In no particular oder:

• Earthbound- Pure wish fulfillment for me at 12. Pure joy for me now when I return to it.
• Final Fantasy III (US)/VI (Japan)- I had three massive game guides for this and read every one multiple times. Explored every nook and cranny of the game. It was an early exposure to games that emphasize story, and it was formative for me.
• Super Mario World- I still think this might be the perfect platformer.
• Metal Gear Solid- One of the early games that was like playing a movie. A revelation. The story was silly, but at 14, I didn’t know any better. Not sure I care even at 40, although it would probably hit me a lot differently if I played it for the first time now.
• Samba de Amigo- We played the hell out of this game as teenagers at my friend Blake’s house. We got stuck at one point, so we recorded the difficult section on his VCR, played it back in slow motion, and mapped the beats we needed to hit. We were actually able to clear it after doing that.
• Dance Dance Revolution- I lost 35 pounds not even really trying playing this game as a young adult. I’ve never before or since been so excited about exercise.
• Parappa the Rapper- The songs are catchy, and I love how weird everything is.
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night- This is a video gamer’s game. It’s unapologetic, and I love every bit of it. Holds up better than just about any other PS1 game.
• Super Metroid- That escape sequence at the beginning still gives me chills, even though it’s hard to fail. The music throughout the game is masterful.
• Stuntman- Something about having to replay the sections of the courses over and over to perfect them tweaked something deep inside my brain.
• Super Meat Boy- Same as the above, except without the excessive load times between retries!
• Hollow Knight- I crave novelty and probably have some brand of ADHD. As a result, I rarely even finish a game once, let alone return to it. I’ve fully completed this one twice. It’s that good.
• Shovel Knight- This is what you think old games were like… until you actually play a few of them. Actually, this is what you wish old games were like. I’m still amazed they were able to stick the landing with the other playable characters. I thought Shovel Knight was lightning in a bottle, but they caught it over and over in this one.
• The Witcher Series (all of 'em)- I love the way Geralt carries a confident swagger — still without being overbearing — through this bleak world. One of my favorite characters in any game.
• Mass Effect 2- Love the ensemble cast. Best one since FF3, IMO.
• Grandia 2- When I was a teenager, I didn’t know you were allowed to think the main spoiler in this game, let alone put it in a game.
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons- Nothing has ever matched mechanics with emotion like this.
• Life Is Strange- I played through this with my daughter watching over my shoulder. We both loved it. One of my most memorable gaming experiences ever.
• The Walking Dead (Telltale)- Played through this with my ex-wife watching over my shoulder. Similar experience to Life Is Strange, but with a different person I care about.
• The Secret of Monkey Island- The first game I remember playing that was really funny.
• The Realm- This is the first MMO I ever played. I remember in the alpha working for weeks to get the gold pants. These were the most sought-after item in the game: a pair of pants with infinite storage capacity. 🤷‍♂️ I finally got them, and it felt so awesome!
• World of Warcraft- Played this with some friends with work and felt real camaraderie in a game for the first time.
• Diablo (the first one)- This was unlike anything else I’d ever played at the time. The atmosphere was incredible too.
• The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind- This game helped me understand Western RPGs.
• Burnout Paradise- My favorite driving game. So satisfying to play.
• Batman: Arkham Asylum- Played this non-stop while I was home sick with the flu. None of the other games in the series ever surpassed it. Bigger isn’t always better.
• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor- Feeling like a game is aware of you is a really cool feeling.
• Blast Corps- The most fun I had on N64. Destroying things in a game is highly underutilized.
• Doom- Formative and scary. There still aren’t many games scarier than Doom. This was also my first exposure to modding. If vanilla Doom is scary, that Alien TC is terrifying!
• Quake- If you ask me, this is the most influential game in history.
• Unreal Tournament- Had so much fun putting together LAN parties to play this. I didn’t do many, but the ones I did were amazing. I miss those days.
• Grand Theft Auto 3- The early GTA games were great, but this changed everything. When you think about it abstractly, it’s hard to imagine how much a difference moving from 2D to 3D could make… but it did.
• Elden Ring- Best sense of discovery of anything I’ve ever played. I love just stumbling from one thing to the next at my own pace.

Probably more that are not occurring to me right now… and even so I’ve probably listed way more than you intended. 😅