Adventure
Educational
Fighting
First-person shooters
Game-controlled environment
Player-controlled environment
Platformers
Platformers, also called side-scrollers, view the game area from a side or "cutaway" perspective. In these games, the background or playing area smoothly scrolls as the player moves about, hence the name. These games are traditionally 2D, but some have employed 3D computer graphics effectively. Traditional elements of these games include running, jumping and some fighting. Side-scrollers were some of the first types of video games and are still popular today, usually with younger players.
- Castlevania series
- Captain Claw
- Contra/Probotector series
- Crash Bandicoot series
- Dig Dug
- Donkey Kong
- Jak and Daxter
- Kirby series
- Ghouls 'n Ghosts series
- Lionheart
- Lode Runner
- Metroid series
- Mega Man (RockMan) series
- Ratchet and Clank
- Rayman series
- Sonic the Hedgehog series
- Super Mario Brothers series
- Wario Land series
Puzzle
- Bomberman
- BrickShooter
- Bust A Move
- ChuChu Rocket
- Columns
- Cuyo
- Devet
- Dr. Mario
- Eleventh Hour
- Lines
- Mr Driller
- Seventh Guest
- Shanghai solitaire ("Mahjong")
- Snakes
- Snood
- Sokoban
- Tetris
- Tetris Attack
Racing games
Simulation style
- Colin McRae Rally series
- Gran Turismo series
- Grand Prix Legends
Arcade style
- Carmageddon series
- Final Lap
- F-Zero series
- High Octane
- Out Run
- Marble Madness
- Mario Kart series
- Pole Position series
- Project Gotham Racing
- Sega Rally series
- The Simpsons Road Rage
- Test Drive series
- Wipeout series
Rhythm games
- Dance Aerobics
- Dance Dance Revolution
- Frequency
- Samba De Amigo
- Space Channel 5
- Spice World
- PaRappa the Rapper
- UmJammer Lammy
Role-Playing Games
- Alternate Reality series
- Arc the Lad series
- Astonia game online
- Bahamut Lagoon
- Baldur's Gate series
- Bard's Tale Series
- Breath of Fire series
- Brg_StaySafe
- Chrono Trigger series
- Dark Age of Camelot
- Diablo series
- Dragon Quest series (AKA Dragon Warrior series)
- Drakengard
- Dungeon Master series
- The Elder Scrolls series
- EverQuest
- Fallout series
- Final Fantasy series
- Fire Emblem series
- Kingdom Hearts
- Might and Magic series
- Neverwinter Nights series
- Phantasy Star series
- Pokemon series
- Radical Dreamers
- Roguelikes: Rogue, Hack, Nethack, Moria, Angband et al.
- SaGa series
- Seiken Densetsu series
- Star Wars Galaxies
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Suikoden series
- Tales series
- Ultima series
- Wasteland
- Wild Arms series
- Wizardry series
- Yu-Gi-Oh series
- Xenogears-Terms
Serious
Shooters
Shoot 'em ups
Simulation
Some do not consider simulations to be games at all, but rather "digital toys" or "software toys". Indeed, this is how Will Wright, the designer of the most popular video game of all time, The Sims, describes his games. These games aim to similate a specific activity (such as flying an airplane) as realistically as practically possible, taking into account physics and other real-world limitations. Some require a great deal of reading before the game can even be attempted, while others include a simple tutorial. Some of these types of games, such as flight simulators, have a limited following, while others, such as The Sims have an enormous following, including those who don't consider themselves "gamers."
- Ace Combat
- Dynasty Warriors
- FlightGear
- Microsoft Flight Simulator series
- Rollercoaster Tycoon series
- Silent Hunter
- The Sims
- SimAnt
- SimCity series
- SimFarm
- Sim Park
- SimEarth
- Virtual U
Sports
- All Star Baseball 2003
- Arch Rivals
- Backyard Sports series
- Championship Manager
- Electronic Arts NHL series
- Hardball series
- Knockout Kings series
- NBA Jam series
- NBA ShootOut series
- Rumble in the Rink
- Tecmo Super Bowl series
Strategy
General Strategy
- Defender of the Crown
- Lords of Conquest
- Wargame Construction Set
Turn-based
- Alpha Centauri
- Battle Isle series
- Chaos,Lords Of Chaos,Rebelstar series
- Civilization series
- Fire Emblem series
- Galactic Civilizations
- Heroes of Might and Magic series
- Jagged Alliance series
- Master of Orion series
- Stars
- VGA-Planets (for play-by-email)
- WarLords series
- Worms series
- X-COM series
Real-time (RTS)
- Age of Empires series
- Black and White
- Command and Conquer series
- Commandos series
- The Corporate Machine
- Total Annihilation
- Dark Reign
- Dune series
- Dungeon Keeper series
- Europa Universalis series
- Myth series
- Populous series
- Railroad Tycoon
- Red Alert
- StarCraft series
- Syndicate series
- Warcraft series
Survival Horror
Survival Horror games focus on fear and attempt to scare the player via traditional horror elements such as undead, death, blood and gore. Many of these games include first-person shooter elements.- Alone in the Dark series
- Resident Evil series
- Silent Hill series
- System Shock series
Third Person Shooters
Third Person Shooters (TPS) employ a specific perspective for the player. This is normally just behind the game character, but it is sometimes an isometric perspective. Many of these games are classified in other genres as well (such as Tomb Raider).- Grand Theft Auto series
- Heretic II
- Mafia
- Magic Carpet
- Max Payne series
- Tomb Raider series
Notable People
- Ralph Baer -- Inventor of the Magnavox Odyssey, the first video game console
- John Carmack -- Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, ... (Id Software)
- Chris Crawford -- Eastern Front (1941), Balance of Power, founder of the Computer Game Developers' Conference, pioneer of interactive storytelling
- Richard Garriott (a.k.a. Lord British) -- creator of Ultima series and founder of Origin Games
- Hideo Kojima -- Metal Gear Solid series, Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hands
- Koji Kondo -- music composer for Mario and Legend of Zelda series
- Ken Kutaraji -- President of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.
- Shigeru Miyamoto -- Donkey Kong, Mario, Legend of Zelda, ... (Nintendo)
- Hironobu Sakaguchi -- Final Fantasy series, and Chrono Trigger
- Kou Shibusawa -- producer of Sangokushi series and Nobunaga_no_ yabo series
- Warren Spector -- System Shock series, Thief series, Deus Ex, (Origin Games, Looking Glass Studios, Ion Storm)
- Hirokazu 'Hip' Tanaka -- President of Pokemon Co. and music composer for Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Super Mario Land
- Toshiro Tsuchida -- Front Mission series
- Yuka Tsujiyoko -- music composer for Fire Emblem series, Paper Mario, and part of Tetris Attack
- Nobuo Uematsu -- music composer for Final Fantasy series and Ehrgeiz
- Will Wright -- programmer and game designer of SimCity series and The Sims series
- Hiroshi Yamauchi -- former president of Nintendo
- Gunpei Yokoi -- inventor of the Gameboy and Wonderswan
Traditional
Most popular board games, card games, and the like have been computerized to some degree or another. For example, more than 600 freeware board games are available written in Zillions. Computer game programs can be worthy opponents and can help you improve your skill at traditional games.
- Chess, Checkers, Othello (a.k.a. Reversi), and Backgammon have world class computer programs.
- Mah-jongg and related games are immensely popular in Japan.
- I-go, popular in Asia.
- Magic: The Gathering has had computer versions for some time.
