The correct answer is somewhere in there :P

Hmmm.... Final Fantasy VII?

It was devisive for the people that enjoyed the SNES games/Nintendo fans

Aww, close!  I'll give you it because you did guess it in your first try.

It was FF VIII.  Divisive because of the draw mechanics and THAT plot twist.  Generally across the internet I tend to meet people who either love FF VIII (like me!) or hate it.

3. Final Fantasy IX (2000)

Down from 2nd, this is my favorite Final Fantasy game, largely because it goes back flawlessly to the roots of the series.  Indeed, part of the allure of this game was the story (my favorite), set not ina futuristic setting but instead the standard fantasy medieval setting.  There is plenty of lore, backstory, and allusions to previous games that will make you smile if you've played previous games.  The combat is good with a four player lineup and simplistic trance system.  More interestingly is how equipment and skills work together in character development.  Using your weapons to master new skills you can use and then deciding upon a limited amount of points worth of skills to keep active makes you put some thought into how you build your characters within their designated classes and allows you to adapt your builds to the type of combat you are enduring.  In addition, there are plenty of minigame opportunities between the tetramaster card game, moogle mail, and chocobo content.  Chocobo hot and cold remains my favorite Final Fantasy minigame to date.  The music in this game is also exquisite with songs like Vamo' Alla Flamenco and Melodies of Life.

3. Super Smash Bros. Melee, GC (2001) Nintendo/HAL Labs

This was my fallback game through the entire GC generation and early Wii generation (before Brawl came around), and therefore probably has more play hours than any other game in my collection. Despite some of the balancing problems in favor of the faster characters, the combat was a phenomenal balance of simplicity and depth, taking an opposite tack to most fighting games that revel in their own complexity. The game also had a multitidue of side-modes and tons of stuff to collect, meaning there was always something to do that involved beating the crap out of some character from Nintendo history. The only other thing i resent about this game is that my main of mains, Kirby, was nerfed severely from the original game in Melee (although that would be greatly rectified in Brawl).

Other mains were Mr. Game and Watch, Marth, and Ganondorf.

Number 2 introduced a character to this franchise who was absolutely beloved at the time (and believed to be killed off at the end of the game), but fans saw him as embodying everything wrong with the franchise four years later when he got his own game.

God of War II

#4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)

Over 600 hours of play time. More than 6000 online Brawls. A fighting series like no other. SSBB is one of the reasons I became a frequent poster on this site, the Brawl thread was excellent to find opponents and to comment and whine about a heated match. Despite being mid tier at best, I never changed my main character and continued to kick ass with the mighty Peach. Of course, she wasn't the only I used Pikachu, Diddy Kong, Bowser, Yoshi, Ice Climbers, R.O.B. all got plenty of playtime.

One of the greater injustice this game has suffered is the myth that the online is no good. The "With anyone" option sucks I'll give you that but with friends from VGChartz or Allisbrawl or Smashboards there's no other fighting game that even comes close.

#3. Final Fantasy VII (PS1, PSN)

I bought a Playstation solely for this game after renting it for a weekend. I don't give a damn about people calling it overrated, all I know is that it's the Final Fantasy game I enjoyed the most. The story was really interesting starting off with Cloud as an ex-membre of SOLDIER but as the story progressed you gradually learned that his past isn't exactly what it seems.

The materia system helps make this game incredible. Pairing magic with modifiers provides some really interesting abilities and combinaison and once you're done the main quest there's tons of sidequests you can tackle: chocobo breeding, hunting the Weapons, getting the final limits for every character, finding all Summons, the battle arena and various mini-games in the Gold Saucer.

Also I want to mention that the game has an awesome soundtrack once again composed by Nobuo Uematsu. My favorite track being the main theme that plays when you're walking around the world map (the Distant World version is magical).

Hint for #2:

Depending on the mammal you choose, you'll either fight a giant egg or a super-charged android for the final boss.