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[ZeuglinRush]

I just went with the five I've found most inspirational. If I tried to work out a top five list, I would be here all day.

Super Metroid
Gish
Machines: Wired for War
Half Life 2
Metal Slug X

Metal slug 3 used to be my favorite, but x has a way better ending and more tanks and madness.
Super Metroid had to be on there. It's the first game I ever finished (playing )
Machines was one of the first games I played on PC, and I still love the art style.
Half life 2 also had to be on there. Valve is a company comprised of badasses.
Gish. Just Gish. Edmund McMillen is the Tom Waits of games. Except he doesn't sound like a goat. Yet.

[Shade Jackrabbit]

So I decided to be unpredictable in a few choices of mine. And since Derek said I couldn't include D&D, I had to include Neverwinter Nights (which is the closest yet still an unsuitable substitute). Uh... let's see, what might warrant some explainin'.

1.  [15] Day of the Tentacle
Nope, this is pretty obvious to any adventure gamers.

2.  [15] Trilby's Notes
Uh... this one too.

3.  [15] BioShock
I didn't play System Shock 2, so I don't know what these "similarities" people complain about are. I loved the atmosphere and style, though.

4.  [15] The Curse of Monkey Island
Yes it's my favorite entry in the series.

5.  [15] Scratches - Director's Cut
It's better than the non-director's-cut version.

6.  [15] Spelunky
CAUSE I WON TWICE IN FIVE HUNDRED GAMES ARGH WHY DO I LIKE THIS

7.  [15] Iji
It's better than Cave Story, which didn't get on the list, btw.

8.  [15] Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Mind boils!

9.  [15] Neverwinter Nights
Hahaha, if only the DMing system didn't require multiple CD keys.

10. [15] Myst 3: Exile
Yeah I liked it better than Riven. Shoot me.

11. [10] Dear Esther.
Ah. I only didn't put this up at the top cause I ran into some bad errors and glitched through part of the game.

12. [10] Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder
Say what you will about it being a bad game... well okay it does warrant that a bit but I really enjoyed it!

13. [10] Age of Empires 2: The Conquerors
My brother and I set aside weekends and play long games of this some times. Spanish monks are awesome.

14. [10] The Incredible Machine
Yeah I do love this game, but it is pretty simplistic and gets boring fast.

15. [10] Halo 3
OH NOES NOT HALO AM I TURNING MAINSTREAM. No, It's just really fun to play through the campaign in one sitting with three other friends.

16. [5] Half-Life 2
I'm not much of a fan of shooters, and aside from the really good parts it was basically just another shooter. Not even that stylistic or worth another play through.

17. [5] Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Cause being a jedi is cool and there's nothing more satisfying than throwing Sith off bridges. Well, there is, and that's doing so in a decent game. Which this is.

And that's all.

[Valter]

1.  [15] Day of the Tentacle
Nope, this is pretty obvious to any adventure gamers.

Is this the single other person in the world who also likes Day of the Tentacle more than Monkey Island? 

[GregWS]

17. [5] Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Cause being a jedi is cool and there's nothing more satisfying than throwing Sith off bridges. Well, there is, and that's doing so in a decent game. Which this is.

Uh, so why Academy and not Outcast?  It's not that I hated Academy, it just wasn't nearly as good as Outcast IMO (probably mainly because of the plot, and the whole thing just seemed to lack character to me).

[Shade Jackrabbit]

Cause Desann is a cheating son of a bitch who can instantly kill you with one hit, there aren't any speeder bikes in Outcast, your force power progression was basically forced to be a certain way, you couldn't choose what lightsaber style you wanted, and the mods for Academy are better.

And I seem to remember more bridges on levels where I had Force Choke in Academy than in Outcast. And I do love choking people off bridges.

[KennEH!]

I can never do top lists, so much to love why must I pick only some?

[moi]

I can never do top lists, so much to love why must I pick only some?

I'm gonna make a joke "jackie chan" list

[William Laub]

Let's see:

2. [20] Descent 2
One of the first games I played. Just a generally significant game.

3. [18] Touhou 8: Imperishable Night
The music is pretty good, and the game I'm making is a clone a parody of "inspired" by it.

6. [15] Trilby: The Art of Theft
Like Flashback, only it doesn't suck!

12. [9] Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden
I have never been as excited about any other game.

17. [3] Sexy Hiking
Sure, it was glitchy and ridiculous, but it was also v. original/fun.

[Soulliard]

1. [50] Planescape: Torment
The greatest story ever told in a video game. It's the only game that's ever really changed the way I think. I'd give it all my points if I could.

2. [30] Noitu Love 2
My favorite action game of all time. The use of both keyboard and mouse was perfect, and the boss fights were absolutely epic. I could play it all day.

3. [15] Majesty
My favorite real time strategy game. The AI system is really clever and unique, and the game has a great sense of humor. I used to play this all the time. I have low expectations for the upcoming sequel, though.

4. [15] Shadow of the Colossus
Really moving. There's no other game quite like it.

5. [10] Kirby Super Star
Second only to Noitu Love 2, as far as action/platformers go.

6. [10] Alisia Dragoon
A really obscure run & gun, but a great game nonetheless. It was one of my favorite Genesis games.

7. [10] The Neverhood
Even though the game is over a decade old, it still has the most enthralling graphics I've ever seen. Great story, too.

8. [10] Liero
The most fun I've ever had with a multiplayer game. I played this all the time in high school, where it was pretty popular for a time.

9. [10] The Spirit Engine 2
A polished RPG with a really deep combat system. It's a shame so few people have played it.

10. [10] Braid
Braid has the most clever puzzles I've seen in any game. Few games have required me to exercise my brain as much as this one did. Plus, the ending was sublime.

11. [5] Advance Wars: Dual Strike
I've only started playing this recently, but it's been a blast. I love turn-based tactical combat, and this is the best example I've seen. It's the only game of the series I've played, so it's possible that the others are better.

12. [5] Katamari Damacy
An original concept that turned out to be really fun.

13. [5] Magi
Another great strategy game. Unique and surprisingly deep.

14. [5] Final Fantasy Tactics
While it's not as balanced as other tactical games, it's still one of my favorites.

15. [5] Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Great multiplayer fun. Brawl is my favorite of the series, though the improvement over Melee is only slight.

16. [5] Sonic 3 and Knuckles
Sonic was my first video game, and has long been one of my favorites. Sonic 3 is the best of the 16-bit Sonics, and Knuckles only made it better.

17. [5] Spelunky
Really clever and addictive. Beating it gave me a feeling of accomplishment few other games have matched.

[Jolli]

yea whatever my list is a bunch of 360 shooters and a couple of n64 games in between

[William Laub]

I don't think it's possible to understand eva-jolli.

[xerus]

Someone gave points to Bonesaw.  I am happy!

[John Nesky]

1.  [45] Metroid Prime
2.  [40] Super Metroid
3.  [32] The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
4.  [19] Mega Man X 2
5.  [16] Marathon 2: Durandal
6.  [10] Perfect Dark
7.  [8] Super Mario 64
8.  [5] Star Fox 64
9.  [4] Mischief Makers
10. [4] Beyond Good and Evil
11. [3] Cave Story
12. [3] Symphony of the Night
13. [2] Actraiser
14. [2] Wario Land 4
15. [2] Iji
16. [2] Wario's Woods
17. [2] Ikaruga
18. [1] R-Type III
19. [1] Castlevania IV
20. [1] Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
21. [1] Conker's Bad Fur Day
22. [1] U.N. Squadron
23. [1] Portal
24. [1] Metal Storm
25. [1] Contra III: The Alien Wars
26. [1] Out of this World (aka Another World)
27. [1] Shadow of the Colossus
28. [1] Abuse

I wanted to influence the results, so I gave a lot of points to my favorites at the top. On the other hand, I wanted to honor a lot of other games, but I didn't have enough points left over to granularly rank them, so some of them appear to be tied. Nevertheless, all of these are roughly ranked in order.

I'd also like to add a few honorable mentions... I don't play multiplayer games much, and they're really hard for me to compare to single player games anyway, so here's a separate list for multiplayer games:

Soul Calibur 2
Smash Bros Melee
Zone of Enders
Tron
Contra III again

[Jason Bakker]

I can never do top lists, so much to love why must I pick only some?

I guess you could technically pick 210 games, which is a pretty big "some"

That said, it may not be worth being murdered by whoever's job it is to collate the list

[Paul Eres]

@ those of you that picked immortal defense for your lists

also derek, if you don't like jrpgs anymore, try persona 3 or persona 4 if you get a chance, they'll make you love jrpgs again

also go read my list everyone: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=8159.msg258597#msg258597 -- i did just what jason said above