Launch titles can make (or sometimes break) a console. While the best games tend to come towards the end of a console’s cycle when developers have figured out exactly what works and what doesn’t work in any given generation, launch titles are often the definitive games in any given era.
For this list, it’s not just the quality of the game that’s important – though obviously that plays a huge part – but also how iconic they are to the console they’re tied to. This might be because they tapped in perfectly to the attitude of their era, or the uniqueness of the console. When you think of these consoles, you tend to think of these games too.
Most consoles are launched with sports sims and shooters readily available, but mostly these haven’t made the cut here. Those games tend to get tweaked improvements year on year, and as such don’t really have their identities tied to any hardware.
With new generations bringing new graphics, new features and bubbling with the ideas and emotions of their era, these launch titles are mini time capsules from consoles that changed gaming forever.
