Personal Favorites

The first games I ever played, on a Tandy 1000 EX with floppy disks (5.25"). They don't replay terribly well, but they got a LOT of gamers started, and were a huge step forward in the gaming industry.

Probably better games than the King's Quest series, at least through #3, due to the range of actions and objectives and the more serious subject matter. I still remember Sonny Bonds' badge number.

Best SNES game I ever played at my friends' houses (which, since I didn't own an SNES, was the only place I could play it). The Zelda game that got me hooked and made me play all the others.

I also never had an N64, so I had to wait for the Gamecube collector's disk to play this, but it held up fine as an excellent game, and is obviously still being copied by Zelda games now - Twilight Princess is basically a very pretty homage to OoT.

A lot of people didn't like this game, but I thought it was masterful. One of the games I can call "artistically brilliant" and feel justified in doing so. They absolutely nailed the creation of a living cartoon, and for the younger Link, it worked perfectly.

Wonderfully atmospheric FPS/RPG hybrid for those of us who can't handle a game as freaky as System Shock 2. ;-) I love the Sci Fi themes in this game, and it's rare for a game's plot and game mechanics to be equally complex and well handled.

As a theatre major, this *might* be my favorite game of all time on any system, ever. The characters are so wonderfully crafted and perfectly voice acted, and the storyline is hilarious, engaging, heartbreaking, and ultimately joyful. You just don't want it to end. I shed a couple of tears when it did. A beautiful, "they don't make 'em like this anymore" experience.

Up there with Grim Fandango as one of the best written games of all time, though certainly much more mature in its subject matter. An RPG where you could actually make MORE progress by choosing the right dialogue options than by fighting, which was (and IS) rather revolutionary.