Most Innovative Mechanics (Round Two)

[SkyPikachu]

Welcome to This Old Neon’s fourth official “BEST GAME EVER!!!” Project.

Round Two of the “Most Innovative Mechanics” side-event includes the next batch of low-seeded games in addition to the Round One winners. There are 5 polls of 7 games each. If a game you nominated doesn’t appear in these polls, it probably seeded high enough to get a bye into a later round.

You can vote for 1-2 games per poll, or skip a poll entirely.
The top 4 games from each poll will advance to Round Three.
You can’t change your votes once they’ve been submitted, so click carefully. Voting closes on Saturday at midnight AST.
Don’t forget to vote in the main event and find your way to the other user-submitted categories at https://thisoldneon.com/bge !

Most Innovative Mechanics (Round Two)

[SkyPikachu]

Poll 1 of 5
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (2013, Multiplatform)
Demon's Souls (2009, PS3)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (2010, DS)
Katamari Damacy (2004, PS2)
Return of the Obra Dinn (2018, PC)
Sid Meier's Civilization (1991, PC)
Super Meat Boy (2010, Multiplatform)

I'm sorry Super Meat Boy. Brothers concept of controlling 2 character at the same time with a stick for each character was amazing. It's actually made me dislike every game since that makes you control 2 characters by switching between them. Ghost Tricks was amazing the whole ghost concept is really really awesome and on top of that it's a really fun game.

Poll 2 of 5
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (1992, PC)
Gradius (1985, Arcade)
Herzog Zwei (1989, Genesis)
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (2015, Multiplatform)
Metal Gear (1987, MSX2)
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000, N64)
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2007, DS)

Well that made life easier. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes sounds really cool but one I've never played it and two I desperately want Phantom Hourglass to get through.

Poll 3 of 5
Beat Saber (2018, PC/PS4)
LittleBigPlanet (2008, PS3)
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen (1993, SNES)
Pac-Man (1980, Arcade)
Papers, Please (2013, Multiplatform)
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991, Multiplatform)
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981, PC)

Not the exact game I nominated but it's probably the better one for this anyway. Yeah pac-man did a lot but LBP changed my favorite genre a lot.

Poll 4 of 5
Guitar Hero (2005, PS2)
Pikmin (2001, GCN)
Portal (2006, Multiplatform)
Rock Band (2007, Multiplatform)
Super Mario 64 (1996, N64)
Super Mario Kart (1992, SNES)
Zork: The Great Underground Empire (1980, PC)

Guitar Hero is the reason rock band exists and made me interested in playing a music game. Portal is fantastic close to a perfect game and the mechanic is amazing.

Poll 5 of 5
Crypt of the NecroDancer (2015, Multiplatform)
Doom (1993, PC)
Halo: Combat Evolved (2001, PC/XB)
Rogue (1980, PC)
Splatoon (2015, Wii U)
Superhot VR (2017, Multiplatform)
Wolfenstein 3D (1992, PC)

Both games did wonders for the genre in my opinion. Splatoon made shooters be okay to be colorful and the kid squid thing is amazing. Halo helped shape the fps console world.

[VictorViper]

Halo took advantage of the hardware available and did literally nothing new with it. It is the antithesis of this poll.

Unreal Tournament for Dreamcast came several years prior, supported mouse and keys, had broadband connection and still would be out of place here.

[Kong Wen]

Halo took advantage of the hardware available and did literally nothing new with it. It is the antithesis of this poll.

Unreal Tournament for Dreamcast came several years prior, supported mouse and keys, had broadband connection and still would be out of place here.

Supporting mouse and keys is why Unreal Tournament would be out of place here. That's just the same control paradigm on another box. Halo at least built an FPS from the ground up for a console controller in a way that wasn't just an awkward Google Translate of mouse & keys to pad buttons.

[VictorViper]

Halo took advantage of the hardware available and did literally nothing new with it. It is the antithesis of this poll.

Unreal Tournament for Dreamcast came several years prior, supported mouse and keys, had broadband connection and still would be out of place here.

Supporting mouse and keys is why Unreal Tournament would be out of place here. That's just the same control paradigm on another box. Halo at least built an FPS from the ground up for a console controller in a way that wasn't just an awkward Google Translate of mouse & keys to pad buttons.

I'm not suggesting it as an appropriate alternative, DC UT would also be an absurd nomination. Halo belongs in the BGE, but not here, and hot DAMN sure not through to round two.

[EDIT] Thinking about it, most innovative console would have probably been a good poll to submit. Short, but probably HOTLY contested.

[Kong Wen]

I'm not suggesting it as an appropriate alternative, DC UT would also be an absurd nomination. Halo belongs in the BGE, but not here, and hot DAMN sure not through to round two.

Yes, neither Super Mario 64 nor Halo belongs in round two. They each did something interesting enough to get nominated, but when faced with the other stellar, genre-inventing, rule-twisting nominees in this category, they've got to take their seats.

Poll 1 of 5
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (2013, Multiplatform)
Demon's Souls (2009, PS3)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (2010, DS)
Katamari Damacy (2004, PS2)
Return of the Obra Dinn (2018, PC)
Sid Meier's Civilization (1991, PC)
Super Meat Boy (2010, Multiplatform)

Demon's Souls is a no-brainer here, again, for transforming stale old multiplayer traditions into a completely new way of interacting with other people and actually blending it into the universe of the game.

As much as I love Brothers, my second vote goes to Civilization. The game didn't just firm up grand strategy, but it also innovated in the sense that it had win conditions other than just crushing your opponents' armies. (This was further expanded upon in the sequels, but the seeds were already there in the original.)

Poll 2 of 5
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (1992, PC)
Gradius (1985, Arcade)
Herzog Zwei (1989, Genesis)
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (2015, Multiplatform)
Metal Gear (1987, MSX2)
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000, N64)
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2007, DS)

It's funny to see Herzog Zwei, which arguably created the real-time strategy genre, and its successor, Dune II, both doing well in the same poll. I'm voting for the former as well as Keep Talking, which has a great spin on asynchronous cooperative multiplayer. It uses all the tools available to create an immersive puzzle-solving game.

Poll 3 of 5
Beat Saber (2018, PC/PS4)
LittleBigPlanet (2008, PS3)
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen (1993, SNES)
Pac-Man (1980, Arcade)
Papers, Please (2013, Multiplatform)
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991, Multiplatform)
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981, PC)

I nominated Ogre Battle for this category for a couple reasons. One is the odd not-quite-real-time strategy paradigm it uses on console to great effect. Another reason is the hidden alignment system it uses, where unnecessary killing and brutally outmatching your opponents skews your reputation and changes the way various NPCs interact with you. It was an elegant system, partly because its mechanics were buried and inscrutable (in other words, the game didn't blare rules in your face).

All that said, I'm not voting for it in this field. I'm going to stick with Pac-Man.

For my second vote, I find myself becoming very stringent... Papers, Please is great in the sense that it forces you to make compromises based on incomplete information. At its core, it's a visual adventure game like Shadowgate and Uninvited, though.

Even though Wizardry is more or less a translation of existing P&P RPG mechanics to a new medium, what we're measuring here is innovation in video game mechanics, and Wizardry did indeed set the stage for how our medium interpreted an existing type of game. It gets my vote.

Poll 4 of 5
Guitar Hero (2005, PS2)
Pikmin (2001, GCN)
Portal (2006, Multiplatform)
Rock Band (2007, Multiplatform)
Super Mario 64 (1996, N64)
Super Mario Kart (1992, SNES)
Zork: The Great Underground Empire (1980, PC)

Portal is a no-brainer here. It goes above and beyond by not simply relying on its mechanical brilliance, but instead delivering a great story and well-designed, engaging puzzles as well. It's a masterpiece.

Even though I wasn't a huge fan of Guitar Hero itself, it did help to launch and popularize the idea of playing licensed music with your friends as a game.

Poll 5 of 5
Crypt of the NecroDancer (2015, Multiplatform)
Doom (1993, PC)
Halo: Combat Evolved (2001, PC/XB)
Rogue (1980, PC)
Splatoon (2015, Wii U)
Superhot VR (2017, Multiplatform)
Wolfenstein 3D (1992, PC)

Rogue is probably the biggest no-brainer in this whole competition so far. Not only did it create a whole genre (Roguelikes), but it crossbred a whole other genre with platformers (Roguelikelikes or Rogue-lites)—its mechanics have essentially been abstracted into the very language of video game design where they can be transplanted almost at will.

For my second pick, I'm choosing Wolfenstein 3D for its excellent use of pseudo-3D and adoption of first-person dungeon-crawling in real-time combat.

[Pluvius]

Halo took advantage of the hardware available and did literally nothing new with it. It is the antithesis of this poll.

Unreal Tournament for Dreamcast came several years prior, supported mouse and keys, had broadband connection and still would be out of place here.

Supporting mouse and keys is why Unreal Tournament would be out of place here. That's just the same control paradigm on another box. Halo at least built an FPS from the ground up for a console controller in a way that wasn't just an awkward Google Translate of mouse & keys to pad buttons.

I'm not suggesting it as an appropriate alternative, DC UT would also be an absurd nomination. Halo belongs in the BGE, but not here, and hot DAMN sure not through to round two.

You nominated After Burner because the cockpit moved.

Yes, neither Super Mario 64 nor Halo belongs in round two. They each did something interesting enough to get nominated, but when faced with the other stellar, genre-inventing, rule-twisting nominees in this category, they've got to take their seats.

Both SM64 and Halo were more innovative than Demon's Souls or Wolfenstein 3D.

It's funny to see Herzog Zwei, which arguably created the real-time strategy genre, and its successor, Dune II, both doing well in the same poll.

I voted for both of them. Herzog Zwei was the prototype for the modern RTS. Dune II was the archetype of the modern RTS.

Rob

[Kong Wen]

Both SM64 and Halo were more innovative than Demon's Souls or Wolfenstein 3D.

No.

I voted for both of them. Herzog Zwei was the prototype for the modern RTS. Dune II was the archetype of the modern RTS.

Yes.

[VictorViper]

You nominated After Burner because the cockpit moved.

God damn right I did. Shit was bananas, still bananas. There's a new Star Wars arcade game with an even more bananas ride element and I still picked After Burner.

[VictorViper]

Hey Kong - I'll eat humble pie here, wanna slice?

Halo: THE REGEN SHIELD