10 "Firsts" That Changed Video Games Forever

First: Pac-Man (1980)

Contrary to popular opinion, Donkey Kong – the arcade classic released in 1981, spearheaded by Shigeru Miyamoto – was actually the second game to feature animated cutscenes to advance the story and integrate individual fragments of the game into a single cohesive experience. In reality, this particular honour goes to Pac-Man – released a year earlier in 1980 – which used cutscenes as intermissions between various stages of the game.

Humourous in nature, these intermissions were designed as comical interludes between action segments, and served little purpose besides regulating the pace of the game, as well as giving players a brief chuckle. Despite this, the intermissions seemed to strike a chord – despite their relatively short length and only occasional appearance – and were included in several sequels, as well as Space Invaders Part II, which was released that very same year.

Cutscenes themselves have become a staple of gaming, an easy, functional means to advance the story, or move the characters from one location to another. With this being said, there are several notable examples of games that actively avoid the trend – such as Half-Life, or Skyrim – but they’re few and far between. Regardless, Pac-Man was doing animated cutscenes three decades before this tendency really become a problem, pioneering in ways nobody could imagine.