Four of the most acclaimed — and important — video games of all time have been added to The Strong Museum of Play’s World Video Game Hall of Fame, boosting the total number of inductees to 16.
This is the third year that the Hall of Fame has added new games, and this year’s inductees are certainly deserving.
Halo: Combat Evolved, Street Fighter II, Pokemon Red and Green, and Donkey Kong (the original one) have all been added, recognised for their contribution to gaming over the years.
The games will all be on public display at the museum in Rochester, New York.
There were 12 finalists for 2017’s inductees, including Final Fantasy VII, Mortal Kombat, Portal, and even Microsoft Windows Solitaire.
That Halo managed to beat out the likes of FF7 and even Resident Evil and Tomb Raider is a testament to the game’s influence and importance to the industry.
It arguably redefined the multiplayer shooter for the mainstream audience, and helped establish the genre as an important pillar of the console industry, having previously been mostly associated with PC gaming.
Halo was also the driving force behind the popularity of Xbox Live, which essentially set the standard for online networks we see on gaming consoles today.
Here’s the full list of inducted games, as of May 2017:
- Donkey Kong
- DOOM
- Grand Theft Auto 3
- Halo: Combat Evolved
- The Legend of Zelda
- The Oregon Trail
- Pac-Man
- Pokemon Red and Green
- Pong
- The Sims
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Space Invaders
- Street Fighter II
- Super Mario Bros.
- Tetris
- World of Warcraft
