Short answers, pulled from the story.
An action-adventure game is a hybrid genre that combines core elements from both action games and adventure games, requiring physical skills alongside puzzle-solving, exploration, and often a storyline and inventory system. Unlike pure action games, action-adventures include conceptual challenges and narrative elements; unlike pure adventure games, they are faster-paced and include real-time physical demands.
Mark J.P. Wolf credits Adventure, released in 1980 for the Atari VCS, as the earliest-known action-adventure game. It involved exploring a 2D environment, finding and using items with prescribed abilities, and fighting dragons in real time. Brett Weiss also cites Superman, published by Atari in 1979, as an early example.
The Legend of Zelda, released by Nintendo in 1986, helped establish a new subgenre of action-adventure according to IGN. It introduced real-time sword combat, open-ended exploration, item-gated progression, and a persistent world through battery-backed saves. The series remained the most prolific action-adventure franchise through to the 2000s.
Recognized subgenres include Grand Theft Auto clones, which are open-world third-person games emphasizing vehicles and weapons; Metroidvania games, which combine two-dimensional platforming with exploration and ability-based progression; survival horror, popularized by the Resident Evil franchise; and Zelda-like games modeled on The Legend of Zelda series.
As of February 2024, the Marvel's Spider-Man series has sold more than 50 million copies. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 alone accounted for 10 million units sold.
Released in 1998, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time set a new standard for 3D action-adventure games with its Z-targeting system, which resolved combat clarity in three-dimensional space. Its context-sensitive interactions and expansive world made it a template for third-person adventure games that followed.