The Strong Museum of Play's Hall of Fame will grow just a little larger this year with the 2016 inductees. This year's list consists of 15 games, many of which are returnees from 2015 where they were also nominated to be inducted into the hall of fame. One of those games is The Sims.
Game Informer rolled out the list of the 15 games for easy consumption, including EA and Maxis' life-simulator from 2000, The Sims. You can see which games have made the finalists list for consideration into the 2016 hall of fame below.
• Elite
• Final Fantasy
• Grand Theft Auto III
• John Madden Football
• The Legend of Zelda
• Minecraft
• Nurburgring
• The Oregon Trail
• Pokémon Red and Green
• Sid Meier’s Civilization
• The Sims
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Space Invaders
• Street Fighter II
There are some odd choices in there and some odd games that were left out of the original 2015 induction. Last year the Strong Museum of Play added DOOM, Pac-Man, Pong, Super Mario Bros. Tetris and World of Warcraft to the list.
While I definitely think World of Warcraft deserves to be on the list, I would have saved that for later and put Space Invaders in the inaugural class of hall of fame inductions. Why Space Invaders? Because at the time it was iconic and helped pave the way for side-scrolling shooters, shoot-'em-ups and the space simulation and space arcade genre in general that helped heavily define the 1980s and 1990s, not just in games but also in pop-culture itself.
Obviously, there's no denying World of Warcraft's ubiquitous presence in gaming, but it just seems like something that should have been inducted after the classics that helped shape the industry.
And speaking of industry-shaping games, a couple of titles are making their second second appearance on the nominees list, including Sonic, Pokemon, Oregon Trail and The Sims. For this year they definitely need to have The Sims inducted, just because it was one of the very first of its kind, where life simulation was the goal and various parameters and variables decided the outcome of your Sim's life. It was a breakthrough in gaming back in the day, and most games didn't get into the nuance of life simulation the way Maxis' title did.
Hopefully Space Invaders makes this year's list of inductees along with Sonic The Hedgehog. I'm a little iffy on Pokemon at this point... I would say maybe for next year. The original Legend of Zelda really carved out a genre that has spawned countless imitators and is a worldwide franchise phenomenon when it comes to recognition, music, themes and the concept of adventure. It definitely needs to make the cut.
It's interesting seeing Tomb Raider and Street Fighter II on the list. They both helped contribute to their respective genres in a big way, along with the original Final Fantasy, which also needs to make the cut.
It's odd seeing GTA III on the list without the first GTA, which is what spawned the game's popularity in the first place. Then again, one of the criteria they consider is the game's reach, and it's pretty obvious that GTA III was the game that catapulted Rockstar into super-stardom. Still, it seems a little early to have GTA III on the list before other genre and industry-shaping games.
Elite is another one of those games that definitely deserves to be inducted at some point, but maybe after they get a few more classics in there.
I'm sure a lot of people would love to see Minecraft make the cut, and I'm sure it'll make it at some point, but the hall of fame should at least reserve the first three years to the classics before adding in the new-school legends.
Anyway, the nominees look pretty good for this year and some of them most certainly deserve to be inducted. According to the Museum of Play website anyone can nominate a game but not every game will make the finals list to be inducted. This year has some pretty good titles on display.
The games that do get inducted will have a permanent place in The Strong Museum in Rochester, New York. What are some of your favorites that you hope to see get nominated and inducted into the hall of fame?
