Angry Birds And FIFA International Soccer Join The World Video Game Hall Of Fame

The Strong National Museum of Play has announced this year’s World Video Game Hall of Fame inductees and, as ever, they’re all worthy additions. Angry Birds, Silent Hill, Dragon Quest and FIFA International Soccer make up the class of 2026.

Since it debuted in 2009, Rovio’s Angry Birds series has seen people finding joy in using a catapult to fling furious feathered friends at pigs taking shelter in fragile structures. A decade earlier, Konami’s Silent Hill started its reign of terror with a psychological horror game that paved the way for a successful long-running franchise.

In 1986, Dragon Quest from Enix (now part of Square Enix) helped forge a template for modern roleplaying games. FIFA International Soccer, released in 1993, was the genesis of Electronic Arts’ blockbuster FIFA series. It remains the world’s biggest sports game franchise, though EA no longer holds the FIFA license.

The other games that made this year’s shortlist were Frogger, Galaga, League of Legends, Mega Man, PaRappa the Rapper, RuneScape, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Tokimeki Memorial. This year’s inductees join 49 other influential games in The Strong’s World Video Game Hall of Fame, including last year’s additions of GoldenEye 007, Quake, Defender and Tamagotchi.