Video Game Hall of Fame Inducts Resident Evil and Other Legendary Games

May 10, 2024

Highlights

Resident Evil, Myst, SimCity, Asteroids, and Ultima are being inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
Ultima influenced game developers, with creator Richard Garriott celebrating his series’ induction.
All the inducted games had a lasting impact on the industry.

The Strong National Museum of Play has announced its annual inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, inducting iconic titles like Resident Evil, Myst, SimCity, Asteroids, and Ultima. This year’s inductees were selected on a range of criteria that judged their influence, geographical reach, longevity, and icon status, of which Resident Evil certainly could not be denied.

The original Resident Evil became the blueprint for survival horror across the industry when it released for the PlayStation in 1996. Titled Biohazard in Japan, its English language counterpart was plagued with stilted dialogue and monotonous voice acting, which nonetheless lent the game a certain B-movie charm and didn’t detract from the tense gameplay or unsettling atmosphere.

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A Twitter post on The Strong Museum account unveiled 2024’s five inductees — Resident Evil, Myst, Asteroids, SimCity, and Ultima — all of which beat out entries like Metroid and Guitar Hero. Richard Garriott, creator of the Ultima series, celebrated the news by posting a photo of his Hall of Fame award with the caption “Go Ultima!”

Resident Evil, SimCity, Ultima and More Awarded for Their Legacy

Asteroids (1979)
Ultima (1981)
SimCity (1989)
Myst (1993)
Resident Evil (1996)

Garriott, inspired by The Lord of the Rings and Dungeons & Dragons, began work on his CRPG magnum opus, Ultima, which released in 1981 and sold 20,000 copies in its first year. Blending the science fiction and fantasy genres, players can explore a vast land and inhabit a variety of roles. So inspirational was the Ultima series that Bethesda’s Todd Howard has cited the game as a huge influence on the development of its own titles.

Maxis’ 1989 city builder, SimCity, also made the cut. A game about urban development in which players create the most optimal living spaces possible to the delight or displeasure of its inhabitants, the success of SimCity spawned dozens of spin-offs and spiritual successors – The Sims series most notable among them.

Asteroids was a massively successful arcade cabinet turned Atari game that sold 3.8 million copies; the fast-paced saucer shooter made an estimated $500 million in quarters. Meanwhile, the thought-provoking puzzle game Myst used the leap in graphics technologies enabled by the proliferation of the CD-ROM to create lush, mystical environments that encouraged thorough exploration – it sold more than 6 million copies and was the best-selling PC game from 1997 to 2001.

Though each game has had its own definitive impact on the industry, no single series on this list has lasted longer than Resident Evil, which has seen eight mainline titles, several spin-offs, and a range of movies, TV shows, and comic books published over its lifetime. With a Resident Evil 5 remake and a ninth entry in the series purportedly in development, it seems that Resident Evil’s legacy is far from fading.