Your favorite video games

[Martin]

Maybe I’m just blind but im pretty sure there isn’t a thread like this on page 1 other than the generic VG thread so im posting it.

Ur on this site, so u probably play video games. What games are your favorites?

It’s pretty hard to narrow it down to a small list, but if I had to pick any games that I think have stuck with me more than any others my unordered top five would probably look something like this:

Kid Icarus Uprising

Something about this game just stands out to me; maybe it’s the fast-paced gameplay in conjunction with the completely fluid controls (which are not on any way uncomfortable, despite what all the ppl with malfunctional hands will tell you). Maybe it’s the superb, legitimately really funny script. Perhaps it’s the game’s superb and memorable OST. There are just so many things that this game does so well that trying to pin down any one thing is a fools errand. Seriously, if you haven’t played this game you are missing out big-time.

Celeste

This is another game where I’m really hard-pushed to pinpoint any issues I have with it. Sure, you could argue that old-school-inspired sprite graphics are a sorta dated and overdone concept in the field of indie games, but at the same time I never really had that gripe in the cintext of this game because of just how well it integrates it with all the other aspects of the game to leave something that’s legitimately beautiful to look at. And this is before I even talk about the brilliant level design that rewards exploration and experimentation without sacrificing the reassuring feeling of linear gameplay or coming at the expense of tight, challenging, yet never frustrating platforming challenges that introduce gameplay concepts in a natural manner and then provide gradually more difficult and creative challenges that encourage you to use what you’ve learned on previous screens to solve new, distinct platforming puzzles. Hell, even the opening tutorial level feels like a natural part of the game, and tutorial levels almost NEVER feel natural. As for it’s music, it is another game where this is brilliantly crafted and very, very memorable, and it evolves both with the gameplay and with the story elements playing out on screen. Speaking of story, it’s very well comsidered, being simple enough to not unnecessarily detract from gameplay while simultaneously having characters with enough depth, consideration and good writing to not feel like a side dish like is the case with Mario games. Genuinely love this game and strongly recommend it to everyone.

Pokemon Platinum / Pokemon Heart Gold+Soul Silver

Kinda cheating by putting both here but I feel like it wouldn’t be fair for me to choose between these games. Heart Gold was my first time wading into the time-suck that is Pokémon and it is still one of the games that I enjoy playing more than any other. Pokemon Platinum was my next stop and it presented a different way of thinking about Pokemon as a game, providing a more satisfying difficulty curve in exchange for a somewhat beautiful loneliness and a more diverse overworld map. Everything about both of these games just sticks out to me as memorable, and I doubt that I’m ever going to feel a personal connection with any game as much as I do with these two games. Everything from their memorable music to their enjoyable turn-based gameplay and the way you almost build a personal relationship with the little bytes of data you’re carrying around in your pocket just stuck with me in what I’d say were some of the loneliest years of my life, and to date I don’t think any other Pokemon game has resonated with me like the genertion 4 games have.

Super Mario 64

This game is probabably on here for the wrong reasons, but when I was in year 6 I’d spend hours on the computer in my bedroom playing this on an emulator, and I probably more time fucking around with gameshark codes and recording gameplay with them on my cracked, watermarkless hypercam 2 and making videos of it in Windows Movie Maker that would never see the light of day than I did playing the game legitimately. It sorta marks a point in time when I could afford to not care about bullshit and just played games for the hell of it. Beyond this, at risk of sounding like a broken record, it’s another case of memorable music alongside great level design and probably the most fun 3D platforming physics of any game I’ve played other than possibly Super Mario Oddyssey and A Hat in Time.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

This one might turn a head or two bc for some reason ppl on this website love to rip on this game, but I have a lot of respect for this game in a way that I don’t think I have for any others aside from Tetris and Balloon Fight (and chess/snooker, but they aren’t video games so they don’t count); it also kinda matches up with me preferring 3D zelda games to 2D zelda games for a range of reasons that I really don’t want to go into now. Ocarina of Time is one of those cases where I just play it and invariably have a good time with it, and it’s probably one of the most memorable and iconic games I’ve ever played; seriously, tell me one thing in this game that isn’t utterly memorable—you’re probably going to have a hard time with that, because there’s nothing that isn’t memorable about it. Every track in its OST brings an experience flooding back and gets me humming along; the various cut scenes are almost all memorable in one way or another (the cut scene with Saria on the bridge is probably my favorite); the gameplay elements it introduced defined the vast majority of 3D action adventure games that followed it, namely including Z targetting; every dungeon is uniquely great in its own regard (except the water temple; that’s the worst dungeon in any good video game I’ve ever played, especially when not playing on OoT 3D); the overworld is expansive without feeling excessive like is the case in most modern open world games and diverse enough to help break up what would otherwise be a reasonably monotonous visual presentation. Everything just comes together in harmony in this game and I can’t help but love every minute of it when I’m not in the water temple. P.s. the game has aged extremely well and if u disagree I don’t know what to say to you, granted that might be in part due to the gameplay and visual improvements brought on by the 3D remake.

Honourable mentions (I wouldn’t say any of these come close to the status of the five above on a personal level, or even to some other games not on this list, but I feel like they deserve mentions anyway for one reason or another):

• Tetris: I mentioned this briefly in the OoT passage, but I have a lot of respect for Tetris. It’s my pick for the best video game ever made, and I don’t think anything will ever change that.
• Lego Star Wars (series): The Lego Star Wars games mark the first time I think I truly fell in love with video games. I remember playing it for hundreds of hours as a kid, and the only thing stopping me playing now is the poor condition of my PS2 and the game discs. Everything about it is just so charming, fun, and full of personality.
• Inazuma Eleven 3: I love this game! So much! It’s gameplay is fun, and for some reason because it’s Japan they decided to turn football into a JRPG with special moves. And I didn’t realise that a football JRPG with special moves was what I wanted until I played this. Even if you never expose yourself to any other Inazuma Eleven games, if you’re able to get hold of this game without emulating it (the gameplay is not practical to emulate) give this game a try because it’s honestly a lot of fun playing as an adult despite being totally childish writing-wise.

What about you lot?

 

[Rugi]

Psychonauts is my favourite platformer of all time and the milkman conspiracy is the best level in any video game ever please play

Kerbal Space program was gifted to me by Internet and I've fallen in love with it ever since, fucking up with rockets is so much fun I think I could play the game for years even without mods

Europa Universalis 4 is a hyper sperg game but going on a four hour campaign conquering Europe as a one province minor in Ethopia is aweseome

The Sims 3 is a shitty slice of life anime but a video game which basically all I've ever wanted, you can lose full days to that game

Black and White 2 is my favourite main series Pokemon game and also when I first started proper competitive which I promptly ended come X and Y

Eurotruck Simulator 2 is essentially meditation distilled in video game form, its one of those things that you think "How the fuck does anyone like this?" but trust me its great

Animal Crossing New Leaf got me through tough times and is also the first game I played through fully in Japanese

Majora's mask is my favourite zelda game because I'm unoriginal

Minecraft was basically the video game of my generation but what can I say, the modding potential and even the base survival game is so much fun, figuring out how to use Hamachi as a thirteen year old was the highlight of my teenage years

Stardew valley is peak farm sim but not as autistic as rune factory

 

[earl]

I’ve put too many hours into Enter The Gungeon, favorite roguelike and is just generally fun and a little less RNG dependant than most

Bowers Inside Story is the shit, 10 yr old me loved that game and it still holds up. Hilarious that it’s getting a remake on a 1 generation later console lol

Hollow Knight is virtually the perfect metroidvania

FTL is my second favorite roguelike

B2W2 are the best games in the series

Fire Emblem Awakening is a problematic game but I love it regardless

MARIO KART DOUBLE DASH BOMB BATTLE LUIGIS MANSION

Probably more but I can remember off the top of my head

 

[Stealthbomber16]

there's a reason why i have placed 2520 hours into terraria, about 10 of those in the last 2 days

the game is literally limitless. you could do so much shit with it when i bought it way back 5+ years ago, and they've only added stuff since then. my first time beating a truely difficult video game boss was when i beat the wall of flesh in the underworld on my 7th attempt, after completely running out of room on my prebuilt platform bridge. the game is so excellent for a first time playthrough, and it's so interesting and varied that it's still interesting for multiple other playthroughs

on my second playthrough i decided to build a big castle for all the NPCs to live in. i spent hours on it, it looked sick. shame i dont have the world still

me and a few friends joined together for a playthrough, we made it all the way to the end of the game together and each built up big houses, and linked them up with a rail line system. the game is literally limitless, so many things you can do with it


and then i discovered the mod loader.

play this game. its like $10 on steam there is literally no reason why you cannot buy this game right now.

edit: i suppose the title is video games so here are a few others

Cortex Command - great indie strategy game. there's no real way to describe it. very unique gameplay, dig gold and build bases across pre-generated terrain, control your units and shit. mindblowing mod creators have literally remade the game into different modes and at one point some guy even made online play possible through a mod. great party game as well, grab some friends and buy some free crabs

Castle Crashers - i imagine you've all heard of this timeless beauty. i've sunk literally countless hours into playing this on the household xbox 360 as a kid, building up a level 99 character and still not being able to beat expert mode. game is incredibly fun with friends. get a group of 4, buy a 4 pack on steam right now, plug in some controllers and go beat up some wizards

Supreme Commander/Supreme Commander 2/Starcraft 2/Warcraft 3 - these are all incredibly similar games but they all represent the same thing. fun rts with a high skill ceiling that i sank literal weeks into at a time as a kid. out of all of these, supreme commander 2 is best for big battles, starcraft 2 is best for fucking around, and warcraft 3 has the best campaign.

roblox - although i hate what it represents now, i cant mention best games without giving at least a passing mention to this poorly aging milk. i've played this inconsistently since 2010. lots of great games back then because of how simple they were, and lots of great games now because of how impressive they are for 2 college students to have coded. i'll encourage anyone to at least give this an ironic try because it's actually quite technically impressive at times if you ignore the screaming children.

 

[Acklow]

Top 5 (in order with the best on top):

Nier: Automata

There's countless amazing reviews on this one. It's a masterpiece. I won't say much more than that, just go play the game for yourself if you haven't already.

9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors (Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward too, but since they're in the same series I'll just tie it with 999)

Visual Novel gameplay aside, this game features great puzzles and an insanely gripping story along with its sequel. The final title in the series isn't as strong as the first two which is why I only mention them. The first is probably my most favorite due to the sheer creepiness coming from the music and narration.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

This was a game I watched my dad play growing up as a kid in the early 2000s, and it always fascinated me until I got a chance to play it myself. This game is seriously a gem and showcases Kojima's prowess as a story teller using a medium that has become mainline today. It's also a game that feels timeless, as you can easily pick it up today and play through it due to the fact that the mechanics alone don't feel like they've aged at all.

Xenoblade Chronicles (1 & 2)

The previous titles featured really strong stories that don't exactly feel like they're following the hero's story, the inclusion of Xenoblade and the next game on my list probably seem like odd choices. This is partly due to the fact that I just wasn't sure which last two games really impacted me, but after some thought I came to the conclusion on these two. Xenoblade Chronicles and its successor are JRPGs. I've always been a bit partial on JRPGs, especially turn-based ones (and especially Pokemon, which I've come to loathe gameplay-wise for a long time). XC 1 & 2 mix things up by making combat real-time with some turn-based elements in the form of cool down timers for abilities. This turns the dreaded grind into a more enjoyable experience, and positioning and timing abilities in order to chain combos becomes very important as a result in order to make battles go by smoothly. Many will argue that the story is better in the first game, and I will likely agree. However, that isn't to say that the second game isn't nearly as good either. Aside from some minor mechanical changes and the slightly annoying introduction of a gotcha roll (that ISN'T MONETIZED, mind you), the game plays quite tightly and the story is a ride to boot. Anyways this is the most you'll get out of me on this one. Go play the games for yourself, but give them some time to pick-up storewide (lol JRPGs, amirite?).

Advance Wars Days of Ruin

The last game on the list was, as mentioned earlier, a difficult one to choose. There are loads of platformers, RPGs, action games, and story-driven adventure games that I could've picked (such as the Ace Attorney series). I ended up landing on this game due to the fact that this game is often overlooked by many. The Advance Wars series will always have a special place in my heart due to how enjoyable the strategy within the game is. Days of Ruin takes the original formula and tightens nearly every aspect of the games strengths and shores up many of its weaknesses as well. From balance to the literal user interface changes, DoR looks and plays smoothly. One of the things I remember noticing after playing through both DoR and AW: Dual Strike, was that DoR just felt better to play. There were no overpowered NeoTanks or Pipe Cannons or CO Powers. The visuals were also easier on the eyes. And the game itself felt like it ran a heck of a lot faster than DS, especially when swapping between menus. I also like how the story went in a completely different direction, which itself was a huge risk the developers took. Games that change their formula from a successful model to something that tangibly looks and feels unlike the original product often fall flat on their face. There are countless examples of this in the games industry (just look at Paper Mario or Star Wars Battlefront). Anyways, that's enough said on the subject matter. Since the Switch is all the rage now, you probably have heard of Wargroove and may or may not have played it. If you enjoyed that, go pick up copy of DoR. I guarantee you it's worth your time.


So yeah. You may notice I spent more time explaining my final two choices as opposed to my first three. That's because of the first three, two of them are critically acclaimed and most everybody knows about them and their value in the eyes of the game industry. 999 also is highly regarded as well, but because of the nature of the story I can't really talk much about it which is why I kept my description brief. The last two games, as mentioned were difficult to pick due to how much competition they get within my top five.

 

[JasperCasper]

I agree with Nier: Automata opinion above. Despite the outdated graphics the game itself is the masterpiece indeed. I haven't heard about previous games by Yoko Taro but thanks to this game now I know.
Recently I became a fan of Yakuza series. I heard a lot of positive opinions on these games, but managed to play it only after Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami releases.
As for the older games I still love to mess around with this one and I'm glad people still play it.

 

[MikeDawg]

Xenoblade 2. Every single cutscenes is brilliant. Fantastic characters and story. Super fun collecting. Great combat system. Beautiful world. Favorite game on the Switch by far.

Civ 5 w/ Vox Populi Mod. The base game is pretty shit after playing modded, but with VP mod (and others), it's absurdly fun and engaging. Easily can put in hundreds of hours.

Skyrim. Especially with mods, just hundreds of hours of fun and exploration. Obviously works best if it isn't your first Elder Scrolls game. You can run it on a toaster at this point, and it's usually just a few dollars on Steam. Spamming the jump button until you reach the top of a mountain is great. One of the opennest open-world games out there.

 

[Martin]

I revisited Soul Calibur 3 a month or two back and man I forgot how much I liked that game. I played when I was a kid and playing it again was a nostalgia bomb that was way more satisfying than probably any other nostalgia revisit I’ve done before it. The music is so much better than SCVI (Confrontation is peak SC OST), the story mode is way better too, and there is honestly a vast amount of stuff to do between the branching character stories, character builder, Chronicles of the Sword, mission mode, and learning what each member of the game’s vast roster does (Lynette’s the most fun character to use out of all the SC games I’ve played). Really fun game that I strongly recommend trying out if you own a PS2.

 

[asbdsp]

Starting with mons:

FireRed, Crystal (basically emulated), Emerald
Pokemon is the place where numbers and joy and frustration, and way too much time indoors clash together.
Also Pokemon Showdown support is any electronic device's killer app, in my opinion.

Now for the rest, in the order that I remembered them when writing this post...

Beautiful as fuck game: Zelda Ocarina of Time (N64)

One that I keep coming back to at any moment: Mario Kart 64 (N64)

Let's throw an overlookd N64 game in: Pokemon Stadium 2 (N64)

Boy was I bad at this game but enjoyed every moment: Age of Empires: Rise of Rome (PC)

Watched this game orders of magnitude more than played: Starcraft Brood War (PC)

Game most influential to a concrete set of life choices I've ever played: Captain Tsubasa II (NES)

First foray into competitive gaming: Super Street Fighter II Turbo (online emulated/arcade)

Flash game sunk most time on: Stick Sports (football, tennis, cricket)

Retro beauty: King's Quest VI (PC)

My favorite children's game not named pokemon: Backyard Baseball (PC)

Racing game with amazing scenery / feel / aesthetic: Project Gotham Racing 2 (Xbox)

Best Halo game : Halo CE (Xbox)

Most immersive RPGs that I would lose myself in instead of losing my soul to numbness: Elder Scrolls Skyrim, Fallout 3 (Xbox 360)

I'll come back to this if I miss some aspect of my gaming existence that seems important, but I think I hit the big ones.

Edit: Oh, I've also played some more adult oriented games, because I guess it's okay to talk about that kind of thing these days. I won't name any titles, as I don't know this forum's rules on this kind of thing, but basically depth of gameplay, storyline, immersion are key to a memorable game here as in any other other genre.

 

[Fushin]

Hello!

My favorite games so far are :

Pokemon Gold :

I was 9 when my cousin lent me his Pokemon Red game. A year later or two , this same cousin lent me his Pokemon Gold, and I WA SHOCK ( Get the reference ? ) I was in love at first sight, I particularly loved the story between Ho-Oh and the three legendaries dogs and the musics too.
Pokemon Gold remains " to this day ! " my favorite game ( At least Pokemon game ).

Suikoden Tierkries :

The amount of characters you can have and the fact that they all have their personalities make this game one of my favorite games, I loved the story too.


Animal Crossing : Wild world :

Back then, my friend lent me his Animal Crossing on the Gamecube and I absolutely loved it, the fact that you could have your own house and optimise it really amazed me. I was kinda sad when my friend asked his game back haha. Then years later I played AC WW and the big difference was that it was a portable version and the Wifi added a big improvement to it.

Super smash bros :

The one on GameCube, the best SMB if you play it competitively. I use to play it with my brothers.
We still playing to the Wii U version but the GC one was the best. My favorite character is Doctor Mario so far.


Alone in the dark : Jack is back :

The second on Sega Saturn, played it when I was young and never finished it. 2-3 years ago I decided to beat it. I loved the atmosphere, the musics were really scary and I loved that vengeance spirit of the detective " I can't stand anybody bothering friends or childrens. I pressed the 38 against my chest. They will pay for this".

Tales Of Symphonia :

Played it years ago with my brother on GameCube, loved everything on it except when it was over haha. My brother still playing the PS4 version and ask me to play too but nostalgia is a feeling that hurts me more than words or weapons.

That's all I can think of now.

 

[Icemann]

Sup

My favorite games are:

Sonic Rush Adventure
This one could definitely just be nostalgia, but I've always thought this was an underrated gem

Pokemon Platinum
Favorite pokemon game by far. Have you heard that soundtrack??

Zelda BOTW
This game is ridiculous their is so much to do and explore and if you havent played it, you MUST

Super smash bros melee
I've always been into the tournament scene and this game is just great. So many intricate little things about the game is what I love the most about it, and the movement is just so pure and good

Halo Reach
I clocked in like 600ish hours of nearly only custom games with my friends in this games hayday, some of the most memorable times of my gaming experience. Shameless plug on a thread I made about memorable gaming moments lol

Terraria
I love games that let me play the game my own way (similar to BOTW, also minecraft as well) and this game also allows me to get creative too which I like. I have like 800 hours on this game lol

Sonic 2006
No this isnt a joke. Yes this game sucks, but I had so much playing the game when it came out. I could only ever beat shadow's story line because his was the easiest. I remember not being able to get past that part when you run away from a whale while skidding across the water, it took FOREVER because of how buggy it was. Obviously this one is all nostalgia. Also 2006 was a much different time lol

Hollowknight
It is very deep and has quite a bit of lore which I love. This games soundtrack is stupid atmospheric and amazing. Being a musician, a game just has to have a good soundtrack, and this one is very memorable.

Dont Starve/Dont starve together
Similar to terraria, you can play this game anyway. This game is super unique and you really should give it a go if you havent already. The game can be quite difficult and unforgiving at times, especially at first, but you can have so much fun playing the game with friends.

Wario Master of Disguise
Another weird pick, this game is super duper unique and filled with character. Definitely game to remind you to always be yourself. Also being wario dressed up as a dinosaur breathing fire is fucking sick

Banjo Tooie
Most people like to semi hate on this game and say kazooie is better but I wholeheartedly disagree. This game has so much more to do than kazooie. They add so much more moves and I always felt like the big worlds were way cooler than the smaller ones in kazooie



Other favorites:Mario galaxy 1 and 2, mario sunshine, zelda oot, majoras mask, Destiny, Battle Block Theater, Castle Crashers, Castle Miner z, Enter the gungeon, Mario and luigi bowsers inside story, Borderlands 2, PMD explorers of darkness

 

[aaronarium]

I know nothing about D&D so I ask you give me a bit of slack, but from what I've heard of it, the Etrian Odyssey series is pretty much cartography simulator RPG meets D&D, in that it's a dungeon crawler where you stir your own imagination with characters of your own creation as you follow a preset campaign. It spans 6 main series games, 2 side-series games, and 2 spinoffs across the DS and 3DS. It's composed by the same dude (Yuzo Koshiro) who did Kid Icarus Uprising, which is to say that the OSTs are incredible, and all 10 of them are on Spotify and Apple Music. It's pretty hardcore as far as handheld RPGs go, but the art design by people like Himukai Yuji is incredibly pleasing to look at, and serves the satisfying, visceral gameplay well. The ones on the 3DS Eshop go on sale relatively often and can sometimes be found dirt cheap.

 

[GOAO]

My favorite game is Tales of Symphonia, its the first jrpg I really put effort on and I ended up loving everything about it, from the story to the characters to the gameplay. The rest of the Tales series is mostly fine too, especially Tales of Berseria and Tales of Zestiria. Then, after that, Luigi's Mansion 1 and 2 followed closely by Chrono Trigger.
Only mentioned single player stuff because the thread seemed to ask for these. Answers were fun to read while I couldn't sleep, btw!

 

[Tenshi]

I have 3 games that I consider more or less to be tied as my favorite video game of all time

Resident Evil 3; Nemesis - Re3 is probably the game that has shaped my childhood in terms of tastes and just me playing it to hell and back. It's truly an amazing experience of a game that the other RE game fail to give due to the presence of a near unkillable tyrant that chases you throughout the game, it has split paths and rewards you for being able to stop Nemesis in each encounter(granted if you have the supplies to be able to temporarily put him down) and you'll get different stories and items depending on the paths you choose. The re3 remake is coming in April so needless to say I'm pretty hyped about it

Okami: If Okami isn't the best game of all time, it's probably the most beautiful. Its artstyle is gorgeous, its writing is great, its MUSIC is probably the single best OST in gaming to date. I have so much to praise here but really you just need to play the game yourself, the hd remaster is on the ps4 and switch both for 20$ so it's very cheap compared to most games.

Bayonetta: Bayonetta was my first taste of a Hack n Slash game and it's an amazing one. Common thread between these 3 games is that they have AMAZING soundtracks and Bayonetta is probably the strongest of the 3, having intense and stunning orchestral pieces that fit the fast paced action perfectly. The game is difficult to start but once you learn the basics of combat and how to keep your combos you'll find yourself getting platinums on each Verse, and eventually pure platinum on every level. The boss battles are quick and intense, that much more rewarding when you're able to beat them without taking damage for the pure platinum on each level. It's a game that rewards perfection and style and it just vibes with me, now that I have a switch I'm very excited to be able to try Bayonetta 2 in the future

 

[disgraceland]

Lately I don't usually play many games like before. But without a doubt one of my favorites is Destiny:
If I have to choose, I keep the first one that came out. I like the second one because it maintains how frantic the Crucible is or the competitive modes, where you can measure your strength. It is very tactical depending on how or with whom you play. Perhaps what I do not like is that the first game was more complete or authentic, and as much as they put new things it will not improve the above. In his day I cast many hours, but now less and less. Still it is one of my favorite games. I highlight the music, I love it.

Emerald Pokémon:
It was one of the first that I played of this wonderful saga and for me the best. I think it was the first game where the pokemon moved and for me that was great, as one more step. And then there is the gold clasp when adding the Battle Front. That made it even better than it already was. It was a surprise. I spent many hours and was lucky to get a few symbols of silver and some of gold. The battle pyramid was impossible for me. He always came with weakened pokemon, haha.

 

[Gallant Spear]

This list refers to a popular Twitter hashtag sometimes ago about 4 most influential games to you.

1. Pokemon Gold, my first Pokemon game and introduced me to pokemon games in general
2. Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII, I love final fantasy and this is the first final fantasy game I cleared
3. Pinball from Windows PC, my only PC game when I was a kid, me and my cousin tried to beat each other high score
4. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, favorite game of all time, great animation,great puzzle, great characters

Honorable mentions:
-Super Robot Wars OG, has the best sound tracks of all the original series (ehm Trombe)
-Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, has better implementation of job system and red mage
-Into the Breach, puzzle+board game+rogue like+giant mecha, best combo

 

[Divine Retribution]

RuneScape was the first multiplayer PC game I ever played at the age of like 10, way back in 2006, and will always be a game I appreciate, no matter how hard Jagex tries to run it into the ground. I also believe it's the one single game I have the most time on, with over 10,000 hours clocked on two separate accounts.

Pokemon Emerald was probably the one Pokemon game I've replayed more than any other, and definitely my favorite entry in the main Pokemon series.

Besides Emerald, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/the Sky are probably the games I've replayed the second most, and were definitely amazing games for their time. Would recommend any Pokemon fan give them a try if for some reason they haven't. The gameplay is kinda mediocre but the storyline blows any contempory Pokemon game's storyline out of the water.

The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind is still the best Elder Scrolls game. Miss me with that modded Skyrim bullshit.

Similarly, Fallout: New Vegas is my favorite Fallout game, but Fallout 3 isn't far behind it. Fallout 4 feels too sandbox-y and not RPG-y enough for me.

Team Fortress 2 is honestly a fucking hilarious game, and was the first FPS game I played, and responsible for my inability to play any game on more than 400 DPI. If you wanna play a FPS game that doesn't take itself as seriously as your generic Call of Duty clones, Team Fortress 2 is the game for you.

Ark: Survival Evolved was a fun little way to kill 2000 hours or so. Disgustingly buggy and broken-ass game (the PvP meta revolves almost entirely around the use of exploits), but also an incredibly fun way to waste a few hours with your friends.

I spent a fair amount of time playing Overwatch, but I'll be honest, I don't really like Overwatch much. The gameplay is not bad, but I don't like the aesthetic and the skill ceiling on this game is insanely high. If you actually want to be good at it, you need to dedicate an insane amount of time to mastering it, and I really just could never be bothered.

PlanetSide 2 is one of my all-time favorite games, and it annoys me that this game doesn't get the recognition or popularity it deserves (mostly because Daybreak Games is a borderline incompetent company... I seem to have a penchant for playing great games owned by terrible companies), because it's honestly fucking amazing and there's nothing else like it. Combined arms battles between hundreds of players across gigantic maps, with relatively fluid gameplay and stable servers? The closest thing I can think of to compare it to is Arma, but the differences in gameplay are huge. In Arma, you spend 80% of your time getting to fights, in PlanetSide, you can join a fight in 15 seconds at the most.

Hot take time, but Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was actually a pretty decent game if you appreciate it for what it is. It's not a main series Metal Gear game, it's a spinoff (think Pokemon Mystery Dungeon compared to the main series). It's not a stealth game, it's a hack n' slash that has some stealth elements in it because Metal Gear was in the title. It's almost comically edgy (in case the name didn't tip you off), but if you can look past the 14 year old weeaboo edgelord aesthetics and appreciate it as a Metal Gear themed hack n' slash instead of a traditional Metal Gear, it's actually a pretty fun game.

Finally, I'd call this a hot take but it's really not because literally everyone says this these days, but Minecraft is actually an incredible game simply because of how modable it is. It can be pretty much anything you want it to be, with sandbox elements as a bonus. Want to play an RPG where you can build your own shit? There's mods for that. Want to play a shooter with sandbox mechanics? There's mods for that. Want to play a 3D sandbox Pokemon game? There's a mod for that. The possibilities for this game are literally endless. Unmodded Minecraft gets old after about 2 hours, but with mods you can play this game forever and never be bored.

 

[aVocado]

1. Dark Souls
2. The Witcher 2
3. Dishonoured
4. BioShock
5. Castlevania: Aria/Dawn of Sorrow (i consider them 1 game)
6. Twilight Princess
7. Ocarina of Time
8. Hotel Dusk
9. Transistor
10. Pokemon SoulSilver
(roughly in this order)

And if you count multiplayer games, then smash and overwatch

 

[Ransei]

1. Pokemon Conquest

It's no secret that I've really loved Pokemon games. Some comments are also shown)

2. Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
(Really ORAS is incredibly underrated and it's because y'all think it needs a battle frontier. ORAS is above that, especially with the use of internet)

3. Pokemon Emerald
(This is the only core series Pokemon game I found myself being able to play through repeatedly without getting bored)

4. Pokemon Black/White
(BW's story is really dope and its postgame is very expansive for a game introducing a generation. This is mostly this high due to the amount of time I've managed to spend playing these games and eventually enjoying the sheer amount of effort GF put into them. It's sad to see these were polarizing and I remember a time myself when I disliked Generation 5. In late 2016 a popular poketuber changed my perception entirely and I managed to realize I only had reasons to love this generation)

5. Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver
(HGSS IS A TOP TIER POKEMON GAME. PERIOD.)

6. Pokemon Black 2/White 2
B2W2 has one of the best postgames but I find BW's initial game more engaging and meaningful to the entire franchise, which inflated how much more I like it over this game.

7. Undertale

8. Super Smash Bros Brawl

9. Sonic Unleashed Wii

10. Mario Kart Wii

I love all of these games to death.

 

[Diophantine]

Obligatory Pokemon picks

Hide

This is my favourite Pokemon game. My dad got it for me in Japanese in hopes that I would pick it up by playing it. It has the most enjoyable region to explore with great diverse scenery and hidden areas like Shoal Cave, Sky Tower and the Regi puzzles. The postgame is insanely good too with the Battle Frontier (7 facilities!). Each of the starters have great designs, and I'd argue this game has the best trio. Coupling that in with the great selection and distribution of Pokemon (something which the previous games lacked), it makes for a game with incredible replay value. The musiic here is, like most Pokemon games, top quality. Towns like Verdanturf, Sootopolis and Ever Grande and great Gym and Champion battle themes. There's a lot of criticism for the rival, but I think that these games work so well that the friendly rivals fit well here. Sapphire was my first game, but this is a strict upgrade.

Hide

The last good Pokemon game. PWT is everything I want from a post game battle facility. It's really cool battling all the gym leaders at full power, gym leaders from other regions, all the champions, etc. There's a great selection and distribution of Pokemon here, but unfortunately I don't really like any of the gen 5 starters. I'd put Black/White here too, and I'm a fan of it, but I felt this was a much more enjoyable experience.

Hide

Putting Gold here instead of Crystal because you can't catch the Mareep line in that, and what's a Johto run without them? GSC has its flaws in its Pokemon distribution, a poor level curve, and the starters are a big step down from its predecessors and successors, but it makes up for it in its increased difficulty and fun lore exploration which develops the previous games. Whitney's infamous Miltank, Morty's sleep spamming Gengars and Clair's Kingdra with no weaknesses (let's be real no one gets Dragon moves by then) all gave 8 year old me enough trouble to keep me satisfied and feel accomplished beating them, unlike any of the NPCs in Red/Blue/Yellow outside of Brock and Sabrina. The music in this game is severely underrated, likely due to Gameboy Colour limitations and comparisons to future games with more polished sound fonts. The Rocket battle music is so good that for once I don't mind battling through hoards of grunts, and the town themes are very calming. Even the Route themes are among Pokemon's best, with classics like Lake of Rage and Route 26. Having a whole new region as a postgame with more gym leaders, including the previous rival and even the previous protagonist. The rival was unfortunately pretty easy to defeat, but at least he was an interesting character, which is rare for a Pokemon game.

Hide

Perhaps the greatest spin-off idea in any franchise. I put so many hours into this as a kid. The story had 8 year old me emotionally captivated lol. The main game is also only half of the content here, with so many more postgame dungeons to discover. The music is good; below the average of a Pokemon game, but that's quite a high bar to reach anyway.

Hide

Same as above but with improved battle system and more Pokemon.

Other Franchise

Hide

I've never played a platformer with so few good levels be such a great game. Yes, the treasure hunting and mech stages suck really badly, but the racing/parkour stages are so incredibly fun to play that it makes you forget about how bad the others are. I never really cared much about the Chao garden, but I know loads of people loved that. The music here is incredible; go and search for the music for Knuckles' and Rouge's stages. They're so ahead of their time.

Hide

I'm a huge Naruto fan, and this game tickles my fancy so well. It has an original story, which lets you take on a whole range of interesting antagonists both from the anime and original. It has a fun JRPG battle system with a large and diverse character roster for you to choose from, giving it a really high replay value. Overworld graphics are pretty bad, but battle graphics are solid for the DS.

Hide

The only CoD that I've ever owned. Being a history nerd, campaign mode (I gotta be the only person I know that plays that lol) was such a fun experience, especially since I was learning about the Cold War in school at the time. Zombies was a lot of fun to play with friends, and even multiplayer was great.

Hide

The last FIFA game I ever played. I didn't care for Ultimate team, but remember banging out Career Mode a lot. Getting league 2 teams to Premier League, regaining glory for once good teams like AC Milan, etc. A pretty good and balanced time in world football, which is reflected in the game. They fixed a lot of problems in the old FIFA like pace and finesse shots being too cheesy. FIFA soundtracks always put me onto new indie music, so that's cool too.

Hide

I only ever played this retroactively in 2015, but it got me back into Yugioh after not playing for 6 years. There are loads of fun decks you can build in this, as it was around the end of the Synchro era. The story is whatever, but it's at least fun to play through once.

Hide

Used this to play-test decks as a kid before I went to locals lol. Really fun era of Yugioh, the last pre-Synchro game. A lot of fun decks you can build in this.

Hide

Most Dragonball games are mediocre fighters, but this was a fun RPG. I see people compare it to the Legend of Zelda games, but I haven't played them before, so I can't make that comparison myself. The areas to explore are cool, and the temporal setting of the story gives you a diverse cast of characters to work with. The music is awesome, with GBA versions of the show's music and some of its own original tracks. The only problem I have with this is the one part with the dinosaur eggs.

 

[SpiritGuy]

Hide

I have to admit I got involved in the franchise quite late. I bought this game for my 10th birthday, and I really loved it. Several hours training my mons after middle school (and now I'm quite scary to admit I'm quiting highschool for university, time flies so fast…)

Hide

It's not a very famous game. It's done by the same team who made the Sims, and… it's another simulation game. A crative soul like me couldn't appreciate it. This game is a reproduction of life history since the Big Bang. Almost everything is based on customisable content. Creatures, buildings, vehicles… And this extension add you a mod which allows you create short adventures you can enjoy during the Space phase or directly from the menu. or Iv'e spend litterally thousands of hours playing this since December 2011 (when I got the game)
The only weaknesses of this game are its repeatibility and the lack of editors which should've been in the game like flora editor or cell editor.

Hide

Dragon Quest is a serie I love and I think deserve really more attention (at least in Europe or in America. It's quite a classic J-RPG but the story stay very enjoyable. The main news is you can recrute characters you've created yourself: Vocation, appearence, name...

 

[Adeleine]

10. Smash Brawl
9. Pokemon Shield
8. Mario Kart 8 DX
7. Terraria
6. Persona Q2
5. Kirby Star Allies
4. Kid Icarus Uprising
3. Kirby 64
2. Smash Ultimate
1. Super Mario Galaxy

 

[BP]

Life Changing Experience

This was my first ever Dragon Quest game and I got it on my 9th Birthday right after it came out. IT BLEW MY FUCKING MIND. Everything about this game was fucking incredible to my 9-year-old brain. The battles were fun, the characters were interesting, and the customization was fantastic. I loved everything about this game including how difficult it was for me at the time.

Favorite Pokemon Games

I grew up Playing Pokemon Red and Blue for the gameboy color so when I learned about these remakes I got them ASAP. I was probably 5 or 6 when I first played these and I loved them so much. It was fun seeing all the Pokemon I first learned about in a more Static Ken Sugimori style. I still think these are the greatest Pokemon games to date purely based on Nostalga alone but they did so much right with these games and only fucked up one aspect to be honest.

The Replayability value on this one is poggers

So I played this incredibly fucked up game when I was like 4 and 5 on my dad's Playstation 2 a lot. I didn't really pay attention to the story because it scared the fuck out of me but I loved the gameplay. The soundtrack is fantastic and in my opinion, is the best ever Car Combat game in existence. No other vehicular combat game will ever top this in my opinion. Each character is so unique and fucked up and their stories each are dynamic and fun. Each vehicle is fun to use and learn. 10/10 game in m opinion

 

[asbdsp]

Starting with mons:

FireRed, Crystal (basically emulated), Emerald
Pokemon is the place where numbers and joy and frustration, and way too much time indoors clash together.
Also Pokemon Showdown support is any electronic device's killer app, in my opinion.

Now for the rest, in the order that I remembered them when writing this post...

Beautiful as fuck game: Zelda Ocarina of Time (N64)

One that I keep coming back to at any moment: Mario Kart 64 (N64)

Let's throw an overlookd N64 game in: Pokemon Stadium 2 (N64)

Boy was I bad at this game but enjoyed every moment: Age of Empires: Rise of Rome (PC)

Watched this game orders of magnitude more than played: Starcraft Brood War (PC)

Game most influential to a concrete set of life choices I've ever played: Captain Tsubasa II (NES)

First foray into competitive gaming: Super Street Fighter II Turbo (online emulated/arcade)

Flash game sunk most time on: Stick Sports (football, tennis, cricket)

Retro beauty: King's Quest VI (PC)

My favorite children's game not named pokemon: Backyard Baseball (PC)

Racing game with amazing scenery / feel / aesthetic: Project Gotham Racing 2 (Xbox)

Best Halo game : Halo CE (Xbox)

Most immersive RPGs that I would lose myself in instead of losing my soul to numbness: Elder Scrolls Skyrim, Fallout 3 (Xbox 360)

I'll come back to this if I miss some aspect of my gaming existence that seems important, but I think I hit the big ones.

Edit: Oh, I've also played some more adult oriented games, because I guess it's okay to talk about that kind of thing these days. I won't name any titles, as I don't know this forum's rules on this kind of thing, but basically depth of gameplay, storyline, immersion are key to a memorable game here as in any other other genre.

Missed Dark Souls (the first one, didn't care for the sequels) out of this list. Beating it was rather an experience, although I'm a bit old to want to replay it.

 

[Wargenflorgen]

Mine has to be Xenoblade Chronicles. I love everything about it; even its flaws are part of the charm. It has one of the best stories in a video game, a first-rate soundtrack, and a memorable interconnected world full of things to explore and unique, charming locations. Then Monolith Soft went and remastered it, giving it beautiful graphics and orchestrating the score. It was already perfect, but now it's even better.