15 Games That Changed Your Life

In no particular order:

• Final Fantasy series- The whole series has had an impact on my view of right and wrong. It also helped me realise the desire to conquer the world.
• Persona 3&4- The social system gave me perspective on different lifestyles and increased my understanding. It gave me new insights into alot of things.
• Deus Ex- It was amazing, and it has had a major influence on me personally. It gave me a mainstream vessel for some of my views... and I thought - wow, this really is something that could happen.
• Splinter Cell - This game gave me quite the edge on world affairs and tactics.

edited 2nd Oct '10 6:01:56 AM by Shichibukai

Here's my own list of cornerstone / most memorable games that marked and / or shaped the various facets of my gaming life. Listed in chronogical order of when I first played them :

• Saboteur (CPC 464) : the very first game I played, I was 4 back then and it was owned by a relative. Too bad our CPC 464 unit has its cassette reader broken, I would have loved playing it again.

• Aladdin (Megadrive) : the very first game I owned, on my very first console, the Megadrive. I was baffled at the quality of the game back then, and still find it awesome today.
  • Also, speaking of it, the Megadrive itself is THE cornerstone that made me a gamer. No Megadrive, no gamer Ace.

• Mortal Kombat 2 (Megadrive) : The first MK game I played, and the first video game series I would passionately follow. My MK craze lasted until Ultimate MK3.

• Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine : My first puzzle game, and still nowadays my absolute fave game in my Megadrive library. It's the game that made me an avid Puzzle Game lover.

• Streets of Rage 2 : My first beat-em-up, and still my fave one today. It made me love to death the Beat-em-up genre.

• Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP 2 : My favourite racer on Megadrive, along with Rock 'n' Roll Racing and Road Rash. Holds a special place in my heart because it's one of my very first dear friends that made me discover it, and the copy I own is my friend's. He gave it to me as he was selling his Megadrive, and I treasure it, as today, I've sadly lost contact with him due to moving house far away long ago.

• Toshinden : the very first Playstation 1 game I've played back in 1995 when the console was just released. Played it with the same relative that had the CPC 464 who had bought the PS 1 back then, and was baffled by the game's tech. Toshinden has aged badly now, but I still enjoy the Demo I still own.

• Time Crisis : the very first Light Gun game I've played, it was back in 1996 when I visited the Futuroscope (a French attraction park dedicated to high-tech) for the first time in my life. This game, and Virtua Cop which I discovered a year later, made me a hardcore Light Gun games fan.

• Pokémon : without this game series, the Pokémon anime would have never existed, and my Internet career, as well as most of the following cornerstone games list, would have been extremely different, since my first breakthrough on the web was as a anime-specialist webmaster on a French Pokémon site, making me meet people that made me discover various other manga, anime, and video games.

• Star Ocean 2 : THE game that made me reconcile with RPGs, a genre I totally hated so far (mostly thanks to the overrated Final Fantasy series). I immediately fell in love with its deep and awesome game and skills system. RPGs is still the gaming genre I like the least, but now I have a few games in this genre I'm giving exceptions.

• Lunar : Silver Star Story : an RPG I discovered just after finishing Star Ocean 2. Its storyline and loveable characters drew me in instantly, and the game system was good. I keep awesome memories of this game.

• Fire Emblem 4 : Oh boy, we're talking big here. This is the game series and fandom I loved and invested myself the most so far, along with the Tokimeki Memorial series below. Discovered the series in April 2003, during my RPG hate-breaking period, through Fire Emblem Gaiden. But it's Fire Emblem : Seisen no Keifu that made me a diehard Fire Emblem fan. That game was just perfect to me : superb characters, superb storyline, superb game system, and great strategy game. Got so hooked to this game and the series, I created the first FE French website, was a regular in the back-then most popular English FE forum "Fire Emblem : Sanctuary of Strategy" (FESS for short), and, as I was learning Japanese, got to translate various stuff and scripts from the games and books, and still am today (albeit now at Serenes Forest, now that FESS is dead). The FE series also hold the honor of being the series that opened me to Japanese import games, and being a side inspiration (but not the main) of me deciding to learn Japanese.

• Super Smash Bros Melee : the first Game Cube game I owned, and one I've spent lots and lots of hours on. I have fond memories of it, and still play it from time to time.

• Tokimeki Memorial 1 : We're on another big one here folks. This is my current main fave series along with Fire Emblem and Mitsumete Knight below. Discovered it in 2005 via the SNES version of the first game. At that time, I didn't knew a word of Japanese, so I played it with FAQs and trial and error, but the system captivated me. My passion for this game grew gradually, and litterally exploded in 2008, when I became able to understand basic Japanese, and particulary during my study trip in Japan in 2009 where my level dramatically improved. Thanks to being now being able to understand Japanese enough to play JPN-only games comfortably, I can now savour why the Tokimemo series got so much loved in Japan back in The '90s, with their compelling characters and nice atmosphere. Currently, I'm trying to get people to discover the games by translating bits of it on gameplay videos on Youtube.

• Mitsumete Knight : A game I'll never regret discovering by pure chance. It's thanks to the Tokimeki Memorial 2 Illustrations book I bought when I was in Japan, that I discovered this game. In the book's credits, was a man, Akira Ootsuka, who's the main illustrator of Tokimemo 2, and the credits mentioned he also was the illustrator of Mitsumete Knight R. Curious, I searched for infos on the web, and when I saw : "same game mechanics as Tokimemo 1" and especially : "depending on your choices, the main heroines can die", I got extremely interested. Bought the game on a whim, and was baffled. This game is proof that even the derided Dating Sim genre (a genre I'm myself not into save for this game and the Tokimemo series) can have deep Worldbuilding, a Fire Emblem 4-like epic storyline, and characters with deep personnalities and Character Development. And I'm saddened to see it's so little known in the West. T_T

edited 3rd Oct '10 2:21:58 AM by AceNoctali

As with many people, this is in no particular order:

1. Tetris Attack (Game Boy vers.): My first video game. Ever. Warped me horribly by showing me the terrble addictive properties of the Match-Three Game. Got me my own Game Boy, too.
2. Donkey Kong Land 2: The game that came with my Very Own First Game Boy. I had thought at the time I would never play another video game besides my beloved Tetris Attack, because I believed they were "too violent." This game showed me otherwise and started my lifelong love affair with platformers.
3. Kirby's Dreamland 2: The game that introduced me to the concept of 100% Completion, and made me realize that I have Game OCD. Also the first game to make me realize "Gee, I wonder if anyone on the Internet has put up where the other Rainbow Drops are?" I was also somewhat afraid to remove it from my Game Boy for four months, until it was dethroned by...
4. Pokemon Blue: Not only was I a huge participant in the 90's Poke-craze, but it made me realize that I adore Mons games. Again, I still do.
5. Banjo-Kazooie: My first home console game, but not without a price. It was part of a horrible war I had with myself: Which did I want for Christmas, an N64 or a Play Station? After all, the Play Station had...
6. Spyro The Dragon: The gems! The firebreathing! The enticing levels! I went with Banjo—sorry, Spyro—but I still love the little purple guy.
7. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time: For a very, very long period of time, Zelda was my biggest obsession ever—and to this day, Oo T is still my all-time favorite game. I've played it I think 7 times. I know the dungeons like the back of my hand (except for Master Quest; drat it). It's a testament to Oo T's quality that I'm still not tired of it.
8. T Lo Z: Wind Waker: The game that made me realize the concept of "Broken Base." I typed myself raw trying to defend the poor game before it even came out, without realizing it was futile. Kind of an ignoble thing for the poor game.
9. Mario Kart 64: My first multiplayer game! ...Well, the first game I played multiplayer, anyway. And I realized, lo: It was fun!
10. Metroid Fusion: I missed the SNES until later on, so my first introduction to Samus was the first Super Smash Bros game. I was fascinated with the character—awesome gun-toting chick who explored alien planets and fought pirates—but couldn't play the other games (except II, but I couldn't find a copy). So Fusion was my first introduction to her, and now the series is one of my all-time favorites.
11. Golden Sun: My first pure RPG, and one of the first games I played where I got really interested in the plot. Made me realize that, while I really liked the game, I was not really a "pure" RPG person.
12. Earthbound: The exception to the above. But it was also my first real "wacky" game... and the first time, I am ashamed to admit it, I feigned sickness so I could stay home and play a game all day. Sorry, Mom and Dad.
13. Shadow Of The Colossus: The first game to really, truly take my breath away. The first time aspects besides the gameplay truly wowed me, and the first game to make me think that some games can do much more than simply be good games.
14. Snowboard Kids 2: The first time I can remember being completely blown away by a game's music. I'd liked a lot of game songs before, but SBK 2 was the one that made me realize how good video game music could be. This track was the culprit. Who knew synth could be so epic?
15. Resident Evil 4: The first M-rated video game I ever played. Although I liked it, it made me realize that the violence and gore some of the other gamers I knew (teenaged boys, natch) hyped up were not enough to make a game good. I'm an elitist—I demand a totally lewd sense of humor or eldritch horrors too!

...I can't think of a good fifteenth. OH WELL.

I wouldn't really say any game had an effect on my life, let alone fifteen.

Well, there is one. Pokémon Red, which gave me an adoration for video games and was probably one of the reasons I grew to love reading.

• Pokemon Yellow: Three years old and my first Gameboy Colour game was Pokemon Yellow. The excitment!! Brought me into the world of pokemon where I could escape for a few hours.

• Spyro: Year of the Dragon: I used to miss my dinner when I was a child becuase I needed to beat that one boss to get that egg! Made me aware of Insomniac Games.

• The Sims: Yes it's old and crap compared to The Sims 2 and 3, but to me, it's a classic. Gave the small 7 year old me complete control over people's lives.

• Worms Armageddon: Brought out my inner pyschopath with the Holy Hand Grenade.

edited 3rd Oct '10 12:56:27 AM by ACrackInTime

Metroid Prime, Half Life 2 (haven't played 1), Quake 3, Unreal Tournament, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Portal, Diablo 2, Unreal, System Shock 2, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Counter-Strike Source, Starcraft, Doo M:RL, Dungeon Crawl, Super Smash Bros. Melee

edited 3rd Oct '10 10:36:37 PM by Arisaka

Splinter Cell instead of Thief?

• Yoshi's Island : My first video game EVER and got me into gaming.
• Pokemon R/B: First challenging game/RPG
• Super Mario 64: First 3D game
• Pokemon Stadium: Epic game was epic, announcer was awesome
• Paper Mario: I learned the meaning of invincible and like pokemon, it was one of my first really challenging games
• Ocarina of Time: This game made me want to be like link so bad as a kid. I used to grab a stick and pretend I was link all the time. It also remains one of the most open, freedom-having games I've played to this day.
• DK 64: Next to Yoshi's Island, this game probably contributed the most to my imagination. The levels were so fucking vivid and colorful
• Banjo Kazooie: sparked my interest in jigsaw puzzles
• Banjo Tooie: Also another challenging game form my childhood, and it was my first experience with the subversion of the The Hub.
• SSBM: Spent so much time playing this game.
• Wind Waker: First cel shaded game

In no particular order whatsoever. Note: Most of these are fighting games, I am always broke, and there were NO ARCADES where I grew up.

• Street Fighter II: Turbo (SNES): My very first fighting game. I poured countless hours into it, absorbing everything about the game. Mostly Zangief and Bison's theme music and how hard Ryu was to beat with my main man, "Gully."

• Mortal Kombat II (SNES): The most fun version of MKII to date (YMMV)! Going from the Bloodless Carnage of SNES's MK 1 to MKII's gorn totally blew my mind! And even after getting MK 3 as a birthday gift, I still poured most of my time in MKII.

• Killer Instinct 1 (SNES): My first memory of KI is playing it at my cousin Joi's house. I was cycling through her collection of games (which also included Dr. Mario, Super Mario Bros. Collection, and Donkey Kong Country) I spotted a black cartridge, and black being my favorite color, popped it in without even looking at the title. Until a few years ago when I actually learned what the name of the game was, to me, it was "the game where you could fight as a dinosaur and the announcer said Fight On!"

• Battle Hunter (PS 1): Ever heard of it? Didn't think so. Laughable translations. Laughable artwork. Laughable character models. Battle Hunter was a cheaply made TBS game in the late PSX years, and it was awesome! Sure, it may look like nothing now (and even in its prime, it was lackluster) but if you actually sit down and play it, YOU WILL LOVE IT!

• Tenchu: Stealth Assassins (PS 1): A game that me and my father poured a hell of a lot of time into. Tenchu: Stealth Assassins was completely awesome in the fact that you were an actual ninja that slipped in and out of sight and killed people behind their backs. And you had grappling hooks and fire scrolls and poison rice balls (that everyone fell for) and you could dress up as your enemies (even more fun in the first level where Rikimaru would dress as a geisha and even though you could see the sword in your own hand, no one else noticed)! And the soundtrack is absolutely lovely (I can't remember another time I was so overwhelmed by an intro that I broke down and cried)!! The voice acting, however, is so narmy that you might get sick. And while my father went on to play the sequel, I stayed with the original (too confusing for me).

• NBA JAM: If it wasn't for this, NBA Live wouldn't exist. And unlike NBA live, it's not a basketball sim, It's a 2 on 2 in-your-face arcade smashing hell of a good time with no rules (except goal tending). . . with actual NBA teams!

• Super Mario World (SNES): What can be said about Super Mario World that hasn't been said already?

• Tekken 3: Likewise. Everything's already been said about this game.

• Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style (PS 1): Some of you may recognize this as that game that used the Thrill Kill engine, others as a sell-out game by the Wu-Tang Clan. I, however, recognize this as the Def Jam: Fight For New York of it's time. . . with weapons. . . a wide array of fatalities. Some CMOA, some laughably absurd, and some will make you just have a Flat "What"? In addition to the staple 9 Clan members, you also got their Chinese arch-rivals with the same styles. As well as 3 unique end bosses, a flying Chinese Superman with control over lightning, an afro-luscious babe from a 70's disco flick in a Kung Fu outfit, an old Monk that says "Who's your daddy!?" a whole lot. Although the controls were clunky, with a little practice, you'll be gibbing enemies in no time. SUUUUUUUUU!

• Soul Blade (PS 1) Namco can make a good game, can't they? I loved this game. My favorites were Li-Long, Taki, and Hwang. Lemme tell ya, I loved his game so much that I crafted a nunchaku out of a couple of twigs from my backyard, some yarn, and some krazy clue. I was Li-Long for two weeks! Haha!

• Bloody Roar II: The New Breed (PS 1) An underrated game, bu considering how horrible BR 4 and Primal Fury were, I can't say I blame you for no knowing this title. Bloody Roar II was unique for it's heavy rock soundtrack (this was before Guilty Gear) and all of the character's unique abilities to turn into anthropomorphic animals to further inflict MASSIVE FUCKING PAIN! Fun game that was overshadowed by Tekken 3.

• Comix Zone (PC): I got this game as part of Sega Smash Pack. I poured more hours into this game than any other game in the collection. More than Kid Chameleon, more than Vectorman, more than Shining Force.

• ??????? (PS 2): I don't remember the name of this game, but it involved this drug called SEED, and a zombie gunslinger that smacked people around with his own coffin.

• Guilty Gear XX #Reload (Xbo X): To be honest, I didn't even know what Guilty Gear was until I watched thesevideos. Amazed at how the sprites looked, I began looking at tournament videos. Ever since, my interest in Guilty Gear grew more and more and when I got the game for X-mas, I pre-opened it and snuck in a different game in its place. Guilty Gear completely changed what a fighting game was for me, and I love Arc Systems for that.

• DJ Fu Wax AttackThe first game I've played where music was the life gauge, and in a sense, it solidified the love for music that I have now. I mean, hell, I actually enjoyed Def Jam: Icon! Even if it was just because music was the weapon.

edited 3rd Dec '10 9:29:03 AM by IWasJustPassingBy

• Rainbow Six: I remember playing this years ago. Thing is, it was the PS1 version. Still, this was the first game that got me interested in Tactical Shooters. Of course, I played the superior PC version later. :P
• SOCOM II: US Navy SEALs: This was the game that solidified my love for all things military. When a new SOCOM came out, it was at the top of my list.
• Ghost Recon: Not GRAW. The first one, along with its expansion packs. Like Rainbow Six, I loved it for its emphasis on realism, tactics and patience. I also loved it for its mods. God, so many mods...
• X-COM: I actually discovered this just a few years ago, but that doesn't stop me from adoring it. This is one of my all-time favorites. I'll never forget it.
• Jagged Alliance 2: Like X-COM, but refined. The guns, the mercs, the customization, the freedom of choice...I just loved it all. The 1.13 mod makes it so much better.
• Mass Effect: This is, without a doubt, my most favorite RPG franchise. Ever. I love almost everything about Mass Effect.
• Metal Gear Solid 2: One of my first PS 2 games, as well as my first Stealth-Based Game. Its staggering depth, unpredictable story and solid gameplay won me over. The entire MGS franchise is excellent, really.
• Medal Of Honor: Frontline was the first FPS I played on the PS 2, and man, was it intense. I was literally shaking after storming Omaha beach. An unforgettable experience.
• Halo: Made me love shooters even more. I can't get enough of the franchise.
• Fallout: Comes in second to ME. The sheer amount of things you can do blew me away, and I'm talking about every installment.
• Deus Ex: Best FPS I've ever played, I swear. The mature, conspiracy-laden plot proved to me that video games aren't as simple as some people believe them to be; they're a damn art form.
• Planescape Torment: My third favorite RPG. Hell, this felt less like a game and more like a novel. I know this isn't a game for everyone. Some people prefer stats, grinding and all that jazz, but for me, RPGs are all about the story.
• Super Smash Brothers: Got me into the Mascot Fighter genre. Had an insane amount of fun with friends.
• Goldeneye 64: First FPS I ever played. I'm sure you can understand why I loved it. :P
• Command And Conquer: Red Alert was my first RTS. Through it, I discovered strategy games.

edited 2nd Dec '10 5:48:16 PM by Nimitz

Fifteen? I don't even know if I have played that many...

But let's try.

Unlike most people above, in the particular order in which they came to my head for this particular discussion:

• Ninja Gaiden the original NES saga — I had to learn English to enjoy this game. Granted, it wasn't Final Fantasy VI where I had to learn English to equip the right items &stuff, but still, learning English made the tirades of Say My Name ("Ryu! Irene! Ryu! Irene!") and the whole Ashtar affair with Jaquio taking over enjoyable.
• Raiden — the game that taught me why I suck at shooters, even with all the powerups enabled. To this day I can't even finish the first stages in Gradius.
• Skyroads — a game that was addictive and, for the time, innovative, it also taught me a couple of things about game licensing and installing, being a DOS game.
• Final Fantasy VIII — the first game where I had to be attentive when handling my inventory in order to adequately progress in the game. Before that my boss battles in RP Gs were something like spamming "character one strikes, character two uses Potion".
• Sim City [[Trope2000 3000]] — one of the two games that introduced me to VG music and OS Ts, and it also introduced me to long-term planning, with the concept of the "savefile" extending my civilization and stuff.
• The King Of Fighters '97 — the other game that introduced me to VG OS Ts. I was pretty much used to MIDI tunes up to that point, but with KOF I started to demand bigger, better ambient music and soundtracks. KOF 2001 was a big letdown for me because of this.
• Mega Man X and X2 — I played this game with my sister and we had this strategy, where she would flawlessly dash the stages while collecting all items, powerups and well-hidden armor parts and then I would flawlessly defeat the end stage boss. It was kind of the last game, of any kind, that my sister and I enjoyed together.
• Frozen Bubble and World Of Goo — the games with which me and my friends kill compile times at college, and the games I have installed to show to people introducing themselves to the Linux world; I think that's enough said.
• Cat! (and its variant Oneko!) — a game just as a ludic element of having a kitten in your desktop accompanying everything you do. Even with something so simple, no other game had offered that to me up to that time.
• Ultimate Stunts and Wizznic, more than good remakes of two more than good old DOS games — they brought the joy of the old kid days back to me in a fashionable way and reminded me when I met them that no good game goes away silently into the data night. Now I'm just hoping for the release of the Skyroads remake...
• Chrono Trigger — what could I say here that people who know and care about videogames don't feel at heart already? A great story that made pleasurable to come back and play again, a game nonlinear enough that made you enjoy not knowing what could you try next, blah blah blah. It was (is) essentially the game that has actively lasted the most in my flashdrive, not counting my still functional SC 3000 city. Not even my Pokémon Crystal run has been this active or this long.
• Cadillacs And Dinosaurs — the game that told me that I could count on games to de-stress me anytime, no matter how weird the circumstance. That time where I and a friend got lost in a city, the first thing we did was to buy a 7-Up and wander around aimlessly until we heard arcade sounds. Of course, there it were a vacant C&D machine and a KOF 97 one, waiting for us. Now I always have some minimal games installed in mu backup flashdrive, just in case.
• Pokemon — good games and they introduced me to Video Game Caring Potential and its evil sibling, but they also constantly remind me that playing videogames, specially of that kind, is one thing I can easily be ostracized for and if anyone ever finds out they'll never let me live it down. They essentially taught me that people are so busy trying to become "adults" that they associate growing maturity with such inane playing activities and games like the ones where you have to go around raping hookers for score, killing anything that moves and drawing rivers of blood from every bunny in the vicinity.

Yeah, I think that would kinda cover it.

edited 2nd Dec '10 10:24:40 PM by SilentReverence

I'm not sure I can name 15 games (I'm not sure if I've really played 15 games), but I can give a few categories:

- The early steps: Mostly PC games. My first foray into gaming, and while I didn't become a massive fan of the medium until much later, these sparked my interest. Games like Frogger and Lemmings (particularly the former. God, that game was awesome.) cultivated my eventual interest in level design, which has persisted to this day (although I have yet to follow through with it). There was also stuff like Backyard Sports and Zoo Tycoon.
- Observation: There was a friend of mine who had a GBA, and I liked to look over his shoulder and watch him play (which I also did with my brother and his PC). I never actually played, but this was probably one of the things that kindled my interest. Stuff like Pokémon Emerald, Yoshi's Island, Legend of Zelda: the Minish Cap, and I think Golden Sun a few times as well.
- Opportunity: I had followed gaming for a little while, but a couple years ago, our family got its first actual console: a Wii. After that, everything changed— I finally got to experience these games, and it was great. Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii, Galaxy, Brawl and so on from there.

edited 2nd Dec '10 10:12:40 PM by Blueeyedrat

I am not sure if I can name fifteen, but I can try!

1. The Dragon Quest series. This series has been with me all my life. It is a big thing for me whenever a new game comes out. I celebrate by listening to the various versions of the Overture. Dragon Quest made me love video games.
2. Super Mario Bros 2 and 3. These would be my first platformers. While not my favorite platforming series I would learn the basics of the genre from them.
3. Shining Force 1 and 2. These were my first tactical JRP Gs and from the day I first played them on our old Genesis the genre has been one of my favorites. Only platformers and turn based JRPGS can contend with them for the spot of my favorite genre.
4. Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow version. It was fucking Pokemon. That is all that needs to be said.
5. The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time. This was the first game I played on N64. While I am not as fond of it as I am of the Majora's Mask it introduced me to the realm of 3-D gameplay.
6. Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness. These games reintroduced me to the series I had played only a few times before we had our N64. They helped create a love for the series and the series would create a love for platformers.
7. Monster Rancher 2. While Pokemon was great and all Monster Rancher 2 would ensure that I always loved mons games. Always. It is still my favorite mons series next to Dragon Quest Monsters. This also the first game that made me cry and would be a sign of many the tearful farewells with my virtual pets to come.
8. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete. This would be the first game I ever finished and also the first I ever cheated on. The original SEGA CD version was but a tiny memory that was brought back when I saw an ad for the PSX remake in an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. This game would also be the only reason I got honor roll that year in elementary school.
9. Breath Of Fire 1-4. The games made me a furry.
10. Puzzle Bobble. While Tetris was the first puzzle game I played Puzzle Bobble was the first I really loved. Hours of my time and hefty sums would be spent on the arcade versions of it. Since then I have loved puzzle games.
11. Sonic 3 And Knuckles. This game was the shit and I played it a lot for the short time that I had it on the computer. It is the best Sonic game. There's no contest. It just is. This game would create my love for the Sonic franchise. I still don't really know why I love it so much when I don't like the games very much.
12. Dance Dance Revolution: The Fourth Mix. This game would be my first introduction to the series and to rhythm games. Rhythm games would become one of my favorite genres.
13. Phantasy Star 1-3 on the GBA. These games would spark a love for the franchise and bring back memories of playing the fourth game long ago. I fucking love Phantasy Star even if the series has been treated like shit over the years.
14. World Of Warcraft. I got this for Christmas one year and it helped keep me out of a horrid depression I was going through after a move. I finally had people to talk too again and it was wonderful. I learned that I didn't really care for MMO gameplay too much, but that I really liked PVP and the ability to play with many people. World Of Warcraft would also start my love for RTS and RTT as it got me to play Warcraft 3.
15. Touhou Project. Prior to playing Perfect Cherry Blossom I had only played one shmup and only for a small period of time. PCB sparked an interest in the genre and they are becoming one of my favorite genres.

Runner up is Final Fantasy 7 for making me orgasm at the sight of its cutscenes.

edited 2nd Dec '10 10:40:34 PM by Aondeug

Oooh, introspection.

Bullet points, because I'm not gonna rank mah babiez.

• Super Mario Bros - My friend owned an NES and introduced me to these newfangled "video" games.
• Super Mario World - First game I owned, along with...
• The Legend Of Zelda A Link To The Past - Epic evil-slaying cross-dimensional top-down adventure, hells yeah. Still has a huge effect on me because I attribute my inability to remember people's names to value brain space being taken up by Piece of Heart locations.
• Myst - Oh, the hours spent at a friend's house, the four of us crowded around the computer in his kitchen, trying to figure out how to open that spaceship. Oh, the hours spent winding up that battery to explore the sunken ship in the Stoneship Age. A good lesson in the value of intellect and thinking.
• Command And Conquer - It's like chess, but on a computer, in real-time, with tanks. First real computer game I owned, disregarding stuff like Mario Teaches Typing.
• TIE Fighter - Why don't they make flight sims like this any more?!
• Chrono Trigger - First RPG I really enjoyed. Loved everything about it. Shame I missed it on the SNES and had to endure the loading times for the PS 1 remake...
• Warhammer 40000 - Yes, I'm including a tabletop game. This thing warped my mind, and I am not joking when I say I'd be a very different person if I'd never heard of it, even disregarding time and money spent on the hobby. All the gothic imagery, the Götterdämmerung, the theme of stubborn defiance in the face of mind-shattering horror... heady stuff.
• Goldeneye - Hey, shooting people is pretty fun!
• Age Of Empires II - Helped feed an interest in history by making me wonder who these Visigoth badasses were.
• Civilization III - Aw yeah. Long-term planning, diplomacy, nation-building, nuking Gandhi - this game taught me skills I hope to utilize for the rest of my life.
• Aliens Vs Predator - If I could go back in time, one of the many things I'd do would be to yell at my younger self to stop trying to play this with a joystick and learn to use a mouse and keyboard to play an FPS. If nothing else, this definitely raised my fear threshold.
• Eternal Darkness - Complimented an HP Lovecraft phase and made me appreciate games that effed with their players.
• World Of Warcraft - First MMO and the only one I stayed with for longer than a few months. Kind of a mix of positive and negative effects: I had a lot of fun and made some in-game "friends," but quit on a bad note after a guild expulsion that left me sneering at end-game raid mentality. Also, I lost all respect for Blizzard's ability to craft lore.
• Touhou - Besides leading to a 2.62 gig music collection, this has made me much more receptive to Japanese culture, taught me some Eastern mythology, and forced me to acknowledge that despite all my masculinity and stoicism and grimdarkness and aloof intellectualism, I find Chen adorable.

edited 2nd Dec '10 10:52:13 PM by Tacitus

Well the only game that I can truly say had a massive impact on me would have to be Super Mario 64. It was the first and closest thing I had ever played to an open-world game, and all the neat little easter eggs, secrets, and glitches gave it an endless amount of replayability for me. And as for the list...

Desert Strike - Basically combined two things I liked when I was a kid: blowing stuff up, be it enemy or civilian/friendly, and flying a modern death machine.

Donkey Kong Country - Totally floored me back then with it's little "3D graphics gimmick", and I played the minecart ride levels over and over. Honestly, I have absolutely no idea why those levels are so loathed by others!

Super Mario World - This one needs no introduction. It was the first videogame I had EVER owned. May also be the one game that took the longest for me to beat, no thanks to the Forest of Illusion and Star Road, and a couple of the sky bridge levels.

Star Fox / Star Fox 64 - The second game I ever owned, and quite possibly the #1 reason why I regretted giving away my SNES nowadays. This is also THE game that took longest for me to reach 100% completion. To elaborate, the one item that eluded me for so long was the original game's "hard course" to reach planet Venom. Funny thing was when I finally reach Venom, it was a cakewalk compared to Macbeth and sector X... until I met the Great Commander boss. There's a reason none of the bosses in the later games ever emulated that bastard and his incredibly cheap second and third forms in any way...

Turok - The first FPS I ever played. Totally sucks now in retrospect, since almost all of it's mechanics and design ideas are outdated or stale by today's standards. Yet I loved it soooo much when I was 10. Honestly, it's like the guys who made this game were TRYING to attract a young audience; you're playing as a inter-dimensional traveling native American who fights dinosaurs, insane tribesmen who ride said dinosaurs, aliens, demons, and robots, and a T-Rex THAT HAS A FLAMETHROWER AND A LASER ATTACHED TO IT'S SNOUT for Christ's sakes!!!

Goldeneye - Not only started my liking of the James Bond franchise, but also gave me countless hours of fun as I slapped/stabbed everyone to death using Oddjob!

Command & Conquer Red Alert: Retaliation - I think I've mentioned this one earlier on another thread. But still, it deserves mentioning because this was the game that got me into playing RT Ses. Strange thing was I orignially got it thinking it was another game similar to the Desert Strike series; I only learned that it was actually about commanding an army, not just dropping nukes and buidling bases a while after...

Super Mario RPG - Again, another game I had no clue about and only got because it had Mario on the cover... and one of the best mistakes I've made when buying games. Despite the fact that I eventually made it to the end, I never did get the hang of a lot of the games mechanics and basically just spammed Bowser's defensive abilites, Mario's Lazy Shell, and Peach's frying pan along with her healing powers with little regard as to how I leveled up. I must've done something right because at one point Peach was doing crazy amounts of damage just using the frying pan!

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire - The Battle of Hoth and the Skyhook Battle. 'Nuff said. (at least until Rouge Squadron came around)

Halo - taught me that playing Rambo in a shooter didn't always pan out so well, especially when the enemies are more or less equal to you and have more of a brain than most did back then. Yeah yeah, I'm aware some of you guys are gonna start cropping up saying that Halo sucks, but realize that it was f***ing revolutionary if you didn't play your games on a PC... which most kids did not have the money to do back then.

Metal Gear Solid - Aside from teaching me that love can bloom on a battlefield, it showed me that cinematic games are awesome and cardboard boxes placed even in the most conspicious places can fool anybody!

edited 3rd Dec '10 8:40:34 AM by SgtRicko

I wouldn't say that all of these games changed my life, but they certainly had an effect on me.

-Pokemon Yellow: My first real game. If it weren't for this game, I might not be playing games today. Even if it was mostly my brother playing after a while, it still sparked my interest in gaming.

-Final Fantasy Tactics Advance: This was the first game I played that actually had a story. It was also one of my first non-Pokemon games, and my first Final Fantasy game. A group of my friends all got into it at the same time, and so we'd all play it together and talk about it. Good times.

-Super Smash Bros Melee: Almost every time I got together with the aforementioned group of friends, we'd play this. Initially, my family didn't have a Gamecube, so the times I was with my friends were the only times I could play it. Even now, we always play Brawl when we get together. Smash Bros is just part of what we do when we hang out.

-Pokemon Ruby: This was the first Pokemon game (or any game, for that matter) that was mine alone, since all the ones before this had been shared with my brother, and he was the one who played most of the time. (I was the "navigator." I always had the guidebook and told him where to go next.) Since then, the two of us have always gotten separate Pokemon games.

-Croc 2: No, I never played the first one. My brother and I had this for the PC, and it was one of our childhood favorites. It took us years of on-and-off playing to actually beat it, but we had so much fun with it that we didn't care.

-Fire Emblem: The first one that came out here, for the GBA. Another one that my group of friends all got into at the same time. Again, good times. Since then, the series has become one of my favorites.

-Baten Kaitos: It's kinda funny how I ended up with this one. I remember seeing it in a store quite a while ago, and being very much interested. But at the time, I wasn't allowed to play T-rated games, so I didn't get it. A few years later, I saw it at a friend's house, and asked about it. He said he liked it. And after that, someone at school mentioned it. When I asked about it, he said that it was a very good game. So I bought it, and loved it to pieces. This game and its prequel are now my all-time favorites.

-Final Fantasy IV Advance: My first standard JRPG, as well as my first numbered Final Fantasy game. I have since gone on to play all the numbered Final Fantasy games except for VII, X, XII, and the online ones. (Final Fantasy IX is my favorite) And mind you, I'd like to play those other sometime.

-The World Ends With You: My favorite DS game, as well as being third on my all-time favorites list. I LOVE this game. It's so unique and fun. I found it incredibly refreshing to play something so different.

-Kingdom Hearts: I have kind of a weird history with this series. The first time I ever heard of it was at my neighbor's house when I was about nine or ten. Someone was starting a new game, so I got to see it from the beginning. I had to leave after an hour or two, but I never forgot about it. A few years later, I picked up Chain of Memories, since I didn't have a PS 2. I was kind of confused, but I managed to figure it out. Eventually I played through the first and second games at that same neighbor's house. I've since played Days and watched the scenes for Birth By Sleep, and am eagerly awaiting any future installments. These games aren't my favorites, but they're still special to me.

Those ten are all I can really think of. Special mention, though, goes to this random PC game called Adventure Pinball: Forgotten Island. For whatever reason, my whole family went crazy for that thing. It was a big deal whenever someone managed to unlock a new stage. We all had a great time playing it, even after we'd unlocked everything.