Once you see this year’s crop of inductees to the Strong Museum’s World Video Game Hall of Fame, you might be surprised that they didn’t get the call as part of an earlier vote. But less than four dozen titles have been selected to join this inner circle, so it’s also easy to see how some groundbreaking games could slip through the cracks.
And that’s where we are with the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024, which welcomed Atari’s Asteroids, Cyan’s Myst, Capcom’s Resident Evil, Maxis’s SimCity, and Richard Garriott’s Ultima into the fold during a ceremony earlier today. It’s true… but I can hear the questioning tone in your voice.
Wasn’t Asteroids the game that solidified the space shooter as the dominant style of arcade game in 1979? Yup. Didn’t Richard Garriott practically invent the RPG with Ultima? He did. Wasn’t the CD-ROM-powered Myst more popular than any other PC game in the 1990s? You got that right. And aren’t Resident Evil and SimCity beloved classics that people continue to replay every year? That’s a big yes.
The curators and researchers at the Strong Museum also filled in some gaps and had a few nice things to say about each inductee.
“Through endless variants and remakes across dozens of arcade, home, handheld, and mobile platforms, Asteroids made a simple, yet challenging game about blasting rocks into one of the most widely played and influential video games of all time,” said Jeremy Saucier, the Assistant Vice President for Interpretation and Electronic Games
“Ultima helped define the computer role-playing game genre, said Andrew Borman, the Director of Digital Preservation” Although it may not be a household name, the game, and the series it spawned, are legendary among role-playing game fans and game developers around the world.”
“Few other games can match Myst’s ability to open imaginative worlds, explained Collections Manager Kristy Hisert. “It was a work of artistic genius that captured the imagination of an entire generation of computer game players, and its influence can be seen in many of today’s open-world games.”
“Resident Evil’s combination of cheesy B-movie dialogue, engrossing gameplay, and chilling suspense made it a favorite of gamers searching for more mature video games, and it helped establish one of gaming’s most enduring franchises,” said Video Game Curator Lindsey Kurano.
And finally, Aryol Prater, a Research Specialist for Black Play and Culture, discussed SimCity’s broad appeal: “Simulations are some of the oldest forms of video games, but few have had the popularity, influence, or staying power of SimCity. At a time when many people thought of video games in terms of arcade shooters or console platformers, SimCity appealed to players who wanted intellectually stimulating fun on their newly bought personal computers.”
The rest of this year’s finalists (Elite, Guitar Hero, Metroid, Neopets, Tokimeki Memorial, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and You Don’t Know Jack) will try their luck with the Advisory Committee in 2025. You can nominate a game for consideration for next year’s collection of finalists at MuseumOfPlay.org.