The most innovative game?

Personaly I think it probably is teh legend of zelda - save system is a must for games...

That is hard since even what innovations is subjective. To make it even worse most gamers ignore innovations in games. This is why many at this time scream that AAA games are not being innovative.

The best you can do is point at gimmicks that later become innovations.

Plenty of games revolutionized different genres. World of Warcraft, Half Life, Starcraft, Diablo, Mario, Zelda, Ultima, Wing Commander and so on. Upcoming,,, Star Citizen (2017) and Squadron 42 (2016).

Tetris_

Just saiyan.

I think video games in itself is a significant innovation. It's still fairly new too when compared to books, theater, music, traditional card and table top games etc. I frequently enjoy those things as well but video games are my favorite form of entertainment.

Interactive entertaiment.

Pong, Pacman, Rampage, Karate Champ, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Metroid, Tetris, Sonic, Super Mario, Zelda, Tekken, Shadow Of The Colossus

E.T. on 2600 - it was so innovative that it went on to force companies to redesign hardware, regulate software libraries and improve software quality.

@so_hai: It was an indirect consequence of its quality.

I agree, especially about the future "part". Innovation and possible future revolution(s) are IMO much more likely to come from indie developers.

Heavy Rain

Mortal Kombat on the SNES forced the creation of the ESRB

Mario 64, platformer in 3D and was the first game with the analog stick that latter the same year Sony scrapped their first controller to release the Dualshock

Virtual Fighter on the Saturn changed fighting game that was previously pretty much clone of Street Fighter

Zelda a Link to the Past for open world that isn't one

Diablo for online cooperation

Final Fantasy VII, story in JRPG and animation

GoldenEye 64 proved that a shooter can be done and done well on a consol thank to the analog stick

Pong, Super Mario Bros, Super Mario 64, Goldeneye 007, Little Big Planet, Crash Bandicoot, Legend of Zelda, Call of Duty, Pac-Man

@tatman87: That's actually a good point. Books have been around for what, hundreds or thousands of years? Video games? About 30 years.

Street Fighter II, Halo, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare are some innovative games that I'd throw into the mix.

Metal Gear. First game to focus on avoiding action instead of seeking it, creating the stealth genre.

I found Portal to be pretty innovative.

Here's a list of my favourites

-Elite revolutionised the sandbox space simulator

-Wing commander did the same with space combat simulators and narrative.

-space invaders introduced escalating difficulty(albeit accidentaly)

-Falcon 3.0's dynamic campaigns were all the rage

-quake was the first trully 3D FPS game

-wolfenstein was the first FPS game as we know it.

Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64, Pac-Man, Doom (?), GoldenEye 007, Legend of Zelda, and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time come to mind.