Whether or not they intentionally chose May 4 — arguably geek
culture’s most favorite day of the year — is up for debate, but The Strong
National Museum of Play today presented the 2017 inductees into the World Video
Game Hall of Fame. Based on a committee formed of international journalists,
game developers, and educators, this year’s inductees include “Donkey Kong,”
“Street Fighter II,” Pokรฉmon “Red” and “Green,” and “Halo: Combat Evolved.”
In 1981, “Donkey Kong” was not only Nintendo’s most
profitable game at the time, selling an estimated 132,000 arcade cabinets in
the US alone, it also launched the career of legendary game designer Shigeru
Miyamoto. It’s often overlooked that video gaming culture’s most iconic
character, Mario, first appeared in Donkey Kong, then known simply as “jumpman.” “Donkey Kong” is a staple in the history of
games, not only for its mass appeal, and — for the time — vibrant and
simplistic graphics, but for paving the steps for some of the industry’s most
iconic designers and characters.
After the decline of arcade gaming in the 80’s (when the
industry started to shift toward home consoles), Capcom’s 1991 phenomenon “Street
Fighter II” revitalized the arcade culture upon its release. After selling
60,000 arcade cabinets, and laying the foundation for fighting game competitive
culture, Capcom released a “Champion Edition” cabinet, which sold 140,000
cabinets, making it one of the top-selling arcade games.
Originally called “Pocket Monster,” Pokรฉmon was released for
the Nintendo Game Boy in 1996 as two separate games, “Red” and “Green.” The
Pokรฉmon series has since sold 260 million copies across all of its games and 21.5
billion trading cards, and has spawned 800 television episodes and 17 movies.
With “Pokรฉmon Go” dominating 2016, Pokรฉmon remains just as culturally present
today as it did in 1996.
In 2001, Bungie’s “Halo: Combat Evolved” changed first-person
shooters on consoles forever. Fifty percent of Microsoft’s original Xbox’s were
purchased along with a copy of “Halo,” and the success of Microsoft’s first
console is owed to the game. Before the days of Xbox Live, Halo cultivated a
culture of LAN parties, requiring players to lug their own consoles into one
room together, so they could all play with one another. Frank O’Connor,
franchise development director of Halo, flew in from Seattle to give the
induction speech for the game.
Alongside the inductees, the nominees for 2017’s World Video
Game Hall of Fame included “Final Fantasy VII,” Microsoft Windows “Solitaire,”
“Mortal Kombat,” “Myst,”
“Portal,” “Resident Evil,” “Tomb Raider,” and “Wii Sports.”
This article appears in May 3-9, 2017.
Donkey Kong was insanely popular in bars. People would line up their quarters on the console for their turn to play it along with PacMan. And, those were the days when the consoles were designed with flat tops so players could rest their drinks on top while playing.