So, this would some items on the timeline:
- 320x200 (strict): IBM PC born with this resolution (with 4 colours), this was a mode included on the CGA video card. Even those people with Hercules monochrome cards could play CGA games via emulators, so I'd put this at the same year the IBM PC was born.
- 320x200 (256 colours): IBM launched the VGA card on 1987, and by that time 286 processors were not uncommon. I remember playing some games (Wing Commander I, Elf, 4D Stunts) that supported 256 colours on an Olivetti PCS86, so PCs from that time did not have any problem to run that video mode. OK, they were 2D (or 3D flat polygons) games, but everybody knows what are the minimum requirements for textured (Wolf 3D, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D) games.
- 320x200 (3D): I don't remember playing any 3D accelerated game at this resolution... even the crappiest 3D accelerator cards could do 640x480 (with various grades of success), so this item is not really needed.
- 640x480 (strict): The first game I remember using this resolution was Syndicate (Bullfrog), launched in 1993. It ran on low 486 systems, that were common by that time.
- 640x480 (256 colours): Although Duke Nukem 3D and Terminal Velocity needed (almost) a Pentium to be fully playable at this resolution, other games (Crusader: No Remorse, Fallen Haven, King Quest VI, Sim City) could run in my 486 DX2/66 that by 1995 were everywhere (but note that, except Crusader, those games are adventures/strategy). I remember playing Tie Fighter on DOS at high resolution, but I don't remember if I played it on my 486 or my Pentium II.
- 640x480 (3D): As I said before, even the crappiest 3D accelerators supported this resolution. I guess that 1998 or 1999 was the year.
From there, everything seems to get blurry. Why? Because although resolutions was still important, the effects supported began to be as important. At the same time my Voodoo 3 played most games at 800x600 happily, there was games (GTA3) that were completely unplayable. Other examples: At the time some cards could play most games at 1024x760, new games began to demand Pixel Shader supports rendering that cards slow as a snails (if they could play that games at all).
I have traveled across the universe and through the years to find Her.
Sometimes going all the way is just a start...
I'm selling some stuff!