Animal Crossing, the game that truly kickstarted Nintendo's increasingly popular life sim franchise back on GameCube in 2001, could find itself earning a place in The Strong Museum's World Video Game Hall of Fame.
The Strong is a New York-based museum that "houses the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of historical materials related to play," including a whole lot of toys and video games. For a title to be accepted into the museum's Hall of Fame, it must have "enjoyed popularity over a sustained period and have exerted influence on the video game industry or on popular culture and society in general."
For 2021, twelve games in total have been listed as potential candidates for a hall of fame induction:
– Animal Crossing
– Call of Duty
– FarmVille
– FIFA International Soccer
– Guitar Hero
– Mattel Football
– Microsoft Flight Simulator
– Pole Position
– Portal
– StarCraft
– Tron
– Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Here's what The Strong has to say about Animal Crossing:
"Nintendo’s Animal Crossing debuted in 2001 and found mass appeal with its open-ended social simulation and leisurely gameplay. Players took on the role of a human moving into a village filled with anthropomorphic animals. The game had no specific objective, giving players the freedom to complete activities and collect objects as they liked. The mellow gameplay proved a success with casual and advanced gamers alike, and it bred numerous sequels.
The game’s latest installment for the Nintendo Switch proved a huge hit during the pandemic isolation of 2020, breaking the record for the most digital downloads of a console game in a single month."
The winners will be announced on 6th May, so we'll have to wait and see whether or not Animal Crossing manages to grab a spot. In recent years, games like Pokémon Red and Green, The Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario Bros. have all been accepted.
Would you like to see Animal Crossing be inducted into the hall of fame? Do any other titles from that list hold a special place in your heart? Let us know in the comments.
[source museumofplay.org, via nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 39
Find it kind of strange that multiple games seemingly worthy of an almost automatic place in this Hall of Fame are competing for a single place.
I don't play Old Animal Crossing (Original, Wild World, City Folk).
I don't like them.
Too archaic.
I don't buy Animal Crossing for looking the long train running conversations, losing my villagers without my acknowledge, triggering 101 conversations, feeling of being lonely.
I played ACNL and ACNH to keep my favorite villagers forever as pets, less yada yada yada, provider of items for other players by time travel, taking control of time, beautify my island. Because i am a Rebel.
Oh, btw.
My Hall of Fame game is Dance Dance Revolution, 100/100 games.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is rivaling with Animal Crossing?! This world has gone wrong, I tell you!
I loved portal That is also a great pick.
@Anarchista is kirby in yet is the real question
Would say out of this list Carmen or portal with AC being third.
@Anarchista Yeah, seems odd, most of those are pretty worthwhile additions (and one is FarmVille).
Can someone explain why Farmville is in there?
StarCraft, Guitar Hero, and Portal are all better picks to be inducted. As for the AC franchise, better picks include Wild World, New Leaf, and New Horizons. WW for its portability and how it popularized the franchise. NL for its innovation in content that not even NH has reached. NH for its impact on the community during the pandemic and how it's been mainstreamed and recognizable by the general public (although that Jeopardy episode has my doubts).
@Grackler @Joriss The most significant and impactful social network game. In 2010, there were tens of millions of active users. Revolutionized social network and mobile games to follow. By being on this site, we both care about quality games, but your local soccer mom doesn't, and there turn out to be more soccer moms than gamers. (Rise up)
Never even heard of Carmen Sandiego, apparently it was the first of the edutainment games. Do they really count as games though?
Man, tough choice. All good choices. It probably deserves a spot someday.
@Matl The Carmen Sandiego games were fun. I remember my library computer time being relegated to playing those games. PBS also had a game show in the 90s that was a lot of fun to watch.
@Ghostchip kirby's good but hall of fame material?
Poor N64 version, always gets forgotten 😔
Absolutely. This is a rich iconic game responsible for the conversion of many previously non-nintendo players, which engages the human desire for both freedom and cute things in the one game.
@Joriss Well it might not be for you, or me, or indeed most people here, but it was hugely impactful on the face of gaming and it's audience. It terms of gaming history, it's pretty critical.
@Anarchista Agreed. But I guess this is their way of getting publicity and reminding us all it's a thing still?
Out of all the above, if we could vote, Portal would get my vote hands down.
Still hoping for an Orange box for Switch which includes the original Half Life
Boys its going against some juggernauts StarCraft, Portal and Call of Duty but it can take em’. If I had a vote though I would vote for StarCraft or Portal.
I've never been into FIFA and gave up on CoD after 2017s WWII, but I'd argue that either of those two meet the criteria better than Animal Crossing. If you ignore the quality (which isn't part of the criteria) of the games and just look at the tick-boxes of popularity and influence on pop culture, several of the titles on that list shouldn't be there.
Congrat on the nomination, Animal Crossing!
But I would be socked if the winner wasn't Starcraft, Call of Duty, or Portal. One of those three is the obvious winner.
Still my favourite Animal Crossing.
@Caboose1979 true.
Isn't Animal Forest more or less the same game?
finally Animal Crossing will be in the Video Game Hall of Fame.
just be careful in the GameCube version of the game; i ran into a glitch that allows you to have more than 20 villagers in the game. normally you should only be allowed to have 6 villagers on average.
maybe i should go back to the original and try for 40+ villagers just to see if it can be done.
@madder128, more or less but still came out before the Gamecube version.. Guess they're ignoring releases in Japan 😕
@Caboose1979
yup, it seems as though we are skipping the Japanese release. however, wasn't the original known as animal forest, which was on the N64 and then just ported over to the GameCube later on as Animal Crossing. maybe the people who want the game in the hall of fame (the people in charge of the hall of fame) do not know or have forgotten the history of the game.
Yeah, bit odd seen Dōbutsu no Mori translates as Animal Crossing.. back to the topic tho, Farmville better not get in 😜
Farmville should definitely win… in the category "applied psychology". All other entries in the list are something that can be played (in the case of Mattel Football I'm just assuming, but let's say).
@Anti-Matter that’s a shame, really. Original and wild world are quintessential experiences for true AC fans. Guess we can’t all be true fans...
Animal Crossing
StarCraft
WitWiCS
(My pics)
FIFA definitely deserves a spot
Pole Position absolutely
After that I don't know. Maybe none of them right now.
@Anarchista it’s all marketing and who’s willing to pay
I'd love to actually be educated on this — why would the original Animal Crossing deserve a spot amongst all these behemoths of gaming? Has it been that revolutionary of a game? The first possible innovation that came to mind was utilizing a system clock for events and day cycles, but I learned from a quick search that the first game to ever accomplish this was Reviver: A Real Time Adventure, way back in 1987. It wasn't a massively popular game, and didn't create an entire genre of games.
A much better choice would be New Horizons, for all the impact it has had on social media despite being just a game — with organizations hosting events on the game and whatnot! Furthermore, it has been massively popular worldwide due to the pandemic, amongst all kinds of players and not just the more serious ones (and I don't mean hardcore). It might be too early to induct NH now, but it's going to be a good inclusion a few years from now. I can't see why the original AC would be better. The hall of fame currently includes SF2, GTA3, and FF7 but none of the originals that birthed the series, so sequels are definitely allowed.
@PickledKong64 compared to animal crossing? Yeah. I love animal crossing too picked up every entry except new leaf. The fact is that kirbys adventure is probably the best nes game besides the marios it easily holds up best compared to it's peers.
@theabstractart We shouldn't be gatekeeping. We're not record store owners. We have no authority to say who's a "real fan." Honestly, if you like the new games you pretty much like Animal Crossing. And any person who enjoys the games is a true fan. I don't think anyone needs the validation of strangers on the internet to deem them fans of a series.
@theabstractart So just because I don’t want to pay for a GameCube I can’t be an AC fan? That doesn’t make any sense.
@TestudoVilis The article says it judges the games based on if the games have "enjoyed popularity over a sustained period”. New Horizons has only been out for a year, so it doesn’t meet the criteria to be nominated. The original was probably nominated because of it’s impact on the future AC games, as well as many other games.
@BabyYoda71 The website goes in further detail, listing a few different criteria for inducting games in the hall of fame — but it also states that not all of the criteria have to be met for a game to be considered, hence why I don't think NH would feel out of place despite being so recent. I do not think it should be added so close to release, but for the sake of a more accurate list, I'd rather that game be added a few years down the road than the original Animal Crossing now.
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