A note before I begin:
An astute reader may notice that I have very few games in the pre-PS1/N64 era. I assure you, I think Super Mario Bros. 3 is great. Other games, like Zelda, have not aged particularly well. A lot of times, I simply haven't played or completed a game. I've completed every game on this list, often to a ridiculously detailed degree, with the exception of F-Zero GX, the last level of which is the devil's own. I've never played any Mario Kart game, because I don't like racing games with few exceptions. I've only played Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask to completion so far as Zelda games go, because I'm generally not a fan of fantasy. What I guess I'm getting at here is that a game which is "retro" is not necessarily better for it. Except for Sonic 2. Additionally, I'm very new to the current generation of consoles. I haven't played Fallout 3 or Grand Theft Auto IV, so I can't say much about how they would rank in my personal favorites.
My favorite games, in no particular order.
Suikoden II (PS1): This game will always hold a place in my favorites. It's a pretty compelling story (even if it's lifted straight from the first game), and you have a ton of characters to recruit. 108, to be exact. I lost my first copy to a move, got another for $40, which is a bargain considering it's now usually over $100.
Mass Effect (XB360): It's the video game adaptation of an alternate universe's best series of sci-fi novels. Or perhaps, it's the best sci-fi movie since Aliens. In fact, it's better to list its flaws than spend two pages on what I love about it. 1. There is jarring texture pop-in. I'm not sure if this might be fixed by installing it to my X-Box HDD or not. 2. This game is glitchy. I noticed it more on my second playthrough than on my first. I don't know if it's a result of the scale of the game creating too much work, or just BioWare dropping the ball a bit. Both Knights of the Old Republic games (More on them later) were glitchy, too.
Honorable Mention:
Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2: Knights of the Old Republic was instantly one of the best games available when it came out. Very neat story, tons of detail and side-quests, and with enough influence from the first movie to make it familiar. Knights of the Old Republic 2 could have been the best game to come out on the XBox...could have been. The game was rushed to release for the holiday season, and I mean a lot. The final product shows flashes of brilliance, but is held down by terrible glitches and awkward shortcuts. I.E., the first game has a level where you require an environmental suit. You are slow as fuck in this level. In the second game, you have a few moments where you need to use a space suit. The suit is the same, of course, and you can excuse that. However, instead of say, changing the animation as they did for all of the attacks in the game, they simply sped up the animation, which looks terribly awkward. A door which was supposed to lead to a droid factory can't even be opened. A Jedi who you were supposed to meet on a droid planet is instead found dead as an afterthought in an unrelated planet. But enough about what could have been.
Snatcher(Sega CD): It liberally borrows from Terminator and Blade Runner, while chock-full of other film and video game references. Sure, it's pretty basic, but...come on! Rick Deckard vs. Terminators! Another game worth well over $100 in its Sega CD form. I spent several weeks finding and downloading the necessary emulator, BIOS, and ROM on a 56k connection, so you can't really say I didn't pay for it.
Ocarina of Time (N64): Amazing all around. Not much to say other than that. I am only a little ashamed to admit that I stole this game from a video store just before a move.
Super Mario 64 (N64): Extremely clever and well-done. I let a woman from work borrow this game for her kid...9 years ago. She moved, and I could beat her with a stick if I ever saw her again.
Super Mario World (SNES): I loooooove this game so much, you don't even know. I borrowed it from a friend for several weeks in the early 90's, and practically cried when he asked for it back. A few years ago, when my computer had kicked the bucket and a friend lent me an old one, it had an SNES emulator, and this was the only ROM he had. Needless to say, I spent several hours a day playing it, since it was the only game that old piece of junk could run besides Doom II.
F-Zero GX (GC): This fucker is hard. I mean fuckin' super hard. I got a lot of shit from friends about going the Gamecube route when it came to the sixth console generation. Really, they were probably right. But whenever somebody would say, Gamecube is a kiddy system, I would bring up F-Zero GX. I've been playing games since I was five, and this is quite possibly the most difficult game I've ever played.
Starcraft (PC): It's what, 12 years later? The game still holds up in the most important ways. Great story and great balance. Eleventy billion Koreans can't be wrong. It seems like I've bought the "War Chest" with Starcraft and Brood War every couple of years, after losing either the disk or product code.
-Honorable Mention:
Age of Empires II (PC): I'm a history buff, so there's that. There's also making Samurai fight Vikings. So yeah.
WWF No Mercy (N64): This game came out when the WWF was still the WWF, yet it manages to remain the best wrestling game ever made. What started with WCW World Tour was perfected by No Mercy. Incredible character customization, huge roster, and great replay value. My little brother, when he was barely a teenager, knew about this game when I didn't and made me buy it for him. Well played, little man. Well played.
-Honorable Mention:
WWF/E? Smackdown (PS2): Here Comes The Pain - It allows you to do probably even more than No Mercy does, but it is not quite so user-friendly and the create-a-wrestler is less robust.
Bioshock (XB360): One of only two current-gen games on the list. Amazing production values, and fantastic story. Intuitive controls, and the game gives you the right balance between "I'm going to fuck you up because I have exploding shotgun shells and shoot electricity from my hands! I AM AS ZEUS!" and "Oh, fuck me! Quit shooting! Who turned out the lights? I set him on fire and he's still shooting me with rivets!". Its only big flaw is the lack of replay value. You can either kill or rescue the little sisters. That's about it. It would be better with a New Game+, but unfortunately, the 360 doesn't have a New Game+.
Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 (PS2): I'm putting them together because their appeal is linked. KH2 is probably the better game, but has a slightly incoherent storyline. I love Disney, and didn't realize how much until I would chuckle or smile at the cameos. The combat is a little weak in the first game, but it has much better villains. Very good graphics, for the generation.
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