Firsts in video games

[shikigami]

Uh, what about Metal Gear? Or was that just stealth without the combat action part.

the first journeyman project required that you not interact or be seen by anyone, otherwise you screw up time. the second one did as well.

[BardicKnowledge]

My guesses for all of the firsts below. My apologies for the lack of a quote, but I'm on 56k today and had this list copied/pasted to save time.

First cutscene -- Ninja Gaiden (NES)

First fully-3D game -- Battlezone (Atari2600)

First idle animation -- Little Nemo: The Dream Master (NES)

First graphics -- Spacewar (first video game)

First save points -- Final Fantasy IV? Best I can come up with. Probably something else beats this one.

First cheat code -- Adventure Island continue code (NES)

First easter egg -- Castle Adventure (PC)

First real world in-game advertisements -- Probably some PC shooter, but I dunno

First movie tie-in game -- E.T. (Atari 2600)

First complete-able game, with an actual ending -- Donkey Kong has an "ending", but Super Mario Bros has a more solid one...I'd say that The Legend of Zelda is the first game that doesn't invite an immediate replay.

First game to sell over a million -- Super Mario Bros. (NES)

First game to use Mode 7 -- Pilotwings (SNES)

First to use HDR lighting -- Source engine, HL2 Lost Coast

First to use scripted scenes/events -- Double Dragon (NES)

First to include Havok physics -- HL2

First to include a save game battery (Easy one; The Legend of Zelda) -- correct! Batteries were necessary because of the US's lack of the FDS drive.

First game to include a separate controller -- Paddle controllers (2600) or Duck Hunt (NES)

First cooperative multiplayer -- Contra? (NES)

First competitive multiplayer -- Combat (2600)

First game to teach you something you didn't know you wanted to know -- M.U.L.E.

First DVD-ROM game -- Don't know...my first one was Oblivion

First CD-ROM game -- Myst

[Fray]

Honestly this thread shows me how little people know about how games used to be. Not much nowadays is a first or revolutionary, it's just arguably better stuff than we've previously had.

Yep, but at least it's a good chance for them to learn about the games that came around before they were born, or at least sentient

... I don't think Myst was the first CD-ROM game. 7th Guest was earlier at least. I think Police Quest IV had a CD-ROM version, it was around the same time, maybe a little later than Myst though.

Save points predate even the NES. You could save in Zork for example, and I'm sure that wasn't the first text game to feature it. Although if you mean little protected areas in places like dungeons where you normally couldn't save... I don't know Probably would be an NES game, or maybe a PC RPG. That's a pretty nitpicky first though.

First completable game would probably be some early text adventure or other. Those had a real start and finish, and when you were done, you were done.

[The Pezman]

... I don't think Myst was the first CD-ROM game. 7th Guest was earlier at least. I think Police Quest IV had a CD-ROM version, it was around the same time, maybe a little later than Myst though.

Totally addressed this already. Manhole.

Honestly this thread shows me how little people know about how games used to be. Not much nowadays is a first or revolutionary, it's just arguably better stuff than we've previously had.

I point you to the video that I started this thread with to show otherwise.

Furthermore, I can't believe I forgot about this. The entirety of Sam and Max Season One is the first series of episodic games to be released to completion, and it indicates that releasing games in this fashion is very possible and effective.

[Shadowe]

First graphics -- Spacewar (first video game)

First real world in-game advertisements -- Probably some PC shooter, but I dunno

Didn't that "tennis for two" game beat it?

First to use HDR lighting -- Source engine, HL2 Lost Coast

First to include Havok physics -- HL2

Didn't farcry add HDR lighting before lost coast? And if I recall correctly Painkiller was released before HL2.

[SoloGamer]

First cooperative multiplayer -- Contra? (NES)

Bubble Bobble came out one year before Contra

First DVD-ROM game -- Don't know...my first one was Oblivion

probably some launch PS2 game

[The Pezman]

I wonder what the first game to have a remixable tune was. Tetris?

[q-pa]

I wonder what the first game to have a remixable tune was. Tetris?

Dude, Super Mario Brothers was at least a year before that!

And 1984's arcade Marble Madness springs to mind as remixable.

But if there are remixes of the likes of Pac-Man, then remixable music goes way back...

[HideousBeing]

Well, I know for certain that FF7 wasn't the first game to swear. Exile for the Genesis beat it by quite a few years in 1991. It has words like "Damn" and "Ass" in it. Might not be the F-bomb or whatever, but for console gaming in the early 90s, that's quite a step up.

I'm sure there were games before Exile that used at least "Damn", or "Hell".

Megaman X II or III, I don't recall which, has the "Damn" at the end. Megaman goes, "Damn, it's a dead end."

[EvilHorde]

Hey, how about the first adventure/action (and alongside with Test Drive 2, the first PC) game I ever played : Prince of Persia. I'm pretty sure its the first game with... hmm... what would you call it - acrobatics? You could hang off a ledge or jump and grab a ledge and then climb up etc.. You know, the stuff that later on made Tomb Raider famous... No wait, that was BOOBIES.

Would POP also have the first "advanced swordfighting"? You could actually block your opponents strikes and stuff... -YAY-

Don't know, but it was way ahead of its time. Still a great game.

[Bahamut]

Megaman X II or III, I don't recall which, has the "Damn" at the end. Megaman goes, "Damn, it's a dead end."

It was MMX3 (when X is running away from the lava & Sigma virus). But that game came out late in the SNES's life.

[psycosulu]

Evo: Search for Eden...

First game to include evolution as a plot device?

[The Pezman]

Bump, because this was a great thread, I'd forgotten about it, and I think it's cool to get people talking on it again.

I'll start off with addressing a first: I'm sure the first game with a voiced character (that is, a character with audio that was clearly meant to indicate speaking) was in the SNES generation, as Bubsy is the earliest one I remember. However, I wouldn't be surprised if some game on the NES did it first.

Here's one: Which game was the first to obviously be influenced by fan demand?

[Dhsu]

Time to get rid of your sig.

[Yoshi3gg]

I'm sure the first game with a voiced character (that is, a character with audio that was clearly meant to indicate speaking) was in the SNES generation, as Bubsy is the earliest one I remember.

RUN, COWARD

[The Coop]

RUN, COWARD

Berserk beat Sinistar by roughly two years though. There's no "character" perse, but it has a number digitized speech sentences like "Chicken. Fight like a robot" and so forth as you fight the robots, which is presumably coming from the robots.

[Dhsu]

So after reading this thread, I'm seeing more speculation and random guesses than actual researched information. Does not deliver.

[The Pezman]

How would you suggest someone go and research something like this? Despite what Internet upbringing may tell you, google doesn't always have the answer.

[Dhsu]

It would probably help if you didn't search for such a specific phrase. My search brought up the Intellivoice games.

So I guess this thread is more of a "first time I saw this in a video game"? That's fine with me, it's just that the topic title led me to believe it would involve more concrete evidence.

[JCvgluvr]

The first motion controller was the Power Glove.

[The Pezman]

So I guess this thread is more of a "first time I saw this in a video game"? That's fine with me, it's just that the topic title led me to believe it would involve more concrete evidence.

I never really thought of it in terms of that. I don't want to mandate that people do research before they post here. So if they want to post what they're pretty sure is the first instance of something, that's fine with me. And if someone disagrees and wants to research and prove them wrong, that's okay too. It's not like anyone's going to use this thread as an official resource.

I just wanted a general thread about video games centered around an objective theme so that anyone would be interested in participating. And based on the number of people who commented, I'd say it delivered quite nicely.

[SnoringFrog]

I might be wrong in this, but I'm pretty sure that The Guardian Legend was the first game to incorporate both scrolling shooter and Zelda-like adventure elements, and on top of that it had somewhat of level-up system, where if you got enough points, your health bar would grow. Honestly, I've never really seen any other game do anything like this, well, except for Starfox Adventures, but even then, there wasn't really an even balance between the flying and adventure portions.

Holy crap. So I'm sitting here reading this topic just to see what's mentioned, and I skim through this post, then thinking about what was said about it, I go reread it, and look up that game on Wikipedia. I've been trying to find out that name of that thing for a couple years now, and never could. Running on very vague memories from playing it when I was young didn't get me very far.

Pull 11 sequels out of a title that by definition should not have sequels.

Quoted for truth and loll-ness.

Megaman X II or III, I don't recall which, has the "Damn" at the end. Megaman goes, "Damn, it's a dead end."

That was Megaman X3, but either way earlier games have been mentioned that had swearing.

[TheSnowStorm]

These are a few I know on the top of my head.

Minor Firsts:

Dead or Alive Ultimate: First in the series to gain a "M" rating (due to the infamous rape scene that involed Ayame [Ayane, Ein, and Kasumi's mother] and Raidon and the obvious)

Final Fantasy VII; Barret is the first black main character of the series

Super Smash Bros. Melee: First time Mario (as well as many others) is in a "T" rated game.

Fire Emblem 4: First in the series to use a paper-rock-sissor system.

Major Firsts:

Jurassic Park: The Lost World (PSX): First game to use an original live orchestral score

Final Fantasy VII: First time to use a choir for music (One Winged Angel)

Final Fantasy VII: First time a main character was killed in 3-D

Star Fox 64: First to use a rumble pack.

Fire Emblem: The Light Sword and Dark Dragon: First SRPG.

Fire Emblem 4: Seisen no Keifu: First time a Fire Emblem lord was killed off (Sigurd).

Fire Emblem 4: Also I think it was the first time to have a relationship system.

[Sil]

Final Fantasy VII: First time to use a choir for music (One Winged Angel)

Like I said earlier in the thread, Phantasmagoria did this a few years earlier. According to Wikipedia, the size of the chorus was 135 strong. It was just another Carmina Burana ripoff though.

[The Pezman]

SnowStorm, one thing I will say is that we're looking for firsts within the entire context of video games, not just a series. Once you open it up to that, every game in a series did the first of something. So let's keep that out of it.