I can't pick a single game.  It would have to be the FF series, when 13 came out I mentioned to my mom that I bought it and she looked at me and said "They still make that game?  I think that's why you are so addicted to video games"

She is probably right, that and Zelda, and the only reason I jumped the Ninty ship when the PS came around was I didn't have much money @ 16 years old so I picked the PS as I assumed that the PS would get more FF games than the N64 would get Zelda games.  Plus the N64 had that god-awful controller

Half Life 2 was a truly eye opener for me and the 2 episodes were fantastic. Portal was a short sweet treat that was fun and hilarious. Team fortress 2 is Still fun to go back to play now and then, but they all came in 1 glorious case called the orange box. :)

Did that really happen?

Oh man i have so many.. ranging from SMW to DK64. Zelda WW, Pokemon R/B/G, GTA3... i really cant choose

If somebody told me to choose a game, other than Super Metroid... I'd slap the guy in the face and choose Super Metroid anyway.

Damn, that was my ideea for my next thread: "Choose a game that you like other than Super Metroid".

I have to say even though there are many games that I love, some that I'd say I favour more then this game, a game I hold 'close to my heart' is Crash Bandicoot 2.

While games like FF7 or 8 are my favourite, Crash 2 is just spectacular of a game. Crash 1 was good, a 3D/2D platformer but in 2 they improved it so much, Crash could so so much more, the levels were great, it was unique, entertaining and always fun to play. It always brings back happy times for me.

What about Crash 3?

Crash 3 was good, no doubt there just it doesn't have the same feel as Crash 2 to me...oddly.

Just one?  That's so hard!  How about five?

Grim Fandango (if I did have to chose one it might be this)

Still one of the best, most original narratives in any game - nothing here felt like a rip off from a movie, comic or novel or other better source.  Grim Fandango was a true, original creation.

Great characters with actual heart and a theme and story that actually took you somewhere emotionally.

Some of the best voice acting ever, fun puzzles and just a fantastic ending.

As close to perfection as it gets for videogames.  You might not like it, but that's just taste.  The game itself has no real flaws or issues inherent in its design.

Please get this on PSN or Steam remastered in HD to really let the wonderful art direction shine.

Ico

Just fantastic.  Again, it felt wholly it's own creation - a well constructed little story in the mold of fairy tales and fables.

The single best use of feedback ever via rumble, a perfect ending and a perfect journey render Ico in that rare circle of essentially perfect games.


Deus Ex

Yeah it's flawed, the narrative has a few holes and the graphics even for the time were a bit hit and miss.

But such ambition!  Even today few games come remotely close to the depth of world and ambition showcased here, nor have remotely as much variety of missions.  Almost everything in the world worked and almost every off course action you could take seemed to have been anticipated.  You could take a basketball and bounce it off people's heads and they'd respond appropriately!

Deserved winner of massive amounts of awards, but too much for the average gamer at the time (maybe even still) Deus Ex is a monument to potential and aiming way above average.

Half Life 2

FPS Single Player perfection.  Today the focus has swung to MP, and most SP campaigns are frankly, awful and only exist to showcase a few setpieces and tick a box that gamers seem to want ticked.

But HL2 predates that and is from a time when the SP was the focus where you'd start before moving on to MP.

It still represents, in flow, level design and construction of the campaign around variety, clear design and a total lack of reliance on other mediums conventions - no cut-scenes here to convey some exposition - the gold standard for FPS SP campaigns.

From urban run & gun to survival horror to vehicle sections to SF thriller the ride flows smoothly and assuredly from the beginning right to the perfectly aligned ending.


Elite

Elite was the title that made me realize, way back in the early days of videogaming, just how far things might go.  It gave you an open Universe and let you run with it.
It was an is Elite.

Now, why the hell can't they produce any worthy follow ups with all the tech we have today?