Roundup2026-09-26
13 Most Influential Video Games of the Past 45 Years
JV
Jason Venter Polygon
71 articlessince 2015Active
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10 games
Games in this list, in the article's order
The writer's editorial order from the original article. We index, we don't re-rank.
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Pac-Man
1980 ·7 writers · 5 pieces
Rogue
1980 ·3 writers · 5 pieces
Zork
1977 ·3 writers · 4 pieces
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
1981 ·7 writers · 11 pieces
Tetris
1985 ·18 writers · 21 pieces
Super Mario Bros.
1985 ·5 writers · 7 pieces
The Legend of Zelda
1986 ·15 writers · 19 pieces
SimCity
2013 ·17 writers · 22 pieces
Street Fighter II
1991 ·3 writers · 6 pieces
Doom
2016 ·86 writers · 107 pieces
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