Lemmings - puzzle game (DMA Design)
Lemmings established Psygnosis as a publishing force and marked the arrival proper of Dave Jones's DMA Design. Converted to every format known to humankind, it was a hugely successful game, earning worldwide acclaim. It's a shame, and an irony, that its unique attribute - its dozens of tiny little lemmings - will prevent it from living on, like Tetris, on hand-held machines and mobile phones.

Space Invaders - shoot 'em up (Taito)
For perpetuating the popularity of 'greasy spoon' cafes among male youths in the early '80s, Space Invaders is as influential as the coffee frothing machine. With the most sinister game soundtrack ever written, its simple, repetitive action led observers to comment that players were apparently hypnotised by the act of playing. The Space Invaders generation - including the Future Gamer team - grew up to be happy, and well balanced, though. Yes.

Mario 64 - platform adventure (Shigeru Miyamoto/Nintendo)
Influential? God, yes. Need we relate the ways? If Mario 64 were to be released this week, the plaudits it would receive would be as emphatic as they were when it was launched with its host console. No other game - bar, to a certain extent, Rare's charming but definitely inferior Banjo-Kazooie - has matched its vision and execution. It's a masterpiece.

Sonic the Hedgehog - platform game (Sonic Team/Sega)
Sonic became that rare virtual beast - an animal bizarrely transformed into pacey mascot for up-and-coming console format with a desperate need for a good platform game. It worked. He works. But he did, however, practically instigate a plague of similarly styled protagonists, and for that we may never forgive him.

Paradroid - arcade/strategy (Andrew Braybrook)
Ingenious in design and professionally executed, Paradroid's fusion of genres and its strong theme of character progression were unusual for its time. The idea of beginning with a weak, vulnerable or unskilled on-screen charge, and gradually building its capabilities with time and success is a concept with its roots in role-playing games. Too many developers still ignore this simple but thoroughly immersive device. At a time when other Western games were consistently shallow, Paradroid's depth was startling.

Keep your games of millennium nominations coming in, and check back next week to see if they appear in the penultimate part of our feature...