History Main / GenrePopularizer

* The smash-hit ASCII game ''VideoGame/{{Rogue}}'' from 1980 popularized the concept of randomly generated dungeons, and spawned enough spinoffs and ripoffs to boggle the mind. Even today, games of this genre are referred to as "{{Roguelikes}}".

* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' and ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' were this for the "[[DarkerAndEdgier Grim 'n Gritty]]" works of [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks the late 80's and early 90's]].

* While 3D fighting games like ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'' have been around since the days of the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' is what helped establish this subgenre as a worthy alternative to 2D fighting games like ''Street Fighter'', ''Franchise/MortalKombat'', and ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'', with titles like ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' and ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur'' following in its wake.

* After UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation, several television series stand out as being the inspiration for the wave of high-budget high-quality work that would follow in the nineties: Creator/RalphBakshi's ''WesternAnimation/MightyMouseTheNewAdventures'' (a low-rated and controversial show that nonetheless inspired a generation of animators) and the one-two punch of ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'' and ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' (which proved that high-budget animation on television could be lucrative).

* ''The Riddle of the Sands'' is this for SpyFiction.

* ''Film/{{Lethal Weapon|1987}}'' for the buddy cop action genre.

* ''WebAnimation/XiaoXiao'' spawned a lot of stick figure fight scenes (and perhaps fight scenes for Flash itself) as soon as the third installment got Weekly User's Choice at Website/{{Newgrounds}}.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' popularized the MagicalGirlGenreDeconstruction. Until it, the sub-genre wasn't seen as distinct from MagicalGirl.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' jump-started a trend of {{Animesque}} action cartoons which were more comedic than the DCAU. After its cancellation, many of its cast and crew went on to do some of these cartoons, such as the ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben10}}'' franchise and ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''. One of the best of these cartoons, however, was Nickelodeon's ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', which was less cartoony in tone than ''Teen Titans'' and was successful enough to greenlight a [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra sequel]] and followers like the relaunch of ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|2011}}''.

* While there were popular Minecraft [=SMP=] servers on web video platforms prior to its debut, the genre was considered largely a thing of the past before WebVideo/SMPLive's debut in 2019. It exploded in popularity, direectly leading to the success of its spiritual successor WebVideo/SMPEarth, and the WebVideo/DreamSMP, which it shares many of its cast members with, and would go on to have its popularity greatly overshadow that of its predecessor.

* {{Deathcore}} was initially popularized by Music/AllShallPerish, Music/JobForACowboy, and Music/DespisedIcon, then received a bigger mainstream boost from Music/SuicideSilence and Music/{{Whitechapel}}.

* "VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi" is largely credited for being the standard on which all other anime arena fighters would spawn from, from the VideoGame/NarutoUltimateNinjaStorm series to the contested VideoGame/JumpForce. While it could be argued some games take more from Storm than Tenkaichi, Tenkaichi is the one that wrote the book on what would come.

* ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'' was not necessarily the first SpaceOpera anime, nor necessarily the first SpaceIsAnOcean anime, but it catapulted the genre & aesthetic into such ubiquity that "Life on a Fantastical Battleship" as a setting is one of the most ubiquitous in sci-fi & fantasy anime

* ''VideoGame/Diablo2'' wasn't the first, even in its own series, but is one of the most popular "Action [=RPGs=]" ever made (one of the most popular games full stop for that matter) and is the game still copied by the genre today. As with ''Doom'', the genre was even referred to as "Diablo clones" before its popularity and evolution ended up giving us the more neutral name.

* Once upon a time, every {{Mon}}s show was ripping off either ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' or ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' (which shows how diverse the genre was from the get-go). Now it's par for the course.

* ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana'' was one of the first LightNovels to receive an official English-language localization (albeit a very brief one, as Creator/VizMedia only ever released the first two volumes0. Its popularity as such broke the dam for an explosion of them getting exported to Western markets in the late 2000s and 2010s, where previously only the anime and maybe manga adaptations usually were available in the West.

* While not the first ever Isekai, ''Literature/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation'' popularized self-published original stories like it in Japan, even in the face of other giants on the site it was published on, Shōsetsuka ni Narō, and the conventions it popularized would be copied endlessly.

* ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana'' was one of the first LightNovels to receive an official English-language localization. Its popularity as such broke the dam for an explosion of them getting exported to Western markets in the late 2000s and 2010s, where previously only the anime and maybe manga adaptations usually were available in the West.