Video Game Plot firsts

[o.pwuaioc]

What are the "firsts" in video game plots? Who was the first human villain? When was the first video game "epic"? Was there a game before Dragon's Lair where you had to save a princess? If you guys keep feeding them to me, I can keep track of them here.

Background: I saw some LttP hate over at DigitPress, and one of the criticisms was that it was cliche compared to some other action-adventure/action-RPGs. Of course, LttP came before all of the ones he listed, and that gave me the idea of compiling a list of video game firsts.

I'll start, but feel free to continually correct and dig earlier.

Generic "damsel in distress": Donkey Kong (1981)
Save the princess: Dragon's Lair (1983)
RPG with scifi plot: Phantasy Star (1987)

[Hobie-wan]

Well, if you boil it down more to 'damsel in distress', then that would probably be Donkey Kong.

[o.pwuaioc]

Well, if you boil it down more to 'damsel in distress', then that would probably be Donkey Kong.

Good point, but in this case, I think being more specific would be a good thing. This way we can see development over time.

[Retrodude]

First video game "epic": By Atari 2600 standards, Adventure was intended to be. Does that count? If it doesn't, then I would say that Dungeons And Dragons for the Intellivision was the first.

[MrPopo]

http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com - if you're willing to wade through the posts you'll find a ton that predate most of the console firsts being mentioned.

[Flake]

What was the first game where the heroes failed to save the day over the course of the plot? Final Fantasy III/VI (SNES) is the example that comes to my mind first and foremost. Unless Secret of Mana was released before it?

[o.pwuaioc]

What was the first game where the heroes failed to save the day over the course of the plot? Final Fantasy III/VI (SNES) is the example that comes to my mind first and foremost. Unless Secret of Mana was released before it?

What exactly do you mean by this? Final Fantasy IV had several points where you lost a major battle.

[Flake]

The world actually getting destroyed. In Final Fantasy III/VI, you try to stop Kafka from disrupting the world's magic and fail. The world gets leveled and everything burns. The rest of the game was essentially revenge.

I cannot think of many games that had that as a plot element: actually losing the battle to save the world.

[AppleQueso]

I have some stuff in mind, but I'm a bit hesitant because I feel like there's certainly games that predate whatever I have in mind, especially on the PC front.

I guess I can go out on a limb and suggest Phantasy Star for first female pre-defined protagonist in an RPG.

[o.pwuaioc]

The world actually getting destroyed. In Final Fantasy III/VI, you try to stop Kafka from disrupting the world's magic and fail. The world gets leveled and everything burns. The rest of the game was essentially revenge.

I cannot think of many games that had that as a plot element: actually losing the battle to save the world.

Ah, to that extreme, I see. That is quite more specific than FFIV's "lost a battle, castle destroyed". Although, one's just a logical step from the other.

@AppleQueso: I can always update accordingly! They'll be good to have down as a record of what motifs and plot devices they use.