Action video game
Action is a very broad video game genre where the player is expected to react quickly to stimulus, as opposed to genres which are more cerebral, like strategy or puzzle. "Action" could also refer to video games which have an action narrative, but, for the purposes of this site, those are relegated to the action media theme.
Contents
Personal
Although the pretentious part of me likes to claim intellectual video games as my favorites, the reality is, I tend to get bored with them much sooner than I do with action video games, and most of my all-time favorite video games include a great deal of action. However, I mostly prefer action when it is paired with a good story resulting in an action-adventure. Games which are purely action, like shooters usually don't do much for me.
History
Many of the earliest video games are action titles including pre-commercial titles like Tennis for Two (1958) and Spacewar! (1962), as well as the first commercial video games, Computer Space (1971) and Pong (1972). Because it is so broad, the genre always accounts for the majority of video games released for any year, on almost any platform, and, in most game browsers, it is the largest category.
Games
For all action games, see the category page.
Sub-genres of action include ball and paddle, fighting, light gun, maze pursuit, platformer, racing, runner, shooter, real-time tactics, rhythm as well as all of their sub-genres. Hybrid genres include action-adventure, action RPG, active puzzle, and all of their sub-genres.
Here are some action games that are important to me:
Title | Released | Developer |
---|---|---|
Bomberman | 1990-12-07 | Hudson Soft |
Combat | 1977-09-11 | Atari |
Galaga | 1981-09-?? | Namco |
Pac-Man | 1980-05-22 | Namco |
Super Mario Bros. | 1985-09-13 | Nintendo |