GameTech: Candidates for game hall of fame

The Strong is actually a museum in New York, dedicated to electronic history. The museum has become the official ‘Hall of Fame’ for video games, inducting three new titles every year. This year, 12 games are fighting it out for three coveted 2019 slots. Among them are some of the greatest games ever made. Let’s take a look at each entry and rank their chances of making the cut.

NBA 2K

We should probably be more respectful of a game that imitates a sport so brilliantly, but NBA 2K simply isn’t universal enough to deserve a spot in the hall of fame. Primarily a success in the US, it bounces off Irish gamers like a point guard off Le Bron. (Did we get that right? Who cares!).

Ranking: 10th

Super Smash Bros. Melee

There’s an argument that Super Smash Bros made competitive beat-em-ups popular again and kept true classics like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat alive by introducing younger gamers to the genre. Overall, though, we don’t think Smash Bros packs enough of a punch to make the Hall of Fame.

Ranking: 9th

Candy Crush

What’s the only thing more addictive than sugar? A game about matching coloured sugar with other coloured sugar! Candy Crush deserves its nomination for turning Facebook and mobile users into gamers, but we would still prefer it had never existed.

Ranking: 8th

Centipede

An arcade classic that was ‘born’ in the same year as this writer, back in 1981. A pioneer of gaming’s formative age, but not quite a prominent as some of its arcade peers, which became cultural icons. Falls short at the final leg, despite having plenty of legs.

Ranking: 7th

Myst

For a long period, Myst was the highest selling game of all time, which is incredible for such an obtuse, difficult adventure game. The visuals, atmosphere and excellent puzzles made it a hit all over the world. But Myst was very clearly inspired by the game at the top of this list, meaning it gets bumped out by its granddaddy. Ranking: 6th

Super Mario Kart

Mario Kart doesn’t make our top three list, which may seem a controversial choice to those of you who grew up playing Nintendo’s exemplary racing game.

However, in terms of influence, Mario Kart hasn’t really done much for gaming as whole. It didn’t spawn a new genre or define a generation.

Ranking: 5th

Dance Dance Revolution

Commonly referred to as DDR, this game hardly put a foot wrong in our ranking list. It popularised dancing games across the world and brought joy and energy back into arcades. Elbowed out of the way by three more

influential games, but fully deserving of its nomination.

Ranking: 4th

Half-life

The grandfather of story-driven, highly interactive first-person shooters, Half-Life remains one of gaming’s most extraordinary design achievements, over 20 years after its release. A tale of alien portals, government experiments gone wrong and one kickass scientist. A true landmark release that still influences the genre to this day.

Ranking: 3rd

Sid Meier’s Civilization

Arguably the most outright influential game on the list, Civilization was the first truly global phenomenon for the strategy genre, giving players a chance to lead a civilization from the Stone Age right up to space exploration. The series remains hugely popular to this day and made PC gaming the unassailable home of the strategy genre. They will still be making Civ games in 20 years.

Ranking: 2nd

Colossal Cave Adventure

Many of will not have heard of this game, but you will definitely recognise the genre it helped to establish. Colossal Cave Adventure was created in 1977 as one of the original text adventures, the kind that are still popular today. This game pioneered the entire notion of interactive fiction. ‘You enter a cave. Before you is a door. What do you do?’. You walk straight into the Video Game Hall of Fame, that’s what.

Ranking: 1st