1. Super Mario 64 - The same reasons that everyone else had

2. Legend of Zelda - I don't know why but it just is

3. Wii Sports - Creative Wiimote use

super mario bros.- revived us industry and invented a genre
legend of zelda- made adventure games, save feature (i consider this the most important feature a game has ever had, other than the first vg)
super mario 64- showed how to make a 3d game for real

NES: Super Mario Bros. I guess i'm not dumb then.

N64: Super Mario 64. 3D platforming was never the same.

Wii: Wii Sport for now, but this is to be replaced with Brawl or Galaxy.

NES: Super Mario Bros (mother of 2D platformers)

N64: Super Mario 64 (mother of 3D platformers)

Wii: Wii Sports (mother of motion control games)

how can the original legend of zelda not be in every list for the sole reason of the save game? i dont know of a single console game anymore that doesnt use save to a huge extent.