Best Video Games From 2001 That Changed Their Genres

Back in the halcyon gaming days of 2001, plenty of us were busy playing on our GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Dreamcast, PC, or Game Boy Advance, enjoying all kinds of games we couldn’t have known at the time would go on to become so formative and important in their genre.

In this list, we’re looking back at the ten best games that released in 2001 whose effects can be felt in one way or the other across the gaming industry, games that made an impression on us all those years ago that just keep on impressing after all these years.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit

While you might think of Mario Kart mostly as a home console game, we’ve enjoyed plenty of handheld iterations throughout the years as well, and that’s right where Mario Kart: Super Circuit comes into play, providing hours of fun on your Game Boy Advance back in the day. It was the first handheld Mario Kart game, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last!

Gameplay on the handheld console is identical to that of the home console titles, but Mario Kart: Super Circuit let us take our favorite Nintendo characters out onto the track no matter where we were for real. There are eight of them to choose from as you dash across a cool 40 total tracks, so the options for mastery feel almost endless.

Halo: Combat Evolved

Halo has been such a part of our lives as gamers for so long now that it’s hard to believe it had to debut at some point, but Halo: Combat Evolved is the best place to start checking out the Halo titles, launching what nobody could have known at the time would go onto become one of the most iconic gaming franchises of all-time.

We got to meet Master Chief and Cortana for the very first time in this action shooter title from Microsoft, one of the driving Xbox exclusive series back at the height of the console wars. It’s impossible not to feel the aftershocks as you play through later entries in the series, with the gameplay evolving in multitudes since its early 2000s debut.

SSX Tricky

Good luck not singing the Run DMC song now, after reading that title! If you were a fan of winter sport games back in the day, then we don’t doubt you put some hours in on the slopes of a game as iconic as SSX Tricky, one of the most formative snowboarding games of all time.

Choose a character (and unlock more as you go) to shoot down a variety of snowy courses, landing a variety of impressive tricks and getting your score as high as can be by the end of each run. Whether you were playing the solo races or challenging a friend or sibling to meet you on the slopes, gamers from this era definitely have some fond memories in this game.

Paper Mario

via: nintendo.co.uk

A better question nowadays is what Nintendo hasn’t done with Mario yet, but back in 2001, something like Paper Mario that took a beloved classic video game character and shook up his genre a bit was a complete innovation. The mainline games are all about platforming and adventure, but Paper Mario offers a turn-based combat gameplay style you don’t see often with Nintendo titles.

Join Mario in a new kind of 2D adventure as he assembles teams of colorful pals with unique abilities and ventures across this paper world, once again questing to save Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser. It went on to spawn sequels throughout Nintendo’s catalog since, and plenty of fans are still in love with the flatter turn-based gameplay.

Despite having the two in the name, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is the fourth game in the Metal Gear series from Hideo Kojima that went onto become one of the most beloved action-adventure titles. Featuring just as much emphasis on stealth as it does on combat, you’ll play as both Solid Snake and Raiden depending on which section of the game you’re enjoying.

Though the concept of “fake news” seems a modern thing, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty has long been considered ahead of its time for tackling the theme of “alternative facts” in governance. it

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

Skateboarding was all the rage back in 2001, much more than it seems to be nowadays, and skaters routinely emerged from the space to become household names. One such skater was Tony Hawk, whose line of skating games absolutely dominated the sports genre with its off-color humor and style.

While there have been plenty of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games since his first (and plenty of spinoffs, including Underground and American Wasteland), Pro Skater 3 is easily one of the most beloved even today, ranking among the best sports games on the consoles of the era on practically every list.

Devil May Cry

After so many years, it almost feels like Dante the demon hunter has always been in the lineup of gaming greats, but the first Devil May Cry title debuted in 2001 and rocked the action-adventure world in a way that’s still readily felt even today.

Fans of hack and slash games that you’ll find in the genre were and continue to be stunned by how smooth the gameplay is as you control Dante trying to fend off demon invasions. It’s also where we got to see the first Devil Trigger, a sweet combat functionality that’s become a mainstay ever since it debuted in this 2001 classic.

Dance Dance Revolution

Whether you were a fan of putting your quarter in line for the arcade machines to show off your moves to the other mall rats of the era or wound up with a home console version that allows you to enjoy all the fun of cardinal direction stepping in privacy, DDR had us in a vice grip back in the day.

2001 saw the release of two titles, with options available for both home and arcade gameplay, with different countries around the world all seeing a variety of songs and mixes added to the playlist. Work your way up through difficulty levels and become a pro DDR dancer through blood, sweat, and tears in real life.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

While Melee might not have been the very first Super Smash Bros. title, we’d argue its potentially the most beloved, with regular presence in the eSports sphere even this long after its debut. The 2001 follow-up to the smash-hit (get it?) 1999 fighting game is still seeing players death-grip their controllers as their favorite Nintendo characters careen off the screen.

Select your fighter from a roster that included a variety of characters added from the first game (including Fire Emblem, which hadn’t seen commercial release outside Japan on launch just yet) and new stages to execute combos and make your friends regret challenging you to a match.

Grand Theft Auto 3

Even though Grand Theft Auto 3 isn’t the first title in the series, it’s definitely one of the more formative for what’s gone on to become one of the most profitable gaming franchises of all time, as the first game in the GTA series to be fully 3D after the first two titles were in the 2D style of the era before.

It was our first jaunt into Liberty City but it was most certainly not our last, with the location and the gameplay styles iconic of it still present in the GTA series today. It was the best-selling game of 2001 for a reason, after all!