The Rise and Fall of 15 Forgotten Video Game Genres
Every rise has its fall — it's inevitable. This is even more true in the case of video games. Gaming has come a long way from what it was a few decades ago, thanks to developers' access to modern technology.
With those advancements, some video game genres will be left behind. But that's okay. As long as indie developers are around, no genre will ever be gone forever.
The 15 video game genres on this list might not be common. However, they played an essential role in establishing gaming as we know it today.
1. Vehicular Combat
The vehicular combat genre peaked during the PlayStation One era with games like Twisted Metal and Vigilante 8. This brought life to the violent power-fantasy side of driving that we all know as “road rage” to reality. Today, the genre has been reduced to a few quests in games like Rage 2 and Mad Max.
Many games like Mario Kart and Rocket League may scratch the itch for some. However, causing your opponents to slip and fall on a banana peel is just not as violent as bashing fellow riders with a baseball bat.
2. Light Gun Shooters
In the early '90s, the light gun genre was the epitome of the arcade era, with titles like Virtua Cop, The House of the Dead, Duck Hunt, and Time Crisis. Since then, the genre has almost disappeared as the First-Person Shooter (FPS) genre gained popularity. You'll find most plastic light guns collecting dust in attics these days.
3. Survival Horror
The survival horror holds a special place in every gamer's heart. Why? Because of video games. We've all shouted at the TV when horror movie characters make dumb decisions. Survival horror flipped the script, letting us make those choices while solving tricky puzzles and making every jump scare a rewarding experience.
Resident Evil is the backbone of survival horror. Then came Resident Evil 4, with a dramatic switch in direction. It swapped the genre's soul for more action-packed shooting, leaving fans feeling like they'd traded in their haunted mansion for a summer blockbuster.
4. Arena Shooters
Multiplayer shooting games used to be simpler: run around maps, collect endless weapons, shoot everything, and trash-talk fellow players during match breaks all over dial-up. Games like Quake, Wolfenstein 3D, and Doom had such a high skill ceiling that there was always something new to learn.
The '90s arena shooters thrived on this freedom and simplicity. There were no battle passes, no weapons skins, and every player was on the same skill level. Now, it's all about repetitive flag captures, turf wars, weapon upgrades, bush camping, building sky bases, and dancing on opponents after eliminating them.
5. Extreme Sports
With games like these, the genre continued to thrive for a while until it became saturated with clones. At that point, a game had to be extremely weird to stand out. Games like MX vs. ATV and Riders Republic are holding down the fort today, but the thrill is hard to recreate.
6. Interactive Movie/Cartoon
Nowadays, video games are their own thing; they don't need movies to succeed. Yet, there's a genre that early gamers both loved and loathed: interactive cartoon/movie games. They were like playing a cartoon, for better or worse.
There were cool releases like Dragon's Lair and Dungeons & Dragons, but the genre bit the dust once games matched the look of cartoons and movies. Not many famous games of the genre exist today, with At Dead Of Night being a recent release.
7. Platformers
Platformers were the meat and potatoes of gaming in its initial days. Platformers were like puzzles, where finding your way around the environment was the main quest. Games like Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Country, Sonic The Hedgehog, and Crash Bandicoot laid the groundwork for many successful titles we see today.
However, the platformers haven't completely disappeared. The DNA of those old games is still alive in modern video games like Assassin's Creed, God Of War, Stray, and Little Nightmares.
8. Peripheral-Based Music
By using these peripherals as instruments, gamers could jam to almost every genre of music. The hype eventually died out with the release of more action-based games. However, some games, like Beat Saber, Pistol Whip, and Just Dance, still carry the genre today.
9. Point & Click Adventures
The point-and-click adventure genre showcases interactive cinematic gameplay with puzzles, fascinating stories, and wonky animations. They're perfect for gamers tired of endlessly shooting hordes of enemies and craving a more thoughtful experience.
However, the genre could have been better. It was plagued with weird puzzles that consumed time with trial-and-error frustrations. Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars and The Secret of Monkey Island are some point-and-click classics. Recent attempts to revive the genre have flopped harder than a fish out of water.
10. Interactive Output
This is a subgenre of the point-and-click adventure genre but with an emotional twist. These games allow players to shape the story with their choices, from peaceful resolutions to full-on chaos, resulting in multiple endings. Telltale is the developer that comes to mind regarding decision-based story progression.
Games like Heavy Rain, The Walking Dead, and The Wolf Among Us have left such a large mark on the gaming world that modern games have yet to be able to replicate. With Telltale games going bankrupt (but hopefully returning soon), the decision-based genre has unfortunately ended.
11. Real-Time Strategy
During the early 2000s, the real-time strategy (RTS) genre owned the PC gaming market. Games like Warcraft, Starcraft, Age of Empires, and many more lead the RTS genre, and people couldn't get enough of them. These games involved building your base, training your units, and battling opponents.
It was an era when every famous movie, including Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, had its own RTS game. Today, we're left with a few failed revival attempts and games like Clash of Clans, a pale shadow of the genre's former glory.
12. Text-Based Adventures
The text-based video game genre was just that: text. It had no graphics, no 2D or 3D models or cutscenes. However, the genre came with all the good stuff a gamer can ask for, like choices and interactivity, but only in text. These were the early days of gaming when you played by typing commands.
“Text-based adventures” stuck around even in the early graphics era, with text still handling control inputs. Surprisingly, there's still a market for this genre today, with enthusiasts developing and playing them to this day.
13. Tower Defense
Tower defense games challenge players to defend something valuable from waves of incoming enemies. That valuable something could be a resource, a tower, or even food in some games.
Games like Plants vs. Zombies, Zombudoy, and Orcs Must Die! gave tower defense games a huge boost but locked the genre into mobile gaming. This makes it tough to sell a tower defense console game now. However, these games could make a big comeback with clever updates and online play.
14. Run and Gun
This is yet another genre that defined arcades in the early days of gaming. Run-and-gun games were filled with nonstop action and often had unidirectional progressions; players could only move forward or backward.
Some of the genre's famous titles include Metal Slug, Contra, and Doom. However, the release of Cuphead proved the genre still has the potential to earn a spot in modern-day gaming.
15. Shoot ‘Em-Up
The shoot' em-up genre peaked with classics like Galaga, Gradius, and R-Type. These games defined the golden era of arcades. They involved controlling your aircraft, dodging incoming attacks, and taking down as many opponents as possible.
Unfortunately, the shoot' em-up genre has failed to grow with the ever-changing gaming culture. In other words, these games are too simple for today's standards. Nowadays, they're just a nostalgic trip for folks missing the thrill of those good old arcade buzz.
