We talk a lot about the “next big thing” or the newest trend in terms of gaming, but we very rarely step back and take a look at some of the things that happened in the past that brought us to where we are today.  In our current gaming environment, things like 360-degree analog control sticks, cinema scenes, and motion control are just part of the landscape; it’s easy to forget that there was once a time where we had none of these luxuries.

So with that in mind, here are five titles that changed the face of gaming for the better:

Street Fighter II (1991)

Sure, nowadays Down, Forward, Punch is a commonly known and executed control sequence, but before Street Fighter II fighting games didn’t really have much of a system.  One of the first of its kind (despite the II moniker), Street Fighter II brought combo attacks, special moves, and a wide berth of characters to a genre that had mostly been defined by the Double Dragon series’ “walk through streets and fight people until your eyes bleed” mechanics.  For all of you Tekken, Mortal Kombat, and Killer Instinct (bring it back!) fanatics out there, remember to thank Ken and Ryu for your daily dose of smash.

Super Mario 64 (1996)

The flagship title for Nintendo’s arguably successful N64 console, Super Mario 64 was the first free-range, 360-degree controlled platform game.  The gameplay may seem basic now, but try to remember how you felt the first time you held that analog stick in your hand and made Mario run in perfect circles.  What’s important here is not only the design, which was incredibly effective in translating the 2D Mario universe into a real world, but the technical innovation that the control stick represented.  Using variable pressure on a control stick to make a character tiptoe or run was a gigantic step forward for nearly every game that followed.

Karateka (1984)

Although many “hardcore” gamers would have no clue what you were talking about if you mentioned this game, they all owe a huge debt to its design.  Built by future Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner, Karateka is the first known game in history to advance a game’s story with out of level cutscenes. Some games before it did have short animations in between levels, but Karateka was the first to use this break to add depth to the narrative.  Imagine a world of games with no cinema – we’d have no details on characters, no clue on plots, and every Final Fantasy game would be about 30 hours shorter.  I suppose that might not be such a bad thing….

World of Warcraft (2004)

Say what you will about its casual-friendly approach to endgame, there’s a reason World of Warcraft was named “Game of the Decade.”  It may not have been the first MMO, but it was certainly the first to bring hardcore gamers, grandmothers, and every other kind of person under the sun into its subscriber list.  Though the social impact of the game is now well-documented gaming lore, it also contributed quest-driven character advancement, a true global community, and a legitimized view of the MMORPG niche to the games industry.  Not too shabby for a game that its developers were just hoping would break even.

Wii Sports (2006)

I’ll take a moment here for you to complain about my inclusion of the Nintendo Wii’s bundled title on this list.  Done?  Okay.  Did you know that Wii Sports is the best-selling game of all time, with over 60 million units sold? If you took advantage of my above pause for complaint, now would be a good time to take your foot out of your mouth.  Anyway, I didn’t include the game because of its staggering sales figures, I included it because of the immeasurable impact it has had on what we call a “gamer.”  The instant playability and ease of use of Wii Sports combined with the innovation of the system’s motion control setup drew millions of new people to video games and helped to transform games into a mainstream family activity.  The impact was so huge that mega-companies Microsoft and Sony were left dumbfounded by their inability to predict its success, and are only now getting caught up with Nintendo’s innovative control scheme.

So there you have it.  Five games that brought a unique and important element to this thing we call gaming.  Without any one of them, chances are good that the games we play would be quite different, or perhaps even nonexistent.  The next time you fire up your copy of Final Fantasy XIII or Modern Warfare 2, take a moment to thank the game gods for these five titles – without them, who knows what we’d be doing in our spare time.