If you love retro games, why not go all the way and find out what games helped make your favorite retro experiences possible? Check out our exclusive list of the games that influences some of the biggest retro hits ever.
Karate Champ: If you know your games, Karate Champ was a rockstar in the arcades, but it ended up being a huge influence in an even bigger arcade classic, Mortal Kombat.
Mortal Kombat (Game Boy): The game was so poorly received by a young Dominic Craig, one of the team members that brought he original Red Dead Revolver and Redemption to life, that he returned it and vowed to never create a game that made a kid feel the way he did when he played it for the first time.
Arch-Rivals: The only reason why NBA Jam exists is because the team behind this game didn’t want to work on a sequel. Think about that for a second.
For the Frog the Bell Tolls: You may have missed this game on the Game Boy when it was original released, but you definitely played the game that uses its engine, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.
The Tower of Druaga: Taking elements from Pac-Man, Wizardy and Dungeons and Dragons, this one ended up influencing a plethora of games including The Legend of Zelda.
Patrick Hickey, Jr., is the founder and editor-in-chief of ReviewFix.com and a lecturer of English and journalism at Kingsborough Community College, in Brooklyn, New York. Over the past decade, his video game coverage has been featured in national ad campaigns by top publishers the likes of Nintendo, Deep Silver, Disney and EA Sports. His book series, "The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult and Classic Game Developers," from McFarland and Company, has earned praise from Forbes, Huffington Post, The New York Daily News and MSG Networks. He is also a former editor at NBC and National Video Games Writer at the late-Examiner.com
