These six classics are the first to enter the Video Game Hall of Fame

A half-dozen of the most influential video games of all time have been inducted into a new Video Game Hall of Fame.

The project from The Strong – a US museum of play – invited the public to nominate impactful and culturally significant games; spanning devices and eras, from arcade machines to smartphones.

The successful nominees are Doom, Pong, Pac-Man, Tetris, Super Mario Bros. and The World of Warcraft, all of which will now feature in an exhibit at the museum in Rochester, New York.

The winning games emerged from a total of 15 finalists that included Angry Birds, FIFA, The Legend of Zelda, The Oregon Trail, Pokemon, Minecraft, The Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog and Space Invaders.

The games must “have enjoyed popularity over a sustained period and have exerted influence on the video game industry or on popular culture and society in general,” The Strong wrote in a press release.

Although all of those games nominated are worthy entries in their own right, it’s easy to see why the eventual winners were selected. Pong for its role in bringing video games into the home, Pac-Man for its mass cultural impact and Tetris for pioneering the handheld gaming era.

Super Mario Bros populised the platformer and spawned arguably about the most recognisable gaming franchise ever, while Doom did wonders for the first-person shooter genre. World of Warcraft united tens of millions of people within an MMORPG for the first time, so it’s difficult to begrudge it a place either.

Related: The best games of 2015

Those titles missing the cut this year will have an opportunity to enter the Hall of Fame in 2016, with nominations accepted until March 31. Like this year, “final selections will be made by journalists, scholars, and other individuals familiar with the history of video games and their role in society.”

Which games would you like to see in the Hall of Fame? Share your thoughts below.