Tekken series - beat-'em-up (Namco)
Once upon a time you were either a Mortal Kombat or a Street Fighter advocate. These days, Tekken and Virtua Fighter are the dominant beat-'em-up brands. Both have virtues too numerous to extol here; each has, in varying respects, changed its genre forever. To choose one over the other is a difficult task, but the Tekken games get the Future Gamer vote.

Bust-A-Move series - puzzle game (Taito)
If Tetris did not exist, would Bust-A-Move be the game to receive the lion's share of puzzle game plaudits? Like its more feted peer, Bust-A-Move is an enjoyable single-player game, although it somehow lacks the same kind of elementary, but lasting, appeal as its Soviet counterpart. As a two-player title, though, it eclipses Tetris. It's worth noting, though, that successive updates are polluting its simple playability. For the Future Gamer team, Bust-A-Move 2 marked the zenith of the series' achievements.

Wipeout series - racing (Psygnosis)
A mixture of contemporary music, superb design and - incidentally - enjoyable, well-pitched racing action, Wipeout played a huge part in popularising a new format from technology heavyweights Sony. It was (and is) Wipeout 2097 that gets our vote as the most playable game of the series, though.

World Cup Carnival - football game (US Gold)
World Cup Carnival was a dire rehash of a dismal Spectrum football game, released because US Gold had no finished game to go with their illustrious licence. It was, however, enormously influential, because it marked a depth that other publishers found themselves unwilling to plumb.

Breakout - bat-'n'-ball game (various authors)
Some consider Breakout to be the arse-end of the videogame industry's creative scale. Others regard it as an arcade game with few peers. A select few would describe it as a mere development of the Pong remit. They're all right, of course. Breakout - and we mean any one of its many permutations, from Through The Wall to Arkanoid - has been played by a disturbing number of people.