Many of the games that we cite as being "The first to do X" are actually not.
GTA 3? Officially the SECOND freeroaming open-world game, after something in Japan that very few people bought. And possibly carmageddon.
Doom? The SECOND first-person shooter after Wolfenstein 3D.
Do you know that many people who played Guitar Hero 1 or 2?
I actually just got Elite Beat Agents. But apparently it had a Japan-only prequel called "Osu!" While I'm sure it has its own followings in a way, I would guess there's a reason EBA is famous.
But these games actually did things BETTER by polishing and making sure the experience was suitable. That's far more important than people realize in game design. There really are innovations in "the way your mouse moves for camera control" that not even all games get right. In very simple terms, I probably couldn't set Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer apart from Generic Modern Shooter 7, but it's all the details, minor features, and tiny things that matter so much.