I’d Like to See Your Donkey Kong Exhibit: Video Game Museum

There is a museum for practically anything these days. The Smithsonian alone houses millions of items that range from pieces of art to things that landed from space and weren’t dragged to Area 51. Heck, there is even a museum for Hobos. Recently, the UK launched the National Videogame Archive, which seems like a decent start. We don’t know what the final list of preserved memorabilia will be, but since 90% of what I do here is speculation, I am going to tell you what games I think belong in this, or any, video game museum.

For starters, the games that belong in a museum are those that had a major impact on the gaming industry. It goes without saying that the likes of Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Pac-Man, and Chrono Trigger belong in this museum, so let’s move on to the more rad entries.

Controls are pretty fundamental for any video game, so when a company decides to do something wacky with the controls you can bet there will be a ripple in the waters. “Oh, he must be talking about the Wii.” Well, you’re wrong. The Wii is not a game and therefore does not apply. I am talking of Steel Battalion. This mech simulation booked itself a ticket to instant classicville when it shipped with a $200 dollar mammoth mech dashboard. That takes balls, and it is rewarded by being on showcase in my museum.

Besides controls, one of the most important aspects of a game is the design itself. I present to you, Metroid for the NES. This game boasted loads of exploration, enough to make Christopher Columbus proud. There were secrets in almost every room which only the dedicated and cunning would unearth. Besides the later Castlevania games, no other game series has successfully pulled off a level design so flawlessly. The pacing of the item upgrades is perfect, the difficulty is not too hard, and even with a wide open world to explore you never find yourself confused at the next objective. Not to mention, it pioneered scrolling in two different directions—simply stunning.

Mega Man 2 belongs in this museum not because of its stellar gameplay or design, but because of the rocking beats it produces. There is a reason bands around the world (Oneups, Minibosses, NESkimos, the Protomen) have spent hours mastering the riffs on their guitars. It has even spawned a rock opera; I’d like to see Mario do that.

Mario Paint was light years ahead of its time. It can be considered the Leonardo da Vinci of video games for its sheer forward thinking. Sure, it came with a mouse to use, which was cool, but the potential in this game was incredible. Cartoons could be crafted, symphonies conducted, and works of art could be saved. This appeared in a time where user-generated content didn’t exist.

Maniac Mansion belongs in a game museum due to its point-and-click gameplay. Though not the very first of its kind, it provided dozens of character combinations to complete the game, and each character had its quirk and personality that any player could feel for. It took the cool text adventure formula, put some graphics over it, and still maintains its cult phenomenon status to this day.

This list could go on for ages, so here is one last pick. Dragon Quest was the original RPG that started the crazes which now consume entire nations when a new RPG is released. In fact, it was so popular that it was said a Dragon Quest game could not be released on a weekday due to the absence it would cause. From the Dragon Quest series came many of the archetypes that we see today in modern RPGs, such as an overarching story, character development, and grinding. Without Dragon Quest combining the fruits of Wizardry and Ultima’s labors, it’s hard to say where we’d be right now.  Who knows if we’d even know the Final Fantasy games we’ve come to play and love. Regardless, it made a huge impact on the industry.

So that’s the list; obviously there are plenty of titles missing. Perhaps there will be a sequel to this article; or maybe I’ll open up a museum of my own.  I could also go in cahoots with the National Videogame Archive. They’d love that.

What games do you think belong in a museum?