History of 3D in Video Games 1974-1994

Some of the games that marked a milestone in evolution of 3D in video games' history, from Spasim in 1974 to 1994 when it was all set for future massive 3D use in games.
Music tracks are some of my personal compositions (made with FLS demo).


If anyone find any relevant footage of Airfight (flying and not only remaining on the ground!) released in 1975, please let me know.

Note how "I, Robot" (1984) was so ahead of its time that it almost looks like an intruder in the progress of this chronology!
There was also a cancelled game called "The Last Starfighter" that was in progress during 1984, with 3D polygon graphics. I didn't include it here because it was cancelled (and I based this chronology on release dates, I know I'm cruel), but if you wish to check it out, videos of the game are available out there nowadays.

I also tried to avoid the games in fake 3D (even if the frontier can be vague sometimes - is "Maze war" really a 3D game in a real 3D environment?), but some of them were also very impressive for their time, such as Star Rider (1983) or Galaxy Force arcade version (1988), check it out if you don't know them!

Maybe you can also note, about this, arcade games "Datsun 280 ZZZAP" and "Nightdriver" both released in 1976, for their nice perspective impression at that time.


For obvious reasons, most of the games presented here were not on famous consoles that common people are familiar with, but rather on computers (Macintosh, DOS, Amstrad, Amiga...) or arcade games.

Some games can miss, depending on the point of view...
For example I chose to omit "3D Monster Maze" that was basically using the same principle than "Maze War" released 7 years before.

Sorry for some music tracks being repeated too many times (the video was longer than expected, so I had to look after some older compositions of mine), sorry also for "Maze War" where you don't see much (I tried to improve it with contrast etc, but it's still not enough), and for excerpts that you could find too long (most of the time it depends on the variety inside the game, which tempted me to show too many things).


Oh, I used other Youtuber's vids to make this one, I don't own anything there, except the music tracks.


They are classified according to their release dates. Below you'll find the list of the games with more precise dates (that is, what I could find through my investigation) and the specific time they appear in the video:

1974 :
Spasim (march 1st 1974) 0:00
Maze War (1974, though shown to a small group in 1973) 0:48

1975 :
Panther 1:23

1978 :
Star Hawk 1:47

1979 :
Speed Freak (march) 2:03
Star Raiders (november) 2:44
Tail Gunner (november) 3:22


1980 :
Flight Simulator (january) 3:50
Battlezone (november) 4:41

1982 :
Way Out 5:20

1983 :
Encounter (1983/84) 5:41
Star Wars (may) 6:02

1984 :
Rescue on fractalus (march) 6:43
I, Robot (june, though shown as soon as 1983) 7:14
Plazma Line (Q2 1984) 8:19
Elite (september) 8:59

1985 :
Mercenary 9:41
The Eidolon (december) 10:23

1986 :
The Sentinel (BBC micro 1986, Atari ST September 1987) 10:58

1987 :
Driller (Atari version: 1988) 11:16
Zarch (june) 11:53
Falcon 12:33

1988 :
The Colony (early 88?) 13:23
Carrier Command (early 88 / before july 88) 14:02
Starglider 2 (september) 14:49

1989 :
Hard Drivin' (february) 15:36
Midwinter (july 1st) 16:22

1990 :
Alpha Waves 16:44

1991 :
Hunter (march) 17:04
Hovertank 3D (april) 17:54
4D Boxing (june) 18:15
Starblade (september) 18:55
Catacomb 3D (november) 19:39

1992 :
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (march) 20:06
Wolfenstein 3D (may) 20:56
Robocop 3D 21:21
Virtua Racing (october) 22:07
Alone in the Dark (november) 22:37

1993 :
Starfox (february) 22:58
Doom (december 10th) 23:40
Virtua Fighter (december) 24:08
Daytona USA (location tests 1993, official release march 1994) 24:30

1994 :
Magic Carpet (may) 25:09
System Shock (september) 25:54
Under a Killing Moon (october) 26:32

Thanks to all the people who suggested interesting games I hadn't mentioned in my previous version of the video, some of the new ones here are based on their suggestions.