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Total Members Voted: 0

Voting closed: 17 Sep 2006, 22:46

[bachelorchow]

EDIT: gone, stupid

[Mieville]

Mario.

He came a long way from a side scrolling platform game.

[notselfcreated]

I said PacMan. I think he's a more universal "symbol of videogames" than Mario.

Pong has become more famous as a pop-culture reference to outdated gaming than it ever was as a game itself. C.f., the Halloween Simpsons special where aliens capture the Simpsons and offer them "superior virtual tennis technology" (aka Pong). Or the recent (brilliant!) commercial involving live tennis players trying to win against a floating Pong bar.

[Melodic]

I voted for Pong, but, the thing with these games is, that I think people will choose them for different reasons.

For instance, as notselfcreated said, Pong has become a pop-culture reference to the gameplay of outdated games.

Pac Man, of course, is a symbol of the arcade boom of early video games.

Mario, I think, is less a historic waypoint in video game history, as it is a very recognizable video game character. From the clothes, to his signature sound-effects, everything associated with Mario, is instantly recognizable, without ever mentioning or showing Mario himself.

Space Invaders, I think, is a somewhat-underappreciated entry. It didn't symbolize the arcade revolution like Pac Man did, and, although it was a hugely popular game in its time, I don't think it reaches into modern pop-culture as far as Pac Man does.

Frogger seems like a rather random candidate. Sure, it's stood the test of time, but I could never call it more recognizable than some of the earlier mentions.

[Spike]

I would say pack man but then again I'm a bit of a gamer nerd.  

Mario would most likely be recognized by the most amount of people because there have been major mario games for just about every Nintendo console  He has gone simply from being a character to being a popular symbol for gaming.

[Tergon]

Pac Man, there's no doubt in my mind.  Mario is big, but Pac-Man is so instantly, easily identifiable.  He has to win.
Frogger, Pong and Space Invaders are pretty good, but probably they fall behind Mario, who as I said falls behind the Pac.
Also, I have never heard of California Games.  Elaborations?

Also, possible suggestions would be Final Fantasy, or a car game like Spy Hunter.  Just a thought.

[elcapitan]

I'm gonna be the arsehole who says this.

START YOUR FUCKING ASSIGNMENTS EARLY.

That is all.

Also, California Games isn't a classic per se. I would say that The Secret Of Monkey Island should be in there, as should Doom.

[Mnementh]

PacMan or Space Invaders.

I think that it depends on what you are going for.  As far as Arcade games, definitely PacMan.  As far as consoles go, that is going to depend on who you ask.  The iconic system for me is the Atari 2600, it's what my parents had when I was born and was the video game system for people who can remember the days before the NES.  For me, Space Invaders is the iconic game because I practically came out of the womb playing it.  A lot of people posting on here may be too young to remember or to have ever played the 2600.  Some of you *cough*InlanderEst*cough* might be old enough to remember the first generation of consoles.

[elcapitan]

Man, I remember playing an Atari when I was a young fella.

... And now I feel dated!

[Tactical Error]

Okay, Classic gaming Icons. Mario, Pong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and  Frogger are all good but you may also want to consider some RPG's such as Zelda and Final Fantasy and how could you possibly live down not referencing Tetris. You need to have some sweep, some range here to cover the different genre's in order to get the attention of the largest audience.

Space Invaders and Pac-Man are great for the old arcade vibe. Mario deftly handles platforming and true Icon status. Pong covers your true goal of classic, but consider another Atari classic Pitfall as well. Sports would be handled quite nicely by Tecmo Bowl. RPG's require a nod, Final Fantasy was mentioned. Don't neglect the PC, Here we have the FPS covered with Wolfenstein and Doom. Puzzle games will always have Tetris as the archetype. If you need more star power there are Metroid, Zelda, Donkey Kong(wow nintendo really did have that market locked up in the day) and maybe even Sonic.

[Peet]

Dude, where's Tetris?

Tetris would win hands down.

[LuckyMango]

I'm gonna be the arsehole who says this.

START YOUR FUCKING ASSIGNMENTS EARLY.

That is all.

Also, California Games isn't a classic per se. I would say that The Secret Of Monkey Island should be in there, as should Doom.

Oh, man.  Secret of Monkey Island is an amazing game, as are its sequels.  I learned to read from it, so it holds quite a bit of nostalgia for me.

[Ulmassir]

Mario is the most recognizable. More people (especially the younger ones) will recognize him than the others.

[Guardian 452]

Definitely Mario.

[nihilist]

Hrm.  Sonic also had some good visibility, though when Sega went useless the franchise pretty much died.

[Storm Rider]

You know what I don't get? People that still buy Sonic games even though there hasn't been a good one in like 5 years.