Moving to: m/AskMbin!

The King of Fighters, the whole franchise, it's just that special to me since my childhood

I've played a lot of the games on this thread and more that haven't been mentioned which deserve to be recognized, but for my experience The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth goes at the top.

There are others more nostalgic, others with more acclaim, but I always come back to Isaac. The RNG, art, humor, and item combos made that game stick to me like nothing else. It has just a little hit of inspirational game design that speaks to me.

Pokemon Sapphire

ICO

I don't know of I could ever say a single game.

Minecraft is definitely the one I've spent most time, probably more than a couple of thousands of hours

Empire Earth is the one I go back the easiest

The Binding of Isaac.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX. The originals were the games that made me realize gamrs could make me feel things, and DX is literally just them but with QoL changes.

Is it even possible to pick just one?

Several of my favorite gaming experiences are one-time, non-repeatable. Solving the Return of the Obra Dinn is up there, but it couldn't possibly be my favorite game because I can never experience it again.

Playing Dark Souls for the first time is the same thing. Discovering the world, finding the intricacies of the interconnected map, struggling with and overcoming challenging areas and bosses. The relief of unlocking shortcuts and the amazement at the maps connectivity. It was the first game of it's type I played, and it was phenomenal, but coming back to it never matches that first playthrough. And let's be honest, the bosses feel downright mundane after having played the later releases.

Disco Elysium affected me in a way no other game has. Its themes are so relevant to me that it struck me on a very personal level and it was an incredibly cathartic experience that will stay with me forever the way any great book would. I actually found it more enjoyable the second playthrough too, however, is it really even a game?

Final Fantasy IX

I just love it. The cast, the writing, the music, not a perfect game but for me a perfect story, a perfect experience.

There’s too many to list but Zelda 2 was the first game I finished. It was a collaborative effort, using a book, but my friend Frosty and I stayed up all night (this was in junior high so this was a big deal) and finished it. Fond memories.

I'm pretty old so have a lot of games I feel terribly nostalgic about, but I'm going to pick a relatively recent one in Deep Rock Galactic.

It just feels like such an absolute triumph of game design in so many ways. I've always had a soft spot for Co-op PvE, and it's just done right. Having a dedicated key to rock and stone (cheer on your teammates) is an absolute genius move for promoting positivity and cutting down on toxicity. Gunplay is good and varied. The feeling of exploration is AMAZING! Probably the game that's kept me going 'wow' when I go to a new place the most consistently after hundreds of hours.

So much respect for the devs who are continuing to absolutely nail it!

Going all the way back to the NES for me, and I'm getting the feeling I'm quite a bit older than most of the commenters here: Super Mario Bros. 3 - best game of all time. :)

Undertale still holds a special place in my heart after all these years.

It made me care about its characters in a way that no game had ever done before, and few have since. The cool and replayable story, along with a great soundtrack are other things that I like. Only criticism I really have of the game is the questionable graphics, but I've never been the type to care too much about graphics anyways.

Fallout New Vegas

Dead by Daylight. I love it as much as I hate it.

Tales of Phantasia.

It's still the only game I've ever 100%. It started my love of the Tales Of series and Dhaos is still my favorite villain of all time.

GOAT is Dungeon Keeper. Holy siht that's a great game. Still play it to this day, despite the fact that it's close to 30 years old.

"Little Big Adventure 2", also known as "Twinsen's Odyssey" in the US, and rebranded worldwide as "Twinsen's Little Big Adventure 2" few months ago.

Y's Book I & II on the TurboGrafx-16 system.

I really enjoyed the story and music in that game. I just played through it again a couple years ago.

Morrowind. Morrowind's world just feels alive and as someone who knows the game inside out that game just feels home

Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Skyrim

Final Fantasy Tactics is my all time favorite game. But someone else mentioned Legend of Dragoon, and I have to say that game was just pure beauty.

Final Fantasy VI is a close second. And so is Fallout 2. I've replayed that many times.

WWE Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain. Used to do 2-3 season mode playthroughs in one session, it was that addicting.

This is a hard question because I have so many that I love, but I'm going to go with Tales of Vesperia.

Feeling daring in kbin, huh?

Legend of Zelda: a link to the past.

Played the previous entries on NES and those are great game, but alttp on the SNES showed how magical these games should be. The music and visuals was just great.

Road Rash

Mario RPG. It's just enjoyable, it's a video game toy you really play with. Throughout you're encouraged to just have fun and not take anything seriously. Yeah jump on whatever you want, see if you can land on that Toad running around in circles. You did it, here's a funny little animation as a reward. run up a debt at the hotel and play bellhop, get yelled at for jumping on the shop counter, officiate a wedding, do some random backtracking to see Samus sleeping, go on a world spanning scavenger hunt. All while every little attack and magic is a little minigame to play with. Dont worry about grinding, here's a power star to run through a dozen battles worth of xp in a few seconds.