f13.net

X. YOU GET ONE POST IN THIS THREAD, MAKE IT COUNT.
0. Post your top 20 list below.
1. They do not have to be in order.
2. You can, if you REALLY FEEL THE NEED TO VALIDATE YOUR OWN OPINION (psychos), post a brief paragraph.
3. All non top-twenty posts will be deleted.
4. All double posts will be deleted.
5. You can edit your list as the week goes on, but don't make little quips about shit and edit other stuff.
6. I'm going to cross-reference each list and come up with some sort of ultimate list.
7. This is all personal opinion. Fuck the industry, fuck the developers, your opinion. Top 20. If you love Madden 96, post Madden 96.
8. A followup thread will be made saturday (12/01/07) to talk about the lists.

- RULES OF THE LIST -
1. One entry from each series. (Example: Mega Man 2 OR 3. Not both)
2. Try to post the Developer.
3. If you can find it (mobygames.com, gamefaqs.com, ign.com), post the release year (that being the release year for America, sorry everyone else, these numbers are easier to find)
4. Post the system (abbreviations: NES, SNES, GEN, SMS, PS, PS2, PS3, N64, etc.)
5. Arcade systems are fair game (abbreviations: NG, NAOMI, STV, etc.)

-FORMAT OF THE LIST - (Important since Order does not matter)

GAME NAME - DEVELOPER - SYSTEM - YEAR

Example:
Super Mario World - Nintendo Co., Ltd. - SNES - 1990

Have fun. Will post mine after much thought.

EDIT: CHANGED DATE. LONGER = BETTER. YEAR END THING, OK.
EDIT2: USE SYSTEM16.COM TO DO ARCADE SEARCHES.
EDIT3: If you put more than 1 game in a series on the list, I will delete one arbitrarily. Pick ONE from each series.

EDIT 4: ORANGE BOX IS A NOT A FUCKING GAME. PORTAL IS A GAME, TEAM FORTRESS 2 IS A GAME, AND EPISODE 2 IS A GAME. ORANGE BOX IS NOT A GAME.

This was fun to think over. Here's my initial list. I haven't played nearly as many games as some of you and only play other peoples' consoles, so my list is skewed a bit in the PC direction.  :-)
In no particular order.

1.  Descent 2 - Interplay Productions - PC - 1996 (6DoF and true 3D!)
2.  Homeworld - Relic Entertainment - PC - 1999 (First truly 3D RTS as far as I know)
3.  Ground Control - Massive Entertainment - PC - 2000 (Broke from the resource-based system common to RTS)
4.  Half-Life 2 - Valve Corporation - PC - 2004 (Great storytelling.)
5.  Civilization 4 - Firaxis Games - PC - 2005 (2 was awesome but 4 is awesomer)
6.  Katamari Damacy - Namco - PS2 - 2004 (Innovative and fun as hell)
7.  Metal Gear Solid - Konami Computer Entertainment - PS - 1998 (Good storytelling and unique gameplay)
8.  Vagrant Story - Square - PS - 2000 (Pretty revolutionary RPG for the Playstation era)
9.  Final Fantasy Tactics - Square - PS - 1997 (Probably not the first but definitely one of the best tile-based strategy RPGs)
10. Ultima Online - Origin Systems - PC - 1997
11. Super Mario RPG - Square - SNES - 1996 (Great mix of action and turn-based battle mechanisms, as well as story)
12. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nintendo - N64 - 1998
13. Mechwarrior 2 - Activision - PC - 1995
14. Super Smash Bros. Melee - HAL Laboratory - GC - 2001
15. Guitar Hero 2 - Harmonix Music Systems - PS2 - 2006
16. Age of Empires 2 - Ensemble Studios - PC - 1999 (The RTS that got me hooked on RTS)
17. Portal - Valve Corporation - PC - 2007
18. Gears of War - Epic Games - 360 - 2006 (Great gameplay, polish, good storytelling, oh and very shiny)
19. Dawn of War - Relic Entertainment - PC - 2004 (Another break from traditional resources, with a lot of thought thrown into gameplay details and graphics)
20. Shadow of the Colossus - Team Ico - PS2 - 2005

Wikipedia is a good place to look for developer and date published as well as the ones schild listed.
[edit] Lots of sequels. D:
[edit2] Portal > PoP. D'oh.

The only one per series is kind of a silly rule. Maybe my two favorite games are from the same series? What is the logic behind that rule? But whatever, here we go:

1. Super Mario Brothers 3 - Nintendo - NES
2. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Nintendo - SNES
3. Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting - Capcom - CPS1
4. Baseball Stars - SNK (?) - NES
5. Super 2020 Baseball - SNK(?) - NG
6. 'Nam 75 - SNK - NG
7. Ninja Gaiden - Tecmo - NES
8. Final Fantasy IV - Square - SNES
9. X-Men: Children of the Atom - Capcom - CPS2
10. Ogre Battle - Quest - SNES
11. Tactics Ogre - Quest - SNES
12. Earthlight - Hudson - SFC (Super Famicom)
13. Super Metroid - Nintendo - SNES
14. Resident Evil 4-  Capcom - Wii
15. Civilization - ?? - PC
16. Master of Orion 2 - ?? - PC
17. Star Control 2 - ?? - PC
18. Contra 3; The Alien Wars - Konami - SNES
19. (Super) Castlevania 4 - Konami - SNES
20. F-Zero X - Nintendo - N64

Some random notes: My list is heavily skewed in favor of old titles, some of that is nostalgia, some of it is that I played more games back then, but I also still enjoy these games! For example Super Baseball 2020 is like my ultimate comfort food game, I can play that any time and have fun. Also I consider the Ogre Battle games not part of the same series because the gameplay is totally different, to me the Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre games are two separate lines. I don't have any Genesis or PS2 games on my list, which is kind of surprising to me. Earthlight is a Super Famicom game, never came out in the US. A top 50 might be more interesting because about half my list is staple games that I'm sure will be repeated. A top 50 would certainly include some Genesis and PS2 games.

Brief disclaimer: The first ten positions are accurately in order of preference. From 10 to 20 it pretty much blends, to me.

I included Ultima Online because it belongs to a pretty much unique genre compared to the traditional single-player experience, so I thought it wouldn't be counted alongside Underworld II.
----------------

1. Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds - Looking Glass Technologies - PC - 1993
2. Planescape: Torment - Black Isle Studios - PC - 1999
3. Deus Ex - Ion Storm Inc. - PC - 2000
4. Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger - OSI - PC - 1994
5. Ultima Online - OSI - PC - 1997
6. The Bard's Tale: Tales of the Unknown Volume I - Interplay Productions - Atari ST - 1985
7. Dungeon Master - FTL Games - Atari ST - 1987
8. Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned - Sierra On-Line - PC - 2000
9. Pools of Darkness - SSI - PC - 1991
10. Kick Off 2 - Dino Dini and ANCO - Atari ST - 1990

11. Championship Manager '01-'02 - Sports Interactive - PC - 2001
12. Wonderboy - Escape/Sega - Arcade - 1986
13. Virtua Tennis 2 - Hitmaker -  Dreamcast - 2001
14. Punch-Out !! - Nintendo - Arcade - 1984
15. Zak McKraken and the Alien Mindbenders - Lucasfilm Games - Atari ST - 1988
16. Phantasie III: Wrath of Nikademus  - SSI - Atari ST - 1987
17. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure - Lucasfilm Games - Atari ST - 1989
18. Seven Gates of Jambala - The Care Bears - Atari ST - 1990
19. Doom - Id Software - PC - 1993
20. The Longest Journey - Funcom - PC - 2000

EDIT: now in a more corporate, soul-less style ! ;)
EDIT 2: Included Wing Commander III at n.4. Last time list get edited, I promise :P
EDIT 3: Only changed the platform where I played the game on, as opposed to listing all the platform on which the game was released. Abbreviations for Origin Systems Inc. and Strategic Simulations Inc.

Thief II: The Metal Age - Looking Glass - PC - 2000
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - BioWare - PC - 2003
Fallout - Black Isle (Interplay) - PC - 1997
Super Metroid - Nintendo - SNES - 1994
Duke Nukem 3D - 3D Realms - PC - 1996
Deus Ex - Ion Storm - PC - 2000
Total Annihilation - Cavedog - PC - 1997
System Shock 2 - Looking Glass - PC - 1999
MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries - Activision - PC - 1996
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Nintendo - SNES - 1992
Giants: Citizen Kabuto - Planet Moon - PC - 2000
Cyber Troopers: Virtual-On - Sega - Sega 2B CRX - 1996
World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC - 2004
Star Wars: TIE Fighter - Totally Games - PC - 1994
Planescape: Torment - Black Isle - PC - 1999
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon - Konami - N64 - 1998
Silent Scope - Konami - Konami Hornet - 1999
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines - Troika - PC - 2004
Diablo II - Blizzard North - PC - 2000
Portal  - Valve - PC - 2007

Difficult. I had a hard time pruning some really good games to get a cross secion of generes and types. Maybe in the coming discussion thread we can do an extended list.

1. Sims 2 - Maxis - PC - 2004

2. Ultima Online - Origin Systems - PC - 1997

3. World of Warcraft - Blizzard Entertainment - PC - 2004

4. Doom - Id Software - Various Platforms - 1993

5. Starfox 64 - Nintendo - Nintendo 64 - 1997

6. Mega Man 2 - Capcom - NES - 1989

7. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nintendo - N64 - 1998

8. Diablo - Blizzard Entertainment - PC - 1996

9. Starcraft - Blizzard Entertainment - PC - 1998

10. Machines - Charybdis - PC - 1999

11. Tribes 2 - Dynamix - PC - 2001

12. Homeworld - Relic Entertainment - PC - 1999

13. Space Empires 3 - Malfador Machinations - PC - 1997

14. Metroid Prime - Retro Studios -Nintendo Gamecube - 2002

15. Front Mission 3 - Squaresoft - Sony Playstation - 2000

16. X-Com - Mythos/Microprose - PC - 1993

17. X-Wing - Totally Games - PC - 1993

18. Dungeon Keeper - Bullfrog Productions - PC - 1997

19. Final Fantasy 6 (III) -  Squaresoft - SNES - 1994

20. Master Blaster - Sunsoft - NES - 1988

No particular order.

1. Aces of the Pacific
2. F117 (Microprose)
3. Tribes 1
4. Deus Ex
5. Half-Life
6. Counter Strike
7. Battlefield 1942
8. Guitar Hero 2
9. Final Fantasy 7
10. Super Mario Bros
11. EVE Online
12. World of Warcraft
13. Project Gotham
14. Rainbow Six
15. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
16. Tokyo Cop (Arcade)
17. Knights of the Old Republic
18. Descent 1 & 2
19. Ground Control
20. CivNet

Almost made the list: Starwars Galaxies (for *almost* being a great MMO, and then flushing it). I don't know all the devs/publishers for these, or the year.. sorry! (And I'm not going to go look it up! Ha!)

1. The Secret of Monkey Island - Lucasfilm Games - Amiga - 1991
2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nintendo EAD - Nintendo N64 - 1998
3. Star Control 2 - Toys for Bob - 1992
4. Ultima VII, Part Two: Serpent Isle - ORIGIN Systems, Inc - PC - 1993
5. Final Fantasy VII - Square Co., Ltd. - PC - 1998
6. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attourney - Capcom Co., Ltd. - Nintendo DS - 2005
7. Deus Ex - Ion Storm Inc. - PC - 2000
8. Descent: Freespace - The Great War - Volition Incorporated - PC - 1998
9. BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception - Westwood Associates - C64 - 1998
10. Katamari Damacy - Namco - PlayStation 2 - 2004
11. Super Smash Bros. Melee - HAL Laboratory, Inc. - Gamecube - 2001
12. Devil May Cry - Capcom Co., Ltd. - PlayStation 2 - 2001
13. Metroid Prime - Nintendo of America Inc. - Gamecube - 2002
14. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness - Nippon Ichi Software Inc. - PlayStation 2 - 2002
15. Mail Order Monsters - Electronic Arts, Inc - C64 -  1985
16. PSI-5 Trading Company - Accolade, Inc - C64 - 1986
17. Armour-Geddon - Psygnosis Limited - Amiga - 1991
18. Portal - Valve Corportation - PC - 2007
19. Grand Theft Auto III - Rockstar Games - Playstation 2 - 2001
20. Master of Magic - Simtex - PC - 1994

I doubt I can really recall my top 20 accurately in one go and I'm sure I'll come to rue my lack of an edit button mere moments after posting this.  Even my attempts to bubble-sort them in the top 20 failed when I realized I couldn't truly quantify in which way they were the best.

Pretty much in order even though it doesn't matter.

1. Planescape: Torment - Black Isle Studios - PC - 1999
2. Deus Ex - Ion Storm - PC - 2000
3. Grim Fandango - Lucasarts - PC - 1998
4. Fallout - Black Isle (Interplay) - PC - 1997
5. Final Fantasy 6 - Square - SNES - 1995
6. Star Control II - Toys For Bob - PC - 1992
7. Chrono Trigger - Square - SNES - 1996
8. Super Mario Bros. 3 - Nintendo - NES - 1990
9. High Heat Baseball 2001 - Team .366 - PC (various) - 2000
10. The Curse of Monkey Island - LucasArts - PC - 1997
11. Winning Eleven 8 - Konami - PC (various) - 2005
12. Baldur's Gate 2 - BioWare - PC - 2000
13. Tetris Attack - Intelligent Systems - SNES - 1996
14. System Shock 2 - Looking Glass - PC - 1999
15. Half-Life 2 - Valve - PC - 2004
16. Earthbound - Ape. Inc, HAL Laboratory - SNES - 1994
17. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Nintendo - SNES - 1992
18. Metroid Prime - Retro Studios - Gamecube - 2002
19. Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines - Troika - PC - 2004
20. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Capcom Co., Ltd. - DS - 2005


Edited to add Tetris Attack.  Can't believe I forgot that.  Whether to put Super Metroid or Metroid Prime is a tough decision.

1. Legend of Zelda - Nintendo - NES - 1986
2. Super Mario 64 - Nintendo - N64 - 1996
3. Final Fantasy VI - Square - SNES - 1994
4. Ultima V - OSI - Apple II/C-64 - 1988
5. Tales of the Unknown: The Bard's Tale - Interplay - 1987
6. Uncharted Waters: New Horizons - KOEI - SNES - 1994
7. Zork II - Infocom - Apple II/C-64/et al - 1981
8. Black Tiger - Capcom - Arcade - 1987
9. Might & Magic: World of Xeen - New World Computing - 1992
10. Ultima Online - OSI - PC - 1997
11. Pitfall - Activision - Atari 2600 - 1982
12. Civilization II - MicroProse - 1996
13. Myst - Cyan - PC - 1993
14. Diablo II - Blizzard - PC - 2000
15. Adventure - Atari - Atari 2600 - 1979
16. A Tale in the Desert: Tale I - eGenesis - 2003
17. Enchanter - Infocom - Apple II/C-64/et al - 1983
18. Astrosmash - Mattel - Intellivision - 1981
19. Dragon's Lair - Cinematronics - Arcade - 1983
20. Gauntlet - Atari - Arcade - 1985

Edit Only one per series? I read that as we couldn't list "1. All Bard's Tales" but we could go "1. Bard's Tale I" and "2. Bard's Tale III" for example. Changed to reflect that. Odd rule, but interesting.

Only including developer if I know it off the top of my head; if I don't, whatevs.

1. Ico (PS2)
2. Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (N64)
3. Shadowgate (NES)
4. Conker's Bad Fur Day (Rare; N64)
5. Banjo Kazooie (Rare; N64)
6. Super Mario 64 (N64)
7. Bubble Bobble (Arcade, and fuck yer mom I know it's ghey)
8. Oregon Trail (Broderbund? Apple IIe)
9. Myst (Cyan, I think or Ubisoft; PC)
10. Okami (Clover; PS2)
11. Animal Crossing (GC)
12. Katamari Damacy (Namco; PS2)
13. Eternal Darkness (GC)
14. Final Fantasy X (Squenix; PS2)
15. Harvest Moon (GC)
16. Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? (Broderbund? Apple IIe)
17. Donkey Kong (Rare; N64)
18. Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
19. God of War (PS2)
20. Lost in Blue (DS)

Warcraft 2, Blizzard, PC, 1995
King's Quest I, Sierra, PC, 1984
EverQuest, Verant, PC, 1999
Super Mario Bros., Nintendo, NES, 1985
Secret of Monkey Island, LucasArts, PC, 1990
Baldur's Gate, Bioware, PC, 1998
Tecmo Bowl, Tecmo, PC, 1987
Legend of Zelda, Nintendo, NES, 1987
Doom, iD software, PC, 1993
Quake, iD software, PC, 1996
Guitar Hero, Harmonix, Playstation 2, 2005
Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.00, Microsoft, PC, 1982
Neverwinter Nights [AOL], Stormfront Studios, PC, 1991
X-Com, Microprose, PC, 1993
The Sims, Maxis, PC, 2000
Street Fighter II, Capcom, Arcade, 1991
Dragon's Lair, Cinematronics, Arcade, 1983
Dance Dance Revolution, Konami, Arcade, 1999
Heroes of Might and Magic III, 3DO, PC, 1999
Moraff's World, Steve Moraff, PC, 1991

Dune 2 - Westwood Studios - PC - 1992
Thief: The Dark Project - Looking Glass Studios - 1998
Chaos Overlords - Stickman Games - PC - 1995
Starcraft - Blizzard - PC - 1998
Medievia
Betrayal At Krondor - Dynamix - PC - 1993
Alpha Centauri - Firaxis Games - PC - 1999
Duke Nukem 3D - 3D Realms - PC - 1996
Championship Manager 2 - Sports Interactive Limited - PC - 1995
Counter Strike - Half Life MOD - PC - 1999
One Must Fall 2097 - Diversions Entertainment - PC - 1994
Syndicate Wars - Bullfrog - PC - 1996
Transport Tycoon Deluxe - MicroProse - PC - 1995
Pizza Tycoon - Cybernetic Corporation - 1994
Nethack - *none - PC - *1992
Descent - Parallax Software - PC - 1995
Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? - Brøderbund Software - Apple II - 1985
X-Com: UFO Defense - MicroProse - PC - 1998
Ground Control - Massive Entertainment - PC - 2000
Homeworld - Relic Entertainment - PC - 1999

No date.  Im lazy.  Some of the systems listed were but one of many platforms the game was on.  Doesn't always matter, but might as well list it on the system I played it on.
I'm not thinking hard, I am thinking with my soul here.  Quick, no debating.  20 slots of love. Only listing 1 of a series.  (PSO and original Phantasy Star games are effectively different series.  Id say other series like Metroid and the Prime series would have the same distinction.) After the top 15 it gets a little hard though!  Lots of games I really like, but many aren't all time favorites.  So some games I love get legt out.  :heartbreak:

In no particular order:

1: Wing Commander - Origin - PC
2: Warlords 2 - Strategic Studies Group - PC
3: Master of Orion 2 - Microprose - PC
4: Phantasy Star 2 - Sega - Genesis
5: Advance Wars 2 - Nintendo - GBA
6: Defender of the Crown - Cinemaware - Commodore 64
7: Ultima 5 - Origin - Commodore 64
8: Splatterhouse - Namco - Turbografx 16
9: Contra - Konami - NES
10: Castlevania - Konami - NES
11: Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries - Microsoft - PC
12: Card Fighter's Clash - SNK - Neo Geo Pocket Color
13: Pathway to Glory Ikusa Islands - Red Lynx - N Gage
14: Phantasy Star Online - Sega - Gamecube
15: Dragon Force - Sega - Saturn
16: Star Wars - Atari - Arcade
17: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic - Bioware - X Box
18: Fallout 2 - Interplay - PC
19: Dragon Warrior 4 - Enix - NES
20: Wizardry Tale of the Forsaken Land - Atlus - PS2

Calling the tale of the tape:  
Genres:  
RPG: 7
Strategy RPG: 2
Turn Based Strategy: 4
Action Sim: 2
Side Scrolling Platformer: 3
Arcade Game: 1
Card Game: 1

Developers:  
TO DO

Systems:
PC:  5
Genesis: 1
Arcade: 1
Gamecube: 1
N Gage: 1
NES: 3
Saturn: 1
Turbografx 16: 1
PS2: 1
GBA: 1
X Box: 1
Commodore 64: 2
Neo Geo Pocket Color: 1

Comments:
TO DO

Edit reason: Holy fuck I forgot Fallout mothafuggin TWO.  It took the spot of Front Mission 4. 
Edit two: Ok, you want fucking dashes in there.  Fine.  Have your fucking dashes. 

1) Tempest, Atari, Arcade, 1980
2) Street Fighter 2, Capcom, Arcade, 1991
3) Uncharted : Drake's Fortune, Naughty Dog, PS3, 2007
4) Wing Commander 3, Origin, PC, 1994
5) Strider, Capcom, Arcade, 1989
6) Full Throttle, Lucasarts, PC, 1995
7) Mega Man 3, Capcom, NES, 1990
8) Nobunaga's Ambition, Koei, NES, 1988
9) Deus Ex, Eidos, PC, 2000
10) System Shock 2, EA, PC, 1999
11) Jagged Alliance 2, Talonsoft, PC, 1999
12) Dr. Mario, Nintendo, NES, 1990
13) Devil May Cry 3, Capcom, PS2, 2005
14) Pilotwings 64, Nintendo, N64, 1996
15) Shenmue, Sega, DC, 1999
16) Metal Gear Solid 2, Konami, PS2, 2001
17) Jet Set Radio, Sega, DC, 2000
18) Thief 3 - Eidos, XBox, 2004 - ....Yes, Thief 3 makes the top 20
19) Wipeout, Psygnosis, PS, 1995
20) GTA/SA, Rockstar, PS2, 2004

[edit] put some dates in...think i'm finished

[edit] taking out a little nostalgia

Shadow Hearts: Covenant - Nautilus - PS2 - 2004
Planescape: Torment - Black Isle Studios - PC - 1999
Deus Ex - Ion Storm - PC - 2000
Fallout - Interplay Productions, Inc. - PC - 1997
Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories -  Nippon Ichi Software Inc. - PS2 - 2006
System Shock 2 - Looking Glass - PC - 1999
Dead Rising - Capcom Co., Ltd. - 360 - 2006
Final Fantasy 6 (III) - Square Co., Ltd. - SNES - 1994
Nobunaga's Ambition - KOEI Co., Ltd. - NES - 1993
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines - Troika - PC - 2004
The Curse of Monkey Island - LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC - PC - 1997
Earthbound - Ape. Inc, HAL Laboratory - SNES - 1994
Resident Evil 4 - Capcom Production Studio 4 - GC - 2005
Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries - Cyberlore Studios, Inc., FASA Studio - PC -  2002
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - Silicon Knights, Inc. - GC - 2002
Mass Effect - BioWare Corporation - 360 - 2007
skate - Electronic Arts Black Box - 360 - 2007
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Flagship Co., Ltd., Nintendo EAD - SNES - 1992
Diablo - Blizzard Entertainment - PC - 1996
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 - Atlus Co., Ltd. - PS2 - 2007

Very little nostalgia here.  A lot of stuff didn't make it because I don't feel a certain game holds up very well over time.  No token genre representations, just my favorite stuff I've played.  Some omissions are lamentable, and I'm sure someone will remind me in their list of something excellent I've missed. Certain games I feel pretty bad about leaving off actually.  Heh.  I'm sure I'll edit this further and perhaps provide additional commentary.

1. Adventure - Atari - Atari 2600 - 1979
2. Pitfall - Activision - Atari 2600 - 1982
3. Pirates - Microprose - PC - 1987
4. Maniac Mansion - Lusasfilm Games - PC - 1987
5. Pool of Radiance - Strategic Simulations, Inc - PC - 1988
6. Neuromancer - Interplay Productions - PC - 1988
7. BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception - Westwood Associates - PC - 1989
8. Warlords 2 - Strategic Studies Group - PC - 1989
9. The Secret of Monkey Island - Lucasfilm Games - PC - 1990
10. Betrayal at Krondor - Dynamix - PC - 1993
11. Colonization - Microprose - PC - 1994
12. Star Wars: TIE Fighter - Totally Games - PC - 1994
13. Master of Magic - Simtex - PC - 1995
14. Civilization II - MicroProse - PC - 1996
15. EverQuest - Verant - PC - 1999
16. Planescape: Torment - Black Isle Studios - PC 1999
17. Baldur's Gate 2 - BioWare - PC - 2000
18. Diablo II - Blizzard North - PC - 2000
19. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - BioWare - PC - 2003
20. World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC - 2004

Flight Simulator 1           SubLOGIC                   TRS-80       1980
Space Invaders              Atari                 Atari 2600   1980
Dungeons of Daggorath  DynaMicro                   TRS-80       1982   
MS Flight Simulator 1      Microsoft                     IBM PC       1982
River Raid                      Activision                 Atari 2600 1982
Pac-Man                        Atari                          Atari 2600 1982
Pitfall                            Activision                    Atari 2600 1982
Robot Odyssey              The Learning Company  TRS-80     1984
King's Quest                  Sierra On-LineIBM         IBM PC     1984
Oregon Trail                  The Learning Company Apple II     1985
Starflight                       Binary Systems             IBM PC     1986
SimCity                         Maxis                          IBM PC     1989
Doom                           ID                              IBM PC     1993
Descent                     Parallax Software          IBM PC     1995
Half Life                        Valve                           IBM PC     1998
Counter Stike                Minh Le & Jess Cliffe      IBM PC     1999
Team Fortress Classic      Valve                          IBM PC     1999
Asheron's Call                Turbine                       IBM PC     1999
Battlefield 1942             Electronic Arts              IBM PC     2002
Tetris                           Some dude in russia      IBM PC    1987-ish

Sorry the last couple are missing info.

Portal - Valve - PC - 2007
EVE Online - CCP - PC - 2003
NHL2002 - EA Sports - PS2 - 2002
MP Battletech 3025 - Kesmai - PC - 2001
10six - Postlinear Entertainment - PC - 2000
PowerStone - Capcom - DC - 1999
Tribes - Dynamix - PC - 1998
Ultracorps - VR-1 - PC - 1998
Myth - Bungie - PC - 1997
Quake2 - id - PC - 1997
Total Anihilation - Cavedog - PC - 1997
Diablo1 - Blizzard North - PC - 1996
Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen - Quest - SNES - 1995
Megaman Soccer - Capcom - SNES - 1994
Raiden DX - SEIBU KAIHATSU INC - Arcade - 1994
FFVI - Square - SNES - 1994
Super Mario Kart - Nintendo - SNES - 1992
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Nintendo - SNES - 1992
Super Mario Bros 3 - Nintendo - SNES - 1990
Battletech VR - Virtual World Entertainment LLC - VR Pod - 1990

1.  Pool of Radiance - SSI - PC - 1988
2.  Planescape:  Torment - Black Isle - PC
3.  Dead Rising - Capcom - Xbox 360 - 2006
4.  God of War II - SCEA - PS2 - 2007
5.  Super Metroid - Nintendo - SNES - 1994
6.  Final Fantasy IV - Squaresoft - SNES - 1991
7.  Shadowrun - Data East - SNES - 1993
8.  Myth: The Fallen Lords - Bungie - PC - 1997
9.  Resident Evil 2 - Capcom - PS1 - 1997
10. Street Fighter II - Capcom - Arcade - 1991
11. Pitfall! - Activision - Atari 2600 - 1982
12. Goldeneye - Rare- N64 - 1997
13. Goonies 2 - Konami - NES - 1987
14. Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo - NES - 1985
15. Castlevania - Konami - NES - 1987
16. Metal Gear - Konami - NES - 1988
17. Ghosts 'n Goblins - Capcom - NES/Arcade - 1986
18. Master of Orion - Microprose - PC - 1993
19. Pirates! - Microprose - PC - 1987
20. Sim City - Maxis - PC -  1989

Not in order. Some I wouldn't go back and play again now.


X-Com - Mythos/Microprose - PlayStation - 1995                     (I didn't have a PC back then. I had an Amiga and a PlayStation)
Far Cry - Crytek/Ubi - PC - 2004                                           (does Crysis count as a sequel? Once I play it it may or may not supercede Far Cry. Still gorgeous, play is fun, and non-linear)
Everquest 1 - Verant/SoE - PC - 1999                                   (It changed a lot over the years, mostly for the better. The game that made me buy my first PC)
World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC - 2005                                 (Everquest, done better)
Diablo 2 - Blizzard - PC - 2000                                               (click-click-click-click-loot!)

Max Payne - Remedy - PC - 2001                                          (both MP1 and it's sequel were great, and still the first games I play through whenever I build a new PC)
Soul Calibur II - Namco - XBox - 2002                                     (Aside from having bought every iteraton of the series to that point, I bought this one on all 3 platforms and spent far more quality time with this than with III.)
Super Mario Kart - Nintendo - SNES - 1992                             (needs no explanation)
Super Bomberman 2 - Hudsonsoft - SNES - 1995                     (nor does this. Added enough extras from the first one without getting silly)
Return to Castle Wolfenstein - ID/Activision - PC - 2001            (the game that gotme into PC FPS games.)

Twisted Metal 2 - Singletrac/Sony - PlayStation - 1996             (the first one was great, this one was a co-op lifestyle for me and my friends.)
Battlefield 1942 - DICE/EA - PC - 2002                                   (along with the Desert Combat mod, this was my most-played game along with EQ1 for a period spanning several years.)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Rockstar Games - PC - 2005   (Updated from GTAIII, simply because this is bigger, deeper and more of the experience.)
Kick Off Soccer - Dino Dini/Anco - Amiga - 1989                       (without Kick Off, there'd be no Sensi. Played this one the most, and probably still the best..)
Half-Life 2 - Valve - PC - 2004                                                (Do the expensions of Ep1 and Ep2 count as part of this? Either way, it's win in a FPS shell. Bumping Speedball 2 which holds great memories, but got kicked since I resampled it on XBLA)

Cannon Fodder - Sensible Software - Amiga - 1993                  (War had never been so much mouse-controlled fun!)
Syndicate - Bullfrog - Amiga - 1993                                        (Burn, motherfucker, burn!)
Sid Meier's Pirates! - Atari - Amiga - 2004                                (Updated choice from the Amiga version. The Amiga classic holds great memories, but I'd rather play the modern version over it.)
Super Street Fighter II - SNES - 1993                                    (The penultimate of the SF series that I put any significant time into)
Tekken Tag - Namco - PlayStation2 - 1999                             (I put more time into Tekken 2, but this one is my top one of the series)

Order is not important.

1) Shadowrun - BlueSky Software - Sega Genesis - 1994
2) World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC - 2004
3) Diablo 2 - Blizzard - PC - 2000
4) Final Fantasy 7 - Square - PS1 - 1997
5) Shadowgate - Kemco - NES - 1989
6) Everquest 2 - SOE - PC - 2004
7) Starcraft - Blizzard - PC - 1998
8) Homeworld - Relic Entertainment - PC - 1999
9) Dawn of War - Relic Entertainment - PC - 2004
10) Battlefield 1942 - DICE/EA - PC - 2002
11) Guitar Hero 2 - Harmonix Music Systems  - XBox - 2006
12) Wing Commander 2 - Origin Systems - PC - 1991
13) Knights of the Old Republic - Bioware - PC - 2003
14) Kings Quest 2 - Sierra - PC - 1985
15) Secret of the Silver Blades - SSI - PC - 1990
16) Fallout 2 - Interplay Entertainment - PC - 1998
17) Asheron's Call - Turbine - PC - 1999
18) X-Wing Alliance - Lucasarts - PC - 1999
19) Civilization 2 - MicroProse - PC - 1996
20) Baulders Gate - Bioware - PC - 1998

In no particular order:

1. Ultima Online - Origin Systems - PC - 1997
2. Master of Orion 2 - Microprose - PC - 1996
3. Civilization - MicroProse Software - PC - 1991
4. Doom 2 - Id Software - PC - 1993 (if most people pick the original Doom, please change it to it)
5. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - BioWare - PC - 2003
6. StarCraft: Broodwar - Blizzard - PC - 1998 (with the expansion)
7. Grand Theft Auto III - Rockstar Games - PC - 2002
8. American McGee's Alice - Rogue Entertainment - PC - 2000
9. Duke Nukem 3D - 3D Realms - PC - 1996
10. Quake - iD software - PC - 1996
11. Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - 3DO - PC - 1999
12. Wolfenstein 3D - iD Software - PC - 1992
13. SimCity 2000 - Maxis - PC - 1994
14. Fallout 2 - Black Isle Studios - PC - 1999 (as with Doom, as most people will likely choose the original, please change mine too)
15. Caeser 3 - Impressions Games - PC - 1998
16. Diablo I - Blizzard - PC - 1996
17. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura - Troika Games - PC - 2001
18. Star Wars: X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter - Totally Games, Inc. - PC - 1997
19. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs - Capcom - CPS Q Sound - 1993
20. Dune 2 - Westwood Studios - PC - 1992

1: Dark Age of Camelot - Mythic Entertainment - PC - 2001
2: Eve Online - CCP - PC - 2003
3: Diablo II - Blizzard North - PC/Mac - 2000
4: Baldur's Gate II - Bioware - PC - 2000
5: Bards Tale - InXile - PC - 2005
6: Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec - Polyphony Digital - PS2 - 2001
7: Dawn of War - Relic Entertainment - PC - 2004
8: Civilisation IV - Firaxis - PC - 2005
9: Age of Empires II - Ensemble Studios - PC - 1999
10: X-wing vs Tie Fighter - Totally Games - PC - 1997
11: Goldeneye - Rare - N64 - 1997
12: Micromachines 2 - Codemasters - Megadrive - 1994
13: Syndicate - Bullfrog - PC - 1993
14: Flashback - Delphine - Amiga - 1992
15: Dune 2 - Westwood - Amiga - 1993
16: Soul Calibur II - Namco - PS2 - 2003
17: Starcraft - Blizzard - PC/Mac - 1998
18: Secret of Monkey Island - Lucasfilm - Amiga - 1991
19: Tetris - Academy Soft - TRS-80 - 1987
20: Star Trek; Klingon Academy - 14 East - PC - 2000

Star Wars - Atari - Arcade - 1983
Elite - Acornsoft - BBC-B - 1984
Zoids - Electronic Pencil Co. - Amstrad CPC - 1986
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - Lucasarts - Amiga - 1991
Another World (US: Out of this world) - Eric Chahi - Amiga - 1991
Hired Guns - Psygnosis - Amiga - 1993
Syndicate - Bullfrog - Amiga - 1993
Mortal Kombat 2 - Midway - Arcade - 1993
Beneath A Steel Sky - Revolution - Amiga - 1994
UFO: Enemy Unknown (US: X-Com: UFO Defense) - Mythos - PC - 1994
Quakeworld - id Software - PC - 1996
Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Lucasarts - PC - 1997
Planescape: Torment - Black Isle - PC - 1999
System Shock 2 - Irrational - PC - 1999
Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - Totally Games - PC - 1999
Deus Ex - Ion Storm - PC - 2000
Half-life 2 - Valve - PC - 2004
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Rockstar North - PC - 2005
Lego Star Wars 2 - Travellers Tales - PS2 - 2006
Portal - Valve - PC - 2007

1. M.U.L.E. - Ozark Softscape - C64 - 1983
2. Civilization 2 - MicroProse - PC - 1996
3. NHL 94 - EA Sports - GEN - 1993
4. Ultima Online - Origin Systems - PC - 1997
5. Asheron's Call - Turbine - PC - 1999
6. World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC - 2004
7. Starcraft - Blizzard Entertainment - PC - 1998
8. Age of Empires 2 - Ensemble Studios - PC - 1999
9. Sims 2 - Maxis - PC - 2004
10. Duke Nukem 3D - 3D Realms - PC - 1996
11. Doom - Id Software - PC - 1993
12. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - BioWare - PC - 2003
13. Front Page Sports Football - Dynamix - PC - 1992
14. Hockey League Simulator - Bethesda Softworks LLC - PC - 1989
15. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - Rockstar North - PS2 - 2002
16. Deus Ex - Ion Storm - PC - 2000
17. Diablo II - Blizzard - PC - 2000
18. Utopia - Don Daglow - Intellivision - 1981
19. X-Com: UFO Defense - Mythos - PC - 1994
20. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior - Capcom - CPS - 1991

Had to cut some pretty good games here as the list off the top of my head had reached 30. Tried to
include a couple classics and obscure titles that deserve to be remembered.

1. Ultima Underworld - Blue Sky Studios (Looking Glass) - PC - 1992
2. Mutant League Football - EA - Sega Genesis - 1993
3. NHL 08 - EA - X360 - 2007
4. NFL 2k5 - 2k Sports - Xbox - 2004
5. Full Throttle - Lucasarts - PC - 1995
6. Kings Quest III - Sierra Online - Apple IIc - 1986
7. Dark Age of Camelot - Mythic - PC - 2001
8. World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC - 2004
9. Diablo II - Blizzard - PC - 2000
10. Doom - id Software - PC - 1993
11. Gears of War - Epic - X360 - 2006
12. Gran Turismo 2 - Sony - PS1-1999
13. God of War - SCEA - PS2 - 2005
14. The Curse of Monkey Island - LucasArts - PC - 1997
15. Skies of Arcadia - Sega - Dreamcast - 2000
16. Soul Calibur - Namco - Dreamcast - 1999
17. Goldeneye - Rare - N64 - 1997
18. Duke Nukem 3D - 3D Realms - PC - 1996
19. Spy vs. Spy: Arctic Antics - First Star Software – Apple II - 1986
20. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - Activision - Dreamcast - 2000

Crush, Crumble and Chomp! - Epyx - C64 - 1981
Ultima 3 - Origin Systems - Various - 1983
M.U.L.E. - Ozark Softscape - C64 -1983
Nethack - Various - *nix - 1987
Lurking Horror - Infocom - pc - 1987

Lemmings - DMA Design - Amiga - 1991
Wasteland - Interplay - pc - 1991
Might and Magic: Clouds of Xeen - New World Computing - pc - 1992
Star Control 2 - Toys for Bob - pc - 1992
The Incredible Machine - Jeff Tunnell - pc -1992
Ultima Underworld 2 - Looking Glass - pc - 1993
Star Wars : Tie Fighter - LucasArts - pc -1994
Master of Magic - Symtex - pc -1994
Doom 2 - id Software - pc - 1995
Civilization 2 - Microprose - pc -1996
TES 2: Daggerfall - Bethesda Softworks - pc - 1996
Scud: The Disposable Assassin - Syrox - Saturn - 1997
Skullmonkeys - Neverhood - PS1 - 1998

Diablo 2 - Blizzard North - pc - 2000
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - Square - GBA - 2003


<edit> Forgot the game that nearly ruined college for me.
<edit2> Chronological. Huh, nothing recent stands out as a classic to me. Odd.

In no particular order:

1.  Deus Ex - Ion Storm, Inc. - PC - 2000
2.  Fallout 2 - Black Isle Studios - PC - 1998
3.  Baldur's Gate 2 - Bioware - PC - 2000
4.  Knights of the Old Republic 2 - Obsidian Entertainment - X-Box - 2004
5.  God of War 2 - SCE Studios Santa Monica - PS2 - 2007
6.  Curse of Monkey Island - LucasArts - PC - 1997
7.  Full Throttle - LucasArts - PC - 1995
8.  Grim Fandango - LucasArts - PC - 1998
9.  Planescape: Torment - Black Isle Studios - PC - 1999
10. Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit - Quantic Dream - X-Box - 2005
11. The Witcher - CD Projekt RED STUDIO - PC - 2007
12. Alpha Centauri - Firaxis - PC - 1999
13. Gears of War - Epic Games - X-Box - 2006
14. Final Fantasy VI - Squaresoft - SNES - 1994
15. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - Naughty Dog - 2007
16. Shadow Hearts 2 - Nautilus - PS2 - 2004
17. Castlevania:  Symphony of the Night - Konami - Playstation - 1997
18. VtM:  Bloodlines - Troika - PC - 2004
19. Civilization IV - Firaxis - PC - 2005
20. Gabriel Knight:  Sins of the Father - Sierra - PC - 1993

I'd go back and play any of these, but most of the older PC titles I've either lost the discs to, or don't run so well on a modern machine. 

Edit:  Realized I hadn't had Symphony of the Night on there.  Was tough to pick a game to cut to have it on there, but it really deserves to be on the list.  Also, sorry Blade Runner, Uncharted had to be on there. 

Chronological order

1. Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo - NES - 1985
2. Bionic Commando - Capcom - NES - 1988 (I bought this game in Mexico lol)
3. Life Force - Konami - NES - 1988
4. Wing Commander 2 - Origin Systems - PC - 1991
5. Street Fighter II - Capcom - I only played this at the Arcade - 1991
6. X-Com - Microprose - PC - 1993
7. Final Fantasy Legend III - SquareSoft - GB - 1993 (I played this several times through when I was a lifeguard)
8. Command & Conquer - Westwood Studios - PC - 1995
9. Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Lucasarts - PC - 1997
10. Goldeneye 007 - Rare Ltd - N64 - 1997 (I think perfect dark was better, but this is the one I spent hours with friends playing)
11. Banjo-Kazooie - Rare Ltd - N64 - 1998
12. Rogue Squadron - Factor 5 - N64 - 1998
13. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nintendo - N64 - 1998
14. Halo: Combat Evolved - Bungie - XBOX - 2001
15. Super Smash Bros. Melee - HAL Laboratory, Inc. - GC - 2001
16. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - Ubisoft Montreal - XBOX - 2003
17. City of Heroes - Cryptic Studios - PC - 2004
18. World of Warcraft - Blizzard Entertainment - PC - 2004
19. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Rockstar North - XBOX - 2005
20. Shadow of the Colossus - Team Ico - PS2 - 2005 (My all time favorite)

Well that was hard - made harder by the 'only 1 of a series' rule

In no particular order:

EVE Online - CCP - PC - 2003
Star Wars Galaxies (Pre-NGE) - SOE - PC - 2003
Deuteros - Activision - ST - 1991
Mercenary: Escape From Targ - Novagen - C64 - 1985
Frontier: Elite 2 - Gametek - PC - 1993
Portal - Valve - XB360 - 2007
Teamsfortress 2 - Valve - XB360 - 2007
Quake - ID - PC - 1996
Bloodwych - Imageworks - ST - 1989
Dungeon Master - FTL - ST - 1987
Oblivion - Bethesda - XB360 - 2006
Chrome Hounds - Sega - XB360 - 2006
Steel Battalion - Capcom - XB - 2002
X-Tension - Egosoft - PC - 2000
Federation Of Free Traders (FOFT) - Gremlin - ST - 1989
Wing Commander: Privateer - Origin - PC - 1993
F/A 18 Interceptor - EA - Amiga - 1988
Carrier Command - Rainbird - ST - 1988
Star Wars: Dark Forces - LA - PC - 1995
Colony - Icon Design - MSX - 1987

Combat! - Atari - 2600 - 1977
Haunted House - Atari - 2600 - 1982
Archon - Free Fall Associates - NES - 1983
Dragon Warrior - Chunsoft - SNES - 1986
TradeWars 2002 - Martin & Pritchett - 1986
Super Mario Brothers 3 - Nintendo - NES - 1990
Final Fantasy II - Square - SNES - 1991
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Nintendo - SNES - 1992
Doom - ID - PC - 1993
Wing Commander: Privateer - Origin Systems - PC - 1993
Master of Magic - Simtex - PC - 1994
The Two Towers MUD - Me & 100+ others - PC - 1994
SimCity 2000 - Maxis - PC - 1995
Ultima Online - Origin Systems - PC - 1997
StarCraft - Blizzard - PC - 1998
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - Raven - PC - 2003
Metroid Prime - Nintendo - GC - 2003
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines - Troika - PC - 2004
Civilization 4 - Firaxis Games - PC - 2005
Resident Evil 4 -  Capcom - GC - 2005

1) Civilization - Microprose - PC - 1991
2) Ultima Online - OSI - PC - 1997
3) Tie Fighter - Lucasarts - PC - 1994
4) Planescape Torment - Black Isle - PC - 1999
5) Dark Age of Camelot - Mythic - PC - 2001  (so what if I worked on it, I still played it for 5 years)
6 (TIE) Hearts of Iron 2 - Paradox - PC - 2005
6 (TIE) Europa Universalis 2 - Paradox - PC - 2001
8) Final Fantasy X - Squaresoft - PS2 - 2001
9) World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC - 2004
10) Panzer General - SSI - PC - 1994
11) Project: Stealth Fighter - Microprose - C64 - 1987
12) Ultima 5 - OSI - C64 - 1988
13) XCom - Microprose - PC - 1993
14) Jagged Alliance 2 - SirTech - PC - 1999
15) Deus Ex - Ion Storm - PC - 2000
16) Final Fantasy Tactics - Squaresoft - PS1 - 1998
17) Company of Heroes - Relic - PC - 2006
18) SMT Persona 3 - Atlus - PS2 - 2007
19) Crusader Kings - Paradox - PC - 2004
20) Mass Effect - Bioware - X360 - 2007

Not in order.

1.  Disgaea 2 – Nippon Ichi Software - PS2 - 2006
2.  Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune- Naughty Dog – PS3 – 2007
3.  Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem – Silicon Knights – GC - 2002
4.  X-Com - Microprose - PC - 1993
5.  Jagged Alliance 2 - SirTech - PC – 1999
6.  Everquest – Verant/SOE – PC - 1999
7.  Portal - Valve Corportation - PC – 2007
8.  Master of Magic - Simtex - PC – 1994
9.  Shinobi – Sega – System16B - 1987
10.  Ultima Online - OSI - PC – 1997
11.  Quake - iD software – PC - 1996 (ThunderWalker CTF)
12.  Alpha Centauri – Firaxis Games – PC - 2000
13.  Wipeout XL – Psygnosis – PS - 1996
14.  Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 - Atlus Co., Ltd. - PS2 – 2007
15.  Half-Life 2 - Valve - PC – 2004
16.  Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction – Insomniac Games - PS3 – 2007 (Groovitron ftw!)
17.  Final Fantasy IV (II) – Square - SNES - 1991
18.  MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries - Activision - PC - 1996
19.  Devil May Cry 3 – Capcom – PS2 - 2005
20.  Counter Strike Source – Valve Corporation – PC - 2004

That was difficult.  There are about 5 other games I want to add.

Deus Ex - Ion Storm - PC - 2000
Grim Fangango - Lucasarts - PC - 1998
Freelancer - Digital Anvil - PC - 2003
Half-Life 2 - Valve - PC - 2004
CIV 4 - Firaxis - PC - 2005
Starcraft - Blizzard - PC - 1998
Fallout 2 - Black Isle - PC - 1998
Syndicate Wars - Bullfrog - PC - 1996
Theme Hospital - Bullfrog - PC - 1997
Dungeon Keeper 2 - Bullfrog - PC - 1999
Road Rash - EA - PC - 1991
Final Fantasy X - Square - PS2 - 2001
Duke Nukem 3D - 3D Realms - PC - 1996
Tekken 5 - Namco - PS2 - 2005
Thief II - Looking Glass Studios - PC - 2000
Diablo II - Blizzard North - PC - 2000
Command & Conquer - Westwood Studios - PC - 1995
Goldeneye - Rare - N64 - 1997
Tony Hawks IV - Neversoft - PS2 - 2002
Portal  - Valve - PC - 2007

No order here, just random 20's.

1. Wasteland - EA - PC - 1988
2. Betrayal at Krondor - Dynamix - PC - 1993
3. Everquest - SOE - PC/MMOG - 1998 (Yes, for all its many faults, it still represents a confluence of magic for me)
4. Unreal Tournament - Epic Games - PC - 1999
5. Duke Nukem 3D - 3D Realms - PC - 1996
6. Ancient Art of War - Broderbund - PC - 1984
7. Battleground: Waterloo - Talonsoft - PC - 1996
8. X-Com - Microprose - PC - 1993
9. ESPN NFL 2k5 - Sega - X-Box - 2004 (Only beat out 2k4 because of the online leagues)
10. Red Steel - Ubisoft - Wii - 2006 (Dog me for this all you want, it still rocked my world)
11. Command & Conquer - Westwood - PC - 1995 (First game I ever multiplayed through a modem - the awesome)
12. Wing Commander - Origin - PC - 1992
13. Star Raiders - Atari - Atari 2600 - 1982
14. Resident Evil 4 - Capcom - Gamecube - 2005
15. Earl Weaver Baseball - EA - PC - 1989
16. FIFA 07 - EA - X-Box - 2006
17. Half-Life - Valve - PC - 1998
18. Deus Ex - Ion Storm - PC - 2000
19. Thief - Looking Glass Studios - PC - 1998
20. Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec - Sony - PS2 - 2001

That's a hard list to make, because some things just need to go on there, only to be bumped by other things that need to go on there.

EDIT: Shit, already have to edit.

Legend of Zelda - Nintendo - NES - 1987
Tetris - Bullet-Proof Software - GB - 1989
Super Mario Bros. 3 - Nintendo - NES - 1990
Dragon Warrior III - Enix Corp - NES - 1992
Super Mario Kart - Nintendo - SNES - 1992
Final Fantasy III - Square - SNES - 1994
Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Westwood Studios - PC - 1996
Simcity 2000 - Maxis Software - PC - 1996
Starcraft - Blizzard Entertainment - PC - 1998
Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia - New World Computing - PC - 1999
Planescape Torment - Black Isle Studios - PC - 1999
SoulCaliber - Namco - DC - 1999
Counter-Strike - Minh Le and Jess Cliffe - PC - 2000
Diablo II - Blizzard North - PC - 2000
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos - Blizzard Entertainment - PC - 2002
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - BioWare - XBOX - 2003
World of Warcraft - Blizzard Entertainment - PC - 2004
Civilization IV - Firaxis Games - PC - 2005
Guitar Hero - Harmonix Music Systems - PS2 - 2005
Portal - Valve - PC - 2007

EDIT: Format.

To continue the trend, in no particular order.

Out of this World - Delphine Software 1991
Duke Nukem 3D - 3D Realms - PC - 1996 
Full Throttle - Lucasarts - PC - 1995
NFL 2k5 - 2k Sports - Xbox - 2004
Mutant League Football - EA - Sega Genesis - 1993
Ultima Online - Origin Systems - PC - 1997 
Deus Ex - Ion Storm - PC - 2000
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - Rockstar North - PC - 2003   
X-Com: UFO Defense - Mythos - PC - 1994
Fallout - Interplay Productions, Inc. - PC - 1997
Battlefield 1942 - DICE/EA - PC - 2002
Syndicate - Bullfrog - PC - 1993
Pirates! - Sid Meier/Microprose - PC - 1987 
Master of Orion - Microprose - PC - 1993
Half Life - Valve - PC 1998
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri - Looking Glass - PC - 1996
Alien Vs. Predator - Sierra/Fox Interactive - PC 1999
Privateer 2: The Darkening - Origin - PC- 1996
System Shock 2 - Looking Glass - PC - 1999
Jagged Alliance 2, Talonsoft, PC, 1999   

Damn this was hard, great games had to be left out.  I may still have to edit it.

Out of this World - le awesome
Duke Nukem 3D - I usually get bored with shooters well before the end but this game I played through multiple times and all the expansions.  Multiplayer was some of the most fun I've had in an online game (or lan party) too. 
Full Throttle - It was this or sam and max, hard choice. 
NFL 2k5 - Last great football game made, it will remain until the exclusive contract ends.
Mutant League Football - One of the first great football games made :p
Ultima Online - Opened my eyes to what a MMORPG is and what is possible.   I'll never forgive it.
Deus Ex - Multiple ways to win, great story, choices that matter.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - The soundtrack and voice acting were just awesome.
X-Com: UFO Defense - I played this game so much.... I still have my original demo of it on a floppy :p
Fallout - Just preferred the original
Battlefield 1942 - Has to be on the list just based on how damn much I played it. 
Syndicate - That voice repeating syndicate is still in my head. 
Pirates! - The original is just a classic, this was free roaming perfection. 
Master of Orion - I just prefer the original uncomplicated one :)
Half Life - Addictive game, could not stop until it was finished.
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri - Wish it was more popular, so ahead of its time.
Alien Vs. Predator - Sierra/Fox Interactive - Marine campaign = anxiety around every corner.   Loved it.
Privateer 2: The Darkening - Great friggin game, and FMV that didn't suck with actors like Clive Owen and Christopher Walken.  I really wish someone would make a new space sim, but at least I still have my copy. 
System Shock 2 - Those midwives still creep me out.

No particular order, but games on the bottom are ones I had to think hard about. List based on opinion of gameplay and actual time played.

1.    Civilization II, Microprose, PC, 1996
2.    World of Warcraft, Blizzard, PC, 2004
3.    Knights Of The Old Republic, Bioware, PC, 2003
4.    Master Of Orion II, Microprose, PC, 1996
5.    Europa Universalis, Paradox Interactive, PC, 2000
6.    Jagged Alliance II, Sir-Tech, PC, 1999
7.    Mass Effect, Bioware, X-Box 360, 2007
8.    Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar North, Playstation, 1997
9.    Diablo II, Blizzard North, PC, 2000
10.   Baldur's Gate II, Bioware, PC, 2000
11.   Guitar Hero II, Harmonix, PSII, 2006
12.   Need For Speed: Underground, EA, PS2, 2003
13.   X-Com: UFO Defense, Microprose, PC, 1993
14.   Clash Of Steel, SSI, PC, 1993
15.   Rome: Total War, Creative Assembly, PC, 2004
16.   Aces Of The Deep, Dynamix, PC, 1994
17.   Front Office Football: The College Years, Solecismic Software, PC, 2002
18.   Wing Commander: Privateer, Origin, PC, 1993
19.   Gorf, Midway, Atari 2600, 1982
20.   Star Raiders, Atari, Atari 5200, 1983

read the rules update.

The only games in my list from the XXI century are Portal, Disgaea and Motor City Online, and I have 11 games from the 80s. I guess it says it all about me. I live in the past and my list is definitely made of regrets, lost chances and the "good ole days" which were probably not that good at all. When you lost your virginity too long ago, it really takes a bomb to make your eyebrow lift. As I said, this list is probably useless shit but just doing it and looking at it makes me feel better. Thanks for the chance.

1. M.U.L.E. - Ozark Softscape - C64 - 1983
2. Utopia - Don Daglow - Intellivision - 1982
3. NHL 94 - EA Sports - GEN - 1993
4. Ultima Online - Origin Systems - PC - 1997
5. Bard's Tale - Interplay - C64 - 1985
6. Mars Saga - Westwood Associates - C64 - 1988
7. John Madden Football 93 - EA Sports - GEN - 1992
8. Wasteland - Interplay - C64 - 1988
9. AD&D Treasures of Tarmin - Tom Loughry - Intellivision - 1983
10. Championship Manager - Collyer Bros - Amiga - 1992
11. Portal - Valve - PC - 2007
13. Laser Squad - Julian Gollop - C64 - 1988   
14. Disgaea - Nippon Ichi Software - PS2 - 2003
15. Pirates! - Sid Meier/Microprose - C64/Amiga - 1987
16. Half Life - Valve - PC - 1998
17. Archon - Free Fall Associates - C64 - 1983
18. Phantasy Star 2 - Rieko Kodama/SEGA - GEN - 1989
19. Motor City Online - EA Games - PC - 2001
20. Kick Off - Dino Dini - Amiga - 1989

Commentary? Who would read it. You know the games.

Twenty.  Heh.

Darklands - DOS - MicroProse - December 31, 1992
Super Metroid - SNES - Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd/Nintendo R&D1 - 1994
Bushido Blade - Square Co., Ltd - PS - October 17, 1997
Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Role Playing Game - Interplay Productions, Inc. - Windows 95 - November 15, 1997
Grim Fandango - Windows - LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC - November 2, 1998
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - N64 - Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development - November 23, 1998
Thief: The Dark Project - Windows 98 - Looking Glass Studios, Inc. - December 3 1998
Vagrant Story - Square Co., Ltd - PS - May 16, 2000
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction - Windows - Blizzard North - June 30, 2001
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - GC - Silicon Knights, Inc. - June 24, 2002
Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando - PS2 - Insomniac Games, Inc. - November 11, 2003
Ninja Gaiden - Xbox - Team Ninja - March 11, 2004
Shadow Hearts: Covenant - PS2 - Nautilus - September 27, 2004
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - PS2 - Rockstar North, Ltd. - October 26, 2004
Resident Evil 4 - GC - Capcom Production Studio 4 - January 11, 2005
Phantom Dust - Xbox - Microsoft Game Studios Japan - March 15, 2005
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga - PS2 - Atlus Co., Ltd - April 5, 2005
Dead Rising - 360 - Capcom Co., Ltd - August 8, 2006
Portal - Windows - Valve Corporation - October 9, 2007
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - PS3 - Naughty Dog, Inc. - November 20, 2007

This is basically twenty random titles from my list of favorites.  I will be happy to discuss their merits, and the merits of the missing titles, in another thread.
EDIT: Replaced Forza 2 with Uncharted

1. Age of Empires - MS/Ensemble
2. C&C - Westwood
3. Kohan - Timegate?
4. Dominions3 - Illwinter/Shrapnel
5. SimCity - Maxis
6. Dune - Sega Genesis
7. NHL 95 - Genesis EA
8. Majesty (unique RTS) - ?
9. Nethack - a cast of hundreds in net space
10. Civ 2/3 - Sid Meier
11. Alpha Centauri - Brian Reynolds
12. Empire, the MP game, not the SP PC game sold in the late 80s/early 90s - so old school, not even sure
13. Crazy Taxi - Sega DC
14. Virtua Fighter 3 - Sega DC
15. Paperboy - multiple
16. Road Rash - Sega Genesis
17. Bomberman - multiple
18. Flight Simulator - M$
19. Wii Sports - Nintendo Wii
20. Europa Universalis - Paradox

1) The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Nintendo Co., Ltd. - GB - 1993
2) Baldur's Gate - BioWare - PC - 1998
3) Fallout - Black Isle (Interplay) - PC - 1997
4) Suikoden II - Konami - PS - 1999
5) Guardian Heroes - Treasure Co. Ltd - SS - 1996
6) EarthBound - Ape, Inc., HAL Laboratory, Inc. - SNES - 1995
7) Jet Set Radio - Smilebit - DC - 2000
8) NetHack - The NetHack DevTeam - PC - 1987
9) Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen - Quest - SNES - 1995
10) Cave Story - Pixel - PC - 2004
11) Castlevania: Bloodlines - Konami - GEN - 1994
12) Gunstar Heroes - Treasure Co. Ltd - GEN - 1993
13) Team Fortress Classic - Valve Corporation - PC - 1999
14) Kid Chameleon - Sega Technical Institute - GEN - 1992
15) Sonic & Knuckles & Sonic 3 - Sonic Team, Sega Technical Institute - GEN - 1994
16) SmartBall - Game Freak, System Sacom - SNES - 1992
17) Dragon Force - Sega - SS - 1996
18) Ultima Online - Origin Systems - PC - 1997
19) Final Fantasy Tactics - Square - PS - 1998
20) Mega Man 2 - Capcom - NES - 1989

If No. 15 counts as 2 separate games, I'll change that to Sonic 3. Sorry about that.

Tough list to make. I have at least another 20 I struggled to fit into the list :/

1. Civilization - MicroProse Software - Amiga - 1991
2. The Secret of Monkey Island - Lucasfilm Games - Amiga - 1991
3. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Nintendo - SNES - 1991
4. Ultima Online - Origin Systems - PC - 1997
5. Pirates - Microprose - PC - 1987
6. Colonization - MicroProse Software - PC - 1994
7. Baldur's Gate - BioWare - PC - 1998
8. World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC - 2004
9. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nintendo - N64 - 1998
10. Quake - iD software - PC - 1996
11. The Settlers - Blue Byte Software - Amiga - 1993
12. Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon - MicroProse Software - Amiga - 1990
13. TES 2: Daggerfall - Bethesda Softworks - PC - 1996
14. Command & Conquer - Westwood - PC - 1995
15. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six - Red Storm Entertainment - PC - 1998
16. Lemmings - DMA Design - Amiga - 1991
17. UFO: Enemy Unknown (X-Com: UFO Defense) - Mythos - PC - 1994
18. Grim Fandango - Lucasarts - PC - 1998
19. Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards - Sierra - PC - 1987
20. Bruce Lee - Datasoft - C64 - 1984

It's hard to remember them if I don't play them anymore...but honestly I feel these are the games I really like, despite many faults. Oh, I do love most of the whole series btw.

1.Baldur's Gate 2, Bioware
2.Master of Orion 2, Microprose
3.Battlefield 2, DICE/EA
4.The Elder Scrolls:Daggerfall, Bethesda Software
5.Doom 2, ID Software
6.Ultima 7: The Black Gate, Origin
7.Fallout 2, Black Isle
8.Jagged Alliance 2, Sir-Tech
9.Command & Conquer, Westwood
10.Starcraft, Blizzard
11.Diablo 2, Blizzard
12.World of Warcraft, Blizzard
13.Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Troika
14.Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic 2, Obsidian
15.Monkey Island 2, LucasArts
16.Wing Commander: Privateer, Origin
17.Heroes of Might and Magic 3, New World Computing
18.Civilization 4, Firaxis
19.Might & Magic 6, New World Computing
20.Grand Theft Auto Vice City, Rockstar Games

1.  Fallout 2 - Black Isle - PC - 1998
2.  Quest for Glory 2: Trial by Fire - Sierra - PC - 1992
3.  Final Fantasy 7 - Square Co., Ltd. - PC - 1998
4.  Civilization - Microprose - PC - 1991
5.  Ico - Team Ico - PS2 - 2001
6.  Ultima 7: The Black Gate - Origin - PC - 1992
7.  Diablo 2 - Blizzard North - PC - 2000
8.  Mega Man 2 - Capcom - NES - 1989
9.  Guitar Hero 2 - Harmonix Music Systems - PS2 - 2006
10. Myst - Cyan - PC - 1993
11. Shadow of the Colossus - Team Ico - PS2 - 2005
12. God of War - SCEA - PS2 - 2005
13. WarCraft 2 - Blizzard - PC - 1995
14. Duke Nukem 3D - 3D Realms - PC - 1996
15. Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen - Quest - SNES - 1995
16. SimCity 2000 - Maxis - PC - 1994
17. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Nintendo - SNES - 1992
18. Doom 2 - Id Software - PC - 1993
19. Quake - iD Software - PC - 1996
20. Super Mario Bros 3 - Nintendo - NES - 1990

01> Heretic (Raven PC 1994)
02> Strife (Rogue PC 1996)
03> Doom (id PC 1993)
04> Duke Nukem 3d (3D Realms,PC 1996)
05> Quake (Id PC 1996)
06> Rescue at Rigel (Epyx, Apple ][ 1980)
07> Temple of Apshai (Epyx Apple ][ 1980)
08> Pool of Radiance (SSI NES 1992)
09> Shadowrun (Data East SNES 1993)
10> Daggerfall (Bethesda PC 1996)
11> Abomination: The Nemesis Project (Hothouse Creations PC 1999)
12> Everquest II (SOE PC 2004)
13> System Shock 2 (Looking Glass PC 1999)
14> Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World (EA Sega Genesis 1991)
15> Wizardry 8 (Sir Tech PC 2001)
16> Bioshock (Irrational 360 2007)
17> Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels(EA 3DO 1995)
18> Star Control 2 (Accolade 3DO 1994)
19> Meridian 59 (3D0 Studios PC 1996)
20> Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday (SSI, Sega Genesis 1990)

These are the games that kept me up late throughout the years, and while some of them may not have not been the highest rated games ever, they at least had some hook that make them stand out amongst their peers.

can't resist, this is my list. Saved wc3 tft, based purely on nostalgia, in no particular order (well AR the dungeon is no.1).


1) Alternate Reality - The Dungeon (Datasoft - C64)
2) Warcraft 3 TFT (Blizzard - PC)
3) Final Fantasy VII (Square - PS)
4) Bard's Tale (Interplay - C64)
5) Ultima IV (Origin - C64)
6) Ultima Underworld (Origin - PC)
7) Sindicate (Bullfrog - PC)
8) Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time (Konami - N64)
9) Dragon Buster (Namco - Arcade)
10) Advanced Dungeons and Dragons  - Cloudy Mountain (Mattel - Intellivision)
11) Destructor (Coleco - Colecovision)
12) Infestation (Psygnosys - Amiga)
13) Tau Ceti (CRL Group - C64)
14) Portal (the old one, Activision - C64)
15) Elite (Acornsoft - C64)
16) Paradroid (Hewson - C64)
17) Dungeon Master (FTL - Amiga)
18) Pool of Radiance (SSI - C64)
19) Doom (Id - PC)
20) Diablo 2 (Blizzard - PC)

20 entries simply isn't enough for such a broad range of platforms and styles. Here's my unordered top 5 and then everything else. Everything else is missing about 20 titles.

Star Control 2 - Accolade - PC - 1994
Tie Fighter - Lucasarts - PC - 1994
Planescape: Torment - Black Isle Studios - PC - 1999
Master of Orion 2 - Simtex - PC - 1996
Final Fantasy IV (II) - Square - SNES - 1991
Oregon Trail - The Learning Company - Apple II - 1985
Tetris - Bullet-Proof Software - Game Boy - 1989
Blaster Master - Sunsoft - NES - 1988
Super Mario Bros 3 - Nintendo - NES - 1990
Theme Park - Bullfrog - 1994
Homeworld - Relic - PC - 1999
World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC - 2004
Doom 2 - id - PC - 1993
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Nintendo - SNES - 1991
Fallout 2 - Black Isle - PC - 1998
Dragon Warrior - Chunsoft - NES - 1986
Ultima Online - Origin Systems - PC - 1997
Sim City - Maxis - PC -  1989
Master of Magic - Simtex - PC - 1995
Diablo - Blizzard Entertainment - PC - 1996

SojournMUD - ??? - PC - 1992
Tele-Arena - Elwynor Technologies - BBS/DOOR games - 1992
Populous - Electronic Arts - PC - 1989
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision - Xbox - 2007
Grand Theft Auto 3 - Rockstar Games - PS2 - 2001
Ironman Super Off Road - Leland - Arcade - 1989
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - BioWare - PC - 2003
World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC - 2004
Civilization - MicroProse Software - PC - 1991
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nintendo - N64 - 1998
Street Fighter II - Capcom - 1991
Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo - NES - 1985
Ultima III: Exodus - Origin Systems - PC - 1983
Final Fantasy - Square - NES - 1990
The Shadow of Yserbius - Sierra Online - PC - 1992
The Bard's Tale - Interplay Productions - PC - 1985
Halo: Combat Evolved - Bungie - Xbox - 2001
Wolfenstein 3D - iD Software - PC - 1992
Doom - iD Software - PC - 1993
Commander Keen: Secret of the Oracle - Activision - PC - 1991

1)  X-Com: UFO Defense, Microprose, PC, 1993
2)  M.U.L.E. - Ozark Softscape - C64 - 1983
3)  Darklands - DOS - MicroProse - December 31, 1992
4)  Civilization - Microprose - PC - 1991
5)  World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC - 2004
6)  Ultima Online - OSI - PC - 1997
7)  Ultima 3 - Origin Systems - Various - 1983
8)  Diablo I - Blizzard - PC - 1996
9)  Starcraft - Blizzard - PC - 1998
10)  Pirates! - Microprose - PC - 1987
11)  Pool of Radiance - SSI - PC - 1988
12)  Pitfall - Activision - Atari 2600 - 1982
13)  Fallout - Black Isle (Interplay) - PC - 1997
14)  Wasteland - EA - PC - 1988
15)  Battlefield 1942 - DICE/EA - PC - 2002
16)  Ultima Underworld - OSI - PC - 1992
17)  Advanced Dungeons and Dragons | Treasure of Tarmin - Mattel - Intellivision - 1981?
18)  Company of Heroes - Relic - PC - 2006
19)  Cosmic Balance - SSI - C64 - 1982
20)  ELITE - Acornsoft / Firebird - C64 - 1985

No order at all. These games just filled me with awe at the time:

1 Fallout
2 Castle Wolfenstein (original on Apple IIe)
3 Ultima III (Apple)
4 Phantasy (C-64)
5 Pool of Radiance
6 Civ 2
7 Railroad Tycoon 2
8 Ultima Online
9 Everquest
0 Golden Eye (N64)
1 Sanitarium
2 Daggerfall
3 Baldur's Gate
4 Lode Runner
5 Darklands
6 Grim Fandango
7 Gabriel Knight 2
8 Half-life
9 Quake 2 multiplayer
0 Myth

Damn you, Schild... :awesome_for_real:

In no particular order:

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn - Bioware - PC - 2000

Mario 64 - Nintendo - N64 - 1996

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne - Remedy - PC - 2003

Planescape: Torment - Black Isle Studios - PC - 1999

Homeworld - Relic - PC - 1999

Age of Empires - Ensemble Studios - PC - 1997

NHL 08 - EA Canada - 360 - 2007

Heroes of Might and Magic III: Complete - New World Computing - PC - 2000

Final Fantasy Tactics - Square - PSX - 1998

Gemstone 2/3/4 - Simutronics - PC - 1988

Earthbound - Ape, HAL Laboratory - SNES - 1995

Quake 2 - id - PC - 1997

Mass Effect - Bioware - 360 - 2007

No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in HARM's Way - Monolith - PC - 2002

Deus Ex - Ion Storm - PC - 2000

Fallout - Interplay - PC - 1997

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - Square - SNES - 1996 : How can you not love this game. I managed to beat this one in a single, 3-day rental. Sadly, I never actually Owned the game, I don't believe.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 - Atlus - PS2 - 2007

Unreal Tournament 2k4 - Epic - PC - 2004

Team Fortress Classic - Valve - PC - 1999

Indigo Prophecy - Quantic Dream - Xbox - 2005

Star Fox 64 - Nintendo - N64 - 1997 : Had so much love for this one, in both solo play and with friends. Never owned the SNES version, but I owned the fucking hell out of this one.

Bushido Blade - Square - PSX - 1997

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past  - Nintendo - SNES - 1992

I had to make some excruciatingly difficult choices here, especially in what I left off, such as Dune  and General Chaos for the Genesis, or a bunch of SNES games such as a regular FF game. I also almost included EQ on here, especially since that game almost made me fail AP Biology my senior year of high school. There are even other games that I played a lot, but are not even really memorable, such as Earth 2025 (online browser-based game) way back when it was ugly and not filled with bots and when the clan politics mattered. I was a bit shocked by my lack of Genesis and PSX games.

Edit: Corrected format.

ADVENT (Colossal Cave/Adventure) - Will Crowther - Fortran mainframe -1975
Castle Wolfenstein - Muse Software - C64 - 1981
Raid On Bungling Bay - Broderbund - C64 - 1984
Seven Cities of Gold - Ozark Softscape - C64 - 1984
Racing Destruction Set - Electronic Arts - C64 - 1985
Wing Commander - Origin Systems - PC - 1990
Dune 2 -  Westwood Studios - PC - 1992
Ultima 7.5 - Origin Systems - PC - 1993
System Shock - Looking Glass Technologies - PC - 1994
Colonization - Microprose - PC - 1994
Civilization 2 - Microprose - PC - 1996
Sid Meier's SimGolf - Maxis - PC - 1996
Daggerfall - Bethesda Softworks - PC - 1996
Ultima Online - Origin Systems - PC - 1997
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - New World Computing - PC - 1999
Thief 2 - Looking Glass Studios - PC - 2000
Baldur's Gate 2 - Black Isle Studios - PC - 2000
Everquest 2 - Sony Online Entertainment - PC - 2004
Battlefield 1942 - Digital Illusions CE - PC - 2004
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Rockstar Games - PC - 2005



No order (edited to chronological order, edit 2 to fix formatting, woops). Tough as hell to weed through things that I've played since the mid-70s. Some comments:

Adventure. My first game, played on a mainframe. Fun exploration and puzzle solving.

Castle Wolfenstein. First stealthy game. Halt! Kommen Sie!

Seven Cities of Gold. One of my very favorites. Pioneer of the freeform undirected gameplay style. Explorer's dream.

Raid On Bungling Bay. Will Wright's first masterpiece. Basically a top-down helicopter shooter, but oh so much more. Islands that would upgrade their facilities, very sandboxy.

Racing Destruction Set. This one kind of represents a great period of multiplayer gaming on the C64, edging out Leaderboard (a golf game). Set up your own tracks and race on them. Sandboxy!

Dune 2. Set the bar and established the RTS genre. Played at a friend's house (not multiplayer, competing for high score), pulled me back into computer gaming after a long break from the C64 era.

Ultima 7.5. Tough to break down that series, so many great entries. 4, 5, 8 were some favorites. 7 was also incredible, but the Serpent Isle was my favorite.

Civ 2. Best Sid Meier game made by Brian Reynolds. Sid sucks, Brian rocks!

Colonization. See Civ 2. Some amazing gameplay elements added that never crossed back to the Civ series, including interactive natives, citizens you could train to work in buildings in your cities, and the great wargame for an endgame. I bumped Alpha Centauri for Colonization due to space limitations on the list. Col, Civ2 and SMAX are the Brian Reynolds hat-trick. He should be the household name, not Sid imo.

SimGolf. A joint project between Sid and WW. Build your own courses and play on them. Sandboxy! Maybe my favorite game of all time, oddly enough.

Daggerfall. You know it. Sure, it was buggy, but it's massive gameworld and dungeons were a wonder in gaming at the time. Fell in love when I fell down a well in a dungon and ended up like 40 levels deep in a submerged section and had to fight my way out. Apparently people hated the massive dungeons I loved. Designed a levitate spell when I got out.

Wing Commander. Sure, X-Wing and TIE Fighter were great. But WC really kicked off the space combat genre with it's 'realish' physics (powerslides to strafe enemies never got old, fighting in asteroid fields was so tense!).

System Shock. Elevated shooters to a new level. I was going to put Ultima Underworld in, but SS takes the prize overall. Fuck Doom and Quake, the goods were over here in rpg-land. The first time you lean around a corner and see a Maximillian-like bot hovering your way was so intense...and of course, SHODAN. Also the LGS/Irrational method of leaving voice data of dead people and stringing you along...a masterpiece.

Thief 2. God I loved this game. Ditching a lot of the non-thiefy parts of the original, this game has yet to be surpassed in the stealthy game genre. Amazing, words fail me.

Baldur's Gate 2. Toss up between this and PS:T. Leaned toward BG2 because of the more traditional AD&D elements. Seminal moments came playing as a paladin, doing traditional AD&D paladin quests, going after a red dragon for the holy avenger. No matter how much you played this game, you just scratched the surface.

HoMaM3. Best of the series. Solid series of TBS. I liked the rpg elements and the battle mini-game. Probably my #2 favorite of all time.

BF 1942. Best 'shooter' evar. Favored a more tactical style over bunnytarding, and amply rewarded teamwork. Combined arms with air, naval, armor, infantry and emplacements that just shocked gamers. Even the Wake Island demo would go on this list. Probably #3 of all time in my book. Phenomenal game.

GTA:SA. While I could live without the thug life crap, this game is the pinnacle of the series so far. Massive game world, tons of sandboxing, decent story and acting. Amazing soundtrack. I also lived in LA in the 90s, so the setting made me grin alot. Or groan... Just thinking about it I want to go reinstall.

Ultima Online. One of those cases of being in the right place at the right time, UO will probably never be toppled as an amazing experience. If you were in the right clique, best roleplaying game of all time. Origin of my nick, Sky.

EQ2. Probably the best implementation of mmo right now, in the 'diku' vein anyway. Started out awful, hated it. Hartsman and his team deserve a lot of credit for really turning things around and making a game that appeals to a casual crowd without alienating hardcore raid-style players.

Archon - Various - Free Fall - 1984
Civilisation - Various - Microprose - 1992
Druid 2 - C64 - Electralyte/Firebird - 1987
Dark Age of Camelot - PC - Mythic - 2001
Freespace 2 - PC - Volition - 1999
Elite - Various - Brabham & Bell - 1985
Half Life - PC - Valve - 1998
Impossible Mission - C64 - Epyx - 1984
Laser Squad - C64 - Target - 1988
Lords of Midnight - C64 - Mike Singleton  - 1985
Max Payne 2 - PC - Remedy Entertainment - 2003
Monkey Island 2 - Amiga - Lucasarts - 1992
MULE - C64 - Ozark - 1983
Pirates - Various - Microprose - 1987
Sensible Soccer - AMiga - Sensible Software - 1992
Stunt Car Racer - Various - Microstyle - 1989
TIE fighter - PC - Lucasarts - 1994
Total War : Medieval 2 - PC - CA - 2006
Trailblazer - C64 - Mr Chip - 1986
Vampire Bloodlines - PC - Activision - 2004

	Title	Company	System	NA Release
1	Deus Ex	Ion Storm	PC	June 2000
2	The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind	Bethesda	PC	May 2002
3	Bully	Rockstar	PS2	October 2006
4	Everquest	SOE	PC	March 1999
5	Final Fantasy VII	Square	PS1	September 1997
6	Baldur's Gate	BioWare	PC	November 1998
7	Grim Fandango	LucasArts	PC	September 1998
8	Phantasy Star	SEGA	SMS	December 1987
9	Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic	BioWare	PC	November 2003
10	Zelda II: The Adventure of Link	Nintendo	NES	December 1988
11	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	Rockstar	PS2	October 2004
12	Fallout	Black Isle	PC	September 1997
13	Actraiser	Enix	SNES	November 1991
14	Starcraft	Blizzard	PC	April 1998
15	Myst	Cyan	PC	September 1993
16	Super Mario 64	Nintendo	Nintendo 64	September 1996
17	Street Fighter 2	Capcom	SNES	July 1992
18	Shadowrun	BlueSky	Genesis	1994
19	Advanced D&D: Treasure of Tarmin	Mattel	Intellivision	1983
20	MechWarrior 2	Activision	PC	June 1995

A curse on OP edit #4!  That was my solution for getting both portal and HL2 on the list.

I can't resist a list.

In chronological order, and all PC...

Beyond Zork (Infocom, 1987)
Darklands (Microprose, 1992)
Maelstrom (Merit Studios, 1992)
Doom (id Software, 1993)
Ascendancy (The Logic Factory, 1995)
Command and Conquer (Westwood Studios, 1995)
Daggerfall (Bethesda, 1996)
X-COM: Apocalypse (Mythos Games, 1997)
Thief: The Dark Project (Looking Glass Studios, 1998)
Baldur's Gate (Bioware, 1998)
Everquest (Verant Interactive, 1999)
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (Firaxis Games, 1999)
Shogun: Total War (Creative Assembly, 2000)
Grand Theft Auto - Vice City (Rock Star North, 2002)
Battlefield 1942 (DICE, 2002)
Morrowind (Bethesda, 2002)
Planetside (SOE, 2003)
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (Troika, 2004)
Company of Heroes (Relic, 2005)
The Witcher (CD Projekt, 2007)

^^^ fix this post. Read the first post in the thread. Thanks.

Strazos you putz, get rid of the fucking inline comments! Paragraph at the end! That goes for the guy above me too. Damn!

Here ya go, a list of 20 in chronological order.

Darklands – Micropose – PC – 1992
Star Control 2 - Toys for Bob – PC - 1992
Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger - OSI - PC – 1994
Master of Magic – Miccropose – PC – 1995
Civilization II - MicroProse – PC - 1996
Crusader: No Remorse – OSI – PC - 1996
Master of Orion 2 – Micropose – PC – 1996
Myth: The Fallen Lords - Bungie - PC - 1996
Fallout - Black Isle (Interplay) - PC – 1997
X-Com: UFO Defense - MicroProse - PC – 1998
Baldur's Gate – Bioware – PC – 1998
Half-Life – Valve – PC – 1998
Thief: The Dark Project - Looking Glass Studios – PC - 1998
System Shock 2 - Looking Glass - PC – 1999
Planescape: Torment - Black Isle Studios - PC – 1999
Star Trek: Starfleet Command – Interplay – PC - 1999
Shogun:Total War – Creative Assembly – PC – 2000
Deus Ex - Ion Storm Inc. - PC – 2000
Grand Theft Auto III - Rockstar Games - PC – 2002
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare, XB, 2003

Honorable Mention:
Mass Effect - Bioware - X360 – 2007

(no particular order, last game is an arcade game, which might be against the rules?)

1.Master of Magic, Micriprose, PC, 1993
2.Master of Orion 2, Microprose, PC, 1996
3.Sacrifice, Shiny Entertainment, PC 2000
4.The Elder Scrolls II:Daggerfall, Bethesda Softworks, PC, 1996
5.Quake 2, ID Software, PC, 1997
6.Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past,Nintendo ,SNES ,1992
7.Fallout 2, Black Isle, PC, 1998
8.X-Com: UFO Defense, Mythos, PC, 1994
9.Magic Carpet 2, Bullfrog, 1995
10.Starcraft: Broodwar, Blizzard, PC, 1998
11.Diablo 2, Blizzard, PC, 2001
12.World of Warcraft, Blizzard, PC, 2004
13.Battlezone, Activision, PC, 1998
14.Dark Age of Camelot - PC - Mythic - 2001
15.Unreal Tournament 3, Epic Games, PC, 2007
16.Wing Commander: Privateer, Origin, PC, 1993
17.MechWarrior 2, Activision, PC 1995
18.Civilization 4, Firaxis, PC, 2005
19.Half Life, Valve, PC, 1998
20.Pigskin 621 A.D, Bally Midway, MCR-68k, 1990

Random order. Table format copied from Miasma.

	Title	Company	System	NA Release
1.	Planescape Torment	Black Isle	PC	November 1999
2.	Asheron's Call	Turbine	PC	October 1999
3.	Fallout 2	Black Isle	PC	November 1998
4.	World of Warcraft	Blizzard	PC	November 2004
5.	Sid Meier's Pirates!	MicroProse	c64	September 1987
6.	Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn	BioWare	PC	September 2000
7.	Grand Theft Auto: Vice City	Rockstar North	PC	May 2003
8.	Pool of Radiance	SSI	c64	October 1988
9.	Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar	Origin	c64	September 1985
10.	Star Control 2	Toys for Bob	PC	November 1992
11.	Syndicate Wars	Bullfrog	PC	September 1996
12.	Quake	iD	PC	June 1996
13.	Half-Life	Valve	PC	November 1998
14.	Myth: The Fallen Lords	Bungie	PC	October 1997
15.	Freedom Force	Irrational Games	PC	March 2002
16.	X-COM: Apocalypse	Mythos	PC	July 1997
17.	Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle	LucasArts	PC	July 1993
18.	Wing Commander	Origin	PC	December 1992
19.	Silent Storm	Nival	PC	July 2003
20.	Deus Ex	Ion Storm	PC	June 2000

-Edit- Fixed some incorrect release dates. Some months might still be wrong, especially on older games.

Arcade games are fair game. Ugh, that's a rough sentence.

In no order at all:

X-Com - Mythos/Microprose - PC – 1993 
Master of Orion 2 - Microprose - PC – 1996 
Homeworld - Relic Entertainment - PC – 1999   
Star Wars: TIE Fighter - Totally Games - PC – 1994 
Wing Commander II - OSI - PC – 1991 
Civilization 4 - Firaxis Games - PC – 2005 
Gauntlet - Atari - Arcade – 1985 
EverQuest - Verant – PC - 1999 
Legend of Zelda – Nintendo – NES – 1987 
Heroes of Might and Magic III - 3DO – PC – 1999 
Warlords 2 - Strategic Studies Group – PC – 1993 
Pool of Radiance - Strategic Simulations, Inc - PC – 1988 
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - BioWare - PC – 2003 
Soul Calibur II - Namco - XBox – 2002   
M.U.L.E. - Ozark Softscape – Atari 800 – 1983   
Lemmings - DMA Design - Amiga – 1991 
Simcity 2000, Maxis Software, PC, 1996 
Galaga – Namco – 1981 
Age of Empires – Ensemble – 1997 
Panzer General – Strategic Simulations – 1994 

Hard to believe no one else has mentioned any of the General series.  But then, I am still a turn based junkie.

No particular order:

Civ 4 - Firaxis - PC - 2005
Sid Meier's Pirates! - Firaxis - PC - 2004
World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC - 2004
Diablo II LoD - Blizzard - PC - 2001
Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nintendo - N64 - 1998
Asheron's Call - Turbine - PC - 1999
Pharaoh - Impressions - PC - 1999
WH40K: Dawn of War - Relic - PC - 2005
Homeworld - Relic - PC - 1999
Advanced Civilizations - Avalon Hill (producer) - PC - 1995
Dungeon Keeper 2 - Bullfrog - PC - 1999
Secret of Mana - Square - SNES - 1993
Portal - Valve - PC - 2007
Ascendancy - Logic Factory - PC - 1995
Might and Magic VI - 3DO - PC - 1998
Super Street Fighter 2 - Capcom - SNES - 1994
Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings - Ensemble - PC - 1999
Warlords 2 - SSG - PC - 1993
City of Heroes/Villains - Cryptic - PC - 2004
Duke Nukem 3D - 3D Realms - PC - 1996


I have no idea who the developer was for Advanced Civilizations. AH was the producer.

I am sure I have forgotten some, but here we go (Chronologically)-


1) Return of Heracles Quality Software C64 1984

2) Seven Cities of Gold EA C64 1984

3) Wizard's Crown SSI C64 1985

4) Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar Origin C64 1985

5) Stuart Smith's Adventure Construction Set C64 1985

6) Racing Destruction Set EA C64 1985

7)  Sid Meier's Pirates! MicroProse PC 1987

8) Pool of Radiance SSI C64 1988
 
9) Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain LucasArts Amiga 1989

10) Wing Commander Origin Systems PC 1990

11) Darklands MicroProse PC 1992

12) Master of Magic MicroProse PC 1993

13) Civilization II MicroProse PC 1996

14) Ultima Online Origin Systems PC 1997

15) Magic: The Gathering MicroProse PC 1997

16) X-Com: UFO Defense MicroProse PC 1998

17) Rainbow 6: Rogue Spear Red Storm Entertainment PC 1999

18) Baldur's Gate II Bioware PC 2000

19) Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Rockstar North PC May 2003

20) Battlefield 2 DICE/EA PC 2005


Apparently I am a giant MicroProse whore.

• Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Nintendo - N64
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Sega - Genesis
• Megaman Zero - Capcom - GBA
• Team Fortress 2 - Valve - PC
• Thief: The Dark Project - Looking Glass - PC
• Chrono Trigger - Square - SNES
• Gunstar Super Heroes - Treasure - GBA
• Space Quest 5 - Sierra - PC
• Quest for Glory 4 - Sierra - PC
• The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall - Bethesda - PC
• Rocket Knight Adventures - Konami - Genesis
• Mechwarrior 3 - Activision - PC
• Startopia - Mucky Foot - PC
• Super Smash Brothers Melee - Nintendo - GC
• Battlezone (The 1998 one)- Activision - PC
• Tribes 2 - Dynamix - PC
• Neverwinter Nights - Bioware - PC
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Konami - PS2
• Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield - Red Storm - PC
• Fable: The Lost Chapters - Lionhead - Xbox

Not in any special order, and I don't know the year for most of them.

Chrono Trigger - Square - SNES - 1995
Kingdom Hearts - Square - PS2 - 2002
Ratchet & Clank - Insomniac Games - PS2 - 2002
Diablo - Blizzard - PC - 1996
Homeworld - Relic - PC - 1999
Warcraft 3 - Blizzard - PC - 2002
Fallout - Black Isle Studios - PC 1997
Earthbound - Ape, HAL Laboratory - SNES - 1995
Harvest Moon - Pack-In-Video - SNES - 1997
Parasite Eve 2 - Square - PS1 - 2000
Perfect Dark - Rare - N64 - 2000
Age of Empires - Ensemble Studios - PC - 1997
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - Square - SNES - 1996
TimeSplitters 2 - Free Radical Design - PS2 - 2002
Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance - Snowblind Studios - PS2 - 2001
City Of Heroes - Cryptic - PC - 2004
Command & Conquer - Westwood Studios, Looking Glass Studios - N64 - 1999
Guitar Hero 2 - Harmonix Music Systems - PS2 - 2006
StarCraft - Blizzard - PC - 1998

-Chrono Trigger. Best. Game. Ever.
-Kingdom Hearts. Close second. It's just so fun, and brings back crazy nostalgia.
-Ratchet & Clank. Probably the most fun series EVER. But looses out to the top two due to story and setting.
-Diablo. What needs to be said. Crazy fun. This game ate over a year of my life. Also I would have put Diablo 2:LoD:Patch 1.11:Online with me Bro. if schild let me put both.
-Homeworld. Most moving story EVER. And you never even see a persons face! "Kharak is burning." Nuf Said.
-Warcraft 3. NOT meele, meele sucks balls. DotA rules, as do other custom maps.

Other then the top 6 or so they are not really in order. And mostly I picked games because I had a hella lot of fun playing them not because they are the best. Like TimeSplitters. Not the best FPS ever, but I had some crazy fun playing it with my brother. Also City of Heroes beats out WoW for being more fun. Oh and C&C 64 is on the list because PCs in my house were "not for games" till I got my own, so I played it on my N64.
And lastly my memory is not producing very well and I lost a large portion of my older games so I probably forgot a gem or two. But such is life.

1. Warlords - Atari - Atari 2600 - 1981
2. Star Raiders - Atari - Atari 8-bit - 1979
3. Mail Order Monsters - Electronic Arts, Inc - Atari 8-bit - 1986
4. Eastern Front 1941 - Atari - Atari 8-bit - 1982
5. Archon: The Light and the Dark - Free Fall Associates - Atari 8-bit - 1983
6. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar - ORIGIN Systems, Inc - Atari 8-bit - 1986
7. TRON - Bally Midway - Arcade - 1982
8. Sinistar - Williams - Arcade - 1982
9. Cyberball - Atari Games - Arcade - 1988
10. The Ninja Warriors - Taito - Arcade - 1988
11. Herzog Zwei - TecnoSoft - Genesis - 1990
12. Space Empire Elite - Jon Radoff - Atari ST BBS - ?
13. Warlords -  SSG Strategic Studies Group Pty Ltd. - Amiga - 1990
14. Myth: The Fallen Lords - Bungie Software Products Corporation - Macintosh - 1997
15. Fallout - Interplay Productions - Macintosh - 1997
16. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos - Blizzard Entertainment - Macintosh - 2002
17. Halo: Combat Evolved - Bungie Studios - Xbox - 2001
18. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - Silicon Knights, Inc - Gamecube - 2002
19. EverQuest - 989 Studios - Windows - 1999
20. Starcraft - Blizzard Entertainment - Windows - 1998


No particular order, generally grouped by system...these are all games that at one time or another really struck a nerve. Due to the improving effects of nostalgia and my impressionable youth, most of the titles are from the old days. Sorry Madden '93, no room for you.

Unordered, but pedantically sorted in chronological order.

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - LucasArts - PC - 1991
SimCity 2000 - Maxis - PC - 1993
Sid Meier's Colonization - Microprose - PC - 1994
Alan Lenton's Federation - IBGames - PC - 1995 (MUD, originally on Compunet in 1988, date listed is the worldwide AOL debut)
Civilization II - Microprose - PC - 1996
Master of Orion 2 - Microprose - PC - 1996
Team Fortress - Team Fortress Software - PC - 1996 (Mod for Quake/Quakeworld)
Fallout 2 - Black Isle Studios - PC - 1998
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - Firaxis - PC - 1999
Planescape: Torment - Black Isle Studios - PC - 1999
Homeworld - Relic Entertainment - PC - 1999
The Sims - Maxis - PC - 2000
Deus Ex - ION Storm - PC - 2000
Giants: Citizen Kabuto - Planet Moon - PC - 2000
Sacrifice - Shiny - PC - 2000
Europa 1400: The Guild - D4HEAD Studios - PC - 2002
EVE Online - CCP Games - PC - 2003
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Capcom - DS - 2005 (Originally GBA, 2001, but the rerelease is better)
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion - Bethesda Softworks - PC - 2006
Portal - Valve Software - PC - 2007

Only 20? Thats too hard, I'll have to stick to the bare essentials:

Sundog: Frozen Legacy - FTL Games - Atari ST - 1984
Ultima 4 - Origin - PC - 1985  (Ultima Underworld would be the contender, only one in a series allowed)
Tetris - Spectrum Holobyte - PC - 1986
Nethack - DevTeam - PC - 1987 (honorary mention Rogue by Epyx and Adom. Only 20, sorry folks)
Pirates - Microprose - PC - 1987
The Lurking Horror - Infocom - PC - 1997 (for all those text adventures i devoured back in the day, I had to say one name)
Pool of Radiance - SSI - PC - 1988 (first of the gold box games, Baldurs Gate, I'm your father)
Wasteland - Interplay - PC - 1988 (sorry Fallout, mind your elders)
Kick Off - Dino Dini - Atari ST - 1989 (the sports game I played in those days. Note the singular)
Sim City - Maxis - PC - 1989 (it was that or Populous, this has the staying power over the years)
Warlords - SSG - PC - 1990
Darklands - MicroProse - PC - 1992
Wing Commander - Origin - PC - 1992 (I should have chosen Elite over this, but I just can't. Its too dear to me)
Master of Orion 2 - Microprose - PC - 1996 (Master of Magic lost by a hair)
Planescape Torment - Black Isle Studios - PC - 1999
System Shock 2 - Looking Glass - PC - 1999
Deus Ex - Ion Storm - PC - 2000
Civilization 4 (Fall From Heaven) - Firaxis - PC - 2005
Mass Effect - Bioware - PC - 2007 (if its only 20 games, the Kotors lose to this)
Portal - Valve - PC - 2007

I'm bad at remembering dev names and years so I'm just posting. No particular order. EDIT: So I remember more dev names than I thought. Don't recall years.

1. World of Warcraft - Blizzard - PC -2004
2. Team Fortress 2 - Valve - PC -2007
3. The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind - Bethesda - PC - 2002
4. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Nintendo - SNES - 1991
5. Europa Universalis II - Paradox - PC - 2001
6. Crusader Kings - Paradox - PC - 2004
7. Civilization 4 - Firaxis - PC - 2005
8. Sid Meiers Pirates! (the remake) - Firaxis - PC - 2004
9. Portal - Valve - PC - 2007
10. Battlefield 1942 and expansions - PC - 2002
11. Guild Wars (Yeah, I know. For one brief, shining moment at release it was amazing for me and my real life friends) - NCSoft - PC - 2005
12. General Chaos - Genesis - 1994
13. Victoria Revolutions (I'm a Paradox fan, what can I say?) - Paradox - PC - 2006
14. Combat Mission: Barbarossa to berlin - Battlefront - PC - 2002
15. Planescape Torment - Black Isle - PC - 1999
16. Baldur's Gate 2 - Bioware - PC - 2000
17. Alpha Centauri - Firaxis - PC - 1999
18. Master of Magic - Microprose - PC - 1994
19. Unreal Tournament - Epic - PC - 1999
20. Sega Genesis Shadowrun - Sega - Genesis - 1994

Chronological order.

Game	Company	System	Year
Maniac Mansion	Lucasfilm Games	Amiga	1987
MechCommander	FASA Interactive	PC	1998
Final Fantasy VII	Square	Playstation	1997
Final Fantasy Tactics	Square	Playstation	1997
Baldur's Gate	BioWare	PC	1998
Fallout 2	Black Isle Studios	PC	1998
Alpha Centauri	Firaxis Games	PC	1999
Planescape: Torment	Black Isle Studios	PC	1999
Soul Calibur	Namco	Dreamcast	1999
Suikoden II	Konami	Playstation	1999
Parasite Eve II	Square	Playstation	2000
Skies of Arcadia	Sega	Dreamcast	2000
Vagrant Story	Square	Playstation	2000
Phantasy Star Online	Sega	Dreamcast	2001
Dark Age of Camelot	Mythic Entertainment	PC	2001
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic	BioWare	PC	2003
City of Heroes	Cryptic Studios	PC	2004
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines	Troika	PC	2004
Civilization 4	Firaxis Games	PC	2005
Mass Effect	Bioware	X360	2007

Elite - David Braben and Ian Bell - C64 - 1985
Lords of Midnight - Mike Singleton - C64 - 1985
Paradroid - Andrew Braybrook - C64 - 1985
Kick Off 2 - Dino Dini/Anco - Amiga - 1990
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss - Blue Sky - PC - 1992
Mechwarrior 2 - Activision - PC - 1995
Descent - Parallax - PC - 1995
Wave Race 64 - Nintendo EAD - N64 - 1996
Fallout - Black Isle - PC - 1997
Unreal - Epic Games/Digital Extremes - PC - 1998
Starsiege: Tribes - Dynamix - PC - 1998
EverQuest - Verant - PC - 1999
Freespace 2 - Volition - PC - 1999
Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord - Battlefront - PC - 2000
Halo - Bungie - Xbox - 2001
Ghost Recon - Red Storm - PC - 2001
Star Wars: Galaxies - Sony Online Entertainment - PC - 2003
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - BioWare - PC - 2003
Mount & Blade - TaleWorlds - PC - 2005
Battlefield 2 - DICE - PC - 2005


Notes
I'm thinking of SWG as pre-CU.
Mount & Blade is still described as being in beta, but has been for sale as a full game since 2005.
Near misses: Airborne Ranger (C64), F-19 Stealth Fighter (C64), Silent Hunter 3 or 4 (PC), Portal, the SSX series and World of Warcraft (long love-hate relationship).

(edit - fixing missed platform in one of my picks)

Ok, I'm more of a casual gamer.. I don't really play every single game that comes out.. or anything even near that.  However, I do have some games that managed to consume a crapload of time for me in the past.  Some of the old ones I put there for nostalgia and the fun I had with them at the time they came out.

Pyro 2 - Mike O'Brien - 1990 - old DOS game where you were a terrorist burning down government buildings.
Tradewars 2000 - Gary martin - 1988ish - Old game on BBS servers
Pools of Radiance - Strategic Simulations, Inc. - 1998 - MS-DOS
Wizardry - Sir-Tech Software, inc. - 1981 - Commodore 64
Doom - ID Software - 1993 - PC
XCOM: UFO Defense - MicroProse - 1998 - PC
Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast - Lucasarts - 2002- PC
Baldurs Gate 2 - Bioware - 2000 - PC
Mortal Kombat 2 - Midway - 1993 - various (prefer Arcade Version)
Street Fighter 2 - Capcom - 1991 - various (prefer Arcade Version)
Killer Instinct - Rareware - 1994 - various (prefer Arcade Version)
Master of Orion 2 - Microprose - 1996 - PC
Starcraft - Blizzard - 1998 - PC
Mechwarrior 3 - MicroProse - 1999 - PC
Soldier of Fortune - Raven - 2000 - PC
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - Troika - 2004 - PC
Star Wars Galaxies - SOE - 2003 - PC - I know, I know.. this was my first ever real play at an MMO and it was an absolute blast for me, until it started to crash and burn. 
Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach - Turbine - 2006 - Has it's flaws but is the only other MMO to keep my interest since I left SWG.
Gears of War - Epic Games - 2007 - PC Version
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - Raven - 2006 - various

1) Quest for Glory 4 - PC
2) Tie Fighter - PC
3) Addam's Family Pinball Table - Arcade
4) Team Fortress 2 - PC
5) Half-Life - PC
6) Portal - PC
7) Starcraft - PC
8 )Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father - PC
9) Psychonauts - PC
10) Mario Kart: DS - DS
11) Counter-strike:Source- PC
12) Puzzle Pirates - PC
13) Super Mario Brothers 3 - Nintendo
14) X-Com - PC
15) Guitar Hero 2 - XBox
16) Myth: The Fallen Lords - PC
17) Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - PC
18) Pools of Radiance - PC
19) Alien Hominid - Gamecube
20) Natural Selection - PC

It gets kinda geeky... Bear with me.

1.  Dominions III                                  Illwinter Game Designs           PC   2006
2.  Empire Earth II                               Vivendi Games                       PC   2005
3.  Final Fantasy VII                             Squaresoft                            PS1 1997
4.  Everquest II                                   Sony Online Entertainment    PC   2003
5.  Bioshock                                       2K Games (Boston??)             PC   2007
6.  Warcraft III                                    Blizzard Entertainment           PC   2003
7.  Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Konami                                 PS2  2001
8.  World of Warcraft                         Blizzard                                  PC   2004
9.  Everquest                                     Verant                                    PC  1997
10. Civilization IV                                Firaxis                                     PC  2005
11. World in Conflict                          Massive                                   PC  2007
12. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion              Bethesda                                 PC  2006
13. Supreme Commander                Gas Powered Games                 PC  2007
14. X-COM: UFO Defense                  Micropose                                PC  1993
15. Rollercoaster Tycoon                  Hasbro                                     PC  1999
16. Rome: Total War                       Creative Assembly                     PC  2004
17. Wall Street Raider                      Ronin Software                          PC  199x
18. Sim City 2000                            Maxis                                         PC  2000?
19. Diablo II                                     Blizzard                                      PC  2000
20. The General                               New Game Software                  PC  200x
[Ego killer...]

Edit that shit down! Fucking directions! Read them!

Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo Co., Ltd. - NES - 1985
Solomon's Key - Tecmo, Ltd. - NES - 1987
Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse - Konami Industry Co. Ltd. - NES - 1989
Mighty Bomb Jack - Tecmo, Ltd. - NES - 1987
The Magic of Scheherazade - Culture Brain Inc. - NES - 1989
Super Metroid - Nintendo of Europe GmbH - SNES - 1994
Final Fantasy VI - Square Co., Ltd. - SNES - 1994
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga - PS2 - Atlus - 2005
Chakan - SEGA Corporation - GEN - 1992
Cannon Fodder - Sensible Software - JAG - 1995
Torneko: The Last Hope - Chunsoft - PSX - 2000
Parasite Eve - Square Co., Ltd. - PSX - 1998
Rogue Galaxy - Level 5 - PS2 - 2007
Guitar Hero 2 - Harmonix - PS2 - 2006
Planescape: Torment - Black Isle - WIN - 1999
The Typing of the Dead - Smilebit - WIN - 2000
Unreal Tournament - Epic - WIN - 1999
Deus Ex - Ion Storm - WIN - 2000
Shadow of the Colossus - Team Ico - PS2 - 2005
Fahrenheit - Quantic Dream - PS2 - 2005

Chrono Trigger - Squaresoft - NES - 1995
Final Fantasy 4 - Squaresoft - NES - 1991
Knights of the Old Republic - Bioware - XBox - 2003
Red Alert 2 - Westwood - PC - 2000
Guitar Hero 2 - Harmonix - PS2 - 2006
Disgaea - Nippon Ichi - PS2 - 2003
Shadow Hearts: Covenant - Nautilus - PS2 - 2004
Final Fantasy Tactics - Squaresoft - PSX - 1998
Wild Arms - MediaVision - PSX - 1997
Shining Force 2 - Climax Entertainment - Genesis - 1994
Civilization - MicroProse - PC - 1990
Sim City 2000 - Maxis - PC - 1993
Langrisser 2 - NCS - Genesis 1994 (Japan)
TIE Fighter - LucasArts - PC - 1994
Actraiser - Quintet - SNES - 1991
Master of Orion 2 - SimTex - PC - 1996
Ratchet & Clank - Insomniac - PS2 - 2002
Katamari Damacy - Namco - PS2 - 2004
Sim Tower - OpenBook - PC - 1994
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego - Broderbund - PC - 1985

Notes: Had to use the last one for Carmen Sandiego.  She deserves some love here.

Games I've never played include, but are not limited to: Planescapte: Torment, Vampire: Bloodlines, Fallout, Baldur's Gate, System Shock, Deus Ex, any MMO ever.

Doing this nearly cause my brain to implode.  There are so many games I had to leave off.  No sports games or FPS, and I'm ashamed of that.  Especially having to leave off things liks Tecmo Bowl or NHL 94/5/6.  Oh well, that's the list you're getting.  Deal with it.

1.   Dark Age of Camelot - Mythic Entertainment - PC – 2001
2.   Battlefield 1942 - Electronic Arts - 2002
3.   Star Raiders – Atari - 1979
4.   A Tale in the Desert: Tale I - eGenesis – 2003
5.   Championship Manager – Sports Interactive - 1992
6.   Elite – Acornsoft - 1984
7.   Strat-o-matic baseball – Strat-o-matic – computer version 1990’s
8.   Civilization - MicroProse Software - PC – 1991
9.   M.U.L.E. - Ozark Softscape - C64 – 1983
10.   Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Nintendo – SNES
11.   The Bard's Tale: Volume I - Interplay Productions - Atari ST – 1985
12.   Grim Fandango - Lucasarts - PC – 1998
13.   Oregon Trail (Broderbund? Apple IIe)
14.   Adventure - Atari - Atari 2600 – 1979
15.   Pitfall! - Activision - Atari 2600 – 1982
16.   Goldeneye 007 - Rare Ltd - N64 – 1997
17.   ReVolt – Acclaim - 1999
18.   Railroad Tycoon – Sid Meier - 1990
19.   Chuck Yeager Air Combat - 1991
20.   Jack Nicklaus Unlimited Golf & course design – Accolade - 1990

<many above are based more on nostalgia than on game quality>

Crystalis - SNK - NES - 1990
Rock n Roll Racing - Blizzard - SNES - 1993
Final Fantasy Tactics - Squaresoft - PSX - 1998
Final Fantasy VI - Squaresoft - SNES - 1994
Everquest 2 - SOE - PC - 2004
Base Wars - Ultra - NES - 1991
Portal - Valve - PC - 2007
Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen - Quest - SNES - 1993
Pokemon Red - Game Freak - GB - 1998
Earthbound - Ape - SNES - 1995
Street Fighter Alpha 3 - Capcom - PSX - 1999
Super Smash Bros Melee - HAL Labs - GC - 2001
Bushido Blade 2 - Light Weight - PSX - 1998
Gauntlet Legends - Midway - Arcade - 1998
Secret of Evermore - Squaresoft - SNES - 1995
DDRMax2 7th Mix - Konami - Arcade - 2002
Resident Evil 2 - Capcom - PSX - 1997
Fallout 2 - Black Isle - PC - 1998
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - Squaresoft - SNES - 1996
Starcraft - Blizzard - PC - 1998

In no particular order. After deciding which Final Fantasy to put on the list, the one game per series rule actually made this easier. However, its safe to assume that if a game is on my list I love the whole series (with the exception of every Final Fantasy after 9). The lack of early PC games is because I didnt own a computer at all for most of my youth, and didnt get one that could do more than play MUDs til '99 or so. SNES/PSX were my 2 favorite systems, and the games on here reflect that. Gauntlet Legends made the cut both because I dumped at least $20 in quarters into it to beat it one night, and because it was the first of the modern multiplayer action RPG genre (D&D Heroes, BG: Dark Alliance, FF:CC, etc) which I'm a huge fan of. Crystalis was my first RPG, so it always holds a place in my heart.

In no particular order:

1. Star Wars: TIE Fighter - LucasArts - 1994 - PC
2. Jedi Knight - LucasArts - 1997 - PC
3. Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Westwood - 1996 - PC
4. Master of Orion 2 - Microprose - 1996 - PC
5. Civilization 2 - Microprose - 1996 - PC
6. Soul Calibur II - Namco - 2003 - PS2
7. Baldur's Gate - Bioware - 1998 - PC
8. F-19 Stealth Fighter - Microprose - 1988 - PC
9. X-Com: UFO Defense - Microprose - 1993 - PC
10. Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries - Microsoft - 2002 - PC
11. Street Fighter 2 - Capcom - 1991 - Arcade
12. Final Fantasy X - Square - 2001 - PS2
13. Doom - Id - 1993 - PC
14. Halo - Bungie - 2001 - XBox
15. Fallout - Black Isle - 1997 - PC
16. Diablo - Blizzard - 1996 - PC
17. Starcraft - Blizzard - 1998 - PC
18. Super Mario World - Nintendo - 1991 - SNES
19. Guitar Hero III - Activision - 2007 - 360
20. Wing Commander: Privateer - Origin - 1993 - PC

I know as soon as I post there will be something I'll kick myself for leaving out.  There are a few that were hard to cut off the list.  Heavy PC slant since that where most of my gaming used to be.

Kid Icarus - Nintendo - NES - 1987
Knights of Legend - Todd Porter / Origin - C64 - 1989
Super Mario Bros. 3 - Nintendo - NES - 1990
Out of this World - Delphine Software - SNES - 1991
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Nintendo - SNES - 1992
Shadowrun - Beam Software - SNES - 1993
Final Fantasy VI - Square - SNES - 1994
The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall - Bethesda - PC - 1996
Fallout - Black Isle - PC - 1997
Starcraft - Blizzard - PC - 1998
Planescape: Torment - Black Isle - PC - 1999
Vagrant Story - Square - PS1 - 2000
Ico - Team Ico - PS2 - 2001
Beyond Good & Evil - Ubisoft - PS2 - 2003
Shadow of the Colossus - Team Ico - PS2 - 2005
God of War - SCE - PS2 - 2005
Dragon Quest VIII - Square Enix - PS2 - 2005
Psychonauts - Double Fine - PS2 - 2005
Guitar Hero 2- Harmonix - PS2 - 2006
Portal - Valve - PC - 2007

Apparently 2005 was the greatest year ever.  Who knew?