The Smithsonian American Art Museum has since February been soliciting gamers' opinions on the most creative and influential games of all time for an upcoming exhibit devoted to the interactive medium. Today, the US-funded institution announced the results of that polling process, selecting 80 games from five different eras spanning the past 40 years to be a part of the Art of Video Games exhibit.

　　Starting from the earliest era, the Smithsonian exhibit will feature the likes of Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, and Utopia. Games from this era were pulled from the Atari 2600, Colecovision, and Intellivision. The second era spotlights the NES, Sega Master System, and Commodore 64, with representative games including Sid Meier's Pirates, Super Mario Bros., and Marble Madness.

　　Marble Madness will be one of more than 80 games to be part of the Smithsonian's exhibit. The third era concerns itself with Nintendo's and Sega's feuding SNES and Genesis systems. From the former were drawn Nintendo staples such as Super Mario World and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, while the latter included Phantasy Star IV. Sony enters the picture with the PlayStation in era four, while Sega bows out with the Dreamcast.

　　The fifth era concerns itself with the two most recent generations in gaming, encompassing Nintendo's GameCube and Wii, Microsoft's Xbox and Xbox 360, and Sony's PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. The era also includes a variety of popular PC games, such as Portal and Minecraft.

　　The Art of Video Games exhibit will open in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2012, and will run through September 30, 2012.

　　Era 1: Start!

　　Atari VCS

　　Pac-Man

　　Pitfall

　　Space Invaders

　　Combat

　　Colecovision

　　Donkey Kong

　　Pitfall II: Lost Caverns

　　Zaxxon

　　Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator

　　Mattel Intellivision

　　Tron: Maze-Atron

　　Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

　　Star Strike

　　Utopia

　　Era 2: 8-Bit

　　Commodore 64

　　Jumpman

　　The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate

　　Attack of the Mutant Camels

　　Sid Meier's Pirates!

　　Nintendo Entertainment System

　　Super Mario Bros.

　　The Legend of Zelda

　　1943: The Battle of Midway

　　Desert Commander

　　Sega Master System

　　Marble Madness

　　Phantasy Star

　　After Burner

　　Spy vs. Spy

　　Era 3: Bitwars!

　　Sega Genesis

　　Earthworm Jim

　　Phantasy Star IV

　　Gunstar Heroes

　　Dune II: Battle for Arrakis

　　Super Nintendo Entertainment System

　　Super Mario World

　　The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

　　Star Fox

　　SimCity

　　Era 4: Transition

　　DOS/Windows

　　Doom II

　　Fallout

　　Diablo II

　　StarCraft

　　Nintendo 64

　　Super Mario 64

　　The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

　　Goldeneye 007

　　Worms Armageddon

　　Sega Dreamcast

　　Sonic Adventure

　　Shenmue

　　Rez

　　Chu Chu Rocket!

　　Sega Saturn

　　Tomb Raider

　　Panzer Dragoon Saga

　　Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei

　　Sim City 2000

　　Sony PlayStation

　　Metal Gear Solid

　　Final Fantasy VII

　　Einhander

　　Final Fantasy Tactics

　　Era 5: Next Generation

　　Microsoft Xbox

　　Halo 2

　　Fable

　　Panzer Dragoon Orta

　　Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

　　Microsoft Xbox 360

　　BioShock

　　Mass Effect 2

　　Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

　　Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II

　　Modern Windows

　　Portal

　　Fallout 3

　　flOw

　　Minecraft

　　Nintendo GameCube

　　Metroid Prime 2: Echos

　　The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

　　Star Fox: Assault

　　Pikmin 2

　　Nintendo Wii

　　Super Mario Galaxy 2

　　The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

　　Boom Blox

　　Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

　　Sony PlayStation 2

　　Shadow of the Colossus

　　Okami

　　Gradius V

　　Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

　　Sony PlayStation 3

　　Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

　　Heavy Rain

　　Flower

　　Brutal Legend

　　Additional Games (available for short play in exhibit, not included in vote)

　　Pac-Man (Arcade)

　　Super Mario Bros.

　　The Secret of Monkey Island

　　Myst

　　World of Warcraft