History OnceOriginalNowCommon / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'', for the SNES. Compared to today's games, its mild swearing (a single "damn" and "hell"), explicit references to death, and religious themes (including a CorruptChurch and explicit references to gods) may seem tame; nonetheless, it was definitely DarkerAndEdgier than anything ever before seen on a Nintendo system. The same can also be said about a game released only 20 days after, ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue''. While Sega's censorship policies weren't nearly as bad as Nintendo's, the fact that both games had a CorruptChurch was rather edgy, and Lunar had a surprisingly CrapSaccharineWorld, something that wasn't very common at the time.

*** A particular one is [[ItWasHisSled Kefka's status as the main villain]]. Prior to ''VI'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' featured Gilgamesh, a [[GoldfishPoopGang more comical, better-characterized supporting villain]] who ended up [[ShooOutTheClowns dropping out of the plot]] to be replaced by a more conventional --initially seen as [[GenericDoomsdayVillain generic]] before undergoing CharacterPerceptionEvolution and becoming a well-liked hammy villain parody of cartoonishly one-dimensional baddies, as well as being very effective and intimidating-- FinalBoss in Exdeath, [[YouHaveFailedMe who kills Gilgamesh for his failures]]. That's something that ''VI'' seems to be building towards, with Kefka being mostly an incompetent goof for the first half and [[TheEmperor Emperor Gestahl]] very clearly fitting into the generic EvilOverlord model and seeing Kefka as an idiot. You're just waiting for the shoe to drop and Gestahl to off Kefka in irritation... then [[FromNobodyToNightmare Kefka's power spikes massively]], and ''he'' [[TheStarscream kills Gestahl]] and proceeds to become the final boss. The idea took one of the most popular elements from ''V'' and turned him into the primary focus in [[NotSoHarmlessVillain a frightening and unexpected way]], and you got to see every step as he grows from an ineffectual boob to a cosmic threat. Nowadays, ''everyone'' knows Kefka's the main baddie, and most people don't even remember Gestahl was in the game and think of Ultros as the Gilgamesh clone anyway, making it impossible to realize it was a twist at all.

*** The switch to a ScienceFantasy and UrbanFantasy setting, in contrast to the traditional fantasy of previous games, was another thing that helped the game stand out as different, but became less so when later entries took place in similar settings, to the point of classic fantasy becoming uncommon in main entries.

*** While we had DarkerAndEdgier games as well as games set in different timeframes, ''Final Fantasy VII'' was a flat out UrbanFantasy set in a much more bleak setting as Midgar. Games with modern settings like ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' and ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' were much ''much'' LighterAndSofter, whereas ''VII'' detailed poverty, corporate greed, pollution, and environmental destruction in an almost [[ValuesResonance eerily prophetic way]]. This was way ''way'' different than what was seen at the time - even in Western [=RPGs=], the closest you got was blatantly post-apocalyptic, not TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture like ''Final Fantasy VII'' was. For many people, this was their introduction to the UrbanFantasy genre, and it even caused debate over whether or not it could be considered fantasy. To put it into perspective, the fact that a GenreThrowback in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI'' was ''medieval'' was actually seen as somewhat subversive.

*** Sephiroth, like Kefka before him, became a very popular and iconic villain because of how different he was compared to traditional villains in the series or [=RPGs=] in general; instead of an EvilOverlord, EvilSorcerer, or ancient evil entity, he is a white-haired SuperSoldier with a tragic backstory who went mad after a long series of misfortunes and becomes a GodhoodSeeker with an [[LightIsNotGood angelic motif]] and [[OneWingedAngel transformation]]. However, his popularity was such that he codified the WhiteHairBlackHeart villain with light powers in [=RPGs=], with Final Fantasy alone having several later villains modeled after him, and thus he is as likely to be dismissed as just another white-haired pretty boy villain.

[[folder:Miscellaneous examples]]

* ''VideoGame/RebelAssault II'' was released two years before ''VideoGame/JediKnightDarkForcesII'', and was the first piece of ''Franchise/StarWars'' media to use live-action footage since ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' 12 years prior. It was a huge deal at the time, bringing Lucasarts a giant surge of popularity (to the point that it had several compilation packages based around its inclusion) and along with ''The 7th Guest'' was one of the primary reasons CD-ROM games took off. Today, it's hard to look at the footage from ''II'' (especially compared to the aforementioned ''Jedi Knight'', which has actual actors and actually feels like a legitimate entry into the canon, rather than just a GaidenGame) and not laugh at the stilted dialogue, cheap props and bad effects, even though it was ''the'' KillerApp for the company.
* When ''VideoGame/{{Gex}}'' was released in early 1995, its sheer volume of voice samples was impressive. But even more impressive was that they were done by a professional comedian (until then, most video game voice work was done either in-house or by local talent). Those playing the game for the first time today are likely to find Gex's constant one-liners both annoying and outdated (expect lots of TotallyRadical slang and unironic references to '90s pop culture like Series/FullHouse). A matter not helped by the fact that his mouth doesn't move when speaking them, and they don't blend with the remaining soundwork in the game. So they sound more like external narrations than character quips.
* [=Mageknight404=]'s ROM hack for ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' was actually one of the first games to do stuff like change around the event data, so that the characters were not actually just cutting the lines from a Game Boy Advance ''Fire Emblem'' game and replacing them with their own. However, playing it now, you'll notice that the characters are ''obviously'' splices or edits, while some of the custom faces fall right into the UnintentionalUncannyValley. In addition, the custom music will seem out of place, the events will seem weird, there are glitches (such as ''brigands'' with ''sword'' ranks) amongst other things like a PurposefullyOverpowered character [[WriterOnBoard based on one of the sprite artists]]. However, it ''was'' merely a beta, after all, and the game was revamped and re-released, given a name change to ''VideoGame/TheLastPromise'', and is generally a vast step up from the original version. The idea of a main character who was a [[CrutchCharacter Jeigan]] was also a rather novel concept.

* The very idea that a game would, for example, have [[PlayEveryDay an incentive to make you boot up/log on every day]] also falls into this. Back in the earlier days of multiplayer or endless games, it was highly likely ''for'' a player to "Run out of content" to do and thus feel less of an incentive to log on. Having things such as a daily reward for logging on or daily/weekly objectives was actually seen as an innovative feature in that it ensured a player would always have ''something'' to do, something to work towards, and something to help others out with. These days, this practice is often criticised for trying to make the player get addicted to the game, inducing FOMO[[labelnote:*]]Fear Of Missing Out[[/labelnote]], or in the case of {{Freemium}} games, trying to [[AllegedlyFreeGame frustrate the player]] into [[{{Microtransactions}} paying]] or get them to [[AdReward watch advertisements or fill out surveys]].

* ''VideoGame/AoOni'' looks barebones by today's standards for ExplorerHorror games with its ExcusePlot, {{Flat Character}}s, basic puzzles, and fairly cheap graphics, especially when compared to other games of its ilk such as ''VideoGame/MadFather'' and ''VideoGame/{{Ib}}''. But back in 2007, ''Ao Oni'' was considered revolutionary for using UsefulNotes/RPGMaker to create a combat-less horror game, enough to spawn a multi-media franchise and help popularize the Explorer Horror genre.

* Commodore's Platform/{{Amiga}} was one of the first true multimedia computers, representing a quantum leap in computer tech. It was, at the time of its 1985 release, leagues ahead of the PC and the then-monochrome Macintosh (to say nothing of 8-bit machines that were popular at the time), boasting an impressive set of custom chips for graphics and sound, and 16-bit Motorola 68k [=CPUs=], all of which caught the eye of many a gamer and creative professional with the trademark bouncing ball demo, as well as the Video Toaster, which made it incredibly useful for TV production. Even more impressive was its preemptive multitasking, a full decade before its competitors. Many a British developer would get their start on the Amiga. Unfortunately, due to [[ExecutiveMeddling almost willful mismanagement]] and [[MisaimedMarketing marketing missteps]], the Amiga would neither catch fire anywhere outside the European gaming market nor get the needed technological updates to keep in step, much less keep ahead of rapid advances in PC and Mac tech. By December 1993, a little game called ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' that showed what the PC could now do changed the scene overnight, the Amiga began looking old hat, and months later, Commodore went bankrupt due to a patent troll, leaving the Amiga brand to all but languish. Even though [=AmigaOS=] still holds up, the Amiga brand was never able to find a company with the needed backing to get back in the game. [=PCs=] meanwhile made up for their former deficiencies and then some with graphics, sound cards, and versions of Windows 95/NT onward giving multimedia beyond what the Amiga could fathom, and ever faster processors from Intel and AMD, and Apple would make a major comeback with the iMac. These days, the idea of specialized multimedia chips onboard isn't so exotic, though most serious users will get a discrete graphics card. Outside of a diehard fandom, the Amiga reads like a lost technological civilization.

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''. ASpaceMarineIsYou, demons, [[ForebodingArchitecture Foreboding]], [[BenevolentArchitecture Benevolent]] and MalevolentArchitecture, futuristic techbases... we've seen it already.

* This has also affected the ''Doom'' [[GameMod modding community]]:
** Older mods which were acclaimed back in the day may seem downright primitive by today's standards, in part due to evolving mapper skill, but also due to the introduction of increasingly user-friendly level editors which make it a lot easier to add fine detailing, to say nothing of source ports that add support for more modern features, everything from custom monsters and weapons that work entirely differently from the classic arsenal to simple sloped surfaces and bridges you can pass over and under. Also, as maps get more and more recent it's rarer to find ones that don't make use of at least a couple custom textures, to the point that nowadays a mod using nothing but the default textures is either a first effort or advertising a purely-vanilla look as its primary gimmick. Megawads such as ''Icarus: Alien Vanguard'' and ''Requiem'' were considered some of the best back in the late nineties, but today they seem at best like a mixed bag.
** This is apparent with maps by the Finnish mapper Iikka Keranen, who was named as the best mapper of all time by Doomworld.com back in 1999. His contributions to ''Requiem'' were applauded in part due to their groundbreaking tricks, such as 3D bridges, and attempts at realism. Now that the novelty has worn off, it becomes painfully obvious that the maps' cramped interiors really don't make for very good gameplay.
** This has also happened with ''Knee-Deep in [=ZDoom=]''. It was ground breaking at the time of its release in 2007, being a remake of the original ''Doom'''s first episode that completely revamps the existing maps and shows off a number of [=ZDoom=]'s new features, such as skyboxes, custom monsters, and scripted events; but nowadays, it's seen as average at best, mainly due to the [[DemonicSpiders unbalanced nature]] of the new monsters, [[MarathonLevel huge sprawling levels that require large amounts of backtracking]] and are also [[GuideDangIt very easy to get lost in]], over-detailing to the point of being hard to tell the resemblance to the original levels outside of a small handful of locations, and a FinalBoss that [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere comes out of nowhere]] after a legitimate battle against new, souped-up versions of the Barons of Hell from the original. Even one of the Cacoward writers admitted as much when revisiting it 15 years later through ''Knee-Deep in Knee-Deep in [=ZDoom=]'', a vanilla-compatible demake presenting ''[=KDiZD=]'' as [[TakeThat a low-budget TV movie recreation]] of the original episode, which won its Cacoward mostly for the sheer technical wizardry involved rather than the gameplay quality of the maps:
--->''2007 Scuba Steve was right--Knee Deep in [=ZDoom=] was one of the best wads of that year, but it's also fair to acknowledge that time has not been kind to [=KDiZD=]. Frankly, in 2022, it kinda sucks.''
** This is very common in early mods designed to make use of [=ZDoom=]-specific features because many of them were made specifically to experiment with them and ended up overindulging, to the point it's common advice for new mappers to start working under vanilla limits before eventually moving on to [=ZDoom=] modding, and even some specific features showing up ''at all'' can date a map. ''[[Franchise/JamesBond 007]]: Licence to Spell [=DooM=]'' from 2002 is a good example - at the time of its release, it was regarded so highly for trying new things (and being more successful at it than the author's previous vanilla-only attempts) that it made it into the "Top 100 [=WADs=] of All Time" list that was the predecessor of the annual Cacowards, but now with twenty years of hindsight it just ''feels'' like less of a full map set and more of an experiment in messing around with as many [=ZDoom=]-specific features as possible, even when they end up hindering the gameplay - including floors which push the player in a direction to simulate heavy winds (making navigation a chore), adding a new variety of the Pinky with more health and boosting the health of the Lost Soul while also reducing the player's total ammo count (making fights more difficult in [[FakeDifficulty the worst way possible]]), frequent use of enemies that are outright invisible except when attacking or being hit, and several timed sequences which can only be completed through [[GuideDangIt outright trial-and-error]].

* Picking up shiny new gear had always been a part of video games, but ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' codified it. By not only providing large quantities of it (most of which turned out to be BetterOffSold) but by ''procedurally generating'' its qualities, they turned loot, and the hopes of scrounging up the perfect InfinityPlusOneSword, into the ''raison d'etre'' of the game. (The addition of SocketedEquipment didn't hurt.) When combined with the ColorCodedItemTiers from ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', ''Diablo''[='s=] loot system is the gold standard, and has been copied wholesale by a large number of games in a large number of genres.
** Diablo also had a lot of random, quaint, and player-hostile design decisions. These included but were not limited to shops having completely random inventories that might not include staple survival items, unpredictable emergency teleport spells that would happily land you right by a level exit or in a boss's InstantDeathRadius with equal likelihood, and standard enemies that could do permanent, irreversible damage to your character's stats. All these and more can lead new players to complain the game is frustrating and random. To be fair, it is - ''Diablo'' was originally a prettier, but otherwise completely classic {{Roguelike}} until a developer set turns to pass automatically and accidentally created the isometric ARPG. The main thing the sequel did differently was just play fair.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' in particular tends to suffer from this.
*** At the time of its release, it was regarded as a revolutionary milestone and hailed as one of the greatest games of all time, and it's still regarded as such. Having a troubled protagonist (who may have IdentityAmnesia) chase around an [[TheUnfettered Unfettered]] OmnicidalManiac might seem played out, but at the time you would've been hard-pressed to find many [=RPG=]s with that formula. While earlier ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games had troubled heroes, ''Final Fantasy VII'' was the first with a hero who turns out to be an UnreliableNarrator questioning his existence. Also, on a technical level, the first few seconds of the opening sequence, with Aerith stepping out from a typical stone fantasy shrine with glowy lights and intricate carvings onto the streets of a dark, modern-day city, were initially meant to be ''shocking'' -- and they were. Finally, the PlotlineDeath of Aerith was originally a huge shock felt across the gaming industry, but is today perhaps ''the'' video-game example of ItWasHisSled. It was not the first to [[KilledOffForReal kill off a party member for real]] (''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' beat it to the punch, with ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' also featuring the mid-game deaths of major characters), but it was the first to try to portray such a death with a feeling of loss rather than it being an intense, dramatic moment. Not to mention the fact that unlike IV and V, the character who died wasn't an old man but a young woman who has plenty of ShipTease with the main character and a special lineage that's crucial to the plot. Similar to the case of Gwen Stacy in ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'', it also looks less favourable in modern times with the increasing backlash against female characters getting StuffedInTheFridge.

*** For that matter, the game's signature song, "One-Winged Angel," was among the most talked-about, if not THE most talked-about piece of game music for its time. At that point, video game music was thought of as bleeps and bloops (and for many, [[PacManFever they still do]]), and here was this song with not only realistic-sounding-for-its-time orchestral instrumentation, but actual spoken vocals by a real choir. Video game music had never been this grand before. Ever since then though, ''actual'' orchestrated music, and original music with vocals, have become commonplace enough in AAA games (Nintendo even has its own orchestra, called the Super Mario Orchestra, which it now also uses for its B-tier franchises), that "One-Winged Angel" sounds rather messy, simplistic, and repetitive by comparison, though it still has a fair share of fans.

* The original ''VideoGame/{{Pico}}'' Flash games on Website/{{Newgrounds}} were the pinnacle of Flash 3 programming, but are very primitive nowadays, to the point where Newgrounds creator Tom Fulp had to heavily reedit and rerelease them in 2006 just so that they would run properly on newer computers. That's to say nothing of the gratuitous gore, swearing, violence, and lewd humor, which were edgy BlackComedy in 1999 but can read as very immature and fairly tame by today's standards.

** ''Half-Life'' also popularized the seemingly simple concept of placing weapons in realistic locations (weapon lockers, dead security guards, enemy drops) rather than the floating weapons of ''Doom'' or ''Quake''. ''VideoGame/{{SiN}}'' did this too, and was released slightly earlier, but didn't enjoy the same level of popularity.
** The grunt AI in ''Half-Life'' was a big deal at the time. Most FPS ranged enemy strategies amounted to "walk towards player -> stand in place shooting gun while player is in line of sight -> occasionally move in random direction or use secondary attack." The grunts would stick together in squads, lay down covering fire for each other, retreat after taking heavy damage, hide behind cover, throw grenades to flush the player out rather than simply at random, and many other little touches that made them feel like actual adversaries rather than simple obstacles. And this was variable, too, with the game's enemies all showing noticeably different tactics and even a clear sense of factionalism. Today, their AI comes across as [[ArtificialStupidity downright stupid]], with them running into obvious traps or the player's gunfire, occasionally killing each other or themselves, and utilizing covering fire in part to distract the player from the fact that [[DoNotRunWithAGun they can't move and shoot at the same time]].
** The overall sense of realism in the series is another thing that's hard to understand. ''Half-Life'' took place within an actual environment, full of friendly [=NPCs=] and with a clear arc to its storyline despite having no cutscenes. Its ScenicTourLevel immediately established a sense of time and place, as did the transition from a peaceful environment to a wartorn one. The first weapons you get are practically scavenged off dead security guards. Other FPS games of the time usually started you off with a gun and a pack of ammo, shooting something in the face in the first ten seconds. And while every other shooter of the era was level-based and featured little more than hints of connective tissue, ''Half-Life'' simply seamlessly loaded its chapters into each other, creating an immersive narrative. But today, if anything, ''Half-Life'' feels like a throwback, with it featuring many things that later games got rid of in the name of realism: lack of an extensive cover system, the ability to carry all weapons, health being based on a static amount that is increased by medkits and armor, and many other things. Gordon came across as vulnerable by the standards of other shooter protagonists, but now he seems superhuman. And while Black Mesa once felt like a genuine place, now, people mostly just notice the weird setpieces and environments that suggest Black Mesa was [[NoOSHACompliance designed by lunatics]]. ''WebVideo/FreemansMind'' made much of its humor off things like the labyrinthine design, the inexplicably locked doors, the ridiculously unsafe navigation methods, the room that exists only to smash boxes...

** The idea of [[WreakingHavok being able to pick up nearly every single item]] and have it ''react appropriately'' within the game's physics engine simply didn't happen in games at the time. Objects like bottles, cinderblocks, and crates shatter, barrels and wood float while rocks sink, and every object has a defined weight. Plenty of setpieces and even the game's most iconic weapon all rely on making use of the various properties of the game's items. Nowadays, the Source engine is very outdated, the physics feel floaty and buggy (vehicles are practically made of foam rubber), and many modern players are just tapping their feet at the sequences where you have to weigh down a seesaw or stack a bunch of boxes to climb higher.
** Though the facial animation tech in ''Half-Life 2'' has aged extremely well, it just looks above-average nowadays. In 2004, there was about a one-in-three shot that a character wouldn't even open their mouth while talking outside of prerendered cutscenes, and when they did, they would more often than not simply switch between a few preset facial expressions and flap their jaws. The bit where Alyx says "Doctor Freeman, I presume?", displaying subtle eyebrow and lip movements and seamlessly switching between amused relief and alertness, was practically a moneyshot in those days.
** It's been believed by some fans that the reason Valve doesn't release ''Half-Life 3'' is because the existing franchise concepts would be deemed too generic nowadays, and creating a third game that delivers the same level of monumental innovations as its predecessors [[ToughActToFollow is a daunting task]]. (Indeed, ''VideoGame/HalfLifeAlyx'' more or less proved these theories true, by way of being a major leap forward for ''VR games''.)

** One of the reasons for their legacy is the fact that they were ''original'' titles on a handheld game - among the first on the Game Boy Advance ''period''. Unless you were ''Pokémon''? Most games released on a handheld were [[GaidenGame Gaidens]]... and played much more like something seen in the /MediaNotes/The16BitEraOfConsoleVideoGames rather than what you could get on consoles.

** The games themselves played a little more like their contemporaries as well - with hidden treastures to find, puzzles that were more than just pushing blocks, and the second game had you OpeningTheSandbox in 200'''3'''. These days, it's seen as nothing special with people finding it a bit [[QuicksandBox aggravating]] since the game had no way beyond a pen and paper of tracking your progress and gave you very little instruction on ''why'' you need to find three pieces of a Trident.

* Back in the 16-bit UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars, [[AnimationAgeGhetto video games were still seen as strictly a children's pastime]] thanks to Creator/{{Nintendo}} and its heavy restrictions on what kind of content could be featured on their platforms. Then Creator/{{Sega}} stepped in and challenged that status quo by targeting an older demographic, having much looser restrictions on the content of their games coupled with edgy, in-your-face ad campaigns compared to Nintendo's rather straight-forward ads, the latter of which actually attracted the concern of parents who feared that Sega was brainwashing their children with subliminal messages. It even spurred Nintendo to make themselves edgier so that they could compete with their own "Play It Loud!" campaign, releasing more mature games like ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', and laxing before eventually abandoning their own content restrictions. While it's obvious today that video games are for both children and adults, it's thanks to Sega that we have that notion, and while a lot of the things Sega did seem tame by today's standards, at the time they were to Nintendo what Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} were to Music/TheBeatles.

* ''VideoGame/BokosukaWars'', originally released for UsefulNotes/{{Sharp X1}} and Platform/{{MSX}} computers in 1983, was seen as a revolutionary game in UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}, where it helped to lay the foundations for the {{tactical RPG}} sub-genre. Its [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] console port, however, significantly toned down the StrategyGame elements, instead making it look like a badly designed ActionAdventure. When the inferior NES port was discovered in North America, ''Bokosuka Wars'' was rubbished by retro gamers, and is even seen as a joke, especially its GameOver screen with the {{Engrish}} phrase "[[HaveANiceDeath Wow! You Lose!]]"

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' and its sequel are remembered very fondly due to being some of the first original titles on the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance ''period''. Unfortunately, many things that they were pioneers of aren't really seen as too special twenty years later:

* ''VideoGame/{{Hydlide}}'', originally released in 1984 for the UsefulNotes/{{PC88}} computer in Japan, was one of the first {{Action RPG}}s ever (along with ''VideoGame/DragonSlayer'' from the same year), but by 1989, when the NES port was first released in North America, it was much more primitive than similar games, especially ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' and ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' series. As a matter of fact, both of those series were influenced by ''Hydlide'' in the first place, so much so that after ''Hydlide'' released in North America in 1989, it was wrongly accused of being a ''Zelda'' clone. Despite its negative reception in North America, ''Hydlide'' had a mostly positive reception in Japan, where it was seen as a revolutionary game (and not mistaken for being a ''Zelda'' rip-off, since ''Zelda'' didn't exist yet).

* ''VideoGame/{{Quake}} 1'' was an immense hit in its day due to its technological innovations. But its once-shocking 3D graphics now look... underwhelming, due to low polygon counts and lack of texture filtering. Though the overall atmosphere and art design still hold up quite well despite the limitations. Even its other claim to fame, being the first widespread online FPS is relatively unimpressive to today's gamers. Today, with gaming networks like Platform/{{Steam}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork and UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade, ''Quake'''s lack of a server-browser, let alone a gaming network (excluding early 3rd party networks like [=MPlayer=] and MSN Zone), seems downright primitive. Still, considering today's gaming dominated by multiplayer [=FPSs=], Quake's popularization of online gameplay makes it one of the most important technical feats to this day.

** ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' invokes this in two ways: 1) Upon release, the game's use of force feedback (made possible through an attachment called the "Rumble Pack") was considered revolutionary. Today, with force feedback being taken for granted (due to almost all controllers since [[UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames the succeeding generation]] natively including rumble support rather than requiring a separate addon), it might be hard for modern day gamers to see what the big deal was in 1997. 2) The game's at-the-time extensive use of voice acting[[note]]More than 500 different clips[[/note]] and real time cutscenes were seen as downright impressive for a cartridge in 1997. After later N64 games like ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and ''VideoGame/RogueSquadron'' significantly upped the ante in terms of cinematics, the rather [[{{Narm}} campy]] dialog and repetitive cutscenes in ''Star Fox 64'' didn't seem so impressive anymore.

** Or, hell, even the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' for the NES. With its abundance of repeated level [[VideoGameSettings styles]], there's some people who don't realize that this game kickstarted Nintendo's juggernaut of a series. Back in the 1985, 32 side-scrolling levels[[note]]although six of them reuse the layout of earlier stages with more enemies[[/note]] (with many secret areas) was simply immense for a game world (at the time of UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983, many games made do with only a few static screens), and Mario's GoombaStomp and forgiving JumpPhysics made for much livelier gameplay than most earlier platformers, where characters couldn't jump high and often needed a power-up to have any chance of defeating enemies. And, double hell, even the ''smooth scrolling'' qualifies -- for literally anyone born after 1980, it's impossible to see how that could be a big deal, but in 1985, ''SMB'''s larger-than-single-screen levels that scrolled smoothly at the refresh rate of the television were absolute goddamned ''voodoo'', and other developers actually struggled for a little while to replicate the buttery smoothness of the level scrolling and progression in ''SMB''.

* The first ''VideoGame/{{Valis}}'' game, as originally made for the UsefulNotes/PC88, is practically unplayable by modern standards, with its choppy framerate, stiff controls and grinding for health, the last being necessitated by an uncommonly cruel powerup system which makes you pay with your health just for collecting them. Even the cinematic cutscenes (predating ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' by two years) are barely even animated. Yet this Japanese PC game was popular enough to spawn a series that went on to greater glory, despite the original development team going (temporarily) independent and the commercial failure of the Famicom version that frustrated players in its own way.

** The models were considered to be quite clean and refined - compared to the jagged edges and low-resolution models of UsefulNotes/TheFifthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames and even some of its contemporaries. These days, the game is often criticised for its highly stylized models falling into the UnintentionalUncannyValley, making the characters look somewhat "Doll-like" with their eyes that don't seem to respond to almost anything - or just how robotic and lifeless they seem in the first game. The second and third games however gave the series a bit of an ArtShift towards less cartoonish styles and by the third game, the high-quality cutscenes actually aged ''quite'' well.

* ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'', being a granddaddy of the first person shooter genre, suffers HARD from this. Upon release in 1992, the game was unlike anything else on the market. In addition to having some of the most detailed (and violent) graphics ever seen in a computer game up to that point, the game more-or-less set the template for the first person shooter genre, allowing the user to explore a fully three dimensional[[note]]technically ray-casted two dimensional[[/note]] world with an arsenal of weapons that could be expanded, switched and reloaded at will. Unfortunately, by the standards of the genre even two or three years later (let alone today), the game seems downright ''primitive'' due to its flat, maze-like levels, rather limited arsenal of weapons and comparably simple/limited gameplay. Still, the game's widespread influence on video games (let alone first person shooters) cannot be understated.
** The speed of the game is another factor that was revolutionary at the time. "Fast-paced action PC game" was practically an oxymoron in the early nineties; the first PC graphics card wouldn't be released until 1999, which left general-purpose home computers horrendously ill-equipped to run games compared to dedicated gaming consoles like the SNES. PC games were almost always slow and methodical simply because that's all they could handle - in some cases, PC games were nigh-indistinguishable from ''spreadsheets''. That ''Wolfenstein'' allowed you to run and gun at high speed and required quick reflexes was mind-bending to PC gamers in 1992.

* The use of pre-rendered asset(s) such as backgrounds and sprites was used to make some games in the fourth and fifth generation of gaming look much better than they actually did. Asset(s) were pre-rendered on a computer, then digitized placed into the game. This made some games such as ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' and ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'' look seemingly amazing since they were able to fit a lot of detail into backgrounds. Games like ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'' had digitized sprites of actors while games like ''VideoGame/{{Phantasmagoria}}'' had flat out video sequences of a digitized character moving. Some games with digitized computer renderings like ''VideoGame/ShiningTheHolyArk'' even looked like modern (at the time) CGI. The practice has fallen out of use today - since people compare the pre-rendering to the characters looking like they are made out of rubber, backgrounds looking [[SpecialEffectFailure incredibly artificial]] compared to the characters, obvious [[SpecialEffectFailure green screen effects]], and has even caused some technological nightmares in trying to port them onto modern hardware. It can be hard to believe that at one point, digitizing things and then downscaling them into a sprite was at one point innovative.

* The use of pre-rendered asset(s) such as backgrounds and sprites was used to make some games in the fourth and fifth generation of gaming look much better than they actually did. Asset(s) were pre-rendered on a computer, then digitized placed into the game. This made some games such as ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' and ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'' look seemingly amazing since they were able to fit a lot of detail into backgrounds. Games like ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'' had digitized sprites of actors while games like ''VideoGame/{{Phantasmagoria}}'' had flat out video sequences of a digitized character moving. Some games with digitized computer renderings like ''VideoGame/ShiningTheHolyArk'' even looked like modern (at the time) CGI. The practice has fallen out of use today - since people compare the pre-rendering to the characters looking like they are made out of rubber, backgrounds looking [[SpecialEffectFailure incredibly artificial]] compared to the characters, obvious [[SpecialEffectFailure green screen effects]], and has even caused some technological nightmares in trying to port them onto modern hardware. It can be hard to believe that at one point, digitizing things and then downscaling them into a sprite was at one point innovative.