Street Fighter II (arcade)
the jump-off point of my biggest gaming obsession

Virtual On
expanded what was possible with fighting games with its unique twin-stick controls and 3D arena. I would still love to own an actual Virtual On cabinet one day...

Tekken 2/3
so many hours battling friends and perfecting techniques. crazy CG intros and loads of modes beyond just ‘Story' and 'Vs.' BETTER than "arcade-perfect."

Guwange
helped me fall in love with the beautiful chaos of bullet hell shoot-em-ups. looks utterly impossible, but isn't...

Chrono Trigger
simultaneously ignited my interest in RPGs and doomed it by setting a bar too high for anything else to reach. played it last year for only the second time ever and was just as enthralled as when it was released.

Resident Evil
a game I only ever watched others play, but had tension and an atmosphere I'd never experienced before. the first appearance of the Hunters messed me up for a good while.

TMNT (arcade)
perhaps the first licensed game I played that actually did the source material justice and made me feel like I was controlling my favorite characters from TV/movies. I'll never forget seeing this in the arcade for the first time.

Tetris (GameBoy)
my GameBoy was essentially a Tetris machine. I might as well have glued the cartridge in.

Hyper Light Drifter
I've *never* been more completely won over and entranced by a game's entire package (visual/audio aesthetic, gameplay, lore, etc). this game has some mysterious, intangible quality that no other game I’ve played has. I was 100% sure I would love it before I played it and I was 100% right.

and finally, echoing Sleepy with Carmen Sandiego (and Number Munchers!)
gotta give 'em their props; they actually did "make learning fun." I was jonesing to play these in elementary school.