History OnceOriginalNowCommon / VideoGames

* ''StarOcean''. This happened primarily to the first two games when they were each given an EnhancedRemake. The first ''StarOcean'' game was actually, for the most part, ''drastically'' different in story than most other [=RPG=]s (with a few exceptions like ''{{Fallout}}'' and a couple ''ShinMegamiTensei'' games who often used elements of Science Fiction) and the fact that this game was actually credited as the one that pushed the SNES's technology to the limit. People often criticized it as "There isn't enough Sci-Fi, there's magic so it's not Sci-Fi", "ItsShortSoItSucks", or "TheyChangedItNowItSucks" regarding the changes to their PSP versions. The plot for the first ''StarOcean'' game is ''very'' similar to an episode of ''Star Trek'', and the plot for the second one (called a ClicheStorm by some reviewers who had played the PSP remake) was actually ''far'' more original for the time than it was. The entire skill system (which was actually pretty in-depth and thorough) is often ignored, and the amount of recruitable characters and somewhat complex recruitment-branches (giving some more replay value than the typical "You get these eight characters but can use only three or four at a time"-RPG) is considered just one part of a ClicheStorm. Let's also not forget that it was one of the first games that featured optional "Private events" to develop characters since the plot was written with only the required characters needing to be involved.
** However, some justified criticisms of the game are that it's an ObviousBeta; and the PSP remake doesn't really help it too much. It's possible to beat the main story in about 15-20 hours. For a handheld game, that's not bad, but compared to games like ''{{Pokemon}}'' or even ''FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' that can take much ''much'' longer, it was criticised for being short.

* ''DragonQuest'' created many of the tropes still used by JRPG's today,, to the point where the older games are often labelled 'archaic' or 'outdated', very much acting like the ''Seinfeld'' of JRPG's

* ''DragonQuest'' created many of the tropes still used by JRPG's today,, to the point where the older games are often labelled ''archaic'' or ''outdated'', very much acting like the ''Seinfeld'' of JRPG's

* ''DragonQuest'' created many of the tropes still used by JRPG''s today,, to the point where the older games are often labelled ''archaic'' or ''outdated'', very much acting like the ''Seinfeld'' of JRPG's

* ''DragonQuest'' created many of the tropes still used by JRPG''s today, to the point where the older games are often labelled ''archaic'' or ''outdated'', very much acting like the ''Seinfeld'' of JRPG's

* ''DragonQuest'' deserves a special mention. Many of the early games weren't even as customizable as the later ones. (Even ''DragonQuestVIII'' had a much more flexible cast than some of the previous games that didn't have job systems.)
** Plus the fact that ''DragonQuest'' essentially '''invented''' the console RPG. And after the complicated epic plots of ''DragonQuestV'' and the massive, breathtaking world and dozens of hours of gameplay of ''DragonQuestVIII'', a player who didn't grow up in the 8-bit era who decides to try the original game is in for a hell of a shock/letdown: a total of three boss battles, a total of four game objectives (save the Princess, round up the legendary equipment, build the bridge to the final dungeon, and beat the BigBad), and a ''metric assload'' of ForcedLevelGrinding, not to mention a menu-heavy interface that would seem more suited to a computer game than a console game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'', a 1994-1996 FirstPersonShooter trilogy by Bungie Studios has a unique and immersive plot, overall fun and ambitious gameplay, and is one of the first games to have allies that can actually assist the player. However, it is not very popular simply because it has DOOM-level graphics and stock sound effects. That said, with the release of Halo, a lot of Bungie fans have decided to give it a try and became die-hard fans.

** This applies for most Atari games. As WebOriginal/TheAngryVideoGameNerd pointed out, the majority of Atari games suffered from bad sound effects and repetitive gameplay (CopyAndPasteEnvironments for instance), but still were revolutionary for the time.

*** Early western RPGs were so mechanically similar that you could frequently import parties developed in other games. You could play ''BardsTale 2'' with your ''{{Wizardry}}'' party.

* ''{{Marathon}}'', a 1994-1996 FirstPersonShooter trilogy by Bungie Studios has a unique and immersive plot, overall fun and ambitious gameplay, and is one of the first games to have allies that can actually assist the player. However, it is not very popular simply because it has DOOM-level graphics and stock sound effects. That said, with the release of Halo, a lot of Bungie fans have decided to give it a try and became die-hard fans.

* Point-and-click adventure games. Mostly due to a combination of GuideDangIt, YouCantGetYeFlask, and [=GUIs=] becoming popular (and more easy to program) it can be a little hard for even some fans of these to pick up old Sierra adventure games such as ''LauraBow'', ''KingsQuest'', ''SpaceQuest'', and ''LeisureSuitLarry'', text games like ''{{Zork}}'', and more.

** For that matter, [[TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime the]] {{Nintendo 64}} [[TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask games]]. They were a ''spectacular'' VideoGame3DLeap at the time, and are the base for every third-person game that exists now, having introduced features such as the now ubiquitous LockOn. However, just like VideoGame/SuperMario64, the low-poly graphics and mostly square environments don't look nearly as good today, especially when compared to [[TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker newer]] [[TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess games]].

* ''DoubleDragon'', when it came out, was extremely popular, and fresh, to the point that it more of less CREATED the side scrolling BeatEmUp genre of games. Well, all you have to do is look through your old SNES and/or Genesis library to see how influential it was. In fact, some estimate that as much as 90% of the early 90s 16-bit console games were side scrolling {{Beat Em Up}}s. Now that the genre is DeaderThanDisco, it's quite understandable that [[HypeBacklash nobody really remembers]] DoubleDragon as anything more than a generic BeatEmUp.
* ''SimCity'' was at one time considered to be a great achievement for gaming, bringing in the whole WideOpenSandbox and SimulationGame genre in, as well as providing interesting gameplay. Later versions in the series would up the ante and make the game even more intriguing (and provide [[MemeticMutation odd sense of humor with]] [[EverythingsBetterWithLlamas llamas]]. Now these days, most people won't want to try it because they find it too boring and difficult to get interested in.
** Then again, ''TheSims'' and ''{{Spore}}'' have taken over the Maxis game scene, so much that many people will actually assume that Maxis was created when the ''The Sims'' was. Most people tend to forget that ultimately, if it weren't for ''Sim City'', there would be no ''Sims''.
** And before there was ''Spore'', there was ''SimEarth'', which is almost unheard of.
** Plus, the original ''SimCity'' can quickly get boring because there are a very, very limited number of things you do in that game, unlike its sequels, but then when you get up to ''4'', you'll find it very ''overwhelming''.
** ''TheSims'' itself. The original version of the Sims, ''without'' any form of mods or expansion packs seems quite dull in of itself. There's no form of direction to what you can do (And you don't ''have'' to follow your Sims' wishes, you know), several meters like "Comfort" and "room" that meant absolutely ''nothing'', you were rather limited in how much you were capable of doing compared to even a bare-bones ''TheSims3'', and there was ''no'' aging whatsoever.

* ''{{Warhammer}}''. In a sign of FanDumb there were a number of people that accused it of being a rip off of ''{{Warcraft}}''. This was particularly common when ''WarhammerOnline'' was released. More likely ''Warcraft'' was influenced by ''Warhammer'', but they could just share some similar fantasy clichés.
** There were rumours that ''Warcraft'' ''started off'' as a ''Warhammer'' spinoff. The Warhammer universe came about before the Warcraft universe, but ''WorldOfWarcraft'' came out before ''WarhammerOnline'' did. The same thing happened to ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'' (which also came out after ''WorldOfWarcraft'' did), even though its source material ''long'' predates the Warcraft universe.
** Hilariously, the same rumor exists for ''StarCraft'' - this time that it was supposed to be an adaptation of ''WarHammer40000'' instead.
*** Usually it sounds like, "''Warcraft'' took its setting from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', but ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'' takes its mechanics from ''WorldOfWarcraft''." Except that they [[OlderThanTheyThink weren't original in]] ''WorldOfWarcraft'', either.
*** Don't forget most Power Armour wearing Space Marines like the Master Chief from ''{{Halo}}'' and The Terrans of ''{{Starcraft}}'' fame owe their inspiration to the Space Marines - ironically, fans of those franchises and others [[DidNotDoTheResearch often accuse Games Workshop of copying them.]]
**** And said Space Marines were based off of the MI of StarshipTroopers...

* ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein 3D}}'': The first FPS as far as most people are aware.

* ''SecretOfMana'' was quite possibly the most aesthetically rich video game to date at the time of its release.
** Also one of the first action [=RPGs=] to support multiple players. (In fact, still one of the few... it just didn't catch on. More recent action [=RPGs=] with multiple characters like From Software's ''ForeverKingdom'' and Bandai's ''[[DotHack .hack]]'' either go for AI characters or character-swapping.)
* ''StreetFighter''. [[SequelDisplacement The ORIGINAL]] ''StreetFighter''. Back then, arcade games were almost universally simple affairs. Punch, kick, jump, shoot, duck, defend on occasion, maybe if it got ''really'' wild you had an alternate weapon. Large sprites, one-on-one gameplay, a pair of ''analog'' buttons which produced a variety of strikes (later replaced by the now-standard six-button grid), holding back to block, super-lethal attacks unleashed by '''secret joystick movements''', and unique opponents with a variety of styles and attacks... all of these were ''amazing'' innovations. Especially for Capcom, which at the time had almost nothing but platformers and various {{Shoot Em Up}}s. It was a HUGE success, better than anyone could've imagined. Today, good luck finding someone who remembers that this game ''existed'', much less will admit to liking it.

** Plus the fact that ''DragonQuest'' essentially '''invented''' the console RPG. And after the complicated epic plots of ''DragonQuestV'' and the massive, breathtaking world and dozens of hours of gameplay of ''DragonQuestVIII'', a player who didn't grow up in the 8-bit era who decides to try the original game is in for a hell of a shock/letdown: a total of three boss battles, a total of four game objectives (save the Princess, round up the legendary equipment, build the bridge to the final dungeon, and beat the BigBad), and a ''metric assload'' of ForcedLevelGrinding.

* DOS games in general have this partly due to incompatibilities with todays' computers[[hottip:*:Starting with XP, no consumer-oriented versions of Windows were based on DOS at all anymore as with the 9x line -- XP and later run DOS programs via emulation, not unlike the previous business-oriented NT-based operating systems (XP, which merged the home and business lines, was the first version to use the NT code base for home versions as well as business versions) such as NT 4 and 2000]], but also because DOS was one big GuideDangIt.

* ''StreetFighter''. [[SequelDisplacement The ORIGINAL]] ''StreetFighter''. Back then, arcade games were almost universally simple affairs. Punch, kick, jump, shoot, duck, defend on occasion, maybe if it got ''really'' wild you had an alternate weapon. Large sprites, one-on-one gameplay, a pair of ''analog'' buttons which produced a variety of strikes (later replaced by the now-standard six-button grid), holding back to block, super-lethal attacks unleashed by '''secret joystick movements''', and unique opponents with a variety of styles and attacks... all of these were ''amazing'' innovations. Especially for Capcom, which at the time had almost nothing but platformers and various 3rd person shooters. No one had ever done a bosses-only action game before, and Capcom, of all companies, made it a reality. Oh yeah, it was a HUGE success, better than anyone could've imagined. Today, good luck finding someone who remembers that this game ''existed'', much less will admit to liking it.

* ''ResidentEvil'' did for video games what ''NightoftheLivingDead'' did for movies. Zombies. Used to be, zombies were about as common or less likely for one to encounter as the old 80s stand-by enemies, the robot and the ninja. Then ''Resident Evil'' came along. Now-days, zombies are almost as ubiquitous in games as [[CrateExpectations crates]]. Not to mention the entire shift in what a SurvivalHorror title even ''is''. These days, the genre is more focused on action, with combat being quicker and more frantic and story and level progression more fast-paced. This is a far cry from the "tank/turret-style" controls and complex puzzle-oriented gameplay of the first Survival Horror titles.

* ''GoldenSun'' has a hatedom that has pretty much attacked the game for being a "generic GameBoyAdvance RPG" - without realizing that there wasn't really that much else available on the GameBoyAdvance at the time (''maybe'' in Japan). Considering that the Game Boy Advance was a new format in ''itself'', ''GoldenSun'' still had some rather detailed environments and perhaps the best use of the Game Boy Advance sound systems for ''a while'' -- it was perhaps one of the first games released ''on'' the format to actually ''use'' a lot of the potential technology it had, other than a few others like ''{{Bomberman}}'', ''AdvanceWars'', and maybe ''VideoGame/MarioKart'', amongst a slew of remakes (like ''BreathOfFire'' and ''SuperMarioBros'') and [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames licensed games]].

* BreathOfFireII, for the Super NES. 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.

* ''{{Wolfenstein 3D}}'': The first FPS as far as most people are aware.

* The ''[[SOCOMUSNavySeals SOCOM]]'' series lately looks like a candidate for this trope. Back when the PS2's internet play was available, the ''SOCOM'' series blended the best aspects of PC tactical shooters (mainly ''VideoGame/{{Counter-Strike}}'', ''DeltaForce'' and ''RainbowSix'') and made the gameplay palatable for console gamers. Combine this with the ultra-popular PS2 and the result? [[http://therealsocom.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=1068 Six million total sales between the first two games alone]] (with ''SOCOM 1'' getting the 3.45 mil bulk.) Unfortunately, ''SOCOM''[='=]s relevance was mostly symbiotic with Sony's problematic online gaming support, which worsened overtime. Xbox Live's reputation eventually surpassed the PS2 online service, thanks to the lack of a built-in hard drive causing numerous issues (mainly with cheaters and being dropped from games). Then ''{{Halo 2}}'' exploded in popularity. And then the worst combination for the series: PS3's problematic launch handicapping sales for years, and developer Zipper not making a ''SOCOM'' game for years after the PS3 launched, all while many different tactical shooters have flooded the console market (e.g., the TomClancy line of shooters, ''MetalGear Online'', ''GearsOfWar'', ''{{Battlefield}}'' variants, and especially Call of Duty). With that, ''SOCOM'' became increasingly niche and dated in comparison. By the time ''SOCOM 4'' was released, only longtime fans remained interested, while everyone else moved on. Worse, ''SOCOM 4'''s attempts to convert new fans was a failure, and the remaining fans are [[BrokenBase caught into a bitter civil war with the franchise]]. Give or take a few more years, and the franchise's impact on console online gaming will be mostly forgotten.

* The remake of the first ''FireEmblem'' game ever created (Shadow Dragon), received a lot of criticism about how "The plot is cliché," "The game is very simplistic," and "There's not a lot of character development" on top of the cries of "Where are the supports?", "What happened to branching classes?", "Why's Marth not promotable?", "Why are the magics just linked into one family?", and "Why is my priest able to use fire and ice magic when they could use only Light magic in other games?" from fans of the game. (Both long-time fans who've been playing since the NoExportForYou era, and the fans who joined in at ''[[SequelFirst Fire Emblem 7]]'' when a lot of elements were added or refined.) It's rather ''quite'' amazing how even ''old-school Fire Emblem'' (even ones who first started with a ROM of the NES or SNES versions) fans criticised the game for being loyal to the 1990 version, when at the same time, if Nintendo and Intelligent Studios had taken the time to completely overhaul the game, their UnpleasableFanbase would complain that it ''isn't'' loyal to the originals. Sure, it's not by any means the ''best'' game in the series, but there was a time in which 90% of the stuff that it and ''ShiningForce'' did was an incredibly new thing for gaming, combining turn-based strategy gameplay one is used to seeing in wargames and adding fundamental RPG elements and a story that was more than just-another-recreation-of-a-historical-battle.

** ''KaizoMarioWorld''. Remember that at the time, all those cruel tricks were actually original, and even things like the KaizoTrap or invisible coin blocks were used sparingly and in a clever way. And things like invisible/underwater Bowser, that Big Boo boss in the second, the final Reznor fight and many of the levels were actually fairly well designed, it's just the imitators that came since copied so much of it that the game itself is old hat.

** How about a more straight example? ''ShinMegamiTenseiI'' was one of the first major [=RPGs=] (another was ''SaGa 1'', also known as ''FinalFantasyLegend'') to include heavy Christian imagery and [[GodIsEvil cast God as a villain]]. It pre-dates ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' by three years, ''FinalFantasyTactics'' by five years and ''{{Xenogears}}'' by six. It also focuses heavily on story (a rarity at the time), includes a [[WideOpenSandbox free-roaming environment]], has MultipleEndings and gives you the option of [[VillainProtagonist choosing what kind of morality you want to follow]] [[KarmaMeter based on the actions you take in the game]], which significantly changes the story. [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt One of the villains destroys the world]] partway through the game [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI two years before Kefka did it]]. And most importantly, in a genre filled with Cliché Storms at the time, this was an UrbanFantasy set in the real world that quickly shifts into AfterTheEnd. This isn't even mentioning the ultimate twist, which rarely leaves its series '''''to this day''''' - you only had two party members, while the four other spots were filled with MonsterAllies. Of course, since all of these controversial themes [[NoExportForYou kept it inside Japan for over a decade]], most fans don't even realize it was a trendsetter because they just never had an opportunity to play them and by the time they did come over, the themes that are frequent fodder for the franchise had already become commonplace.

* A couple of ''SuperMarioWorld'' [[LevelEditor hacks]] have actually fallen into this category as well.

** There were rumours that ''Warcraft'' ''started off'' as a ''Warhammer'' spinoff. The Warhammer universe came about before the Warcraft universe, but ''WorldOfWarcraft'' came out before ''WarhammerOnline'' did. The same thing happened to ''TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'' (which also came out after ''WorldOfWarcraft'' did), even though its source material ''long'' predates the Warcraft universe.

*** Usually it sounds like, "''Warcraft'' took its setting from ''TheLordOfTheRings'', but ''TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'' takes its mechanics from ''WorldOfWarcraft''." Except that they [[OlderThanTheyThink weren't original in]] ''WorldOfWarcraft'', either.