Game of the decade: The 1980s

[SanAndreasX]

My honorable mentions:

Donkey Kong: it was the first video game I can actually remember playing. I had the Atari 8-bit version, which was one of the few version that had the Cement Factory level and was the closest approximation to the arcade game. It's still my favorite arcade game of all time. I even got the Arcade Archives version for the Switch.

Metroid: Loved the NES music and the atmosphere. I've always said the Metroid games were better Alien games than the actual Alien games.

Joust and Balloon Fight: Joust I played with my sister at the arcade and on Atari, Balloon Fight was the same idea.

Alternate Reality: my first RPG. I'd rank it as the second best game of 1985 after Super Mario Bros. It was pretty complex for its time, with day/night, hunger/thirst, poison, and alignment. It was a modular RPG and I only had the City module, and the only other module that was actually completed was the Dungeon. They had also planned for Wilderness, Palace, Arena, and two story-based modules which were supposed to explain the whole game world, but those never got completed.

Dragon Warrior: First Japanese RPG. I downloaded it for the Switch recently. As simplistic as it is by today's standards, it was really something special on the NES, and I still enjoyed playing through it now.