Hmm… Good question… They’ll have to be the kind of videogame that was the first to do something, or set the standard for something, or has had a huge, long lasting cultural impact that can still be felt today.
So in that hypothetical museum I’d nominate:
- Pong.
- Tetris.
- Donkey Kong arcade game.
- Super Mario.
- Super Mario 64.
- Crash Bandicoot
- Metroid (the first one).
- Castlevania (the original one).
- Hollow Knight.
- Mario Kart.
- The Legend of Zelda (the first one).
- TES III Morrowind.
- TES V Skyrim.
- Doom (the original one).
- Half Life.
- Counter Strike (the original one).
- Ultima.
- Ultima Online.
- Dune (the RTS game).
- Warcraft.
- World of Warcraft.
- Age of Empires II, perhaps alongside the Definitive Edition.
- Sid Meier’s Civilisation (the first one).
- Final Fantasy (the first one).
- Chrono Trigger.
- Minecraft (as much as I hate it).
- Elite (the first one).
- Wing Commander Privateer Gold.
- 3D Space Cadet Pinball.
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
I would actually include both the original Castlevania and Metroid then follow it up with Symphony of the Night. Show the original Castlevania game to establish the series, then show Metroid which has the exploration and backtracking with new abilities. Then show SOTN, which shows the combination of the two (effectively establishing the entire Metroidvania genre). Then show a game like Hollow Knight or Ori and the Blind Forest, which goes on to embody the genre several decades after it has been established.
Zelda is a good one, and I’d follow it up with something like Okami, which follows the same dungeon formula in a radically different setting and art style. Again, showing the genre’s establishment, then showing how it can be adapted.
For Final Fantasy, I’d also include FFX, which follows a very similar turn-based playstyle. Maybe include a Dragon Quest game somewhere in there too, as that series tends to stick to the same basic gameplay formula. Then I’d take it in a different direction and show something like Bravely Default, which is still technically turn-based, but also has additional elements layered on top.
I’d chase Super Mario 64 with something like A Hat In Time. Again, showing the establishment of the 3D platformer, then showing the elements in use elsewhere.
You have Ultima on here, which I agree with. But I’d probably break the display for it into two different halves: For the RPG half, I would include some more tabletop-inspired games here too, as the early game devs were largely tabletop game fans who were simply adapting their favorite games into digital settings. Games like Fallout 1/2, or Baldurs Gate.
For Ultima’s one-point-perspective dungeon-crawling, following it up with something like Persona Q or SMT: Strange Journey could be impactful to show how it was adapted to more modern games.