Wii Sports has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame – and it's about time
Wii Sports wins another well-deserved accolade
Wii Sports, the pack-in sports title that came with every Wii console, has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame. And it’s about time.
The game almost single-handedly helped the Wii achieve meteoric success and cemented it as a family-friendly console with mass appeal, encouraging those who had never held a controller before to play games for the first time.
Consequently, Wii Sports went on to become one of the best-selling games of all time – partly because it was included with every Wii – selling 82.9 million units. But Wii Sports was also a fantastic game in its own right.
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Wii Sports Hall of Fame
🏆 Wii Sports has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame
🎮 The Strong National Museum of Play’s winners now includes 40 titles
🥇 Wii Sports was joined by Barbie Fashion Designer, Computer Space, and The Last of Us
🤯 Wii Sports helped Nintendo sell 101.63 million consoles
Even though Wii Sports had simplistic graphics, millions enjoyed playing tennis, bowling, boxing, golf, and baseball. It was so popular that Wii consoles ended up in retirement homes and were purchased by people who previously would never have even dreamt of playing a video game.
It also kickstarted the idea that you could get fit while playing games, something which Nintendo later expanded on with Wii Fit and Ring Fit Adventure for Nintendo Switch.
Wii Sports wasn’t the only new inductee into the Video Game Hall of Fame, however. Barbie Fashion Designer, Computer Space, and The Last of Us have also joined the growing ranks of winners. Sony recently remade The Last of Us Part 1 for PS5, but it’s the PS3 version of the game that has made the cut.
Even those these games will have sentimental meaning to many, it’s hard to argue they had quite as big an impact on the video game industry as Wii Sports managed back in 2006. I mean, did your grandma ever play The Last of Us? I doubt it.
Want to know which other games made it into the Video Game Hall of Fame? Here’s the full list of 40 titles below:
DOOM (inducted in 2015)
Pac-Man (inducted in 2015)
Pong (inducted in 2015)
Super Mario Bros. (inducted in 2015)
Tetris (inducted in 2015)
World of Warcraft (inducted in 2015)
Grand Theft Auto 3 (inducted in 2016)
Space Invaders (inducted in 2016)
Sonic the Hedgehog (inducted in 2016)
The Legend of Zelda (inducted in 2016)
The Oregon Trail (inducted in 2016)
The Sims (inducted in 2016)
Donkey Kong (inducted in 2017)
Halo: Combat Evolved (inducted in 2017)
Pokémon Red and Green (inducted in 2017)
Street Fighter 2 (inducted in 2017)
Final Fantasy 7 (inducted in 2018)
John Madden Football (inducted in 2018)
Spaceware! (inducted in 2018)
Tomb Raider (inducted in 2018)
Colossal Cave Adventure (inducted in 2019)
Microsoft Solitaire (inducted in 2019)
Mortal Kombat (inducted in 2019)
Super Mario Kart (inducted in 2019)
Bejeweled (inducted in 2020)
Centipede (inducted in 2020)
King’s Quest (inducted in 2020)
Minecraft (inducted in 2020)
Animal Crossing (inducted in 2021)
Microsoft Flight Simulator (inducted in 2021)
Starcraft (inducted in 2021)
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (inducted in 2021)
Dance Dance Revolution (inducted in 2022)
Ms. Pac-Man (inducted in 2022)
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (inducted in 2022)
Sid Meier’s Civilization (inducted in 2022)
Computer Space (inducted in 2023)
Barbie Fashion Designer (inducted in 2023)
The Last of Us (inducted in 2023)
Wii Sports (inducted in 2023)