What 5 games define you as a gamer?

[Juan Aguacate]

Mega Man X 4 - My favorite action platform series featuring possibly my favorite video game character in Zero.
Any Final Fantasy game - FF will always be my fave RPG series and the reason I got into RPGs in the first place. I can't pick a favorite one
Guacamelee - Beat 'em ups, platform games, and wrestling. Three things I like in one game. If I had to put only one game on the list, it'd be this one
Sly Cooper 3 - I love mascot platformers, and Sly 3 is the best of them all
Turtles in Time SNES - Again, I love beat 'em ups. I also love old school arcade games and this port not only invokes memories of the arcade original, but massively improves upon it in every conceivable way.

My fave genres:

1. Beat 'em ups
2. Platformers
3. JRPGs

[foxhound1022]

Street Fighter ll - Started my love of fighters that would extend for over 20 years now.

Mario Kart series - One of the best multiplayer games, IMO. Few games can make you go from joy to rage like they can.

Doom/Quake - My 1st foray into FPS.

Legend of Zelda: LttP - Never had much interest in adventure/exploratory games until I played this. Was absolutely hooked from start to finish on my first play through, and made me go back to the games that were its predecessors.

Destiny - Not much else to say other than I have spent more time playing this than any other game by a long shot. It just has so much of what I enjoy all wrapped up together.

[Key-Glyph]

I love this question. We actually had a go at the same kind of thing in 2011.

I'm only pointing this out so folks can go back and see other people's lists -- and also so those who posted back then can see if their choices are different now.

I'm almost tempted to create small lists of three games for different stages in my life, like childhood, adolescence, adulthood, or maybe even in chunks of age ranges, because I've had some truly important gaming experiences in the last few years; I'm afraid they might not get their proper due when put up against childhood games I've had my whole life to feel influenced by.

EDIT: Actually, in comparing the two threads, there's a really interesting nuance between them. This one could be about making a list of games that simply describe you, while the old one is definitely about the games that shaped you. I think individual responses combine those approaches, but it's a very intriguing difference.

[Xeogred]

Love this thread. Been thinking about it the last few days as I read others' posts. I'll have to change up a few things here like others did, grouping some stuff up, and it's inevitable that some top favorites will be picked... but yeah. There's a reason they're a favorite.

I like that stages idea Key. My upbringing was pretty complex and I still can't help but link a lot of games to certain times or events, thankfully nothing in a bad way. Certain games can take me right back to those early years though and savor the memories. Nostalgia is a powerful thing. Which makes this hard, because I was born in 1987 and was there when the NES was big. Somehow played videogames at the age of 2 and the rest is history. Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt are my earliest memories and maybe where credit ultimately is due, but I think there are other games and experiences that probably shaped more about me.

Mega Man series - I think it goes without saying, but Mega Man was probably the building blocks to my relentless love for all things sci-fi as well as rock and heavy metal. While I played SMB1 and maybe some other stuff first, musically it's only Capcom, Mega Man, and the Sunsoft stuff that I can recall mesmerizing me as a kid and making me fall in love with VGM. Fast forward 30 years literally (WTF?) and the NES Mega Man games probably have the highest tally in long time favorites that I've gone back and replayed the most. I will continue to buy the new collections as they release for new excuses to replay them. Growing up I actually didn't own any of them until Mega Man 6, which I think is when I was a little older than 5 and moved away from my grandparents, had the SNES, etc, but they kept the NES and some games. But when I was young my grandpa rented games for me all the time and it was Mega Man 2 and 4 specifically that I got most of the time. 5 sometimes, but 3 was the rare one I think I only played once or twice. I actually never did play 1 until years later via emulation or something else. The X series is very vital to me as well, but ultimately in the end it's the NES games that are pure magic and perfection to me. I got Mr Perfect in Mega Man 10 on the 360. These games have become an extension of myself and feel like coming home, the controls and gameplay could not be better. I love the deliberate heaviness to Mega Man's platforming compared to other games of the time, to this day I still prefer games that have tighter and heavier controls. I liked Mega Man more than Mario and Sonic! It also gave birth to my love for Capcom. From the NES through the PS2, that "Capcom" seal is all I needed to see to know it would be awesome.

The Legend of Zelda - Something that's been on my mind lately, months after beating Breath of the Wild and all, is that I've been with Zelda every step of the way. I can't believe I didn't notice this until more recently, but it makes sense why this series is my favorite of all time. I never owned or rented Zelda, but my parents had neighbors that owned it along with some other people where I got my exposure to it. The limited exposure only increased the mystique that this games impression left on me. From there, I played Zelda 2 at my dad's parents side of the family and loved it. It was different, but everyone old enough to remember that time will tell you the same, there was nothing else to compare it to so nothing about 2 being so radically different seemed weird or wrong, I have never doubted my fondness for Zelda 2. After that I played Link's Awakening and then Link to the Past, my favorite game of all time next to Super Metroid. Then it's the later 90's when I saved up enough allowance to buy my gold cart of Ocarina of Time, still CIB to this day (and let's not forget this is 90's cart prices! Think I paid $70-80 for it). That game was like a religious experience.

With the exception of the DS games and having not played the 3DS ones yet, I've always loved the Zelda games. Nintendo keeps the releases spread out just enough for every new one to make an impact when it drops, without going too long and creating some dread or worry about what's next (see Metroid). When a new big Zelda is on the horizon it's the one series that still makes me giddy like a child under the Christmas tree and I can't contain my excitement. The way the Zelda games progress is how I love my games. I love the tiny little things like slowly increasing your HP, learning new magic or skills along the way, getting new items per dungeon, it's this slow crawl but you truly feel like you're getting stronger and better as the games progress. You're on an adventure and it really feels like it. You feel so awesome by the end of the game. Breath of the Wild still did it well as does the Souls series, or Metroidvania's, etc.

Blaster Master / Metroid - Speaking of Metroidvania's! Metroid is my second favorite franchise after Zelda, but I love to be vocal about my love for Blaster Master and make sure it always gets a lot of credit. This is one I grew up owning, one of my dad's friends just gave it to me and it's crazy how such a small gesture left a timeless impact on my life. My sci-fi love was further cemented here with Blaster Master and as mentioned above with the Sunsoft stuff (also rented Batman a lot!), the music was unforgettable. What was special about Blaster Master though is how it wasn't a traditional left to right level based game, it was one giant interconnected map with distinct worlds and new abilities after bosses that let you reach new areas. This fascinated me and let me sink deep into this awesome world. I think this game and Metroidvania's in general share that rewarding sense of progression that Zelda has, they are really comparable in a lot of ways.

Metroid was the other game my dad's parents owned, alongside Zelda 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog. A funny memory I have of Metroid is using my uncles passwords to load up from Tourain, but I still had no idea where I was or what I was doing. This only perplexed me more about the game and made it feel even bigger, like I was starting in two completely different places. Weird enough this happened again when I rented Super Metroid years later, I remember loading up a save that started in that locked out Tourain save point and though that was the beginning at first for some reason, again it just made the game and world feel even bigger and more mysterious. It didn't take me long to figure out that I was starting it wrong since I was older then, but that memory left a mark. It's almost like a blessing how I had a taste of Tourain and what the later parts of the game possessed. Back to Metroid though, although it was more primitive and smaller in scope than Blaster Master, it seemed more cryptic. As a kid I was never able to get past Norfair and figure out where to go, maybe once or twice I did and made it to Kraid's Lair, but maybe not. It was also an interesting experience only being able to play Metroid off and on throughout those early years, forgetting the details and layouts of the levels in between. So it was like constantly rediscovering the game the rare times I got to play it on my grandparents house or rented it.

I do not believe I ever conquered Metroid as a kid, in fact I think I beat Super Metroid first probably. Blaster Master I remember being able to get to stage 8, but I also didn't beat this one until years later with emulation. Even to this day, Blaster Master is a daunting beast to return to because of how tough some of those later bosses are, like stage 6 and 7 (the harder frog). But that's a testament to growing up as kid and owning it, with trial and error I was able to master at least 90% of the game. It's one of the best and perhaps the best NES game I owned as a kid.

Anyways like mentioned above, Zelda and Metroidvania go hand in hand for me. These games have the perfect flow, pacing, and sense of progression.

Deus Ex - I don't want to spread the Zelda / Metroidvania umbrella too far, but I do think that the Deus Ex styled "immersive sim" is somewhat encompassed in there as well. Good single player driven FPS's is my comfort genre, a genre that I never tire of and every once and awhile we get a new awesome release like last year's Titanfall 2's campaign or Doom 2016. But a slower more methodical and adventurous approach to the genre can be even better and that sums up Deus Ex. I just wrapped up a 10th or so replay of the classic weeks ago and am still thinking about its world and atmosphere. It's showing its age and heck, the combat was never good from the start to be honest. But it's the sum of all its pieces and left such a huge mark on me. Now I've been through Ultima Underworld 1, System Shock 1-2, Thief 1-2, the Bioshock series, Prey, Dishonored series, etc, and these are some of my favorite games ever. I love a forced narrative where the artist wants to tell a specific story, but there are branching paths and choices to make along the way for your own approach, lending these games to extremely high replay value.

Final Fantasy VI-VII, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger - A specific bag of games here. Super Mario RPG gets the credit of being my first RPG and one I still love dearly to this day, but when I discovered emulation in the later 90's you couldn't help but see all the fan praise online that people gave FF6, Secret of Mana, and Chrono Trigger. These games blew me away and I started to get a hang of RPG mechanics, whereas I had no clue what I was doing in Super Mario RPG. I only leveled up HP because it was the highest number! Hah! Around this time I was an N64 kid, but one of my friends had a PSX and exposed me to some of the greats, like Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, Parasite Eve, etc. FF7 was the one that stood out a lot when he'd show me gameplay or cutscenes, etc. It was so cool seeing these CGI cutscenes and hearing higher quality music that the N64 could not produce. Finally I eventually borrowed another friends' PSX years later before my family got a PS2, and was able to play FF7 once and for all. From there I played FF9 and FF8 directly after that, along with Chrono Cross somewhere in there. JRPG's destroyed me and sums up my entire middle school years before adulthood and work becomes a part of life, I beat JRPG's back to back nonstop. I kept playing more on the PSX while emulating SNES games or buying some. To this day it's still my biased favorite era of JRPG's and left such a huge mark. I've now beaten Final Fantasy 1-10 in some form, along with some of the later ones after that. But Final Fantasy has become another one of those "coming home" experiences and franchises that left a timeless mark and impression on me. The aesthetics, the Amano art, spritework, cool stories and characters, and that Uematsu music. Pure bliss.

Honorable mentions: more Mairo stuff, Sonic the Hedgehog classics, Doom, Souls games, Shionobi 3, Donkey Kong Country, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, Xenogears/Xenosaga, Suikoden 1-2, etc.

[fastbilly1]

To change up my 2007 response:
1. Legend of Zelda - NES
This is the game that gave me a lifelong love of the fantasy genre. It is also one of my wife's favorite games so I hacked the rom for a groomsmen gift for my wedding.

2. Team Fortress Classic - PC
I got into TFC in college. It cant say I played it enough to get flunk out, but I played it alot. I never joined a clan, but I played it with one of the best clans long enough that one of my buddies and myself joined a small tournament both playing two pcs and did not come in last... At one point I knew the dozen core maps so well I could draw them.

3. Goldeneye 64 - N64
I was in Highschool when Goldeneye became big. I initially did not think it would be anything, but quickly that opinion changed. It was the first fps I really got lost in and the first one that I competed in. I won most tournaments I entered for several years. But when Perfect Dark came out that scene fell apart. A buddy of my older brothers parents had a home theater with a CRT projector (an old dim one) but it was one of the reason I got into projection gaming.

4. Indiana Jones Fate of Atlantis - PC
The epitome of the SCUMM adventure game genre. It came out in a rare time when my family had a PC that could run games of any kind. This was like having an interactive Indiana Jones film in your home. It is the third best Indiana Jones story.

5. Oregon Trail - Apple ][
Public school, late 80s, this was the only game we had during school hours. It made my bloodlust for bear, deer, and squirrels.

[Markies]

I have some time, so I'll give this a go. I am going to do 5 games that had specific moments in my life and how they affected me.

1. The Legend of Zelda (NES)
This game defined my childhood. It is the game that I beat at least 25 times and would spend weekends playing all the way through, both quests. It is the first game that I really got into and the one that got me into gaming.

2. Streets of Rage 2 (GEN)
If there was a game to describe my preteen and teen years, it would be Streets of Rage 2. My friends at the time moved on from the NES to the Genesis and I soon followed suit. We only had a handful of games, but my favorite of them was Streets of Rage 2. This is another game I have beaten several times over, all by myself and with friends. My adoration of the beat'em up genre is mostly because of this game.

3. Final Fantasy X (PS2)
Until college, I had always dabbled in games. I would buy about 12 or 15 games per console and then move on. I'd get big into a game, move on and then try something else. From the lack of funds and just having other interests, gaming wasn't that big of a deal to me. Until I was introduced to Final Fantasy X. This is the game that flipped the switch. This is the game that turned me into a hardcore gamer. This game made me realize that I wanted video games to be my main hobby.

4. Final Fantasy III (SNES)
I was still in college and I was mostly playing my PS2, the GTA series and Final Fantasy X. I started hearing rumblings about a PS3 coming out, but I also got big into the internet and started discovering websites about old games. It dawned on me that people still play retro games. And considering all the games I missed, I had several thousands to go through. It wasn't until Final Fantasy III that I realized how good retro games can be. I realized that there were so many great games that I missed out on and so many games that truly went under the radar.

5. Contra (NES)
In 2011, I discovered the Backloggery and in 2012, I got heavy into it. To say it changed my life would be an understatement. I finally have a focus to play my games and a reason not to buy games I cannot afford or have the space for. When I started, I had 175 Unfinished games and most of them were super long RPGs. However, I had also collected a large amount of older games that I deemed too hard to beat. Then I beat Contra, legitimately. And I suddenly realized that I could beat older games. Because of Contra, I gained the confidence to beat hard games like Castlevania 1 & 3, Zelda II & Ninja Gaiden. Thanks to Contra, I honestly feel like if I put the time and effort into any game, then I could actually beat it!

[bmoc]

2. Team Fortress Classic - PC
I got into TFC in college. It cant say I played it enough to get flunk out, but I played it alot. I never joined a clan, but I played it with one of the best clans long enough that one of my buddies and myself joined a small tournament both playing two pcs and did not come in last... At one point I knew the dozen core maps so well I could draw them.

I nearly listed this as one of mine. I also played a ton back in college. My roommate and I both played and being able to talk to each other in the days before voice-chat was common gave a us a huge edge. We could dominate pretty much any random group. Some of the things we did might be considered "exploits" but I choose to remember them as creative us of game mechanics. For example, on the map "The Hunted", we would both pick the sniper team and shoot each other into normally inaccessible areas. Friendly fire was almost always on so we would use the extreme knockback of a sniper shot to get to these areas. Because the enemy team could not get near us, we could snipe with impunity until our ammo ran out.

[dsheinem]

Game 1 would have to be this classic Genesis fighter:

Game 2 would be this SNES game with a fantastic soundtrack:

Game 3 is an import for the SFC, but still fits in the top five for me:

Game 4 is a remaster of sorts and the first disc-based game on my list:

Game 5 is sort of cheating since it is very similar to game #4, but I am listing it anyway:

[jfe2]

It's hard to pick just five, but these are the games that come to mind when I think about the word "video game". They each hold a special place in my heart and are part of the reason I gravitated towards the hobby throughout different parts of my life.

Super Mario World - This is the first game that I owned as a kid and I've beat it more times than I can count. I've been chasing the dragon ever since, trying to find a platformer that feels as perfect as this one. I've played some great ones, but nothing measures up to this. Maybe it's nostalgia, but when I think of video games this is the first one that comes to mind.

Chrono Trigger - I found this on the rack of my local video store when I was around ten years old, and it changed my gaming life. I had never played RPGs before Chrono Trigger. I just didn't really get them. Chrono Trigger's art style and music took me by the hand and led me to understand and enjoy the game mechanics. The soundtrack is my favorite to this day.

Final Fantasy IX - I was obsessed with this game when it came out. Final Fantasy III on the SNES was the first Final Fantasy game I played, but a mistakenly deleted save kept me from finishing it as a kid. When IX came out, I bought the game and the Prima guide the week it came out and spent weeks discovering it's world every day after school. The cinematics were something I actually looked forward to in this game, as they were beautiful and charming in a way that I haven't seen since.

The Simpsons Arcade - I was a Simpsons fanatic when I was a kid. Although the show is merely a shell of what it once was, the first ten or so seasons remain some of my favorite television programming of all time. The Simpsons Arcade was the ultimate arcade cabinet for my friends and I when we were kids. The local Chuck E Cheese had one and we beat it over and over, even making trips there well into our teenage years just to play that one cabinet. It's no better or worse than similar Konami beat em ups, but it remains one of my personal favorite games.

Halo - I have many fond memories of playing Halo multiplayer with my friends. It's the last game that I got to enjoy playing co-op with my friends via split screen, and I really miss that feeling. I was never a huge fan of first person shooters, but the amount of time I spent with friends playing this embedded it into my memory, and makes it one of my favorite games ever because of it.

[hashiriya1]

Final Fantasy IV - Many will disagree but this is, IMO, the best game in the series. I've beat it more times than I can count.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 - I've won tournaments back in the '90s with this game at any arcade in the San Francisco Bay Area that held tournaments. It's the only Street Fighter game that I can confidently say I'm one of the best, at least in the US. Perhaps all those tournament wins got to my head.

Gran Turismo series - One of the only franchises where I'll buy every entry despite the reviews. I can't get enough of this series.

Radiant Silvergun - This game is perfect and I've spent countless hours mastering it. No other shmup comes close.

The Makaimura series - I never got into Mega Man as a kid (and as an adult). This series makes me glad I didn't.