In order of appearance.
Super Mario Bros 3 - Started my gaming life. No game have been as influential for me. My benchmark for any platformer. Short but intense levels. Secrets in abundance. Perfect controls. The first game I remember playing. Probably have played it at least once a year since I was 5 (am currently 38). SMB 3 is always a good time. Most any of the big Mario games could have that effect I think depending on when you started gaming.
The Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past - Zelda was from the release of this game until the release of BotW my favorite series. The reveal of the Dark World was such a moment. The puzzles going back and forth between the worlds feels like it opened my brain towards new ways of thinking, a feeling only Portal have replicated for me again. Each action adventure with focus on items is compared to this game. And I even consider many of the 3D Zelda games to be a copy of this game instead of the almost equally excellent Ocarina of Time
Heroes of might and Magic II - Turn based strategy had not felt this grand before. Today I Heroes of might and Magic prefer the superior third game, but it was the second heroes of might and magic that sparked the joy of resource handling and careful planning that I like. Later the first western release of Fire Emblem and the Advance Wars games would give my handheld turn based fix.
Diablo - Going down down down. The first game that got my heart pumping out of fearful excitement. Randomly generated levels and variety in quests and enemies made replays able to surprise again and again. What is generated is what you get, making me want to check every barrel and corner if I missed something. Diablo is responsible for making consequence, that your acts actually feel like they matter, almost a most have in any game for me. No action RPG has yet to live up to that. Diablo still stands.
Warcraft 3 - I had played several different real time strategy games before like Warcraft 2 and Starcraft. Both of them I sort of prefer for the RTS gameplay. But the custom games of warcraft 3 spawned so many new type of game genres that I love, auto battlers, tower defense, mobas ect. Just massive influence for my gaming taste can be traced to this game. The sound effects of Warcraft 3 is probably my favorite in any game. Units lines are still used by me almost unknowingly every other day and whenever I listen to a music track from the game I get reminded of how great it is, something I did not appreciate enough back when I started to play it. It was also the first PC game I bought.
Another Code Two Memories - Uncover all secrets for a happier ending. Sparked new life for adventure games for me. The goal is sort of to experience as much of the story as there is. Visited a lot of older adventure games, mainly from Lucas arts, after this one. Sure they had their charm and was very funny at times but only Hotel Dusk and the Ace Attorney games gave me the same feeling of discovering the story.
Resident Evil 4 - I had tried a few games before this where guns was a major part of the gameplay, but this is the first game with that element that I like. The first game with a high recommended age. Another game that really got my blood pumping. Less run away and more action. The gameplay design is so well done that pretty much all parts of the game feel fun to play through. I play this and want to replay it at the same time. Only surpassed by the RE4 remake and sort of matched with the more story-focused the Last of Us.
The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim - This game pretty much both got me into and killed the game type of choose your own adventure open world thing. One of my least liked type of game after sports and FPS. I liked Skyrim. I liked just going around anywhere, doing anything. Maybe finish a quest here and there. I played it a lot. But open world for me is a sandbox missing what has become my most important part of games I like, consequence. It is less at fault compared to many other games where units respawn all the time, but all games that I think of as "like Skyrim" lack any sense of urgency or that what I do matter. Horizon, Elden Ring, BotW and whatever other game that I put in that category is sorted away for me. I have Skyrim to thank or curse for that.
