Four more video games have been inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, the Strong National Museum of Play announced Thursday: Williams Electronics’ Defender, Rare’s GoldenEye 007, id Software’s Quake, and Bandai’s Tamagotchi.
The quartet of classic games emerged from a list of 2025 World Video Game Hall of Fame nominees that also included Age of Empires, Angry Birds, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Frogger, Golden Tee, Harvest Moon, Mattel Football, and NBA 2K.
Those four titles selected “significantly influenced popular culture and the video game industry,” The Strong said in a news release. The museum’s annual nominees are judged on four metrics: icon status, longevity, geographical reach, and influence. Quake is the second id Software game to be inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame; Doom was welcome to the esteemed group in 2015.
Regarding this year’s inductees, judges and curators explained why Defender, GoldenEye 007, Quake, and Tamagotchi were so influential.
- Defender, said Jeremy Saucier, assistant vice president for interpretation and electronic games, was “among the first games to truly separate dedicated players from more casual ones” and challenged “conventional wisdom about game mastery and the idea that players would reject more complex arcade video games.”
- GoldenEye 007 was hailed as “the premier example of a first-person shooter to succeed on a console” and “is still considered one of the best multiplayer experiences ever produced on a Nintendo system,” said Andrew Borman, director of digital preservation.
- Quake was lauded for “its influence in how online games are played, its active modding community, and its creation and shaping of esports.” Lindsey Kurano, electronic games curator, noted that portions of Quake’s code “continues to be present in modern games, decades after release.”
- Tamagotchi was more than just a fad, Bandai’s toy line offered “a distinct form of play that differed from popular video game electronics of the time,” said Kristy Hisert, collections manager. Combining “connection, caring, and customization, a respite from competition and fighting games,” Tamagotchi influenced future pet simulation games on consoles, websites, and smart devices.
Since 2015, 49 games have been inducted into the museum’s hall of fame. Last year, The Strong welcomed Asteroids, Myst, Resident Evil, Ultima, and SimCity to its collection.
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