We’ve got what you need – it’s a shot of the Gaming Alexandria Video Game Notables! For the past three years, we as a community have voted for the games we believe are historically significant and defining for video games the world over. So far we have inducted 30 total games, 2 non-digital-game influences, and 1 person who helped make video games what they are today.
This year, we add six games to the list along with one influence and one exemplary actor to round out the 2025 Notables! Check the previous years for a bit more information on our choices, methodology, and the previous inductee videos: 2022, 2023, 2024.
Every member of the Gaming Alexandria Discord is welcome to vote in each year’s notables, which this year included 19 participants. We vote according to Ranked Choice Voting, proven to be a fairer system especially in multi-winner elections. Narrowing down from 78 separate game entries, 11 influences, and 14 people, we together came to a consensus of diverse selections to honor as part of the Notables. Every single voter had at least one game on their list that was part of the final selection! That’s the power of RCV.
Without further adieu – lets show the Video Game Notables of 2025!
Also be sure to watch the Livestream VOD for the the full reaction by the voters and other participants. Full text of the victors below.
2025 Inductees
Non-Video Game
No single actor has made as much of an impact on video games as Bruce Lee. Beloved for his monumental yet short career, Lee defined a new type of cultural exchange through the language of Hong Kong cinema. He built a singular celebrity through his promotion of martial arts in Hollywood and set the stage for the explosion of action movies in the 1980s. Long after his death, game creators who grew up with his unique style of semi-grounded action spectacle used him as inspiration. Kung-Fu Master, Double Dragon, Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat are only some of the more blatant homages to the master of Jeet Kune Do. Representing the mystical qualities of Asian culture, determination of the human spirit, and a new brand of machismo, Bruce Lee has and continues to inspire game developers to explore the potential of martial arts in a digital format.
Video Game Notables
From noble Essex sprang the font from which our modern, on-line game ecosystems were born. Multi-User Dungeon was not the first of its kind, but what it did was unlock the potential of multiple users actively sharing an ongoing and evolving space. Using the versatility of Adventure and the robustness of Zork, Roy Trubshaw and role-playing aficionado Richard Bartle enabled behaviors which have thenceforth defined networked gaming. Cooperation, competition, anonymity, relationship-building – MUD allowed for so much expression in an open-ended world. Social behaviors were born which even tabletop role-playing games could not facilitate. MUD provided a space for players to build characters and make discoveries – creating communities by which other players navigated new, on-line horizons. Persistent internet worlds begin with MUDs, eventually taking over the world with endlessly complex social experiences.
You haven’t lived until you’ve died… In MUD.
CONFIDENTIAL
You are Detective Anderson, and the clock is ticking. A murder victim and five suspects. Armed with a few pieces of evidence and a hunch, you have twelve hours to locate the culprit. Get to it, Gumshoe.
Deadline pioneered treating the video game world as an independent actor. Using the backdrop of a murder mystery, players must follow individual characters who follow their own schedules, rooting out their secrets. Text commands guide the player through a noir journey which requires them to pay careful attention to when as much as what and where. Deadline elevated the format of the murder mystery board game, providing both a kinetic experience through its famous “feelies” and robust interaction that truly elevated the interactive fiction genre.
Designer Masanobu Endo once said that Xevious “resonated with the ‘anime generation’”, something enabled by both advancing game technology and a change in design philosophy. Japanese pop culture was in a new place after the success of both Space Invaders and Mobile Suit Gundam. For game centers, Xevious represented a recapturing of the Space Invaders flame, refining the gameplay of Scramble with a new perspective. For game players, the world presented in Xevious was unlike anything yet seen in 8-bit technology. It featured representations of foreign landmarks, pre-generated graphics to create a 3D effect, and ships straight out of a sci-fi manga. A new methodology of presenting a world – as defined by Xevious – was summed up by a new game design word: Sekaikan. Shoot ’em ups were both reinvigorated and redefined after Xevious, presenting it as a genre of infinite creativity and many levels of challenge.
Role-playing games found direction with Ultima III: Exodus. Richard Garriott solidified a tempo of gameplay from the previous Ultimas, distilling the Dungeons & Dragons experience into a focused, single-player format. In Ultima III, NPCs became more than transactional plot guidance, existing with purpose and knowledge. Combat became tactical, enabling character build to have a real effect on the play experience. The world of Sosaria was varied, with discoveries around every corner, presented in a manner more sophisticated than previous RPGs – including a baroque soundtrack. Ultima III set a bar and a template for digital RPGs the world over, contributing to both the narrative expansion and gameplay refinement of the genre. The form and function of Ultima III is echoed in games to the present day which have lively town hubs, elaborate quest chains, and a spirit of discovery only video games can provide.
History is a more than ample backdrop for game experiences. Many American schoolchildren learned that fact while traveling The Oregon Trail as defined on the Apple II. While the original program was a pioneering piece of educational software, the accessible Apple II version seemed both a capstone to its platform and a perfection of educational simulation. The Oregon Trail put players in the shoes of ordinary people in a test of survival. Thousands around the U.S. invested in a personally-named family of individuals, pinning their hopes on a perilous journey – over a hundred miles of wagon train. Supply, hunt, manage resources, ford, disease, misfortune, death – then trying all over again. The Oregon Trail demonstrates the breadth of concepts a game can embody and the meaning which players instill into game experiences. Who knew dysentry could be so educational?
The last Metroid is in captivity. The galaxy is at peace.
A game’s structural core is often harder to praise than its second-to-second gameplay. But for Super Metroid, both elements are in top form. Built on the groundwork of many exploratory adventures before it, Super Metroid just about perfected the integration of discovery and action gameplay. Multi-purpose skills are at the core of Samus Aran’s toolset, enabling platforming challenges, puzzle solving, varied combat, and unlocking areas all by the same button press. These enable a player to feel constant progression… Until they hit an obstacle – then it’s time to backtrack through the atmospheric environments of planet Zebes. Every core gameplay element is presented with remarkable depth and fluidity despite it genre blending. Super Metroid has remained a pillar of stellar game design which guides an entire subgenre largely based off its refined example.
Person of Note
There are many ways you can measure the legacy of a person: Their drive, the quality of their work, or what they inspire in those around them. For some, these qualities are not truly evident until after they’re gone. It was only with Satoru Iwata’s passing that there was a true evaluation of what a monument of a man he was. Within video games, he helped drive the culture and technology of the industry as CEO of Nintendo Co Ltd. As part of HAL Laboratories, he made incredible contributions to numerous iconic games like Earthbound and Kirby’s Adventure. And to his friends, he was a motivational leader who took responsibility for his actions at every step. Through the highs and lows of his leadership, through Iwata Asks and Nintendo Directs, Satoru showed the world a human side of game making as no executive has ever done before. Thank you, Iwata.
This year was a contentious one for some selections – in a positive way! It’s great to see the discourse developing as we bring in new people and evolve the conversation. We’re looking forward to seeing you all next year!
