The World Video Game Hall of Fame announced its 2017 inductees

World Video Game Hall of Fame announced its 2017 inductees, selected form a list of 12 finalists. The winners were selected by looking at the impact they had on the gaming industry in particular and popular culture, in general.

The World Video Game Hall of Fame announced its 2017 inductees, selected form a list of 12 finalists. Donkey Kong, Halo: Combat Evolved, Pokémon Red and Green, and Street Fighter II are the newest members. The four games were selected because they all have significantly affected the video game industry, popular culture, and society in general.

Donkey Kong was released back in 1981 becoming Nintendo’s most profitable game at that point, selling an estimated 132,000 arcade cabinets. Donkey Kong is also famous for introducing to the world one of the most popular video game characters, Mario.

“Without Donkey Kong there would be no Super Mario Bros., a member of the inaugural class of the World Video Game Hall of Fame,” says Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games in a press release. “But Donkey Kong is also about much more than one character. Its overarching narrative of love and its vibrant graphics brought the game to life in a way that few other games could in the early 1980s. It captured the hearts of a generation.”

Donkey Kong is joined by Halo: Combat Evolved, released in 2001 on Xbox. The game sold more than six million copies and inspired a number of sequels and spin-offs, as well as novels, comic books, and action figures.

Pokémon Red and Green has become a virtually multinational cultural phenomenon when it was released on the Nintendo.

“Pokémon Red and Green launched a franchise that has taken the world by storm, vaulting many of its characters, such as Pikachu, into popular, mainstream culture. Nearly two decades after its inception and with the introduction of Pokemon Go, “Poké-mania” shows little sign of fading,” said curator Shannon Symonds.

Also inspiring numerous an entire genre of one-on-one fighting games, Street Fighter II is another iconic game, it sold more than 60,000 original cabinets and a staggering 140,000 cabinets and game conversion kits of the company’s “Champion Edition.”

The World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong was established in 2015 to recognize individual electronic games of all types—arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile—that have enjoyed popularity over a sustained period and have exerted influence on the video game industry or on popular culture and society in general.

Nominations are already open for 2018. Entrees are judged on their status, how recognized and remembered they are, how they stood the test of time and if they still enjoys popularity. Also, the jury takes geographical reach into account and the influence that the game had on other forms of entertainment.