31 Most Important Japanese Games Ever Made (Kotaku)

Usually I'm not one to criticize random game lists on the internet ("but you didn't include my favorite game!!!11"). But this was just somehow too depressing.

Here's another list re-writing gaming history to glorify Nintendo and its cronies.

Space Invaders (1978)
Pac-Man (1980)
Donkey Kong (1981)
Super Mario Bros. (1985)
Dragon Quest (1986)
Final Fantasy (1987)
Mega Man (1987)
Baseball Stars (1989)
Street Fighter II (1991)
Sonic The Hedgehog (1991)
Super Mario Kart (1992)
Super Metroid (1994)
Chrono Trigger (1995)
Pokémon Red and Green (1996)
Harvest Moon (1996)
Super Mario 64 (1996)
Resident Evil 1 (1996)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)
Beatmania (1997)
Final Fantasy VII (1997)
Metal Gear Solid (1998)
Dance Dance Revolution (1998)
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)
Phantasy Star Online (2000)
Fate/stay Night (2004)
Resident Evil 4 (2005)
Brain Age (2005)
Monster Hunter Freedom (2005)
Wii Sports (2006)
Demon’s Souls (2009)
Puzzle & Dragons (2012)

Not a single Sega arcade game made the list. No Hang-On, Outrun, Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, or anything else.　Somehow Sonic and PSO made the list, but no Shenmue, Puyo Puyo, Yakuza or any other hugely influential/popular Sega-published game.

The list should be titled "Games That American Nintendo Fanboys Still Obsess Over (With Some Other Famous Games Thrown In For Padding)" but I guess that's too wordy.

http://kotaku.com/the-31-most-import...ade-1782936854

kotaku is all you need to know about that list. No need to bother even reading it.

Things like Yakuza shouldn't be on such a short list either, just because "SEGA".

The only games potentially deserving to be in a list like this are Space Invaders, Pacman, Donkey Kong, SMB, Dragon Quest, SFII and PSO.

Listing Super Metroid instead of Metroid really shows the mentality that went into the 2 minutes spent on this list.

Yeah, it started out good and then went into a tailspin.

WTF is Fate/Stay Night?

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Originally Posted by gamevet

Yeah, it started out good and then went into a tailspin.

WTF is Fate/Stay Night?

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Some game the author tried the other day.

In my experience, no list of "Best Games"/"Most Influential Games"/"Most Amazing Games" can ever really satisfy anyone. I honestly think that if Kotaku's list had included every major Sega arcade release, there would still be someone on another forum saying: "But there's some game I think are important that aren't on the list, Kotaku sucks."

You can enjoy your favourite games regardless of whether or not someone included them on a list somewhere.

Yeah. That list is bad. Why so many 2 from same series like FF1 when FF7 was the one that had the most impact on gaming in the West? You also don't need FF1 with DQ1 already on that list. What about the two games that inspired DQ in the first place? Why is toilet paper SotN on that list with Super Metroid already on? Super Metroid over Metroid 1? Where's Battle Garrega that inspired the bullet hell genre? The heck did RE4 influence, the death of horror games? I would have Mega Man 2 over 1, because MM1 almost lead to nothing - luck in MM2 getting greenlit was what got the ball rolling. Zelda 64 over Zelda1? What about Doom that opened the flood gates for that genre?

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Originally Posted by Thief

What about Doom that opened the flood gates for that genre?

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You means Id Software's Doom? That's not a Japanese game as far as I'm aware.

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Originally Posted by Black_Tiger

kotaku is all you need to know about that list. No need to bother even reading it.

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I know... unfortunately they have a huge readership and lists like these do influence people.

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Things like Yakuza shouldn't be on such a short list either, just because "SEGA".

The only games potentially deserving to be in a list like this are Space Invaders, Pacman, Donkey Kong, SMB, Dragon Quest, SFII and PSO.

Listing Super Metroid instead of Metroid really shows the mentality that went into the 2 minutes spent on this list.

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Of the plethora of amazing racing games that Japan has produced, the only one to make it on the list is Super Mario Kart. That's telling.

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Originally Posted by Mad Moham

You means Id Software's Doom? That's not a Japanese game as far as I'm aware.

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Oh yeah, Japanese... I guess Japanese just aren't into that genre. So more reason to be shocked the regular scrolling 2D shooters aren't represented better then. ie. Gradius and Xevious had very big impacts on said genre too.

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Originally Posted by Mad Moham

In my experience, no list of "Best Games"/"Most Influential Games"/"Most Amazing Games" can ever really satisfy anyone. I honestly think that if Kotaku's list had included every major Sega arcade release, there would still be someone on another forum saying: "But there's some game I think are important that aren't on the list, Kotaku sucks."

You can enjoy your favourite games regardless of whether or not someone included them on a list somewhere.

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Yeah, sure, but this list is just so random. Waste of internet space if you ask me.

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Originally Posted by Mad Moham

In my experience, no list of "Best Games"/"Most Influential Games"/"Most Amazing Games" can ever really satisfy anyone. I honestly think that if Kotaku's list had included every major Sega arcade release, there would still be someone on another forum saying: "But there's some game I think are important that aren't on the list, Kotaku sucks."

You can enjoy your favourite games regardless of whether or not someone included them on a list somewhere.

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I agree 100% about lists never satisfying everybody. That's not really why I posted this. It's more that Kotaku is one of the largest Japan-focused gaming websites, and their Japan-expert posted a list of most important Japanese games ever that did not include EVEN ONE Sega arcade game.

I'm not nitpicking about individual games that are on or off the list. Ignoring the entirety of Sega arcade history is just unbelievable, though.

Why does it matter? Well, I guess it's related to one of the reasons Sega-16 exists: To introduce people to the awesomeness of Sega games. Lists like these just mean fewer people are going to discover classic Sega games, and as I said, that's kind of depressing.

I wouldn't worry about what mainstream gaming websites have to say. I personally always avoid them.

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Originally Posted by Mad Moham

In my experience, no list of "Best Games"/"Most Influential Games"/"Most Amazing Games" can ever really satisfy anyone. I honestly think that if Kotaku's list had included every major Sega arcade release, there would still be someone on another forum saying: "But there's some game I think are important that aren't on the list, Kotaku sucks."

You can enjoy your favourite games regardless of whether or not someone included them on a list somewhere.

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While I agree with your point, this list is still pretty sad. It's one thing to have a handful of questionable games on the list, it's another when it's a list that is a bit less subjective (influential vs best) and riddled with issues.

I'd like to see what their criteria was to define "important". Even within the descriptions of some of the games they mention not being the first in the series, or even great sellers. FF7 really didn't do anything new from a general game perspective. It sold very well, but that isn't a defining trait of "important" otherwise all the COD/MOH/FIFA games would all be "important".

It's a mix of "these are my favorites" to "I think these were influential games" along with some other games that have some historical significance.
They even say Super Mario Brothers was "the most important game ever made"... which is quite a steaming load. I'd put something like Spacewar or Pong, or even space invaders or Pac Man in that spot... games that absolutely created videogames as we know them. SMB was certainly a great game for its time, but it was standing on the shoulders of giants already... there were years of arcades and home consoles that had paved the way for that game.

Donkey Kong was the influence for Super Mario Bros., so including it on the same list is sort of pointless.

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Originally Posted by gamevet

Donkey Kong was the influence for Super Mario Bros., so including it on the same list is sort of pointless.

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But then the same can be said for the two games that lead to DQ1.

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Originally Posted by Thief

But then the same can be said for the two games that lead to DQ1.

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There's also 2 Resident Evil games on the list. The 1st title should have been enough.