Grand Theft Auto
"Grand Theft Auto", the first game in the series, was released for Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS in October 1997, ported to the PlayStation in 1998 and the Game Boy Color in 1999. "Grand Theft Auto 2" was released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows, later receiving ports on the PlayStation, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color.
Grand Theft Auto clone
"Grand Theft Auto III" took the gameplay foundation of the first two "Grand Theft Auto" games and expanded it into a 3D world, and offered an unprecedented variety of minigames and side-missions. The title was a much greater commercial success than its direct precursors, and its influence was profound. As such, "Grand Theft Auto III" is credited with popularizing this genre, let alone inventing it. Its release is sometimes treated as a revolutionary event in the history of video games, much like the release of "Doom" nearly a decade earlier. GamePro called it the most important game of all time, and claimed that every genre was influenced to rethink their conventional level design. IGN similarly praised it as one of the top ten most influential games of all time. Subsequent games that follow this formula of driving and shooting in a free-roaming level have been called "Grand Theft Auto" clones.