The Strong National Museum of Play has announced the 2024 inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame, with each of the five picks now on display. Finalists announced earlier in the year included a vast array of gaming smash hits, including Neopets and Guitar Hero, with the official inductee list featuring a whittled down selection, based on player and jury votes.
As announced, the five games inducted this year are: Resident Evil, Myst, Asteroids, SimCity, and Ultima. Each has an important place in gaming history, and will be preserved for future generations. The Strong National Museum of Play has an edict to maintain and grow its Hall of Fame wing for that purpose, to ensure that video games are remembered for their place in history and culture.
Resident Evil‘s inclusion is an obvious one, for those familiar with the series. It revolutionised horror survival games, and went on to influence a massive range of franchises. “Resident Evil’s combination of cheesy B-movie dialogue, engrossing gameplay, and chilling suspense made it a favourite of gamers searching for more mature video games, and it helped establish one of gaming’s most enduring franchise,” Lindsey Kurano, video game curator said.
Myst similarly revolutionised puzzle and adventure-exploration games, with an intricate story and complex mechanics inviting players into a whole new realm. “Few other games can match Myst’s ability to open imaginative worlds,” Kristy Hisert, collections manager said.
Read: Neopets gets finalist nod for World Video Game Hall of Fame 2024 induction
SimCity helped to cross the lines between simulation and games, allowing players to create their own cities in a virtual dollhouse. “Simulations are some of the oldest forms of video games, but few have had the popularity, influence, or staying power of SimCity,” Aryol Prater, research specialist for Black play and culture said.
Ultima was hugely influential in the RPG genre, and it inspired countless modern RPG franchises. “Ultima helped define the computer role-playing game genre. 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,” Andrew Borman, director of digital preservation said.
Asteroids, the oldest game to be inducted this year, was an incredibly popular arcade game in its time, selling more than 70,000 arcade units that populated global stores. While a simple game, it was hugely influential, and helped to define the arcade era. “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,” Jeremy Saucier, assistant vice president for interpretation and electronic games said.
Each of the games chosen for induction have now been placed on display, with keen visitors able to explore them and their history – as well as a vast collection of other preserved games – at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.
