Today is Thursday, April 4th 2024. It is the 4th day of the 4th month of the 4th year of the 4th half-decade of the millenium, and it falls on the 4th day of the week (if you start count from Monday). As such, we've decided to do something cute. We'll take a look at four major events that are somehow the 4th of something. It'll make sense when we get to each entry. The entries are somewhat in the order they impacted the industry, but that's very subjective, so . With that out of the way, let's get into it!

Dishonourable Mention - AAAA Gaming

AAA gaming is what are basically the biggest (as in, highest budget) titles in the gaming industry. AAAA, known as quad-A, is alegedly the next step in that regard. All I'm hearing when that concept is mentioned is "We're gonna pump even more money into our games for very little gain". Personally, I want the industry to go in the direction of smaller-scale titles making the bulk of what's released, with the big stuff being a rare treat. But that's a discussion for another day.

Ok, rant over, let's dive into the good stuff!

Honorable Mentions

Let's warm up with some 4s before (hehe) we get to the main list. There's not that many 4th entries in a franchise that shine through, being outdone by either some of their predecesors or their successors:

  • Metroid Fusion is a fine game, but Super Metroid completely blows it out of the water in terms of popularity. Same could be said for Dread.
  • Devil May Cry 4 is generaly regarded as worse than both 3 and 5.
  • Grand Theft Auto 4 is nowhere near as popular as Vice City, San Andreas, or V.
  • Super Castlevania IV is completely lost in the discussion because of Symphony of the Night.
  • This is where I'd mention Darksiders IV and Metorid Pime 4. IF THEY EXISTED!

There's some exceptions, of course. Resident Evil 4 is a landmark for a lot modern conventions, like QTEs (kinda why it didn't make the list, no one likes those) and over-the-shoulder camera. Assassin's Creed IV is regarded as one of the best entries in the series, likely due to the very different gameplay loop. And Saints Row IV is one of my favorite video games.

Also, special shout-out to League of Legend's Jhin, who is all about the number 4 and is probably ecstatic for today.

#4 - Warcraft III/World of Warcraft

This one depends on how you look at it. If you're counting expansions as different entities, then Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is 4th, and a very influential title at that. It is the first Warcraft game to be rendered in 3D, and is indirectly responsible for the creation of the MOBA genre via the Defense of the Ancients mod. It also introduced a plethora of characters that would make a big impact on the franchise down the line. Bonus: There are 4 playable factions in the game, each with 4 heroes!

But that was just an excuse to talk about Warcraft III. The real world-shaker, and 4th main entry in the Warcraft franchise, is World of Warcraft. That game becoming the defacto MMORPG upon launch, and had a massive impact on the gaming world, to the point that references to it were made even outside the gaming world. And it's still going strong today, even if it's had periods of ebb and flow. In case you're wondering, the 4th expansion to the game is Mists of Pandaria, which is pretty well regarded by players.

Bonus about the whole franchise: There are 4 anniversaries happening this year in regards to Warcraft as a whole, all about 10 years apart:

  • Warcraft: Orcs and Humans in 1994.
  • World of Warcraft in 2004.
  • Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft in 2014.
  • Warcraft Rumble in 2024.

Will they release anything in 2034? We'll just have to wait and see.

#12/4 - Unreal Engine 4

The various versions of the Unreal Engine were available to many developers outside Epic Games, the studio that created it, since the very start. However, you'd need a license in order to use the engine, making it innacessible to most devs. This changed with Unreal Engine 4, which went with a freemium business model, opening the floodgates for devs of all sizes to create large 3D games. Up until that point, your only real options were a paid license or using Unity (or making your own engine, but that's not viable for large 3D projects).

The free model also means that people can learn to make games using the engine without forking over a ton of cash, meaning you'll be familiar with a widely used tool in the industry when you want to work for a studio. Another big advantage UE4 is Blueprints, a scripting language that lets you create games without writing code, further lowering the barrier for making games. As a result of these factors, Unreal Engine 4 was used in a lot of games, and there's still a lot of titles being developed on it, though that will soon change now that UE5 is out. 

#4-2 - The Nintendo 64

The N64, Nintendo's 4th* home console (after the Color TV-Game, the NES, and the SNES), is quite a landmark in the industry. It's basically responsible for most convetions found in 3D games, thanks mainly to Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (incidentally, the 4th Zelda game for home consoles). Once those two were out, basically everyone started following in their footsteps, heralding the use of 3D games and more or less leaving sprite-based behind, save for a few gems like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Despite it's role as a pioneer, though, it wasn't the best selling console of its generation. The original PlayStation had almost triple as many sales as the N64, despite being the more powerful console. This is mainly due to the use of CDs on the PlayStation vs cartriges on the N64, which were cheaper to produce and stored more data on them. Still, the N64 is and important console both for Nintendo and the industry as a whole.

*if you ignore the CD-I, which was made by Phillips, and the VirtualBoy, which Nintendo insists is a handheld

#40 - The 4th Generation of Consoles

The 4th generation of consoles is in a weird spot. Both its predecessor and successor are more important, with 3rd gen recovering from the video game crash of 1983 (oof, so close), while 5th gen is the boom of 3D gaming as mentioned above. With that said, this was an incredible time for video games as a whole! Some of the most influential games came out this generation, with landmark titles such as Final Fantasy VI, Sonic the Hedgehog, Street Fighter II, Mega Man X, Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, and so many more.

Fittningly enough, there were 4 major consoles on the market at this time: the TurboGrafx-16, the Neo Geo, the Super Nintendo Enterntainment System, and the Sega Genesis. Granted, only the latter two are remembered fondly today. And while the 3D boom happened the next generation, this is where you'll find the first instances of games on home consoles that 3D graphics, with titles like the original Star Fox. They're very rudimentary, and there were earlier 3D games in arcades, but it's still a big milestone.

What do you think of this list? Anything we missed that you feel should've been included? What are some of your favorite 4th entires in a franchise? Will this question be meaningful or will it exist just so there's 4 of them? Let us know in the comments below!