Which computer game was a console killer for each generation?

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Ok, video games was an arm race from the very beginning, goal is to find out the very first geam available for personal computer (and I don't mean IMB-compatilbes only, count in Amiga, C64, ZX Spectrum etc.) that is not possible to 1:1 port for console of current date? Rule: compare the geam to the most poweful console to each generation.

For 5th gen: Quake 2 - to port it for PSX demanded radical cut of graphics (something like 320x200 PC ver. in software mode) and level design, N64 done much better but still, with framerate lower than on PC. Plus - propably Hexen 2 and Jedi Knight were too demaning for proper console port.

For 6 gen - it's either Half-Life 2 / Doom 3 / Painkiller: Hell Wars that barely run on original Xbox or Far Cry that was so demanding that devs had to make entirely different geam (that one with Instinct subtitle).

For 7th gen: an obvious one - Crysis, released just year after PS3 and two years after Xbox 360 it BITCHSLAPPED them both.

And what about remaining generations?

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

8th gen is Star Citizen. Regardless of the game's quality or poo pooing about scams there is no way it can run on consoles. It eats up all 16gig of my ram and I can just squeak by at 30-40FPS on the Public Test Universe. This is after the big 3.3 patch that sorted out a lot of the previous framerate issues.

 

[Leitz]

Doom 3 / Painkiller

Nigga you serious?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

skyrim with big titty mods

 

[Unkillable Cat]

First generation: None. There wasn't even a market for home computers until the late 70s, and what few home computer titles were available were never intended for consoles anyway. Theoretically there may be a title in this generation, but it's a little too early for me to have any extensive knowledge.

Second generation: Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0 (November 1982). Whether it was due to Microsoft's monopolistic tendencies or the sheer size and scale of it I cannot tell, but it was never ported to a console. If you want a title that specifically got a console release, you'd have to either look for one of the big releases on the Sinclair Spectrum, or one of the earliest releases on the Commodore 64. But considering that the 2nd generation is counted to last until the end of 1991, one can also just point to the title below which is...

Third generation: Elite (1984). It wasn't until 1991 that a 3rd-generation console port was available of it. Another title worth mentioning is Dungeon Master (1987) which couldn't be ported to consoles until the 4th-gen consoles were well established.

Fourth generation: Doom (1993). While it received ports on 4th-gen consoles, they were cut-down stripped affairs, and even 5th-gen consoles had trouble with their ports (for all kinds of silly reasons).

 

[sser]

First, the RTS put the console's nose in it. Yeah, sniff it real hard, Starcraft 64. Fucking Aliens RTS are you shitting me? Get in there.

But then consoles got real popular. And then the moneyline became every game needs to be multi-platform.

Suddenly it was the consoles that had the power. Suddenly the RTS wasn't so popular anymore.

The RTS was the true console killer. We forget. Because in the end the consoles killed the RTS.

And now you have Halo RTS and you best eliminate that gag reflex cause we'll need to put two down the pipes.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Fun fact: The first game to have gameplay that was comparable to RTS games (a proto-RTS if you will) was a console title.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Fun fact: The first game to have gameplay that was comparable to RTS games (a proto-RTS if you will) was a console title.

Wrong, Nether Earth for ZX Spectrum was earlier.

The RTS was the true console killer.

You may be right, while '96 RTS games like Warcraft 2, Red Alert or Z were easily ported to PSX / Saturn, these console would have much trouble with strongly nerfed versions of Dark Colony and Total Annihilation but for true killer I'd choose Myth: The Fallen Lords - with its incredible physics and complex 3D environment it was beyond any console capabilities until Dreamcast.

Doom 3 / Painkiller

Nigga you serious?

And you mean...?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Fun fact: The first game to have gameplay that was comparable to RTS games (a proto-RTS if you will) was a console title.

Wrong, Nether Earth for ZX Spectrum was earlier.

Interesting, I had never heard of this one. Will investigate further. Thanks for that.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Crysis, released just year after PS3 and two years after Xbox 360 it BITCHSLAPPED them both.

how is that accomplishment when it would bitchslap most PCs back then?

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Crysis, released just year after PS3 and two years after Xbox 360 it BITCHSLAPPED them both.

how is that accomplishment when it would bitchslap most PCs back then?

So was Doom demanding 486 in the 386 era.
So was Quake demanding Pentium in the 486 era.
I don't even want to mention Unreal.

It doesn't change anything.

 

[octavius]

I dunno about console killers, but Ultima Underworld (and somewhat later Doom) sure was an Amiga killer.

 

[vota DC]

Fun fact: The first game to have gameplay that was comparable to RTS games (a proto-RTS if you will) was a console title.

They had complex games, not just rts. Just think about Romance of the three kingdoms that was very deep turn based strategy. But the console trend now is ooga booga me smash buttons and pc games are dumbed down instead of make console games more complex.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Has Xbone X (or at least PS4 Pro) met its killer?