In April 2015, the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York – which is home to the National Toy Hall of Fame – announced 15 video games to be nominated and inducted into the first ever World Video Game Hall of Fame.
The original 15 titles nominated for the first class were Pong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Oregon Trail, Tetris, Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedghog, The Sims, Doom, FIFA Soccer, The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, World of Warcraft, Angry Birds, and Minecraft.
The first class of inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame are all really innovative games in their particular fields.
Before proceeding – as a Zelda fan site, we at The Hidden Triforce of course are a little bummed that The Legend of Zelda did not make the cut for the first class inductees, but we are happy to see so many Nintendo related titles in the running.
The official six first class inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame are:
Pong: The original video game. THE video game. Pong is probably one of those things you’ve seen shoved in a box at your grandparents or great-grandparents house and today’s youth look at it and probably have a hard time accepting what the heck this thing is. Pong is most definitely a no-brainer for a first class inductee.
Pac-Man – Fun fact: If you stick your finger in your ear and scratch, you create the sound effect of Pac-Man eating. Anyway. Pac-Man has stood the test of time, having some weird games in its franchise (and a few weirder cartoon series’), but the original arcade cabinet game of Pac-Man is timeless.
Super Mario Bros. – Probably next to The Legend of Zelda, this was the game to have for your NES console in the 80s and early 90s. Super Mario Bros. set the stage for side scrolling platform games that would evolve through the years, still even being relevant today. It’s wonderful to see this game get it’s recognition and take its well deserved place in the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
Tetris – Specifically narrowed here is the GameBoy version of Tetris, which makes sense to pay homage to this mobile version of the game. Yes, I said mobile and I mean it. The GameBoy was the first handheld portable video game system. Just think: a game like Tetris paved the way for so many popular modern puzzle games such as Candy Crush Saga.
Doom – Definitely one of the first (and popular) computer games that was known for its violence and gore, Doom is a game that has aged well and is looking to enter the modern gaming arena with an upcoming entry for PC, XBox One and PlayStation 4.
World of Warcraft – Some of you might be saying “why not EverQuest?” “Why is this lame MMO on this list?” Well, if those are your questions, World of Warcraft subscriptions have crushed anything EverQuest could have ever hoped for. Every expansion for WoW introduces some form of new game play to the game. There’s even a glorified Pokemon type game play in one of the more recent expansions. WoW is one of the most widely played online games and has definitely earned it’s place as the modern game to enter the Video Game Hall of Fame.
These six titles represent the best of the 15 nominations, and looking at the other 9 titles, it’s understandable why these games were chosen: innovation. Every single first class inducted title has paved the way for some modern variation of their game, and that’s great. The same can be said for most of the games on the nomination list.
Congratulations to the first class of the World Video Game Hall of Fame!
Now, as Zelda fans, we need to make sure our favorite franchise earns its spot next to Mario next year. Click here to go to The Strong National Museum nomination form and nominate The Legend of Zelda.
