The World Video Game Hall of Fame on Thursday inducted four honorees, paying tribute to games that challenged players and changed the industry.
Joining the Class of 2025 are: Defender, the challenging arcade game from 1981; Tamagotchi, the digital pets that blurred the lines between toys and video games; GoldenEye 007, with its influential four-player mode that set a new trend for multiplayer gaming; and Quake, which launched in 1996 with a groundbreaking 3D engine that redefined industry standards.
The chosen titles were selected from a group of 12 finalists that also featured Age of Empires, Angry Birds, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Frogger, Golden Tee, Harvest Moon, Mattel Football, and NBA 2K.
Each year, the Hall of Fame honors arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile games that have demonstrated longevity and made a significant impact on the video game industry or popular culture.
Id Software’s 1996 Quake was recognized for its lasting influence, with a game code that “is a literal legacy” and continues to be used in some games after nearly 30 years, electronic games curator Lindsey Kurano said.
Quake co-creator John Romeo, on hand to see his game enshrined, said he and the other developers worked on the game for an exceptionally long time, a year and a half, playing it constantly.
“We knew that what we were building into the game was going to make people who had played our previous game, Doom, even happier with the addition of a programming language built into the game,” he said in remarks aired on RochesterFirst.com.
“We’re just really happy with the impact that Quake made on the world,” he said.
The best-selling Defender, released by Williams Electronics, proved that players would embrace complex and challenging games in the arcade, the experts said. It combined intense gameplay and a complicated control scheme with a horizontally scrolling shooter.
“Defender’s punishing gameplay raised the level of competition in arcades, and it was among the first games to truly separate dedicated players from more casual ones,” Jeremy Saucier, assistant vice president for interpretation and electronic games, said.
The 1996 launch of Tamagotchi is credited with sparking the popularity of pet simulation video games. The handheld egg-shaped electronic game allowed owners to care for a virtual pet from birth through death, feeding, playing with and cleaning up after it by pressing buttons. Collections manager Kristy Hisert said Tamagotchi offered something different than the popular video game electronics of the time.
“It provided players with feelings of connection, caring, and customization, a respite from competition and fighting games,” she said. Neopets, Nintendogs and other social media and app-based versions of pet simulation games would follow.
GoldenEye 007 was based on the 1995 James Bond spy film “GoldenEye” and was the third best-selling game for the Nintendo 64, behind Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64. The result of a 1997 partnership between Nintendo and Rare, the first-person shooter game was known for its four-person multiplayer mode, which Hall of Fame experts said influenced many multiplayer games that followed.
The World Video Game Hall of Fame is inside The Strong National Museum of Play. Anyone can nominate a video game for consideration. Museum staff name 12 finalists each year and solicit votes from experts and fans before announcing the winners.
