Four classic video games have been inducted into the World Hall of Fame for their influence on society and popular culture and they'll bring back a lot of nostalgia for many.
Donkey Kong (1981), Halo: Combat Evolved (2001), Pokémon Red and Green (1996), Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991) all made the cut from a field of 12 finalists and took their rightful place at The Strong National Museum of Play in New York.
They faced stiff competition from games of different decades and platforms including Final Fantasy VII, Windows Solitaire, Mortal Kombat, Myst, Portal, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider and Wii Sports.
It's only the third such ceremony, with the first held in 2015. All game types and consoles are eligible for the honour -arcade, console, computer, handheld and mobile.
Anyone can nominate a game, but they need to meet certain criteria including:
- Icon status - a widely known title
- Longevity - more than a "passing fad" and has remained popular
- Geographical reach - has popularity across the world
- Influence - has impacted other games, popular culture and society.
Donkey Kong was singled out for having launched the phenomenal success of Super Mario.
The Strong's International Centre for the History of Electronic Games director Jon-Paul Dyson says it's only right Donkey Kong was also inducted.
"Without Donkey Kong there would be no Super Mario Bros., a member of the inaugural class of the World Video Game Hall of Fame," he says.
But Donkey Kong is also about much more than one character. Its overarching narrative of love and its vibrant graphics brought the game to life in a way that few other games could in the early 1980s. It captured the hearts of a generation.
Meanwhile Halo and Master Chief were lauded for opening gamers' minds to playing first-person shooters on consoles rather than PCs.
The museum credits Street Fighter with leading an arcade renaissance when it was released. It went on to inspire numerous sequels and spinoffs of the one-on-one fighting games.
"This communal style of game play reinvigorated the arcade industry in the 1990s and helped give birth to a generation of fighting games," says Jeremy Saucier, assistant director of The Strong's International Center for the History of Electronic Games.
Pokémon and the resulting Pokémania has lasted for 20 years and just hasn't let go. It brought the likes of Pikachu into the mainstream popular culture, made hugely popular in a TV show, movies, trading card game and merchandise.
The universe got a major shot in the arm last year with the release other smartphone game PokémonGo.
The museum says the Pokémania "shows little signs of fading".
Newshub.
