Video Game Hall of Fame: All 24 Inductees Ranked - Part I (24-13)

#20 Space Invaders (inducted in 2016)

Taito's Space Invaders arcade title was so popular in Japan, that rumors began to spread that it was causing a shortage of the 100-yen coin required to play it.

Now, this turned out to be just an urban legend, but there's no question just how popular the arcade shooter was - not just in Japan, but all over the world. This was the kind of game that got pop songs written about it.

Now, to be fair, a good part of the popularity behind this game was due to the fact that it wasn't Pong (more on them in a moment). In 1977, the video game market - arcade or otherwise - was flooded with Pong clones to the point that everybody was pretty sick of it. Space Invaders was something new, and people flocked to it.

However, it was also a really fun game - it still is. It's an exercise in stamina - how long can you hold out again this horde of intergalactic terrorists before you're overwhelmed. The sound was hypnotic, the action was tense, and a bug-turned-feature in the game caused the aliens to attack faster the more their numbers were depleted.

Space Invaders was not only gaming's first mega-hit, but it also inspired a new wave of creativity in game designers. Like any other groundbreaking game, it had more than it's share of copycats. But, it also proved that video games could be successful and still be more than just a ball and two paddles.

Speaking of that ball and those paddles...