The Strong has announced this year's 12 candidates to be inducted into the National Museum of Play's World Video Game Hall of Fame. This year's candidates are an eclectic assortment of titles, ranging from a 1970s handheld, an "edutainment" game, and a musical title with one of gaming's most recognizable peripherals.

Based in New York, The Strong is a museum that houses, "The world's largest and most comprehensive collection of historical materials related to play," which includes plenty of video games. In order for a title to be accepted into The Strong's World Video Game Hall of Fame, the game must meet the requirement of having "enjoyed popularity over a sustained period" and an influence in the gaming industry or in general pop culture as a whole. The museum first began its Hall of Fame in 2015, where Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and other classics were the inaugural entries.

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Last year's World Video Game Hall of Fame inductees included titles such as Bejeweled, Centipede, King's Quest, and Minecraft, all trailblazing games in their own right. While this year's actual winners won't be announced until May 6, the 2021 candidates all possess aspects that proved integral to progressing their respective genres. The World Video Game Hall of Fame candidates for 2021 are:

• 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?

While these titles span a wide range of eras, platforms, and genres, perhaps one of the more unique candidates listed is Guitar Hero. Launching in 2005, The Strong lauds the game for challenging players to "unleash their inner rock star" by strumming to licensed music on a plastic guitar. The game went on to produce numerous sequels earning over $2 billion, and spawned similar titles like rival Rock Band. Some of the game's developers actually thought the now-iconic Guitar Hero controller was "goofy," and would be a bad business decision, something they thankfully didn't act on.

Animal Crossing, the only Nintendo title to be nominated, is another strong candidate poised to be inducted. Debuting 20 years ago in 2001 for GameCube, the original AC found mass appeal thanks to the game's open-ended nature and mellow gameplay style. The latest installment of the game, 2020's Animal Crossing: New Horizons, continues to set sales records around the world, and is on track to be the best-selling Switch game of all time.

While the criteria to get into the World Video Game Hall of Fame is quite difficult and includes just games themselves, another Hall of Fame just recently added some dedicated gamers. This past fall, an Xbox competition gave players the chance to have themselves inducted into the Xbox Hall of Fame, giving everyday fans a chance to be immortalized in gaming history.

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Source: Museum of Play