15 Genius Gameplay Mechanics That Defined the 2000s

As a culmination of art and technology, video games as a medium keep changing and evolving, perhaps more so that most other entertainment mediums out there, which means there’s hardly ever a long stretch of time in this industry where we go without new ideas to surprise and delight audiences. The 2000s decade in particular was one that saw creativity in the industry at its peak, with developer specializing in a multitude of ideas delivering some of the best and most ingenious gameplay mechanics we’ve ever experienced, with some that persist to this day. Here, we’re going to talk about a few such mechanics.

EVs AND IVs (POKEMON)

With Generation 3, the Pokemon series introduced EVs and IVs, and completely changed the metagame. Governing individual base stats and their values and collectively allowing for massive variation even within a single species of Pokemon, EVs and IVs have since then become crucial to the underlying mechanics that dictate how players catch their Pokemon, raise their Pokemon, and battle with their Pokemon. Sure, it’s still entirely possible for someone to do an entire playthrough of a Pokemon game and not engage too deeply with EVs and IVs, but especially where the competitive scene is concerned, these are crucial.