That seems orthogonal to what I asked. ALttP has player-made mods (randomizers) too.
Let's put it this way. At this moment on Twitch, there are:
- 4 people playing Warcraft 3 (any mod)
- 0 people playing Half-Life 1 (any mod)
- 1 person playing GTA 3 (any mod)
- 21 people playing A Link to the Past (any mod)
- 13 people playing Super Mario 64 (any mod)
So I am totally on board with Al-Khwarizmi's claim. The role of even the best early-'00s games was to show us what better games could be made. Once those better games were made, the '00s games were abandoned, in a way that '90s games weren't.
That’s apples and oranges, though. Super Mario 64 wasn’t a PC game. For a better comparison, how about Super Mario Sunshine (2002; not as popular as 64 but pretty popular), or perhaps Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001; currently one of the most popular competitive fighting games)?
Let's put it this way. At this moment on Twitch, there are:
- 4 people playing Warcraft 3 (any mod)
- 0 people playing Half-Life 1 (any mod)
- 1 person playing GTA 3 (any mod)
- 21 people playing A Link to the Past (any mod)
- 13 people playing Super Mario 64 (any mod)
So I am totally on board with Al-Khwarizmi's claim. The role of even the best early-'00s games was to show us what better games could be made. Once those better games were made, the '00s games were abandoned, in a way that '90s games weren't.