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Life changes can be difficult. Moving to a new city, starting a new job, or even just switching coffee shops can take a toll on someone. Now imagine adding an entirely new dimension to your life! In the late 1990s and early 2000s, gamers witnessed an influx of titles attempting to jump to the 3D space. Consoles such as the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nintendo 64 and the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation brought more power and developers were eager to use it. The🌟 industry was changing at a rapid pace, and budgets were ballooning.
Sadly, many games did not survive the transition. For all the pain caused by the likes of Bubsy 3D and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Castlevania 64, gamers were blessed with multiple series evolutions that would 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:change the industry forever. Like a caterpillar 🦂turning into a butterfly, a wide catalog of classic series spread their wings and released genre-defining titles. Th🗹ese are the titles that marked this industry-defining shift, creating lasting legacies.
8 ও Super Ma🌳rio 64
It would be foolish not to include the king of platformers in a discussion about 3D gaming. Coming off the critically acclaimed 2D platformer, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, expectations were sky-high for tꦍhe pudgy plumber from the Mushroom Kingdom. Boy, did he deliver.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Mario 64 ushered in a new era for Mario, Nintendo, and gaming as a whole.
While not the first 3D platformer ever, Super Mario 64 was an awakening that defined the genre. From the face-bending opening screen to the simplicity of the controls, the game sent shockwaves through the industry. Its push for you to collect as much as you can is felt in modern-day 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Assassin’s Creed games, and its quirky, off-the-beaten-path areas are seen in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:FromSoftware games like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Elden Ring. But most importantly, its whimsical sense of exploration will continue to influence nearly every video game until the end of time, paving the way for a✃ll future 2D to 3D game transitions.
7 🙈 Grand🍎 Theft Auto 3
If Super Mario 64 opened the door for a series transitioning to 3D, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Grand Theft Auto 3 busted down a wall and set the genre ablaze with a flamethrower. After two top-down outings that received mixed critical reception, Grand Theft Auto 3 ushered in a brand-new era for open-world games. While previous sandbox titles were mostly limited to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:city-builders like SimCity or tycoon games like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Rollercoaster Tycoon, Grand Theft Auto 3 ✅presented players with a bustling city in which they could wreak havoc.
Its silent protagonist allowed the world and the eccentric side characters to take center stage and change gaming forever. Rightfully hailed as one of the greatest games ever made, it inspired countless clones in its heyday, such as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Saints Row, True Crime, and even some aspects of beloved platformers like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Jak and Daxter.
6 🥂 Ninja Gaiden
Despite recent output from the series being considered lackluster, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ninja Gaiden is one of gaming’s oldest and most beloved franchises. The first game dates back to 1988 on the NES, where gamers were first introduced to legendary protagonist Ryu Hayabusa. The side-scrolling masterpiece raised a generation of ninja-loving ch🐷ildrenꦅ with its cinematic cutscenes, brutal difficulty, and creative weaponry.
After a bevy of sequels, prequels, and re-imaginings, the Ninja Gaiden series returned in 2004 with an eponymous 3D adventure. Players once against assumed the role of Ryu Hayabusa, ๊and slashed their way through an empire filled with cursed monsters and rival samurai. It is considered one of the best ninja games ever, and sits near the peak of action games.
5 ꦕ 🌺 Metroid Prime
Having been around longer than any video game developer today, Nintendo has quite a few examples of how to transition a series into the 3D space. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Metroid Prime is no different. After debuting with Metroid in 1986, the series had built a loyal fanbase with countless excellent titles. Its sense of exploration, shooting and platforming inspired an entirely new genre, the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Metroidvania. The non-linear nature of Metroidvanias, a portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania, has inspired some of the greatest games of the last ten years, including 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Hollow Knight, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ori and the Blind Forest, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dead Cells.
The series’ first 3D offering came in 2002, when Retro Studios released Metroid Prime. Exploration was once again the key, as Samus Aran traversed Tallon IV, an alien planet that꧙ never fails to make the player feel scared and alone. The game spawned multiple sequels, and is hailed as one of the best first-person shooters ever made.
4 Fallout 3
Before exploding onto the scene with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fallout 3 in 2008, the Fallout franchise looked quite different. In much the same way that the third game in the series ushered in a new wave of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:post-apocalyptic gaming content, the original Fallout, and its successor, breathed new life into the RPG genre in the 1990s. Its bleak and unf🍨orgiving isometric world enthralled players and proved that rich storytelling a𒈔nd deep role-playing mechanics were not a thing of the past.
After acquiring the rights to the franchise from Interplay Entertainment, Bethesda reinvented the series with Fallout 3. Transitioning to 3D graphics and swapping turn-based combat for more action-focused real-time gameplay proved to be a successful strategy. Less of a video game and more of an interactive playground in which you can go anywhere and do anything, the title went on to sell far more than the previous entries combined, and is frequently placed in the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:pantheon of the RPG genre.
3 Final Fantasy VII ꦏ
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy is a multimedia empire. After six mainline Final Fantasy games, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Square Enix transitioned the series into 3D in 1997 with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy VII, one of t🔴he most influential games ever made. Ask anyone who played it at r🍌elease or remembers the first ads for the game, and they will likely all mention its grandiose, cinematic presentation and that it was the first video game to make them cry.
While keeping many of the series’ gameplay features up to that point, the game broke through to Western audiences in a way no JRPG had before. Suddenly, this was not a niche genre for console players, but one they were intimately familiar with. Final Fantasy VII was not only a crucial step forward for a series transitioning into 3D, it was proof that video games could go toe-to-tꦉoe with cinema and win.
2 ⛦ ꦿ Metal Gear Solid
Few names in gaming hold as much weight as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Hideo Kojima. The auteur’s mind visits places that most gamers couldn’t even dream of, with the creation defining him above all being 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Metal Gear. Renowned for its stealth gameplay, the original title put you in the shoes of Special Ops agent S💟olid Snake, as he sneaks past enemies on his journey to take down Metal Gear, a bipedal robot capable of launching nuclear missiles. It was praised for its ability to create tension, and make the player feel like a true secret agent.
But, like so many games that transitioned to 3D in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the series’ best was yet to come. In 1998, Konami and Kojima released 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation, and much like Final Fantasy VII, the game further 168ꦯ澳洲幸运5开奖网:blurred theᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ line between movies and games. Its complex narrative unfolded through seamless transitions between gameplay and cutscenes, while its carefully crafted tactical gameplay birthed the stealth genre as we know it today. Assassin’s Creed, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Splinter Cell, and Hitman all owe much of what makes them🐷 great to the Metal Gear frꦉanchise.
1 ♐ Th꧃e Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The original 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Legend of Zelda is a revelation to this day. The player knows they’re in for a magical experience from the moment they see that fabled message, “IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO ♚ALONE! TAKE THIS!” Every dungeon, secret passage, and boss fight in the 1986 title is meticulously designed to enco🥃urage exploration and experimentation. While not considered an RPG, many of its features can be seen in the DNA of modern fantasy takes on the genre.
While the original stands the test of time as an influential classic, Nintendo followed it up 12 years later with the first 3D game in the series, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It turned out to be the biggest game Nintendo had ever released, and one of their most critically acclaimed. The gameplay transitions from 2D to 3D seamlessly, and the additions of lock-on targeting and horseback traversal make for an unforgettable experience. Flawless level design, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a rich and compelling story, and a sense of scale that makes you feel like a 🔜tiny cog in a much bigger machine all combined perfectly to create this classic.