Well it's another day and I'm in the mood to do another list. Why not? The following are my favorite games by year of release, starting with the first year I really got into gaming properly.

Note: I'm using American titles where applicable. Also, I'm not even going to pretend that this is an objective list of the highest-quality titles from any given year. This is just a list of my personal favorites that reflects my personal tastes and biases.

1987: Metroid
1988: Phantasy Star
1989: The Guardian Legend
1990: The Secret of Monkey Island
1991: Out of This World*
1992: Alone in the Dark
1993: Secret of Mana
1994: Super Metroid
1995: Chop Suey
1996: Wonder Project J2
1997: Mischief Makers
1998: Magic Knight Rayearth
1999: Drakan: Order of the Flame
2000: The Longest Journey
2001: Ico
2002: Metroid Prime
2003: Beyond Good & Evil
2004: Yume Nikki
2005: Psychonauts
2006: Okami
2007: Portal
2008: Mirror's Edge
2009: Flower
2010: Heavy Rain
2011: Portal 2
2012: Papo & Yo
2013: Gone Home
2014: This War of Mine
2015: Undertale
2016: Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
2017: Butterfly Soup
2018 (so far): Celeste

*This game is called Another World in Europe.

So how about you? Can you create such a list of your own favorites, organized by year of release? (If you're forgetting release dates, Google and Wikipedia are always helpful that way.)

Very cool thread idea :)

I actually did this experiment in 2016. If you're at all curious you can find 1977-2016 here, here, here, and here.

For 2017, it's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

For 2018, I guess it's Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux? I haven't gotten to God of War or Monster Hunter or Celeste or Far Cry 5 or Into the Breach or many others, so I can't really speak with confidence.

I'll start from 1996, runners up in brackets. Probably going to miss something I really like but oh well.

1996 - Pokemon Blue/Red (Super Mario 64)
1997 - Crash Bandicoot 2 (Age of Empires, Diddy Kong Racing)
1998 - Spyro the Dragon (Crash Bandicoot 3)
1999 - Crash Team Racing (Age of Empires 2, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Mario Party 2, Pokemon Gold/Silver)
2000 - Mario Party 3 (Crash Bash)
2001 - Jak and Daxter (Smash Bros Melee)
2002 - Wipeout Fusion (Super Mario Sunshine)
2003 - Knights of the Old Republic (Ratchet & Clank 2, Freelancer, Mario Kart Double Dash)
2004 - Ratchet & Clank 3 (The Sims 2, Star Wars Battlefront, Mario Party 6)
2005 - Mario Kart DS (Ratchet Deadlocked, Super Mario Strikers)
2006 - Animal Crossing Wild World
2007 - Mass Effect (Super Mario Galaxy, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters)
2008 - Mario Kart Wii (Fallout 3, Little Big Planet)
2009 - Ratchet & Clank: Crack in Time (Batman: Arkham Asylum)
2010 - Civilization V (Sonic & Sega Allstars Racing)
2011 - Terraria (Ocarina of Time 3D, Rayman Origins)
2012 - Persona 4: Golden
2013 - Tomb Raider (Rayman Legends, GTA V)
2014 - Mario Kart 8 (Dragon Age: Inquisition)
2015 - The Witcher 3 (Fallout 4)
2016 - Ratchet & Clank (Civilization 6, Uncharted 4)
2017 - Crash Bandicoot Trilogy (Persona 5, Super Mario Odyssey, Mass Effect Andromeda)

Didn't play all of these the year they launched, seeing as I was only born in '91, but they're my favorite games I remember playing from those years.

1988: Super Mario Bros. 3
1989: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1990: Super Mario World
1991: Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
1992: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
1993: Myst
1994: Cruis'n USA
1995: Discworld
1996: Pokemon Red/Blue
1997: Tomb Raider 2
1998: Sonic Adventure
1999: Super Smash Bros.
2000: Deus Ex
2001: Halo CE
2002: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
2003: Max Payne 2
2004: Halo 2
2005: Jade Empire
2006: Gears of War
2007: Mass Effect
2008: Gears of War 2
2009: Dragon Age: Origins
2010: Red Dead Redemption
2011: Dark Souls
2012: Dragon's Dogma
2013: GTAV
2014: Divinity: Original Sin
2015: Witcher 3
2016: Overwatch
2017: Divinity: Original Sin 2
2018: Monster Hunter: World (so far)

Looking back through the years, this was actually really hard, because there's barely any years where I thought it was a clear cut choice.

1987: Super Mario Bros
1988: Gain Ground
1989: Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
1990: Super Mario Land
1991: -
1992: Sonic the Hedgehog 2
1993: Mega Man X
1994: Donkey Kong '94
1995: -
1996: Kirby Super Star
1997: -
1998: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
1999: -
2000: Pokémon Trading Card Game
2001: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
2002: Tom and Jerry in Fists of Furry
2003: -
2004: -
2005: Pokémon Emerald
2006: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
2007: Mario Party DS
2008: Mario Kart Wii
2009: Mario & Sonic on the Olympic Winter Games 2010
2010: Pokémon Heartgold & Soulsilver
2011: Mario Kart 7
2012: Pokémon Black & White 2
2013: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
2014: Mario Kart 8
2015: Super Mario Maker
2016: Fire Emblem Fates
2017: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2018: -

I've played a lot of older games as well that I could list, but I think I'll start the list the year after I was born.

1988: Super Mario Bros. 3 (Technically, this wasn't released until 1991 in Europe, but 1988 was its original release year)
1989: Mega Man 2 
1990: Secret of Monkey Island
1991: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Still my favourite in the series)
1992: Dune II
1993: Secret of Mana (Still one of the best co-op RPGs ever)
1994: Final Fantasy VI 

1978 Space invaders
1979 Asteroids
1980 Rogue
1981 Donkey Kong
1982 River raid
1983 Bomberman
1984 Tetris
1985 Jet set willy 2
1986 Space quest
1987 Space quest 2
1988 F19 Stealth fighter
1989 Sim city
1990 The secret of Monkey island
1991 Civilization
1992 Dune 2
1993 Doom
1994 Warcraft
1995 Command & Conquer
1996 Duke Nukem 3D
1997 Final Fantasy 7
1998 Half Life
1999 Everquest
2000 The sims
2001 ICO
2002 Windwaker
2003 Beyond good & evil
2004 Half Life 2
2005 Shadow of the Colossus
2006 Okami
2007 Super Paper Mario
2008 Little big planet
2009 Ratchet & Clank: A crack in time
2010 Gran Turismo 5
2011 Dark Souls
2012 Journey
2013 Ni No Kuni
2014 Alien isolation
2015 Fallout 4
2016 Rez (PSVR)
2017 RE7 (PSVR)
2018 Gran Turismo Sport

GTS came out in 2017 yet I'm still playing it daily, deserves the spot of 2018 for me as it keeps getting better.

Jeez I've been gaming for 40 years already. On to the next 40!

1985: Super Mario Bros.

1986: The Legend of Zelda

1987:  Double Dragon

1988:  Super Mario Bros 3.

1989: Tetris 

1990: Super Mario World

1991: TMNT: Turtles in Time

1992: Shinning Force

1993: Sonic CD

1994: Super Metroid

1995: Chrono Trigger/Donkey Kong Country 2

1996: Super Mario 64

1997: Castlevania Symphony of the Night

1998: Final Fantasy Tactics/TLOZ Ocarina of Time

1999: Pokémon Gold/Silver

2000: Jet Set Radio

2001: Super Smash Bros Melee/ICO

2002: Eternal Darkness

2003: Fire Emblem

2004: Katamari Damacy/GTA San Andreas

2005: Shadow of the Colosssus/Resident Evil 4

2006: Hitman Blood Money

2007: Super Mario Galaxy

2008: Dead Space

2009: Uncharted 2

2010: Heavy Rain/Red Dead Redemption

2011: Rayman Origins/Motorstorm Apocalypse

2012: Gravity Rush

2013: The Last of Us/Fire Emblem Awakening

2014: Super Smash Bros for WiiU/3DS

2015: Fallout 4/Undertale

2016: Persona 5

2017: Cuphead/Super Mario Oddysey

1996: Tomb Raider
1997: Final Fantasy VII
1998: Metal Gear Solid
1999: Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
2000: -
2001: Sonic Adventure 2
2002: Resident Evil (Remake)
2003: The Simpsons: Hit & Run
2004: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
2005: Resident Evil 4
2006: Tomb Raider: Legend
2007: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
2008: Tales of Vesperia
2009: Assassin's Creed II
2010: Final Fantasy XIII
2011: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
2012: Persona 4 GOLDEN
2013: The Last of Us
2014: Mario Kart 8
2015: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (it hurts to put this here)
2016: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
2017: Resident Evil 7

I really struggled with some years. I can't find any half decent game I've played for 2000. 2003 and 2006 were a stretch.

The Nintendo years:

1990: Super Mario World
1991: A Link to the Past
1992: Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
1993: Mega Man X
1994: Super Metroid
1995: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
1996: Super Mario 64

The PC years:

1997: Fallout
1998: Ocarina of Time
1999: System Shock 2
2000: Deus Ex

The GameCube vs PS2 years:

2001: Ico
2002: Metroid Prime
2003: Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
2004: Half-Life 2
2005: Resident Evil 4
2006: Kingdom Hearts 2

The PC revival:

2007: The Witcher

The Playstation years:

2008: Grand Theft Auto IV
2009: Demon's Souls
2010: Fallout New Vegas
2011: Portal 2
2012: The Walking Dead
2013: The Last of Us
2014: Alien Isolation
2015: The Witcher III
2016: Dishonored 2
2017: Breath of the Wild
2018: God of War