Revisiting my 15 influential games list from 2010

Facebook's Memories feature reminded me that 10 years ago, I participated in a "List 15 video games that have influenced your life or have a special place in your heart" challenge that was popular back in the day.

It sparked an interest on me to revisit the list and see what games I'd still keep on the list and what new games from the recent decade would make it. And while Facebook challenges always had that weird "don't comment your choices", I'm gonna comment on some of the games and their influence.

Many of the games on both of these lists are still older games from my childhood and teenage years. The first decade of gaming really shaped my love for this art form but as the games have progressed in the past 10 years, there are a lot of amazing new games that simply could not have existed in 2010 when I first made the list.

Super Mario saga

In 10 years, I've either changed my mind on which Mario games is the best or I've slightly tweaked the criteria for selecting a game here. Super Mario Bros. 3 was the first console game that we got back in 1994 when my brother got a Super Nintendo for his birthday. So it has a special place in my heart for that. But if I think about the Mario game I enjoy the most and think is still the best in series, it's an easy win for Super Mario World. I still play it and romhacks made on top of it regularly.

Of the newer Mario games, I think the 2D or handheld 3D games like New Super Mario Bros. are not that good. They're nice platformers but they are not as good as SMW. Super Mario Maker 2 on the other hand, is absolutely amazing. It was the main reason I bought Switch and I love how it has made the Mario ecosystem so much more versatile with great troll, puzzle or difficult kaizo levels and it's a game that just keeps on giving.

In the 3D world, Super Mario Odyssey was a masterpiece. Mario 64 was good, Sunshine I never really played that much and Galaxy series' gimmick wasn't super fun but Odyssey is everything a 3D platformer should be.

Legend of Zelda series

Together with Mario and Pokémon, adventures of Link has spanned a few decades and have been a major part of my life throughout those years. 10 years ago I listed Ocarina of the Time on my list but I might have been bit too influenced by other's opinions with that one. Until the most recent games, Link to the Past on SNES was my favorite in the Zelda series and one that I still return to every now and then.

And then Breath of the Wild happened. There's nothing in that game that I don't like. I think it's the best open world game ever made: it has a clear story combined with an open world that's full of interesting things and a lively world regardless of Link. The ability to play as much or as little of the world as you want between the tutorial and final battle is very well made.

Breath of the Wild also has the best item and the best gameplay feature in any game ever. Paraglider is an item I've wished to have in every game after playing this one. It makes traversal so enjoyable and just launching into the sky from the mountain and gliding to a new area is what gaming is at its best. And the fact that you can CLIMB ANYWHERE has spoiled all the other games forever.

I struggled so much with games like Tomb Raider or Uncharted after playing Zelda because I couldn't even climb on a box that's lower than my knee but in Zelda I can climb any mountain or building there is.

I love Zelda series and in addition to Breath of the Wild, I spent many very enjoyable hours with the Switch remake of Link's Awakening.

Sports games (PES, FIFA, NHL, Madden, NBA)

Usually on these lists I leave out sports games because it's so hard to compare them to other games. But probably at least 60% of my gaming is done with one of these. I've played hockey games since Face Off! back in early 90s and then I spent the 90s with EA's NHL series from NHLPA '93 all the way to NHL 2003, after which I switched to 2K series and after the skill stick took over the EA series, I've been back on doing sweet dekes.

For football/soccer games, my first touch was in the very early 90s with a game I think was called England Football but I haven't been able to find it anywhere in the Internet. After that, the story is similar to hockey games: EA series until early 2000s, then Pro Evolution Soccer 3 – 5 while EA was living its wild arcade years and finally back to FIFA in 2010s.

NBA and Madden have been games that I play every now and then but I'm nowhere near as good or invested into them as I am with hockey and football.

While EA gets a lot of hate and has almost a monopoly on many sports games, I'm still a big fan of the games themselves and the improvement they make over years. I usually get a new game every 2 or 3 years for each series since I tend to enjoy playing long 20 year franchise modes and those take a few years to complete.

I still hope that we'd get that fierce rivalry that pushes the games even further. Being able to play PES and 2K hockey games when EA was experimenting with less realistic gaming was an awesome time and having the option to choose what kind of focus I wanted from my sports games is something that the market is lacking right now.

Halo: Combat Evolved

I got my Xbox back in 2002 when it was released in Finland. From a UK magazine, I got my hands on a demo of Halo and the experience of landing to the beach with a crew of soldiers and fighting through enemies and discovering the hidden alien constructions were a moment I'll never forget. I then got the full game a bit later and my journey with Xbox started.

I don't think Halo did anything super unique in the FPS industry (other than maybe being a pioneer in console FPS scene) but some of my fondest memories from high school are with Halo's first game. We would play for hours and even days of local multiplayer with two CRT TVs, two original Xbox and 8 of us playing 4v4 games. Friendships were forged in those battlefields.

That continued into Halo 2 when I got into online gaming and joined my first clan with which we played mostly Halo 2 and Ghost Recon 2.

Pokémon series

What can one even say about Pokémon that hasn't been said before? I've played the main series games since the very first one generation all the way until the most recent Sword/Shield games and I've put hundreds of hours and probably a 4-figure sum of money into Pokémon TCG which is my main way of enjoying Pokémon universe these days both in-person and online.

My favorite Pokémon are Crobat, Gengar and Ampharos, I always go for the grass starter (#teamBulbasaur <3) and in TCG world, I love playing funny rogue decks more than top tier competitive decks.

Once I learned about the Randomizer, I found so much new enjoyment in the first two gens of Pokémon Red/Blue and Silver/Gold. Being able to experience an all-new experience every play through with games made 25 years ago is quite amazing.

Jones in the Fast Lane

Probably the most obscure game on this list is Jones in the Fast Lane. Sierra's life simulation published in 1991 was one of my favorite games back in the day. It's a turn-based multiplayer game where you study, work and upgrade your apartment on the way to some weird American dream idea of happiness.

It's a game I haven't played in over a decade (probably closer to two decades) and I never intend to play it. This one I'll leave for the nostalgia as I don't believe it's a good game anymore now that I've grown up and gaming industry has improved a lot.

Firewatch

Whenever I try to think of what is my favorite game of all time, I run into the problem of comparing different genres. Still, I often end up saying it's Firewatch with an asterisk and then listing a dozen other games from other genres. My love for the game is a testament of how my approach towards gaming has changed as I've grown older.

Because to be honest, it's not much of game. It's more of an interactive movie in a form of a game. And as a kid, that would have made me mad and felt that I wasted money on a game that's not really a game. But in my 30s, I've grown to love games that have strong story, varying amount of technical game play and short duration.

It has two main things that really resonate with me. The first one is the way social interaction is done in the game. Being somewhat alone in the wilderness with someone on the other end of a radio creates such an interesting dynamic. I've spent my life making friends over IRC and other means of communication where you never see the other person and it really intrigues me.

The second reason is the escape from the urban work life into the imaginary wilderness. Especially during the pandemic, being stuck to a small apartment in a city center, Firewatch has been such a great way to escape to the nature. I also ended up reading some books about real life fire watchers and watching videos on Youtube of people building lookout tower style apartments in the woods.

I can finish Firewatch on one sitting or spend a few extra hours enjoying the amazing nature. It's influence has been that ever since I first played it, I've bought a lot of games that fall into the same type of category. Ludonarracon has become a great place for me to find new games and during this year's event I bought maybe 20 games from Ludonarracon bundles and enjoyed myself a lot.

If you have never played Firewatch, go and buy and play it. If I'll ever recommend a game, it's this one. Too bad Valve bought the developer team and dropped their next game project before it was published and we might never get to experience a new game from Campo Santo.

Celeste

I first learned about Celeste through Games Done Quick speedrun events and it was the first game I tried to learn how to speedrun. It, together with games like Hollow Knight and Shovel Knight, are the best examples of how an old format (platformers and metroidvanias) can be made in a way that benefits from the decades of cumulative game design knowledge and modern gaming platforms.

While I still enjoy Mario games more than Celeste, one thing that Celeste did amazingly well was pretty much perfecting the controls. It's one of the only games where I've never felt that a mistake in a game was a result of clunky controls, missed inputs or anything else than my own lack of skill.

And its story of a main character who's struggling with mental health problems hit really close to home with me and I was surprised how much I associated with Madeline's journey on a very personal level.

Conclusions

The list changed quite a lot in 10 years and I think it's very representative of both my change as a player but also the industry. I think Nintendo was in a bit of slump in the early 2000s but has climbed to the top with Mario and Zelda series as well as keeping up with the innovations with Switch. At the same time I've grown to enjoy more games with strong narrative.

My strong desire to play sports games is still there and will most likely never disappear. My teenage years were also very influenced by multiplayer both in-person and online but these days Pokémon TCG is pretty much the only online game I play. Being an adult means that whenever I find time to play (which, I have to admit, hasn't been a problem during the pandemic), I enjoy playing on my own and not having to figure out schedules for clan matches or raids.

Some things I believe will happen in the next 10 years: VR is gonna break through. There are already some great VR games (Blood and Truth being my favorite) but it's still far from being widely adopted consumer product but products like Oculus Guest 2 and PS VR are paving the way. Nintendo is hopefully gonna continue being innovative and amazing. It feels to me that they found the joy they lost and I hope they remember these great years in the future.

During these past 8 months of pandemic, I've played more games than ever. Right now, the count is somewhere between 70 and 80 and while the time has otherwise been quite horrible, I'm kinda glad I've had an opportunity to catch up with so many game series and play games for hours at the end to really immerse myself into the stories and worlds created by games.

I truly believe that gaming is the best form of art and storytelling.