara became that choice. Gaming got one of its defining
07:19icons, and we got one of our favorite female protagonists. Her impact went far beyond sales too.
07:25She helped prove that female protagonists could front a huge action-adventure franchise and become
07:30its biggest selling point. Tetris. Tetris is probably the closest gaming has ever come to a universal
07:46language. The rules are simple enough that almost anyone can understand them within minutes,
07:51yet high-level play becomes brutally fast and incredibly demanding. That balance is a huge part
07:56of why Alexey Pajitnov's puzzle game has lasted for decades. You're only arranging falling blocks,
08:00but somehow it never stops being satisfying. Its clean design has survived countless ports,
08:05remakes, and variations without losing what made the original work. Beyond gaming, Tetris is firmly
08:10embedded in pop culture, helped along by one of the most recognizable themes ever attached to a video
08:16game. Simple puzzle games, simple games, and even mobile games have a lot to thank Tetris for.
08:28Dragon Quest. Before JRPGs became enormous cinematic adventures, Dragon Quest helped establish the
08:39basic language they still use today. Towns, overworld exploration, random battles, experience points,
08:45equipment upgrades, and turn-based combat were all presented in a simple format that players could
08:50immediately understand. Many of those ideas existed elsewhere, but Dragon Quest packaged them into
08:55something accessible enough to become a phenomenon in Japan. The series then began a blueprint for
09:00countless RPGs that followed, including Final Fantasy and generations of console role-playing games.
09:05You can still see its fingerprints in modern titles whenever you enter a town, buy better gear,
09:09and head back outside to fight stronger monsters. It might be the game on this list that has had the
09:14most influence on games that I personally enjoy. Resident Evil.
09:22I don't know what happened. Barry, where's Barry? Well, I'm sorry, but he's probably...
09:30Resident Evil gave survival horror the shape that countless games would follow afterward.
09:35Admittedly, Resident Evil may not have existed without Alone in the Dark, but it's worth acknowledging that
09:39Resident Evil took that formula and sent it to the goddamn moon. The setup is beautifully simple.
09:45Members of Starz investigate a remote mansion near Raccoon City and quickly discover that something has
09:49gone very wrong. Zombies, mutated creatures, rapidly shrinking supplies of ammunition. These are the
09:55things that turn every hallway into a problem. What made the game special was the pressure. Limited
09:59resources, awkward exploration, and the constant threat of wasting precious bullets made even small
10:04decisions feel stressful. It did not invent horror games, but it helped to find what survival horror
10:09could be and pushed the genre into the mainstream. I'm a newcomer. I just joined the Starz Bravo team
10:15last month. Well, I'm really sorry. Are you alright? The Sims.
10:26Instead of managing an entire city, The Sims asked a much more dangerous question. What if players
10:32controlled the people living in it? Will Wright and Maxis turned everyday life into a giant virtual
10:37dollhouse where you could choose careers, build relationships, decorate homes, or simply ruin
10:42someone's afternoon for no reason. That freedom helped the game reach far beyond the usual gaming
10:47audience attracting casual players and giving people room to experiment with identity and relationships
10:52in ways few games offered at the time. It became a genuine social phenomenon because there was no
10:57single correct way to play. You could create the perfect household or accidentally burn dinner,
11:03the kitchen, and possibly a baby. Don't know which is worse. Probably the baby.
11:12Grand Theft Auto 3
11:18Before GTA 3, most action games told you where to go and what to do. This one handed you an
11:24entire city
11:25and basically said, behave yourself if you want, but we both know you won't. Liberty City became a
11:29playground where players could follow missions, steal cars, start fights, or simply see how long they
11:34could survive with the police chasing them. That freedom helped turn the game into one of the PS2's
11:39defining releases and pushed open world designs into the mainstream. Its influence is everywhere,
11:46from Saints Row to even later Yakuza games. The story matters, but the real breakthrough was giving
11:51players a city to mess around in. And more killable pedestrians than you could throw a dead cat at.
11:57What? Well, Tony. Tony? How'd you know my name was Tony? You're tracing this call? Cause if you are...
12:03Alone in the Dark
12:10Alright, time to credit the OG. Long before Resident Evil made fixed camera horror famous,
12:15Alone in the Dark was already wandering through creepy mansions and making players nervous
12:20about every doorway. You can choose between Edward Carnby and Emily Hartwood, then explore a Lovecraft
12:26inspired house filled with zombies, strange creatures, and plenty of unpleasant surprises.
12:30Its early 3D presentation and fixed perspectives gave the game a very, very different feel from most
12:37PC titles at the time. While limited resources and dangerous enemies helped establish many ideas
12:42later associated with survival horror. It may look primitive now, but its influence is remarkable.
13:01You couldn't escape Pac-Man in the 80s. Arcades had it, pizza shops had it, laundromats had it,
13:07and somehow that little yellow circle became more recognisable than plenty of actual celebrities.
13:13Namco's maze game exploded far beyond gaming, spawning sequels like Ms. Pac-Man, clothing, books,
13:20and the hit novelty song, Pac-Man Fever. Decades later, Google even celebrated the game's 30th
13:25anniversary with a playable homepage version that reportedly swallowed millions of hours of
13:31productivity. More importantly, Pac-Man survived the 1983 video game Crash, while countless other
13:36arcade properties just disappeared. Since then, he has appeared on nearly every platform imaginable.
13:41He's arguably as well-known as Marion.
13:49The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind
13:51This is where they want you. Head down to the dock and I'll show you to the census office.
14:00Morrowind is where the Elder Scrolls really found the formula that would define the series. You arrive on the
14:06strange island of Vvardenfell as a former prisoner, then get dropped into a world full of rival houses,
14:12suspicious locals, and enough political tension to make every conversation feel slightly dangerous.
14:17What made Elder Scrolls III Morrowind special was the freedom. You could ignore the main quest,
14:22join factions, wander into trouble, and talk to hundreds of NPCs or disappear into the wilderness
14:26for hours. Whatever you wanted to do, you could do it. Skyrim later brought that style to a much bigger
14:31audience, but the foundation was already here in the Elder Scrolls III. Dense, weird, and packed with
14:36possibilities, Morrowind helped set the standard for modern open-world RPGs.
14:48Street Fighter II The World Warrior
14:58The first Street Fighter had some good ideas buried under controls that felt like they had a
15:03serious problem with you individually. Street Fighter II fixed that problem and helped turn
15:07one-on-one fighting games into a full-blown phenomenon. Its eight-character roster was small
15:11by modern standards, but each fighter felt distinct, while special moves and combo possibilities gave
15:16competitive players plenty to obsess over. Arcades quickly filled with people learning match-ups,
15:21arguing over favorites, and discovering just how annoying projectile spam could be.
15:25The success triggered a massive wave of imitators and rivals throughout the 1990s,
15:30including Mortal Kombat and Tekken. Even modern fighters owe plenty to the structure it popularized.
15:36Street Fighter II did not invent the genre, but it absolutely taught us how big it could become.
15:47The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
15:54Ocarina of Time arrived only two years after Super Mario 64, and somehow helped to find an entirely
16:00different type of 3D game. Nintendo built a huge action-adventure around exploration, puzzles, combat,
16:07and a world that felt genuinely alive at the time. Its context-sensitive controls made movement and
16:13interactions far more intuitive, while Z targeting became one of the most influential combat ideas to
16:18exist in gaming history. You can still see versions of it in everything from Dark Souls to modern action
16:23games. The soundtrack is incredible, the story grows surprisingly dark, and the whole adventure feels
16:28remarkably confident. Plenty of games have borrowed from it since, which is probably why Ocarina of Time
16:33Time still appears near the top of every Greatest Everless list, and why it's still played once a year by
16:39me.
16:46Doom
16:51Blood, demons, and satanic imagery made Doom an easy target for controversy when it arrived, but players
16:58mostly cared that blasting through hell was so fun. Wolfenstein 3D had already helped establish first
17:03person shooting, yet Doom was the game that showed just how fast, aggressive, and addictive the genre
17:08could actually be. You were dropped into maze-like levels, handed increasingly ridiculous weapons,
17:13and encouraged to tear through entire armies of monsters without slowing down. That formula became
17:19enormously influential. Modern shooters may look completely different now, but games like Half-Life,
17:24Halo, and Call of Duty all exist in a genre that Doom helped push into the mainstream. And those are
17:29all games
17:29that also influenced future games themselves. Doom began a lot of different things.
17:39Super Mario Bros.
17:42Few games have ever done more for a console than Super Mario Bros. did for the NES. Its colorful worlds,
17:49instantly catchy music, and wonderfully precise platforming made Mario a household name, and turned
17:54Nintendo's machine into something millions of people wanted. Naturally, competitors rushed to
17:59create their own cartoon mascots, leading to characters like Bubsy, Aero, the Acrobat, and of course,
18:05Sonic the Hedgehog. Most discovered fairly quickly that attitude alone doesn't make a great platformer.
18:10What made Super Mario Bros. special was how perfectly its controls, level design, and presentation blended
18:16together. That foundation has lasted for decades. I mean, realistically, Super Mario 64 deserves its
18:21own entry based on how it changed 3D platforming, but we'd just be repeating a lot of the same things.
18:26Let me just sum it up like this. Mario is the GOAT.
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