A public poll to determine the most influential video game of all time, held by the U.K. screen arts academy BAFTA, has returned an extremely surprising (if not totally unworthy) result: Shenmue, Yu Suzukis wildly ambitious 1999 Sega Dreamcast game about one young mans search for justice (and capsule toys).Shenmue beat more routinely canonized classics like Doom, Super Mario Bros., Half-Life, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to claim the title. Those four games made up the rest of the top five. Minecraft came in sixth place, Tetris in 11th, Final Fantasy 7 in 17th, and Grand Theft Auto 3 placed a lowly 19th.Theres evidence that BAFTAs poll was subject to some brigading among passionate game fans; Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, a (by all accounts very good) role-playing game that has barely been out for two months, came in 7th place, just ahead of Super Mario 64. Still, theres no disputing the worthiness of most of the games in BAFTAs top 21, even if the order is a little idiosyncratic.Shenmue was a passion project for the Sega producer Suzuki, the creator of Out Run and Virtua Fighter. The most expensive game ever made at the time, its a boldly realistic take on the humdrum daily life of Ryo Hazuki, a teenage martial artist out to avenge his fathers murder in the 1980s. It features incredibly detailed environments, a day-and-night system, NPCs who obey their own schedules, dozens of minigames and quite a lot of just waiting around.Shenmue was certainly ahead of its time, although its debatable how influential it has been on other games certainly in comparison to something like GTA 3. Conceived as a multi-part epic, it was a commercial failure, and though Shenmue 2 came out in 2001, it would be 18 years before Suzuki got to continue his story in the crowd-funded Shenmue 3.Responding to the accolade in a statement, Suzuki said, I am deeply honoured and grateful that Shenmue has been selected as the Most Influential Video Game of All Time. At its inception, we set out to explore the question, How real can a game become?, aiming to portray a world and story unprecedented in scale and detail. This distinction serves as a powerful reminder that the challenge we embraced continues to resonate with and inspire so many people even today. It is truly the greatest of encouragement.Above all, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the fans around the world who have continued to love and support Shenmue. Your passion and encouragement have guided this journey every step of the way. And the story is not over yet, there is more to come! Thank you very much!BAFTAs poll was conducted as a prelude to the BAFTA Games Awards, which take place next week on April 8. In a similar poll last year, the public selected Tomb Raiders Lara Croft as the most iconic video games character of all time, ahead of Mario, Sonic, and Hitmans Agent 47.Heres the full ranking of the top 21 most influential video games of all time, according to BAFTAs poll:ShenmueDoom (1993)Super Mario Bros.Half-LifeThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeMinecraftKingdom Come: Deliverance 2Super Mario 64Half-Life 2The SimsTetrisTomb RaiderPongMetal Gear SolidWorld of WarcraftBaldurs Gate 3Final Fantasy 7Dark SoulsGrand Theft Auto 3The Elder Scrolls 5: SkyrimGrand Theft AutoSee More: