I think the only reason people forgot the first 2 GTAs + expansion is the fact that GTA3 + made us forget. I remember when I first played the 10 minute demo of GTA and it was all so new. That time has passed
They were very fun and GTA2 was awesome if you could get a bunch of people together for a LAN party.
How about Sorcerer's Kingdom? Oh wait... no one even knew the game back then..