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Gestures broadly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Video_Game_Hall_of_Fame
The Museum of Modern Art in New York has some games in their permanent collection: Games in MoMA
Swap the () and []! 🩵
This is a more complex question than just “what is your favorite video game,” or “what games do you consider works of art?”
If I’m putting a game in a museum, it’s because there’s something about it that warrants preservation on a greater level than other games. To that end, my candidates are
- Pong (1972)
The first commercially successful video game.
- Tetris (1985)
Arguably the most influential game of all time
- Rollercoaster Tycoon (1999)
Handcrafted in assembly, serves as a lesson both in optimization and harnessing the players’ penchant for finding intrinsic value in simplistic game mechanics
Edit: I just realized this comment looks like an infernal machine wrote it. I want to make it clear that I’m a human, with skin and blood and stuff
These three plus Doom and Shadow of the Colossus are what was I thinking. Maybe Minecraft too.
Gris.
All of them.
“List all notable video game characters”
Oh cmon
Might as well ask someone to list the top songs of every year since the 80’s.
Edit nvm it’s not even characters, just games.
Pong is from like 1972.
It depends on what your museum is trying to convey. If it’s moments of gaming history and games and consoles of significance, I’d go with:
For the earliest video games, I’d show the Tennis for Two on the DuMont Lab Ocilloscope, released in 1958.
You should also include the life of Warren Robinett, because he was the first ever game programmer to receive in-game credit for a game he made, because Atari never gave their programmers credit, but he snuck one in as an easter egg. He then went on to found the Learning Company which made all those Reader Rabbit games.
For the Crash of 1983, you have to include ET for the Atari 2600 as the posterboy, but “Pitfall!” should also be included. Pitfall was a good game, but it was the breakout hit of Activision and therefore proof that third-party video games were viable, leading to the glut of video games which, in combination with ET being such a colossal failure, caused the crash.
For the resurgence after the crash, the Nintendo Entertainment System, but specifically the one that came with the little robot to help you play games. It’s essential that you convey that Nintendo intended to sell it as a toy rather than a games console because the games market in the US had completely died in the crash, but the toy market was very much alive.
Half-life: Alyx
Sneak King
So many people in this thread just listing games they like and don’t know what museums are for.
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tetris, because it is tetris
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pong, and probaly other examples of early home console games
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wolfenstein3d, doom, quake, quake3, doom3 because all of them were technical milestones, had lasting impact on the industry and they show the rapid advancement of pc gaming in the 90s and 2000s
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the elder scrolls series, as a simmiliar showcase.
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final fantasy 1, 6 and 7, as a showcase of jrpgs through various generations and the fmv of 7 and onwards were imho precursors of 3d rendered movies.
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half-life, because of the impact of it’s scripted set pieces and its level design
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counter-strike and starcraft, as the games that probably gave us professional e-sport.
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dota, because its for mobas what doom is for first person shooters.
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deus ex and thief, pioneered the “immersive sim” and they are great showcases of the interactive nature of games
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Pokémon, cultural impact can’t be denied and the trading aspect is a great example of a non traditional multiplayer experience
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various Mario Games, but definitely Mario Bros. Super Mario World and Mario 64 and probably Galaxy as a showcase of the evolution of plattformers in 2d and 3d, maybe throw a spyro or banjo kazooie in there.
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Grim Fandango, Kings Quest, Monkey Island, point and click adventures are there very own beast and often feature actual memorable characters. I definitely think more often about Manny Calavera than i do about Gordon Freeman or any Morrowind NPC, even though i played half-life and Morrowind much more than Grim Fandango
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Minecraft
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super meat boy, fez, hollow knight… lots of interesting indie games and they show how much more accessible game development has become.
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Prince of Persia and karateka, the way they were animated alone would be enough, but they also featured an actual story, they were interested in showing and featured music used simmiliar to a movies soundtrack.
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probably much more
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games that are a product of a very localized culture (gothic could not have been made anywhere else but the ruhrarea for example)
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the whole military complex is missing (from Mil Sims like Operation Flashpoint to actual recruitment vehicles like Americas Army)
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more modern games, which i just don’t know or that have not been rattling around in my brain for long enough, but baldurs gate 3, the last of us, or alan wake would probably end up on my list in a couple of years.
Missing Space Invaders it started a coin shortage in Japan.
Others I can think of off the top of my head:
- Donkey Kong
- pacman
- zelda
- Halo
- Unreal Tournament
- Sonic
- GTA
- Gran Turismo
- Chrono Trigger
- Earthbound
- Castlevanna
yes, arcade stuff is lacking on my list. The few i have played where mostly on an atari 2600 and simmiliar home consoles way after the fact and the only arcade i’ve ever seen was in a holiday resort thingy :D
Zelda: yep, was surprised there was no mention of it after i looked over my “finished” list, original Zelda and ocarina of time should probably be there, maybe a link to the past. did not play breath of the wild, so don’t have an opinion on it. But zelda -> altp -> ocarina of time is a nice showcase of 2d games transitioning to 3d, and the item based exploration and progression is found in a lot of games.
halo: i am not a console shooter guy and on pc it felt like a very good game, but atleast to me not ground breaking. through the lense of console shooters it’s probably a huge milestone.
unreal tournament: if i’d be listing my favourite games it would be there. but it did not have the impact on e-sport cs or the quakes had so it would be another technical showcase. the unreal engines became very important however.
sonic: yes, at the very least to show another take on plattformers.
gta: yeah, 3 onwards as blockbuster movie equivalents. don’t ask me why they are not on the list, no idea.
gran turismo: if we include simulators, we should also list a bunch of microprose work, richard burns rally, the microsoft flight simulators and so on. Definitely an interesting section of gaming, but not one iam part of so hard to tell what to include for it.
chrono trigger: yeah, my list lacks non western games and chrono trigger deserves to be there simply because of its ambitious scale and the fact that its one of the greatest games i’ve ever played, what was i thinking?
earthbound: never played it :(
castlevania: the early metroids and later castlevanias for what we know as “metroidvanias” today. I’ve played castlevania 1 and 2 and there is not much of what makes metroidvanias in them. fun games though.
- Grim Fandango, Kings Quest, Monkey Island, point and click adventures are there very own beast
Maniac Mansion was the OG in the category, at least with graphics.
Myst deserves a place for is graphics too, even if it was mostly static renderings.
Great list!
I would add KSP, Guitar Hero and/or DDR, Beat Saber, WoW, and Portal.
Kerbal Space Program is awesome :)
Videogames are still a young medium, very diverse and changing so rapidly, that i feel like there is no established canon of ‘classics’ or ‘high impact’ works. We’ll probably end up with dozens of lists like this in such a topic, and might end up without a single game that made it onto all of them, besides tetris.
if a simmiliar question was asked in a movies community i’d bet any list with more than 10 entries would include metropolis, nosferatu, citizen kane and star wars, just because those are widely agreed upon movies that had an impact.
i’d bet any list with more than 10 entries would include metropolis, nosferatu, citizen kane and star wars,
I’d add the Shawshank Redemption to that list as well, and probably the Godfather part 2.
I would add Rogue for sure.
oh, absolutely, rogue and nethack, they are the foundation of crpgs and dungeon crawlers.
i just fear we’d need increased security to break up the fight between groups with various definitions what ‘roguelike’ means.
Shadow of the Colossus should be in there too. It has pioneered orchestral music in video games and gad a huge impact on them as a whole.
shadow of the colossus seems like a great game, but i’ve never heard its music referenced as pioneer work, what did it different in that department?
To my limited knowledge, it was the first games where true orchestral music was used. It was influential enough to be remade for PS3 and PS4, there are few games to get such a treatment.
i think that honour might go to total annihilation.
i also remember the final fantasies on the psx having an orchestral pieces jn their soundtrack, but those might have not been performed by an actual orchestra originally.
From my quick search, looks like it would be The Lost World: Jurassic Park, in August of 1997. Total Annihilation was released in September of 1997.
Possible. Might warrant more reserch on my part. Still, there is very few games to be remade for 3 consecutive console generations.
I would add the OG Mortal Combat gave us the MSRP rating system.
Probably shouldadd Mike Tyson’s Punchout, Tekken 2, and Marvel vs Capcom.
Double dragon, Street Fighter, the original Simpsons arcade game.
Amazing list. I personally would add couple games, that defined my “gaming hobby”:
- XCOM/UFO: Enemy Unknown - not sure how this fits in the list, but it was ground breaking for me: perfect blend of micro- and macro management, strategical decisions, tactical battles, what a great game and so much memories of it (and I’d put honorable mention of Jagged Alliance 1&2 here, 'cause they are very similar concept)
- Civilization - genius idea, one of the 4X pioneers, easy to pick up, hard to master, and so much replay value; its overall depth is quite a feat, especially given it’s from 1991, no wonder the franchise is still alive and well now
- Fallout - esp. 1 & 2 might not be the best gameplay-wise, but their world building, characters and atmosphere are excellent… and everyone knows the legendary intro “War, war never changes…”
- Planescape: Torment - similar to above, amazing world, unbelievable story, one of a kind game
- Gothic - mainly 1&2 were simply awesome, there are no barriers (ahem), the world is your to explore, but it’s deadly so you have to plan your progress, nothing is streamlined for you; I can’t remember different game with such a vibe (other than piranha bytes later production)
- VtM: Bloodlines - kind of similar to Deus Ex, but also taking from the table top; and in my book it has THE best atmosphere of all the games I’ve played
- Witcher - this might be just European thing, but playing especially W1 felt kind of like folklore fairy tale from childhood turned into pretty grim adult game
- Disco Elysium - this is probably the only “sort of new” game that I’ve played and which definitely deserves a place in the list, great characters, amazing story and writing
there are plenty of others too, but my brain farts
Good list.
Vampire the masquerade bloodlines also deserves a honourable mention
Awesome effort.
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Hmm… Good question… They’ll have to be the kind of videogame that was the first to do something, or set the standard for something, or has had a huge, long lasting cultural impact that can still be felt today.
So in that hypothetical museum I’d nominate:
- Pong.
- Tetris.
- Donkey Kong arcade game.
- Super Mario.
- Super Mario 64.
- Crash Bandicoot
- Metroid (the first one).
- Castlevania (the original one).
- Hollow Knight.
- Mario Kart.
- The Legend of Zelda (the first one).
- TES III Morrowind.
- TES V Skyrim.
- Doom (the original one).
- Half Life.
- Counter Strike (the original one).
- Ultima.
- Ultima Online.
- Dune (the RTS game).
- Warcraft.
- World of Warcraft.
- Age of Empires II, perhaps alongside the Definitive Edition.
- Sid Meier’s Civilisation (the first one).
- Final Fantasy (the first one).
- Chrono Trigger.
- Minecraft (as much as I hate it).
- Elite (the first one).
- Wing Commander Privateer Gold.
- 3D Space Cadet Pinball.
Most of these I get, but idk about hollow knight unless it’s a part of the “Metroid/Castlevania” exhibit. It’s a good game but idk if it’s quite “museum” status.
It would be part of the Metroidvania section, because it’s probably one of the best modern takes on it, and it has and currently is spawning quite a number of copy-cats. So that would cover its cultural impact too.
This is a pretty solid list, but I’d try to bridge the gaps between older games and more modern ones, to show how things progressed. Essentially, you want each section of the museum to tell a story about how some critical building block of gaming was taken from concept to implementation.
I would actually include both the original Castlevania and Metroid then follow it up with Symphony of the Night. Show the original Castlevania game to establish the series, then show Metroid which has the exploration and backtracking with new abilities. Then show SOTN, which shows the combination of the two (effectively cementing the entire Metroidvania genre). Then show a game like Hollow Knight or Ori and the Blind Forest, which goes on to embody the genre several decades after it has been established.
Zelda is a good one, and I’d follow it up with something like Okami, which follows the same dungeon formula in a radically different setting and art style. Again, showing the genre’s establishment, then showing how it can be adapted.
For Final Fantasy, I’d also include FFX, which follows a very similar turn-based playstyle. Maybe include a Dragon Quest game somewhere in there too, as that series tends to stick to the same basic gameplay formula. Then I’d take it in a different direction and show something like Bravely Default, which is still technically turn-based, but also has additional elements layered on top.
I’d chase Super Mario 64 with something like A Hat In Time. Again, showing the establishment of the 3D platformer, then showing the elements in use elsewhere.
You have Ultima on here, which I agree with. But I’d probably break the display for it into two different halves: For the RPG half, I would include some more tabletop-inspired games here too, as the early game devs were largely tabletop game fans who were simply adapting their favorite games into digital settings. Games like Fallout 1/2, or Baldurs Gate. Maybe even show a modern game like Baldur’s Gate 3, to show how tabletop RPG mechanics can gracefully transition to digital games. Morrowind would also fit nicely here, but Skyrim is a little too far removed from old TTRPGs to be relevant to this section. Still important to have on the list, but I’d probably have it in a section dedicated to player-made mods.
For Ultima’s one-point-perspective dungeon-crawling, following it up with something like Persona Q or SMT: Strange Journey could be impactful to show how it was adapted to more modern games.
On the home-gamer gameplay side, this is a solid list. On the technology side, I think there’s even more that makes sense for a curated museum tour. There were big leaps made in arcade tech through the 80’s and 90’s that were pushing all manner of graphics and sound, head-and-shoulders above the previous generation.
Sega’s “super scaler” boards come to mind, allowing for games like Hang-on, Outrun, and After Burner. Digitized sound samples started with Sinistar and Tempest. Dragon’s Lair amazed everyone with an interactive LaserDisc experience. There were also notable forays into AR with Time Traveler, and VR with Virutality. Lastly, we have the fully-enclosed and immersive cockpit of early Battletech simulators.
I think some representative of mobile gaming should be on this list (as much as I hate them). Probably either Candy Crush or Angry Birds.
There should also be a motion gamer entry somewhere on here like Wii Sports or something.
And maybe an indie entry…like perhaps Stardew Valley.
Also some type of sim entry…maybe SimCity?
And probably an adventure game entry of some sort (King’s Quest or Monkey Island).
Relatedly, I think we’re still waiting for a VR or AR game that anyone gives a real shit about.
Edit: the more I think about this the more I think we need more entries so I’ll just stop it
anxiously checks that Chrono Trigger made the big list
Okay then, carry on.
Could make a museum for Doom alone. With all the systems it run on.
Pong, Pac-man, OXO, Mystery House, Super Mario, Battlezone, Wolfenstein, Doom.
The classic pioneers.
NFL 2K5. It would be a somber, warmly-lit memorial, a pedestal bearing a single copy of the (Xbox version of) the game, with a spotlight shining down on it from above as it rotated. An eternal flame, possibly several, burn nearby. The walls would be digital, montages of all the memories. There would be mournful orchestral music playing, heavy on the clarinets and oboes.
And a screen where it plays YouTubers comparing it to every version of Madden for a decade-plus after. Eventually finding Madden to look better, but always finding Madden lacking in features and presentation.
100% guarantee there are probably still YouTubers doing that in 2025. And you might be surprised how good it can look upscaled to 4K, if you haven’t tried it.
Didn’t even know that was a thing; that’s how long it’s been since I looked at it. Thanks!
Dwarf Fortress, obviously.
“It’s the best game you’re not playing.”
